September 2, 2025 • 19 mins
It’s getting down to the business end of the US Open and seven-time doubles champion John Fitzgerald joins Brett Thomas to wrap the fourth round. Fitzy’s been a big critic of Felix Auger-Aliassime, is this the year the Canadian lives up to the hype? Or will Alex de Minaur send him packing and make his first slam semi? They discuss whether Naomi Osaka is back to her grand slam winning best after a statement victory over Coco Gauff and will Novak Djokovic mic drop if he wins a 25th major?
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Tennis Mini a rap at the end
of every round of the US Open, coming up, never
count out a champion. Naomi and Novak wind back the clock.
A Canadian stands in Alex Dimenoll's way of making his
first ever Slam semi and straight sets. The top seeds
cruise into the corners. That's all ahead with me. Brett
Thomas and a seven time doubles Grand Slam champion, including
(00:26):
twice at the US Open. John Fitzgerald, Welcome, FITZI, thank you, Brett.
Great to be here, it really is. Yeah, great to
have your company. So much to talk about at the
US Open, but we want to start with two of
the highlight matches. In the fourth round. We mentioned a
lot of the top seeds were cruising, so two of
the matches that we've picked out were straight sets. But yeah,
big results to talk about, especially for a young Canadian.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, Felix usure Eli Sims was a tongue twist to
that for me, but I'd like to just refer to
him as Felix. I've been a fan for a long time.
He's a player to me, though Brett that hasn't achieved
his patent. I think he's athleticism, and his ball striking
ability is as good, nearly as good as everyone in
the world. He probably doesn't hit the ball as heavy
(01:09):
as our carraz and center, but a great ball striker.
But I've just always thought that his strategy needs to improve.
I just don't think he picks the right shot to
hit enough times in a match to beat the great players,
and I'd love to see him do it. I don't
know whether he's he hasn't learned it in his early career,
or whether he hasn't been coached it, but I think
(01:31):
he has to improve that aspect of his game if
he's going to go the whole way. But he's got
an opportunity now against our Rossie to go one step
further towards the semi final.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, he's taken a couple of big scalps, now Zverev
and Andre Rubelev. Rib Lev had a horrible record against
only beating him one in eight attempts. He's a breakdown
in four to two in the first set and then
dominated from there on in So has there been a
change in the way that he's playing, either technically or mentally?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You know, it's funny in a way, I put those
two players in a bit of the same cat agree.
You know, rube Lev is a bit of a one
dimensional player. He's a great one dimensional player, but he
plays the same way all the time. To me, he's
obviously better than that, but I'm comparing him to the
Sinners and the Alcorazes and the Djokovic is all those
great players.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So it's a tough school to be in.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
But he needs more variety in his game. Two, I think,
and I and Felix probably has played against him a
little bit head to head where they're both sort of
banging the ball hard from the back of the court
with maybe not quite as much strategy as I'd like
to see.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Easy to sit on the side when they're hitting the
ball as hard as they do in the modern game,
it's not easy to snap your fingers and start to
throw in different types of shots, short balls, off speed balls,
higher looping balls, and then coming to the net a
bit more So. I wouldn't say they both had the
perfect all court game yet, but I see them as
(02:52):
a bit similar those two. And obviously, finally Felix has
really got the better of him.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeh. He'd had an unremarkable Slam season second and first
round appearances, So this is a little bit out of
the blue. Forty two winners, thirty three unforced eras, So
I guess the match was decided on his racket.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, I'm one of those guys waiting for him, but
I had been waiting for about four or five years
for him to really break through, and I've had my
doubts that he's actually eventually going to do it. In
terms of his athleticism and he's ball striking, he should
be at the back end of these big tournaments more
often in my opinion. So unfortunately for Felix, I'm on
(03:28):
the Aussie side in the next round.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But I'm a fan of Oorzie.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Alisim and I hope there's times in his near future
where he can go really deep into these tournaments because
I think he's great for the sport.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, absolutely, and maybe this is his coming of age tournament,
although for Australian fans we hope not. The other match
of the round, which was blockbuster billing Naomi osaka Coco
Goff The Master and the Apprentice. They met in twenty
nineteen when Coco was just fifteen. Their careers and lives
have taken a different path since then. But it looks
like Osaka's back six three, six two in sixty four minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
That's a telling victory, very very telling, and it's pretty
exciting for the sport. I think if she is indeed
back now, one win won't do at all, will it.
But to play one of the best players in the world,
a multiple Grand Slam winner on that home court, well
it probably feels to a name. And though she's going home, yeah,
you know, she felt so comfortable there many years ago.
