Open Era Gold: Australian Open — Slamalenka

It happened people. It finally happened. Aryna Sabalenka is slam champion. On a day that many thought might never happen we have a brand new slam champion on the WTA. Devang and Simon unpack the significance of her victory before turning their attention to some of the other winners from the past two weeks in Melbourne Park. We end with Parting Shots and have some choice words over the Australian Open Ball Kids policy. I wonder if Craig Tiley would accept his salary as a gift bag? 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Open Air Podcast. My name
is de Veg Desai. Me and Simon are bath this week,
but you're going to look back at the Australia Open
last year when I'm Irena Sabolenka really announced her status
as one of the players, if not the player to
beat on the women's Tour. With the twenty twenty four
season coming to an end and Sabolenka and Triontech neck

(00:23):
and neck for a number one in the WTA, we
thought it would be wise to look back at the
moment that Arena Sabolanka maybe really did assert herself as
one of the top top players in the game. Thanks
for listening.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
We'll talk to you soon. Hello and welcome to the
Open Air Podcast. My name is Deven Decide. I'm joined
as always by mister Simon Bushell Well Bush, the European

(01:02):
traveling Man. We missed you last week. How are you doing.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, I'm doing all right, thank you. I'm on the
precipice of being back in Canada, so I'm looking forward
to that and going from some lovely weather to some
not very nice weather. How are things over in Toronto them?
And what do I have to look forward to?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Literally, it's a blizzard today. So I was going to
sugarcoat things and be like, you know, the days are
getting longer and the sun is setting later and we're
just around the corner from spring. But today was a
jolt of reality that you're coming back, Simon into the suck,
so enjoy it while you can.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Wonderful leaves us on a perfect transition to talk about
some glorious weather down Under and seeing the end of
another Grand Slam.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Duv. We did, We did, And I'm fascinating because I
didn't get a chance to talk to you last week
on the pod Bush. I talked to you offline and
through chat and text whatever, but I didn't get a
chance to talk to you last week. And I have
to say I was feeling a lot better about this
tournament last week than I am today. And I don't
know if it's it's a combination of multiple things which

(02:08):
we can get into about why maybe this tournament didn't
hit as much for me, But I thought the second
week was quite poor, and outside from the women's final,
this was arguably the worst Slam I had observed in
at least a few years.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Are we laying this entirely at the feet of a
break points phone.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
No, but I do. I wonder if this has something
to do with the fact that last year was so
emotional and there was a void created and for a
certain fan, and maybe I'm part of that. It was
going to take longer to deal with the changes, and
perhaps I am still affected more than I let on.

(02:49):
But I didn't think the tennis was that good, And
I'm wondering if if you feel similar and if you're
less jaded by by time passing than I am.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, I think that's probably true, and I think that's
where I ended up as well, which is that we
kind of got some duds in both the semi final
and of the men's and women's. Actually think that if
we look across the board and we'll come onto it
in the second segment is there was a fair amount
of interesting winners in this tournament, but perhaps the road
to get there wasn't the most exciting, which I think

(03:19):
the I think most people probably remember this tournament for
the breakthrough of Anya Savallenka and winning her first Grand
Slam after being the bridesmaid so many damn times. But yeah,
it was a bit of a damp square across the board,
and this is not a tournament I'm going to remember
for a long time.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, And I don't want to. I don't want to
take anything away from Savileg, who we're going to talk
about a few seconds. But I do think the the
aura of this tournament faded a bit for me, and
I hope it returns. And I wonder if this is
just a thing as part of being a sports fan
and having your your interests change over time. But that's

(04:01):
what I'm left feeling after watching the men's final on Sunday,
watching Novak Djokovic when yet again in Melbourne, truly his
favorite place in the world outside of Belgrade, but what
a record he has there. We'll talk about him in
a bit, but let's start with Sablenca. Bush I mentioned
last year, I mentioned the emotional heaviness of it all,
and amongst all the retirements and the injuries, we also

(04:23):
had a couple of countries effectively banned from being represented
at all at the Majors, and that led into twenty
twenty three, and we had various scenes of idiocy and
debauchery in Melbourne regarding pro Russian protests and Vladimir Putin
on flags, etc. But remove all that garbage aside. I

(04:45):
thought the final was incredible. I thought the two people
involved in the final deserve ends endless praise and also
thousands of thousands of words written about them. But just
off the top side, and we both picked Sabalanka to
win this tournament, which I do feel like was the
common pick. And I think what's the most shocking part
of this all to me is that we were all right,

(05:06):
we all assumed that she had put it all together,
but to watch the would actually do that successfully was
a hell of a feeling. And I think that's what
I love the most about that final between Rubequina and
Sawolenka Bush and was seeing someone confront her demons, confront
her pass issues and put them to bed on the
biggest stage.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's true and I think people who will who will
find some doubt in this title, and I think that's ridiculous,
by the way, just given the final that we had
and it was an incredibly high quality of final. We'll
look at her road to this championship match and think
that it was somewhat a little soft, but sometimes you
need to overcome soft draws in order to win championships
and to get across the line. I think if she's

(05:47):
twenty four years of age, she is rising up to
world number two with that performance in the final that
she had, and just given the jitters that we've seen
from her at lata stages of tournament, she looked like
someone who desperately wanted to win this title, and she
did not crumble under pressure, which I think is a
hugely telling fact of someone who has grown in stature,

(06:09):
certainly since the back end of last year, when I
think a lot of us during the course of that
season had not necessarily begin to write her off, but
almost had sort of suspected that we may have seen
the best of her. And I think we're rewriting that
script now because there's much much more to come from her.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
And even if you want to maybe disparage the second
week of opponents and be like they weren't the top caliber,
their first week was hillacious like Shelby Rogers of these words,
Linda Bedgie handled him all in the straight set, so
I think she was full value for the win and Bush.
I think the the other angle of this that I
find really interesting is listening to Sablein could talk about

(06:48):
her struggles herself and acknowledged that she kind of parted
ways with through psychologists or sports psychologists, realizing that basically
it was up to her at this point, which I'm
curious I you view that. But there was a Globe
and Mail tweet after she won in which it said
Arita Sabrilenka defeats Arita Sabrilenka to win the Australian Open,

(07:10):
And though that was a typo, it felt really right.
It did feel very apt because this was as much
between the years as anything else, because we've seen the town,
we've seen the ability. I remember I mentioned on the
show a few times watching here against Coco gov last
year in Toronto and just wondering what would it take
to put that final piece together, And perhaps it took

(07:31):
chewing all the professional advice to help to her and
doing it her own way.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
And I think that between the years part is an
interesting one to examine and the sort of to unpack
for a second here, because when so often we look
at how someone overcomes the sort of mental block that
they've had, it's so often about like holding nerve in
key crunch points, and I think she did that. I
think certainly to sell out a grand slam given the

(07:57):
serving jed as that we've seen from her during her
career is one that's and that's one thing that I
think is extremely impressive to see. I think one of
the things that is going to get lost in all
of this because everyone's going to circle the numbers, right,
They're going to less, say, fifty one winners, twenty eight
unfalse errors. Like she went for it, and you know,
she heard all these things, and you know, amazing she

