November 13, 2025 • 47 mins
With Elena Rybakina crowned WTA Champion for the first time, attention turns to Turin where Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are in battle for the season-ending title. Brie and Dan (AusOpen.com) are joined by Simon Rea and Sam Stosur to break down the biggest stories of the week, including Novak Djokovic’s 101st career title in Athens, Rybakina’s rampaging end to the season in Riyadh and Alex de Minaur’s heartache in Turin. Simon casts a spotlight over the games of Alcaraz and Sinner to see how they stack up against each other and the panel discusses the ups and downs of Alex de Minaur’s career-best season following his loss to Lorenzo Musetti. And Vic Rudnikov checks in from Hobart with Aussie star Kim Birrell ahead of the weekend’s Billie Jean King Cup round-robin play-off tie against Brazil and Portugal.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello, and welcome to the tennis. We have fifty days
till the summer of tennis here in Australia and sixty
days till the Australian Open. But let's look at what's
happening around the world. Rampaging Rebeccaha, she catches fine read
to win the WTA Finals, Titans enter in tennis's biggest rivals,
on track to lac Horn's in the ATP Finals, and
(00:25):
one hundred and one reasons to smile. Djokovic finishes off
his season in style in Athens. Now that I've got
all that out, I'd love to introduce myself first. I
suppose I'm Brace Stewart, but co hosting me with me
today because zave is all fun well is we have
Dan Imhoff, superstar of editorial.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thanks Bree, changing sides of the desk this week, channeling
a bit of zave O Timo best.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I think we should be in a much calmer state,
especially if I can get my words out. But we
also have the beautiful mind of the podcast. We've got
Simon Ray.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Hey, Dan, thanks having me back. Good to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Our listeners love you too, so that's great.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And back after a little hiatus because a little bundle
of joy came into the world. I've got the Aussie
legend and BJK Cup captain who's on attorney to leave.
Sam Stozer, thank you lovely to be here again. And
how is it going with a little baby. It's great,
it's great. It's relentless and sleepless, but apart from that,
it's absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Really good.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Ami.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I got three hours straight before seven o'clock this morning
scene today.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
No, that's a good effort.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I don't know how parents do it. Like if I
get five hours, I'm like, oh I am dead. I'm like,
send me back to a preseason.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That was easy. Yeah, And how I was little emmy
now like.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Four and a half months and a half months Yeah,
think of it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Little story. I saw you in January and Brisbane. I
was up covering my home in a home tournament, home
state and walked out of the hotel with my partner
put it into text. Yeah he's from Spain, and walked
past Sam having a family walk there with Evie and Liz.
He said, oh, hey Sam, and you said, hey guys,
we've got a few meters down the road. And Gier said,
(02:13):
some woman just said hello to us. I said, well
that woman is Ozzie Tennis Royalty. Sam STOs aren't so
disrespectful to hear you.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
What haven't you been in tennis for years? Why have
you not?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
As soon as he said the.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Name, guess who kind of gang with all the Aussie
legends on it.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It wasn't on site, to be fair, it was in
the CBD out of context some woman. I was quite ashamed.
We pulled it together.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
We're just friendly in Queens and Simon. Great analysis from
you last week.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
We always get the fans loving you and Levi to
be fair, give us a taste of what's in store today.
Speaker 6 (02:53):
Well, I think we're going to talk a little bit
about Rebaikner and Riard and some of what we saw,
particularly in that final against Sabolenca, and her dad's going
to talk about the AHP Tour finals and the team
have asked me to look specifically at.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Sinner and al Karez.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
So really similar in some ways, but really different in
a few nuanced ways as well.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
So looking forward to having a chat about that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, great, and I'll throw some curveballs as well. Ready
you love that about Felix?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yes, okay, happy to do, so let's talk Felix.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I thought about that this morning. I was like, I
won't tell anyone. I'll just put you on the spot.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Agaut.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It sounds good, but let's get into what's caught your
Eye's good, your line.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
We'll flick to Sam straight away. Then Elna backin to
finish the year. What an emphatic finish to the year
after a pretty somewhat tumultuous year and a pretty big
paycheck to come with it.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, I mean, did she finish well or what?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Winning ningbo to actually get into the finals, so she
was only in a week or so before it was
even starting, So I mean, even trying to get yourself
into finals when you're vying for points in those last
couple of weeks can be very stressful. And then she
did that and thenbsolutely just went on an onslaught through finals.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Went undefeated.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Biggest paycheck in well women's tennis and sports history really
over eight million Aussie dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Which is just not bad for a which we act unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, incredible, but I mean the beating Saberlenka, who's obviously
finishing number one again, she smashed through Siantek in those
last two sets. I mean, she's playing exceptional tennis again
and back to really where we all, I think, where
we think she belongs in the top five of the
world again, where she was, you know a year or
so ago. The eight million dollars really explained sable Anka's
(04:39):
face at the end of that match. Did you see
her face? She was not impressed, she was like, oh, devastated.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I mean, she's had a few tight final losses this year,
so it was probably the Maldives couldn't come quick enough,
I'd say for all them really, but yeah, I think
at there we tend by that point, good to get
the break in.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So Simon, how does this performance back up in the
DATI you said last week?
Speaker 6 (05:01):
Well, we spoke a little bit last week about her
weapons and what she brings to the table and what
a fearsome prospect she is to come up against when
she's at her best and playing her best tennis, and
I think there's some numbers that speak to that. Looking
specifically at the final, there's not many players I'm sure
Sam would agree, there's not many players on tour that
can almost have their way with Arena Sabalenka down the
other end in terms of dictating more points than they're
(05:23):
on the receiving end of and Rebecca is one of those,
or rebeken is one of those. So thirteen aces to
five in the final against Sablenka not broken across two sets.
And this was an extraordinary number that jumped off the
page at me when I was watching this match back,
and sure enough it did get confirmed in the numbers.
She won seventy five percent of her second serve points Rebukener,
Oh wow, it's huge. Fifty percent is kind of a
(05:45):
really solid Abner. Anything above fifty is a good solid result,
fifty five or sixty. So to win seventy five percent
of your second serve points against Sablenka, who's all about
trying to do maximum damage on second serve return herself,
that proved to be a real difference maker in the match.
And I think just to speak to as Sam alluded
to that, you know the pedigree of Rebeikenner. So she's
(06:05):
eight and six all time versus number one ranked players
in the world. Rebekenner, there's only two other females ever
that have had a winning record against number one ranked
players in the world. They are Stephanie Grath and Serena Williams. Wow,
So she's an elite company and that just shows you.
I think that speaks to how good this woman's upside is.
When she's at her best, she's a fearsome prospect to
(06:27):
come up against and she can have a say in
the match. That means you're going to be flat out
trying to hang with her. And I think we saw
that again and read.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Just going back to her serving, I always thought of
myself as a pretty good reader of a ball toss
and serving and stuff like that. I played her maybe
three times, I think in singles, and every time I.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Was clueless, clueless.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I did not really I could not read her serve.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
So when you're then standing up there to return and
you don't really know which way she's going to go,
because she can hit every spot whenever she wants, really
toss off the same toss, very very hard to read,
and that second serve stat is phenomenal, and that just
sets her up then to hit more winners. If she's
not winning it with an ace or like an unreturnable,
(07:11):
she's got a whole court. She's a total offensive play
the whole time. And then she can really just let
loose on return games as well, because she's just rolling
through service games and feeling good pressures off on those
return games, so she's she's got every weapon and every
shot that you could really want in tennis. If she's
there ready to go, she's a real force.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
Yeah, and I think it leaves us salivating potentially when
we think about the strain open and could we see
a match up between these two women again, because not
many have been able to challenge Sablenca, but rebuking it
whilst she doesn't have the edge on her, I think
that makes it eighty six Saballenka's way. She's one that's
been able to go right there. And even in their
last four matchups this year, I think they've split those.
I think it's two and two recently. So yeah, I
(07:53):
think that's really enticing to think about. Could we could
we have another the prospect of a Sabolenka or by
King a match up down here in Melbourne, And.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We've seen it here before. It's still one of the
best friends in the finals. We've seen that they just
match up so well, they know each other's game is
really well, both super aggressive and great spectacle for the fans.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Let's take a look at Rebaikner in a press conference
at talking about that momentum and carrying it on.
Speaker 7 (08:20):
Well, it gives a lot of motivation and hopefully I
get some good rest and I can keep this mentality
and bring it to the next season. And yeah, hopefully
we can improve even more and start strong. And I'm
really glad that I was pretty stable throughout the whole
(08:43):
tournament and hopefully I can carry it throughout the whole
next season.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
What do you think, because obviously we've seen a bit
of up and down from her, like less of her
name in the top five this year.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
What has changed between a couple of months back to now?
Do you think I.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Think it's been a year or some uphevil right, She's
had a lot going on, you know, and inevitably and
same would be able to speak to this as well.
Does the on core does the off court effect the
on court? Absolutely? And you know, life and tennis are
inextricably woven together, and I think we've seen that with
some of the bumps along the road that she's endured
this year. But speaks to her character that as things
(09:22):
are starting to settle in her camp and she feels
that level of comfort again, she's been able to produce
her best tennis when it matters, most towards the end
of the year.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
She said, there's also been it could be linked even
some health issues off court as well, So if you
intertwine that with your other off court issues and it's
pretty tough then to be playing at your peak. But
somehow she's found that equilibrium again to push at the
end of the year and she's won Brisbane International before,
made the final Adelaide Final, the Open, so she loves
(09:52):
these courts clearly in Australia she does.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what she does down here,
so it'd be great to watch.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
So get tickets. I'm talking about the WTA finals. We're
going to move into the ATP finals and Turin.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, so we're still in the grip of ATP Finals,
almost at the knockout phase. The crowds have been electric
in Turin. I mean it helps when you've got two
players from the country competing. Yeah, one of them's the
defending champion. It was particularly electric the other day when
Massetti was playing Demonor and it didn't go Demonoll's way,
(10:28):
and it was a pretty tough one for him second
year in a row though he's qualified, so there's a
lot to be proud of, but he was disappointed that
he didn't serve that out to get his first win
at the ATP Finals. Keep in mind, Marsetti was a
late entrant after Djokovic withdrew. He played Athens. If he
won the title, he got in. He fell just short
(10:49):
against Djokovic and Djokovic told him at the net, I'm
actually not going to play, so you are in. So
there was a bittersweet bittersweet. I think he was a
bit annoyed he had to play that extra week. But
you know, you've got plenty of other chances during the
year to book your spot. Yeah, so tough one for
demon Or. He now falls to zero to five in
his two years at the ATP Finals. He's got one
(11:12):
much left against Fritz and that would be his first
top ten winner of the year if he can get that.
But it's yeah, it's pretty brutal.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I think he's another player that can't wait for the
mental reset to some time off before arguably the most
important time of the year for him, summer.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, should we have a look a bit of what
Alex said in his press conference after that loss to Messiti, yep.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
I think it's probably a good thing. I don't express
my feelings right now because they're quite dark, to be honest.