(04:25):
A really interesting turn of events for me. And look,
I love the way Koco brings to the sport, but
I think it's very exciting to see a former Championami Osaka,
who's one of the great ball strikers back in contention.
You never know now that she's beaten GoF at this
stage of the tournament, she might be hard to stop.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, four or four from breakpoint opportunities GoF not one
breakpoint opportunity. So do you think Naomi is back as
as a consistent Grand Slam contender?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Well, look, that score line is interesting. Do you lose
five games to a player of the caliber of Coco GoF,
You've hit form at the right time, You're feeling pretty confident.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Pretty hard to put a player.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Like that away, very difficult to beat those players, but
to beat her convincingly like that. Yeah, Like I said,
pretty telling and exciting for the sport.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Do you think Coco is a little bit off her
game at this tournament? So much talked about with her
change of coach and trying to adjust her serve eliminate
double fault? She double faulted on a set point. Do
you think there was a little bit going on with
her game that just.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Wasn't quite right?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, I guess one double fault on a break point
happens to the best of us, some of us more
often than not. But at that level, if you don't
continue to improve, you might stagnate.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So hats off to us.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
She's trying to improve facets of her game, but it
sounded like with her body language and some of her
verbal comments that she didn't feel totally comfortable. But you've
got to givenmi Asaka credit for a lot of that.
We know that somewhere back there in the past is
a game that is staggeringly good, and if she can
(06:03):
come close to that level again, she won't be the
last time she beats these top two or three players.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, Koko said to her box toward the end that
nothing was working, but hats off to Naomi Osaka through
to the quarter finals. Time now for a segment called
stocks up and stocks down. Fixie, it's New York Wall Street.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You get what we're.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Rolling with there where we know that you're a positive guy.
So let's start with stocks up. And this really actually
was the match of the round. Barbora Kritchikova saved eight
match points against Taylor Townsend and somehow won. It was
really classy in terms of her response to the crowd
afterwards as well. Have you ever been in that situation
where you've had either multiple match points on your side
(06:42):
or that you've managed to save and win a match both.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I had match points and lost matches plenty of times,
and there are on occasion your down match points and
you find a way to save them and you win.
So you know, the game of tennis is never over
until it's over. There's no timeframe, there's no time frame,
and you can be down heavily in scoreline and come back.
So it takes character. But Chakov has got that. She's
(07:08):
you know, past Grand Slam singles champion, multiple doubles champion
at that level, A bit underrated in a way. She's
a very very good tennis player, and she obviously believes
she could do it. What I find I think or
in my distant memory thinking about. You know, when you
do this in a match in the middle of a tournament,
it can loosen the shackles, it really can it Can
(07:31):
it make you think, well, I was down and out,
I was gone, I'm still alive and I found a
way under pressure to play my best tennis at the
right time. That can your confidence meet can really start maximizing.
I think you can really derive a lot of confidence
out of a situation like that and maybe go onto
bigger and better things in the near future. I mean
meaning this week.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, she's a Grand Slam champion and she keeps knocking
out American She beat Emma Navarro when she was down
love three, and she's got Jessica Bogul in the quarter
finals as well, so they had five I think going
into the fourth round, and she keeps knocking them out.
We touched on Alex Dimenor in terms of his next
match up with Felix augiur Elier sim but he can
do no wrong at the moment. A big win against
(08:14):
a Swiss qualify Leandro Readie, who we didn't know a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
About convincing you know in that first week, if you
play a lot of long matches, you know, you look
at Tommy Paul on what happened to him. He was
exhausted at the end of his third round match. It
appeared to me, if you can win matches in the
first week quickly, you save that energy and those levels
of energy for the business end of the tournament, and
(08:37):
that generally only happens to the really.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Really good players, probably the great players.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
You know, you see the scorelines of our Karaz and Sinner,
how much energy they're saving in this first week, so
they'll be ready to go in the second week. So
Alex was a little lucky to get that default. He
was coming back, probably would have won the match in
the previous round, but this one helps him. It helps him.
He's got on the court off pretty quickly. He's got
another day to recover. That'll stand him in good stead.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I think, yeah, he's got Felix next. As we mentioned,
trails that head to head record one two, but they've
never been at a Grand Slam and then Sinner looms
in the semi final. Have you seen anything in the
Demon's game that says he can finally challenge the power
of Yannick Sinner.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
A deliberate hesitation. I think.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Look, it's a bit like a heavyweight against a featherweight
in a way. You know, Alex is a top ten player.