(08:18):
she did not look like she was going to win
this match for a set, a set in three games,
a set in four games. And I think the biggest
testament I can say for this final is that she
worked it out tactically. I think she was able to
problem solve on the core, and I think she was
able to discover what her opponent was doing to her
and attacking her weaknesses and work around them. And then

(08:39):
at that point she was able to start smacking winners.
And it was just a joy to watch.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
At that point, well A both players hit the absolute
piss out of the ball, which I found utterly wonderful
to observe and just terrific stuff. Be if it wasn't
it the exact opposite situation. Then the twenty twenty two
US Open semi final against IgA Bush for Sabolenka, because

(09:04):
in that match she looked like the person who is
gonna win at several points. But it was that that
idea of maintaining calm and not rushing things and having
that belief in yourself, which she didn't really have then
she didn't have in Toronto either, And we lament how
short the off season has been in tennis, But I

(09:26):
find it remarkable that something was able to change for
her in this span of time, Simon, whether it be
a few weeks or a few months, because we looked
at someone who maintains all of the soundbreaking shot quality
and absolute power, but the serve was a huge factor,
and mentality was a massive factor. And I saw this

(09:49):
said a few times and off the back of Breakpoint
and getting a glimpse into what Maria Zachary is dealing
with on the mental side and her work with her
psych our sports psychologists slash coach and wondering can this
happen for her too? Because I think I like to
watch good tennis, Simon. I love to watch good tennis,
but I also love to see people achieve their goals

(10:12):
and see them achieve their goals after facing considerable hurdles
along the way. So as much as I was happy
for Sablenka year, I was thinking about Zachary as well.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, I agree, it's interesting that you bring Ray Zakari
into this because it does show if you're going to
get to the back end of tournaments and you keep
plugging away, you eventually might find a way to open
that door. And I wonder actually what this win does
for some of the players who've been in a similar
position to Armie Sablenka. To see someone who has fallen
at the final hurdle and had so many doubts not
just with the game, but obviously mentally as well, whether

(10:46):
she was able to overcome that. I wonder whether it
does give a lift to the rest of the tour
who have been in that position. And I think we
saw it as well, didn't we with the outpouring of support.
This was a very popular win, just given the kind
of support that she got on social media from a
very wide small the players like this was not just
sort of her people from her native country who were
reaching out and to support her, It was, you know,

(11:06):
the entirety of the top fifty that seemed like they
wanted to show support to a first time champion like this,
and I think that must have something to do with
the fact that she has been so close and it's crushing.
It has to be absolutely crushing to lose the way
that she has lost in some of these biggest moments
and then to finally get the monkey up the back
in the way that she has done awesome stuff.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
I want to spend some time talking about Rebequina Bush,
the WIBLED champion last year, once again not giving a
lot of respect and credit for that. I love basically
the f you tour that she waged in Melbourne this
year in pointing some absolutely amazing tennis along the way,
especially against Ostapenko and Azarenka to make the final. I'm

(11:52):
curious push if you saw Pam Shriver have some pretty
choice words for her coach in the stance and the
way his body language were, and maybe the tone and
the way he was coaching Rebecqina seemed aggressive, quote unquote,
and I saw Dmitriy Tursanov pushback on that, who's coached
quite a few players on the WTA as well. But
I saw Pod say this on the discord and on Twitter,

(12:14):
and that this had some like weird coded Soviet Union
vibes about how we know how to treat our athletes
better and this is abuse and this is not right
and this is the wrong way to coach someone. It's
a bit upsetting to me that we're still basically a
covering Rebequina and Sabolenka to extent as if there are
others because of this. This aspect and also the fact

(12:38):
that they can't have their flags beside their names like
this reminded me of just more othering when it wasn't necessary.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, and I think it's interesting, right, Like we're touching
on the tennis and I think that's a good place,
especially given who the first time champion was here, and
we can touch on some of the gehop political aspects
of this win as well, and maybe another segment or
another time down the road. But it is interesting, of
course you are two finalists different ends of the at
least certainly having elements of problematic is way too strong

(13:12):
of a word, but certainly like interesting elements to how
they arrived at this fine and what it means just
from a political statement given the country flag that's next
to their name. I thought this joke was quite funny
actually getting over the winning line only can see the
white flags appear. Yes, very good. So on the on
the on the rebark and the stuff, I must admit,
like seeing that exchange and seeing Demisi Servanov and seeing

(13:35):
Pram Schriver sort of fairly heated and fairly back and
forth in terms of the discussion on this one. This
this kind of felt a little bit to me like
I have no fucking idea what's going on?

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know this is I
don't know what the relationship is, Like.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
I've got no idea. It seemed very strange to me.
And it, I mean, on the surface, you could read
it and think like this person is, in the case
of Shriver, is wading into a situation where she's just
reading off a you know, reading off her screen or
looking at information and reading her own interpretation into it.
But even that, I've got no idea if that's true
or not. So I don't actually know if I'm in

(14:12):
a position ready to comment on this one, because it
all just felt a bit weird, is how I would
look at this one.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Yeah, and everyone's coming into this conversation with their priors
right hand, their belief kind of sewn in already. I
saw back in a statement afterwards in which he said,
disregard the fake news, et cetera. Anytimes someone uses fake
news now in a release or a comment, I immediately
shudder and I want to collapse to the ground.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
And I think I had not seen that Darren k
Hill clip before.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Want to help a disgrace in the court on the
court pre drug band, by the way, pre drug ban,
This is not, this is not afterwards.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
And I think it stands. I can't ever imagine myself,
or like any sort of institution that I've been around,
even inside a tennis to be that level of disrespectful
to a player in terms of how you were talking
to them. And I think that's kind of fascinating to
see the inside of that camp and how it operated

(15:17):
like these there's motivation and there's being, like, you know,
borderline bullying as well, and I thought that was just
a curious one to to understand from where that came from.
So watch this space on this story. I feel like
this might be an avalanche of things that come afterwards.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
The other aspect of this and I go back to
sakary Is, like, I think the way she's formed her
coaching staff around her is that she she does not
need the tough love. I think she needs the support and.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
The no one does dev I mean, that's that's the
that's the unfortunate part of it is literally no one does.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
But I mean rebec In an example of someone who might.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
We're getting deep into the realms of psychology, aren't we.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, And and once again we do not know. But
I would say that it seems to work. Seems to
be working here in some regard and in this cold
world of calculating results. I wonder if the players down
with that as well, even though perhaps in the moment
it is upsetting and terrible.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
So touching on rebucc and his performance in this final
as well, removed from everything else, I think she's going
to watch this tape back and watch this final back
and think, how did I lose this one? From the
position that I was in, because I thought she was
playing incredibly well. I thought she'd game planned her and
her coach had game planned very very well to try
and neutralize some of the things that Sablenka did. And

(16:37):
I think that is testament to them as a team
being able to actually produce that kind of game plan
and stick to it, but being set. Like all that
being said, this is a really really good final, and
I don't really want that to get lost in everything
else and all the discussion about it, because this was
two players who had contrasting styles in terms of what
they were trying to achieve on the court, not necessarily

(16:59):
games wise, like I think they match up fairly well
in terms of the kind of games they play, but
in the sense that Ribeccina was trying to was trying
to go for the errors, was trying to be hypercentage
in terms of the tennis that she was playing, use
the serve really well and try and really like hurt
sable ankor and neutralize some of the game and saba Anka,

