February 27, 2025 • 43 mins
Outspoken American Reilly Opelka has taken aim at doubles tennis questioning its place in the game — former player-now-coach Luke Saville joins Jon Hoevenaars, Viv Christie, and Dan Imhoff to react to Opelka’s comments and make the case for doubles remaining a mainstay on the tennis calendar. Teen sensation Mirra Andreeva is the youngest WTA 1000 titlist after defeating three major winners en route to the title — the panel discusses her iconic champion's speech and what’s next for the 17-year-old. Andrey Rublev has captured his second title in Doha defeating Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals, while Demon is holding onto his spot in the top 10 despite a first-round exit in Dubai. Three Aussie women are ranked inside the WTA Top 100 for the first time in three years after Maya Joint progressed to the Round of 16 in Merida, while Ajla Tomljanovic is on the verge of joining the 18-year-old along with Olivia Gadecki and Kim Birrell ahead of Indian Wells. Plus, Viv shares her top 5 teenage title winners.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good day everyone, and welcome to the tennis. Riley Opelke
has taken aim at doubles, Miron Drever's history making Win
in the Desert, and Ossie Women on the Rise. That's
just a sample of what's ahead on the tennis today
with me. John huvenis writing Shotgun Today. From the sit
Down is Viv Christy. Welcome Viv.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thanks John. It's always great to be here in Podlover arena.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Lovely to have you filling in for Brie, who's away
for another week of well deserved leave. On the other
side of the table. From oz open dot com, Dan
him Hoff is back, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Down, Thanks John. Good to be back back in the
studio for change.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, it's a lovely change of scenery for you and
the coach of Darius Saville Luke Saville.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thanks Johnny.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
It still sounds a little interesting, little strange, but great
to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I mean, I could have picked any number of titles
for you, but I think that's the most relevant one
at the moment right.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
It is a it's a period of transition for me
and really enjoying it. It just had a bit of
a bit of a stint in the Middle East with
her and back home now doing a little bit of
coaching here and there myself and surprisingly enough, well not surprisingly,
but she's having a great run this week in Brita.
So it's great to see.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, doing wonderful things among a lot of ossies down
this week. Who we're going to be chatting about on
the show today.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Who will particularly the Uzzy girl's doing really well, a
bit of a rankings milestone there.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
We'll touch on that later.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Of course, absolutely, and viv you'll give us the latest
and what's happening in the sit down because a great
episode coming up next Monday.
Speaker 6 (01:26):
Yeah, we've we as we've talked about, we had the
chance to do a lot of interviews over the summer
and one of those was with Ivan Lubacik and it
was one of my favorite interviews.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, as we like to do off the top, what's
caught your eye, and we're going to start with you,
Luke Saville, what's caught your eye in the world of
tennis this week?
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Well, Johnny mine is Riley Opelker's comments about doubles not
so positive. It's fair to say what some negative comments.
He's been very outspoken in the past, and I believe
you've got the comments there front.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, so he wrote this on social media. He said
they should one hundred percent get rid of dubs. Now,
I think he's come back and sort of alerted that
that particular statement was made with a little bit of sarcasm.
But it goes on. It's for failed singles players. There's
no such thing as a doubles specialist. They don't sell
a single ticket, They take up practice courts, physios resources,
(02:18):
they don't turn a profit, and they complain that they
don't make enough money. That's pretty greedy behavior if you
ask me. Now, it's got the tennis world in a spin.
But I want to get your reaction first. What do
you think of Riley's remarks about doubles.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
They're pretty strong comments, aren't they. And I think it
was very interesting listening to Fitzi's comments a few weeks
ago on the AO podcast, and he mentioned something like
pickleball with the kitchen, I think, not being able to
get so close to the nets, and I think that's
been I don't played much pickleball myself, but that's been
a very sort of productive rule in that sort of format.
(02:55):
And I just feel like tennis doubles has just lost
little bit of its entertainment and probably at skill level
a little bit as well. And I've been guilty of
that as well, because I think if you're not crowding
the net and using those skills, you're going to be
left behind. So I just feel like something like that
where it just stops, particularly in men's doubles as well,
(03:17):
where it's so dominated by the serve to get the
net players back a little bit and just sort of
incorporating a little more skill, sort of ther first volleys
and a bit more of the doubles prowess that was
probably they're a bit more evident quite a few years ago.
So sort of feel like, you know, obviously the US
Open have made big waves in basically getting rid of
(03:41):
the mixed doubles and making it basically like an exhibition unfortunately,
and I just hope that that's just not one of
many things to come with the doubles formats. And I
still feel like there's great entertainment value, but I just
feel like there's probably a little tweak that could be
made in the game of doubles to make it a
little more entertaining, maybe with longer rallies again, especially in
(04:03):
the men's doubles, where I think it's just a lot
of sort of serve return, you know, folly put away.
So I think it's very interesting.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
I think what I found most interesting about his comment
is that it's for failed singles players. I totally I
don't agree with that statement at all. You know, we've
seen so many singles players that have actually thrived in
doubles before they've won a Grand Slam title, for example,
So Martina Hingis is one that springs to mind. She
won with Jana Navotna at Wimbledon, and then the following
(04:32):
year she went on to win three of the four
Grand Slams in singles. I think doubles provides an incredible
foundation for a lot of players, and we actually had
the chance to ask Martina about that on the sit
down and she talked about, you know, it just prepares
you for that big stage. So yeah, I think singles,
I mean, doubles provides a great foundation for singles, and
(04:54):
you know, doubles has it's built the game in a
lot of places.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
As well, especially here in Australia.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
You know, we talk about our golden era of tennis
and you know, all of the players who thrived in
singles in that golden era that you know, I'm talking
in the fifties the sixties, they loved to play doubles.
There was kind of that real camaraderie and I think
that we're seeing a lot of that again in today's game.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
And Rohan Bapana, a current doubles player obviously from India,
had a really good response to it, saying he didn't
necessarily make it in singles, but what he's been able
to make it at doubles.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
He's been able to pour a lot of that.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Back into his community and I think he cited more
than thirty girls he's managed to educate under privileged children
in India. So that's a massive gateway that we probably
don't even consider sometimes, you know how important that impact
could be and just how big of a reach doubles
has that not everyone sees on the surface.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Absolutely, look at Sonya Merza, who thrived in doubles, and
you know she's provided a wonderful example for so many
girls in India as well.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Mahshba Pati is another.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
Indian player who you know, made a lot of you know,
achieved a lot in doubles. And has also inspired a
lot of players. We spoke to sum Negual on the
sit down and he attended his academy and that was
a life changing experience for him. So again, I just
think that Doubles leads to so many wonderful, other wonderful things.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Lepelk has certainly said a cat amongst the pigeons, but
I think Andy Roddick has sort of been someone who
might not have fully agreed with Riley, but has supported
his right to have his opinion and kind of has
given credit to people players who are prepared to put
their opinions out there, because you don't see it every
day players being this forward about their opinions on effectively,
(06:45):
what are other peers in the game.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, I really don't. And the one thing is just
so black and white Riley Opelger's comment as well, and
just no sort of leeway, there's no flexibility. And I mean,
I'm sure he doesn't even chat to a lot of
the Doubles players as well, have really any relationships with
so I think just getting to know some of them,
know their story, their background, because just saying the failed
(07:08):
singles players, that's just completely false. And I think, you know,
maybe he could go and play some doubles and see
if he can make it. There's nothing, there's nothing stopping
is it? So very strong comments and very good for conversation.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
And surely doubles is fun. I know that you've played
a lot of doubles and done a lot in doubles,
but the team element, I mean, surely that's fun.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
It really is. And a lot of my greatest achievements
came in the doubles format in my career, and it
allowed me to play Davis carp Olympics so represent my country,
which I'm forever grateful for and some of my biggest achievements.
So I love the game of doubles, the camaraderie. Everyone
says I sort of get like a man possessed when
I get on doubles quarter I had to bring that
(07:51):
in my singles, so that sort of energy, a lot
of jumping around in my arms, do strange things when
I play doubles. So especially here at this Train Open
and going out playing doubles as well, making the third
round and absolutely loved it. So I think there's definitely
a place for doubles.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Absolutely absolutely going nowhere here at the OZ Open where
we do sell plenty of tickets for the doubles, both men's,
women's and also mixed. Let's move on from that now,
Viv what's caught your eye in the tennis world this week?
Speaker 6 (08:17):
Well, what's caught my I was really pleased to see
Andre Rublev back in the winner's circle in Doha, So,
you know, it's been it's been quite a journey for
him in tennis in recent times. You know, I think
we all remember he got defaulted in Dubai a year ago,
so it was good for him to go back to
that part of the world and sort of I guess
rewrite the story of what happened there, But yeah, he
(08:40):
had an incredible run there in Doha. He three of
his matches went to three sets. He beat Dimonor, Felix Augier,
Elysium and Jack Draper in the finals. I had to
fight pretty hard in all of those matches. It's the
first title he's won twice in his career, so seventeenth
career title, but the first one first mournament his one twice.
(09:01):
And yeah, he has been very open recently about some
struggles with depression and his mental health, so he talked
again about that after the final.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You know, he talked about Marette Saffon having helped him.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
Sort of turn his game or he's not his game,
but he's sorry that mistality.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, he's mentally.
Speaker 6 (09:21):
So he's been very open about you know who he's
reached out to for support, including Marat Saffen, his countryman,
particularly after Wimbledon last year when he lost in the
first round. Yeah, and he's just I think he's inspired
a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It's really great to see, you know, someone in this
day and age being so open about that side of it,
because there's a lot of perks on the tour, you know,
traveling and being a professional tennis layer, but there's some
parts that are quite difficult as well, a traveling component
being away from loved ones, friends and family. So it's
great to see and you know, he's been one of
(09:56):
those players that have been in the top ten but
just sort of struggling to probably make waves at Grand Slams.