He is a seriously good player. But everything's going to
have to go right, I think, and you'd expect if
he's to beat Felix, if we can assume that for
a second, which you know, in honesty we can't because
(09:46):
that's a big, big match to come.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
But whoever gets through that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
If it's Alex and he plays Yannick, recent history has
told a pretty solid tale, and it's the power of
Sinner that has just overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It's like he doesn't miss, but the ball is coming
like a freight train at you all the time. And
that's hard for a player of the stature of Alex Deeman,
as great a player as he is, to deal with that,
especially over five sets. If it was best of three,
it can be a different story. I think Alex would
acknowledge that he's going to have to play out of
his shoes to beat Sinner at this stage of a
(10:24):
Grand Slam, especially after Sinner has reasonably rested so far.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yep, to take it up to him, it's a two
horse race.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
It's not beyond anyone to beat a great player at
any given moment. But it's always harder, I think, at
the Slams than it is in a normal tournament where
it's best of three and you can shock a player early,
quickly put him on the back foot and winning two
straight yep. Winning three sets in a best of five
is a whole different story.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, absolutely, He's a punchers chance though.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But can he do it?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yes, yes, he can do it, but the odds are
against him against Sinner, I guess at this stage.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, Sinner only dropped three games against Sasha public six
six one in public hat and drop serv at the
tournament up until then. Speaking of timing, you run Novak
Djokovic didn't play after Wimbledon, and he has just kind
of snuck through, if you can call it that to
another quarter final at thirty eight.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Well, he's a phenomenon, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
If you can describe him any other way, it'd have
to be something even more exaggerated than that.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
But what a player.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I mean, it makes me shake my head every time
I think of his record and what he's done and how.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
He's handled his body.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Everything he's done as a professional is just staggering to me.
You know, in my lifetime, I never thought i'd see
three players that we've seen over the last fifteen eighteen
years in the men's game. So it doesn't surprise me.
Nothing surprises me with Novak anymore. In fact, I stopped
being surprised about ten years ago. So I take my
hat off to him. He's you know, his record is
(11:54):
the best we've ever seen. He's certainly one of the
great players.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Not just in this era.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But so I'm not surprised and don't back against him
too heavily.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeap, never count him out. As he said off the
top question without notice, if he was to win his
twenty fifth Major and go past Margaret Court their eqal
at the moment, could he do a Pete Sampras and
actually retire and go mic drop. I'm out.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
I'd be disappointed if he didn't retire.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
This train open, yeah, true, yeah, yeah, he's entitled to
do anything. Yeah, you know what, I think he'd come
back here and if he could win that. Oh I'm
not inside Nervak's head. I don't think anyone would be.
But I'd love to think he'd come back here and
if he had it in the back of his mind
to stop one day.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yep. Let it be the Aussie Open.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, fair cool. Absolutely, and the stocks up as well
for Wimbledon not copying the US Opens lead by changing
their mixed doubles format, so they'll keep it the way
it is, which I'm sure you're happy about.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
You see the tradition in me?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Do you better?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, Look, I don't know. I didn't have a
real good look at the at the mixed doubles format.
It's like an exhibition, I guess, a highly paid one.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And a Grand Slam which is the same.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, Grand Slam title, all of that.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It's up for debate.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
It might be a brave move, it might be a
good move or not a good It remains to be seen.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
I think that whole format.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, well, Wimbledon sticking with tradition as you'd expect. Time
for stocks down. We've spoken about this. There was a
Camille Mychek had just won a game I think against
catching off signing autographs. Young boy comes down, gives him
his hat, and an older gentleman snatches the hat off him.
The internet did its job track down the young boy
finally got his hat. Now they've tracked down the man
(13:37):
who stole the hat. Turns out he's a Polish millionaire,
which makes it even worse, and he has now issued
a groveling apology.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well good, I did he apologize?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Hey, look, in that situation, don't you always think he's
only got eyes for me? Maybe he thought he was
looking at him to give him.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
The hat, that's what he thought.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Who knows?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Who knows?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I don't know, But look, is this an apology? I'm
wondering where the hat is though.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
That's now with the boy.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Yeah, second hat or the original?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Probably a second one.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, it could be a second.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Look.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I'm sure Camille has a few hats. You're amount of
many hats. But how much have you seen it change
in terms of signing autographs? Now into selfies, Fitzy, because
you're a popular man around Melbourne Park where we are.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah, well I don't take too many selfies of myself
for really good reasons, very very good.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Obvious reasons.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, there's a lot of both, isn't there, But probably
mainly selfies these days. I guess when it's all said,
the fans love coming. They make the tournament in the end,
and without them, you know, it's professional sports are just
not the same thing, aren't they. So I love it
when the fans get involved in their enthusiastic and they
(14:46):
certainly aren't the US Open. I'm a bit biased about
our Australian Open, though they're incredible here. The fans, they're
an educated fan base, and yeah, they're what makes the
tournament for me. So the more self wei was, the
more autographs they asked for, that's fine by me.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, one of the great things about the Grand Slams
is that it can get down close and get an
autograph and stocks down for Elena Rebark and I lost
to Vondrosova in three sets. Hasn't made it past the
fourth round of any Grand Slam this year, so yeah,
let's hope she's back at the AO.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I'm actually a bit sad about that because when she won,
wimbled and in the year or two after that she
lost here in a gripping match. A year or so
after that when would have win, she had my full attention.
