September 18, 2023 • 38 mins
Alright, let’s try this again. On this week’s Open Era, Simon and Devang dish out their final thoughts on the U.S. Open, including what Coco Gauff’s win will mean for tennis coverage in the United States.They also discuss the alternate universe where Novak Djokovic decided to represent the U.K. Spooky. Then on Parting Shots, they dig into Simona Halep’s 4-year ban for doping, what other players are saying about it, including Serena Williams, and what happens next. Finally, the Davis Cup is back, but what happened to the tournament we knew?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Hello, and welcome to the OpenAir Podcast. My name is debang to
Side and I'm joined as always bymister Simon Bushell, who's emerged from underwater
to sound much clearer today. Ohdear, I'm sorry everyone. It's bound
to happen, right in one hundredand ninety three of these, so at
some point it was going to happen, but my apologies. There are some
(00:35):
early episodes, I think the onewhere I called in from from the French
Open, which the sound quality wasless than good. So yeah, there's
some precedent for this, but Ithink the feedback was people could understand you
and they got the key points thatyou were delivering better than a regular week
(00:56):
than dev but I'm well, keeplaughing like that where a few days removed
from the US Open. So likewe did last Slam, we're doing a
bit of a retrospective on the tournamentbecause I think we found last time that
it allowed us to really maybe diginto some things that we wanted to that
(01:19):
we couldn't in the immediate aftermath ofthe final. Bush, do you want
to start with Cocoa or Novak?I'm curious where you want to lead with?
Probably golf because I think, Yeah, I think the things that have
been written about her since she wonthis title have been quite nice to watch,
Like there's been a bunch of nicewrite ups about her tracking her journey
(01:42):
and sort of talking about all ofthe additions she's made to the camp and
all the things that were necessary toget her over the hump. And I
think it's interesting as well, likehaving the benefit of being a few days
removed from the final and even ourrecording from it is that the thing that
I forgot is that she got dumpedout of wimwoodin in the first round.
Like it just it defies belief insome ways that she's managed to have the
(02:05):
hard court run that she has done. And obviously, like everyone's going to
point to the addition of Brad Gilbertand all the things that have been done
and that side of things, butin general, it's it's quite astonishing to
see a player looking so dejected andso out of it from a previous ground
slam to going on and then winningit. It doesn't usually happen that way.
Well, it confirms that the grasscourt season is a joke and you
(02:25):
can't read anything into what happens,really, can you. I don't think
so, no, oh can you? Who knows? Or the other alternative
angle is that Sophia Kennon was theperson that helped Coco gov win the US
Open by humbling her as a qualifierat Wimbledon. That's probably a more accurate
(02:47):
description. That is former Slam winnerto you, do you hear out deaf?
I mean, if you look ather page, she's only lost to
Jess Pigoula in Montreal since and eventhen that was a weird tournament full of
rain delays and bad scheduling and toughscheduling. So I think we could throw
(03:07):
maybe that result out the window aswell. But it's a fascinating run,
an incredibly dominant summer bush and towin Cincinnati and the US Open. People
don't do that very often. Infact, Novak did it too, which
is even crazier. But I thinkthis is a feat that is underrated and
it's difficulty. We talked about theSunshine Double, what's the What can we
(03:29):
call Cincinnati in New York? Somebodyneeds someone who has bete geography than me.
One o the outset of that.So maybe Winwledon is not the precursor.
Maybe it's Cincinnati right, Well,you're betting fans out there who have
a wins Cincinnati goes on a win'sthe US Open. That's how it is.
I had another number for you.I think three point four million people
watch Goff become the first teenager towin the Open in more than two decades,
(03:53):
which is a big number, butit's also bigger than the men's number,
which does not happen very often.I think Novak and Danielle Medvedev garner
two point three million people to watchthat, which was still a strong number,
but it was the most viewed women'sfinal of any tennis major broadcast ever
on ESPN, and it was upninety two percent from last year's women's championship.
(04:16):
So I hate to be that guy, but tennis needs Coco Goof to
be good for a while. SoI mean, this is this is the
true, the true belief I havethat these numbers are going to make the
wrong people salivate, and God,I hope she can be good for a
while. Well, I think aslight correction on the American Tennis needs go
(04:40):
Hook GoF to be good. Ithink that's correct. Sorry, I should
have I should have added American Tennisand by the wrong people. I'd bean
like TV excess and like the peoplewho are deciding where to send their broadcast
crews to cover tournaments. In ESPN'scase, like I outside of the Slams,
I think they've scaled down their coverageconsiderable, but I would imagine the
(05:01):
Coco Golf Watch would take on alife of its own if we could get
more I don't know, more highprofile coverage of the the grind of tour
life as opposed to just slamps.I just love the idea of a bunch
of executives running around the offices inat ESPN headquarters. Where are they somewhere
(05:23):
in Massachusetts? Right? Is thatright? Connecticut? Connecticut, Connecticut?
Yeah, yeah, and someone goingscale it down, scale it down,
and then an American wins, scaleit back up again, set back up
again up. Nike's like, well, I guess we've got to start making
clothes again and not just throwing paintat a wall and seeing if that works.
That's a huge number of assignment,and that's that's I know nfls on
(05:46):
Sunday, but college football is abig deal in America, and to get
that number at four PM like thatis that is some heavy competition, more
reflective on golf winning, or moreinflective on the fact that Djokovia just not
a draw, or that perhaps tooprovocative to say. No, I think
you have your ankle with that,But I do think that the number compared
(06:09):
to last year as well kind ofleads me to believe that this is more
golf driven. And the fact thatI know this is not a good way
to gauge how popular something is,but when you have such a wide swath
and celebrities from different fields watching it, then you know it's a big deal.
So I feel like she cracked thecode Cocoa golf, and she's in
that must watch for the casual tenderstandthat that role was previously occupied by Serena
(06:35):
and the Big Three. Did yousee any of the write ups about the
camp that came out. I verymuch enjoyed the Jonathan giretco one in BBC
Sport where he was talking specifically aboutthe exploits at Brad Gilbert and some of
the more strange quirks that he has. I did not know that Brad Gilbert
(06:57):
only talks in even numbers, likehe never says an odd number. Did
you know this, Yes, Ithink I did. How how do you
live your life? Though? Whatdo you what numbers are you're admitting?
I mean, I would love toknow how that came about. It's very
very odd. One of the otherthings that that was interesting was they were
talking to Cohogof's hitting partner and alsohaving a conversation about what technical changes did
(07:24):
they make since Gilbert and Jenkins cameinto the camp, and it sounds like,
I mean, I'm kind of callingbullshit on this one that they didn't
make any technical changes to the forehand, and it was all mental and it
was all like trying to get herto be more aggressive and in some spots
and more patient in other spots.But I have to believe that's just a
(07:46):
bit of like trying to pour thewall over the eyes of the tour,
and then they actually try to doa bit of things, and also trying
to keep faith for God as wellof keeping a public presence out there,
because surely, honest to God,they must have done something with the four
I also find like this is kindof the way, this is how I
found Felix's coach speak in terms oflike improvements, so like what they could
(08:07):
do and like you have to imaginethere's other things happening, Like they're not
going to give us the full book, but they talk about it in like
vague supromotives. You're like, heyah, sure like that that makes total sense.
But yeah, maybe there's some somethingto not letting their opponents crack the
code. That being said, like, I feel like these people around each
other so much that you know,like how many secrets can you really have?
(08:31):
Yeah? And also how much ofthis is just coaches have got so
good and giving stock answers that therest of the sporting world is so dilutive
at this point that it's barely worthlistening to some of these people talk because
they just speak in either platitudes orhave bin pr to the point where no
one says anything about anything. Presstraining is what they call it. Right.
(08:52):
Did you see the video of cocoopsfor other going and just mental when
she won? That was too.I did see that, And I think
in general there's been a lot ofgood family stuff as well, right,
seeing both Corey and Candy, Coco'sparents, some of the interviews that Cohogov
was given about how her father wasin floods of tears as well, it
(09:15):
seems like this is obviously a veryclose knit family, and I think just
a really good example of decent qualityparenting in a sport that doesn't usually have
them. Yeah, and I willsay the Federer allegiance, the teammates stuff.
