September 16, 2024 • 48 mins
In a tale of two finals, Aryna Sabalenka made back to back Australian Opens look smooth sailing. Jannik Sinner definitely did not make easy work of it to win his first Grand Slam. All that being said, it was a jam packed second week at the first major of the year. Sin, Sabs, Bops and Hshieh headline both very much a changing of the guard and very much not a changing of the guard. Plus Parting Shots as Devang and Simon ask the age of question of whether this was actually a good tournament.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Open Era Podcast. My name
is Devang Desai. This week, Simon and I are off
as we take a break after the US Open, so
we're gonna look back at an episode we recorded in
January of this year, after Yannick Sinner and Arena Sabolenka
won a major title. Sound familiar. It should because it
(00:21):
happened at the Australian Open just a few short months ago.
So I thought it'd be funny too, or fun or
funny depends on how you look at it, but I
thought it would be fun for the most part to
look back at our thoughts following Sinner and Sablenka's big
wins in January, just to maybe consider what we thought
(00:41):
then and what happened since and where we stand now
after you had another major success for both players. So
join us in looking back at our Australian Open recap
episode from January of this year, and Simon and I
we'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to open Eera.
(01:12):
Hello and welcome to the Open Air Podcast. My name
is de Vega Silam, joined as always by mister Simon Bushell.
On Slam Final Sunday, Boy Oh Boy, did we dodge
a ball here, Simon, this weekend. For a time there
was looking like which might have to skip it entirely
and not do the podcast. But we've got some people
(01:34):
we liked in the final on Sunday, and of course
we got a women's final with plenty of storyline. Simon,
I feel fortunate today to you.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well. I think, faced with the prospect to an Alexander
spar of Novak Choco Ridge final and having to come
on this podcast, I felt like we we got a
good result in the end, really did we not?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
We did? And I mean there's plenty to talk about.
There's a huge moment for Jennick Sinner at twenty two
years old, capturing his first Slam in comeback fashion against
Denil Medvedev. Let's start there, Bush, with the final fresh
in our minds Ciani Sinner breaking through. He had beat
Novack a bunch of times recently, especially towards the end
of the last season, which must have boosted his confidence.
(02:17):
But how confident really did you feel going into that
semi final against Novak? Because I still was probably twenty
percent sure you could do it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I probably was a little higher than twenty percent, but
probably not a whole lot higher, I think, to do
this against a dude on that court, specifically with the
record that Novakdjokovic has there and given the wind streak
and everything else that went into this storyline, it is
a stunning achievement, and the manner of the victory, I think,
(02:46):
is one that has a lot of people writing articles
and stories and commenting on because he just blew the
doors off him, really and so much so that I
was flum mixed into believing that Novak Djokovic was permanently
in in this match. And maybe he was, and maybe
we'll see more about that stuff as the next few
(03:06):
weeks come out, But on the surface of it, Onix
Cinner won a pretty much fair and square and was
completely and utterly the better player. The final was a
completely different story, though Devang a completely different story. He
started off very poorly, and I thought Danny Medvedev played
in a fashion that you don't often see from him,
(03:26):
which is a lot closer to the baseline, much more aggressive,
looking like andre Agassi out there at times come into
the net, playing an all court game, and he was
easily the better player for two sets, and I think
his testament to the resiliency of Janick Sinner that he
was able to battle back and win this final.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Do you think he changed that much though, Yeah, Nick Cinner,
I think I think maybe this is more a testament
of him just staying the same and Medvedev not being
able to maintain what he was doing. And it was
opening two sets, because you're right, it looked like a
man who hadn't played ninety million hours on court this
week somehow, and he looked okay physically, which I think
overall definitely took its toll. But I think it was
(04:06):
telling when Yannik won the third set and he kind
of looked, you did, like a kind of a reassuring
side to himself, and then looked at his camp, and
I think that that kind of confirmed, Yeah, I just
have to keep going, keep doing what I'm doing. I
don't have to change that much in it. And it worked.
It really did work.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So much is going to be made about the the
discrepancy in the disparity perhaps in court time that was
between the two players, I think so much he will
be written about the fact that twenty four hours on
court for Danny Medfidev across the two weeks when other
sports start complaining about how tough their schedules are and
(04:44):
how challenging it is to fit in like multiple matches
in a week in football or something like that, I
would urge them to look at what Danny Medvodevis just
had to go through in mid twenty five degree heat
on a hard court in the middle of Australian summer.
It's remarkable.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I'm glad you brought that up now because I think
it's it's a good time to bring it up. But
I think Easy on the Discord mentioned this as well,
But what a test, What a great postcard for the
three set first week, five sets second week idea that's
been floated around because it didn't really make any sense
and it's I don't think it's good either that you
have people playing in a day session on one day
(05:18):
and a night session the next, and back back and forth,
flip flopping. I can't can't see how that's good or fair, right,
Like I think Djokovic had that issue as well. We're
at a point now where a people cannot watch these
full matches, no matter how much they love the sport.
Most of them can't. I mean, we are tennis fans
and sometimes I'm going in and out most times, I'm
going in and out of these epics. They got to
(05:40):
do it, they have to do it, Sidon, Like, I
get why, I get history, and I get like the
beautiful game and the ethos of the game, but it's
a bit ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
It is. I think, just put the protection of the
players as well, Like I always look at this from
a labor perspective as well, of how much time and
how grueling it is that's going to shortened careers. I
know Danny Mappodev is a freak athlete and is able
to do some of these things, but you can't tell
me that someone at the age of twenty seven is
doing twenty four hours on court in the burning heat
(06:11):
over a two week period and doesn't feel the effects
of it for the rest of the year. Off the
next like few months as he's trying to get into
his schedule for the year. I don't care how good
of an athlete you are, it's going to take an
effect on you one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
You picked med to win this tournament, Simon, which I
think was a bit bold. I know Owen was shocked
by that, but in the end he looked wise I
feel I felt really bad for him after this. Like,
I know, he's a multi millionaire and he's jet setting
around the world and he's got it pretty good, but
that one has to sting, And I mean it's happened
(06:46):
to him a couple of times now that's this Slam particularly,
But I don't know what else to say about meta.
We'll get to center, but I don't know what else
to say about it. Then he looked gassed. It didn't
look like he had enough in the tank. But also
what he was doing doing early and it was working,
it just didn't seem sustainable.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So I think there's a there's a few routes that
you could take on this one to sort of analyze
why he's ended up with this finals record. The way
that he has the Australian Open one in the and
losing multiple Australian Open finals from two sets up is
somewhat of a freak occurrence, just given who he's playing against.
I do think the final record at Grand Slam is
(07:23):
interesting as well. Is it five or six that he's
lost Now.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I think he's made six, so he's won aide.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Six, So yeah, yeah, so lost five. Honestly, dev and
I know this is going to sound harsh, but the
way the dude plays the game and the amount of
time that he spends on court and just not being
a forward focused, aggressive kind of player, he just opens
himself up. This happening more that he's just going to
be done by the end of tournaments. And despite all
(07:51):
of that being said, well, you know, we mentioned in
the first few minutes of the podcast of how good
of an athlete he is, it's gonna it's gonna take
its toll on you eventually to be able to get
across the line, And it happened a bunch of times,
like there's no denying like, despite how well he's played
in some of these finals, it's just a very grueling,
physical style that does eventually weigh you down. And maybe
(08:15):
maybe that is an oversimplification, but by god, if you
look back at the record of some of these tournaments
that he's been and he's played so much tennis, it's
got to it's got to take an effect on you shortly.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, that's a really interesting point. And I thought his coach,
Jill Sareva, who's just a servara sorry, he was just
an amazing watch just to see his interactions or his
his mannerisms in the box is often not doing anything,
but when he is doing something, I think it's really interesting.
But he did a really interesting interview in French talking
(08:48):
about how these matchups are like a bike race and
then players get off to faster and slower starts and
just about catching up. And Daniel Medvedev specializes in catching up.
But I think when he gets past there's the issue,
right like when he's passed, can Kenny muster up something
to regain where he was and get back into the
matchers that year not there? And I think especially when
(09:09):
you're playing that long, it's even harder to get to
that year that he got to to get the lead.
So I think there's a lot to that that argument
bush about the playing style. I mean, he's also he
played Nadalin djok of it to a bunch of these,
so I think that's that's something to consider and the
fact that this is a different guy. Now that's why
I think it has to sting a bit more as well,
(09:30):
because the idea is that med or guys like metd
could have made a lot more Hay, they had more
runway without guys like the Big Three, But it was
here there was a big chance for him, and yet
it's Cinner's audianic bush. He's twenty two. I think this
was the same amount of slam appearances that Fed made
before his first slam, which is the big comparison everyone
(09:52):
is making. You've called this for a while now, though,
I'm curious, like, what what do you think clicked finally
for him? Is it just getting better with age and
like getting serious? I think Darren k Hill's edition obviously
what we talked about is a big turning point for him.