(17:19):
which just happened, none of it. Like I'm here, I'm here,
and I will I will stamp my footprint all over
this final, and I think that fight wise and style
wise made for a really really interesting matchup.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
One hundred percent. Sablenka now up to two in the rankings,
Ribeckina now top ten. Believe that's a career high for her,
which seems outrageous as well.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
She should be twenty three dev Like, Yeah, I think
everyone seems to think she's like this journey woman who's
like twenty nine years of age and is just coming
into her own, like she's she's going to be around
on the top end of the game for a long
time as well.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
I saw something from the Tennis Praft trying to the
show after the final, and he was talking about what
this meant for E Sriantech going forward. EGA losing quite
early in this tournament Tourbikina, which I think, as we
all came to see, was a sign of things to come.
But he was saying that this level of power displayed

(18:15):
in the final might be a problem for EGA, But
will it because I think on the fourhand wing he
is still definitely up there and the movement is still
tops between amongst these three. But do you think this
says anything about the immediate future of the tour? Like
this has still still seem like EGA will will eventually

(18:37):
try during the clay court season, but it might get
interesting in Indian most in Miami.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
Yeah, I think watch the space in the hard court.
That's the really fascinating space. I think for supremacy on
the women's tour because I think eigas Friontec is going
to own the clay season and is going to own
the slow stuff. And by the slow stuff, I mean
basically the US Open. Is that those are things that
like the paper at this point, yeah, I think she
still has a bit to prove, does she not, despite

(19:03):
her getting to the semi final last year. I'm talking
about Shiontech here. The quick stuff is something that has
eluded her in her career. She hasn't won a Grand
Slam on a quick surface, yet she got plenty of time,
plenty plenty of time. I think rebark And is just
she's such a tough matchup on this surface. The way
that she's huge serve, like the serve is massive, it's

(19:26):
very repeatable as well, and I think that's I think
the funny thing is to me reading all the stuff
about her and sort of and the perception that I
think people have of her is that she's just this
like big bombing serve, huge forehand, that kind of player.
But she's got so much nouse in her game as well,

(19:46):
like to the point that I kind of think she's
a little more conservative than people give her credit for
like she's she's very consistent on both strokes and has
a really good tennis brain out there, and this isn't
just someone who is playing you know, ABC Surf plus
one style stuff on the court. So I'm genuinely excited
to see the top end of the sport for the
next year, because I really do believe that Ego is

(20:08):
going to wipe the floor with the field on the
clay courts the rest of the year. Though, what is
going to happen at wimwoodon who knows?

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah? Finally for me, Bush, do you think the celebration
of sable Anca was a bit muted because she's from
Belarus and doesn't have a flag beside her name.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
I mean the muted celebration from the Australian Open itself.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, and the wider outside of the I would say
the tennis crazies that either listen to the show or
talk about it all the time online.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
I guess the question is in regards to some levity
on this one or poking some fun at it, is
will the Belarussian Prime Minister use this as a sample of.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Beller Russian supremacy? Yeah, Lukashenko, for sure he will. For sure,
I mean yeah, and I think I saw some people
trying to try to see if if Sabillanca has come
out and said things about the government at home, either
pro or against. And I think, once again for the
nine thousandth time, I think there's a lot of other
factors going on here, including the safety of the people

(21:12):
she loves back home, et cetera. But yeah, I saw
it just a wild slew of terrible, terrible takes, including
those from your your right wingers, QAnon, deep state people
who who believe this is all part of the plan
to make them embarrassed by showing a white flag beside
her name as a champion.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
So but def like this is the literal example of
what Wimbedden said they didn't want to have happened, like
in the sense of the reason they banned these athletes
last year so they could have win, so they couldn't
win and they couldn't be used as propaganda agents. Literally
this tournament has been won by a Belarussian. So yeah, well,

(21:52):
I guess like we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Wiboldon hasn't said anything yet, correct, wi Wildon has not
said an think yeah about what they're going to do
this year.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
Nope.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Interesting all right. Yeah, I will say you said this
a bit earlier, Simon, and I think the tennis itself
was exceptional and definitely deserves its praise and it's it's
lengthy write ups, et cetera. And I hope we see that,
but I did. I did think it was a bit
muted because of who won. And yeah, I'll leave it there.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
I enjoyed this final a lot. It's one of the
more enjoyable women's finals I've seen in a really long time.
I'm happy for the winner. I'm happy for what she's overcome,
and I'm really happy that Elena Rebukiner is getting the
lover as well, because she's a really really good player
and did not and deserved it to be a little
more heralded given that she is a Grand Slam champion,

(22:46):
albeit at an exhibition tournament last year.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Well said, it sets the table for a very exciting
year to come on the WTA side, who once again
I think kind of saved as tournament. But when we
come back, we'll talk about the us of the winners.
In Melbourne, another Australian men's duo taking the doubles crowd
plus o hum number twenty two. If we know Vek
Jopavich cover it up next an Open Era.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
Welcome back to the Open Air Podcast. It's time to
wrap up some of the other events that happened at
Melbourne Park, some of the other winners that we saw
throughout the past few days. Devang and I wanted to
kick this segment off with a special mention for an
Indian icon, someone that I know you've praised on this
show before and someone that I think deserves a bit

(23:43):
of love here because Sanya Moza did not win, did
not go out on top, but she did go out
in a final. Her and her partner are Un Bapara
lost to Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos in the mixed
doubles final. Strange that we're opening the second second with
a mixed doubles final, but I wanted to give a
moment just to talk about Sonia Mesa and someone who

(24:05):
if you want to talk about a trialblazer and someone
that's going to leave a lasting impact on this sport.
I can't think of money better than Sonia Mesa.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Holy cow, No for so many reasons, and I think
a trailblazer is almost under selling her impact on this game.
I think a couple of things, being a woman athlete
in India, being a Muslim athlete in India, making herself
known to the wider public, and having her celebrated as

(24:32):
a nation's daughter as well. With those two things not
the easiest thing in the world, so I think breaking
those barriers was absolutely massive. And she was a hell
of a player to boot, winning doubles at the Australian Open, Wimbledon,
and US Open. She made the final the French Open
as well in twenty eleven. I was desperately hoping that
she was going to win this with Rohan Popana, who's

(24:53):
also wildly heralded as just a genuinely great dude and
who hangs out with Chappo a lot for a Canadian
f but bitters man. I think the Brazilians winning that
final as well was awesome. I believe that's the first
time in Brazilian duo has won the mixed doubles at
a Slam, so that's amazing for Luisia Stefani and Rafael Mattos.
But bush I desperately wanted Mirza and Bopana to win

(25:16):
this title, but doesn't go that way. Sometimes her mark
on this game in India goes beyond tennis. Like I said,
I think there is a push amongst more people to
see women's sportsmen in that country get more of a chance,
whether it be on the cricket scene, in which I

(25:36):
think you're seeing a push from external parties pushing the
cricket board there to promote the women's game and get
those games on TV more and have them be held
to the same stature as the men. I think a
lot of this can be drawn back to how important
san Ya Mirza was for Indian sports, because for a
time she was the biggest and the greatest.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
I couldn't say it any better myself. Talk about the
challenge and the struggle of rising up through a deeply
sexist society that Indian culture is. And this is not
me speaking out of turn. I think you talk to
anyone who grew up in that society, they would tell
you the same thing. And yes, I know Canada and
United Kingdom and United States had it's a set of problems,