They generally seem to to do thisright. I will catch this with
the association with Sasha's vera, Butlike, generally it seems like Tony Gotzick
(09:39):
and this crew generally know how tonavigate the pretty much the unprecedented, and
then having Federer is someone to gooff of and obviously this is not the
same, but I feel like they'rein good hands, so to speak.
Yeah, I agree. Who wasyour favorite celebrity and attendance, by the
way, we didn't cover this onthe show, oh Man, Probably cousin
(10:03):
from the Bear. Yeah, Ithink I think that's got to be my
answer. I think they're shouting outsomeone else like there was like it was
like Timothy Shallowby, but even MossBackrack. Wow, I'm not sing that
correctly when they showed him, andI'm like, wow, I think he's
worth famous currently, so I wouldn'tchoose him. Yeah, fair enough.
(10:24):
I enjoyed Kevin Duran being the god. Yeah, I know, he was
such a big ten. It's funincredible. Yeah. He also very aware
of Hotalius, which I respected,like he knew he was blocking people at
times and was trying not to.So I respect that. It was a
good ton on the women's side,Was it not? It was? It
was. It had its ups anddowns, certainly, but I think all
(10:46):
in all to get the winning thatwe did, and looking at this with
the benefit of hindsight and a fewdays removed from everything, the best player
one do. I seemed reasonable,That seemed fair. It feels like it
does. It does. Yeah,it makes it makes me very excited to
see how this season wraps up.It's also making me very excited to see
(11:07):
how how the WTA develops in twentytwenty four, because I mean, if
you want to stick with the bigthree, you can, but I think
you can. You could earnestly saythat it's it's just it's pretty top heavy
and there's good depth on the WTA, so it's a pretty ridiculous combination in
(11:28):
terms of match matches that are worthwatching and match production of the highest level.
So we're in a good splace.We're in a really good place.
Yeah, I agree, And ifyou look at the top ten now or
you're looking at the players that arein it, they I think it's a
decent reflection of what the season's been. I mean literally, that's how it
works. But it's only really sacchary, right, that is the outlier,
(11:50):
and that of someone that's not hada great season. And I think I
don't know how long it's going tobe until golf as well. A number
one, it's going to be interestingto see if she's able to ascend that
mountain because so I don't like,there's a lot of points and she has
a tendency to hoover up titles orat least make the lot of stages of
it. So it's going to betough sledding for God to make the one
(12:13):
number one position. Yeah, Imean Australia, I'll be huge next year,
right, based on what happened.So all right, the man Novak
Djokovic, I don't know if yousaw this bush, but there was a
quote. I guess he was doingpress, a bunch of press obviously since
he won the US Open, butI think in Serbian he's a little more
I would say open maybe or like, yeah, he'll say what's actually on
(12:37):
his mind, whereas I think inan English press he's a little more guarded,
and I can understand why. Butthere's a quote going around about like
how how he'd be perceived a fewfrom the West, and it was misquoted
by a few journalists, which Ithink happens quite a bit, which enrages
people who speak Serbian or like NovakDjokovic, which I can also understand.
But in any case, this iswhat the actual quote was from Novak.
(13:01):
When asked if he is the greatestof all time, he says, I
will leave that up to unity decideif I am or not, or if
I should even be a part ofthat discussion. If I wasn't from Serbia,
I would have been praise more inthe sports world, especially in the
West. But it's part of myjourney and I'm grateful that I'm served.
So that that was the actual quote. The other quote made it sound like
(13:22):
a bit more hyperbolic and like Iam the greatest im the gift of the
gods. But I do not thinkNovak is rock here, Simon is what
I want to say. I thinkhe is right, just basically, he's
dead on. I think where wherepeople are from has colored how they're how
they're painted quite a few times,many and many a time, and I
(13:46):
don't think that is not the casehere. I mean, I would agree
entirely. I think this. Imean, there's a small element of this
as well as that he does.He's just not a very likable persons of
some of his actions, right well, that too, that too, but
I don't think that should cloud fromcertainly if we want to frame it as
(14:07):
sort of a Serbian racism to godown, that certainly discrimination, right like,
just like western elitis, there's someelitism, you know. And like
I bring this up as well becauseI this has been mentioned a few times
on our show, in the Distortespecially, I think POGs brought us up.
But the fact that the UK triedto get no back to join them
in two thousand and six, andthen Roger Draper Jack straight Jack Chaper's dad,
(14:30):
sorry, leading those efforts as thehead of the LTA, Like,
it's it's pretty remarkable how big ofa sliding doors moment that could have been
in so many ways, right Like, does he still become this if he's
an English slid going to eaton orwherever, like, because I don't know
what happens to you once year you'resucked into the UK elite, But like,
(14:52):
is that drive still there? Jesus, imagine this dude being in the
LTA. I don't know if that'sa good or a bad thing. Also
raises the high Likelihoo the Hippi forthe around Nigel Farage, which you know
also problemat true also true. Yeah. I think the other thing that I
found most surprising post Novak winning numbertwenty four was Gordyvanisovich's coach saying that he
(15:13):
wants to play in the LA Olympics, which is quite a while from now.
It's twenty twenty eight, correct,yes, so he would be forty
forty ish forty one maybe at thattime. David Ferrer also quoted as saying
Novak can keep playing like this fortwo to three years. I think this
is a fair statement, Simon.But but I kind of pivot off that
(15:41):
and say I didn't get the sensethat he was having a super great time
playing at the US Open, doyou know what I mean? I think
when when he won, it waswonderful and it was massive, and I
think he loves winning these big trophiesand it's really important to him. But
on the court, I didn't getthe sense that this was Novak's favorite slam
(16:02):
and due to however many issues youwant to describe, or the heat,
etc. But it just felt likehe was going through the motions a bit.
It's only going to increase as he'srunning up to score against No.
One, So I doubt that hewill play this long is kind of what
I'm getting it. Yeah, Imean he was also dying on court as
well, which probably didn't help inthat regard. The vives are bad when
you can't it's true all your legsare shot or whatever it was. I
(16:26):
mean, who knows. I don'tthink we actually got confirmation of that.
Being a couple of days removed fromthis. One interesting week for the server
as well. Right, he wason John McEnroe's mac and Row places,
right the ESPM plus thing. Didyou see this where he was had to
sit down and sit down into you, John macnro. There's some back stuff
and there. It's interesting timing ofthis. Obviously they must have recorded this
(16:47):
prior to him winning twenty four andall that kind of stuff. But I
just it is interesting that he wouldsort of end up on this and John
mac Androe of all people are sittingdown with him and having a conversation about
his views on the COVID vaccine situation. Is this real? Does this actually
happen? It is? It islegitimately true, Devange. I promise you
(17:11):
they talked the no way they talkedto the vaccines on this. It's true.
It is honestly. Oh my god, I had to watch the joint.
You just send you a link tothis just to prove it. Yeah,
please please? Do I need tocheck? Yess, I need to
watch this stuff. Oh gosh,that's insane. Okay, they really are
given anyone to place his show onthis. I get the man anything,
(17:33):
I guess, but this is Idon't think John macaron needs place. I
think he's fine. Pretty howering week, just based upon even being very very
closely removed from some of norvac geogophyesactions in regard to to Kosovo and sit
hearing some of the Romanian fans thatthe football match chanting I saw that,
(17:56):
which which obviously like incredibly discriminatory andit's in its own right, but it's
it's kind of fascinating, isn't itThat We talked about sliding doors moments,
but we also talk about seeing actionsfrom one one professional on one someone,
a person who is, you know, a figurehead and represents a lot.
To see that kind of behavior justa couple of weeks removed from it,
it's it's not great, Devon.You know, I'm not I'm not directly
(18:18):
implicating, because that's that's incredibly unfair, but it just it opens the doors.