But it feels like we were waiting for this moment
and now that has happened, it's like, Okay, we're ready
keep going. But it's interesting to me it wasn't like
(10:14):
an instant success for the etc.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Center.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
This is a slow build, slower the knocker ass for sure,
and that's why it kind of feels rewarding as well.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, so it's I think multiple factors, right. It's obviously
physical stature growing into the frame in the way that
everyone looks at the physical specimen that Carlos Akaraz was
at eighteen and nineteen. You know, Accenter was not that
he was and still is a skinny kid. Despite being
a phenomenal athlete, and I think you can see that
the change in stature that he's had since he was
(10:43):
nineteen coming on to the tour. He is much thicker
at this point, has to be said, but he's also
never going to be you know, muscles bulging all over
the place. It's it's one of those that there's different
kinds of strength, and I think he's finally grown into that. Secondarily,
it's obviously like mental and belief, like just to have
(11:05):
some of the match wins that he has had at
the back end of last year and carrying that on.
There's no alternative to that stuff. You've got to be
able to put yourself in many matches and win them
in order to believe, and I think he that. Obviously,
the Davis Cup winning was huge for him, and I
think that has really kickstart a lot of his his
good run and everything else that comes with it. And
(11:26):
then finally, obviously everyone can talk about the serve helps
having a good Serve win cheap points helps them make
deep runs into tournaments. He's been absolutely phenomenal on Serve
all week, especially that Novodjokovic semifinal. He he never gave
him a sniff, never faced a break point in the
semi final. It's astonishing against the I mean, clearly the
greatest returner of all time. I don't think anyone's ever
(11:48):
going to deny that, but I think those three categories
really identify why he's made the leap. Also, you know,
for better or worse, he's really fucking talented dev and
it was gonna be a matter of time before he
started winning.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Got a dip you cat to the guy. He's pretty good,
pretty good at this kind of thing. I liked his
shout out to his parents for being normal. It was
also my favorite part of the smasher. It's like, you
know what, thanks guys for not being insane, because he's
clearly watched all around him as the various tennis families
have disbanded and gone nuclear.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Did you make much of the thing that's floating around
about how people in the two thousands of one more
Grand slams than people in the nineties. Have you seen
that story setting?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah? How how have does that? It is a bit
of a Again, I don't want to call them a
lost generation because I think it didn't apply something far
more significant than it actually is. But sort of and
like I think, now you're seeing like Milosh is getting
towards the end. I think Milosh is now like a
dagg this cup guys like filling in randomly, but he's
(12:56):
he's near the end, like high and Sikori's very I
know he's still going, but like he's he looks like
he's close to the end, like I don't know, man,
it's sad. That's why I think the Med loss got
to me. I also think it got to me because
I think Med has fully become my favorite player, and
I didn't think I was going to have a favorite
player again after a Federer push, but it happened. I
(13:18):
was thinking about writing about this actually because it was
a bit of a strange feeling to to care that
much again about that Zvera of semi final, Like I
found myself very locked in to a point where I
haven't been in a long time. So yeah, that's why
I think why the Medvedev losts got to me pretty
significantly this morning.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
You know what I will say about this is that
I find myself watching in those first two sets and
thinking good enough to win Wimwodon right.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
If he can come to the net with this regularity
with his confidence like a beetle. Dannik had no answers.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We should talk about this though, just I mean brought
broadly the men. Obviously, it's it's a it's a dreadful
loss for for Mevedev. He got the real moral victory
by being Alexander Spura, of course, but the this is
the same points that were made when carlos Aka has
obviously won two titles. Now at Grand Slam level, this
(14:17):
feels like a player in Yannick Sinner who is gonna
win a lot, Like we're gonna see a lot of
him winning. I mean, there's a lot of pressure to
put on someone to go and win multiple majors, and
I don't think that's something that we I mean, it
should be an expectation without wanting to, you know, Chuck
(14:37):
a lover of pressure, exactly right. But he's gonna win
a lot. He has the game star and there's absolutely
no reason why this dude can't be world number one
and win everything on every surface at every tournament he's in,
with the game style that he has, the mental strength
that he has, the completeness of his game. This is
a complete player. There's no other words that describe it.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
He is.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
He is that good and he should be a dominant
force for a very long time. And I think this
is an important moment for him to get his first
Grand Slam.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah. I think Josh mentioned this on the discord as well.
But the serves, I mean, I mean, Josh is bang
on about a lot of things, but yeah, I think
he was nail on about this, the serving and how
it would be the key probably for Sinner and then
Alkraaz as well, and how far they go forward and
how many how many slams they get or how they
(15:31):
can keep adding to their total. But and you tell
me if I'm wrong, But I feel like Yannex game
is a bit more repeatable at the moment than Carlos's
in a in a big spot. I don't know how
you feel about that.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I agree with you. Yeah, I think overall you would
say that Colisaka has has the bigger weapons, certainly if
that forehand ever comes back and he starts hitting it
the way that we want him to. But yeah, I mean,
that's the thing that's really terrifying about it is that
Sinner just has such a high floor and it's just
(16:07):
so repeatable to the point where You're like, he's just
he's nailed on, so he's he's removed some of these
five setters from his bag and has gone back to
winning in straits. It's scary times and it's a scary
prospect if that continues. All it's gonna come down to
now is is motivation and trying to keep the fire
(16:27):
and the hunger and be okay with being chased. If
he can do that and handle the pressure, you know,
pick a number of tournaments that he can win throughout
the course of the next few years to.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Throw Fed's name in there again. But I wouldn't be
surprised if he It took a while for Fred to
get going, but once he did, he started racking them
up pretty pretty bigly. Pardon it's pretty bigly, pretty quickly,
Like he didn't take long for him add to this
trophy cabinet. And I wouldn't be surprised if Yannick Sinner
does the same, just on the of the field time.
(17:01):
And like you mentioned this Zverev thing, like what the
hell would this tournament have done if you're in the final?
Like I do think the luck and that this didn't
happen should not skirt from the fact that like God
like it. Really it's one thing to like wash your
hands and cringe about this and watch his press conferences
in Bristle, but there's going to be a on court
(17:24):
speech lauding this man either way, had he had won
that semi final against Medvedev. Doesn't seem like there's much
introspection about that amongst the organizers, does it. I mean,
I have If there is, please send it my way,
But it doesn't seem.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Like that doesn't seem like that to me either. I
think it's testament to the fact that the day after
he was knocked out of the Tonne and the BBC
had an article ready to go which was like Alexander's
vera It's complicated relationship or tennis is complicated relationship with
I think they were holding onto that one until he
would reached the final, like as a preview piece, and
(18:01):
exaccident had to drop it immediately after we got knocked
out of the tournament. Tells you all you need to know,
I think.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And I mean no back sounds like Novak's gonna take
a lot of time off. He'll come back in in
Indian wells. I believe, Yeah, So I mean, but also
he kind of treats Australian Open as the end of
his season anyways, so not a huge shock, but I
do Pog has mentioned this a lot in the discord
as well. My god, we needed some fresh blood. But
(18:28):
now this conversation I do think actually takes on a
bit of new life. Like I don't know if Novak
is nailed on to win any of these Slams, like maybe,
I mean, I'm not going to discount them at all,
but we get we have other names obviously, But between
the two, Yeahannick and Carlos Bush who ends this year
with more slams?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
But that's an easy one because Ji's already won one
once already.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, I'll take that one because I don't have any
predict any of the tournaments, It's true.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And also here's the old one. I think he gets
his next one before Carlos gets his next one.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, And it's it's anyone pick any of the Grand Slams.
He's good everywhere, you could win all of them. That's
the funny part about it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Any other closing thoughts on the men's side, Simon before
we get to the women's side after the break.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
He has a him being young Nick Sinner. He is him,
to use an online phrase, the best war face in
all of tennis. I think the fist pump is iconic.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
At this point. It is very good.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He's very repeatable.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Well, it's very repeatable. He's like Layne Hewitt. You know,
people don't give Layne unit enough respect for the point
in celebration because you can't really mess that up. You
can't really fights that up. It's very repeatable. Yank Scott
that in lane Lan knew it's home home tournament. Pouring
out for Taylor Fritz as well. I just want to
(19:56):
say this quickly, but Fristmania is probably dead. Bush. I'm
out give me a little bit more Against Novak Man,
I think he was saying like I'm an older guy now,
like I'm not the same guy. I think he is so.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Sad. State of the first one? Someone is he twenty
five six? I think twenty six? Yeah, past it one.