He's playing in a pretty tough era right now and
probably similar to like a David Ferrer when such an
amazing player, but just very tough when they've got three
or four very very good players. So it's yeah, I
watched a little bit of the Alex demon Ar match
(10:17):
there in Dubai and in Doha, sorry, and that was
a very topsy turvy one. I think rub Lev had
his first match point at five to two and then
they played a ten eight tirebreak thirds at tirebreak. So
great to see that he's been struggling a little bit
but staying with the process and winning that title.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I think it was like seven or eight match points.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
I can't remember the exact number, but there were a
lot of match points before he won that dim and
all match, So you kind of wonder if that was
a turning point for his whole tournament really, and I.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Think there are a few of the matches went to
deciding said tiebreaks, which he'd kind of been losing a
few of them in the last year or two, so
I think this will do This was really important for him.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Ossie Open first round.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Of course, he lost to von Zecra as well, so
that's not a terrible loss, but given the run he's had,
that just would have compounded things again and again, you know,
kick all these early round exits to finally pull through
a big title like that and beat the caliber players
that he beat too.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, you love to.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Say congratulations to andre rub Lev. Also last week in
Rio de Janeiro, it was Sebastian Bayaz who took the title.
There he defeated Alexandra Mulla in the final. Well what
about you, Dan, what's caught your eye?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
In the world of tennis, Similarly, while rub Lev was
doing well, it was mirror Andreva winning her first WTA
one thousand event in Huge Dubai, which looks she'd already
reached a Slam semi in Paris last year, but I
feel like this.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
One might have been more of.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
An announcement of her arrival, more confirmation that she can
actually beat these big names now. She beat three Slam
champion von Drusiva, Sion Tech and Rebakna along the way
before Clara Tolson in the final.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So that's champions, three of them, three.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Of them Grand Sam champions.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
She's the youngest to crack the top ten since Nicole
Vitis over in two thousand and seven, which is pretty
remarkable just to reel off a few more of those
youngest since stats only the fifth player to win two
titles before turning eighteen. And he guesses who the youngest
tour titleist might have been and what.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Age before before the youngest WTA. Yeah, not not necessarily
WTA one thousand.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Yeah, it's got to be Capriarti it is.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
It was you us somewhere in the It was Puerto
Rico fourteen years and six months. So that's obviously not
possible anymore because of the eighth restrictions. So yeah, seventh
player in the past thirty is to make her top
ten deboo before her eighteenth birthday. I will reel off
these names. So the others are Hingus, Venus Williams and
(13:08):
a corner Kova, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapover and Vitis Over.
Keep in mind, two of those never did win Slam,
so it's no guarantee she's going to go all the way,
but she's in pretty good company.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I loved her acceptance speech as well.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
She thanked she did all the right things, she thanked
her team the tournament, and then she thanked herself.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, let's take a listen.
Speaker 7 (13:30):
And last but not least, I would like to thank me.
I know what I have been dealing with, and I
just want to thank me for always believing in me.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And I wanna.
Speaker 7 (13:58):
Thank mer and I were quitting and always dealing with
her pressure and today was not easy, but I chose
to be there one hundred percent. So I thank myself
for d and I hope to see you all soon
somewhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
How charming was that speech?
Speaker 6 (14:23):
I love mer Andrew. I'm not going to hide that.
She's another sit down guest that we had. We talked
to her Wimbledon last year and she was fantastic. She's
just she's just so naturally bubbly, and you know, she
asked her age, you know, as well while doing all
these incredible things on court.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
She's innocently funny, isn't she. She doesn't even realize she's
off the calf. She's very natural, you know, do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
She realized that she was quoting Snoop Dogg in that
acceptance speech. I didn't think she did.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I think it was just purely from the heart.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
I wasn't cool enough to know that she was quoting
Snoop Dogg until.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
After the fast a smile on her face that suggested
she knew something.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, I think it just came across so humble as well.
There's probably there's probably a sort of an arrogant way
that that speech could come across. But I got zero
sense of that, just so humble, and I think she'd
been thinking about it for a while because she started
saying then laughed a little bit. The crowd laughs. So
but I actually loved it. I mean the start of
the speech she thanked everyone, thanked her team, the opponent,
(15:26):
the tournament, everyone that's helped her. And then to finish
that off, And I think it's important for the athletes.
Obviously you need a support team, of course, but you've
got to thank yourself. You've got to believe in yourself.
Otherwise she wouldn't be there, and it's great to sort
of recognize that in a funny way in a speech.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, it's worth pointing out too.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
She's one of only two teenagers in the top one hundred,
and she's ahead by an enormous margin.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
The other is a top one hundred debutante.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
And that'll be my joint the young Aussie eighteen year
old who'll come in at At the moment she's live ranked,
I think eighty eighth could go up further if she
keeps going in Mereda.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, that's right, So she's in Mereda this week among
a number of Ozzie's doing great stuff, including your wife Dasher,
as we've touched on already. But let's go further down
that rabbit hole because this could be a historic week
for Australian women's tennis. Viv Dan has mentioned Maya joint
up to eighty eight in the live rankings, Olivia Gadecki
(16:26):
was already inside the top one hundred, and we've also
got in there Kim Birel out Ossie number one, from
whom we heard last week it's seventy five. We haven't
had three Ossie women inside the top one hundred since
Ash Barti retired in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
Yeah, I think it's it's a great week for Ozzie
women's tennis already. You know, there's been a lot of
focus on the men, fairly so with Alex Dimeno doing
so well, but we've known that, you know, there were
so many women that was sort of just outside that
group and waiting to sort of make that leap, And
isn't it wonderful to say see it actually happened.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Thinking ow sit down at the New Core Metal, I
was saying that there's a lot of focus on the
men at the moment, but I was really looking at
the next crop of Australian women and I really felt
at the end of this year twenty twenty five, we
could have five, six seven women in the top one hundred,
and we've got three and I'm hoping Dasha becomes a
fourth quite soon. And I've got Eiler and then you know,
(17:24):
Tarlie Gibson's playing great tennis. Madison English, Emerson Jones, maybe
not this year, she's got a little bit of time
up her sleeve, but tracking incredibly well. So Priscilla Hon.
I think there's a great crop there and it's fantastic
to see. I think Kim's playing great right now. She's
had an amazing start to the year, sitting at seventy
(17:45):
five and still going this week in Austin and my
joint sitting at the live ranking of eighty eight, and
Chris Marney is doing a fantastic job with her, so
shout out to Chris. And she's just taking all in
her stride so she's not getting too overawed. Great to see, so.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Round of sixteen in Meredith at the moment. Let's stay
there for a moment because we do want to acknowledge
that Dara is the first woman through to the to
the quarterfinals in Mereda after knocking off Anhelna Kalinina this
morning as we record this podcast in three sets. She
also beat Marta Costuk, the sixth seed yesterday. I actually
(18:22):
didn't watch that match, but tell us about that match,
because that's a formidable seed to take down.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yeah, it was a great match. She won six, four, seven, six,
And I was actually at the match where she played
her at Wimbledon, and she was leading a set and
five two serving, so she went down in three sets there.
So that was a tough one. But I felt like
Dasha after that previous performance, had the belief that she
could go out there and win that one. And I
think getting two wins in qualifying as well was super important.
(18:49):
The conditions are a little bit different there in Mexico
compared to the Middle East where Dasha came from. So
to come through qualities and to win two matches in
main draw, she was struggling a little bit prior to this,
especially in the Middle East and even during the Australian summer,
to be honest, but we were staying in the process.
We're staying very process orientated and doing a lot of
(19:09):
the right things, and Dash's been fantastic. She acknowledged that
she wasn't playing her best tennis, but she was working
so hard every day and we felt like the practice
is very good, but we need to make that transfer
to matches, and it feels like it's paying off this week.
So I'm very proud of her.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
That must have been a huge weightlifted that first round,
particularly given she hadn't won a main draw match for
quite a while.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Yeah, for sure, and even playing Ellen Perez's first round qualities.
I'm not sure if anyone saw that one, but Ellen
hasn't played many singles matches in the past few years,
so they're great friends as well. So to get through that,
get through qualities. She had a really good win last
round qualities as well against Lepchenko, who's a fantastic player.
So to beat cost Shuk and sitting in the quarterfinals,
she's a little bit tired, but hot, humid conditions there.
(19:57):
She's got a day off tomorrow and then possibly look
at a quarter final match with Powler Bidosa, so it
doesn't get too much harder than that one. But very
very happy where she's aden a much needed sort of
run this week.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Jacqueline Christian and Powler Bidosa to playoff in a round
of sixteen match later today as we record this, my
joint the other Aussie there, Dan, as you mentioned, she's
through to a round of sixteen clash with Donna Vekisch.
Should be a tough one for her back, not beyond her.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Tough one of Herbert.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
I think she's playing amazingly this first couple of months
of the year and loving the hard courts. She's not
sure in confidence at all. Vekich, on the other hand,
not in the greatest form at the moment. She's struggling
a little bit. So that's a definitely winnable match for
my joint.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Great and viv over in Austin with a couple of
other ossies in action a La Tom Ladovich will be
taking on Kim Berrel If Kim gets through her round
of sixteen match against Shibahara, and it's kind of a
win win in that. If Beryl wins, well, she continues
on her merry way. If she loses, Tom Lanovich advance
into the top one hundred.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
Yeah, it is a win either way, isn't it. Let's
just look at it like that. I think it must
be so tough when the Aussies have to play each other,
as you just alluded to, Luke, But yeah, I think
it's great to see. And again it shows that there's numbers.