(26:17):
but there's plenty of sexist under go around in plenty
of countries. One thing to note on this one two
thousand and three twenty years she's been playing for so
to end this career in the final of a Grand Slam,
it's pretty impressive. And I just wanted to circle the
quote that she said on court just when asked about
how she had any sort of inspiration and her advice,

(26:40):
and her quote being don't let anyone tell her that
you can't do something even if nobody else has done
it before. Isn't that just of it quote to summarize
what she's done in her career.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
It's perfect, It's absolutely perfect. I hope, I hope she's
given a or she's given a chance to shape the
future of the game, not just in India, but in
Asia as well and within the wider tennis world. She's
a massive name in India as well, So I feel
like she can do so many things and I'm fastened
to see what she decides to the extent shows to

(27:12):
mixed doubles as well.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
So let's shake the magic eight ball. Let's to dive
into the into the grab bag and see what comes
out next. Oh wait a minute, Rinky. Didn't someone say
that Rinky was going to be the last Australian standing
in this tournament?

Speaker 1 (27:28):
You did?

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Oh my god? Huh I. I wanted to combat you
for the rinky pick these last two weeks, but to
see rinks and.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Cubes, rinks and cubes.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Australia, Australia. But this this in comparison to special k
or Cox weared what offense drug combo k holes, the
k holes. This was like, these are the good guys
from high school, the drama kids, the kids who befriended everyone,
and everyone sits at their table. This was these guys

(28:04):
winning as opposed to the jock jerks.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
If the ATP tour is listening at the moment, please
get Rinky Hitchikata and Jason Koobler into an improv session
and record it and chuck it up on your social media.
Let's not deny the fans this. We clearly know the
theater kids, We clearly know.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
How this obviously obviously that final point, did you catch
the chance point? Manchast the doubles again. We people have
been honest for years, not covering doubles enough, and we're wrong.
We're stupid, is what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
So uh Hitchakata quoted basically saying, it's been ridiculous. I've
never experienced anything like this. Referring to the last two
weeks Coubs coubs, my boy, I'm so glad you said
yes to playing with me. I thought it was going
in a different direction that quote. Then I'm so.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Glad you said yes. Just what a what a lovely story.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
This was right and against the backdrop, I don't think
we hugely got into the spirit of the k Holes
run last year, even though I think it caused some
excitement down Under to see a home team win the
way that they did. But I think we can celebrate
this one because this was really damn cool to see.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Awesome Jason Kugler, who had had a nice run towards
the end of last year at Wimbledon, but a bit
of a journeyman himself. I think he's twenty nine now,
so this is good, very good chances going down as
a quer highlight and deserveably so winning a Slam in
your own country with your countryman who is still quite young.
I think Rinky is twenty one, so that would be

(29:41):
cool to see him progress. I want do you how
do you view him as a singles player Bush in
terms of those prospects, I think he made he made
the second round this year, in Australia and he was
bouncing the first round at the US Open last year.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
They loose a Novak. Do you remember watching this match
at some point.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Rafa, Yeah, I remember this, Yeah, And I think that's
really the only time that I've seen him outside of
watching him in doubles.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Here is that And you saw enough in the game
as well, right, not just simply from a weapon standpoint,
but from a mental side of it as well, Like this,
this dude looked like he had some real fight out
on the court. And again, this is playing up to stereotypes, right,
the Australian, the Australian kid so much fight doesn't go easily,

(30:26):
just so so difficult to break down and beat. But
those those things count for a lot. I think he's
I think he is a more than competent singles player.
You could see, you can see certainly this guy is
going to be a top hundred player at some point
in his career, maybe even during the course of this year,
and this, this double sidle is only going to help
that with in terms of his confidence.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yet another college kid UNC absolutely coming in waves love it,
absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Let's dive into the bag, Let's go and let's so
the imaginary bag. I I dip my hand into it
and what do I pull out?

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (31:03):
Look, look dev on this Barbara Crachikova and Katerine Stannako
are one again. They've won another doubles.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Title, the defending champs.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Unbelievable, unbelieve white.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
He shouts to Aoama and Shibihara, the Japanese team who
took out Golf and Pegula in the semifinals. I think
was a bit of a stunner. So that was an
incredible run for them. But Kriichi Kova Sinakia. I don't
know if you saw barb with the headphones in the
women's singles final, which I thought was utterly fantastic. What
was she listening to? Simon?

Speaker 3 (31:36):
That's a really good question. What do you think Barbara
Crazchikova listens to a podcasts?

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Probably probably a podcast not related to tennis at all.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
I bet she was about She listened to Up First
whatever it's called. Is that right? The New York Times.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
One, the Daily with that guy's incredibly distinct voice. I
was gonna say annoying, but they're utterly famous and killing
it on the pod charts, So to say that that
dude's voice is off putting the host of the Daily Okay,
I'll stop, but anyways, crazy Cob with Sinakua back to back.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
Bush not just back to back as well, is that
you have the additional step of this is that they
have not lost at Grand Slam level since the first
round of the twenty twenty one US Open. The only
reason that they didn't complete the Calendar Slam last year
is because Bob went and got COVID. Otherwise I'm almost
certain they would have won the French Open last year.
And we touched on this right, We touched on them

(32:31):
as a pair of what they had left to achieve,
like they've done everything, You've won everything, You've achieved everything,
and Signyakova is now the world number one as well
in double so they can both take that thing off
the list of that final check bak The thing that's
left on the list is completing the Calendar Grand Slam.
Are they going to do it this year? Dev Because

(32:51):
I'd put some money on that happening me.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Too, And I think a part of that is that
the dedication, the commitment, the commitment to fitness, these two've
got it. They will show up, they'll put it in
their time. You can check your watch, they'll show up.
So I I think that that's a storyline and I'll
be fascinating to follow this season as well.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
We transition as I dip into the bag again. There
might be an ongoing theme just in the next three
stories if we mention the fact that Barbara craach Kov
and Katharine and Siakova are dominant in their respective field.
At Australia, the two wheelchair singles champions both utterly dominant
as well. Alvi Hewitt absolutely value for yet another title.