I thought she was going to be a multiple Grand
Slam winner. Hasn't eventuated quite the same. But I love
her game. I love the way she plays, her style
(15:39):
of play, athleticism, all of that. I hope she can
win another one and maybe two or three more before
she's finished. But I'm disappointed she hasn't kicked on a
little more over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I hope she can turn it around.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, obviously, the next one for her is the AO
in twenty six All right, let's change ends here fits
he and we'll come back and talk about the quarterfinals.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Welcome back to the Tennis Mini and the man of
the hour, Brett Thomas.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
FITZI very well done. We talked about the round of sixteen.
Let's look ahead to the quarter finals, the matchups we're
looking forward to. And this is big Amanda Anisimova, IGOs
fion Tech. If you want to face your demons, still
it in the next Grand Slam.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
That may only go for twelve games.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That's what happened last time, didn't it in the final
of Wilminghem. But I think Anasimova would be more comfortable
on the hard court. She is American, She'll have the
support of the crowd there, but a big moment for
her to, yeah, to re engage I think at that
top level and prove some doubt is wrong after that
difficult experience that she went through. Isn't it amazing? It
(16:45):
can be your greatest moment, Yeah, but also in some
ways your worst moment, and that's what that one when
the final probably was for her.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, Well, this is a chance to exercise those demons
and fion tech. She gives her opponents a look at
this tournament. She's been five to one and three one
down her last two month matches and finds a way
to win. But I guess that's what champions do. They're
never completely out of a contest.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Well, she you know she's broken through, hasn't She won
a Grand stam Away from that clay court that she's
so familiar with at Roland Garrison. I've always thought that
her game was just suited perfectly to that court. A
little bit of a convex shape, you know, that hard
I think it's a limestone base, I think, but hard
like cement, and the ball gets up high and it
(17:25):
just suits her forehand, her serve forehand style of game.
So to win at Wimbledon was incredible, an incredible breakthrough
for her and she we know she's good on the
hard court as well, but I think clay remains and
will always remain her number one go to service. But
you'd rather play on a hard court, I think, than
on the clay.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah, well, Sam Stoza was managed to you know, it
was good on clay and also hard court as well,
so we'll see how that goes. Speaking of facing your demons, Novak, Djokovic, Taylor, Fritz,
they've met ten times, ten and zero to Novak. Is
this the year that the American can break through?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Well, if you if you're going to answer that honestly,
you say no, because ten and oh tells a very
strong story. There's something about that matchup and most players
have a losing record obviously against Novak. There, Well, that's right,
that's right. So but ten and oh, yeah, you know,
(18:20):
you think a player of Fritz's level, at least in
a best of three match, might have had his chance
to beat Novak a couple of times, and maybe he
did but didn't get over the line. So there's something
about the matchup. It has to be as good as
Taylor Fritz is. Look for his sake, I hope he
can because it's time. It's time for him. I mean
he made a final last year. There, yep, I wish
(18:42):
him well. But yeah, oh and ten.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah it's not a good thought. And he's only won
three sets there you go as well. But yeah, I
mean America's been crying out a bit like we have
for a men's Home Slam champion. They haven't had that
for twenty two years. And Novak's aging. Well's I shouldn't
say it's not an h now, but is relative?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah? True?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Well, I mean the way he's playing at the moment,
it's like he's still twenty two.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Yeah, he's a phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, it's just a staggering player. And you just can't
bet against him.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, very difficult, and never underestimate a champion. As we
said off the top, thank you FITZI for review the
fourth round and the quarter finals. Plenty more action to
come on the Tennis and the Tennis Mini, so join
us for the next episode.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Hey everyone, Harps and Andy here just want to remind
you that you can watch every episode of the Tennis
on our YouTube channel, Australian Open TV, and we have
an email as well podcast at tennis dot com dot u.