There's numbers in Ozzie women's tennis, and if they have
to face each other in those matches, there's always a
positive that comes from it.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Jess Bergoula is the top seed in Austin, a big
favorite to win that we've already seen the elimination of
a couple of the higher seeds, including pet sorry, including
Peyton Sterns and also Yuan Yuat who Kim Berrell took
down in the round of thirty two. So that's what's
happening in Austin. Also, storm Hunter made her comeback in
(21:41):
the doubles, I think got all the way to a
deep into a third set match tiebreak and didn't come
away with a win, but just so wonderful to see
her back on court.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Absolutely, And I think she posted something on Instagram of
early days or a video of early days of her
rehab process and just said she's never been so happy
to losing a super tie break and just great that
she came out of it, you know, feeling good physically,
and Storm is absolutely flushing the ball. I did some
sessions with her and she's hitting the ball fantastically well.
(22:13):
So if she can to stay on court, don't get
too sore. I'm sure the results will come thick and
fast for Storm.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Plenty more of the tennis coming up, including the men
in Dubai and Akapulco, plus our preview of Indian Wells
next week. Stay tuned. So the men are in Dubai
this week and well, some big storylines coming out. I
think the main one from an Aussie perspective is that
Marion Chilich has knocked off two Aussies in as many days,
(22:41):
starting with Alex Demenorviv and then Alexi popronovernight.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
I don't know what it is about Maroon Chilich and
the Aussie players, but he's having an incredible run there
in Dubai.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
And you know, we know.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
He's a great hardcourt player, He's a former US Open
champion and you know, just a really solid player all
around who has struggled with injuries over the past few years.
So you know, it's not surprising that he would have
a run like this, and you know, I believe his
game is very suited to Dubai as well.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
He hadn't been on many people's radars, but that's his
first top ten win the demonoll one since twenty twenty
two and somewhat of a late career resurgence from the croast.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
It is, But keep in mind he won his first
tournament back last year in China, which was a two fifty.
I know it wasn't as strong as this, but he's
still capable of pulling off good results like this here
and there. It's probably more about getting in the rhythm
and keeping his body right at that age because it's
been I think a pretty tough few years for him,
and the confidence probably dissipates a bit there as well.
(23:43):
But that's an impressive run. Both those players, particularly demon
or the quicker surface there probably suits Filage to hit
through it. I imagine Popriin won his first match in a while,
so he won't be totally disappointed, but still he would
have seen that as a winnable match.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
What are the.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Challenges for a big player like Chilich you know later
in life? Because as Dan touched on that, that win
over Demono's no mean, feat, what are the challenges for
big players in the twilight of their careers.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Well, yeah, it's obviously Excuse me, it's obviously the injury
side as well. Being bigger, there's probably a few more
niggles that can go wrong as well. And I was
there for the w T A tournament in Dubai a
week or so ago, and it's very fast conditions there,
so it wasn't surprising to me that when I saw
that draw, I thought it was going to be quite
(24:36):
difficult for Alex Demenaar and I just sort of felt
like on a slower court, Alex will be able to
stretch out the rallies, move Chilich around a little bit
more and make a little more physical But on those
fast courts there, I think Chilich was able to shorten
the rallies play quite aggressive, quite big, and serve enormous
as well. So probably just one of those ones where
Alex came in and probably tried to find a little
(24:59):
bit of rhythm early, unable to define his feed and
lost in three sets.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Unfortunately. Vivas the first time we've seen Alex at this
tournament in Dubai. He won Acapulco the previous two years
and therefore has missed out on defending those points, so
that puts his top ten spot in jeopardy.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Yeah, I was, I was looking at that earlier. I
don't believe he'll quite full out of the top ten.
It was an interesting decision that he chose to play
Dubai rather than Akapolco because he's played so well in
that tournament over the past two years. So I'm not
sure of the reasoning, but yeah, it's very surprising to me.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
What do you reckon?
Speaker 5 (25:35):
I think I'm not sure the reasoning, but he was
five points ahead of Tommy Paul. If Tommy Paul won
his next match against Marcus Chiron, he would have leapfrogged him.
But he's just filled out, so number nine he'll stay
for now. I think Sitzipass, though, could still pass him.
He's about three hundred behind him.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
So Sitzipas now has Berettini, who's also entered the top third.
I think okay, so his climb continues. Bear Attini, have
you got any insights on why Alex might have chosen
to shun Akapulco. Do you reckon it be a money
thing or perhaps a kate to be closer to Katie
who was also playing in the area.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
I just feel like I don't know the reason, but
the week before so Doha, there was no hard court
events in North America for Alex to play. The only
one was was Rio, So I'm assuming that Alex didn't
want to go from clay onto the hard court. It
is wanted that continuity and consistency of surface, so he
was going to get that for Doha and Dubai. I
(26:37):
just played the two five hundreds in the Middle East,
and I'm assuming he really likes the conditions there in
the Middle East as well. Alex he plays very well
on FASc plays well on sort of any surface as well.
But I just think he wanted to go there after
Rotterdam when he had that week off. He made the
fine on Rotterdam, of course, and just sort of have
that consistency. Has had the hip issue as well, so
(27:00):
I feel like he just doesn't want to hop around
from surface to surface. Just one of that hard court continuity.
And now he's got a week to prepare for Indian Welles.
I believe he he just arrived there, so it's got
some great preparation there. He's had a fantastic start to
the year, so I think he can put that probably
a bit of a disappointing Middle East swing behind him
and get ready for the North American swing.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
So the quarter finalists in Dubai, it'll be Medvedev the
top seed against Talon, Greek spor Stefano sits a pass
against Barrettini. As I mentioned, Sitzipas defeated Karen Hutchenoff for
a ninth time from ten meetings. He'll take on his
good mate Bretini. Now Luca Nadi the lucky loser taking
on Quentin Halis the qualifier, and Felix Augier Alisim against
(27:43):
Murran Chiliic with his projected ranking who entered that tournament.
And over in Akapulco a few Ozzi is there, Rinky
Hijakarta knocked out by David Goffahn in the round of sixteen.
There'll be Goffan taking on Ben Shelton there, so round
of thirty two. So into the round of sixteen now
for Gofan and Alex Zverev took care of Mateo Analdi.
(28:05):
He takes on leern at Tien. That's going to be
a fascinating contest. Both had pretty charmed runs in Melbourne,
contrasting styles. But learner Tien Dan just going from strength
to strength.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Yeah, he really is after that, as you said, the
run in Melbourne where he beat Medvedev, I think save
match points. Even made the fourth round as a qualifier
and he's only eighteen, so he's backing that up.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Clearly loves the hard courts. Zverev's a good test for him.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
I mean, he's got absolutely nothing to lose there, So
two good wins already Analdi Nori, Sorry ignore that he didn't.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
That's right, a good.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Win coming off a good win there against Norri. So
I think he'll come out swinging all.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Right plenty to keep our eyes on as we head
into Indian Wells next week. We'll have all the results
from Akapulco and Dubai next week on the show. Well,
where are we going to start? We'll start with the women.
I think igsh Fiontek the defending champion at Indian Wells.
The tournament kick off March five, and great to have
men and women in one combined one thousand event.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Vig Yeah, I think it's always fun when you've got
the men and women competing at the same tournament. It's
just a different vibe. And we know that Indian Wells
is a really popular tournament with the players, and there
is always lots kind of happening. There's lots of celebrities,
there's you know, lots of events happening off the court.
So yeah, it's always a fun tournament to look forward to.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
So who you're keeping your eye on down well, Maria
Sakari had a good run last year and hasn't had
much of a run since, so she's got an awful
lot of points there to defend after reaching the final.
I think she lost Eager quite easily there in the final,
but yeah, a lot of points coming off for her,
so pressures on there.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Eager too would be pretty keen.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
To back it up because it was about this time
last year that she started to find a form again.
It'll be good tests for the Eager whim for set
coaching partnership. They needed a big title, I think soon.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Who would have thought would be entering March and Indian
Wells and from the top three players in the world,
we've only got one title to be shown for which
is Arena Sable Anchor up in Brisbane this year.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Yeah, it's a strange one and sable anchor didn't have
the greatest Middle East swing as well, so she was
struggling there a little bit. So I'm sure she's looking
for a bounce back at Indian Wells. But they caught
the fifth Grand Slam and fantastic weather, great golf around there,
so I've always loved Indian Wells. But yeah, looking forward
to the two week event like a Grand Slam and
(30:32):
should be very exciting to watch the top women in
the world go at it.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Arena talked in the Middle East about she's been struggling
a little bit with motivation, which I found quite interesting.
You know, she's world number one, is it kind of like,
you know, is she struggling to find a goal?
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I don't know. I think this will be a really
interesting test for her.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
I think the loss two keys would still be hurting
him bit. She said it hurt more than any other
Grand Slam loss. That wouldn't be totally surprising that it
could still be lingering smaller events straight after. It's hard
to pick yourself up again for those.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
I think so, and possibly not the most amazing crowds
there in the Middle East as well, and that possibly
that's what she loves playing for is the crowd and
the entertainment factor as well. And I think the tennis
season is quite long, so there's probably going to be
some sort of ebbs and flows with the motivation and
the energy. So like you said, Dan, she probably took
(31:29):
that strain open lost very very hard, so maybe probably
takes her a few weeks to get over that one.
But where else to sort of get that motivation back
then Indian Welles, and I think she'll be ready and
rare to go well.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Most of the big men will be there too, of course,
no Yannick Sinner sitting out for a few months until Rome,
but it'll be alex Verev, Carlos al Karez, the defending champ,
Taylor Fritz and Novak Djokovic among some of the big names.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
I'm kind of interested to see how Daniel Medvedev goes
as well. He was a finalist last year. We'll have
lots of points to defend. It didn't win a title
last year, so I think that will eventually start to
play on his mind that he's chasing a title again.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
I'll look to some of our Aussies and you know
you've got hopefully Jordan Thompson making his return to the
tour after a bit of a break with his foot.
So I haven't haven't chatted to Tomo, but I'm hoping
he'll be backing the likes of Alexi Popper and Chris O'Connell,
Ranky James Darkwath. So I think a few of these
boys will be in qualifying, but think a great time
(32:31):
for a lot of us, a lot of the Aussies
to make to make some waves there.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Planning to look forward to in Indian Wales, we'll have
Duncan mckeens in mccagu and Danny hunter Kova on the
ground for the tennis so we'll check in with them
on the show next week for their preview of the tournament.