One point on this though, is that he is going
to be someone I think benefits a lot from the
post Novak Drakovic landscape. And I think if Djokovic is
(20:30):
not is going to play a extremely light schedule. I
think this year surely the over and under on tournaments
played for him is less than ten.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Maybe, Oh yeah, I don't sure. Yeah, I don't think
he's I think this is Novak is going one zillion
miles an hour for that Olympic Olympic gold. I think yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I mean, what's the number he's going to play, Like,
he'll play the four Grand Slams, He'll play the Olympics,
He'll play Belgrade. Maybe he'll play some of the Masters,
maybe Cincinnati. It won't be a lot, Yeah, it won't
be a lot. I can't imagine. Maybe maybe plays one
of Indian Wells and Miami. Yeah, maybe the number is
gonna be like twelve tournaments, eleven something in that territory.
(21:11):
And if that's the case, then a lot of the
rest of the tour who basically can't beat him, is
going to make hay them.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
That's why it's ridiculous. Like I don't know if because
he is gonna win a Slam this year, like you
probably will. People probably will. It's insane. It's pretty good
at this thing.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Also, I guess just add not to be ridiculous about
closing a section. Didn't win this tournament, but you can
add another name to the list of players that can
now beat him at Grand Slam level. And for a
very long time that list was like two people. Yeah,
and now it's at three, so we numbers are growing.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
We got we've got to speed this up a bit.
But no, it's a good sign. And yeah, I think
I'll just mention quickly. I don't know if you saw
that fantastic mister Fox thing. Tennis TV put out that
graphic bush maybe the most upsetting thing I've seen ever.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Oh you didn't like it? I loved it?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You like? Okay, moving on quickly, We'll take a break
and then we'll talk about Irena Sabelenka winning a second
trophy at Roalda. We Arena back to back at the
AO for Lenka coming up next on Open Era. Welcome
(22:36):
back to the Open Air Podcast. Simon. On the women's side,
we got it right. I think we called this. We
both predicted that Irena Sableenka is going to win this tournament,
and she did. She did, I would say, in maybe
the most impressive manner we'd seen a champion win a
Slam in some time. It's been a while, not too long.
(22:59):
I mean, he gets done here thing obviously, But to
reassert herself where she last won a big trophy. I
think this was quite the statement to make from the
best women's player in tennis.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
He's gone there already.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I didn't, right, I just had to see how you
reacted and I knew a WinCE was coming.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So yeah, this final finish, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I also, I also do want to say whatever we
do mention Ego. We got a lot of love from
Poland and EGA fans, so this is very bad business
for me to be doing this, but it had to
be said. I'm sorry, I'm sorry friends.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Jeesez he's gone. He's gone into business for himself here.
He's got to think of the podcast. Dude, we're publicly
traded company.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Now, I'm charing for a flagless person. Now listen. I
don't don't I don't cheer for borders.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Beyond that, I was looking at my my scrollings and
my notebook and this final finished. What three and two?
Do not let the number for you? This was not
that close.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Against a phenomenal play like Jang awesome run like I
think the kind of the sky A match was awesome.
There's a lot of signature moment Lena the smack herd
around the world she had a wonderful tournament, but it
didn't seem like they were on the same level at all, right,
Like it it felt like they were playing at different
levels of competition. That's just a testiment to how oppressive
(24:23):
Sablanca has been golf match Simon. I mean, the breaker
was nervy. I don't know how close really, Coco wasn't
that another maybe symptom of the score line deceiving, But
she was not altogether pushed that hard. And that's a
testament to how well Sablanca is playing, especially on the hardcourt.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, there's no denying that she's the best hardcore player
in the world, right. I think that's easy to summarize,
just giving her performances here and how she's looked throughout
the course of the season or in the twenty twenty
three season as well. The closest comparison that was always
made to her, I think when she was grown, going
up and into her early twenties was Serena Williams, just
(25:03):
given the game style and everything else. Sure a shit
looked like Serena Williams in this fire, isn't She's.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Gonna say this is a This is a Serena tournament.
You want to you want to compare it. This is
to me, this is a This reminded me of Serena
bombing through a field and just just showing people, totally
reminding me of that.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
And I don't want to hop on like Porgeng in
the final because like great tournament, she's gonna do good
things in this sport. Like she's gonna, I think, probably
get to another final at some point. I really do
believe that, given the game style that she has. But
she made it look something. I made a look like
a qualifier, just given how much it was not just
(25:43):
the stature, it's the weight of the tennis ball and
her ability to rip through on return of serve. That
is probably one of the things that's most remarkableut Saberlenca
is her ability to time and generate power on a
return of serve. When you see someone standing a foot
inside of the baseline and just clubbing balls pasted you,
it's got to be so disheartening. We've all been there,
(26:04):
right as tennis players who's nervous standing over a second serve,
and even a professional player to see someone croaching in
on you and whacking the shit out of any ball
that's coming back on your second serve. It's got to
be a little demoralizing, put it that way.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
The fifth player this century to win the title at
the Australian Open without dropping a set, joining Ash Barty
in twenty twenty two, Serena in twenty seventeen, Shapov in
two thousand and eight, and Lindsay Davenport in two thousand
Excellent company.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Simon, phenomenal company. The real question for her is like
what happens next for her? Really? Well, yeah, the guy
meat to back.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
She has now reached that level of uber consistency. She's
constantly in the discussion towards the end of these slams,
to a point where I mean that to me was
kind of the last question left before the run of slams.
It is consistency, and we're totally seeing it like she
is nailed on. You got to bring her stuff at
the biggest moments, which is what we kind of need
(27:10):
from our best and our greats. That's why I'm kind
of pretty bullish on her continuing to win really big titles, Simon,
because I think she's she's very comfortable now with being the.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Best as she should be as well. There's no player
on the tour. I think that she should fear really like.
I think she can be everyone her matchups. There's a
very small section of people that I think can beat
her or knock her off a game when she's playing
at a top level. I think that's one of the
questions that I would put out to the audience because
(27:41):
I don't know the answer to it, and I would
probably defer to people who know more about the sport
than I. Do Zabalanca at full flight top of a
game better than you, Gus Fionzec at full flight top
of a game. Man, it's pretty close, right.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
At the risk of getting beaten by the recency bias,
I will say yes to that question, but then that'll
change when we get tar g.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Dude, I'm telling you publicly traded podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Last person to go back to back here. Also Victoria Azarenka,
fellow Bella Russian shows to Lenka and Azarenka. There was
a protest of pro Palestine protest simon during the match
as well. H shows to those people for putting it
on the line. Otherwise, Yeah, I mean the final. I
(28:32):
didn't expect it to be an epic, but it served
as a nice underlining moment for iriness apple Anka as
the person to reckon with on the women's tour. I
do want to say, Simon, how hilariously embarrassing it was,
how happy Brits were that, yes, Stremska lost, she made
the finals so that Emma Radricado's bullshit record was safe.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Have some shame people, No, man, that's gotta We've gotta
hold onto those things. They're important. Just done, Sabalanka, just briefly,
just before we forget it. Twenty twenty two US Open, right,
so you can sort of circle goes to the semi
final there losing devastating fashion since that moment, win, semifinal,
semi final, final, win. Is the woman who's at the
(29:20):
top of the sport. She's running deep in every Grand Slam.
Now no surface, I think should she should fit any surface,
and she should be the rest of the field should
be terrified of it.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
We were quick to say big whatever, but I mean
the top two are very, very good, and the people
around them have to answer this call. I think Coco
was okay. I think beforehand again left a lot to
be desired over the last couple of weeks, but I
don't think she she's at the level of those two
at their best to enter her into that conversation as well.
(29:54):
The Serve Tavelenka service is it's elite and it is
a massive games, so I think that's another separation for her.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
It goes in now, it goes down on a twist.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
But elsewhere, yeah, I mean, like the top of the
top half kind of hollowed out. We've got some surprise
semi finalists. I mentioned Jeng will probably be back. Hopefully
we'd like to see that. But do you have any
other lasting takeaways from the women's side of the draw? Simon,
I think it was a little more shock at the
bottom half, and we got that Seblanca golf match that
(30:31):
we wanted. But it does feel like there's some separation
between the elite elite, not to say that they can't
lose on their day. I mean, you got definitely lost,
but I don't think she was hundred percent either.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I think for all the things that we constantly say
about how deep the women's tour is, and I think
that is very true, it's also a testament to the
fact it's testament. It's it's interesting to note I would
say on this one, how quickly. The same people that
talk about how deep the tour is were quick to
deride the top half of this draw when you get
Tech got knocked out for it being k it's kind
(31:04):
of fascinating, a wonderful I don't know, double stands is
the wrong word. I don't mean that, but like it's
I enjoyed that top half of the draw when you
Tek got knocked out because it was all over the shop.