So this kind of behavior to happen. Reason they were like six thousand,
five hund forty one and why Twitterslash x is terrible now where it's
getting worse by the day, isthat I was searching for like news on
that event because I saw the gamewas suspended but I wasn't sure why.
And god, the filth and theapps are just as cesspool in there to
(18:42):
navigate through and find actual news.So yeah, awful, awful stuff,
awful website. Now all right,anything else simon us open wise before we
move on. The first week wasbetter than the second. In my eyes,
I enjoy the first. It alwaysis. It always is, isn't
it though? Really I think so? But you Park has convinced me of
(19:04):
this, and I think it's alwaystrue. As well. The first week
is better. I think you wantto believe, though, that as you
get to the second week, roundof sixteen, quarterfinals, Sammy's and finals,
that you're going to see a higherlevel across the board. And I
think that's not certainly been the casein the last few finals that I've seen
saying. I mean, I enjoyedthe women's final. I thought it was
(19:25):
it was competitive. I thought ithad some good emotion and drama, and
I think the men's finals awful.It's changed being a couple of days removed
from it. Good trouve all right, So now reading this, Dad is
real Tad back. Oh god.I was never anti vax. I was
always pretty freedom to choose, andthat's something that we really took regret.
I didn't feel like a lot ofpeople had a choice. Really great stuff,
(19:48):
John mag and real great stuff everyone. Wow. Okay, hard hitting
journalism. I can't believe that's reallyokay. Moving on, we'll come back
to close up this week. Sowith parting shots, we'll talk Davis Cup
in heavy quotes Davis Cup, butalso right off the top when we come
back, Simona Hallop banned four yearsto follow it from that coming up an
(20:11):
Open Era Welcome back to the OpenEra podcast. A lot of news,
Simon since the US Open ended.Of course, the Davis Cup is happening.
We'll touch on that in a second. But I can't call this a
bombshell because we knew it was coming. But I guess the delay led us
(20:33):
to not know when it was coming. So I guess whenever it was going
to drop was going to cause shockwaves. But it finally happened. The
International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed that anindependent tribunal has suspended Romanian tennis player Simona
Hallop for a period of four yearsfollowing breaches of the Tennis Anti Doping Program
(20:56):
TADDIP four years. I and sowe're talking pretty much the end of sumata
helps career, competitive career, atleast if she's thirty one. Now.
I don't know if you read thefull release by the Itia, but it
was pretty in depth. I didread it, and it seemed pretty convincing
(21:18):
to me. I don't I know, some man, I will appeal this.
And I mean you mentioned off thetop like this might be the end
of her professional career. We haveseen I mean historically Marisia, I've ever
got her suspension reduced from the twoyears out of the fifteen months. I
don't I don't see a situation wherethis gets reduced. This is a lot
(21:38):
worse than I think than the sharerpull of a situation and the irregularities that
are in the biological passport across thefifty fifty one different occasions that that it
was tested. I mean, sheseems pretty guilty to me. It doesn't
seem I mean, we're sitting I'mnot an expert on this, right,
(21:59):
but you can only judge by whatthese organizations are saying and what this report
is confirming. I'd be shocked ifwe see a play again. Professionally,
Yeah, And I think it's interestinglike the the people who have been standing
by her have continued to and thatincludes Patrick Mortagalu and Darren k Hill,
some two very high profile coaches intennis who I mean by association, they
(22:26):
might have a lot more to loseby doing this than we initially thought,
Simon, and maybe that's perhaps whythey have remained so steadfast in their support.
I mean, obviously, I thinkthey're human beings who have forged a
pretty strong relationship with Simona through theiryears working together. But I think it's
worth noting that they are still standingby her and why that is and if
(22:48):
it is because they know that sheis clean or if there's another reason.
Yeah, I mean, I don'twant to be the cynic hip, but
it certainly feels like it is thelatter on that one. I mean to
me, like, looking at thiswith trying to be as neutral as possible,
it seems like the coaches of thisathlete, who is a high profile
for the all number one, multipletimes slam winner, would want to try
(23:11):
and keep their association with her cleanand not want to look guilty by association.
That certainly looks how it looks tome on the surface of it.
And I mean there's there's been playersas well that have spoken out in support
of Simona help. I think JohnMillman, at least Cornet the PTPA,
(23:32):
which as they should, put outhis statements saying they're going to support Simona
Hall Up through this appeal process.I think that was excellent and exactly what
a player's union should do. Butmost surprisingly, maybe not considering Serena's drops
some some shade before, but didyou see this, Serena Williams tweet Simon
following Simona Help suspension. I didsee this. I thought this was a
(23:56):
pretty shitty look. Honestly, youknow, you know I I and the
tweet says simply eight is a betternumber at Serena ended with seven, with
eight, no, sorry, sheended with seven Wimbledon, So I think
this is referring to that twenty nineteenWimbledon final which she lost to Simona Ala.
Clearly, this that's pissed off alot of people. It's also made
(24:17):
a lot of Hala paters extremely happy. I thought it was just not necessary,
and I found it interesting. Likeso Serena says Elena Yankevich remember her,
you'll you'll any Oh my gosh.I don't think she was a big
Simona Halla fan back in the day. But I think just quoted to say.
This is a translation but quote.People refuse to admit it. But
(24:40):
I always knew I was the rightfulwinner of Indian Wells twenty fifteen. Simona's
band to day proves it. What'slike? Goodness me again, I'm relying
on a translation here, and Ihope this is real, but that is
yeah, I don't even I don'teven know what to say here, but
it's bad when you're not sure ifthings are really regards to help. People
(25:03):
are commenting with this, So Isaid this the last time when the when
the news dropped Devon. I stillstand by this. And it's interesting,
isn't it. Like if Hallupsony hasa has a fans and Instagram has been
an interesting place to hang around andto see some of the very paras social
relationships that people are forged with thisathlete. And you know, it's understandable
as well. There's the Romanian nationalangle as well on this one, which
(25:26):
is kind of has its own bendto it. But I mean, I
said this before and I'll say itagain. People dope and people get caught,
like that's that is just the natureof it, and we would we
would be very naive if it didn'thappen in tennis, and it's just someone
of this stature got caught. Yeah, totally. And I mean some of
(25:48):
the the IIS findings, so I'vebeen kind of vindicated. There is a
suspicion of masking going on, correct, and like that's why some of the
other readings that they took outside ofthe road access set stuff also kind of
implicated or biological passport yeah. Imean, she seems guilty on two counts,
doesn't she. That's the thing,Like, it's not just one situation,
(26:12):
it's it's both situations that really havedone her in for here. So
this is going to cast the Courtof Arbitrations for it. If you're a
soccer fan, you're well familiar withthem because they have a history of doing
some some huge litigation regarding whether teamscan compete in certain places or who can
(26:32):
play for who. So that seemsto be the next step, and that
seems to be where that the hellof fans and the house supporters are banking
on that she will be vindicated.But that should be fascinated to see how
that plays out. Yeah, Idon't know that it's even watched this space.
I feel like this is kind ofover dev and I'd be shocked if
anything comes out of this. Youknow, cast though they like to do
(26:52):
their their own things. That's true. That is true. Okay, that's
one. How now the Davis Cupwe're recording this as uh, this qualifying
round for the finals is happening.I'm trying to I almost tried to explain
to you why I had to sayqualifying round for the finals. But at
(27:12):
this point, the less said thebetter about the organization of the Davis Cup.
But I will say that in thisfinal group got is vying for the
knockout round. There are some hugenames, some wonderful names, some young
Canadians making waves. I thought theCanadians rocking up to Unipolarna and Bologna without
(27:36):
Felix, without Chapo and winning thattie was pretty awesome. Alexis Gallardo,
Gabriel Diallo, who showed out atthe Canadian Open, beat your boy,
Lorenzo Ossetti. Did they take usSetti's passport after that? Bush? I
hope so goodness, my god,my god, Mamma Mia. Alexis Garlardo
and Vassi Posh Bhistill also won indoubles fantas asking result wonderful for those guys
(28:00):
defending Champs Canada, Frank Dancevik havingto deep in the bag. Obviously,
Felix not there in Chapell, comingback from that knee injury. I think
he's in a tendency he's going totry, maybe to play, but I
wouldn't want him to risk anything.All credit to those guys. Andy Murray's
there, He's got high hopes tothe Great Britain. So that was a
(28:21):
pretty dramatic tie against Australia on theopening day. All this to be said
Simon's second day, Sorry, allthis to be said. Stan Vivrinka hit
the nail on the head with thiscomment, Thank you, Gerard PK.