Heaps to look forward to in one of the most
beautiful settings in world tennis. All right, Vivia, and you've
got the reins from brief for Viv's top five. What
are we doing this week?
Speaker 6 (32:56):
Well, we're doing top five teenage Champions on the back
of Mira Andreva winning her title in Dubai.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
I thought it was very topical.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
I like it. Well, you know how this works. We
count down from five to one. Feel free to interject
with your thoughts along the way. Lets start us off five.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Well, we're gonna start with jail Fonseka winning his title
in Areas last month.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, just last month.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
So he carried through the momentum of winning the next
Gen ATP Finals. We know that he won the Cambridge
Challenger here, had a great Australian Open. But yeah, he
becomes he won his first title at age eighteen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
He joins names like Leyton.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
Hewart, Kane, Shikori, Referenado and Carlos Alcarez as a teenage
champion on the ATP tour.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Hot start to your top five, viv And.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
Next on the list we have Mira Androva. So how
could we leave Mira out After that incredible week that
she has. She becomes the youngest champion of a WTA
one thousand tournaments. So that format has been in place
for sixteen years, just one year less than Mira's age
of seventeen. But yeah, I think she shows such composure
(34:05):
for a young player.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
We talked about that earlier.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
She says she's wept on her anger management, so on court,
I love her relationship with Concitta Martinez, which is, you know,
it's more than a year old now, they obviously work
so well together. And again, as I said earlier, I
think it's it's.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
All upside for her. She just gives this vibe of
a lot of great things to come.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
I like how she said about the Martinez coaching player relationship.
She said, I've made her funnier. Martin said that mirat Concitta,
she said, I've brought humor to her.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, that's great tongue cheek, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
But number three.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
View, number three on the list, we have Egos fiontech.
So she was only nineteen when she won Roland Gross
in twenty twenty, so that was an incredible tournament for her.
She took down Simona Hallop along the way, who was
a former champion.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
She didn't drop a set for the.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
Whole tournament that year, So she went on to become
the youngest champion since Rafael Nadal at the tournament in
two thousand and five, and the youngest women's champion since
Monica Sallis in nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Yeah, that was probably the start of what really started
to take notice of Ego, wasn't it? Sure was, yeah,
and now it to five major titles.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Five majors? Yeah? Four of them at the French.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Open, easily chasing double digits. I reckon by the end
of her career, who's it too?
Speaker 6 (35:26):
Viva two, we have Coco GoF So Coco turns twenty
one in March in a couple of weeks. But you
kind of there's this sense around Coco that she's actually
much older than that because she did so much at
such a young age. So she won her first title
in twenty nineteen. She then went on to win five
(35:48):
more titles before she became a US Open champion in
twenty twenty three. So in the final there she beat
Arina Sablenka.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
She had it. That was an incredible final, come from
behind win. So yeah, she definitely number two on the
list for sure.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
She definitely has the game to win multiple majors. Absolutely,
her athleticism and just her game in general. Her serve,
her backhand a absolute world class and just feel like
if she can bring the full hand in and just
keep making gradual improvements, that shot has in particularly improved
a lot over the last couple of years, but it
can still break down in some big matches. So if
(36:23):
she can improve that, I don't almost see anyone beating
her if she can maintain a consistent level.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
So I f Seca, Andreva, Shiontek GoF who's coming in
at one, number one.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
Number one, we have Carlos el Karez, So we already
knew he was an incredible player. By the time we
got to the twenty twenty two US Open, he'd won
numerous titles, including a couple of ATP one thousand Masters titles.
But yeah, it was at the US Open that was
his biggest milestone. He beat Caspar Rude in the final,
but he had three five set matches along the way,
(36:58):
including that incredible quarterfinal was against Yannick Sinner, also beat
Marion Silch, Francis Trfi. But in winning the US Open,
he became the youngest world number one in ATP history.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
I think the question mark on Carlos is the body
and staying injury free, because he's just having a few injuries,
and he's quite young, and he's obviously played such a
physical brand of tennis for already quite a few years,
even though he's in his early twenties. So if you
can stay injury free. Obviously, with Sinner around as well
and a few young guns coming up, including Fonseca, I'll
(37:36):
say that he wins twelve slams, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Any little number to end up on. But yeah, I agree,
it's his body and then your motivation. How long can
you sustain that if you're getting injured. And he even
said last year he lost a lot of motivation. It
kind of happened after the Olympics, but he didn't say
it was purely because of that, And it took him
until Beijing, not that long, but he captured the title
(38:01):
there and it was started to kick things along again.
But yeah, I think injury's motivation is his biggest enemy there.
Speaker 6 (38:09):
It's so interesting to hear you say that because I
remember early in my tennis writing career I used to
say the same thing about Raphael Nadal, So, you know,
the style of.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Game that he played, and you know, just having.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
To keep up all of the you know, everything that
he needed to maintain in terms of motivation. So I
was very happy to be proven wrong on that front.
And I hope it's the same.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah. Indeed, how many times did Rafa surprise us with
his little We've all thought it was over in twenty
fifteen or sixteen with the shoulder, and then wins another six.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
Or seven kept coming back, so incredible inspiration for Carlos
there as well.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Well, I'm viv that was a that was an excellent
top five.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I'm glad you enjoyed, John top.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Five teenage titleist. Congratulations to our winners. Okay, time for
Ace of the Week. We each share a highlight from
our weeks and I might throw it over to you,
Luke to kick us off.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
Thanks Johnny. Yes, I'm home for a few weeks now
and my next trip is to Europe. I'm taking a
bunch of our best twelve and four Dane juniors to
Europe for two and a half weeks on the clay
and it's part of the Alex Dimonaar Foundation. So Alex
has a real drive to help and mentor our next
(39:16):
crop of juniors, especially the twelves and fourteens, and I
think he feels that a big part of his development
when he was young, getting on the clay in Europe
that really assisted in his development and the player and
the person he is today. So he really has a
strong drive to give back to the next generation of
Australian juniors and so yeah, I'm part of I think
(39:37):
it made sense with our relationship Alex, my you know,
we get along very well and for me to be
the coach there and hopefully instill some of the values
that Alex so strongly believes into these juniors and he
really wants to be involved in the next crop of
Australians coming through. And it's just another feather in his
(39:57):
cap of the champion play, not only player, but the
person he is.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
How many children are you're taking over?
Speaker 4 (40:05):
There's five on the trip and there's two other coaches.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Nice. Oh that's pretty good ratio. Then yeah, you won't
be overcome.
Speaker 4 (40:12):
No, no, so it will be fantastic. I think even
for me when I got on the clay as a
young sort of twelve fourteen year old going to Europe,
it was very important for me to see the level.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Enjoy that Dan your ace of the weeks.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
Yeah, mine's nowhere near that exciting. But had a couple
of Adelaide based European friends visit last weekend and did
all the touristic things, rode bikes around in thirty four
degree heat, and neither of them were game to drink
Melbourne's tapwater.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Really for them drink of water, they wouldn't touch it.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
I don't know how bad that tapwater is in Adelaide,
but they took some convincing and I've since looked it up.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
It's meant to be one of the best quality drinking
waters in.
Speaker 5 (40:52):
The world Melbourne's yes. Yeah, So they soon got over
this little hurdle because they had a big drive ahead
of them. Where are they from and Spain but live
in Adelaide.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, okay, I don't know any well, essay insights just
really quickly.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
So I was born in the country country Riverland in
South Australia and we moved to Adelaid when I was
ten and my mum and I we weren't able to
drink the Adelaide water for it is. We were only
hooked onto rainwater back home, so we had to bring
gallons and big bottles we go home every weekend. So
I'm sorry Adelaide people, but the Rainford is much better.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
So they had a point.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Your friends sounded scarred from the words in the City
of Churches. Oh that's good. So you were playing tour guide.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
I didn't. I let them guide themselves. I just offered
the water.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
The water boy, I love it. Good stuff. Dan im
Hoff viv over to you your ace of the week.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
My ace of the week is it's actually something that's
coming up. So I'm about to head off on some
malive from next week. So this time next week I
will be on my way to Cape Town, inside Africa.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
So yes, I'm looking forward.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
To spending a couple of weeks with family connection.
Speaker 6 (41:59):
There is a fan connection, family friends, but yeah, it's
just a place that I love to spend time.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
I've not yet been to South Africa, but my South
African wife is doing everything in her power to get
me over there.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I would highly recommend it.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
She's from Pretoria though, so a little bit of a
different experience because Cape Town's what It's a sea city,
right it is.
Speaker 6 (42:18):
It is a seaside city. There's mountains, there's wineries. There's
a lot to see in Cape Town. But we'll be
traveling around a bit as well, so we'll be driving
back to Joe Berger along the Garden route. So yeah,
I would recommend it.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Amazing there you go for me.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
All is in readiness, ladies and gentlemen and listeners and viewers.
I think we're thirteen days to go till the due
date of our daughter, and next week on the show
will be my last episode in the hosting chair forever,
not forever, just for the actually for four episodes. But
I am looking forward to to a break. We'd call
(42:51):
it a break. It's a break of sorts, but where
it's a staycation. We've got the house ready and the
baby will be joining us very soon. Elmy is very
ready to get this over and done with.
Speaker 6 (43:02):
I can imagine that's a really special time and an
exciting time.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
So we wish you all the best for them.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
You can join us again next week for the Tennis.
Don't forget. You can watch this episode and all of
the episodes of the Tennis on the Australian Open YouTube channel. Luke,
thanks for joining us today, Thanks Johnny, and thanks Vero.
Thanks Dan, Dan love your insights.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Thank you good to be back.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Catch you on oz open dot com throughout the week.