If you thought the show was amazing or you thought
it was terrible, we are keen to hear from you.
We'll read it, so feedback, comments, whatever it is, Get
in touch with us at our email and we'll catch
(19:50):
you on the next one.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Catch you later.
Welcome to the Tennis Mini a rap at the end
of every round of the US Open, coming up, never
count out a champion. Naomi and Novak wind back the clock.
A Canadian stands in Alex Dimenoll's way of making his
first ever Slam semi and straight sets. The top seeds
cruise into the corners. That's all ahead with me. Brett
Thomas and a seven time doubles Grand Slam champion, including
(00:26):
twice at the US Open. John Fitzgerald, Welcome, FITZI, thank you, Brett.
Great to be here, it really is. Yeah, great to
have your company. So much to talk about at the
US Open, but we want to start with two of
the highlight matches. In the fourth round. We mentioned a
lot of the top seeds were cruising, so two of
the matches that we've picked out were straight sets. But yeah,
big results to talk about, especially for a young Canadian.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, Felix usure Eli Sims was a tongue twist to
that for me, but I'd like to just refer to
him as Felix. I've been a fan for a long time.
He's a player to me, though Brett that hasn't achieved
his patent. I think he's athleticism, and his ball striking
ability is as good, nearly as good as everyone in
the world. He probably doesn't hit the ball as heavy
(01:09):
as our carraz and center, but a great ball striker.
But I've just always thought that his strategy needs to improve.
I just don't think he picks the right shot to
hit enough times in a match to beat the great players,
and I'd love to see him do it. I don't
know whether he's he hasn't learned it in his early career,
or whether he hasn't been coached it, but I think
(01:31):
he has to improve that aspect of his game if
he's going to go the whole way. But he's got
an opportunity now against our Rossie to go one step
further towards the semi final.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, he's taken a couple of big scalps, now Zverev
and Andre Rubelev. Rib Lev had a horrible record against
only beating him one in eight attempts. He's a breakdown
in four to two in the first set and then
dominated from there on in So has there been a
change in the way that he's playing, either technically or mentally?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You know, it's funny in a way, I put those
two players in a bit of the same cat agree.
You know, rube Lev is a bit of a one
dimensional player. He's a great one dimensional player, but he
plays the same way all the time. To me, he's
obviously better than that, but I'm comparing him to the
Sinners and the Alcorazes and the Djokovic is all those
great players.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So it's a tough school to be in.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
But he needs more variety in his game. Two, I think,
and I and Felix probably has played against him a
little bit head to head where they're both sort of
banging the ball hard from the back of the court
with maybe not quite as much strategy as I'd like
to see.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Now.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Easy to sit on the side when they're hitting the
ball as hard as they do in the modern game,
it's not easy to snap your fingers and start to
throw in different types of shots, short balls, off speed balls,
higher looping balls, and then coming to the net a
bit more So. I wouldn't say they both had the
perfect all court game yet, but I see them as
(02:52):
a bit similar those two. And obviously, finally Felix has
really got the better of him.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeh. He'd had an unremarkable Slam season second and first
round appearances, So this is a little bit out of
the blue. Forty two winners, thirty three unforced eras, So
I guess the match was decided on his racket.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, I'm one of those guys waiting for him, but
I had been waiting for about four or five years
for him to really break through, and I've had my
doubts that he's actually eventually going to do it. In
terms of his athleticism and he's ball striking, he should
be at the back end of these big tournaments more
often in my opinion. So unfortunately for Felix, I'm on
(03:28):
the Aussie side in the next round.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But I'm a fan of Oorzie.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Alisim and I hope there's times in his near future
where he can go really deep into these tournaments because
I think he's great for the sport.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, absolutely, and maybe this is his coming of age tournament,
although for Australian fans we hope not. The other match
of the round, which was blockbuster billing Naomi osaka Coco
Goff The Master and the Apprentice. They met in twenty
nineteen when Coco was just fifteen. Their careers and lives
have taken a different path since then. But it looks
like Osaka's back six three, six two in sixty four minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
That's a telling victory, very very telling, and it's pretty
exciting for the sport. I think if she is indeed
back now, one win won't do at all, will it.
But to play one of the best players in the world,
a multiple Grand Slam winner on that home court, well
it probably feels to a name. And though she's going home, yeah,
you know, she felt so comfortable there many years ago.
(04:25):
A really interesting turn of events for me. And look,
I love the way Koco brings to the sport, but
I think it's very exciting to see a former Championami Osaka,
who's one of the great ball strikers back in contention.