I t F Tennis Davis Cup Franceversus Switzerland in Manchester with about twenty people
in the crowd. It really sucks. I've said this like eighty times on
(28:42):
this show, but the Davis gotreally ain't what it used to be,
and I think the whole aspect ofwhat made this thing cool has been just
completely ripped out. I thought Canadabeating Italy in Italy was excellent because that
was the one situation where it didfeel like a Hue Davis Cup tie.
But got side of that, it'sjust not the same. It ain't the
(29:02):
same. Man, bring it back. We've got to We've got to sort
this calendar out at some point.God damn, this tournament is now a
casside. We have to eliminate this. They have to. Yeah, they
might have the problem is PK andcompany own it, so they might just
have to eliminate it. They can'teliminate it. It'll probably be in Saudi
Arabia sooner than later, so maybewe should enjoy it in random European cities.
(29:25):
Now, I guess it's that better. Who I'll make our own Davis
Cup. It'll be called the Cupof Davis instead. Okay, do you
got anything else for party? Shot? Sir Carlos Sackerouse was visiting a pool
fighting arena in Mercia, which Ithought was interesting and as regular as the
clock's changing is. It lasted aboutan hour before peterson out condemnation the Spanish
(29:52):
teenagers visiting a pool fighting I understandthat it's a big part of the community
there and culture. Not a nota great look. Uh maybe don't do
this in the future cast interesting,Yeah, don't do that on the day
was cut by the way I wasgoing to say, I didn't mention to
you should great Britain not be oneof the favorite spoilers. They have like
a ton of really good players likethey have that they have that depth to
(30:15):
the point where you would you wouldsuspect they actually would have a really good
shot of winning here. Yeah,you could argue they have one of the
better teams here. I mean it'syeah, it is quite deep. I
mean with Novak there, with Serbia, that's that's that's interesting, Like that's
a tough guaranteed. I don't knowif he's actually gonna play. Yeah,
(30:37):
and Spain, I think Spain gotwrecked by the checks Man. Yeah,
everyone is quite deep these days,which I think is a sign maybe of
the they're like the I don't knowif this is like a positive death.
But there's a lot of depth.There's a lot of growth in men's tennis,
like that that thirty one hundred range. There's a lot of guys that
we all know because they've been floatingaround. Now you all everyone, and
(31:00):
it's no longer the depth of menacetennis. It's the girth of it,
the curth. Gosh, there's theokay, okay, all right, finally
best fits of the US Open,Simon, I think I was going a
little too pro Lacosse. I wentout, I went a little too offside.
(31:22):
I got Lacosse pilled, Gator pilled. I didn't really like men's shirt
at all. It kind of lookedridiculous body yet maybe it's because I hated
the finals so much that I hatedthe shirt. But it wasn't a great
fit at all. I hated it. There's a lot of things I did
not like it, this monament.I did like Coco's outfit though, for
the winning photo when she was verygood, was very was very nice.
Also, the yellow was great,the yellow new balance kit was fantastic.
(31:45):
Bank and a discord mentioning non tennispeople asking we're going to get it.
It's a big sign. Yeah,it was all right, just kind of
looked like a highlighter, which youknow, it's fine. Did you notice
no Vac's jacket clear really made forWimbledon, not the US Open, but
they repurposed it, and I alsorespect that let's not waste materials. One
(32:07):
of the biggest questions that we didn'tcover last week or the last few weeks
is thoughts on Ben Shelton's black andpink on outfit. Did you enjoy it?
No? Not really. I meanI think Ben, you can pull
it off, and like I thinkit's it's a weird gradient for me,
Like I don't. I don't thinkanyone except Ben Shelton could wear that and
(32:30):
not not be punked, you know, like not be unable to pull it
off. It just feels too toosingular. Yeah, I hate it as
well. I do not like onat all, so maybe I'm not the
right Yeah, I gotta say Novackshoes though, God, I want to
try those on now. Look atthe price though, I think they're like
(32:52):
two hundred and forty dollars retail Canada. So maybe not maybe not the most
ideal, but you never know.It's coming up to Christmas, dav maybe
we'll do some Christmas Open some presents, perhaps some tennis related presents on Open
Era gift give. Actually, that'sa great idea. That's a great idea.
(33:14):
Can you guess where w TA isthis week? I don't think you've
checked. I saw Egish contact pullingout of Guadalajara, so is that where
it is? No, they're inSan Diego, just before Guadalajara. There's
also a tournament in Osaka. Butthis San Diego field finally good, like
(33:35):
hilarious to good. I think itwas really good as well, but right
it was. It had a aloaded field, but this one's got on.
Caroline Garcia, Maria zachary Krakova benchit. Who's lost already? But Dad,
why as well? Low key good? So if you do have some
non team as kept tennis. You'veenjoyed this week? I think San Diego
(33:58):
Open provided it. I do mentionit as well. Has Leyla lost there
to Beatrice her dad mine. Sothere's your quick Canadian update? Anything else
parting shots related before? Two challengesremaining, Simon, it's ridiculous just hat
the US Open. Let everyone right, I'm just naming tournaments. Yeah,
if people need money, man,you got you gotta eat. Got to
eat most baseline, when you shouldyou talk about that video? We should
(34:21):
talk about the video you posted inthe discord the box video. Yeah,
we should. That would imply thatactually washed it yet. I haven't opened
I haven't seen it. So areyou having open Era at its finest?
All right? Two challenges remaining?Two challenges remaining? What do you got
this week? Simon? I recentlycompleted my very first ever paint by numbers
(34:45):
and it's hanging on my wall inmy apartment. I had a great time
doing at dev. Have you everdone one? I haven't? No,
What does it entail? What doyou have to do? It's literally like
coloring in you just in order?So is it like one? Two,
three? No? So like there'sthe one that I'm doing has I think
twenty nine different colors and then basedupon like the image you just you can
(35:08):
start dark to light, or youcan go light to dark, whatever takes
your preference, or you can justdo it in any random order. But
it's yeah, it's a very therapeutic, very enjoyable thing and it's a fun
way to spend an evening or havelike a thing to do with your partner.
Interesting. I'll write that down,okay, Mine. I went to
(35:29):
a college a school to talk tosome media kids and do some interviews for
replacement, and I had not beenin a school setting in a long time,
but man, that was You couldfeel the energy in the assignment and
people really captivated by what they werelearning or what they were trying to do,
(35:49):
and working together in groups and justhanging out on the campus. And
it was a fond reminder to meof those those wonderful days and university.
It was a flash of the past. The school I was at was also
where they filled the grassy, theoriginal It's just it was a good time.
The kids are all right, thefuture not so bleak. Because I
(36:12):
was I was really impressed, Ithink by the outlook and what the goals
and like hopes are that the nextgeneration does have because we don't interact with
them too often, and it's onlythrough media that I get snippets of what
I believe the youth are seeking.And it's scary, but in real life
it seems okay. Yeah, theyseem completely fine to me. I think
(36:32):
it's yeah, like everything that I'veseen, it's always ratcheted up, which
is not the case at all,just by actually having a nice, polite
conversation with someone instead exactly. So, Yeah, it was a great experience,
and there you have it. Thishas been the Open Air Podcast.
A reminder, we are on Patreondot com, forward slash open Air.
(36:53):
Join us there, get the showat free get it early when we do
special post slam check ins like this, plus join us on the discord or
Richatt and Tennis all the time,including post slam, even though everyone's taken
a bit of a siesta as werecovered for the home stretch of twenty twenty
three. We're also on Twitter atopen AirPod, where I am struggling to
(37:17):
still tweet, but I will tryso keep following us for the good stuff.