I had no idea who was going to win these matches,
and sometimes it kind of looked like some of these
players who were out there didn't know who was going
to win the matches, which is great, Like that's a
(31:26):
man incredible theater because you have a bunch of players
who probably weren't expecting to make as deep a run
as they did, get put into a position where no,
like you can actually make a Grand Slam final here,
there's no one here in front of you that you
don't think you can beat, or you don't at least
think you're in with a punch of chance of winning against.
And I think that makes a great drama. And I
(31:47):
really enjoyed that about this side of the draw.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
No, it's excellently put and I agree totally push the
top ten after this sharing is in at seven, Maria
Zachary hanging on at nine.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
God, God, this is painful. Matsabalinka is getting close Bush,
She is around eight hundred points off from Ego in
the race for number one. That will be fun this year.
I know there's some points to defend for both of them,
but this race, if it is a big two.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Put a ton of pressure onto Sante going into the
clay court season, doesn't it. She can't have a slip
up there at this point if they both care about
the number one ranking, which sure, why not? If you there,
you might as well take it. You might as well
go it for it. But this is the eagest time
to shine, isn't it, Going into the into the clay,
And geez, I'm saying going into the clay in three
months time or whatever it is when we actually get
(32:41):
that the hard season.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Anything else Bush on the women's side before party shots.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
I don't think so. I enjoyed this drawer a lot.
I thought it was dramatic. I thought we got the
right winner, and despite it being a bit of a procession,
I think that more speaks to the fact of how
good the champion was than the rest of the tour.
I really do, genuinely believe that she has the opportunity
(33:11):
to do a very very special thing in twenty twenty
four and run very deep in all of these tournaments.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Again, excellent, all right. In departing shots, Simon Rohan Bopana,
What a fortnight for him, the elder statesman of Indian tennis,
achieving world number one in men's doubles and winning the
title with Australian Matthew Ebden, beating Italians Bolelli and Vavasori. Bops,
(33:42):
as he's affectionately known Roe, probably called by Chappo. What
a moment, Simon from Bopana.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Absolutely incredible moment. Yes, he's gonna be forty four in
three weeks from the time this episode comes out, forty
four years of age, gets to world number one, wins
the Grand Slam of the year. All I kept thinking
in that final is buttery smooth. The man is so
smooth on a tennis court. Fucking how It's like watching
a Ferrari out there, Like an old Ferrari. Do you
(34:14):
want to use a car metaphor? It's like one of
those casts fen like the nineteen thirties or something. You
look at it, you're just like, yeah, I'm not a
car guy. I don't give a fuck, by the way,
but like just I'm trying to.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
It's like, what what are you talking about? Like okay, yeah, yeah,
I get.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Let's go for an eco conscious metaphor. It's like a bike, right,
Like it's like a beautiful a Brompton. There you go.
That's what people in the bike world like.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I love stats like this where it's like almost backhanded.
But he now tops the open air list for most
attempts made before winning a men's double slammer titled surpassing
Regie Ram at fifty eight. It's all right, thanks, we
get it took a long time, but also fantastic, huge
dad like I feel like his celebrations are also very
dad vibesy, Like the chest thing he does he does
with Ebden I think is hilarious and weird.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Oh my god that there's so much to be said
about row here. One lengthy thing I did think here
was Robot par Is has to be the widest man
on tour.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
He's got to.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
He's so wide.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
That's a fridge.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
The man looks like a door.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
He's squatting. Squatting is the question.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
He's got some big sampress energy on return of server
as well, bending over like a dinosaur looks fantastic.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
He's got a candle link too. He won the one
with Gabby Debrowski at the French Open, so he's got
a mixed doubles title as well. That's why another reason
why that stat was not necessarily like it took them
ninety years to get this title.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Like things gray bird, love it, love the just the
overall energy in the vibe is just fantastic there. It's
great to see him.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
It's a good sign that, like like rand not random,
but like I don't it doesn't Chapo's link with him
doesn't make sense to me, but it does because he
seems like a good guy to have around, right, Like
that's the only reason that there has to be a link.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
And Indian Indian tennis as well, that no know what
of a lie here, Like it's actually a massive win.
Have another Grand Slam champion on the men's side, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
I think this is only discord but and Josh was
asking for a deep dive into why India has has
produced a lot of good doubles players, and I kind
of thought to myself, court time is limited. Doubles makes
sense because there's not that many courts. But I feel
like there's something to be written there. For sure. Perhaps
the front of the show is on it already. But
(36:26):
if he's not.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Do your thing, man, and in honor of and in
honor of.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Are you gonna speak in me again? A lot of
direct messages, shock, anger, fear, frustration once they heard the
open air about full of bush is Hindi.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Here we go, people, I'm going to wish mister bar
congratulations in Hindi. I'm not, of course, I'm not that.
Why would I do that?
Speaker 3 (37:01):
You?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
God damn it? He was waiting. Okay, shout out to
Matthew Ebden as well. Simon. He seems like one of
the hes, like a normal Assi, you know, like someone
you could kill along with, don't. I don't want to
make that sound like Australians are not normal, but you
know what I'm saying. This is like he's not in
the curios. That's basically it. He seems all right.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
I agree with you. For the longest time I saw
his name in a draw and really thought it was
Peter Rebden, the British snooker player, and was like, wow,
that's a big change of direction for mister Rebden.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Getting around this fine.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
It was amazing for that though, right like you have
you have Ebden running around like a blue assed fly
and just all over the net, and you got Boponna
just like gently strolling around the court hitting boss shots
and just economy of movement. Beyond to use that terminology here.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Please listeners right in with who is wider than? It
could be dangerous but genuine only curious? Is there someone timon?
Al Right? We do this every tournament, every Slam for sure.
But was this tournament good? Question? Mark? Was it actually good?
How do you feel now that we're done?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Great?
Speaker 1 (38:14):
It was?
Speaker 2 (38:15):
It was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot. Like
the the winners, I don't want it.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I don't want the revision its history though to gloss
over how close you were to deaf con one, you know,
like we were very close.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah we were, Jesus Christ. It was looking dicey for
a time there. I think across all of the singles
and doubles and everything, you got a lot of feel
good stories of winners. Chisho weigh one of the doubles,
one of the mixed doubles, upon a one of the
men's doubles, uh grout, one of the women's wheelchairs ODA one,
and the men's in the men's singles in the wheelchair
(38:48):
which is you know, it's surprise, And it was a
big grudge match again in the final against against Hewett.
There was good winners all over the place, and I
think it's kind of nice as well, the extent of
winning that against the back drop of some very old
gray beards and gray hair literally in some of the
other disciplines as well.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Said I think you're right, And I think Owen said
this last week when we were at the halfway point
that it was better already, and I think he was
right then and he's right at the end. Like I
think the quality was great. We got a bit lucky
because of some shambalic scheduling that a lot of stuff
was on like through the morning. They are part of
the world, which is kind of rare but always welcome. Yeah.
(39:28):
I had a great time. I was locked in on
ned found myself being a fan fan again for the
first time in a while, which felt nice but also
a bit sad because it didn't go the way I
wanted I was remembering, how like, obviously not to this level,
but twenty nineteen winveld In final probably the lowest point
(39:49):
defendom for me in terms of but I haven't hadn't
got close to feeling that way a bit of a
match in a while, and this one kind of brought
me back. So in some ways I think that's okay.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Of being accosted online for someone who doesn't have a
social media presence. And I do mean this with the
greatest of respect. Also, you know, take this with a
how many caveats? How can I put in front of
this statement? The men's sport is better than novo Jocovich
doesn't win, it just is which is a more interesting place.
(40:24):
And I kind of wonder whether the deep down and
the sort of ghoulish areas of the ATP, whether they
kind of want him to just is it time, Novack,
How you're feeling, how's the body feeling? You want to
hang it up sometime soon? Let some of these other kids.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
But I think it's important that he's still involved though,
you know, because there's got to be someone that people
can use as a as a measuring stick for the Layman,
So I think that and that way, he's still very
important to the greater game. But I get what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, I guess you have that wonderful narrative of slaying
the dragon, and you always have this wild card in
every tournament who's gonna win it? So taking him out
is this huge scalp. As opposed to just the wild
west two titles.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
You get two titles, tied title matches basically whoever can
beat Nomack and then the actual final and oftentimes it
was only one match and Nomac won anyways, So yeah,
I think that's a it's an interesting point. Shall we
get to two challenges to rating? Or you got anything
else for this tournament?