You will, Lovely and Viv. When's the next mag out? First? John,
there is a.
Speaker 6 (43:27):
Mag out now, so yeah, I should have brought a copy,
but yeah, you'll find it online.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Thanks to you as well. I'd like to also thank
myself for all my hard work throughout this week and
throughout the show, and don't forget to subscribe to the
Tennis to never miss an episode all year long, Have
a great week in tennis, and we'll catch you next week.
Good day everyone, and welcome to the tennis. Riley Opelke
has taken aim at doubles, Miron Drever's history making Win
in the Desert, and Ossie Women on the Rise. That's
just a sample of what's ahead on the tennis today
with me. John huvenis writing Shotgun Today. From the sit
Down is Viv Christy. Welcome Viv.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thanks John. It's always great to be here in Podlover arena.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Lovely to have you filling in for Brie, who's away
for another week of well deserved leave. On the other
side of the table. From oz open dot com, Dan
him Hoff is back, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Down, Thanks John. Good to be back back in the
studio for change.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, it's a lovely change of scenery for you and
the coach of Darius Saville Luke Saville.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thanks Johnny.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
It still sounds a little interesting, little strange, but great
to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I mean, I could have picked any number of titles
for you, but I think that's the most relevant one
at the moment right.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
It is a it's a period of transition for me
and really enjoying it. It just had a bit of
a bit of a stint in the Middle East with
her and back home now doing a little bit of
coaching here and there myself and surprisingly enough, well not surprisingly,
but she's having a great run this week in Brita.
So it's great to see.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, doing wonderful things among a lot of ossies down
this week. Who we're going to be chatting about on
the show today.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Who will particularly the Uzzy girl's doing really well, a
bit of a rankings milestone there.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
We'll touch on that later.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Of course, absolutely, and viv you'll give us the latest
and what's happening in the sit down because a great
episode coming up next Monday.
Speaker 6 (01:26):
Yeah, we've we as we've talked about, we had the
chance to do a lot of interviews over the summer
and one of those was with Ivan Lubacik and it
was one of my favorite interviews.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, as we like to do off the top, what's
caught your eye, and we're going to start with you,
Luke Saville, what's caught your eye in the world of
tennis this week?
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Well, Johnny mine is Riley Opelker's comments about doubles not
so positive. It's fair to say what some negative comments.
He's been very outspoken in the past, and I believe
you've got the comments there front.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, so he wrote this on social media. He said
they should one hundred percent get rid of dubs. Now,
I think he's come back and sort of alerted that
that particular statement was made with a little bit of sarcasm.
But it goes on. It's for failed singles players. There's
no such thing as a doubles specialist. They don't sell
a single ticket, They take up practice courts, physios resources,
(02:18):
they don't turn a profit, and they complain that they
don't make enough money. That's pretty greedy behavior if you
ask me. Now, it's got the tennis world in a spin.
But I want to get your reaction first. What do
you think of Riley's remarks about doubles.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
They're pretty strong comments, aren't they. And I think it
was very interesting listening to Fitzi's comments a few weeks
ago on the AO podcast, and he mentioned something like
pickleball with the kitchen, I think, not being able to
get so close to the nets, and I think that's
been I don't played much pickleball myself, but that's been
a very sort of productive rule in that sort of format.
(02:55):
And I just feel like tennis doubles has just lost
little bit of its entertainment and probably at skill level
a little bit as well. And I've been guilty of
that as well, because I think if you're not crowding
the net and using those skills, you're going to be
left behind. So I just feel like something like that
where it just stops, particularly in men's doubles as well,
(03:17):
where it's so dominated by the serve to get the
net players back a little bit and just sort of
incorporating a little more skill, sort of ther first volleys
and a bit more of the doubles prowess that was
probably they're a bit more evident quite a few years ago.
So sort of feel like, you know, obviously the US
Open have made big waves in basically getting rid of
(03:41):
the mixed doubles and making it basically like an exhibition unfortunately,
and I just hope that that's just not one of
many things to come with the doubles formats. And I
still feel like there's great entertainment value, but I just
feel like there's probably a little tweak that could be
made in the game of doubles to make it a
little more entertaining, maybe with longer rallies again, especially in
(04:03):
the men's doubles, where I think it's just a lot
of sort of serve return, you know, folly put away.
So I think it's very interesting.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
I think what I found most interesting about his comment
is that it's for failed singles players. I totally I
don't agree with that statement at all. You know, we've
seen so many singles players that have actually thrived in
doubles before they've won a Grand Slam title, for example,
So Martina Hingis is one that springs to mind. She
won with Jana Navotna at Wimbledon, and then the following
(04:32):
year she went on to win three of the four
Grand Slams in singles. I think doubles provides an incredible
foundation for a lot of players, and we actually had
the chance to ask Martina about that on the sit
down and she talked about, you know, it just prepares
you for that big stage. So yeah, I think singles,
I mean, doubles provides a great foundation for singles, and
(04:54):
you know, doubles has it's built the game in a
lot of places.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
As well, especially here in Australia.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
You know, we talk about our golden era of tennis
and you know, all of the players who thrived in
singles in that golden era that you know, I'm talking
in the fifties the sixties, they loved to play doubles.
There was kind of that real camaraderie and I think
that we're seeing a lot of that again in today's game.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
And Rohan Bapana, a current doubles player obviously from India,
had a really good response to it, saying he didn't
necessarily make it in singles, but what he's been able
to make it at doubles.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
He's been able to pour a lot of that.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Back into his community and I think he cited more
than thirty girls he's managed to educate under privileged children
in India. So that's a massive gateway that we probably
don't even consider sometimes, you know how important that impact
could be and just how big of a reach doubles
has that not everyone sees on the surface.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Absolutely, look at Sonya Merza, who thrived in doubles, and
you know she's provided a wonderful example for so many
girls in India as well.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Mahshba Pati is another.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
Indian player who you know, made a lot of you know,
achieved a lot in doubles. And has also inspired a
lot of players. We spoke to sum Negual on the
sit down and he attended his academy and that was
a life changing experience for him. So again, I just
think that Doubles leads to so many wonderful, other wonderful things.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Lepelk has certainly said a cat amongst the pigeons, but
I think Andy Roddick has sort of been someone who
might not have fully agreed with Riley, but has supported
his right to have his opinion and kind of has
given credit to people players who are prepared to put
their opinions out there, because you don't see it every
day players being this forward about their opinions on effectively,
(06:45):
what are other peers in the game.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, I really don't. And the one thing is just
so black and white Riley Opelger's comment as well, and
just no sort of leeway, there's no flexibility. And I mean,
I'm sure he doesn't even chat to a lot of
the Doubles players as well, have really any relationships with
so I think just getting to know some of them,
know their story, their background, because just saying the failed
(07:08):
singles players, that's just completely false. And I think, you know,
maybe he could go and play some doubles and see
if he can make it. There's nothing, there's nothing stopping
is it? So very strong comments and very good for conversation.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
And surely doubles is fun. I know that you've played
a lot of doubles and done a lot in doubles,
but the team element, I mean, surely that's fun.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
It really is. And a lot of my greatest achievements
came in the doubles format in my career, and it
allowed me to play Davis carp Olympics so represent my country,
which I'm forever grateful for and some of my biggest achievements.
So I love the game of doubles, the camaraderie. Everyone
says I sort of get like a man possessed when
I get on doubles quarter I had to bring that
(07:51):
in my singles, so that sort of energy, a lot
of jumping around in my arms, do strange things when
I play doubles. So especially here at this Train Open
and going out playing doubles as well, making the third
round and absolutely loved it. So I think there's definitely
a place for doubles.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Absolutely absolutely going nowhere here at the OZ Open where
we do sell plenty of tickets for the doubles, both men's,
women's and also mixed. Let's move on from that now,
Viv what's caught your eye in the tennis world this week?
Speaker 6 (08:17):
Well, what's caught my I was really pleased to see
Andre Rublev back in the winner's circle in Doha, So,
you know, it's been it's been quite a journey for
him in tennis in recent times. You know, I think
we all remember he got defaulted in Dubai a year ago,
so it was good for him to go back to
that part of the world and sort of I guess
rewrite the story of what happened there, But yeah, he
(08:40):
had an incredible run there in Doha. He three of
his matches went to three sets. He beat Dimonor, Felix Augier,
Elysium and Jack Draper in the finals. I had to
fight pretty hard in all of those matches. It's the
first title he's won twice in his career, so seventeenth
career title, but the first one first mournament his one twice.
(09:01):
And yeah, he has been very open recently about some
struggles with depression and his mental health, so he talked
again about that after the final.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You know, he talked about Marette Saffon having helped him.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
Sort of turn his game or he's not his game,
but he's sorry that mistality.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, he's mentally.
Speaker 6 (09:21):
So he's been very open about you know who he's
reached out to for support, including Marat Saffen, his countryman,
particularly after Wimbledon last year when he lost in the
first round. Yeah, and he's just I think he's inspired
a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
It's really great to see, you know, someone in this
day and age being so open about that side of it,
because there's a lot of perks on the tour, you know,
traveling and being a professional tennis layer, but there's some
parts that are quite difficult as well, a traveling component
being away from loved ones, friends and family. So it's
great to see and you know, he's been one of
(09:56):
those players that have been in the top ten but
just sort of struggling to probably make waves at Grand Slams.
He's playing in a pretty tough era right now and
probably similar to like a David Ferrer when such an
amazing player, but just very tough when they've got three
or four very very good players. So it's yeah, I
watched a little bit of the Alex demon Ar match
(10:17):
there in Dubai and in Doha, sorry, and that was
a very topsy turvy one. I think rub Lev had
his first match point at five to two and then
they played a ten eight tirebreak thirds at tirebreak. So
great to see that he's been struggling a little bit
but staying with the process and winning that title.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I think it was like seven or eight match points.