You never know now that she's beaten GoF at this
stage of the tournament, she might be hard to stop.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, four or four from breakpoint opportunities GoF not one
breakpoint opportunity. So do you think Naomi is back as
as a consistent Grand Slam contender?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Well, look, that score line is interesting. Do you lose
five games to a player of the caliber of Coco GoF,
You've hit form at the right time, You're feeling pretty confident.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Pretty hard to put a player.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Like that away, very difficult to beat those players, but
to beat her convincingly like that. Yeah, Like I said,
pretty telling and exciting for the sport.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Do you think Coco is a little bit off her
game at this tournament? So much talked about with her
change of coach and trying to adjust her serve eliminate
double fault? She double faulted on a set point. Do
you think there was a little bit going on with
her game that just.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Wasn't quite right?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, I guess one double fault on a break point
happens to the best of us, some of us more
often than not. But at that level, if you don't
continue to improve, you might stagnate.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
So hats off to us.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
She's trying to improve facets of her game, but it
sounded like with her body language and some of her
verbal comments that she didn't feel totally comfortable. But you've
got to givenmi Asaka credit for a lot of that.
We know that somewhere back there in the past is
a game that is staggeringly good, and if she can
(06:03):
come close to that level again, she won't be the
last time she beats these top two or three players.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, Koko said to her box toward the end that
nothing was working, but hats off to Naomi Osaka through
to the quarter finals. Time now for a segment called
stocks up and stocks down. Fixie, it's New York Wall Street.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You get what we're.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Rolling with there where we know that you're a positive guy.
So let's start with stocks up. And this really actually
was the match of the round. Barbora Kritchikova saved eight
match points against Taylor Townsend and somehow won. It was
really classy in terms of her response to the crowd
afterwards as well. Have you ever been in that situation
where you've had either multiple match points on your side
(06:42):
or that you've managed to save and win a match both.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I had match points and lost matches plenty of times,
and there are on occasion your down match points and
you find a way to save them and you win.
So you know, the game of tennis is never over
until it's over. There's no timeframe, there's no time frame,
and you can be down heavily in scoreline and come back.
So it takes character. But Chakov has got that. She's
(07:08):
you know, past Grand Slam singles champion, multiple doubles champion
at that level, A bit underrated in a way. She's
a very very good tennis player, and she obviously believes
she could do it. What I find I think or
in my distant memory thinking about. You know, when you
do this in a match in the middle of a tournament,
it can loosen the shackles, it really can it Can
(07:31):
it make you think, well, I was down and out,
I was gone, I'm still alive and I found a
way under pressure to play my best tennis at the
right time. That can your confidence meet can really start maximizing.
I think you can really derive a lot of confidence
out of a situation like that and maybe go onto
bigger and better things in the near future. I mean
meaning this week.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, she's a Grand Slam champion and she keeps knocking
out American She beat Emma Navarro when she was down
love three, and she's got Jessica Bogul in the quarter
finals as well, so they had five I think going
into the fourth round, and she keeps knocking them out.
We touched on Alex Dimenor in terms of his next
match up with Felix augiur Elier sim but he can
do no wrong at the moment. A big win against
(08:14):
a Swiss qualify Leandro Readie, who we didn't know a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
About convincing you know in that first week, if you
play a lot of long matches, you know, you look
at Tommy Paul on what happened to him. He was
exhausted at the end of his third round match. It
appeared to me, if you can win matches in the
first week quickly, you save that energy and those levels
of energy for the business end of the tournament, and
(08:37):
that generally only happens to the really.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Really good players, probably the great players.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
You know, you see the scorelines of our Karaz and Sinner,
how much energy they're saving in this first week, so
they'll be ready to go in the second week. So
Alex was a little lucky to get that default. He
was coming back, probably would have won the match in
the previous round, but this one helps him. It helps him.
He's got on the court off pretty quickly. He's got
another day to recover. That'll stand him in good stead.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I think, yeah, he's got Felix next. As we mentioned,
trails that head to head record one two, but they've
never been at a Grand Slam and then Sinner looms
in the semi final. Have you seen anything in the
Demon's game that says he can finally challenge the power
of Yannick Sinner.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
A deliberate hesitation. I think.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Look, it's a bit like a heavyweight against a featherweight
in a way. You know, Alex is a top ten player.