It it just feels like it's been that type of
year where I've had a whole lot of matches that
these are issues that can't keep happening. I mean, if
I really want to be serious about in the next
(12:00):
seven in my career, these matches, I can't lose them.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I just can't.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
I mean, it's just more than anything else, getting to
a point where mentally it's killing me.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Sadness in his voice is so like it hits you,
doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I mean to Sam and Simon, how difficult is that
to kind of shake that? What else can he do?
He's as fit as anyone out there, That's what other
elements could you add? Or is it just all mental
now that?
Speaker 1 (12:30):
I think the longer it goes, it becomes more of
a mental hurdle than anything. I think there's probably no
secret he doesn't maybe have some of the huge weapons
that a lot of these guys in the finals have,
so he's sort of up against it in that way
when he plays back to back guys in the top
eight top ten all the time, which I think is
showing in his record against them, unfortunately, but he's one
(12:51):
of them.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
He's in the top.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Eight, right, so he's got to deserve absolutely, and he
didn't buy his way in there. He's earned every single
point and every single spot to make himself, you know,
qualify for finals and be in the top eight in
the world and finish an.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Incredible year off.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So it's I guess it's one of those things you
always want more so you're there, but when you're falling short,
like he's saying that he is, and he feels like
he's putting in all the work and doing everything you
want to get over the line, it.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Still doesn't feel good.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Whether you're six in the world or two hundred in
the world, you still want more because you're still going
to be striving for, you know, more of what he's
capable of.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
But I think he's got to just yeah, it's probably
a good.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Time just to reset, clear the slate and yet not
let those sort of mental demons then start creeping in
in these matches because it's only it's only a match.
But as a player, you can always kind of catastrophize
them to.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Be more than what they are.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Yeah, and if you guys were co coaches, for example,
what would you be working on with him.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
At the moment.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
I think Sam touches on a great point because I
think what she's speaking to there is perspective and you know,
it's like you at a family barbecue here in Australia, right,
and everyone wants to know how does demon take it
to that next level? But what Sam's touched on I
couldn't agree more with is he is doing fantastically well.
He's the envy of all of us having the type
(14:13):
of career that he's having at the minute. And we're
talking about some potential greats of all time in Alcarez
and Center and the Muzzetti one. Surprised me a little
bit that he's got the losing record to Musetti. I
think he's one and four overall against Muzzetti, but up
against Fritz all is not lost there. I think he's
five and five. So he's kind of split the ledger
there with Fritz looking ahead at the next matchup. So maybe,
(14:35):
at the risk of not directly answering your question, Bri,
I think it is about what Sam's described me as
taking a deep breath and reinforcing there's so much that's
going well here and where can we find a couple
of percent extra to go to another level again? But
I think some of us, may be in Australia are
guilty of looking at what we don't have rather than
reinforcing what this young man is doing.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Such a superb job of he is. We'll say, out
and week and week.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Out, and this match against Fritz like it's a free swing.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, he's not going to qualify for semi, so you
can really just go out there and loosen the shoulders
and play hard, and you know Fritz has got the
pressure on him, not the other way around, so you
know it's an opportunity where you might just be able
to think, Okay, well this is what I didn't do yesterday,
I'm going to go for it today and there's really
no consequence.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
It does not matter.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Well, Fritz also complained about a little bit of knee
tender night, so he's one one one match, one lost one.
He's been juggling it mainly since Wimbledon, and I guess
you would know as a player, Sam, how difficult that
is to balance whether you take the time off to
heal it and strengthen it. It's not something that needs intervention,
it doesn't need surgery. But it's a bit It's a
(15:44):
balancing act, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, well, I think it's what he alluded to in
his comments was I'm not I'm playing so well. I
can play for two sets pretty well with you know,
minimal pain. Why would I take all this time well
and not be part of it. So it's I mean again,
it brings up the question of how long the season
is to be able to then take a break at
the end of the year.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
He's you know, he hasn't got much time really take
that break and then do a preseason.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So I think a lot of players just manage, you know,
little niggles here and there and injuries throughout the year.
If they don't need the full time off, they just
try and get by.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
I think that is a really interesting coaching question though,
because whilst he's saying and he's right, the evidence proves
he's right. He can play two sets at a phenomenally
high level. Perhaps you could mount the argument that in
best of five sets, to trouble the likes of Cinna
and El Karaz and to do it in consecutive matches,
or to win seven consecutive best of five set matches.
(16:39):
Maybe that knee is an issue. So which one do
you want to value? Which one do you want to
prioritize in the hierarchy. You probably can't have your cake
and eat it too. Maybe you could mount a case
that to step back for six weeks and do some
work on that knee might serve you well at Grand
Slam time. So those are the conversations that the camp
would be having, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And I'm sure we'll see what happens then at the
AI with Fritz. Yeah, yeah, so signon.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Ocras needs only to beat Miscetti now to secure the
year round end number one for the second time. Do
you see anything other than a Sinner versus our cras final.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
To the end?
Speaker 6 (17:12):
Hard to see, isn't it? And we probably spoke about
it last week. It looks like the likely outcomings. Yeah,
I mean, it would I think be fitting to sign
off the twenty twenty five campaign with a match up
between those two. And it would take a braver man
than me to tipp not being the case at the moment,
So I would say all roads are likely leading to
that outcome that you that you mentioned alcarazin center in
(17:35):
the final at turn.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I think he's he'll be just the eleventh player to
finish your end number one more than once, the last
player outside the big three to finish here end twice.
Any idea who that might be. We've got a little quiz,
little mid midpoint quiz. It wasn't Latin, it was latent.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah, I got it, no idea.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I was just here for the sound effect.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Two thousand and one and two thousand and two back
to back, and no other player outside the Big three
has been its here end twice since Wow, So it's
going to be big for you. The alkraz Or Siner
at the moment, elkraz in the box seat. He only
has to win one more match, I believe against Massetti
to secure that.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And that he should beat Mascetti because Massetti would have
to be tired.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
He would think rolled.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Straight in from Athens.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, he'd be running a bit on empty, but still
plenty to play for him. He could secure a semi
final spot, so yeah, he won't be rolling over, that's
for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
It's going to be a pretty excited crowd.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
But Simon let's move into you and what caught your eye?
Still sticking with the ATP finals.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Aren't we?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (18:42):
We are bre And the team asked me to have
a look at the two gentlemen that you mentioned just
moments ago in Alcarez and Ciner, and how do they compare?
And I boiled it down or tried to distill it
down into three buckets. In bucket number one, they're really
similar in a whole bunch of ways. As we know,
enormous weapons can do serious dama John serve and fourhand
speed and spin on fourhand sides, kind of impossible to
(19:04):
split them. Some of the numbers that would expect them
to be close. And if you look at the calendar
year points one overall, who's won more points over the year.
Sinner's just got the edge. Second serve points one, it's
fifty eight to fifty six. There's nothing in it. Second
serve return one, fifty eight to fifty five. It's in
Sinner's favor. But where it does start to split out
Now we're on to bucket two. So where do they
(19:24):
differ When you get to the backhand side. From the
back of the court, things are different. Sinner is more
power he wants it on his terms all of the time,
and he's going to beat you with power and athleticism
and speed and physicality, Whereas there is more nuance in
the al Karez game than we see from Sinner. And
what I mean by that is in terms of the
utilization of the slice backhand, how do these two players
(19:46):
do it well? Over the last twelve months, you'll see
Sinner use a slice back and ten percent of the
time topsmin the other ninety. You see Alcarez use it
twenty five percent of the time, or one in four.
So when it comes to his back end, he's using
the slice a lot more than you, Yarix Cinner.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Same thing.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
When we look at drop shots, Alcoraz is twice as
likely to hit a drop shot as Yarnick Cinara's net play,
He's twice as likely to come forward as Yarnick Cinarios
serve and volley.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
He's three times as likely.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
To do that as Jarnick center is. So all of
a sudden, we've got two great champions. We've got a
bunch of similarities, but then we've got a different some
different ways of going about it when we're looking in
this bucket. So when you think of variation overall variation
in your game. So what is vanilla and what is variation.
That's the type of information that Sam when she was
playing you, looking to convey that, Hey, this play is
(20:32):
a bit more straight up and down.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You know what you're going to get.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
Serve fourhand looking to bully the ball from the get go, or.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
No, no, there's a bit more to this. Watch out
for the drop shot. Watch out.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
They like to steal time. They'll occasionally serve and volley
against you. Sam had a great kick, so she could
compliment that with her power, for example. Those are the
conversations you're having.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Variation.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Alcaz has got thirty percent of variation in his game. Okay,
I can talk, but another time, just to how we
get to that number. Sinner's got about fifteen percent of
variation in this game, twice as much in the al
Karaz game. Is what we see from yournick center. And
then the third bucket. And I'm not necessarily describing a
leader in this bucket, but the third bucket was this
notion of mentality or under pressure performance break points one
(21:14):
slight edge to Alcarez, forty five percent of his breakpoints
he wins Sinners at forty two percent. Not much in
that deciding sets one though, so either a third set
or a fifth set. When we think of Grand Slam tennis,
this surprised me. Sinner wins fifty seven percent of those,
so his overall winning percentage is much higher that. So
if you can get Sinner to a deciding set, you
can actually get him. He's more gettable than he is
(21:36):
any other time. Right, he's either going to steamroll you
or if you can push them all the way, you're
a fighting chance, you're alive. Whereas Alcoraz in deciding sets,
he wins nearly eighty percent of his.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Decay so that's a big difference between the two.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
And then in tire breaks one it flips again flips
the other way. So Sinner's eighty two percent of his
tiebreaks he wins sixty five or two out of three
for Alcarez of his tiebreaks that he wins. So it's
probably a couple of different ways to look at that.
If you get them to a tiebreak, Sinner's dynamite. But
if it goes to a deciding set, look out some
of our Karaz's mentality and ability to play with you know,
the pressure or the weight of the world on the shoulders.
(22:10):
He's tough to tough to handle when matches really are
on the line.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And those guys and their teams would be well aware
of this, wouldn't they.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Yeah, I think that's all publicly facing information. So that's
what I delved into. And when you look at their games,
you know how they're similar. They're similar in a whole
bunch of ways. We would know that through watching the
tennis on TV B. How do they differ and see
if we dig, you know, deeper than surface level, what
do we see from a mentality or a pressure perspective?
These two great, great champions and great combatants on the court.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And what's a better technique or is it just two
different ways of playing? Yeah? I think not everyone's got
the same looking serve or yeah, exactly, But jeez, you
can make something work for you. If it works for you,
then that's all that really matters. So I think, yeah,
I mean, look at the variation all that with with
our careers. I think is what makes him look so dynamite.