Pitch over there, what a pitchwow. It goes even worse than
last week. Oh god, okayfor a producer, Dylan on the ones
and twos, and for Simon.Thank you so much for listening to Open
Era. We'll talk to you nextweek. M
Hello, and welcome to the OpenAir Podcast. My name is debang to
Side and I'm joined as always bymister Simon Bushell, who's emerged from underwater
to sound much clearer today. Ohdear, I'm sorry everyone. It's bound
to happen, right in one hundredand ninety three of these, so at
some point it was going to happen, but my apologies. There are some
(00:35):
early episodes, I think the onewhere I called in from from the French
Open, which the sound quality wasless than good. So yeah, there's
some precedent for this, but Ithink the feedback was people could understand you
and they got the key points thatyou were delivering better than a regular week
(00:56):
than dev but I'm well, keeplaughing like that where a few days removed
from the US Open. So likewe did last Slam, we're doing a
bit of a retrospective on the tournamentbecause I think we found last time that
it allowed us to really maybe diginto some things that we wanted to that
(01:19):
we couldn't in the immediate aftermath ofthe final. Bush, do you want
to start with Cocoa or Novak?I'm curious where you want to lead with?
Probably golf because I think, Yeah, I think the things that have
been written about her since she wonthis title have been quite nice to watch,
Like there's been a bunch of nicewrite ups about her tracking her journey
(01:42):
and sort of talking about all ofthe additions she's made to the camp and
all the things that were necessary toget her over the hump. And I
think it's interesting as well, likehaving the benefit of being a few days
removed from the final and even ourrecording from it is that the thing that
I forgot is that she got dumpedout of wimwoodin in the first round.
Like it just it defies belief insome ways that she's managed to have the
(02:05):
hard court run that she has done. And obviously, like everyone's going to
point to the addition of Brad Gilbertand all the things that have been done
and that side of things, butin general, it's it's quite astonishing to
see a player looking so dejected andso out of it from a previous ground
slam to going on and then winningit. It doesn't usually happen that way.
Well, it confirms that the grasscourt season is a joke and you
(02:25):
can't read anything into what happens,really, can you. I don't think
so, no, oh can you? Who knows? Or the other alternative
angle is that Sophia Kennon was theperson that helped Coco gov win the US
Open by humbling her as a qualifierat Wimbledon. That's probably a more accurate
(02:47):
description. That is former Slam winnerto you, do you hear out deaf?
I mean, if you look ather page, she's only lost to
Jess Pigoula in Montreal since and eventhen that was a weird tournament full of
rain delays and bad scheduling and toughscheduling. So I think we could throw
(03:07):
maybe that result out the window aswell. But it's a fascinating run,
an incredibly dominant summer bush and towin Cincinnati and the US Open. People
don't do that very often. Infact, Novak did it too, which
is even crazier. But I thinkthis is a feat that is underrated and
it's difficulty. We talked about theSunshine Double, what's the What can we
(03:29):
call Cincinnati in New York? Somebodyneeds someone who has bete geography than me.
One o the outset of that.So maybe Winwledon is not the precursor.
Maybe it's Cincinnati right, Well,you're betting fans out there who have
a wins Cincinnati goes on a win'sthe US Open. That's how it is.
I had another number for you.I think three point four million people
watch Goff become the first teenager towin the Open in more than two decades,
(03:53):
which is a big number, butit's also bigger than the men's number,
which does not happen very often.I think Novak and Danielle Medvedev garner
two point three million people to watchthat, which was still a strong number,
but it was the most viewed women'sfinal of any tennis major broadcast ever
on ESPN, and it was upninety two percent from last year's women's championship.
(04:16):
So I hate to be that guy, but tennis needs Coco Goof to
be good for a while. SoI mean, this is this is the
true, the true belief I havethat these numbers are going to make the
wrong people salivate, and God,I hope she can be good for a
while. Well, I think aslight correction on the American Tennis needs go
(04:40):
Hook GoF to be good. Ithink that's correct. Sorry, I should
have I should have added American Tennisand by the wrong people. I'd bean
like TV excess and like the peoplewho are deciding where to send their broadcast
crews to cover tournaments. In ESPN'scase, like I outside of the Slams,
I think they've scaled down their coverageconsiderable, but I would imagine the
(05:01):
Coco Golf Watch would take on alife of its own if we could get
more I don't know, more highprofile coverage of the the grind of tour
life as opposed to just slamps.I just love the idea of a bunch
of executives running around the offices inat ESPN headquarters. Where are they somewhere
(05:23):
in Massachusetts? Right? Is thatright? Connecticut? Connecticut, Connecticut?
Yeah, yeah, and someone goingscale it down, scale it down,
and then an American wins, scaleit back up again, set back up
again up. Nike's like, well, I guess we've got to start making
clothes again and not just throwing paintat a wall and seeing if that works.
That's a huge number of assignment,and that's that's I know nfls on
(05:46):
Sunday, but college football is abig deal in America, and to get
that number at four PM like thatis that is some heavy competition, more
reflective on golf winning, or moreinflective on the fact that Djokovia just not
a draw, or that perhaps tooprovocative to say. No, I think
you have your ankle with that,But I do think that the number compared
(06:09):
to last year as well kind ofleads me to believe that this is more
golf driven. And the fact thatI know this is not a good way
to gauge how popular something is,but when you have such a wide swath
and celebrities from different fields watching it, then you know it's a big deal.
So I feel like she cracked thecode Cocoa golf, and she's in
that must watch for the casual tenderstandthat that role was previously occupied by Serena
(06:35):
and the Big Three. Did yousee any of the write ups about the
camp that came out. I verymuch enjoyed the Jonathan giretco one in BBC
Sport where he was talking specifically aboutthe exploits at Brad Gilbert and some of
the more strange quirks that he has. I did not know that Brad Gilbert
(06:57):
only talks in even numbers, likehe never says an odd number. Did
you know this, Yes, Ithink I did. How how do you
live your life? Though? Whatdo you what numbers are you're admitting?
I mean, I would love toknow how that came about. It's very
very odd. One of the otherthings that that was interesting was they were
talking to Cohogof's hitting partner and alsohaving a conversation about what technical changes did
(07:24):
they make since Gilbert and Jenkins cameinto the camp, and it sounds like,
I mean, I'm kind of callingbullshit on this one that they didn't
make any technical changes to the forehand, and it was all mental and it
was all like trying to get herto be more aggressive and in some spots
and more patient in other spots.But I have to believe that's just a
(07:46):
bit of like trying to pour thewall over the eyes of the tour,
and then they actually try to doa bit of things, and also trying
to keep faith for God as wellof keeping a public presence out there,
because surely, honest to God,they must have done something with the four
I also find like this is kindof the way, this is how I
found Felix's coach speak in terms oflike improvements, so like what they could
(08:07):
do and like you have to imaginethere's other things happening, Like they're not
going to give us the full book, but they talk about it in like
vague supromotives. You're like, heyah, sure like that that makes total sense.
But yeah, maybe there's some somethingto not letting their opponents crack the
code. That being said, like, I feel like these people around each
other so much that you know,like how many secrets can you really have?
(08:31):
Yeah? And also how much ofthis is just coaches have got so
good and giving stock answers that therest of the sporting world is so dilutive
at this point that it's barely worthlistening to some of these people talk because
they just speak in either platitudes orhave bin pr to the point where no
one says anything about anything. Presstraining is what they call it. Right.
(08:52):
Did you see the video of cocoopsfor other going and just mental when
she won? That was too.I did see that, And I think
in general there's been a lot ofgood family stuff as well, right,
seeing both Corey and Candy, Coco'sparents, some of the interviews that Cohogov
was given about how her father wasin floods of tears as well, it
(09:15):
seems like this is obviously a veryclose knit family, and I think just
a really good example of decent qualityparenting in a sport that doesn't usually have
them. Yeah, and I willsay the Federer allegiance, the teammates stuff.