(33:41):
Dude is on fire and of course dely De Grout
as well on the women's side. Dude, like, I don't
know what it is about Australia, but it just seems
to inspire repeat, repeat, repeat champions over and over and
over again. And maybe that gives some credence to your
suggestion that this felt like a bit of a damp
up simply because the same people won again.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Yeah, and both of those players won the doubles competition
as well with their partners, which I mean, when you're good,
you're good, But there's something about it. I watched Alfie's semi
and his final, or at least highlights of it, and
the guys he's playing like they're phenomenal, Like they're really

(34:22):
really good at this, Like it's not like they're playing
people who showed up a couple of weeks before are
giving us a go, which sometimes is what it feels like,
right like when he's when he's playing his partner Gordon
Reid in the quarters and dust him and then goes
on to win the doubles competition with Reid as well.
So it's it's that level of maybe they're so good

(34:45):
that we get beyond appreciation, which is a scary place
to be. And I think we've done this just a
boatload of times regarding various athletes and various sports, but
I think we're in danger of doing that with Alfie
and d D and we shouldn't because it's exceptional every
time get out there. I'm curious, HOWE, if you know
the answer to this, because I do not. But I'm
looking at these draws littered with Japanese players, and I

(35:09):
wonder if there's an intentional aspect of that, if our
listeners know, if it perhaps is off the back of
the Paralympic Games in Tokyo for the twenty twenty Summer Olympics.
But Japanese players all over the place. It's fascinating.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
What a question throw to me? Because I have no idea,
but I'm absolutely fascinated to find out because there's something inherently,
utterly transfixing about that idea. Isn't that when you see
so many players from a respective nation doing so well
in a particular discipline of like what the fuck is
driving this thing? Like where's it coming from? Like is

(35:48):
the money involved in it? That's not from other that's
not in just different federations? Is this simply just a
representation thing? Which is that this like this kind has
just put more more money into it, and therefore you're
seeing more of these athletes. I do know one thing
that I would take a stab at this one and
ex if we have any Japanese listers, you can definitely

(36:10):
write in and tell me that I'm completely speaking shit here.
But they they as a nation, I think, did make
a concerted effort to recognize people with disabilities. I want
to say about twenty years it got written into the
constitution in Japan. Oh God, I'm verging in the territory.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
I like how you're like, I like here like, I
don't know much about it, but now you're going into
legislation that these doctor, I I don't know why you
put yourself this far out on the ledge now where
you're like, well, I'm not quite sure. But also in
nineteen ninety eight, the Upper Chamber passed this one.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah, but this also might be bullshit. I remember seeing
it in a story a while ago. And because this
is from there's a very famous anime and a very
famous film that is in Japan called Jose, the Tiger
and the Fish, which is to do with a girl
in a wheelchair. And it's like a very famous film
that's been remade a ton of times, and each time

(37:07):
it gets remade, it's sort of looking through the lens
of how Japanese culture has evolved over the years in
terms of its perspective on people with disabilities. So I'm
going to say, let's park this conversation here and we
can revisit it with someone who knows what they're talking about. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Another hypot Another guess, slightly educated guest is Shingo Kanada
was absolute legend, still is an absolute legend in sport.
I think he has twenty one major singles titles four
Paralympic gold medals, an all time record and singles titles,
fifty major titles overall, including doubles. I have a feeling

(37:46):
of him being the goat and like being an exceptional
inspired a lot of kids as well in Japan to play,
which is a guest. But I think that's pretty awesome
as well. But yes, we will dig more into this,
and like we said, if you do know the answer,
let us know because the knowledge is power.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Just to close this segment before we transition to another
multiple time winner, Taketo Oda in this final here who
lost to Alpi Hewett sixteen years of age. Awesome, goody
in going down there in Japan in terms of this discipline.
So yeah, let's finish this segment. There's only one thing
left in the bag as we dip into it. No
Bodokovic won the men's single title twenty two Grand Slams

(38:26):
ten at the Australian Open. This final was the dampest
of damp squibs. A couple of things.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Did you I guess it was worth betting like twenty
grand on this right at the beginning of the tournament.
You wouldn't have win that won that much money but
it felt that safe because this was meant to be.
And the hamstring stuff, I don't doubt it was real,
but I think Novak found him a place where he
could comfortably slide into it and not have to push
himself beyond where he was comfortable. The forehand was a

(39:00):
bit of a menace or the last two week. I
think Gore on Ividisivich was even commenting like, the forehand,
I haven't seen it that good since they really started
working together, which is saying something for Novak, but the
forehand was special. He might be the clutchest server, ever,
I feel like at this point like he's not doesn't
really slip when he when he needs it, ever, which

(39:21):
is saying something. But I found it interesting that you
kind of went right away to Steph Bush and the
discord about feeling like he's gonna he's gonna get over
the line soon. And I'm curious what you've seen differently
from him to make you confident that there's.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Some real confidence this week. Wasn't there in terms of
just his body language, the way that he was talking,
And I think some of that can be chalked up
to fake it till you make it. Idea and maybe
a lot of it as well is that he maybe
has a lot of motivational speakers on his Twitter feed
or his Instagram feed, and maybe it's what Patrick Moretagulo

(39:55):
is feeding is him as well. But I do think
there's something to this, which is that he those sixty
odd wins that he had last year they do help.
They legitimately do help because winning matches. There's no substitute
for getting matches under your belt and repeatedly winning. And
I genuinely, genuinely believe going into this final that he

(40:16):
thought he had a chance of winning, and that I
think speaks volumes to where he is at mentally, and
I think it speaks volumes to where he sees himself
at the upper rational of the sport. With all of
that being said, de bang, what on earth is he
thinking now after being utterly and thoroughly crushed?

Speaker 2 (40:35):
Yeah, well, I mean how close is he? Like? How
is he farther or is he closer than after that
French Open final?

Speaker 3 (40:42):
He was clearly clearly closer. He was luck much much closer.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
It's so weird to say this A bit of match
that went with two tie breaks as well, but it
never really felt out of reach for Novac.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
It just never no point that I ever felt like
he was under under any pressure, And I thought the
only thing that ever he looked like he was under
pressure was when he was faking the injury.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
I'll come on, you had to get it in there, folks,
you had to get it in there. Well, we'll talk
about the other stuff with his pops, who I've said
this before on the show, but no back. Having a
dad who says way too much toxic garbage all the
time makes him brute like. I cheer for him for
this because I'm like, all right, I get your dad

(41:27):
is wilding over there and he just wants to win.
I did the emotion he showed after winning that said
something he said this was the most important I think
title or like they held the most meaning, which I
have a hard time feeling this much vindication for him,
once again alluding back to the fact that it was

(41:48):
his own doing that caused the problems last year. The
Australian government covered themselves and grimed as well, and I
don't think they've done much better since then, So I
want to blame to go around. But I get it.
I get why this meant so much to him, and
he's back on level pegging with Rafa and he's back
to number one in the world. But holy cow, this
tournament miss Carlos. This tournament missed some juice. I didn't

(42:10):
feel like I had enough juice on the men's side
at all, And I think maybe after the first week
I was allowing myself to believe that we were going
to get some really good stuff towards the end, but
I was hoping for more and we really didn't get it.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
This was the worst ATP tournament at a grand slime
level I can remember in a long time. It was
extremely dull. There was a couple of nice matches and
a couple of interesting and fun matches that sort of
elluded to some future potential of what we can see
from certain players. But I left this one thinking this

(42:45):
was a complete and utter stinker.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Do you have a best match candidate on the men's side,
Is it.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Fair to say Murray Cocanacus but.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Honestly yeah, yeah, Orbert Tea, which happened in rounds one
and two.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
But here's the thing about that match as well, though,
that was more just attrition, like in the sense of
just that it is one of these players going to
die on court. That's kind of what the level of
interest that was in this. And I've spoken out length
on this podcast. How about like I'm just not that
interested in the marathon stuff, like you know these warrior
players that are on the court, look at them do

(43:23):
it for five and a half hours, Like, no, I'm
here for quality, not for length of time. And this
one felt by the back end of it that it
was like can we just can we just get it?
And this came up during the course of the week,
didn't It was it that was saying it, you'll know this.
You spend more time online than I do. It was
Kaitlin Thompson, right, Kaylyn Thompson who was talking basically saying