I'm exciting to watch, but sinner, you just know he
(22:58):
is there all the time. It's a really that's just
a fascinating way to look at their two contrasting styles,
but then also looking at Sinner's win loss record against
the rest of the field in the ATP.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Is almost unbeatable.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, but he's only beaten Olcoraz once out of nine
or something, so there's obviously something in their match up
against each other that Sinner does not like and our
Koraz is well above, but then against every single other player,
it's almost unbeatable.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
In terms of the rivalry. You said how evenly they
are matched. They're two of the best ball strikers, two
of the best movers, and I think you can speak
more to this, But if they know each other's games
that well, there's the anticipations there as well. So does
that raise it another level? Do you think when two
players know each other's games inside out like that.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
I think it becomes really tricky, right because to what
extent are you backing your strengths? And something Darren Kyle
said without having the quote in front of me really
stuck with me before the Wimbledon file final, where I
think ESPN asked and what was the message? And I
think it was strength, speed, power, okay, And I thought, gee,
that's a great coaching message, like, imagine walking onto the court,
(24:12):
you know, when there's all kinds of stuff going on
between the years, the way to the world literally on
your shoulders. Yea and strength, speed, spell, strength, speed, power.
You've got those qualities and spades, go and let them
shine through on the biggest stage.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
I thought, Oh, that's what makes darrenk Kaye.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Such a great concize exactly remember exactly, and you walk
onto the court feeling ten foot two bulletproof right when
you need it the most.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
Right.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
So it's I think to answer your question, Dan, to
what extent do you want to back your strengths versus
you're trying to work on little nuancewers in your game
all of the time, to maybe add a wrinkle in
twenty twenty six to you perhaps didn't happen twenty twenty
five when these matches are often decided by a point
or two over five sets.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
And I promised a bonus question.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
But Felix yes, and we spoke about him a bit
last year, last year, last week kind of had a
big end to his year and he beat Ben Shelton
enter in.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
He he's going and going at the moment, isn't.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
He seems to be coming back to summer of his
best tennis. Yeah, and we know about serve and forehand
when we think about Felix and the knock on him
has been back inside for a number of years. When
I say the knock, you know, it's a pretty high
standard to be holding. But it's been, let me say,
less threatening than serve and forehand. And I think what
we're seeing from him in twenty twenty five is we're
(25:29):
seeing him more healthy, more often, and he's giving himself
more of an opportunity to shine with those weapons that
we know he does have, serve, forehand and physicality. Yes,
he's moving so well that he's able to do more
damage again with his forehand and make his back endside,
allow his back endside to hold up better against the
quality opposition.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, because I did not think he'd beat Shelton.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
He loves his summer year, doesn't He loves indoors. Yeah,
and he loves that period. Just after I was open
to he cashes in then as well, We're going to
move on to someone else who knows I think too
about finish year end number one, not me, Yeah, nor me.
He's done it more times than anyone eight in fact,
(26:08):
Movak Djokovic. Now usually he'd be taking part in the
ATP finals, but yes, it was still a little positive
to finish the year on, wasn't it? In Athens?
Speaker 8 (26:18):
It was?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And the reason why this caught my eye is because
it's the one hundred and first title and he did
this great social media post where it was him and
one hundred and one Dalmatians. I believe it's Ai, but
I'm all for it. I think it's amazing. And there's
obviously not one hundred and one dumation, so there's a
slight flaw in the number counting here, but I thought
it was really quite cute. He also was doing a
(26:40):
photo shoot with the trophy at the Acropolis, and I
think it was about four point thirty pm and they
realized it shut at five, so he had to run
there and actually skip the line, which I'm sure the
fans or the people and Grace were fine for him
to actually make it to get his photo and you
can see all these great fans in the background laughing.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
So I really a backdrop I know that's actually gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, no, impressed.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Obviously the dogs caught.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
My attention first, and then I thought this was quite
funny watching him run through the streets of grace to
make it there on time.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
But a really massive, amazing win from him.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
We have heard him talk a lot this year about
how he thinks he can beat the younger players in
three sets, where five cents becomes more tricky. I personally
was a bit disappointed he wasn't going to trin just
because I feel like he does deserve to be there
and I would have liked to be playing against those people,
but also great to have Miscetti there.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah, I think he was looking after his body, wasn't he.
Look he definitely earned his place. I think he sent
with his slam runs this year, but the body is
clearly the priority now and I was open he's just
around the corner. So that, Yeah, we've just.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
Seen him more in twenty twenty five, more than ever before.
We've seen him make some decisions that are really different
to those that he's made earlier in his career, and
clearly physicality and is going to come first, second, third,
and fourth at the moment, And so whether it was
going into the US Open with next to no match
play under the belt, there was limited time on grass
before Wimbledon, So we're just seeing him make some really
(28:11):
different decisions and what was seen previously.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
But I think it makes sense. It does make his career.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Well, I've got this great stat he's the oldest ATP
champion since our very own Ken Rosewall in nineteen seventy seven,
and he won in that year in Hong Kong and
Tokyo at the age of forty three.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, he's got a few years yet to beat that.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, and we could still be seeing him forty three.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Didn't he say he wants to carry the flag at
La La eight?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Two more years? Three three?
Speaker 6 (28:38):
Really?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I mean who would bet against him?
Speaker 3 (28:43):
We're tired thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
If anyone's going to do it, he would find a way,
but it's a long time.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, you'd have the thing to be a pretty skeleton schedule, yeah,
really the important ones exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
But he would still need to play a certain amount
of match be able to make it in right.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Like well, I mean, if he's still playing a good
a wild card, there's like there's ways that do it,
but but to be an actual threat, and you know,
I don't think he's he's not just going to go there.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
To fill up the drawings. Yeah, to perform.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So yeah, and you're still got to have it as
some sort of element of you know, competitive matches under
your belt to be able to do that at the
top level, especially against the guys like ol Choraz and
Singer like he's finding it hard now. I couldn't imagine
in three years time. Well, good luck to you, Jokovic
as you race towards LA will be watching all the way.
(29:41):
We'd have a quick break and then we're going to
discuss more about BJK Cup.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Preview and with Kim Bile and Hobart.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
I believe.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
We're back and we're going to get into some of
the other stories happening out there.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Firstly, Australian BJK Cup team playing off for a spot
in the twenty twenty six qualifiers and how lucky we
to have the captain. He's having a little hiatus. I said,
you've got twenty days left about that? Yeah, tell us
a little bit about how you think the team's looking.
No doubt you're talking to Pratty, who's the current captain
(30:18):
at the moment, filling in for you.
Speaker 11 (30:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Look, I think they've had a great week of training
down there. Pratty and I were talking a lot before
they actually went down to Hobart. I was going to
flick her a message later and be like, so who's playing?
Tell me what gous But look, you know, Pratty's been
the coach of the team for over ten years, so
it was fantastic for her to be able to captain
the group this time around. And you know, it's such
(30:42):
a great squad. It's pretty young team really. You know,
Stormy and Ellen have obviously been part of it for
a number of years, but the rest of them, it's
a you know, we've got a debutant in Talia Gibson,
may is only playing a second tie and Kim's playing
a maybe fourth or fifth or so, so, you know,
relatively young. But it's such a great group and they
(31:03):
all get along so well, so I'm sure they haven't
having a blast down there.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
You can see that that they've jelled so well. And
that's obviously a culture that you've grown up in and
you've helped foster that. But especially for new ones like Maya,
as you said, who hasn't played much and and Talie
is very new to it, you can see they look
really comfortable around the other girls and I'm sure they
hang out a bit during the year too, which would
help when they're on the tour on the road.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And that's one thing that I've always
said about our Australian team, whether it was when I
was playing in the team or now, you know, overseeing.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
And captain ing. You see, all the girls support each
other throughout the year.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
It's not just about coming together for the weeks of
BJK where you know they become friends and all that
they're actually friends. They do support each other and want
the best for each other every other single week of
the year, which is awesome and I think, I genuinely
believe that is a pretty unique situation that we have
here in Australia compared to a lot of the other countries.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well. Producer Vic Rudnikov on the ground in Hobart and
she spoke to Kim Berrell ahead of the tie this
weekend against Portugal and Brazil.
Speaker 11 (32:06):
Jim, tell me where we are today and what's happening
here this week. We are in Hobart at the BJK
Cup tie and yeah, really excited to be here. It's
a little bit windy, but the sun's shining picking out,
so it's a beautiful day and yeah, it's awesome to
be wearing green and gold again.
Speaker 10 (32:22):
Yeah, and you're playing Brazil and Portugal. What can you
tell me about them as competitors.
Speaker 9 (32:27):
Yeah, obviously there's going to be no easy matches. Everyone
here is representing their country. We all want to win
so badly for our teammates, but also everyone here at
home and they'll be feeling the same way, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
So we're ready for a battle.
Speaker 9 (32:43):
And yeah, I'm not too sure who's going to be
playing yet, but whoever steps out on the court is
going to give their best and be ready for anything.
And yeah, it's going to be a challenge, but it'll
be really fun.
Speaker 10 (32:56):
And you've been in Hobart for a few days now,
how are you finding it?
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (33:00):
I love hope Art.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
It has a special place with my heart. I have
some family here and I always enjoy coming back here,
whether it's for the tournament or to visit them. And
I think it's a really amazing city.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
It's got some of.
Speaker 9 (33:11):
Australia's best food, best coffee and I progre I shouldn't
say that, John Melburnie, sorry, but we've just some good cafes. Yeah,
you kind of have a bad meal in Tazzy, So
I think that's been really fun and obviously some incredible
views and we've got such a beautiful view here from
Santa Court, so yeah, I really enjoy the relaxed vibe
(33:32):
of Tazzy, So it's really cool to be here.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
Yeah, and obviously you've had a great end to the
year last couple of weeks in particular, what has been
your twenty twenty five highlight onto what?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Oh, that's a tough one.
Speaker 9 (33:45):
Yeah, it's hard to go past last week and coming
through such a tough sort of last few months. I
had a bit of a dip, I guess in my
sort of results through the middle of the back end
of the year where I felt, you know, very close
to getting across the line, has some tough matches but
didn't quite get there. So it's such a good feeling
(34:07):
when it all comes together and you can put multiple
match good matches in a row and get to the
end of a tournament. Especially Yeah, in Chennai, the conditions.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Were quite tough.
Speaker 9 (34:15):
It was very hot, and yeah, I sort of had
to dig really deep and it kind of showed me
what I was made of and a great way to
finish the year.
Speaker 10 (34:24):
And back into the top one hundred as well.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
How does that feel? It feels really great.
Speaker 9 (34:28):
It feels a bit surreal, to be honest, I kind
of I hadn't sort of thought too much about my
ranking much over the last few months. I just wanted
to start playing well again, and like I knew that
I could, and so to have that come off of
the back of some good tennis is really great feeling.
And really need to thank my team and Pratty and
(34:52):
my brother who traveled with me in the last few
weeks of this year for sort of picking me up
and lifting my spirits and believing in me. I'm really
glad that I could finish the year strong and hopefully
be in the main jow of the Australian Open. It's
been a big goal of mine. So I guess we'll
see in the next couple of weeks if that happens.