They generally seem to to do thisright. I will catch this with
the association with Sasha's vera, Butlike, generally it seems like Tony Gotzick
(09:39):
and this crew generally know how tonavigate the pretty much the unprecedented, and
then having Federer is someone to gooff of and obviously this is not the
same, but I feel like they'rein good hands, so to speak.
Yeah, I agree. Who wasyour favorite celebrity and attendance, by the
way, we didn't cover this onthe show, oh Man, Probably cousin
(10:03):
from the Bear. Yeah, Ithink I think that's got to be my
answer. I think they're shouting outsomeone else like there was like it was
like Timothy Shallowby, but even MossBackrack. Wow, I'm not sing that
correctly when they showed him, andI'm like, wow, I think he's
worth famous currently, so I wouldn'tchoose him. Yeah, fair enough.
(10:24):
I enjoyed Kevin Duran being the god. Yeah, I know, he was
such a big ten. It's funincredible. Yeah. He also very aware
of Hotalius, which I respected,like he knew he was blocking people at
times and was trying not to.So I respect that. It was a
good ton on the women's side,Was it not? It was? It
was. It had its ups anddowns, certainly, but I think all
(10:46):
in all to get the winning thatwe did, and looking at this with
the benefit of hindsight and a fewdays removed from everything, the best player
one do. I seemed reasonable,That seemed fair. It feels like it
does. It does. Yeah,it makes it makes me very excited to
see how this season wraps up.It's also making me very excited to see
(11:07):
how how the WTA develops in twentytwenty four, because I mean, if
you want to stick with the bigthree, you can, but I think
you can. You could earnestly saythat it's it's just it's pretty top heavy
and there's good depth on the WTA, so it's a pretty ridiculous combination in
(11:28):
terms of match matches that are worthwatching and match production of the highest level.
So we're in a good splace.We're in a really good place.
Yeah, I agree, And ifyou look at the top ten now or
you're looking at the players that arein it, they I think it's a
decent reflection of what the season's been. I mean literally, that's how it
works. But it's only really sacchary, right, that is the outlier,
(11:50):
and that of someone that's not hada great season. And I think I
don't know how long it's going tobe until golf as well. A number
one, it's going to be interestingto see if she's able to ascend that
mountain because so I don't like,there's a lot of points and she has
a tendency to hoover up titles orat least make the lot of stages of
it. So it's going to betough sledding for God to make the one
(12:13):
number one position. Yeah, Imean Australia, I'll be huge next year,
right, based on what happened.So all right, the man Novak
Djokovic, I don't know if yousaw this bush, but there was a
quote. I guess he was doingpress, a bunch of press obviously since
he won the US Open, butI think in Serbian he's a little more
I would say open maybe or like, yeah, he'll say what's actually on
(12:37):
his mind, whereas I think inan English press he's a little more guarded,
and I can understand why. Butthere's a quote going around about like
how how he'd be perceived a fewfrom the West, and it was misquoted
by a few journalists, which Ithink happens quite a bit, which enrages
people who speak Serbian or like NovakDjokovic, which I can also understand.
But in any case, this iswhat the actual quote was from Novak.
(13:01):
When asked if he is the greatestof all time, he says, I
will leave that up to unity decideif I am or not, or if
I should even be a part ofthat discussion. If I wasn't from Serbia,
I would have been praise more inthe sports world, especially in the
West. But it's part of myjourney and I'm grateful that I'm served.
So that that was the actual quote. The other quote made it sound like
(13:22):
a bit more hyperbolic and like Iam the greatest im the gift of the
gods. But I do not thinkNovak is rock here, Simon is what
I want to say. I thinkhe is right, just basically, he's
dead on. I think where wherepeople are from has colored how they're how
they're painted quite a few times,many and many a time, and I
(13:46):
don't think that is not the casehere. I mean, I would agree
entirely. I think this. Imean, there's a small element of this
as well as that he does.He's just not a very likable persons of
some of his actions, right well, that too, that too, but
I don't think that should cloud fromcertainly if we want to frame it as
(14:07):
sort of a Serbian racism to godown, that certainly discrimination, right like,
just like western elitis, there's someelitism, you know. And like
I bring this up as well becauseI this has been mentioned a few times
on our show, in the Distortespecially, I think POGs brought us up.
But the fact that the UK triedto get no back to join them
in two thousand and six, andthen Roger Draper Jack straight Jack Chaper's dad,
(14:30):
sorry, leading those efforts as thehead of the LTA, Like,
it's it's pretty remarkable how big ofa sliding doors moment that could have been
in so many ways, right Like, does he still become this if he's
an English slid going to eaton orwherever, like, because I don't know
what happens to you once year you'resucked into the UK elite, But like,
(14:52):
is that drive still there? Jesus, imagine this dude being in the
LTA. I don't know if that'sa good or a bad thing. Also
raises the high Likelihoo the Hippi forthe around Nigel Farage, which you know
also problemat true also true. Yeah. I think the other thing that I
found most surprising post Novak winning numbertwenty four was Gordyvanisovich's coach saying that he
(15:13):
wants to play in the LA Olympics, which is quite a while from now.
It's twenty twenty eight, correct,yes, so he would be forty
forty ish forty one maybe at thattime. David Ferrer also quoted as saying
Novak can keep playing like this fortwo to three years. I think this
is a fair statement, Simon.But but I kind of pivot off that
(15:41):
and say I didn't get the sensethat he was having a super great time
playing at the US Open, doyou know what I mean? I think
when when he won, it waswonderful and it was massive, and I
think he loves winning these big trophiesand it's really important to him. But
on the court, I didn't getthe sense that this was Novak's favorite slam
(16:02):
and due to however many issues youwant to describe, or the heat,
etc. But it just felt likehe was going through the motions a bit.
It's only going to increase as he'srunning up to score against No.
One, So I doubt that hewill play this long is kind of what
I'm getting it. Yeah, Imean he was also dying on court as
well, which probably didn't help inthat regard. The vives are bad when
you can't it's true all your legsare shot or whatever it was. I
(16:26):
mean, who knows. I don'tthink we actually got confirmation of that.
Being a couple of days removed fromthis. One interesting week for the server
as well. Right, he wason John McEnroe's mac and Row places,
right the ESPM plus thing. Didyou see this where he was had to
sit down and sit down into you, John macnro. There's some back stuff
and there. It's interesting timing ofthis. Obviously they must have recorded this
(16:47):
prior to him winning twenty four andall that kind of stuff. But I
just it is interesting that he wouldsort of end up on this and John
mac Androe of all people are sittingdown with him and having a conversation about
his views on the COVID vaccine situation. Is this real? Does this actually
happen? It is? It islegitimately true, Devange. I promise you
(17:11):
they talked the no way they talkedto the vaccines on this. It's true.
It is honestly. Oh my god, I had to watch the joint.
You just send you a link tothis just to prove it. Yeah,
please please? Do I need tocheck? Yess, I need to
watch this stuff. Oh gosh,that's insane. Okay, they really are
given anyone to place his show onthis. I get the man anything,
(17:33):
I guess, but this is Idon't think John macaron needs place. I
think he's fine. Pretty howering week, just based upon even being very very
closely removed from some of norvac geogophyesactions in regard to to Kosovo and sit
hearing some of the Romanian fans thatthe football match chanting I saw that,
(17:56):
which which obviously like incredibly discriminatory andit's in its own right, but it's
it's kind of fascinating, isn't itThat We talked about sliding doors moments,
but we also talk about seeing actionsfrom one one professional on one someone,
a person who is, you know, a figurehead and represents a lot.
To see that kind of behavior justa couple of weeks removed from it,
it's it's not great, Devon.You know, I'm not I'm not directly
(18:18):
implicating, because that's that's incredibly unfair, but it just it opens the doors.
So this kind of behavior to happen. Reason they were like six thousand,
five hund forty one and why Twitterslash x is terrible now where it's
getting worse by the day, isthat I was searching for like news on
that event because I saw the gamewas suspended but I wasn't sure why.