Speaker 6 (10:39):
I can't remember the exact number, but there were a
lot of match points before he won that dim and
all match, So you kind of wonder if that was
a turning point for his whole tournament really, and I.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Think there are a few of the matches went to
deciding said tiebreaks, which he'd kind of been losing a
few of them in the last year or two, so
I think this will do This was really important for him.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Ossie Open first round.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Of course, he lost to von Zecra as well, so
that's not a terrible loss, but given the run he's had,
that just would have compounded things again and again, you know,
kick all these early round exits to finally pull through
a big title like that and beat the caliber players
that he beat too.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, you love to.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Say congratulations to andre rub Lev. Also last week in
Rio de Janeiro, it was Sebastian Bayaz who took the title.
There he defeated Alexandra Mulla in the final. Well what
about you, Dan, what's caught your eye?
Speaker 5 (11:31):
In the world of tennis, Similarly, while rub Lev was
doing well, it was mirror Andreva winning her first WTA
one thousand event in Huge Dubai, which looks she'd already
reached a Slam semi in Paris last year, but I
feel like this.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
One might have been more of.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
An announcement of her arrival, more confirmation that she can
actually beat these big names now. She beat three Slam
champion von Drusiva, Sion Tech and Rebakna along the way
before Clara Tolson in the final.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So that's champions, three of them, three.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Of them Grand Sam champions.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
She's the youngest to crack the top ten since Nicole
Vitis over in two thousand and seven, which is pretty
remarkable just to reel off a few more of those
youngest since stats only the fifth player to win two
titles before turning eighteen. And he guesses who the youngest
tour titleist might have been and what.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Age before before the youngest WTA. Yeah, not not necessarily
WTA one thousand.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Yeah, it's got to be Capriarti it is.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
It was you us somewhere in the It was Puerto
Rico fourteen years and six months. So that's obviously not
possible anymore because of the eighth restrictions. So yeah, seventh
player in the past thirty is to make her top
ten deboo before her eighteenth birthday. I will reel off
these names. So the others are Hingus, Venus Williams and
(13:08):
a corner Kova, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapover and Vitis Over.
Keep in mind, two of those never did win Slam,
so it's no guarantee she's going to go all the way,
but she's in pretty good company.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I loved her acceptance speech as well.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
She thanked she did all the right things, she thanked
her team the tournament, and then she thanked herself.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, let's take a listen.
Speaker 7 (13:30):
And last but not least, I would like to thank me.
I know what I have been dealing with, and I
just want to thank me for always believing in me.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And I wanna.
Speaker 7 (13:58):
Thank mer and I were quitting and always dealing with
her pressure and today was not easy, but I chose
to be there one hundred percent. So I thank myself
for d and I hope to see you all soon
somewhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
How charming was that speech?
Speaker 6 (14:23):
I love mer Andrew. I'm not going to hide that.
She's another sit down guest that we had. We talked
to her Wimbledon last year and she was fantastic. She's
just she's just so naturally bubbly, and you know, she
asked her age, you know, as well while doing all
these incredible things on court.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
She's innocently funny, isn't she. She doesn't even realize she's
off the calf. She's very natural, you know, do you reckon?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
She realized that she was quoting Snoop Dogg in that
acceptance speech. I didn't think she did.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I think it was just purely from the heart.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
I wasn't cool enough to know that she was quoting
Snoop Dogg until.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
After the fast a smile on her face that suggested
she knew something.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, I think it just came across so humble as well.
There's probably there's probably a sort of an arrogant way
that that speech could come across. But I got zero
sense of that, just so humble, and I think she'd
been thinking about it for a while because she started
saying then laughed a little bit. The crowd laughs. So
but I actually loved it. I mean the start of
the speech she thanked everyone, thanked her team, the opponent,
(15:26):
the tournament, everyone that's helped her. And then to finish
that off, And I think it's important for the athletes.
Obviously you need a support team, of course, but you've
got to thank yourself. You've got to believe in yourself.
Otherwise she wouldn't be there, and it's great to sort
of recognize that in a funny way in a speech.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, it's worth pointing out too.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
She's one of only two teenagers in the top one hundred,
and she's ahead by an enormous margin.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
The other is a top one hundred debutante.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
And that'll be my joint the young Aussie eighteen year
old who'll come in at At the moment she's live ranked,
I think eighty eighth could go up further if she
keeps going in Mereda.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, that's right, So she's in Mereda this week among
a number of Ozzie's doing great stuff, including your wife Dasher,
as we've touched on already. But let's go further down
that rabbit hole because this could be a historic week
for Australian women's tennis. Viv Dan has mentioned Maya joint
up to eighty eight in the live rankings, Olivia Gadecki
(16:26):
was already inside the top one hundred, and we've also
got in there Kim Birel out Ossie number one, from
whom we heard last week it's seventy five. We haven't
had three Ossie women inside the top one hundred since
Ash Barti retired in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
Yeah, I think it's it's a great week for Ozzie
women's tennis already. You know, there's been a lot of
focus on the men, fairly so with Alex Dimeno doing
so well, but we've known that, you know, there were
so many women that was sort of just outside that
group and waiting to sort of make that leap, And
isn't it wonderful to say see it actually happened.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Thinking ow sit down at the New Core Metal, I
was saying that there's a lot of focus on the
men at the moment, but I was really looking at
the next crop of Australian women and I really felt
at the end of this year twenty twenty five, we
could have five, six seven women in the top one hundred,
and we've got three and I'm hoping Dasha becomes a
fourth quite soon. And I've got Eiler and then you know,
(17:24):
Tarlie Gibson's playing great tennis. Madison English, Emerson Jones, maybe
not this year, she's got a little bit of time
up her sleeve, but tracking incredibly well. So Priscilla Hon.
I think there's a great crop there and it's fantastic
to see. I think Kim's playing great right now. She's
had an amazing start to the year, sitting at seventy
(17:45):
five and still going this week in Austin and my
joint sitting at the live ranking of eighty eight, and
Chris Marney is doing a fantastic job with her, so
shout out to Chris. And she's just taking all in
her stride so she's not getting too overawed. Great to see, so.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Round of sixteen in Meredith at the moment. Let's stay
there for a moment because we do want to acknowledge
that Dara is the first woman through to the to
the quarterfinals in Mereda after knocking off Anhelna Kalinina this
morning as we record this podcast in three sets. She
also beat Marta Costuk, the sixth seed yesterday. I actually
(18:22):
didn't watch that match, but tell us about that match,
because that's a formidable seed to take down.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yeah, it was a great match. She won six, four, seven, six,
And I was actually at the match where she played
her at Wimbledon, and she was leading a set and
five two serving, so she went down in three sets there.
So that was a tough one. But I felt like
Dasha after that previous performance, had the belief that she
could go out there and win that one. And I
think getting two wins in qualifying as well was super important.
(18:49):
The conditions are a little bit different there in Mexico
compared to the Middle East where Dasha came from. So
to come through qualities and to win two matches in
main draw, she was struggling a little bit prior to this,
especially in the Middle East and even during the Australian summer,
to be honest, but we were staying in the process.
We're staying very process orientated and doing a lot of
(19:09):
the right things, and Dash's been fantastic. She acknowledged that
she wasn't playing her best tennis, but she was working
so hard every day and we felt like the practice
is very good, but we need to make that transfer
to matches, and it feels like it's paying off this week.
So I'm very proud of her.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
That must have been a huge weightlifted that first round,
particularly given she hadn't won a main draw match for
quite a while.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Yeah, for sure, and even playing Ellen Perez's first round qualities.
I'm not sure if anyone saw that one, but Ellen
hasn't played many singles matches in the past few years,
so they're great friends as well. So to get through that,
get through qualities. She had a really good win last
round qualities as well against Lepchenko, who's a fantastic player.
So to beat cost Shuk and sitting in the quarterfinals,
she's a little bit tired, but hot, humid conditions there.
(19:57):
She's got a day off tomorrow and then possibly look
at a quarter final match with Powler Bidosa, so it
doesn't get too much harder than that one. But very
very happy where she's aden a much needed sort of
run this week.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Jacqueline Christian and Powler Bidosa to playoff in a round
of sixteen match later today as we record this, my
joint the other Aussie there, Dan, as you mentioned, she's
through to a round of sixteen clash with Donna Vekisch.
Should be a tough one for her back, not beyond her.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Tough one of Herbert.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
I think she's playing amazingly this first couple of months
of the year and loving the hard courts. She's not
sure in confidence at all. Vekich, on the other hand,
not in the greatest form at the moment. She's struggling
a little bit. So that's a definitely winnable match for
my joint.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Great and viv over in Austin with a couple of
other ossies in action a La Tom Ladovich will be
taking on Kim Berrel If Kim gets through her round
of sixteen match against Shibahara, and it's kind of a
win win in that. If Beryl wins, well, she continues
on her merry way. If she loses, Tom Lanovich advance
into the top one hundred.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
Yeah, it is a win either way, isn't it. Let's
just look at it like that. I think it must
be so tough when the Aussies have to play each other,
as you just alluded to, Luke, But yeah, I think
it's great to see. And again it shows that there's numbers.
There's numbers in Ozzie women's tennis, and if they have
to face each other in those matches, there's always a
positive that comes from it.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Jess Bergoula is the top seed in Austin, a big
favorite to win that we've already seen the elimination of
a couple of the higher seeds, including pet sorry, including
Peyton Sterns and also Yuan Yuat who Kim Berrell took
down in the round of thirty two. So that's what's
happening in Austin. Also, storm Hunter made her comeback in
(21:41):
the doubles, I think got all the way to a
deep into a third set match tiebreak and didn't come
away with a win, but just so wonderful to see
her back on court.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Absolutely, And I think she posted something on Instagram of
early days or a video of early days of her
rehab process and just said she's never been so happy
to losing a super tie break and just great that
she came out of it, you know, feeling good physically,
and Storm is absolutely flushing the ball. I did some
sessions with her and she's hitting the ball fantastically well.