But it's looking good.
Speaker 10 (35:12):
And of course I can't chat to you today without
saying congratulations on your engage and thank you. All of
us at the point are very very excited and happy
for you. Thanks so much as well.
Speaker 9 (35:23):
Thank you, I really appreciate it. Yeah, it's been a
really exciting time and to also experience that at home
with my friends and family. And I didn't tell anyone
before I arrived at the tie except for Patty View,
but she didn't say anything, which is amazing. And to
tell the girls on the first day was really exciting.
It was really fun.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
That was very cute. Could they have found a windy spot?
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I know it's really that might have been the sport.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And I think Vic did really well holding off talking
about the engagement because that would have been my first question.
But I know it's about tens. But how do you
think the girls are shaping up? How do you think
they'll go over there? Oh well, hopefully get the w
that's what we want. But look, I think Mayas if
you want to go down the list. Obviously we don't
know who's going to play, but Mya's ahead on rankings
(36:08):
as the number one player at the moment in Australia
and she's had a phenomenal year. I know we keep
talking about every time we talk about Maya, we're just
how good it's been in which she keeps getting better
and better, and so she's ticked off a lot of
first this year. And I think now being in this
position to play. If she's playing the matches, which I'm
pretty sure she will be. You know, she's going to
(36:29):
relish that opportunity to be out there representing Australia, and yeah,
trying to you know, get us off to a good
start and then whoever plays the number two spot, you know,
try and follow through. And then we've got the really
good experienced Stormy and Ellen most likely for the doubles.
So I think, you know, we've done everything we can,
(36:50):
I'm sure down there to prepare and do what we
can to try and get the w's and yeah, hopefully
we can handle that Hobart wind better than anyone else.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
How tricky is it to scout to the opposition Portugal
and Brazil? Brazil's without ad admire, So it's pretty tricky
to scout those opponents, isn't it when they're much lower ranked,
particularly singles. I think Stefani in doubles is probably more
than a known quantity, but Portugal in particular, those women
would have never played the Portuguese women, So how do
(37:22):
you scope that?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I mean, to be honest, you kind of just there's
not going to be very much footage of them out,
you know, and I'm sure they've I'm sure the coaches
have watched a few sneaky practices and tried to get
a bit of an idea. And I don't know if
someone like Italia, who may have been playing a few
MORATF tournaments this year, would have come across them a
little bit more than some of the other players. So
I think at the end of the day, my philosophy
(37:47):
is always, if you don't know the girls too much,
don't try and look too much into it and find
things that maybe aren't there. Focus on your own game.
You know what you're going to do well, start there.
And the beauty of this competition is that you've got
the coach city right there with you. So if you're
not picking something up, most likely on the side, or
if she's not, then you've got two more coaches behind her,
(38:09):
you know you can scout. So I think it's one
of those things where if you don't know them too much,
stick to what you do best, go out there with
your a game, and then you can always adjust if
you need Well, we might also move into some other
things that are happening in the Australia space, so United
Cup player announcement, So we have had the entry list.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
It's closed. It's hit us here.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
We have five of the world's top ten men and
three of the world's top ten women. So from the
ATP's aggressive, Yeah, it is pretty good, isn't it. Sarah
Fritz demon Or, We've got Felix, We've got Draper, I've
got Kaspar Rude from WTA, We've got IgA Coco Golf,
Jasmine Palini and Belinda BEng chicch and I.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Do believe we also have Japan who's entered with Naomi Osaka.
So amazing. Got a big line up for United Cup
this year. I'm very excited personally.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I mean, fantasticness great, it's awesome, Like that's exactly what
you want. And you know, I was part of the
first United Cup and it really is a fun a
fun week to be part of. You know, we say
it all the time, but the mixed competition is awesome.
I think the site is really enjoy it. It's probably
a little more relaxed than your typical tournament maybe starting
(39:20):
the year, so I think the players also enjoyed that aspect.
But yeah, I mean, we're going to have some pretty
phenomenal matchups right They're starting the year.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
To remind our listeners as well at home. How does
the United Cup format work?
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Okay, So it's eighteen nations, six groups of three. The
top six of the top team from each group goes
through as well as the two best performing other teams
to the quarterfinals and then it's a knockout phase semis
and final in Sydney.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yep, so it's across Perth and Sydney. We do have
the draw on Monday seventeenth of November, so next week
or we find out who will playing Sydney and Perth.
I'm really looking forward to see what happens there. Just now,
moving into Adelaide, I wanted to talk about the fact
that we've got Brazilian sensations Alphen fon Seca who'll be
there this year as well as Jack Draper, so the
heart throb of the UK. And joining them will be
(40:09):
gold medalist Belinda Bencic and also our very own AO
winner from last year, Madison.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Keys that she'll be the defending champion. That's that's four
good gets here.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Particularly the men's side from second will draw the big
Brazilian crowd wherever he plays, and Draper on the comeback
from injury. So that's a good event for him to
try and launch into his Australian campaign Benchic has played
probably her best year, hasn't she amazing.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Since coming back from and probably arguably her best season.
So yeah, so that means you're going to come out
of retirement.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
You know, I actually had a hit with Dash last
week and I'm far from returnity. But no, she I
mean phenomenal comeback and you know, gets to travel with
her little girl and her husband is also a fitness trainer,
I believe, So it's you know, they're having a great
time out.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
And she's really happy touring with her family. Absolutely, I
mean not much to be unhappy about it.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Could imagine you make that work.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Yeah, exactly, if you can make it work. I think
that needs a few more little child care facilities around
the tournaments for all these players having their babies and continuing.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
But yeah, I mean, hats off to any one who
can do it.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
But that's probably a pretty good idea for the WTA,
that they need a few more child care facilities now
that you know, it is becoming a world where women
can have children and come back so soon as well.
But speaking of pregnancies on stupor. I know she's pregnant. Exciting, Yeah,
it's really exciting. Amazing talk about childcare. Ons was the
first person to take anyone's childish on them and they
(41:46):
listit them.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
So now she's going to have to do it for us.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
But no she I know, she absolutely adores babies and children.
So yeah, very very happy for her.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
She's spoken about it, hasn't she before this was even
announced that she really wanted that Wimbledon so that she
could retire and have a baby. Yeah, for the moment,
she's saying it's on hold and she is planning to
come back. So we'll see how this all changes with
motherhood and our spark's still.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
There or yeah, she nestles into being a mum and
something else.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
But she is getting the benefits from the WTA's paid
maternity leave, so she will have a protected ranking which
allows her to return, which is amazing.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
So that's a very new kind of system.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Isn't it.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Yeah, it's just come out this year.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
You know, incredible what the WTO have been able to
put forward with this maternity leave. And yeah, for the plays,
now you don't have to wait till you've done and
dusted and retired and obviously you can get older and
all of that stuff. So I mean it's still not easy,
I think, to come back, but at least they know, Okay,
we have that little bit of a buffer there, and yeah,
really leading the way for women's sports in that regard,
(42:52):
which is amazing, great progress. Yeah, it's amazing. So congrats
to Onstubbur and your family. Very excited to see the
little one come along. But on that great kind of
end of the show, why don't we end on an
even higher note with.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Ace of the Week.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Everyone loves Ace of the Week, don't they. We might
start with you, we'll be boring. It's all start with
the best.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Well having a few sh so okay, Well, my tbe
five year old has started gymnastics. Well she's been doing gymnastics,
but she's been put up to the higher age group
and she's this little girl amongst all these taller kids,
and watching her do the warm up last week was
(43:35):
just the cutest thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 8 (43:37):
In my life.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
And you know, shuffling and just watching everyone being like
what do I do?
Speaker 5 (43:43):
Do?
Speaker 6 (43:43):
What to do?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Anyway, just I sat there and just smiled. For like
the first ten minutes of this lest it was great.
I think that would be so cute.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
You must love it.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Then, if she's going up in age groups, she hasn't
tapped out of it.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
She did say she wanted to quit yourself, but then
afterwards she said, you had lots of fun, so you
just ride the rollercoaster. You never really know, but yeah,
it was seriously one of the cute I just sat
there in absolute delight watching her try and keep up
with all these kids, didn't know.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Knowing what moves to do.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
At I think so yes, although you know, I think
she's watching ev every step of the way and might
be too long till she's chasing it around the house.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, I love it. Oh you want me to go next?
Speaker 8 (44:24):
Will you go?
Speaker 1 (44:27):
My Ace of the week is last Thursday, at approximately
one pm, I lost my voice and by the end
of Friday, I had no voice left because I've had
really bad hay fever and I've been coughing and I've
got asthma, so I was just gone. I got my
voice back on Sunday, which is really good news. It's
still a bit gravelly. I've got a gravelly voice anyway,
(44:48):
but it's it's still struggling because.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Of the hay fever.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
But yeah, I was without voice on Friday and I
like to talk, so it was really quite difficult.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Sort of an ace came into an ace.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I think I missed you and said, are you going
to be okay this weekend? To socialize? Knowing that how
much you love I didn't, so yeah, I stated, assured
me you weren't doing anything.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
I did nothing.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
I couldn't.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
I even went for coffee and they were like, don't talk,
we know your order. Just be quiet because it was
like this noise just coming out of me, wasn't it.
It's pretty bad anyway. I've got my voice back, which
is exciting, but how about you, dan.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
So mine's not as exciting as either of those. I'm
off to from pod labor Arena to rod labor Rena
tonight to catch Rufus desol.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Do you know That's why I didn't say that was
my ace of the week, because I knew you'd.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Say, did you see him Saturday?
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Exciting? That's great?
Speaker 11 (45:41):
It is, it is.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
It's really good, so there'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Why you look so good today?
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Do you look nice?
Speaker 4 (45:47):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (45:48):
I thought it's hosting terrible on Monday, but you look
lovely today.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Scrub up for hosting duties.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
That'll be great. I'm excited to see them on Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
It's meant to be great three nights in a row.
I think you're playing so awesome.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Before we wrap up the show, I would just like
to indicate we probably forgot to mention Simon Ray our data,
a wonderful man had to actually leave midway through the
show enough to a meeting. We're quite busy here AT's
Australia with the events up ahead. So if you did
wonder that there seemed to be a voice missing, there was,
and we've got to tell you so sorry.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Simon, we missed your ace of the week. But thank
you so much Sam for being here.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
We haven't seen you since Emmy was in your belly,
so it's really good to have you back.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
And Dan, you did great as a co host.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
I thank you big choose to Phil, Yeah, he does have.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Big feet, not necessarily big skills.
Speaker 4 (46:39):
Where is this going?
Speaker 1 (46:41):
No, it's great to have you both, but that is
the end of our show. Reminder, we have fifty days
until summer of tennis. It'll be even less next week,
so we will see you next week.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Thanks guys, good to see you, Gada, you back.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Hey everyone, have s and Andy here.
Speaker 8 (46:57):
Just want to remind you that you can watch every
episode of the Tennis on our YouTube channel, austrain Open TV.