And god, the filth and theapps are just as cesspool in there to
(18:42):
navigate through and find actual news.So yeah, awful, awful stuff,
awful website. Now all right,anything else simon us open wise before we
move on. The first week wasbetter than the second. In my eyes,
I enjoy the first. It alwaysis. It always is, isn't
it though? Really I think so? But you Park has convinced me of
(19:04):
this, and I think it's alwaystrue. As well. The first week
is better. I think you wantto believe, though, that as you
get to the second week, roundof sixteen, quarterfinals, Sammy's and finals,
that you're going to see a higherlevel across the board. And I
think that's not certainly been the casein the last few finals that I've seen
saying. I mean, I enjoyedthe women's final. I thought it was
(19:25):
it was competitive. I thought ithad some good emotion and drama, and
I think the men's finals awful.It's changed being a couple of days removed
from it. Good trouve all right, So now reading this, Dad is
real Tad back. Oh god.I was never anti vax. I was
always pretty freedom to choose, andthat's something that we really took regret.
I didn't feel like a lot ofpeople had a choice. Really great stuff,
(19:48):
John mag and real great stuff everyone. Wow. Okay, hard hitting
journalism. I can't believe that's reallyokay. Moving on, we'll come back
to close up this week. Sowith parting shots, we'll talk Davis Cup
in heavy quotes Davis Cup, butalso right off the top when we come
back, Simona Hallop banned four yearsto follow it from that coming up an
(20:11):
Open Era Welcome back to the OpenEra podcast. A lot of news,
Simon since the US Open ended.Of course, the Davis Cup is happening.
We'll touch on that in a second. But I can't call this a
bombshell because we knew it was coming. But I guess the delay led us
(20:33):
to not know when it was coming. So I guess whenever it was going
to drop was going to cause shockwaves. But it finally happened. The
International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed that anindependent tribunal has suspended Romanian tennis player Simona
Hallop for a period of four yearsfollowing breaches of the Tennis Anti Doping Program
(20:56):
TADDIP four years. I and sowe're talking pretty much the end of sumata
helps career, competitive career, atleast if she's thirty one. Now.
I don't know if you read thefull release by the Itia, but it
was pretty in depth. I didread it, and it seemed pretty convincing
(21:18):
to me. I don't I know, some man, I will appeal this.
And I mean you mentioned off thetop like this might be the end
of her professional career. We haveseen I mean historically Marisia, I've ever
got her suspension reduced from the twoyears out of the fifteen months. I
don't I don't see a situation wherethis gets reduced. This is a lot
(21:38):
worse than I think than the sharerpull of a situation and the irregularities that
are in the biological passport across thefifty fifty one different occasions that that it
was tested. I mean, sheseems pretty guilty to me. It doesn't
seem I mean, we're sitting I'mnot an expert on this, right,
(21:59):
but you can only judge by whatthese organizations are saying and what this report
is confirming. I'd be shocked ifwe see a play again. Professionally,
Yeah, And I think it's interestinglike the the people who have been standing
by her have continued to and thatincludes Patrick Mortagalu and Darren k Hill,
some two very high profile coaches intennis who I mean by association, they
(22:26):
might have a lot more to loseby doing this than we initially thought,
Simon, and maybe that's perhaps whythey have remained so steadfast in their support.
I mean, obviously, I thinkthey're human beings who have forged a
pretty strong relationship with Simona through theiryears working together. But I think it's
worth noting that they are still standingby her and why that is and if
(22:48):
it is because they know that sheis clean or if there's another reason.
Yeah, I mean, I don'twant to be the cynic hip, but
it certainly feels like it is thelatter on that one. I mean to
me, like, looking at thiswith trying to be as neutral as possible,
it seems like the coaches of thisathlete, who is a high profile
for the all number one, multipletimes slam winner, would want to try
(23:11):
and keep their association with her cleanand not want to look guilty by association.
That certainly looks how it looks tome on the surface of it.
And I mean there's there's been playersas well that have spoken out in support
of Simona help. I think JohnMillman, at least Cornet the PTPA,
(23:32):
which as they should, put outhis statements saying they're going to support Simona
Hall Up through this appeal process.I think that was excellent and exactly what
a player's union should do. Butmost surprisingly, maybe not considering Serena's drops
some some shade before, but didyou see this, Serena Williams tweet Simon
following Simona Help suspension. I didsee this. I thought this was a
(23:56):
pretty shitty look. Honestly, youknow, you know I I and the
tweet says simply eight is a betternumber at Serena ended with seven, with
eight, no, sorry, sheended with seven Wimbledon, So I think
this is referring to that twenty nineteenWimbledon final which she lost to Simona Ala.
Clearly, this that's pissed off alot of people. It's also made
(24:17):
a lot of Hala paters extremely happy. I thought it was just not necessary,
and I found it interesting. Likeso Serena says Elena Yankevich remember her,
you'll you'll any Oh my gosh.I don't think she was a big
Simona Halla fan back in the day. But I think just quoted to say.
This is a translation but quote.People refuse to admit it. But
(24:40):
I always knew I was the rightfulwinner of Indian Wells twenty fifteen. Simona's
band to day proves it. What'slike? Goodness me again, I'm relying
on a translation here, and Ihope this is real, but that is
yeah, I don't even I don'teven know what to say here, but
it's bad when you're not sure ifthings are really regards to help. People
(25:03):
are commenting with this, So Isaid this the last time when the when
the news dropped Devon. I stillstand by this. And it's interesting,
isn't it. Like if Hallupsony hasa has a fans and Instagram has been
an interesting place to hang around andto see some of the very paras social
relationships that people are forged with thisathlete. And you know, it's understandable
as well. There's the Romanian nationalangle as well on this one, which
(25:26):
is kind of has its own bendto it. But I mean, I
said this before and I'll say itagain. People dope and people get caught,
like that's that is just the natureof it, and we would we
would be very naive if it didn'thappen in tennis, and it's just someone
of this stature got caught. Yeah, totally. And I mean some of
(25:48):
the the IIS findings, so I'vebeen kind of vindicated. There is a
suspicion of masking going on, correct, and like that's why some of the
other readings that they took outside ofthe road access set stuff also kind of
implicated or biological passport yeah. Imean, she seems guilty on two counts,
doesn't she. That's the thing,Like, it's not just one situation,
(26:12):
it's it's both situations that really havedone her in for here. So
this is going to cast the Courtof Arbitrations for it. If you're a
soccer fan, you're well familiar withthem because they have a history of doing
some some huge litigation regarding whether teamscan compete in certain places or who can
(26:32):
play for who. So that seemsto be the next step, and that
seems to be where that the hellof fans and the house supporters are banking
on that she will be vindicated.But that should be fascinated to see how
that plays out. Yeah, Idon't know that it's even watched this space.
I feel like this is kind ofover dev and I'd be shocked if
anything comes out of this. Youknow, cast though they like to do
(26:52):
their their own things. That's true. That is true. Okay, that's
one. How now the Davis Cupwe're recording this as uh, this qualifying
round for the finals is happening.I'm trying to I almost tried to explain
to you why I had to sayqualifying round for the finals. But at
(27:12):
this point, the less said thebetter about the organization of the Davis Cup.
But I will say that in thisfinal group got is vying for the
knockout round. There are some hugenames, some wonderful names, some young
Canadians making waves. I thought theCanadians rocking up to Unipolarna and Bologna without
(27:36):
Felix, without Chapo and winning thattie was pretty awesome. Alexis Gallardo,
Gabriel Diallo, who showed out atthe Canadian Open, beat your boy,
Lorenzo Ossetti. Did they take usSetti's passport after that? Bush? I
hope so goodness, my god,my god, Mamma Mia. Alexis Garlardo
and Vassi Posh Bhistill also won indoubles fantas asking result wonderful for those guys
(28:00):
defending Champs Canada, Frank Dancevik havingto deep in the bag. Obviously,
Felix not there in Chapell, comingback from that knee injury. I think
he's in a tendency he's going totry, maybe to play, but I
wouldn't want him to risk anything.All credit to those guys. Andy Murray's
there, He's got high hopes tothe Great Britain. So that was a
(28:21):
pretty dramatic tie against Australia on theopening day. All this to be said
Simon's second day, Sorry, allthis to be said. Stan Vivrinka hit
the nail on the head with thiscomment, Thank you, Gerard PK.