Speaker 2 (41:21):
I mentioned the group briefly, Now if I was every
single time that we talk about the wheelchair singles and
doubles and everything, the winning streak always comes up. Do
you want to take a guess at how many it's at? Now,
FORDI grew four hundred a Grand Slam level, I'd be okay, go.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Anyway off Grandsom levels of it. Let's say ninety more.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Than it's over ninety. So this is twenty one majors
and the winning streak is one hundred and thirty five.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Wow, that's good. That's better than the Undertaker, right, Definitely,
definitely the Grud's got some great writers. I guess that's that's.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
The gain tri going on exactly scripted.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Quite what an accomplishment, but I do it. It's cool
to see as well, the the field getting bigger for
these sports and the accessibility to play at a high
level grow. I think that was a big challenge as well,
in terms of where where these players were coming from,
(42:33):
in which countries could produce wheelchair athletes. It would be
great to see athletes from different nations get the same chance.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Agree. I have a question for you. At what point
do you go from like board to being terrified to
being excited of protecting this winning streak? Do you think
you're like border is right around like forty.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
I would love to know. I mean, I would love
to think that she wants to be beaten, she's just waiting,
or it's a maniacal possession of hers, like call them
in the ring that you cannot afford. So I hope
it's not that, but it would be kind of funny
if it was.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Is there a more impressive streak in all of sport.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
I'm trying to think, don't spoil, don't spoil my two
challenges remaining, because I'm going to get to one.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Leading with that, let's get the two challenges. What is yours?
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Love?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
I love to shout out Simon Bushell's beloved Edmonton Oilers
on the second longest winning streak in NHL history. Surely
this means that they're going to win the Stanley Cup.
And surely by shouting them out here, I'm not chinxing them.
So shout out to the Edmonton Oilers, Simon, what a team.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Have you been enjoying the way they've been winning matches
as well? Matches jes let's get on here.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Look at these Edmonton fans calling these matches Gretzky once
the time. I think they've been playing a bunch of bumps.
The teams they've been playing it in garbage, So let's see,
let's see what happens when they play some real teams.
But nah, good on you guys.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I think there's something really funny about that whole thing
as well, which is that, yes, I think the team
they've played is less than stellar, But then everyone would
fucking do it, wouldn't they what's your sixteen game winning streak?
It would have been so popular teams to do people.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
We had it so good when this team was terrible
at the beginning of the people forget, You'll forget there
are true monsters that lie with him. Okay, that's mine.
What do you got signed?
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Let's talk about the Edvontillton. His name.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Corey Perry.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, exactly, No, seriously, it's nice to see him back
and getting the help that he needs.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
You've gone full Edmonton Talk Radio.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I need to be wearing like a pair of sunglasses
or something, don't I on this broadcast and backwards hot Yeah,
backwards house, Steve Dangle? Can I go? Can we do
a Steve Dangle episode of Open Era at some point
dev where I'm yelling into the camera. Is that possible?
Speaker 3 (45:08):
Soon?
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Soon? My two challenges remaining is is cycling of all
things and specifically waterproof clothing. So what happened to me
was I made the mistake. I have lived in Vancouver
for twelve years and still I got caught out by
this was I had. I was going to go over
to my office and I was cycling across. It's like
(45:30):
a fifteen minute bike ride away, and I saw a
break in the clouds and was like, it's my time
to shine. I'm getting on the bike, I'm getting over
to the office. I'm not going to get wet. Two
minutes into the ride, soaked head to doe. I got
tought in a doubt deluge was completely and utterly soaking.
And I'm there, like with an afternoon full of meetings booked,
completely soaked, no shower, no no tumble dryer.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Now left at that point, I just left all of
your gear on those meetings I did.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
I was so close to being like, oh, I'm not
feeling well. I just gotta go on like I'm feeling so.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Who would have doubted that if these are you soaked?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Though?
Speaker 1 (46:09):
I think you had you had grounds.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
And in response to this, in a fit of rage,
I went out and bought some waterproof trousers and clothing
for my cycling ride. And since then, it's been funny.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
You mentioned that that's an Actually I feel like this
is an omen. That's my partner. Partner and I and
I get said to embark on a bike ride shortly,
and I always asked if I had waterproof pants and
I don't think so, Simon, I.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
Don't do it, dude, life changing. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Is this how marketing works? Is to sound the algorithm works?
Now it just thoughts, is this even just me throwing
around the word algorithm for all to to explain everything?
Speaker 2 (46:45):
All right, Yeah, I'm technically a sponsored post like That's
what I am at this point. That's the new start
of marketing.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
That's end this year before the Sunday scari is truly
destroyed me a reminder. We are on patron Com Forward
Slash Open Era. I mentioned the discord a bunch because
they're great. The people on there are great. I had
a blast. We had a blast all throughout the tournament
chatting with them. Considering the time zones, like, I thought
the best way for me to catch up literally was
(47:15):
to see what the folks and they were talking about
and then tune in accordingly, So Joe Story to score.
Join us on Patreon and you can join them, plus
you get the show out free and you get it
early on Sundays. We're on x Slash, Twitter dot Com,
Forward Slash Open Air Pod. Really really trying times until
(47:36):
Novac and it's fair I've got kicked out, but truly
deranged fan bases out there. Holy cow. I don't know
if it's it is definitely worse, but like got what
it says, pool X.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Should we go to Threads.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
I haven't opened that app in a long time and
I don't think I will, so.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
Okay, good decision.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
It's all bad. Probably okay for a pretty ucer dial
on the ones and to use Andrew Simon, thank you
so much for listening the open Era. We'll talk to
you next time.
Hello and welcome to the Open Era Podcast. My name
is Devang Desai. This week, Simon and I are off
as we take a break after the US Open, so
we're gonna look back at an episode we recorded in
January of this year, after Yannick Sinner and Arena Sabolenka
won a major title. Sound familiar. It should because it
(00:21):
happened at the Australian Open just a few short months ago.
So I thought it'd be funny too, or fun or
funny depends on how you look at it, but I
thought it would be fun for the most part to
look back at our thoughts following Sinner and Sablenka's big
wins in January, just to maybe consider what we thought
(00:41):
then and what happened since and where we stand now
after you had another major success for both players. So
join us in looking back at our Australian Open recap
episode from January of this year, and Simon and I
we'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to open Eera.
(01:12):
Hello and welcome to the Open Air Podcast. My name
is de Vega Silam, joined as always by mister Simon Bushell.
On Slam Final Sunday, Boy Oh Boy, did we dodge
a ball here, Simon, this weekend. For a time there
was looking like which might have to skip it entirely
and not do the podcast. But we've got some people
(01:34):
we liked in the final on Sunday, and of course
we got a women's final with plenty of storyline. Simon,
I feel fortunate today to you.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well. I think, faced with the prospect to an Alexander
spar of Novak Choco Ridge final and having to come
on this podcast, I felt like we we got a
good result in the end, really did we not?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
We did? And I mean there's plenty to talk about.
There's a huge moment for Jennick Sinner at twenty two
years old, capturing his first Slam in comeback fashion against
Denil Medvedev. Let's start there, Bush, with the final fresh
in our minds Ciani Sinner breaking through. He had beat
Novack a bunch of times recently, especially towards the end
of the last season, which must have boosted his confidence.
(02:17):
But how confident really did you feel going into that
semi final against Novak? Because I still was probably twenty
percent sure you could do it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I probably was a little higher than twenty percent, but
probably not a whole lot higher, I think, to do
this against a dude on that court, specifically with the
record that Novakdjokovic has there and given the wind streak
and everything else that went into this storyline, it is
a stunning achievement, and the manner of the victory, I think,
(02:46):
is one that has a lot of people writing articles
and stories and commenting on because he just blew the
doors off him, really and so much so that I
was flum mixed into believing that Novak Djokovic was permanently
in in this match. And maybe he was, and maybe
we'll see more about that stuff as the next few
(03:06):
weeks come out, But on the surface of it, Onix
Cinner won a pretty much fair and square and was
completely and utterly the better player. The final was a
completely different story, though Devang a completely different story. He
started off very poorly, and I thought Danny Medvedev played
in a fashion that you don't often see from him,
(03:26):
which is a lot closer to the baseline, much more aggressive,
looking like andre Agassi out there at times come into
the net, playing an all court game, and he was
easily the better player for two sets, and I think
his testament to the resiliency of Janick Sinner that he
was able to battle back and win this final.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Do you think he changed that much though, Yeah, Nick Cinner,
I think I think maybe this is more a testament
of him just staying the same and Medvedev not being
able to maintain what he was doing. And it was
opening two sets, because you're right, it looked like a
man who hadn't played ninety million hours on court this
week somehow, and he looked okay physically, which I think
overall definitely took its toll. But I think it was
(04:06):
telling when Yannik won the third set and he kind
of looked, you did, like a kind of a reassuring
side to himself, and then looked at his camp, and
I think that that kind of confirmed, Yeah, I just
have to keep going, keep doing what I'm doing. I
don't have to change that much in it. And it worked.