And you can also catch us on Tennis Plus by
heading to ozopen dot com forward slash Tennis Plus and
if you want to flick.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Us an email feedback thoughts on the show comments, we're
at podcast at tennis dot com DOTU. One of us
too will read it, but in the meantime we'll catch
you in the next one. See yeah.
Hello, and welcome to the tennis. We have fifty days
till the summer of tennis here in Australia and sixty
days till the Australian Open. But let's look at what's
happening around the world. Rampaging Rebeccaha, she catches fine read
to win the WTA Finals, Titans enter in tennis's biggest rivals,
on track to lac Horn's in the ATP Finals, and
(00:25):
one hundred and one reasons to smile. Djokovic finishes off
his season in style in Athens. Now that I've got
all that out, I'd love to introduce myself first. I
suppose I'm Brace Stewart, but co hosting me with me
today because zave is all fun well is we have
Dan Imhoff, superstar of editorial.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thanks Bree, changing sides of the desk this week, channeling
a bit of zave O Timo best.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I think we should be in a much calmer state,
especially if I can get my words out. But we
also have the beautiful mind of the podcast. We've got
Simon Ray.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Hey, Dan, thanks having me back. Good to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Our listeners love you too, so that's great.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And back after a little hiatus because a little bundle
of joy came into the world. I've got the Aussie
legend and BJK Cup captain who's on attorney to leave.
Sam Stozer, thank you lovely to be here again. And
how is it going with a little baby. It's great,
it's great. It's relentless and sleepless, but apart from that,
it's absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Really good.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Ami.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I got three hours straight before seven o'clock this morning
scene today.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
No, that's a good effort.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I don't know how parents do it. Like if I
get five hours, I'm like, oh I am dead. I'm like,
send me back to a preseason.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That was easy. Yeah, And how I was little emmy
now like.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Four and a half months and a half months Yeah,
think of it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Little story. I saw you in January and Brisbane. I
was up covering my home in a home tournament, home
state and walked out of the hotel with my partner
put it into text. Yeah he's from Spain, and walked
past Sam having a family walk there with Evie and Liz.
He said, oh, hey Sam, and you said, hey guys,
we've got a few meters down the road. And Gier said,
(02:13):
some woman just said hello to us. I said, well
that woman is Ozzie Tennis Royalty. Sam STOs aren't so
disrespectful to hear you.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
What haven't you been in tennis for years? Why have
you not?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
As soon as he said the.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Name, guess who kind of gang with all the Aussie
legends on it.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It wasn't on site, to be fair, it was in
the CBD out of context some woman. I was quite ashamed.
We pulled it together.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
We're just friendly in Queens and Simon. Great analysis from
you last week.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
We always get the fans loving you and Levi to
be fair, give us a taste of what's in store today.
Speaker 6 (02:53):
Well, I think we're going to talk a little bit
about Rebaikner and Riard and some of what we saw,
particularly in that final against Sabolenca, and her dad's going
to talk about the AHP Tour finals and the team
have asked me to look specifically at.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Sinner and al Karez.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
So really similar in some ways, but really different in
a few nuanced ways as well.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
So looking forward to having a chat about that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, great, and I'll throw some curveballs as well. Ready
you love that about Felix?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yes, okay, happy to do, so let's talk Felix.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I thought about that this morning. I was like, I
won't tell anyone. I'll just put you on the spot.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Agaut.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It sounds good, but let's get into what's caught your
Eye's good, your line.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
We'll flick to Sam straight away. Then Elna backin to
finish the year. What an emphatic finish to the year
after a pretty somewhat tumultuous year and a pretty big
paycheck to come with it.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, I mean, did she finish well or what?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Winning ningbo to actually get into the finals, so she
was only in a week or so before it was
even starting, So I mean, even trying to get yourself
into finals when you're vying for points in those last
couple of weeks can be very stressful. And then she
did that and thenbsolutely just went on an onslaught through finals.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Went undefeated.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Biggest paycheck in well women's tennis and sports history really
over eight million Aussie dollars.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Which is just not bad for a which we act unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, incredible, but I mean the beating Saberlenka, who's obviously
finishing number one again, she smashed through Siantek in those
last two sets. I mean, she's playing exceptional tennis again
and back to really where we all, I think, where
we think she belongs in the top five of the
world again, where she was, you know a year or
so ago. The eight million dollars really explained sable Anka's
(04:39):
face at the end of that match. Did you see
her face? She was not impressed, she was like, oh, devastated.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I mean, she's had a few tight final losses this year,
so it was probably the Maldives couldn't come quick enough,
I'd say for all them really, but yeah, I think
at there we tend by that point, good to get
the break in.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So Simon, how does this performance back up in the
DATI you said last week?
Speaker 6 (05:01):
Well, we spoke a little bit last week about her
weapons and what she brings to the table and what
a fearsome prospect she is to come up against when
she's at her best and playing her best tennis, and
I think there's some numbers that speak to that. Looking
specifically at the final, there's not many players I'm sure
Sam would agree, there's not many players on tour that
can almost have their way with Arena Sabalenka down the
other end in terms of dictating more points than they're
(05:23):
on the receiving end of and Rebecca is one of those,
or rebeken is one of those. So thirteen aces to
five in the final against Sablenka not broken across two sets.
And this was an extraordinary number that jumped off the
page at me when I was watching this match back,
and sure enough it did get confirmed in the numbers.
She won seventy five percent of her second serve points Rebukener,
Oh wow, it's huge. Fifty percent is kind of a
(05:45):
really solid Abner. Anything above fifty is a good solid result,
fifty five or sixty. So to win seventy five percent
of your second serve points against Sablenka, who's all about
trying to do maximum damage on second serve return herself,
that proved to be a real difference maker in the match.
And I think just to speak to as Sam alluded
to that, you know the pedigree of Rebeikenner. So she's
(06:05):
eight and six all time versus number one ranked players
in the world. Rebekenner, there's only two other females ever
that have had a winning record against number one ranked
players in the world. They are Stephanie Grath and Serena Williams. Wow,
So she's an elite company and that just shows you.
I think that speaks to how good this woman's upside is.
When she's at her best, she's a fearsome prospect to
(06:27):
come up against and she can have a say in
the match. That means you're going to be flat out
trying to hang with her. And I think we saw
that again and read.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Just going back to her serving, I always thought of
myself as a pretty good reader of a ball toss
and serving and stuff like that. I played her maybe
three times, I think in singles, and every time I.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Was clueless, clueless.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I did not really I could not read her serve.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
So when you're then standing up there to return and
you don't really know which way she's going to go,
because she can hit every spot whenever she wants, really
toss off the same toss, very very hard to read,
and that second serve stat is phenomenal, and that just
sets her up then to hit more winners. If she's
not winning it with an ace or like an unreturnable,
(07:11):
she's got a whole court. She's a total offensive play
the whole time. And then she can really just let
loose on return games as well, because she's just rolling
through service games and feeling good pressures off on those
return games, so she's she's got every weapon and every
shot that you could really want in tennis. If she's
there ready to go, she's a real force.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
Yeah, and I think it leaves us salivating potentially when
we think about the strain open and could we see
a match up between these two women again, because not
many have been able to challenge Sablenca, but rebuking it
whilst she doesn't have the edge on her, I think
that makes it eighty six Saballenka's way. She's one that's
been able to go right there. And even in their
last four matchups this year, I think they've split those.
I think it's two and two recently. So yeah, I
(07:53):
think that's really enticing to think about. Could we could
we have another the prospect of a Sabolenka or by
King a match up down here in Melbourne, And.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
We've seen it here before. It's still one of the
best friends in the finals. We've seen that they just
match up so well, they know each other's game is
really well, both super aggressive and great spectacle for the fans.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Let's take a look at Rebaikner in a press conference
at talking about that momentum and carrying it on.
Speaker 7 (08:20):
Well, it gives a lot of motivation and hopefully I
get some good rest and I can keep this mentality
and bring it to the next season. And yeah, hopefully
we can improve even more and start strong. And I'm
really glad that I was pretty stable throughout the whole
(08:43):
tournament and hopefully I can carry it throughout the whole
next season.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
What do you think, because obviously we've seen a bit
of up and down from her, like less of her
name in the top five this year.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
What has changed between a couple of months back to now?
Do you think I.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Think it's been a year or some uphevil right, She's
had a lot going on, you know, and inevitably and
same would be able to speak to this as well.
Does the on core does the off court effect the
on court? Absolutely? And you know, life and tennis are
inextricably woven together, and I think we've seen that with
some of the bumps along the road that she's endured
this year. But speaks to her character that as things
(09:22):
are starting to settle in her camp and she feels
that level of comfort again, she's been able to produce
her best tennis when it matters, most towards the end
of the year.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
She said, there's also been it could be linked even
some health issues off court as well, So if you
intertwine that with your other off court issues and it's
pretty tough then to be playing at your peak. But
somehow she's found that equilibrium again to push at the
end of the year and she's won Brisbane International before,
made the final Adelaide Final, the Open, so she loves
(09:52):
these courts clearly in Australia she does.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what she does down here,
so it'd be great to watch.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
So get tickets. I'm talking about the WTA finals. We're
going to move into the ATP finals and Turin.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, so we're still in the grip of ATP Finals,
almost at the knockout phase. The crowds have been electric
in Turin. I mean it helps when you've got two
players from the country competing. Yeah, one of them's the
defending champion. It was particularly electric the other day when
Massetti was playing Demonor and it didn't go Demonoll's way,
(10:28):
and it was a pretty tough one for him second
year in a row though he's qualified, so there's a
lot to be proud of, but he was disappointed that
he didn't serve that out to get his first win
at the ATP Finals. Keep in mind, Marsetti was a
late entrant after Djokovic withdrew. He played Athens. If he
won the title, he got in. He fell just short
(10:49):
against Djokovic and Djokovic told him at the net, I'm
actually not going to play, so you are in. So
there was a bittersweet bittersweet. I think he was a
bit annoyed he had to play that extra week. But
you know, you've got plenty of other chances during the
year to book your spot. Yeah, so tough one for
demon Or. He now falls to zero to five in
his two years at the ATP Finals. He's got one
(11:12):
much left against Fritz and that would be his first
top ten winner of the year if he can get that.
But it's yeah, it's pretty brutal.
Speaker 8 (11:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I think he's another player that can't wait for the
mental reset to some time off before arguably the most
important time of the year for him, summer.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah, should we have a look a bit of what
Alex said in his press conference after that loss to Messiti, yep.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
I think it's probably a good thing. I don't express
my feelings right now because they're quite dark, to be honest.
It it just feels like it's been that type of
year where I've had a whole lot of matches that
these are issues that can't keep happening. I mean, if
I really want to be serious about in the next
(12:00):
seven in my career, these matches, I can't lose them.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I just can't.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
I mean, it's just more than anything else, getting to
a point where mentally it's killing me.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Sadness in his voice is so like it hits you,
doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I mean to Sam and Simon, how difficult is that
to kind of shake that? What else can he do?