I t F Tennis Davis Cup Franceversus Switzerland in Manchester with about twenty people
in the crowd. It really sucks. I've said this like eighty times on
(28:42):
this show, but the Davis gotreally ain't what it used to be,
and I think the whole aspect ofwhat made this thing cool has been just
completely ripped out. I thought Canadabeating Italy in Italy was excellent because that
was the one situation where it didfeel like a Hue Davis Cup tie.
But got side of that, it'sjust not the same. It ain't the
(29:02):
same. Man, bring it back. We've got to We've got to sort
this calendar out at some point.God damn, this tournament is now a
casside. We have to eliminate this. They have to. Yeah, they
might have the problem is PK andcompany own it, so they might just
have to eliminate it. They can'teliminate it. It'll probably be in Saudi
Arabia sooner than later, so maybewe should enjoy it in random European cities.
(29:25):
Now, I guess it's that better. Who I'll make our own Davis
Cup. It'll be called the Cupof Davis instead. Okay, do you
got anything else for party? Shot? Sir Carlos Sackerouse was visiting a pool
fighting arena in Mercia, which Ithought was interesting and as regular as the
clock's changing is. It lasted aboutan hour before peterson out condemnation the Spanish
(29:52):
teenagers visiting a pool fighting I understandthat it's a big part of the community
there and culture. Not a nota great look. Uh maybe don't do
this in the future cast interesting,Yeah, don't do that on the day
was cut by the way I wasgoing to say, I didn't mention to
you should great Britain not be oneof the favorite spoilers. They have like
a ton of really good players likethey have that they have that depth to
(30:15):
the point where you would you wouldsuspect they actually would have a really good
shot of winning here. Yeah,you could argue they have one of the
better teams here. I mean it'syeah, it is quite deep. I
mean with Novak there, with Serbia, that's that's that's interesting, Like that's
a tough guaranteed. I don't knowif he's actually gonna play. Yeah,
(30:37):
and Spain, I think Spain gotwrecked by the checks Man. Yeah,
everyone is quite deep these days,which I think is a sign maybe of
the they're like the I don't knowif this is like a positive death.
But there's a lot of depth.There's a lot of growth in men's tennis,
like that that thirty one hundred range. There's a lot of guys that
we all know because they've been floatingaround. Now you all everyone, and
(31:00):
it's no longer the depth of menacetennis. It's the girth of it,
the curth. Gosh, there's theokay, okay, all right, finally
best fits of the US Open,Simon, I think I was going a
little too pro Lacosse. I wentout, I went a little too offside.
(31:22):
I got Lacosse pilled, Gator pilled. I didn't really like men's shirt
at all. It kind of lookedridiculous body yet maybe it's because I hated
the finals so much that I hatedthe shirt. But it wasn't a great
fit at all. I hated it. There's a lot of things I did
not like it, this monament.I did like Coco's outfit though, for
the winning photo when she was verygood, was very was very nice.
Also, the yellow was great,the yellow new balance kit was fantastic.
(31:45):
Bank and a discord mentioning non tennispeople asking we're going to get it.
It's a big sign. Yeah,it was all right, just kind of
looked like a highlighter, which youknow, it's fine. Did you notice
no Vac's jacket clear really made forWimbledon, not the US Open, but
they repurposed it, and I alsorespect that let's not waste materials. One
(32:07):
of the biggest questions that we didn'tcover last week or the last few weeks
is thoughts on Ben Shelton's black andpink on outfit. Did you enjoy it?
No? Not really. I meanI think Ben, you can pull
it off, and like I thinkit's it's a weird gradient for me,
Like I don't. I don't thinkanyone except Ben Shelton could wear that and
(32:30):
not not be punked, you know, like not be unable to pull it
off. It just feels too toosingular. Yeah, I hate it as
well. I do not like onat all, so maybe I'm not the
right Yeah, I gotta say Novackshoes though, God, I want to
try those on now. Look atthe price though, I think they're like
(32:52):
two hundred and forty dollars retail Canada. So maybe not maybe not the most
ideal, but you never know.It's coming up to Christmas, dav maybe
we'll do some Christmas Open some presents, perhaps some tennis related presents on Open
Era gift give. Actually, that'sa great idea. That's a great idea.
(33:14):
Can you guess where w TA isthis week? I don't think you've
checked. I saw Egish contact pullingout of Guadalajara, so is that where
it is? No, they're inSan Diego, just before Guadalajara. There's
also a tournament in Osaka. Butthis San Diego field finally good, like
(33:35):
hilarious to good. I think itwas really good as well, but right
it was. It had a aloaded field, but this one's got on.
Caroline Garcia, Maria zachary Krakova benchit. Who's lost already? But Dad,
why as well? Low key good? So if you do have some
non team as kept tennis. You'veenjoyed this week? I think San Diego
(33:58):
Open provided it. I do mentionit as well. Has Leyla lost there
to Beatrice her dad mine. Sothere's your quick Canadian update? Anything else
parting shots related before? Two challengesremaining, Simon, it's ridiculous just hat
the US Open. Let everyone right, I'm just naming tournaments. Yeah,
if people need money, man,you got you gotta eat. Got to
eat most baseline, when you shouldyou talk about that video? We should
(34:21):
talk about the video you posted inthe discord the box video. Yeah,
we should. That would imply thatactually washed it yet. I haven't opened
I haven't seen it. So areyou having open Era at its finest?
All right? Two challenges remaining?Two challenges remaining? What do you got
this week? Simon? I recentlycompleted my very first ever paint by numbers
(34:45):
and it's hanging on my wall inmy apartment. I had a great time
doing at dev. Have you everdone one? I haven't? No,
What does it entail? What doyou have to do? It's literally like
coloring in you just in order?So is it like one? Two,
three? No? So like there'sthe one that I'm doing has I think
twenty nine different colors and then basedupon like the image you just you can
(35:08):
start dark to light, or youcan go light to dark, whatever takes
your preference, or you can justdo it in any random order. But
it's yeah, it's a very therapeutic, very enjoyable thing and it's a fun
way to spend an evening or havelike a thing to do with your partner.
Interesting. I'll write that down,okay, Mine. I went to
(35:29):
a college a school to talk tosome media kids and do some interviews for
replacement, and I had not beenin a school setting in a long time,
but man, that was You couldfeel the energy in the assignment and
people really captivated by what they werelearning or what they were trying to do,
(35:49):
and working together in groups and justhanging out on the campus. And
it was a fond reminder to meof those those wonderful days and university.
It was a flash of the past. The school I was at was also
where they filled the grassy, theoriginal It's just it was a good time.
The kids are all right, thefuture not so bleak. Because I
(36:12):
was I was really impressed, Ithink by the outlook and what the goals
and like hopes are that the nextgeneration does have because we don't interact with
them too often, and it's onlythrough media that I get snippets of what
I believe the youth are seeking.And it's scary, but in real life
it seems okay. Yeah, theyseem completely fine to me. I think
(36:32):
it's yeah, like everything that I'veseen, it's always ratcheted up, which
is not the case at all,just by actually having a nice, polite
conversation with someone instead exactly. So, Yeah, it was a great experience,
and there you have it. Thishas been the Open Air Podcast.
A reminder, we are on Patreondot com, forward slash open Air.
(36:53):
Join us there, get the showat free get it early when we do
special post slam check ins like this, plus join us on the discord or
Richatt and Tennis all the time,including post slam, even though everyone's taken
a bit of a siesta as werecovered for the home stretch of twenty twenty
three. We're also on Twitter atopen AirPod, where I am struggling to
(37:17):
still tweet, but I will tryso keep following us for the good stuff.
Pitch over there, what a pitchwow. It goes even worse than
last week. Oh god, okayfor a producer, Dylan on the ones
and twos, and for Simon.Thank you so much for listening to Open
Era. We'll talk to you nextweek. M
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