It really did work.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So much is going to be made about the the
discrepancy in the disparity perhaps in court time that was
between the two players, I think so much he will
be written about the fact that twenty four hours on
court for Danny Medfidev across the two weeks when other
sports start complaining about how tough their schedules are and
(04:44):
how challenging it is to fit in like multiple matches
in a week in football or something like that, I
would urge them to look at what Danny Medvodevis just
had to go through in mid twenty five degree heat
on a hard court in the middle of Australian summer.
It's remarkable.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I'm glad you brought that up now because I think
it's it's a good time to bring it up. But
I think Easy on the Discord mentioned this as well,
But what a test, What a great postcard for the
three set first week, five sets second week idea that's
been floated around because it didn't really make any sense
and it's I don't think it's good either that you
have people playing in a day session on one day
(05:18):
and a night session the next, and back back and forth,
flip flopping. I can't can't see how that's good or fair, right,
Like I think Djokovic had that issue as well. We're
at a point now where a people cannot watch these
full matches, no matter how much they love the sport.
Most of them can't. I mean, we are tennis fans
and sometimes I'm going in and out most times, I'm
going in and out of these epics. They got to
(05:40):
do it, they have to do it, Sidon, Like, I
get why, I get history, and I get like the
beautiful game and the ethos of the game, but it's
a bit ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
It is. I think, just put the protection of the
players as well, Like I always look at this from
a labor perspective as well, of how much time and
how grueling it is that's going to shortened careers. I
know Danny Mappodev is a freak athlete and is able
to do some of these things, but you can't tell
me that someone at the age of twenty seven is
doing twenty four hours on court in the burning heat
(06:11):
over a two week period and doesn't feel the effects
of it for the rest of the year. Off the
next like few months as he's trying to get into
his schedule for the year. I don't care how good
of an athlete you are, it's going to take an
effect on you one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
You picked med to win this tournament, Simon, which I
think was a bit bold. I know Owen was shocked
by that, but in the end he looked wise I
feel I felt really bad for him after this. Like,
I know, he's a multi millionaire and he's jet setting
around the world and he's got it pretty good, but
that one has to sting, And I mean it's happened
(06:46):
to him a couple of times now that's this Slam particularly,
But I don't know what else to say about meta.
We'll get to center, but I don't know what else
to say about it. Then he looked gassed. It didn't
look like he had enough in the tank. But also
what he was doing doing early and it was working,
it just didn't seem sustainable.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So I think there's a there's a few routes that
you could take on this one to sort of analyze
why he's ended up with this finals record. The way
that he has the Australian Open one in the and
losing multiple Australian Open finals from two sets up is
somewhat of a freak occurrence, just given who he's playing against.
I do think the final record at Grand Slam is
(07:23):
interesting as well. Is it five or six that he's
lost Now.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I think he's made six, so he's won aide.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Six, So yeah, yeah, so lost five. Honestly, dev and
I know this is going to sound harsh, but the
way the dude plays the game and the amount of
time that he spends on court and just not being
a forward focused, aggressive kind of player, he just opens
himself up. This happening more that he's just going to
be done by the end of tournaments. And despite all
(07:51):
of that being said, well, you know, we mentioned in
the first few minutes of the podcast of how good
of an athlete he is, it's gonna it's gonna take
its toll on you eventually to be able to get
across the line, And it happened a bunch of times,
like there's no denying like, despite how well he's played
in some of these finals, it's just a very grueling,
physical style that does eventually weigh you down. And maybe
(08:15):
maybe that is an oversimplification, but by god, if you
look back at the record of some of these tournaments
that he's been and he's played so much tennis, it's
got to it's got to take an effect on you shortly.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, that's a really interesting point. And I thought his coach,
Jill Sareva, who's just a servara sorry, he was just
an amazing watch just to see his interactions or his
his mannerisms in the box is often not doing anything,
but when he is doing something, I think it's really interesting.
But he did a really interesting interview in French talking
(08:48):
about how these matchups are like a bike race and
then players get off to faster and slower starts and
just about catching up. And Daniel Medvedev specializes in catching up.
But I think when he gets past there's the issue,
right like when he's passed, can Kenny muster up something
to regain where he was and get back into the
matchers that year not there? And I think especially when
(09:09):
you're playing that long, it's even harder to get to
that year that he got to to get the lead.
So I think there's a lot to that that argument
bush about the playing style. I mean, he's also he
played Nadalin djok of it to a bunch of these,
so I think that's that's something to consider and the
fact that this is a different guy. Now that's why
I think it has to sting a bit more as well,
(09:30):
because the idea is that med or guys like metd
could have made a lot more Hay, they had more
runway without guys like the Big Three, But it was
here there was a big chance for him, and yet
it's Cinner's audianic bush. He's twenty two. I think this
was the same amount of slam appearances that Fed made
before his first slam, which is the big comparison everyone
(09:52):
is making. You've called this for a while now, though,
I'm curious, like, what what do you think clicked finally
for him? Is it just getting better with age and
like getting serious? I think Darren k Hill's edition obviously
what we talked about is a big turning point for him.
But it feels like we were waiting for this moment
and now that has happened, it's like, Okay, we're ready
keep going. But it's interesting to me it wasn't like
(10:14):
an instant success for the etc.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Center.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
This is a slow build, slower the knocker ass for sure,
and that's why it kind of feels rewarding as well.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, so it's I think multiple factors, right. It's obviously
physical stature growing into the frame in the way that
everyone looks at the physical specimen that Carlos Akaraz was
at eighteen and nineteen. You know, Accenter was not that
he was and still is a skinny kid. Despite being
a phenomenal athlete, and I think you can see that
the change in stature that he's had since he was
(10:43):
nineteen coming on to the tour. He is much thicker
at this point, has to be said, but he's also
never going to be you know, muscles bulging all over
the place. It's it's one of those that there's different
kinds of strength, and I think he's finally grown into that. Secondarily,
it's obviously like mental and belief, like just to have
(11:05):
some of the match wins that he has had at
the back end of last year and carrying that on.
There's no alternative to that stuff. You've got to be
able to put yourself in many matches and win them
in order to believe, and I think he that. Obviously,
the Davis Cup winning was huge for him, and I
think that has really kickstart a lot of his his
good run and everything else that comes with it. And
(11:26):
then finally, obviously everyone can talk about the serve helps
having a good Serve win cheap points helps them make
deep runs into tournaments. He's been absolutely phenomenal on Serve
all week, especially that Novodjokovic semifinal. He he never gave
him a sniff, never faced a break point in the
semi final. It's astonishing against the I mean, clearly the
greatest returner of all time. I don't think anyone's ever
(11:48):
going to deny that, but I think those three categories
really identify why he's made the leap. Also, you know,
for better or worse, he's really fucking talented dev and
it was gonna be a matter of time before he
started winning.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Got a dip you cat to the guy. He's pretty good,
pretty good at this kind of thing. I liked his
shout out to his parents for being normal. It was
also my favorite part of the smasher. It's like, you
know what, thanks guys for not being insane, because he's
clearly watched all around him as the various tennis families
have disbanded and gone nuclear.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Did you make much of the thing that's floating around
about how people in the two thousands of one more
Grand slams than people in the nineties. Have you seen
that story setting?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah? How how have does that? It is a bit
of a Again, I don't want to call them a
lost generation because I think it didn't apply something far
more significant than it actually is. But sort of and
like I think, now you're seeing like Milosh is getting
towards the end. I think Milosh is now like a
dagg this cup guys like filling in randomly, but he's
(12:56):
he's near the end, like high and Sikori's very I
know he's still going, but like he's he looks like
he's close to the end, like I don't know, man,
it's sad. That's why I think the Med loss got
to me. I also think it got to me because
I think Med has fully become my favorite player, and
I didn't think I was going to have a favorite
player again after a Federer push, but it happened. I
(13:18):
was thinking about writing about this actually because it was
a bit of a strange feeling to to care that
much again about that Zvera of semi final, Like I
found myself very locked in to a point where I
haven't been in a long time. So yeah, that's why
I think why the Medvedev losts got to me pretty
significantly this morning.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
You know what I will say about this is that
I find myself watching in those first two sets and
thinking good enough to win Wimwodon right.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
If he can come to the net with this regularity
with his confidence like a beetle. Dannik had no answers.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We should talk about this though, just I mean brought
broadly the men. Obviously, it's it's a it's a dreadful
loss for for Mevedev. He got the real moral victory
by being Alexander Spura, of course, but the this is
the same points that were made when carlos Aka has
obviously won two titles. Now at Grand Slam level, this
(14:17):
feels like a player in Yannick Sinner who is gonna
win a lot, Like we're gonna see a lot of
him winning. I mean, there's a lot of pressure to
put on someone to go and win multiple majors, and
I don't think that's something that we I mean, it
should be an expectation without wanting to, you know, Chuck
(14:37):
a lover of pressure, exactly right. But he's gonna win
a lot. He has the game star and there's absolutely
no reason why this dude can't be world number one
and win everything on every surface at every tournament he's in,
with the game style that he has, the mental strength
that he has, the completeness of his game. This is
a complete player. There's no other words that describe it.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
He is.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
He is that good and he should be a dominant
force for a very long time. And I think this
is an important moment for him to get his first
Grand Slam.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah. I think Josh mentioned this on the discord as well.