He's as fit as anyone out there, That's what other
elements could you add? Or is it just all mental
now that?
Speaker 1 (12:30):
I think the longer it goes, it becomes more of
a mental hurdle than anything. I think there's probably no
secret he doesn't maybe have some of the huge weapons
that a lot of these guys in the finals have,
so he's sort of up against it in that way
when he plays back to back guys in the top
eight top ten all the time, which I think is
showing in his record against them, unfortunately, but he's one
(12:51):
of them.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
He's in the top.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Eight, right, so he's got to deserve absolutely, and he
didn't buy his way in there. He's earned every single
point and every single spot to make himself, you know,
qualify for finals and be in the top eight in
the world and finish an.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Incredible year off.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So it's I guess it's one of those things you
always want more so you're there, but when you're falling short,
like he's saying that he is, and he feels like
he's putting in all the work and doing everything you
want to get over the line, it.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Still doesn't feel good.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Whether you're six in the world or two hundred in
the world, you still want more because you're still going
to be striving for, you know, more of what he's
capable of.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
But I think he's got to just yeah, it's probably
a good.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Time just to reset, clear the slate and yet not
let those sort of mental demons then start creeping in
in these matches because it's only it's only a match.
But as a player, you can always kind of catastrophize
them to.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Be more than what they are.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Yeah, and if you guys were co coaches, for example,
what would you be working on with him.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
At the moment.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
I think Sam touches on a great point because I
think what she's speaking to there is perspective and you know,
it's like you at a family barbecue here in Australia, right,
and everyone wants to know how does demon take it
to that next level? But what Sam's touched on I
couldn't agree more with is he is doing fantastically well.
He's the envy of all of us having the type
(14:13):
of career that he's having at the minute. And we're
talking about some potential greats of all time in Alcarez
and Center and the Muzzetti one. Surprised me a little
bit that he's got the losing record to Musetti. I
think he's one and four overall against Muzzetti, but up
against Fritz all is not lost there. I think he's
five and five. So he's kind of split the ledger
there with Fritz looking ahead at the next matchup. So maybe,
(14:35):
at the risk of not directly answering your question, Bri,
I think it is about what Sam's described me as
taking a deep breath and reinforcing there's so much that's
going well here and where can we find a couple
of percent extra to go to another level again? But
I think some of us, may be in Australia are
guilty of looking at what we don't have rather than
reinforcing what this young man is doing.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Such a superb job of he is. We'll say, out
and week and week.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Out, and this match against Fritz like it's a free swing.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, he's not going to qualify for semi, so you
can really just go out there and loosen the shoulders
and play hard, and you know Fritz has got the
pressure on him, not the other way around, so you
know it's an opportunity where you might just be able
to think, Okay, well this is what I didn't do yesterday,
I'm going to go for it today and there's really
no consequence.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
It does not matter.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Well, Fritz also complained about a little bit of knee
tender night, so he's one one one match, one lost one.
He's been juggling it mainly since Wimbledon, and I guess
you would know as a player, Sam, how difficult that
is to balance whether you take the time off to
heal it and strengthen it. It's not something that needs intervention,
it doesn't need surgery. But it's a bit It's a
(15:44):
balancing act, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, well, I think it's what he alluded to in
his comments was I'm not I'm playing so well. I
can play for two sets pretty well with you know,
minimal pain. Why would I take all this time well
and not be part of it. So it's I mean again,
it brings up the question of how long the season
is to be able to then take a break at
the end of the year.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
He's you know, he hasn't got much time really take
that break and then do a preseason.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So I think a lot of players just manage, you know,
little niggles here and there and injuries throughout the year.
If they don't need the full time off, they just
try and get by.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
I think that is a really interesting coaching question though,
because whilst he's saying and he's right, the evidence proves
he's right. He can play two sets at a phenomenally
high level. Perhaps you could mount the argument that in
best of five sets, to trouble the likes of Cinna
and El Karaz and to do it in consecutive matches,
or to win seven consecutive best of five set matches.
(16:39):
Maybe that knee is an issue. So which one do
you want to value? Which one do you want to
prioritize in the hierarchy. You probably can't have your cake
and eat it too. Maybe you could mount a case
that to step back for six weeks and do some
work on that knee might serve you well at Grand
Slam time. So those are the conversations that the camp
would be having, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And I'm sure we'll see what happens then at the
AI with Fritz. Yeah, yeah, so signon.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Ocras needs only to beat Miscetti now to secure the
year round end number one for the second time. Do
you see anything other than a Sinner versus our cras final.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
To the end?
Speaker 6 (17:12):
Hard to see, isn't it? And we probably spoke about
it last week. It looks like the likely outcomings. Yeah,
I mean, it would I think be fitting to sign
off the twenty twenty five campaign with a match up
between those two. And it would take a braver man
than me to tipp not being the case at the moment,
So I would say all roads are likely leading to
that outcome that you that you mentioned alcarazin center in
(17:35):
the final at turn.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I think he's he'll be just the eleventh player to
finish your end number one more than once, the last
player outside the big three to finish here end twice.
Any idea who that might be. We've got a little quiz,
little mid midpoint quiz. It wasn't Latin, it was latent.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah, I got it, no idea.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I was just here for the sound effect.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Two thousand and one and two thousand and two back
to back, and no other player outside the Big three
has been its here end twice since Wow, So it's
going to be big for you. The alkraz Or Siner
at the moment, elkraz in the box seat. He only
has to win one more match, I believe against Massetti
to secure that.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And that he should beat Mascetti because Massetti would have
to be tired.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
He would think rolled.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Straight in from Athens.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, he'd be running a bit on empty, but still
plenty to play for him. He could secure a semi
final spot, so yeah, he won't be rolling over, that's
for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
It's going to be a pretty excited crowd.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
But Simon let's move into you and what caught your eye?
Still sticking with the ATP finals.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Aren't we?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (18:42):
We are bre And the team asked me to have
a look at the two gentlemen that you mentioned just
moments ago in Alcarez and Ciner, and how do they compare?
And I boiled it down or tried to distill it
down into three buckets. In bucket number one, they're really
similar in a whole bunch of ways. As we know,
enormous weapons can do serious dama John serve and fourhand
speed and spin on fourhand sides, kind of impossible to
(19:04):
split them. Some of the numbers that would expect them
to be close. And if you look at the calendar
year points one overall, who's won more points over the year.
Sinner's just got the edge. Second serve points one, it's
fifty eight to fifty six. There's nothing in it. Second
serve return one, fifty eight to fifty five. It's in
Sinner's favor. But where it does start to split out
Now we're on to bucket two. So where do they
(19:24):
differ When you get to the backhand side. From the
back of the court, things are different. Sinner is more
power he wants it on his terms all of the time,
and he's going to beat you with power and athleticism
and speed and physicality, Whereas there is more nuance in
the al Karez game than we see from Sinner. And
what I mean by that is in terms of the
utilization of the slice backhand, how do these two players
(19:46):
do it well? Over the last twelve months, you'll see
Sinner use a slice back and ten percent of the
time topsmin the other ninety. You see Alcarez use it
twenty five percent of the time, or one in four.
So when it comes to his back end, he's using
the slice a lot more than you, Yarix Cinner.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Same thing.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
When we look at drop shots, Alcoraz is twice as
likely to hit a drop shot as Yarnick Cinara's net play,
He's twice as likely to come forward as Yarnick Cinarios
serve and volley.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
He's three times as likely.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
To do that as Jarnick center is. So all of
a sudden, we've got two great champions. We've got a
bunch of similarities, but then we've got a different some
different ways of going about it when we're looking in
this bucket. So when you think of variation overall variation
in your game. So what is vanilla and what is variation.
That's the type of information that Sam when she was
playing you, looking to convey that, Hey, this play is
(20:32):
a bit more straight up and down.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You know what you're going to get.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
Serve fourhand looking to bully the ball from the get go, or.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
No, no, there's a bit more to this. Watch out
for the drop shot. Watch out.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
They like to steal time. They'll occasionally serve and volley
against you. Sam had a great kick, so she could
compliment that with her power, for example. Those are the
conversations you're having.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Variation.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Alcaz has got thirty percent of variation in his game. Okay,
I can talk, but another time, just to how we
get to that number. Sinner's got about fifteen percent of
variation in this game, twice as much in the al
Karaz game. Is what we see from yournick center. And
then the third bucket. And I'm not necessarily describing a
leader in this bucket, but the third bucket was this
notion of mentality or under pressure performance break points one
(21:14):
slight edge to Alcarez, forty five percent of his breakpoints
he wins Sinners at forty two percent. Not much in
that deciding sets one though, so either a third set
or a fifth set. When we think of Grand Slam tennis,
this surprised me. Sinner wins fifty seven percent of those,
so his overall winning percentage is much higher that. So
if you can get Sinner to a deciding set, you
can actually get him. He's more gettable than he is
(21:36):
any other time. Right, he's either going to steamroll you
or if you can push them all the way, you're
a fighting chance, you're alive. Whereas Alcoraz in deciding sets,
he wins nearly eighty percent of his.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Decay so that's a big difference between the two.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
And then in tire breaks one it flips again flips
the other way. So Sinner's eighty two percent of his
tiebreaks he wins sixty five or two out of three
for Alcarez of his tiebreaks that he wins. So it's
probably a couple of different ways to look at that.
If you get them to a tiebreak, Sinner's dynamite. But
if it goes to a deciding set, look out some
of our Karaz's mentality and ability to play with you know,
the pressure or the weight of the world on the shoulders.
(22:10):
He's tough to tough to handle when matches really are
on the line.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And those guys and their teams would be well aware
of this, wouldn't they.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Yeah, I think that's all publicly facing information. So that's
what I delved into. And when you look at their games,
you know how they're similar. They're similar in a whole
bunch of ways. We would know that through watching the
tennis on TV B. How do they differ and see
if we dig, you know, deeper than surface level, what
do we see from a mentality or a pressure perspective?
These two great, great champions and great combatants on the court.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And what's a better technique or is it just two
different ways of playing? Yeah? I think not everyone's got
the same looking serve or yeah, exactly, But jeez, you
can make something work for you. If it works for you,
then that's all that really matters. So I think, yeah,
I mean, look at the variation all that with with
our careers. I think is what makes him look so dynamite.