(43:44):
that people remember the fifth set, but they don't ever
remember the trash that is the fourth and the third
set to get to the fifth set. And I think
that's universally true across the board, is that this one
was not very good in those sets either.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Thoughts on Novak, we're in the jack, you were twenty
two on it. I mean, if he didn't think he
was gonna win, we've lost a flood here. But I'm
glad everyone was like we all understand he's gonna win this,
so they meet the jacket.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
Jesus Christ. The dude has learned absolutely nothing, has zero humility.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
He learned from Roger. He learned from Roger in this sense.
I wish he had a jacket with twenty one on
it too, in case he lost. That wo had been
hilarious and he wore it in the trophy celebration.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
One shout out, I guess on the men's side before
we transition into parting shots, shout out to step Quarter
because I know he poured out of his match in
the quarter finals into Karen Kachenov. But beating Daniel mepidep
that the way that he did, beating ub be her
catch in the way that he did in an absolute
marathon five setter, positive signs for step Quarter moving forward.

(44:43):
I think there's he's gonna have a really good season.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
I'm still reading way too much into that match against
no Back a few weeks ago when he had some
match points. I'm like, you know what, he's not far.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
He's the hair, dude.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
It's the the hair. And I mean the gens sisters
are insane as well, so I feel like they got
something going all right. That is our Australian open round it.
When we come back to wrap up the show, it's
parting Shots. Welcome back to the Open Air podcast. It's

(45:22):
that time again, parting Shots where we go through the
things that we wanted to cover that don't necessarily fit
inside the box. That is ATP and WTA Tennis Simon.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
Let's go alrighty, it also happened during the course of
this week. Is that allegedly Let's go with allegedly. I mean,
there's no allegedly Novak Drakovic's father was seen with a
group of Russian supporters. There's some there's some elements to

(45:57):
this which is still up the debate of what he said,
but it certainly looked like that this person was taking
photos with, if not complete white supremacist, but certainly Russian
nationalists and certainly pro Vladimir Putin supporters. When I saw
this story and I saw it unfold the way it did,
my first thought in my brain was literally like the

(46:21):
Michael Scott gift of him just going like teeth drying,
like oh God, oh no, this is not a good
look at all. This is not good in any stretch
of the imagination. What did you think I'm.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Going to try and be charitable here and say that
a lot of people approach Novak's dad when he's walking
around on the grounds asking for photos, ask just basically
like running up beside and be like, hey, sure, don like,
we love your son, Y're he's our idol. Can we
get a photo. I imagine that haves a lot. I
also imagined that he loves that and he's very proud

(46:58):
of his son and the fact that people are coming
up to him and asking for photos and wanting them
to revel and just being a Novak supporter. So I
think I could see a situation where some fans came
up to him or it was like a quick situation.
I think someone who's the word ambushed, like that's how

(47:19):
this photo op happened. But I choose to believe that
him banning himself from the semifinals was an acknowledgment that
he wasn't careful enough, he wasn't respectful enough of the
things happening around him, and that's why this happened. And
they are still a bit shook by everything that happened

(47:39):
last year and felt worried about it as opposed to defiant,
which I think is positive.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
I wonder what the reason is behind them wanting to
control the pr image. That's what That's the thing that
I'm always curious about is because he I think no
Vacchocvin desperately wants to be like like desperately wants to
be loved. And I get the sense also that his
father does I think in this sense. In this case,

(48:08):
I was told many years ago by someone that I
have a huge amount of respect for. Don't chalk anything
up to malice, which is more than likely in competence
or ignorance. Yeah, yeah, that's basically where I end up here.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
I think Novak's dad wants people to like no back
more than Novak wants people to like go back because
he's there. He's his dad, he's his dad, and like
that's the whole thing, right, Like, I think that's the
the elephant in the room here. And yeah, I totally
I totally agree with you. And I guess the issue
is Tennis Australia and Tennis Australia really just not doing

(48:44):
a good job throughout the last couple of weeks, right,
So that's that's probably who should be answering to this stuff.
Cough Craig Tiley cough.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
Last year we were debating whether or not we were
going to put in our application for cop residents of
the PTPA. This we are putting our candidacy forward for
President of Tennis Australia. I think I can do it.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Dev It's time.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Transitioned to some comments that caught the eye of a
couple of people, and I think this one actually made
the front page of the BBC, which is interesting to
see some of the carry of a story that happened here,
which is Victoria Azarenka was very upset with some of
the reporters, accusing the press in general of generating clicks
in regards to both Novak Djokovic and just across the

(49:29):
board in terms of trying to use that word ambush
for Novakdjokovic's father. I think that's kind of the sense
that I was getting with as our anchor as well,
which is that there was a level of hostility from
the press towards some of the tennis players and trying
to put them in boxes and trying to get them
to say certain things, to which all of this I say, yep,
and that's the presence, that's what the press has been

(49:52):
doing for decades at this point, it's not particularly nice.
I'm kind of glad that she said it, but it
kind of, oh, was a bit of a non story
to me at the end.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Up, Yeah, I like Victoria Azerenka a lot. I loved
her run here. I once again, I think it means
something when when so many players get on with you
or like it says something about you as a person.
And it clearly that's the case with Victoria Azarenka in
the sense that a lot of her fellow peers have
a lot of respect for her, and I think that matters.

(50:24):
There's something about the quote though, at the end I
think tours where she says, quote, I don't know what
you want you want us to do about it, like
talk about it. I don't know what's the goal here,
And it's continuously brought up these incidents that, in my opinion,
have nothing to do with players, but somehow you keep
dragging the players into it. What's the goal here? I

(50:46):
think the goal is to remind people the shit is
still happening. Probably that's probably the goal, right, Like the
goal is to say, just because we are no longer
talking to you about this every day, it's still happening.
That to me is the goal, a reminder, reminding people,
whether you like it or not, this is still happening.
So I found that answer a bit wanting for me.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
Agreed, Wimbledon banned Russians and Melo Russians. The war carried
on and your Savalanca won this tournament. The war will
carry on. Ultimately. There are small steps that everyone can do,
but the big stuff, like everything else, is much much
outside the scope of what an individual can do. And

(51:29):
I think that's kind of where we were coming to
from our perspective on the wimbled and stuff as well,
which is there's only breeds discrimination, there's only breeds hatred
at an individual and a community level. But there's still
a war going on. There's still a war going on,
and we still have a duty to talk about that
is that a sovereign country was invaded by a next
door neighbor in a move that was not only illegal,

(51:52):
they have committed war crimes repeatedly, over and over and
over and over again, and people are still dying every
single day.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Yeah, I don't I don't know how comforting it is
for Alexander's Dolgoplove to hear that it wasn't intentional, or
no one has any malice, or it was all an accident.
I don't know. I don't think that matters to him.
I think what matters is that life is continuing on
without basically a second to pause at this point, and