He is a seriously good player. But everything's going to
have to go right, I think, and you'd expect if
he's to beat Felix, if we can assume that for
a second, which you know, in honesty we can't because
(09:46):
that's a big, big match to come.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
But whoever gets through that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
If it's Alex and he plays Yannick, recent history has
told a pretty solid tale, and it's the power of
Sinner that has just overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It's like he doesn't miss, but the ball is coming
like a freight train at you all the time. And
that's hard for a player of the stature of Alex Deeman,
as great a player as he is, to deal with that,
especially over five sets. If it was best of three,
it can be a different story. I think Alex would
acknowledge that he's going to have to play out of
his shoes to beat Sinner at this stage of a
(10:24):
Grand Slam, especially after Sinner has reasonably rested so far.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yep, to take it up to him, it's a two
horse race.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
It's not beyond anyone to beat a great player at
any given moment. But it's always harder, I think, at
the Slams than it is in a normal tournament where
it's best of three and you can shock a player early,
quickly put him on the back foot and winning two
straight yep. Winning three sets in a best of five
is a whole different story.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, absolutely, He's a punchers chance though.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But can he do it?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yes, yes, he can do it, but the odds are
against him against Sinner, I guess at this stage.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, Sinner only dropped three games against Sasha public six
six one in public hat and drop serv at the
tournament up until then. Speaking of timing, you run Novak
Djokovic didn't play after Wimbledon, and he has just kind
of snuck through, if you can call it that to
another quarter final at thirty eight.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Well, he's a phenomenon, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
If you can describe him any other way, it'd have
to be something even more exaggerated than that.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
But what a player.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I mean, it makes me shake my head every time
I think of his record and what he's done and how.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
He's handled his body.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Everything he's done as a professional is just staggering to me.
You know, in my lifetime, I never thought i'd see
three players that we've seen over the last fifteen eighteen
years in the men's game. So it doesn't surprise me.
Nothing surprises me with Novak anymore. In fact, I stopped
being surprised about ten years ago. So I take my
hat off to him. He's you know, his record is
(11:54):
the best we've ever seen. He's certainly one of the
great players.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Not just in this era.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But so I'm not surprised and don't back against him
too heavily.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeap, never count him out. As he said off the
top question without notice, if he was to win his
twenty fifth Major and go past Margaret Court their eqal
at the moment, could he do a Pete Sampras and
actually retire and go mic drop. I'm out.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
I'd be disappointed if he didn't retire.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
This train open, yeah, true, yeah, yeah, he's entitled to
do anything. Yeah, you know what, I think he'd come
back here and if he could win that. Oh I'm
not inside Nervak's head. I don't think anyone would be.
But I'd love to think he'd come back here and
if he had it in the back of his mind
to stop one day.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yep. Let it be the Aussie Open.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, fair cool. Absolutely, and the stocks up as well
for Wimbledon not copying the US Opens lead by changing
their mixed doubles format, so they'll keep it the way
it is, which I'm sure you're happy about.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
You see the tradition in me?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Do you better?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, Look, I don't know. I didn't have a
real good look at the at the mixed doubles format.
It's like an exhibition, I guess, a highly paid one.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And a Grand Slam which is the same.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, Grand Slam title, all of that.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It's up for debate.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
It might be a brave move, it might be a
good move or not a good It remains to be seen.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
I think that whole format.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah, well, Wimbledon sticking with tradition as you'd expect. Time
for stocks down. We've spoken about this. There was a
Camille Mychek had just won a game I think against
catching off signing autographs. Young boy comes down, gives him
his hat, and an older gentleman snatches the hat off him.
The internet did its job track down the young boy
finally got his hat. Now they've tracked down the man
(13:37):
who stole the hat. Turns out he's a Polish millionaire,
which makes it even worse, and he has now issued
a groveling apology.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well good, I did he apologize?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Hey, look, in that situation, don't you always think he's
only got eyes for me? Maybe he thought he was
looking at him to give him.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
The hat, that's what he thought.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Who knows?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Who knows?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I don't know, But look, is this an apology? I'm
wondering where the hat is though.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
That's now with the boy.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Yeah, second hat or the original?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Probably a second one.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, it could be a second.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Look.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I'm sure Camille has a few hats. You're amount of
many hats. But how much have you seen it change
in terms of signing autographs? Now into selfies, Fitzy, because
you're a popular man around Melbourne Park where we are.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah, well I don't take too many selfies of myself
for really good reasons, very very good.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Obvious reasons.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, there's a lot of both, isn't there, But probably
mainly selfies these days. I guess when it's all said,
the fans love coming. They make the tournament in the end,
and without them, you know, it's professional sports are just
not the same thing, aren't they. So I love it
when the fans get involved in their enthusiastic and they
(14:46):
certainly aren't the US Open. I'm a bit biased about
our Australian Open, though they're incredible here. The fans, they're
an educated fan base, and yeah, they're what makes the
tournament for me. So the more self wei was, the
more autographs they asked for, that's fine by me.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, one of the great things about the Grand Slams
is that it can get down close and get an
autograph and stocks down for Elena Rebark and I lost
to Vondrosova in three sets. Hasn't made it past the
fourth round of any Grand Slam this year, so yeah,
let's hope she's back at the AO.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
I'm actually a bit sad about that because when she won,
wimbled and in the year or two after that she
lost here in a gripping match. A year or so
after that when would have win, she had my full attention.