I'm exciting to watch, but sinner, you just know he
(22:58):
is there all the time. It's a really that's just
a fascinating way to look at their two contrasting styles,
but then also looking at Sinner's win loss record against
the rest of the field in the ATP.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Is almost unbeatable.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, but he's only beaten Olcoraz once out of nine
or something, so there's obviously something in their match up
against each other that Sinner does not like and our
Koraz is well above, but then against every single other player,
it's almost unbeatable.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
In terms of the rivalry. You said how evenly they
are matched. They're two of the best ball strikers, two
of the best movers, and I think you can speak
more to this, But if they know each other's games
that well, there's the anticipations there as well. So does
that raise it another level? Do you think when two
players know each other's games inside out like that.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
I think it becomes really tricky, right because to what
extent are you backing your strengths? And something Darren Kyle
said without having the quote in front of me really
stuck with me before the Wimbledon file final, where I
think ESPN asked and what was the message? And I
think it was strength, speed, power, okay, And I thought, gee,
that's a great coaching message, like, imagine walking onto the court,
(24:12):
you know, when there's all kinds of stuff going on
between the years, the way to the world literally on
your shoulders. Yea and strength, speed, spell, strength, speed, power.
You've got those qualities and spades, go and let them
shine through on the biggest stage.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
I thought, Oh, that's what makes darrenk Kaye.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Such a great concize exactly remember exactly, and you walk
onto the court feeling ten foot two bulletproof right when
you need it the most.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
Right.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
So it's I think to answer your question, Dan, to
what extent do you want to back your strengths versus
you're trying to work on little nuancewers in your game
all of the time, to maybe add a wrinkle in
twenty twenty six to you perhaps didn't happen twenty twenty
five when these matches are often decided by a point
or two over five sets.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
And I promised a bonus question.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
But Felix yes, and we spoke about him a bit
last year, last year, last week kind of had a
big end to his year and he beat Ben Shelton
enter in.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
He he's going and going at the moment, isn't.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
He seems to be coming back to summer of his
best tennis. Yeah, and we know about serve and forehand
when we think about Felix and the knock on him
has been back inside for a number of years. When
I say the knock, you know, it's a pretty high
standard to be holding. But it's been, let me say,
less threatening than serve and forehand. And I think what
we're seeing from him in twenty twenty five is we're
(25:29):
seeing him more healthy, more often, and he's giving himself
more of an opportunity to shine with those weapons that
we know he does have, serve, forehand and physicality. Yes,
he's moving so well that he's able to do more
damage again with his forehand and make his back endside,
allow his back endside to hold up better against the
quality opposition.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, because I did not think he'd beat Shelton.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
He loves his summer year, doesn't He loves indoors. Yeah,
and he loves that period. Just after I was open
to he cashes in then as well, We're going to
move on to someone else who knows I think too
about finish year end number one, not me, Yeah, nor me.
He's done it more times than anyone eight in fact,
(26:08):
Movak Djokovic. Now usually he'd be taking part in the
ATP finals, but yes, it was still a little positive
to finish the year on, wasn't it? In Athens?
Speaker 8 (26:18):
It was?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And the reason why this caught my eye is because
it's the one hundred and first title and he did
this great social media post where it was him and
one hundred and one Dalmatians. I believe it's Ai, but
I'm all for it. I think it's amazing. And there's
obviously not one hundred and one dumation, so there's a
slight flaw in the number counting here, but I thought
it was really quite cute. He also was doing a
(26:40):
photo shoot with the trophy at the Acropolis, and I
think it was about four point thirty pm and they
realized it shut at five, so he had to run
there and actually skip the line, which I'm sure the
fans or the people and Grace were fine for him
to actually make it to get his photo and you
can see all these great fans in the background laughing.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
So I really a backdrop I know that's actually gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, no, impressed.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Obviously the dogs caught.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
My attention first, and then I thought this was quite
funny watching him run through the streets of grace to
make it there on time.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
But a really massive, amazing win from him.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
We have heard him talk a lot this year about
how he thinks he can beat the younger players in
three sets, where five cents becomes more tricky. I personally
was a bit disappointed he wasn't going to trin just
because I feel like he does deserve to be there
and I would have liked to be playing against those people,
but also great to have Miscetti there.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah, I think he was looking after his body, wasn't he.
Look he definitely earned his place. I think he sent
with his slam runs this year, but the body is
clearly the priority now and I was open he's just
around the corner. So that, Yeah, we've just.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
Seen him more in twenty twenty five, more than ever before.
We've seen him make some decisions that are really different
to those that he's made earlier in his career, and
clearly physicality and is going to come first, second, third,
and fourth at the moment, And so whether it was
going into the US Open with next to no match
play under the belt, there was limited time on grass
before Wimbledon, So we're just seeing him make some really
(28:11):
different decisions and what was seen previously.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
But I think it makes sense. It does make his career.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Well, I've got this great stat he's the oldest ATP
champion since our very own Ken Rosewall in nineteen seventy seven,
and he won in that year in Hong Kong and
Tokyo at the age of forty three.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, he's got a few years yet to beat that.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, and we could still be seeing him forty three.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Didn't he say he wants to carry the flag at
La La eight?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Two more years? Three three?
Speaker 6 (28:38):
Really?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I mean who would bet against him?
Speaker 3 (28:43):
We're tired thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
If anyone's going to do it, he would find a way,
but it's a long time.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, you'd have the thing to be a pretty skeleton schedule, yeah,
really the important ones exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
But he would still need to play a certain amount
of match be able to make it in right.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Like well, I mean, if he's still playing a good
a wild card, there's like there's ways that do it,
but but to be an actual threat, and you know,
I don't think he's he's not just going to go there.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
To fill up the drawings. Yeah, to perform.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
So yeah, and you're still got to have it as
some sort of element of you know, competitive matches under
your belt to be able to do that at the
top level, especially against the guys like ol Choraz and
Singer like he's finding it hard now. I couldn't imagine
in three years time. Well, good luck to you, Jokovic
as you race towards LA will be watching all the way.
(29:41):
We'd have a quick break and then we're going to
discuss more about BJK Cup.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Preview and with Kim Bile and Hobart.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
I believe.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
We're back and we're going to get into some of
the other stories happening out there.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Firstly, Australian BJK Cup team playing off for a spot
in the twenty twenty six qualifiers and how lucky we
to have the captain. He's having a little hiatus. I said,
you've got twenty days left about that? Yeah, tell us
a little bit about how you think the team's looking.
No doubt you're talking to Pratty, who's the current captain
(30:18):
at the moment, filling in for you.
Speaker 11 (30:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Look, I think they've had a great week of training
down there. Pratty and I were talking a lot before
they actually went down to Hobart. I was going to
flick her a message later and be like, so who's playing?
Tell me what gous But look, you know, Pratty's been
the coach of the team for over ten years, so
it was fantastic for her to be able to captain
the group this time around. And you know, it's such
(30:42):
a great squad. It's pretty young team really. You know,
Stormy and Ellen have obviously been part of it for
a number of years, but the rest of them, it's
a you know, we've got a debutant in Talia Gibson,
may is only playing a second tie and Kim's playing
a maybe fourth or fifth or so, so, you know,
relatively young. But it's such a great group and they
(31:03):
all get along so well, so I'm sure they haven't
having a blast down there.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
You can see that that they've jelled so well. And
that's obviously a culture that you've grown up in and
you've helped foster that. But especially for new ones like Maya,
as you said, who hasn't played much and and Talie
is very new to it, you can see they look
really comfortable around the other girls and I'm sure they
hang out a bit during the year too, which would
help when they're on the tour on the road.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And that's one thing that I've always
said about our Australian team, whether it was when I
was playing in the team or now, you know, overseeing.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
And captain ing. You see, all the girls support each
other throughout the year.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
It's not just about coming together for the weeks of
BJK where you know they become friends and all that
they're actually friends. They do support each other and want
the best for each other every other single week of
the year, which is awesome and I think, I genuinely
believe that is a pretty unique situation that we have
here in Australia compared to a lot of the other countries.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Well. Producer Vic Rudnikov on the ground in Hobart and
she spoke to Kim Berrell ahead of the tie this
weekend against Portugal and Brazil.
Speaker 11 (32:06):
Jim, tell me where we are today and what's happening
here this week. We are in Hobart at the BJK
Cup tie and yeah, really excited to be here. It's
a little bit windy, but the sun's shining picking out,
so it's a beautiful day and yeah, it's awesome to
be wearing green and gold again.
Speaker 10 (32:22):
Yeah, and you're playing Brazil and Portugal. What can you
tell me about them as competitors.
Speaker 9 (32:27):
Yeah, obviously there's going to be no easy matches. Everyone
here is representing their country. We all want to win
so badly for our teammates, but also everyone here at
home and they'll be feeling the same way, I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
So we're ready for a battle.
Speaker 9 (32:43):
And yeah, I'm not too sure who's going to be
playing yet, but whoever steps out on the court is
going to give their best and be ready for anything.
And yeah, it's going to be a challenge, but it'll
be really fun.
Speaker 10 (32:56):
And you've been in Hobart for a few days now,
how are you finding it?
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (33:00):
I love hope Art.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
It has a special place with my heart. I have
some family here and I always enjoy coming back here,
whether it's for the tournament or to visit them. And
I think it's a really amazing city.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
It's got some of.
Speaker 9 (33:11):
Australia's best food, best coffee and I progre I shouldn't
say that, John Melburnie, sorry, but we've just some good cafes. Yeah,
you kind of have a bad meal in Tazzy, So
I think that's been really fun and obviously some incredible
views and we've got such a beautiful view here from
Santa Court, so yeah, I really enjoy the relaxed vibe
(33:32):
of Tazzy, So it's really cool to be here.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
Yeah, and obviously you've had a great end to the
year last couple of weeks in particular, what has been
your twenty twenty five highlight onto what?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Oh, that's a tough one.
Speaker 9 (33:45):
Yeah, it's hard to go past last week and coming
through such a tough sort of last few months. I
had a bit of a dip, I guess in my
sort of results through the middle of the back end
of the year where I felt, you know, very close
to getting across the line, has some tough matches but
didn't quite get there. So it's such a good feeling
(34:07):
when it all comes together and you can put multiple
match good matches in a row and get to the
end of a tournament. Especially Yeah, in Chennai, the conditions.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Were quite tough.
Speaker 9 (34:15):
It was very hot, and yeah, I sort of had
to dig really deep and it kind of showed me
what I was made of and a great way to
finish the year.
Speaker 10 (34:24):
And back into the top one hundred as well.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
How does that feel? It feels really great.
Speaker 9 (34:28):
It feels a bit surreal, to be honest, I kind
of I hadn't sort of thought too much about my
ranking much over the last few months. I just wanted
to start playing well again, and like I knew that
I could, and so to have that come off of
the back of some good tennis is really great feeling.
And really need to thank my team and Pratty and
(34:52):
my brother who traveled with me in the last few
weeks of this year for sort of picking me up
and lifting my spirits and believing in me. I'm really
glad that I could finish the year strong and hopefully
be in the main jow of the Australian Open. It's
been a big goal of mine. So I guess we'll
see in the next couple of weeks if that happens.
But it's looking good.
Speaker 10 (35:12):
And of course I can't chat to you today without
saying congratulations on your engage and thank you. All of
us at the point are very very excited and happy
for you. Thanks so much as well.
Speaker 9 (35:23):
Thank you, I really appreciate it. Yeah, it's been a
really exciting time and to also experience that at home
with my friends and family. And I didn't tell anyone
before I arrived at the tie except for Patty View,
but she didn't say anything, which is amazing. And to
tell the girls on the first day was really exciting.