(52:19):
his countrymen and his people are still going through other
hell and I think he want some answers.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
And I understand why, which is kind of why. Despite
some of the things that Mitacostric has said, I still
admire her ability to keep putting this stuff into the
news and keeping it front and centive, because like, put
yourself in the same shoes. Let's say, Jesus, what is
a part of Toronto a tobacle was invaded dev.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Yeah, by the Ford family because it.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
Was indeed, So maybe this metaphor is not particularly No.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
It's good, and I shouldn't I shouldn't have thrown it away.
But yeah, exactly, I wouldn't stop talking about it. I'll
be talking about it daily. If I if my life
had somehow been able to carry on my job everything else,
I would somehow able to do this. Still, you better
believe might be like, hey, guys, there's people in a
tobacco still.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
Ah, dear, I don't really know how to sum to
finish this segment up other than just to say, like
Novak Jocovis's dad, that seems like a fucking idiot. That's yeah,
that's the.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Yeah, I get you know, Like that's that's sometimes that's it.
His dad's a bit of a goof a buffoon.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
But that's the problem. Right. I said that was gonna
be the final point on it. But like buffoonish behavior
and stupidity actually does fucking hurt people in the case
of Novac last Jur as well.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Right, Like the dude has.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Still not learnt his damn lesson over this, and it
doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
He won, right, that's the thing he won. And like
the way this is being championed as an few to
vaccine restrictions, Like all the worst people in the world
are making that point, right, Like I don't think they're
saying or the sensible are saying this is why Novak
has won, or like this is why it means extra
that's not the thing. But I think the biggest, the
worst people in the world are using that, and I

(54:10):
think the worst pay people in the world are using
Novak's dad posing with this this flag is another notch
in their belt. And it goes to what you're saying
that no matter the intention, it has impact. I guess
I'm kind of sick of waiting for these people to
acknowledge that because it's not going to happen. It's not.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
Indeed. So let's transition to an article which is written
by Jonathan Jerudko of the BBC Sport During the course
of the week, he was quoting some of the changes
which could be made. Andy Murray was quoted during the
course of the week saying, how can some of these
late night matches and how can some of the scheduling
be changed in favor of the players and indeed to

(54:51):
make it so that we're not finishing at five am.
This was kind of a technical answer, but it and
I think we I mean, I could dive into what
Murray was trying to say, but here's an here's an
idea that's not ridiculous. Don't play until two am. Like,
just don't do that, Like just set a cup you
and stop. Like that's also an option, you could just
do that.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
Yeah, And in this article they mentioned who it's not
beneficial for umpires, officials, fans, ball kids, players, literally everyone
associated with the tournament on a ground level, be you
know who probably is pushing back on this. TV people, Simon,
I don't think you could. Can you schedule one match

(55:33):
in the night session for your TV overlords?

Speaker 3 (55:37):
Let me ask you this question, though, which TV people,
because ESPN certainly didn't give a shit, they.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
Well, yeah, yeah, And I think that's that's a great point.
I think so for more more in the sense I
was thinking about, like Wimbledon and the US Open and
the French jumpen to a lesser extent, and Australia falls
in that weird place where everything is going to be
terrible time wise because it's in Australia. But I do

(56:06):
think this is about TV and streaming. This is why
it'll be hard to change this. Even though everyone and
their mother agrees that that was really dumb.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Yep, I agreed. Let's transition to another story, which got
a little bit of Now, let's let's be more fair
to this. It didn't get any triple its interesting. Rod
Labor given into you too the New York Times during
the course of this week. And it's not actually that
often that you get to read some of the thoughts
of Rod Labor because you only see him as this

(56:40):
old man sitting in the box, or who someone who
makes Roger feder A cry when presenting a trophy to him.
I just encourage everyone to read this just to get
a sense of who he is as a person. And
it's a sort of gentle reminder that the man has
a little bit of an ego, shall we say, just
perhaps one bit of an ego in the way that

(57:01):
he some of the answers to these questions. And I
think it's a good one to sort of circle and
take a look out, because he's a fun person to
listen to.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
I love Rocket Rod at eighty four is still like
you know, if I could use some of the rackets
they're using now, I would bounce some of these guys. God,
I would love to forget that weird back and road
AI think they did last year. Get somehow make it
so that Rod Labor can play no back in the
same conditions. Come on, No. I fully agree that the

(57:33):
interview is great, and I also found it fascinating how
hard Rod had to work to make people care about
tennis in the early days. One of those stories that
like I had an idea about, or like had a
general sense of but it's fascinating to hear him tell it.
But I highly recommend checking out as well.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
We'll wrap up quickly. I know at the end of
the episode and we're running short on time, but let's
just do a few quick fire ones. Really did enjoy
Francis TFO's outfit this week. More of this please, and
also normalize men getting interesting Karla patterns and interesting styles
across the board, because that's nice to see.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
I gotta shout out the cost Novaki that gets the
best gear of any of the top guys Top Men's
Player by like eighty miles. It's not close.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
We will agree to disagree on that point as we
to the next story. Elena Jocket Dockett Sorry took to
Instagram during the course of this week to share some
of the horrendous material that had been directed towards her.
A tremendous amount of body shaming, of fat shaming that

(58:40):
should receive during the course of the week. It's not
great to look at, it's not great to read. It's
a reminder that some poor woman who is just trying
to be a professional on court has to deal with
a bunch of shit bags who are trying to constantly
harass and bully her. I just wanted to take this
time to say, screw those people and good on dockage

(59:01):
trying to expose some of these not only Charlatans, but
also pricks.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Let's go with that, massive, massive pricks, Pricks who don't
believe people are allowed to change and grow into themselves
and live their best lives to their own standards and
not some brando watch it on TV. Yeah, other pricks
I saw, Yeah, I saw people making similar comments during
Julian Ostapenko's and mashes as well, which I found just

(59:31):
just a reminder of what other goblins and ghoules to
walk a bug.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
Us trash certainly trash, and speaking of trash, potentially the
ratings are trash.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
For dev.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
I never got a chance to give you my review
of it, and perhaps we'll see for another episode because
you watched it all. Though you watched it, I have
seen all five episodes now, yet.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
Give me a give me a minute, give me a
minute on.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
It, Give you a minute, Jesus, okay, I thought you're
gonna give me.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
A too much? Was that too much or too to
give me a sentence? Then I thought a minute was short? Man,
we've been talking for an hour plus.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
My sentence review is like, is all right, It's okay.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
I saw that people were saying, actually, I think a
friend of the show put this this thread out. I
can't find it right now, so I apologize I'm blanking
on the name. But they put out a thread saying
like where it was ranked in like the various countries
on Netflix and cracked the top ten in a couple
of places, including Australia, but not to the level of
Dry to Survive. But I think they were comparing it

(01:00:41):
to DTS season four, which maybe you compare it to
season one for a true gauge, but I don't think
it takes a media expert to say that this nuts
not made the impact has Try to Survive not remotely closed?
Can it be effective?

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
Though?

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
And Kett and Kennet maybe end high on a high
note with those last five episodes, for sure, But Tennis
is just it's just way, way way away, way different
from F one in a few key ways that I
think they weren't able to crack in this series.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Yeah, but dev is it's Nick carry us a bad boy?
When will we ever figured this stuff out? Oh Jesus,
Final three stories. Riley Opelka, what's happened to dev?