(22:13):
So if she can to stay on court, don't get
too sore. I'm sure the results will come thick and
fast for Storm.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Plenty more of the tennis coming up, including the men
in Dubai and Akapulco, plus our preview of Indian Wells
next week. Stay tuned. So the men are in Dubai
this week and well, some big storylines coming out. I
think the main one from an Aussie perspective is that
Marion Chilich has knocked off two Aussies in as many days,
(22:41):
starting with Alex Demenorviv and then Alexi popronovernight.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
I don't know what it is about Maroon Chilich and
the Aussie players, but he's having an incredible run there
in Dubai.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
And you know, we know.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
He's a great hardcourt player, He's a former US Open
champion and you know, just a really solid player all
around who has struggled with injuries over the past few years.
So you know, it's not surprising that he would have
a run like this, and you know, I believe his
game is very suited to Dubai as well.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
He hadn't been on many people's radars, but that's his
first top ten win the demonoll one since twenty twenty
two and somewhat of a late career resurgence from the croast.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
It is, But keep in mind he won his first
tournament back last year in China, which was a two fifty.
I know it wasn't as strong as this, but he's
still capable of pulling off good results like this here
and there. It's probably more about getting in the rhythm
and keeping his body right at that age because it's
been I think a pretty tough few years for him,
and the confidence probably dissipates a bit there as well.
(23:43):
But that's an impressive run. Both those players, particularly demon
or the quicker surface there probably suits Filage to hit
through it. I imagine Popriin won his first match in a while,
so he won't be totally disappointed, but still he would
have seen that as a winnable match.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
What are the.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Challenges for a big player like Chilich you know later
in life? Because as Dan touched on that, that win
over Demono's no mean, feat, what are the challenges for
big players in the twilight of their careers.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Well, yeah, it's obviously Excuse me, it's obviously the injury
side as well. Being bigger, there's probably a few more
niggles that can go wrong as well. And I was
there for the w T A tournament in Dubai a
week or so ago, and it's very fast conditions there,
so it wasn't surprising to me that when I saw
that draw, I thought it was going to be quite
(24:36):
difficult for Alex Demenaar and I just sort of felt
like on a slower court, Alex will be able to
stretch out the rallies, move Chilich around a little bit
more and make a little more physical But on those
fast courts there, I think Chilich was able to shorten
the rallies play quite aggressive, quite big, and serve enormous
as well. So probably just one of those ones where
Alex came in and probably tried to find a little
(24:59):
bit of rhythm early, unable to define his feed and
lost in three sets.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Unfortunately. Vivas the first time we've seen Alex at this
tournament in Dubai. He won Acapulco the previous two years
and therefore has missed out on defending those points, so
that puts his top ten spot in jeopardy.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
Yeah, I was, I was looking at that earlier. I
don't believe he'll quite full out of the top ten.
It was an interesting decision that he chose to play
Dubai rather than Akapolco because he's played so well in
that tournament over the past two years. So I'm not
sure of the reasoning, but yeah, it's very surprising to me.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
What do you reckon?
Speaker 5 (25:35):
I think I'm not sure the reasoning, but he was
five points ahead of Tommy Paul. If Tommy Paul won
his next match against Marcus Chiron, he would have leapfrogged him.
But he's just filled out, so number nine he'll stay
for now. I think Sitzipass, though, could still pass him.
He's about three hundred behind him.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
So Sitzipas now has Berettini, who's also entered the top third.
I think okay, so his climb continues. Bear Attini, have
you got any insights on why Alex might have chosen
to shun Akapulco. Do you reckon it be a money
thing or perhaps a kate to be closer to Katie
who was also playing in the area.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
I just feel like I don't know the reason, but
the week before so Doha, there was no hard court
events in North America for Alex to play. The only
one was was Rio, So I'm assuming that Alex didn't
want to go from clay onto the hard court. It
is wanted that continuity and consistency of surface, so he
was going to get that for Doha and Dubai. I
(26:37):
just played the two five hundreds in the Middle East,
and I'm assuming he really likes the conditions there in
the Middle East as well. Alex he plays very well
on FASc plays well on sort of any surface as well.
But I just think he wanted to go there after
Rotterdam when he had that week off. He made the
fine on Rotterdam, of course, and just sort of have
that consistency. Has had the hip issue as well, so
(27:00):
I feel like he just doesn't want to hop around
from surface to surface. Just one of that hard court continuity.
And now he's got a week to prepare for Indian Welles.
I believe he he just arrived there, so it's got
some great preparation there. He's had a fantastic start to
the year, so I think he can put that probably
a bit of a disappointing Middle East swing behind him
and get ready for the North American swing.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
So the quarter finalists in Dubai, it'll be Medvedev the
top seed against Talon, Greek spor Stefano sits a pass
against Barrettini. As I mentioned, Sitzipas defeated Karen Hutchenoff for
a ninth time from ten meetings. He'll take on his
good mate Bretini. Now Luca Nadi the lucky loser taking
on Quentin Halis the qualifier, and Felix Augier Alisim against
(27:43):
Murran Chiliic with his projected ranking who entered that tournament.
And over in Akapulco a few Ozzi is there, Rinky
Hijakarta knocked out by David Goffahn in the round of sixteen.
There'll be Goffan taking on Ben Shelton there, so round
of thirty two. So into the round of sixteen now
for Gofan and Alex Zverev took care of Mateo Analdi.
(28:05):
He takes on leern at Tien. That's going to be
a fascinating contest. Both had pretty charmed runs in Melbourne,
contrasting styles. But learner Tien Dan just going from strength
to strength.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Yeah, he really is after that, as you said, the
run in Melbourne where he beat Medvedev, I think save
match points. Even made the fourth round as a qualifier
and he's only eighteen, so he's backing that up.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Clearly loves the hard courts. Zverev's a good test for him.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
I mean, he's got absolutely nothing to lose there, So
two good wins already Analdi Nori, Sorry ignore that he didn't.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
That's right, a good.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Win coming off a good win there against Norri. So
I think he'll come out swinging all.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Right plenty to keep our eyes on as we head
into Indian Wells next week. We'll have all the results
from Akapulco and Dubai next week on the show. Well,
where are we going to start? We'll start with the women.
I think igsh Fiontek the defending champion at Indian Wells.
The tournament kick off March five, and great to have
men and women in one combined one thousand event.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Vig Yeah, I think it's always fun when you've got
the men and women competing at the same tournament. It's
just a different vibe. And we know that Indian Wells
is a really popular tournament with the players, and there
is always lots kind of happening. There's lots of celebrities,
there's you know, lots of events happening off the court.
So yeah, it's always a fun tournament to look forward to.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
So who you're keeping your eye on down well, Maria
Sakari had a good run last year and hasn't had
much of a run since, so she's got an awful
lot of points there to defend after reaching the final.
I think she lost Eager quite easily there in the final,
but yeah, a lot of points coming off for her,
so pressures on there.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Eager too would be pretty keen.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
To back it up because it was about this time
last year that she started to find a form again.
It'll be good tests for the Eager whim for set
coaching partnership. They needed a big title, I think soon.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Who would have thought would be entering March and Indian
Wells and from the top three players in the world,
we've only got one title to be shown for which
is Arena Sable Anchor up in Brisbane this year.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Yeah, it's a strange one and sable anchor didn't have
the greatest Middle East swing as well, so she was
struggling there a little bit. So I'm sure she's looking
for a bounce back at Indian Wells. But they caught
the fifth Grand Slam and fantastic weather, great golf around there,
so I've always loved Indian Wells. But yeah, looking forward
to the two week event like a Grand Slam and
(30:32):
should be very exciting to watch the top women in
the world go at it.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Arena talked in the Middle East about she's been struggling
a little bit with motivation, which I found quite interesting.
You know, she's world number one, is it kind of like,
you know, is she struggling to find a goal?
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I don't know. I think this will be a really
interesting test for her.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
I think the loss two keys would still be hurting
him bit. She said it hurt more than any other
Grand Slam loss. That wouldn't be totally surprising that it
could still be lingering smaller events straight after. It's hard
to pick yourself up again for those.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
I think so, and possibly not the most amazing crowds
there in the Middle East as well, and that possibly
that's what she loves playing for is the crowd and
the entertainment factor as well. And I think the tennis
season is quite long, so there's probably going to be
some sort of ebbs and flows with the motivation and
the energy. So like you said, Dan, she probably took
(31:29):
that strain open lost very very hard, so maybe probably
takes her a few weeks to get over that one.
But where else to sort of get that motivation back
then Indian Welles, and I think she'll be ready and
rare to go well.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Most of the big men will be there too, of course,
no Yannick Sinner sitting out for a few months until Rome,
but it'll be alex Verev, Carlos al Karez, the defending champ,
Taylor Fritz and Novak Djokovic among some of the big names.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
I'm kind of interested to see how Daniel Medvedev goes
as well. He was a finalist last year. We'll have
lots of points to defend. It didn't win a title
last year, so I think that will eventually start to
play on his mind that he's chasing a title again.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
I'll look to some of our Aussies and you know
you've got hopefully Jordan Thompson making his return to the
tour after a bit of a break with his foot.
So I haven't haven't chatted to Tomo, but I'm hoping
he'll be backing the likes of Alexi Popper and Chris O'Connell,
Ranky James Darkwath. So I think a few of these
boys will be in qualifying, but think a great time
(32:31):
for a lot of us, a lot of the Aussies
to make to make some waves there.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Planning to look forward to in Indian Wales, we'll have
Duncan mckeens in mccagu and Danny hunter Kova on the
ground for the tennis so we'll check in with them
on the show next week for their preview of the tournament.
Heaps to look forward to in one of the most
beautiful settings in world tennis. All right, Vivia, and you've
got the reins from brief for Viv's top five. What
are we doing this week?