But the serves, I mean, I mean, Josh is bang
on about a lot of things, but yeah, I think
he was nail on about this, the serving and how
it would be the key probably for Sinner and then
Alkraaz as well, and how far they go forward and
how many how many slams they get or how they
(15:31):
can keep adding to their total. But and you tell
me if I'm wrong, But I feel like Yannex game
is a bit more repeatable at the moment than Carlos's
in a in a big spot. I don't know how
you feel about that.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I agree with you. Yeah, I think overall you would
say that Colisaka has has the bigger weapons, certainly if
that forehand ever comes back and he starts hitting it
the way that we want him to. But yeah, I mean,
that's the thing that's really terrifying about it is that
Sinner just has such a high floor and it's just
(16:07):
so repeatable to the point where You're like, he's just
he's nailed on, so he's he's removed some of these
five setters from his bag and has gone back to
winning in straits. It's scary times and it's a scary
prospect if that continues. All it's gonna come down to
now is is motivation and trying to keep the fire
(16:27):
and the hunger and be okay with being chased. If
he can do that and handle the pressure, you know,
pick a number of tournaments that he can win throughout
the course of the next few years to.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Throw Fed's name in there again. But I wouldn't be
surprised if he It took a while for Fred to
get going, but once he did, he started racking them
up pretty pretty bigly. Pardon it's pretty bigly, pretty quickly,
Like he didn't take long for him add to this
trophy cabinet. And I wouldn't be surprised if Yannick Sinner
does the same, just on the of the field time.
(17:01):
And like you mentioned this Zverev thing, like what the
hell would this tournament have done if you're in the final?
Like I do think the luck and that this didn't
happen should not skirt from the fact that like God
like it. Really it's one thing to like wash your
hands and cringe about this and watch his press conferences
in Bristle, but there's going to be a on court
(17:24):
speech lauding this man either way, had he had won
that semi final against Medvedev. Doesn't seem like there's much
introspection about that amongst the organizers, does it. I mean,
I have If there is, please send it my way,
But it doesn't seem.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Like that doesn't seem like that to me either. I
think it's testament to the fact that the day after
he was knocked out of the Tonne and the BBC
had an article ready to go which was like Alexander's
vera It's complicated relationship or tennis is complicated relationship with
I think they were holding onto that one until he
would reached the final, like as a preview piece, and
(18:01):
exaccident had to drop it immediately after we got knocked
out of the tournament. Tells you all you need to know,
I think.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And I mean no back sounds like Novak's gonna take
a lot of time off. He'll come back in in
Indian wells. I believe, Yeah, So I mean, but also
he kind of treats Australian Open as the end of
his season anyways, so not a huge shock, but I
do Pog has mentioned this a lot in the discord
as well. My god, we needed some fresh blood. But
(18:28):
now this conversation I do think actually takes on a
bit of new life. Like I don't know if Novak
is nailed on to win any of these Slams, like maybe,
I mean, I'm not going to discount them at all,
but we get we have other names obviously, But between
the two, Yeahannick and Carlos Bush who ends this year
with more slams?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
But that's an easy one because Ji's already won one
once already.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, I'll take that one because I don't have any
predict any of the tournaments, It's true.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And also here's the old one. I think he gets
his next one before Carlos gets his next one.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, And it's it's anyone pick any of the Grand Slams.
He's good everywhere, you could win all of them. That's
the funny part about it.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Any other closing thoughts on the men's side, Simon before
we get to the women's side after the break.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
He has a him being young Nick Sinner. He is him,
to use an online phrase, the best war face in
all of tennis. I think the fist pump is iconic.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
At this point. It is very good.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He's very repeatable.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Well, it's very repeatable. He's like Layne Hewitt. You know,
people don't give Layne unit enough respect for the point
in celebration because you can't really mess that up. You
can't really fights that up. It's very repeatable. Yank Scott
that in lane Lan knew it's home home tournament. Pouring
out for Taylor Fritz as well. I just want to
(19:56):
say this quickly, but Fristmania is probably dead. Bush. I'm
out give me a little bit more Against Novak Man,
I think he was saying like I'm an older guy now,
like I'm not the same guy. I think he is so.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Sad. State of the first one? Someone is he twenty
five six? I think twenty six? Yeah, past it one.
One point on this though, is that he is going
to be someone I think benefits a lot from the
post Novak Drakovic landscape. And I think if Djokovic is
(20:30):
not is going to play a extremely light schedule. I
think this year surely the over and under on tournaments
played for him is less than ten.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Maybe, Oh yeah, I don't sure. Yeah, I don't think
he's I think this is Novak is going one zillion
miles an hour for that Olympic Olympic gold. I think yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I mean, what's the number he's going to play, Like,
he'll play the four Grand Slams, He'll play the Olympics,
He'll play Belgrade. Maybe he'll play some of the Masters,
maybe Cincinnati. It won't be a lot, Yeah, it won't
be a lot. I can't imagine. Maybe maybe plays one
of Indian Wells and Miami. Yeah, maybe the number is
gonna be like twelve tournaments, eleven something in that territory.
(21:11):
And if that's the case, then a lot of the
rest of the tour who basically can't beat him, is
going to make hay them.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
That's why it's ridiculous. Like I don't know if because
he is gonna win a Slam this year, like you
probably will. People probably will. It's insane. It's pretty good
at this thing.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Also, I guess just add not to be ridiculous about
closing a section. Didn't win this tournament, but you can
add another name to the list of players that can
now beat him at Grand Slam level. And for a
very long time that list was like two people. Yeah,
and now it's at three, so we numbers are growing.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
We got we've got to speed this up a bit.
But no, it's a good sign. And yeah, I think
I'll just mention quickly. I don't know if you saw
that fantastic mister Fox thing. Tennis TV put out that
graphic bush maybe the most upsetting thing I've seen ever.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Oh you didn't like it? I loved it?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You like? Okay, moving on quickly, We'll take a break
and then we'll talk about Irena Sabelenka winning a second
trophy at Roalda. We Arena back to back at the
AO for Lenka coming up next on Open Era. Welcome
(22:36):
back to the Open Air Podcast. Simon. On the women's side,
we got it right. I think we called this. We
both predicted that Irena Sableenka is going to win this tournament,
and she did. She did, I would say, in maybe
the most impressive manner we'd seen a champion win a
Slam in some time. It's been a while, not too long.
(22:59):
I mean, he gets done here thing obviously, But to
reassert herself where she last won a big trophy. I
think this was quite the statement to make from the
best women's player in tennis.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
He's gone there already.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I didn't, right, I just had to see how you
reacted and I knew a WinCE was coming.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So yeah, this final finish, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I also, I also do want to say whatever we
do mention Ego. We got a lot of love from
Poland and EGA fans, so this is very bad business
for me to be doing this, but it had to
be said. I'm sorry, I'm sorry friends.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Jeesez he's gone. He's gone into business for himself here.
He's got to think of the podcast. Dude, we're publicly
traded company.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Now, I'm charing for a flagless person. Now listen. I
don't don't I don't cheer for borders.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Beyond that, I was looking at my my scrollings and
my notebook and this final finished. What three and two?