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
I think he's deleted his Twitter. I think he stopped
tweeting after after seeing him kind of get out there
on Twitter and send his his tweets out there, and
people were like, oh, okay, great, someone on his management
team successfully convinced him to stop tweeting, which we should
all follow those wise words. But I thought that was

(01:01:46):
interesting because I think I netted out and appreciating twenty
percent of what Riley o'pell gat tweeted out, or I'm like, okay, yeah,
the other eighty percent of Like, I wish I didn't
see this, but at least he was saying something, you know.
And and I found an interesting coinciding with this. Taylor
Fritz is tweeting a bit more. INDI Taylor Fritz was
commenting on the Novak injury stuff, which I found pretty insightful.

(01:02:09):
So I'm sad to see Riley go, even though there
is some Galaxy brain stuff in there, those conversations that
are being conducted between team players and their teams. More
of that on Netflix A let's see.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
Absolutely speaking of breakpoint and speaking of interesting conversations, and
ama happened during the course of this week where fans
were allowed to ask one caspar rude questions used by
the name of Veshnu. Ask the question did you really
scream jah at him? Follow up by rude Sorry to disappoint,

(01:02:45):
but no, let's be honest Casper, who definitely did this
right after breakpoint?

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Did you okay? How he came off quite horribly in
that freak quick show right right.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
His dad emasculated him. That's the thing that I found.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Really like, I love I love how he's talking about
his intro to tennis and not bringing up that his
dad was on the ATP Like, I feel like that
should have been a thing. There was scrapped so hard, started.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
From the bottom. Now we're here, I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
Looking at your dad's name. What a Wikipedia draw in
the nineties.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
Bro Nepo baby all over Jesus, let's close out this
before we get the two challenges remaining. Ball kid gait.
It kind of concluded. I mean it literally concluded. The
tournament is over. So the bull kids were seen mopping
the court on the hands in their feet. Steph almost

(01:03:43):
nailed a ball kid in the face. Did Novak Drakovic
entered into a very amusing conversation with the umpire about
whether or not the bullhead was allowed to hand him
a towel. One of the bull kids took Rappingdel's racket
by accidents jactory. And it also came out during the
course of this week that there's not even a gender
split equal in terms of some boys who were picked

(01:04:06):
to be ball kids. That are open more boys than
girls indeed. So let me ask you a question, just
to frame this in a way that maybe people can understand.
Do you think Craig highly would be renumerated with a
gift bag?

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
No, I do not.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
I do not.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
And the amount of the ball kids who end up
playing tennis and like making careers out of this stuff
like it's ptpa. Add this to the list, folks, And
I don't they get paid in other tournaments, but Tennis Australia. Wow,
give your head a shake. The mopping the course in
my hands and knees, combined with combined with the fact

(01:04:48):
that they're still being made to handle these towels, which
is just utterly disgusting on so many levels. It's awful.
It's awful if ninety eight percent of these kids were incoming. Okay,
so I should walk this back before you're actually knowing
that SATs. But let's say if seventy percent of these
kids are incoming from privileged backgrounds, I'd feel a lot worse,
but I already feel bad, So it's bad.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
There was like not to bury the entirety of this program,
but like there's some indigenous stuff as well that I
think they did they put in place a few years ago,
which seems to have had some positive impacts in terms
of this already was probably wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
I think that's probably.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
Seems somebody's probably reasonable doing it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
We'll leave it there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Weive it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
Pay these people, pay these kids. I mean that's like,
there's no other way around this, Like just make sure
they are numerated correctly, and also make sure that they
are allowed to go at home and don't have to
work at four am. How about that? It seems like
an easy way and an easy win here. This had
such huge energy of when someone asked, like a musician

(01:05:50):
to perform at a bar or something, it's like, oh no, no,
like you're getting the exposure. That's what you're getting. You're
not going to be paid, but we'll give you the exposure.
Can you can you make this? Do this graphic design
for me. It's going to be really good in your portfolio.
How about you just fucking pay these people?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Yeah, well, said sir.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Two challenges remaining. Anything off the court that interested you
during the cost of the week.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
On a personal note, I decided to do dry January
after a particularly hectic holiday season, a training holiday season.
Though it was quite fun, but yeah, I've taken breaks
from drinking alcohol. But this was around the same time
that study in Canada came out where it's like I
haven't drop alcohol and you're dead, And I was like,
I wonder if this is this is directly pointed at me,

(01:06:35):
But no, it's been. It's been a generally good month
with ups and downs as per usual. But my relationship
with alcohol I think has changed a lot just before
this as well. But yeah, I know that to do
this at this time of year, it gets pushed into
the pile of getting back to the gym and like
all these resolutions, et cetera, and like, ah, what does

(01:06:57):
it really mean? But I found it enjoyable and I'm
glad I did it, So yeah, that was a brief
glimpse into my life. Bush ask for you, you're coming home.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
I am coming home. I'm coming home, as they say
as the song.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
Goes, Yes, Yes, I head.

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
Back to Vancouver. I think with a strange level of
mixed emotions, like I've been away for a really, really
long time. I've been away for almost four months now,
and it actually made me feel like I missed the place,
like I miss my home, like I missed those I
missed sleeping in the same in my own bed. So

(01:07:40):
I'm excited to get back. I'm excited to do some
regular stuff again. And I think it's a reminder that
if you ever want to get a sense of how
much you like the place that you live, go away
from it for four months and see if you miss it,
and see if you want to get back.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
See see if you want to go back. That's a
great test. Yeah, I love men. Four months flies by bush.
I feel like it was yesterday. I was saying good
luck out there and have fun, but.

Speaker 3 (01:08:05):
Good look out of that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
It's a brave world. It's a scary world.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Play hard, get into the corners and rise and crind
et cetera. Yeah, but no, as speaking as uh So
and Curly in Canada, we're very thankful to have you back.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
It's kind of you, dev that's the show. We did it.
Unbelievably we got through another Australian Open.

Speaker 2 (01:08:24):
Done, we did it, twenty twenty three Australian Open in
the books. Congrats to the winners, including Slam Malenka number
one for so many awesome to see just.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
A many question Mark, I got question Mark, question Mark.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Some housekeeping. We are on Patreon dot com board slash
open Era. The discord was absolutely wonderful these last couple
of weeks and in general, but being in the time
zone I am. I was relying on on our discord
to keep me abreast of what's happening as I was
trying to get with what little sleep I did. But
love the folks, so there, join us on the discord.

(01:09:01):
You get the show at free, you get it early
on Sundays plus to get to talk tennis all the
time with our wonderful community. We're also on Twitter at
open Air Pod for as however long Twitter remains up
and running, which who knows. Again. Finally, a rating or
review wherever we get this pod would be great as
we try to get this show into more tennis fans. Ears.

(01:09:22):
Another reminder or housekeeping note, I was on Tennis and
Bagels this week with our friend of the show, Owen Lewis,
who was in Melbourne, doing great coverage as usual, but
I really enjoyed that chat. So if you want more
of me talking to you about tennis, you go to
Tennis and Bagels. Check out that show, check out that podcast.
Those guys aren't great as well, Simon, anything else that

(01:09:43):
I missed.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
Well, you're on Tennis and Bagels.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
I was, man, I was.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
I got to give you a lesson. You share those
guys you should?

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
You do too. I love them too. All right. That
is it for producer Greg on the ones in Tiesday
and for Simon, thank you so much for listening to
Open Era. We'll talk to you next week.