It was really fun.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
That was very cute. Could they have found a windy spot?
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I know it's really that might have been the sport.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And I think Vic did really well holding off talking
about the engagement because that would have been my first question.
But I know it's about tens. But how do you
think the girls are shaping up? How do you think
they'll go over there? Oh well, hopefully get the w
that's what we want. But look, I think Mayas if
you want to go down the list. Obviously we don't
know who's going to play, but Mya's ahead on rankings
(36:08):
as the number one player at the moment in Australia
and she's had a phenomenal year. I know we keep
talking about every time we talk about Maya, we're just
how good it's been in which she keeps getting better
and better, and so she's ticked off a lot of
first this year. And I think now being in this
position to play. If she's playing the matches, which I'm
pretty sure she will be. You know, she's going to
(36:29):
relish that opportunity to be out there representing Australia, and yeah,
trying to you know, get us off to a good
start and then whoever plays the number two spot, you know,
try and follow through. And then we've got the really
good experienced Stormy and Ellen most likely for the doubles.
So I think, you know, we've done everything we can,
(36:50):
I'm sure down there to prepare and do what we
can to try and get the w's and yeah, hopefully
we can handle that Hobart wind better than anyone else.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
How tricky is it to scout to the opposition Portugal
and Brazil? Brazil's without ad admire, So it's pretty tricky
to scout those opponents, isn't it when they're much lower ranked,
particularly singles. I think Stefani in doubles is probably more
than a known quantity, but Portugal in particular, those women
would have never played the Portuguese women, So how do
(37:22):
you scope that?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I mean, to be honest, you kind of just there's
not going to be very much footage of them out,
you know, and I'm sure they've I'm sure the coaches
have watched a few sneaky practices and tried to get
a bit of an idea. And I don't know if
someone like Italia, who may have been playing a few
MORATF tournaments this year, would have come across them a
little bit more than some of the other players. So
I think at the end of the day, my philosophy
(37:47):
is always, if you don't know the girls too much,
don't try and look too much into it and find
things that maybe aren't there. Focus on your own game.
You know what you're going to do well, start there.
And the beauty of this competition is that you've got
the coach city right there with you. So if you're
not picking something up, most likely on the side, or
if she's not, then you've got two more coaches behind her,
(38:09):
you know you can scout. So I think it's one
of those things where if you don't know them too much,
stick to what you do best, go out there with
your a game, and then you can always adjust if
you need Well, we might also move into some other
things that are happening in the Australia space, so United
Cup player announcement, So we have had the entry list.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
It's closed. It's hit us here.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
We have five of the world's top ten men and
three of the world's top ten women. So from the
ATP's aggressive, Yeah, it is pretty good, isn't it. Sarah
Fritz demon Or, We've got Felix, We've got Draper, I've
got Kaspar Rude from WTA, We've got IgA Coco Golf,
Jasmine Palini and Belinda BEng chicch and I.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Do believe we also have Japan who's entered with Naomi Osaka.
So amazing. Got a big line up for United Cup
this year. I'm very excited personally.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I mean, fantasticness great, it's awesome, Like that's exactly what
you want. And you know, I was part of the
first United Cup and it really is a fun a
fun week to be part of. You know, we say
it all the time, but the mixed competition is awesome.
I think the site is really enjoy it. It's probably
a little more relaxed than your typical tournament maybe starting
(39:20):
the year, so I think the players also enjoyed that aspect.
But yeah, I mean, we're going to have some pretty
phenomenal matchups right They're starting the year.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
To remind our listeners as well at home. How does
the United Cup format work?
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Okay, So it's eighteen nations, six groups of three. The
top six of the top team from each group goes
through as well as the two best performing other teams
to the quarterfinals and then it's a knockout phase semis
and final in Sydney.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yep, so it's across Perth and Sydney. We do have
the draw on Monday seventeenth of November, so next week
or we find out who will playing Sydney and Perth.
I'm really looking forward to see what happens there. Just now,
moving into Adelaide, I wanted to talk about the fact
that we've got Brazilian sensations Alphen fon Seca who'll be
there this year as well as Jack Draper, so the
heart throb of the UK. And joining them will be
(40:09):
gold medalist Belinda Bencic and also our very own AO
winner from last year, Madison.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Keys that she'll be the defending champion. That's that's four
good gets here.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Particularly the men's side from second will draw the big
Brazilian crowd wherever he plays, and Draper on the comeback
from injury. So that's a good event for him to
try and launch into his Australian campaign Benchic has played
probably her best year, hasn't she amazing.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Since coming back from and probably arguably her best season.
So yeah, so that means you're going to come out
of retirement.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
You know, I actually had a hit with Dash last
week and I'm far from returnity. But no, she I
mean phenomenal comeback and you know, gets to travel with
her little girl and her husband is also a fitness trainer,
I believe, So it's you know, they're having a great
time out.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
And she's really happy touring with her family. Absolutely, I
mean not much to be unhappy about it.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Could imagine you make that work.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Yeah, exactly, if you can make it work. I think
that needs a few more little child care facilities around
the tournaments for all these players having their babies and continuing.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
But yeah, I mean, hats off to any one who
can do it.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
But that's probably a pretty good idea for the WTA,
that they need a few more child care facilities now
that you know, it is becoming a world where women
can have children and come back so soon as well.
But speaking of pregnancies on stupor. I know she's pregnant. Exciting, Yeah,
it's really exciting. Amazing talk about childcare. Ons was the
first person to take anyone's childish on them and they
(41:46):
listit them.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
So now she's going to have to do it for us.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
But no she I know, she absolutely adores babies and children.
So yeah, very very happy for her.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
She's spoken about it, hasn't she before this was even
announced that she really wanted that Wimbledon so that she
could retire and have a baby. Yeah, for the moment,
she's saying it's on hold and she is planning to
come back. So we'll see how this all changes with
motherhood and our spark's still.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
There or yeah, she nestles into being a mum and
something else.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
But she is getting the benefits from the WTA's paid
maternity leave, so she will have a protected ranking which
allows her to return, which is amazing.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
So that's a very new kind of system.
Speaker 4 (42:28):
Isn't it.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Yeah, it's just come out this year.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
You know, incredible what the WTO have been able to
put forward with this maternity leave. And yeah, for the plays,
now you don't have to wait till you've done and
dusted and retired and obviously you can get older and
all of that stuff. So I mean it's still not easy,
I think, to come back, but at least they know, Okay,
we have that little bit of a buffer there, and yeah,
really leading the way for women's sports in that regard,
(42:52):
which is amazing, great progress. Yeah, it's amazing. So congrats
to Onstubbur and your family. Very excited to see the
little one come along. But on that great kind of
end of the show, why don't we end on an
even higher note with.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
Ace of the Week.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Let's do it.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Everyone loves Ace of the Week, don't they. We might
start with you, we'll be boring. It's all start with
the best.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Well having a few sh so okay, Well, my tbe
five year old has started gymnastics. Well she's been doing gymnastics,
but she's been put up to the higher age group
and she's this little girl amongst all these taller kids,
and watching her do the warm up last week was
(43:35):
just the cutest thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 8 (43:37):
In my life.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
And you know, shuffling and just watching everyone being like
what do I do?
Speaker 5 (43:43):
Do?
Speaker 6 (43:43):
What to do?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Anyway, just I sat there and just smiled. For like
the first ten minutes of this lest it was great.
I think that would be so cute.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
You must love it.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Then, if she's going up in age groups, she hasn't
tapped out of it.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
She did say she wanted to quit yourself, but then
afterwards she said, you had lots of fun, so you
just ride the rollercoaster. You never really know, but yeah,
it was seriously one of the cute I just sat
there in absolute delight watching her try and keep up
with all these kids, didn't know.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Knowing what moves to do.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
At I think so yes, although you know, I think
she's watching ev every step of the way and might
be too long till she's chasing it around the house.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, I love it. Oh you want me to go next?
Speaker 8 (44:24):
Will you go?
Speaker 1 (44:27):
My Ace of the week is last Thursday, at approximately
one pm, I lost my voice and by the end
of Friday, I had no voice left because I've had
really bad hay fever and I've been coughing and I've
got asthma, so I was just gone. I got my
voice back on Sunday, which is really good news. It's
still a bit gravelly. I've got a gravelly voice anyway,
(44:48):
but it's it's still struggling because.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Of the hay fever.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
But yeah, I was without voice on Friday and I
like to talk, so it was really quite difficult.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Sort of an ace came into an ace.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I think I missed you and said, are you going
to be okay this weekend? To socialize? Knowing that how
much you love I didn't, so yeah, I stated, assured
me you weren't doing anything.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
I did nothing.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
I couldn't.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
I even went for coffee and they were like, don't talk,
we know your order. Just be quiet because it was
like this noise just coming out of me, wasn't it.
It's pretty bad anyway. I've got my voice back, which
is exciting, but how about you, dan.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
So mine's not as exciting as either of those. I'm
off to from pod labor Arena to rod labor Rena
tonight to catch Rufus desol.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Do you know That's why I didn't say that was
my ace of the week, because I knew you'd.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Say, did you see him Saturday?
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Exciting? That's great?
Speaker 11 (45:41):
It is, it is.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
It's really good, so there'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Why you look so good today?
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Do you look nice?
Speaker 4 (45:47):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (45:48):
I thought it's hosting terrible on Monday, but you look
lovely today.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Scrub up for hosting duties.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
That'll be great. I'm excited to see them on Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
It's meant to be great three nights in a row.
I think you're playing so awesome.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Before we wrap up the show, I would just like
to indicate we probably forgot to mention Simon Ray our data,
a wonderful man had to actually leave midway through the
show enough to a meeting. We're quite busy here AT's
Australia with the events up ahead. So if you did
wonder that there seemed to be a voice missing, there was,
and we've got to tell you so sorry.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Simon, we missed your ace of the week. But thank
you so much Sam for being here.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
We haven't seen you since Emmy was in your belly,
so it's really good to have you back.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
And Dan, you did great as a co host.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
I thank you big choose to Phil, Yeah, he does have.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Big feet, not necessarily big skills.
Speaker 4 (46:39):
Where is this going?
Speaker 1 (46:41):
No, it's great to have you both, but that is
the end of our show. Reminder, we have fifty days
until summer of tennis. It'll be even less next week,
so we will see you next week.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Thanks guys, good to see you, Gada, you back.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Hey everyone, have s and Andy here.
Speaker 8 (46:57):
Just want to remind you that you can watch every
episode of the Tennis on our YouTube channel, austrain Open TV.
And you can also catch us on Tennis Plus by
heading to ozopen dot com forward slash Tennis Plus and
if you want to flick.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Us an email feedback thoughts on the show comments, we're
at podcast at tennis dot com DOTU. One of us
too will read it, but in the meantime we'll catch
you in the next one. See yeah.
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