I thought she was going to be a multiple Grand
Slam winner. Hasn't eventuated quite the same. But I love
her game. I love the way she plays, her style
(15:39):
of play, athleticism, all of that. I hope she can
win another one and maybe two or three more before
she's finished. But I'm disappointed she hasn't kicked on a
little more over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I hope she can turn it around.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, obviously, the next one for her is the AO
in twenty six All right, let's change ends here fits
he and we'll come back and talk about the quarterfinals.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Welcome back to the Tennis Mini and the man of
the hour, Brett Thomas.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
FITZI very well done. We talked about the round of sixteen.
Let's look ahead to the quarter finals, the matchups we're
looking forward to. And this is big Amanda Anisimova, IGOs
fion Tech. If you want to face your demons, still
it in the next Grand Slam.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
That may only go for twelve games.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
That's what happened last time, didn't it in the final
of Wilminghem. But I think Anasimova would be more comfortable
on the hard court. She is American, She'll have the
support of the crowd there, but a big moment for
her to, yeah, to re engage I think at that
top level and prove some doubt is wrong after that
difficult experience that she went through. Isn't it amazing? It
(16:45):
can be your greatest moment, Yeah, but also in some
ways your worst moment, and that's what that one when
the final probably was for her.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, Well, this is a chance to exercise those demons
and fion tech. She gives her opponents a look at
this tournament. She's been five to one and three one
down her last two month matches and finds a way
to win. But I guess that's what champions do. They're
never completely out of a contest.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Well, she you know she's broken through, hasn't She won
a Grand stam Away from that clay court that she's
so familiar with at Roland Garrison. I've always thought that
her game was just suited perfectly to that court. A
little bit of a convex shape, you know, that hard
I think it's a limestone base, I think, but hard
like cement, and the ball gets up high and it
(17:25):
just suits her forehand, her serve forehand style of game.
So to win at Wimbledon was incredible, an incredible breakthrough
for her and she we know she's good on the
hard court as well, but I think clay remains and
will always remain her number one go to service. But
you'd rather play on a hard court, I think, than
on the clay.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah, well, Sam Stoza was managed to you know, it
was good on clay and also hard court as well,
so we'll see how that goes. Speaking of facing your demons, Novak, Djokovic, Taylor, Fritz,
they've met ten times, ten and zero to Novak. Is
this the year that the American can break through?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Well, if you if you're going to answer that honestly,
you say no, because ten and oh tells a very
strong story. There's something about that matchup and most players
have a losing record obviously against Novak. There, Well, that's right,
that's right. So but ten and oh, yeah, you know,
(18:20):
you think a player of Fritz's level, at least in
a best of three match, might have had his chance
to beat Novak a couple of times, and maybe he
did but didn't get over the line. So there's something
about the matchup. It has to be as good as
Taylor Fritz is. Look for his sake, I hope he
can because it's time. It's time for him. I mean
he made a final last year. There, yep, I wish
(18:42):
him well. But yeah, oh and ten.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah it's not a good thought. And he's only won
three sets there you go as well. But yeah, I
mean America's been crying out a bit like we have
for a men's Home Slam champion. They haven't had that
for twenty two years. And Novak's aging. Well's I shouldn't
say it's not an h now, but is relative?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah? True?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Well, I mean the way he's playing at the moment,
it's like he's still twenty two.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Yeah, he's a phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, it's just a staggering player. And you just can't
bet against him.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, very difficult, and never underestimate a champion. As we
said off the top, thank you FITZI for review the
fourth round and the quarter finals. Plenty more action to
come on the Tennis and the Tennis Mini, so join
us for the next episode.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Hey everyone, Harps and Andy here just want to remind
you that you can watch every episode of the Tennis
on our YouTube channel, Australian Open TV, and we have
an email as well podcast at tennis dot com dot u.
If you thought the show was amazing or you thought
it was terrible, we are keen to hear from you.
We'll read it, so feedback, comments, whatever it is, Get
in touch with us at our email and we'll catch
(19:50):
you on the next one.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Catch you later.
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