Speaker 6 (32:56):
Well, we're doing top five teenage Champions on the back
of Mira Andreva winning her title in Dubai.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
I thought it was very topical.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
I like it. Well, you know how this works. We
count down from five to one. Feel free to interject
with your thoughts along the way. Lets start us off five.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
Well, we're gonna start with jail Fonseka winning his title
in Areas last month.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, just last month.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
So he carried through the momentum of winning the next
Gen ATP Finals. We know that he won the Cambridge
Challenger here, had a great Australian Open. But yeah, he
becomes he won his first title at age eighteen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
He joins names like Leyton.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
Hewart, Kane, Shikori, Referenado and Carlos Alcarez as a teenage
champion on the ATP tour.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Hot start to your top five, viv And.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
Next on the list we have Mira Androva. So how
could we leave Mira out After that incredible week that
she has. She becomes the youngest champion of a WTA
one thousand tournaments. So that format has been in place
for sixteen years, just one year less than Mira's age
of seventeen. But yeah, I think she shows such composure
(34:05):
for a young player.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
We talked about that earlier.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
She says she's wept on her anger management, so on court,
I love her relationship with Concitta Martinez, which is, you know,
it's more than a year old now, they obviously work
so well together. And again, as I said earlier, I
think it's it's.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
All upside for her. She just gives this vibe of
a lot of great things to come.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
I like how she said about the Martinez coaching player relationship.
She said, I've made her funnier. Martin said that mirat Concitta,
she said, I've brought humor to her.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, that's great tongue cheek, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
But number three.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
View, number three on the list, we have Egos fiontech.
So she was only nineteen when she won Roland Gross
in twenty twenty, so that was an incredible tournament for her.
She took down Simona Hallop along the way, who was
a former champion.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
She didn't drop a set for the.
Speaker 6 (34:58):
Whole tournament that year, So she went on to become
the youngest champion since Rafael Nadal at the tournament in
two thousand and five, and the youngest women's champion since
Monica Sallis in nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Yeah, that was probably the start of what really started
to take notice of Ego, wasn't it? Sure was, yeah,
and now it to five major titles.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Five majors? Yeah? Four of them at the French.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Open, easily chasing double digits. I reckon by the end
of her career, who's it too?
Speaker 6 (35:26):
Viva two, we have Coco GoF So Coco turns twenty
one in March in a couple of weeks. But you
kind of there's this sense around Coco that she's actually
much older than that because she did so much at
such a young age. So she won her first title
in twenty nineteen. She then went on to win five
(35:48):
more titles before she became a US Open champion in
twenty twenty three. So in the final there she beat
Arina Sablenka.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
She had it. That was an incredible final, come from
behind win. So yeah, she definitely number two on the
list for sure.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
She definitely has the game to win multiple majors. Absolutely,
her athleticism and just her game in general. Her serve,
her backhand a absolute world class and just feel like
if she can bring the full hand in and just
keep making gradual improvements, that shot has in particularly improved
a lot over the last couple of years, but it
can still break down in some big matches. So if
(36:23):
she can improve that, I don't almost see anyone beating
her if she can maintain a consistent level.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
So I f Seca, Andreva, Shiontek GoF who's coming in
at one, number one.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
Number one, we have Carlos el Karez, So we already
knew he was an incredible player. By the time we
got to the twenty twenty two US Open, he'd won
numerous titles, including a couple of ATP one thousand Masters titles.
But yeah, it was at the US Open that was
his biggest milestone. He beat Caspar Rude in the final,
but he had three five set matches along the way,
(36:58):
including that incredible quarterfinal was against Yannick Sinner, also beat
Marion Silch, Francis Trfi. But in winning the US Open,
he became the youngest world number one in ATP history.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
I think the question mark on Carlos is the body
and staying injury free, because he's just having a few injuries,
and he's quite young, and he's obviously played such a
physical brand of tennis for already quite a few years,
even though he's in his early twenties. So if you
can stay injury free. Obviously, with Sinner around as well
and a few young guns coming up, including Fonseca, I'll
(37:36):
say that he wins twelve slams, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Any little number to end up on. But yeah, I agree,
it's his body and then your motivation. How long can
you sustain that if you're getting injured. And he even
said last year he lost a lot of motivation. It
kind of happened after the Olympics, but he didn't say
it was purely because of that, And it took him
until Beijing, not that long, but he captured the title
(38:01):
there and it was started to kick things along again.
But yeah, I think injury's motivation is his biggest enemy there.
Speaker 6 (38:09):
It's so interesting to hear you say that because I
remember early in my tennis writing career I used to
say the same thing about Raphael Nadal, So, you know,
the style of.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Game that he played, and you know, just having.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
To keep up all of the you know, everything that
he needed to maintain in terms of motivation. So I
was very happy to be proven wrong on that front.
And I hope it's the same.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah. Indeed, how many times did Rafa surprise us with
his little We've all thought it was over in twenty
fifteen or sixteen with the shoulder, and then wins another six.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
Or seven kept coming back, so incredible inspiration for Carlos
there as well.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Well, I'm viv that was a that was an excellent
top five.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I'm glad you enjoyed, John top.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Five teenage titleist. Congratulations to our winners. Okay, time for
Ace of the Week. We each share a highlight from
our weeks and I might throw it over to you,
Luke to kick us off.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
Thanks Johnny. Yes, I'm home for a few weeks now
and my next trip is to Europe. I'm taking a
bunch of our best twelve and four Dane juniors to
Europe for two and a half weeks on the clay
and it's part of the Alex Dimonaar Foundation. So Alex
has a real drive to help and mentor our next
(39:16):
crop of juniors, especially the twelves and fourteens, and I
think he feels that a big part of his development
when he was young, getting on the clay in Europe
that really assisted in his development and the player and
the person he is today. So he really has a
strong drive to give back to the next generation of
Australian juniors and so yeah, I'm part of I think
(39:37):
it made sense with our relationship Alex, my you know,
we get along very well and for me to be
the coach there and hopefully instill some of the values
that Alex so strongly believes into these juniors and he
really wants to be involved in the next crop of
Australians coming through. And it's just another feather in his
(39:57):
cap of the champion play, not only player, but the
person he is.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
How many children are you're taking over?
Speaker 4 (40:05):
There's five on the trip and there's two other coaches.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Nice. Oh that's pretty good ratio. Then yeah, you won't
be overcome.
Speaker 4 (40:12):
No, no, so it will be fantastic. I think even
for me when I got on the clay as a
young sort of twelve fourteen year old going to Europe,
it was very important for me to see the level.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Enjoy that Dan your ace of the weeks.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
Yeah, mine's nowhere near that exciting. But had a couple
of Adelaide based European friends visit last weekend and did
all the touristic things, rode bikes around in thirty four
degree heat, and neither of them were game to drink
Melbourne's tapwater.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Really for them drink of water, they wouldn't touch it.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
I don't know how bad that tapwater is in Adelaide,
but they took some convincing and I've since looked it up.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
It's meant to be one of the best quality drinking
waters in.
Speaker 5 (40:52):
The world Melbourne's yes. Yeah, So they soon got over
this little hurdle because they had a big drive ahead
of them. Where are they from and Spain but live
in Adelaide.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Yeah, okay, I don't know any well, essay insights just
really quickly.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
So I was born in the country country Riverland in
South Australia and we moved to Adelaid when I was
ten and my mum and I we weren't able to
drink the Adelaide water for it is. We were only
hooked onto rainwater back home, so we had to bring
gallons and big bottles we go home every weekend. So
I'm sorry Adelaide people, but the Rainford is much better.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
So they had a point.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Your friends sounded scarred from the words in the City
of Churches. Oh that's good. So you were playing tour guide.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
I didn't. I let them guide themselves. I just offered
the water.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
The water boy, I love it. Good stuff. Dan im
Hoff viv over to you your ace of the week.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
My ace of the week is it's actually something that's
coming up. So I'm about to head off on some
malive from next week. So this time next week I
will be on my way to Cape Town, inside Africa.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
So yes, I'm looking forward.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
To spending a couple of weeks with family connection.
Speaker 6 (41:59):
There is a fan connection, family friends, but yeah, it's
just a place that I love to spend time.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
I've not yet been to South Africa, but my South
African wife is doing everything in her power to get
me over there.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I would highly recommend it.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
She's from Pretoria though, so a little bit of a
different experience because Cape Town's what It's a sea city,
right it is.
Speaker 6 (42:18):
It is a seaside city. There's mountains, there's wineries. There's
a lot to see in Cape Town. But we'll be
traveling around a bit as well, so we'll be driving
back to Joe Berger along the Garden route. So yeah,
I would recommend it.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Amazing there you go for me.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
All is in readiness, ladies and gentlemen and listeners and viewers.
I think we're thirteen days to go till the due
date of our daughter, and next week on the show
will be my last episode in the hosting chair forever,
not forever, just for the actually for four episodes. But
I am looking forward to to a break. We'd call
(42:51):
it a break. It's a break of sorts, but where
it's a staycation. We've got the house ready and the
baby will be joining us very soon. Elmy is very
ready to get this over and done with.
Speaker 6 (43:02):
I can imagine that's a really special time and an
exciting time.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
So we wish you all the best for them.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
You can join us again next week for the Tennis.
Don't forget. You can watch this episode and all of
the episodes of the Tennis on the Australian Open YouTube channel. Luke,
thanks for joining us today, Thanks Johnny, and thanks Vero.
Thanks Dan, Dan love your insights.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Thank you good to be back.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Catch you on oz open dot com throughout the week.
You will, Lovely and Viv. When's the next mag out? First? John,
there is a.
Speaker 6 (43:27):
Mag out now, so yeah, I should have brought a copy,
but yeah, you'll find it online.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Thanks to you as well. I'd like to also thank
myself for all my hard work throughout this week and
throughout the show, and don't forget to subscribe to the
Tennis to never miss an episode all year long, Have
a great week in tennis, and we'll catch you next week.
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