Do not let the number for you? This was not
that close.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Against a phenomenal play like Jang awesome run like I
think the kind of the sky A match was awesome.
There's a lot of signature moment Lena the smack herd
around the world she had a wonderful tournament, but it
didn't seem like they were on the same level at all, right,
Like it it felt like they were playing at different
levels of competition. That's just a testiment to how oppressive
(24:23):
Sablanca has been golf match Simon. I mean, the breaker
was nervy. I don't know how close really, Coco wasn't
that another maybe symptom of the score line deceiving, But
she was not altogether pushed that hard. And that's a
testament to how well Sablanca is playing, especially on the hardcourt.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, there's no denying that she's the best hardcore player
in the world, right. I think that's easy to summarize,
just giving her performances here and how she's looked throughout
the course of the season or in the twenty twenty
three season as well. The closest comparison that was always
made to her, I think when she was grown, going
up and into her early twenties was Serena Williams, just
(25:03):
given the game style and everything else. Sure a shit
looked like Serena Williams in this fire, isn't She's.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Gonna say this is a This is a Serena tournament.
You want to you want to compare it. This is
to me, this is a This reminded me of Serena
bombing through a field and just just showing people, totally
reminding me of that.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
And I don't want to hop on like Porgeng in
the final because like great tournament, she's gonna do good
things in this sport. Like she's gonna, I think, probably
get to another final at some point. I really do
believe that, given the game style that she has. But
she made it look something. I made a look like
a qualifier, just given how much it was not just
(25:43):
the stature, it's the weight of the tennis ball and
her ability to rip through on return of serve. That
is probably one of the things that's most remarkableut Saberlenca
is her ability to time and generate power on a
return of serve. When you see someone standing a foot
inside of the baseline and just clubbing balls pasted you,
it's got to be so disheartening. We've all been there,
(26:04):
right as tennis players who's nervous standing over a second serve,
and even a professional player to see someone croaching in
on you and whacking the shit out of any ball
that's coming back on your second serve. It's got to
be a little demoralizing, put it that way.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
The fifth player this century to win the title at
the Australian Open without dropping a set, joining Ash Barty
in twenty twenty two, Serena in twenty seventeen, Shapov in
two thousand and eight, and Lindsay Davenport in two thousand
Excellent company.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Simon, phenomenal company. The real question for her is like
what happens next for her? Really? Well, yeah, the guy
meat to back.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
She has now reached that level of uber consistency. She's
constantly in the discussion towards the end of these slams,
to a point where I mean that to me was
kind of the last question left before the run of slams.
It is consistency, and we're totally seeing it like she
is nailed on. You got to bring her stuff at
the biggest moments, which is what we kind of need
(27:10):
from our best and our greats. That's why I'm kind
of pretty bullish on her continuing to win really big titles, Simon,
because I think she's she's very comfortable now with being the.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Best as she should be as well. There's no player
on the tour. I think that she should fear really like.
I think she can be everyone her matchups. There's a
very small section of people that I think can beat
her or knock her off a game when she's playing
at a top level. I think that's one of the
questions that I would put out to the audience because
(27:41):
I don't know the answer to it, and I would
probably defer to people who know more about the sport
than I. Do Zabalanca at full flight top of a
game better than you, Gus Fionzec at full flight top
of a game. Man, it's pretty close, right.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
At the risk of getting beaten by the recency bias,
I will say yes to that question, but then that'll
change when we get tar g.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Dude, I'm telling you publicly traded podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Last person to go back to back here. Also Victoria Azarenka,
fellow Bella Russian shows to Lenka and Azarenka. There was
a protest of pro Palestine protest simon during the match
as well. H shows to those people for putting it
on the line. Otherwise, Yeah, I mean the final. I
(28:32):
didn't expect it to be an epic, but it served
as a nice underlining moment for iriness apple Anka as
the person to reckon with on the women's tour. I
do want to say, Simon, how hilariously embarrassing it was,
how happy Brits were that, yes, Stremska lost, she made
the finals so that Emma Radricado's bullshit record was safe.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Have some shame people, No, man, that's gotta We've gotta
hold onto those things. They're important. Just done, Sabalanka, just briefly,
just before we forget it. Twenty twenty two US Open, right,
so you can sort of circle goes to the semi
final there losing devastating fashion since that moment, win, semifinal,
semi final, final, win. Is the woman who's at the
(29:20):
top of the sport. She's running deep in every Grand Slam.
Now no surface, I think should she should fit any surface,
and she should be the rest of the field should
be terrified of it.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
We were quick to say big whatever, but I mean
the top two are very, very good, and the people
around them have to answer this call. I think Coco
was okay. I think beforehand again left a lot to
be desired over the last couple of weeks, but I
don't think she she's at the level of those two
at their best to enter her into that conversation as well.
(29:54):
The Serve Tavelenka service is it's elite and it is
a massive games, so I think that's another separation for her.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
It goes in now, it goes down on a twist.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
But elsewhere, yeah, I mean, like the top of the
top half kind of hollowed out. We've got some surprise
semi finalists. I mentioned Jeng will probably be back. Hopefully
we'd like to see that. But do you have any
other lasting takeaways from the women's side of the draw? Simon,
I think it was a little more shock at the
bottom half, and we got that Seblanca golf match that
(30:31):
we wanted. But it does feel like there's some separation
between the elite elite, not to say that they can't
lose on their day. I mean, you got definitely lost,
but I don't think she was hundred percent either.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I think for all the things that we constantly say
about how deep the women's tour is, and I think
that is very true, it's also a testament to the
fact it's testament. It's it's interesting to note I would
say on this one, how quickly. The same people that
talk about how deep the tour is were quick to
deride the top half of this draw when you get
Tech got knocked out for it being k it's kind
(31:04):
of fascinating, a wonderful I don't know, double stands is
the wrong word. I don't mean that, but like it's
I enjoyed that top half of the draw when you
Tek got knocked out because it was all over the shop.
I had no idea who was going to win these matches,
and sometimes it kind of looked like some of these
players who were out there didn't know who was going
to win the matches, which is great, Like that's a
(31:26):
man incredible theater because you have a bunch of players
who probably weren't expecting to make as deep a run
as they did, get put into a position where no,
like you can actually make a Grand Slam final here,
there's no one here in front of you that you
don't think you can beat, or you don't at least
think you're in with a punch of chance of winning against.
And I think that makes a great drama. And I
(31:47):
really enjoyed that about this side of the draw.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
No, it's excellently put and I agree totally push the
top ten after this sharing is in at seven, Maria
Zachary hanging on at nine.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
God, God, this is painful. Matsabalinka is getting close Bush,
She is around eight hundred points off from Ego in
the race for number one. That will be fun this year.
I know there's some points to defend for both of them,
but this race, if it is a big two.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Put a ton of pressure onto Sante going into the
clay court season, doesn't it. She can't have a slip
up there at this point if they both care about
the number one ranking, which sure, why not? If you there,
you might as well take it. You might as well
go it for it. But this is the eagest time
to shine, isn't it, Going into the into the clay,
And geez, I'm saying going into the clay in three
months time or whatever it is when we actually get
(32:41):
that the hard season.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Anything else Bush on the women's side before party shots.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
I don't think so. I enjoyed this drawer a lot.
I thought it was dramatic. I thought we got the
right winner, and despite it being a bit of a procession,
I think that more speaks to the fact of how
good the champion was than the rest of the tour.
I really do, genuinely believe that she has the opportunity
(33:11):
to do a very very special thing in twenty twenty
four and run very deep in all of these tournaments.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Again, excellent, all right. In departing shots, Simon Rohan Bopana,
What a fortnight for him, the elder statesman of Indian tennis,
achieving world number one in men's doubles and winning the
title with Australian Matthew Ebden, beating Italians Bolelli and Vavasori. Bops,
(33:42):
as he's affectionately known Roe, probably called by Chappo. What
a moment, Simon from Bopana.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Absolutely incredible moment. Yes, he's gonna be forty four in
three weeks from the time this episode comes out, forty
four years of age, gets to world number one, wins
the Grand Slam of the year. All I kept thinking
in that final is buttery smooth. The man is so
smooth on a tennis court. Fucking how It's like watching
a Ferrari out there, Like an old Ferrari. Do you
(34:14):
want to use a car metaphor? It's like one of
those casts fen like the nineteen thirties or something. You
look at it, you're just like, yeah, I'm not a
car guy. I don't give a fuck, by the way,
but like just I'm trying to.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
It's like, what what are you talking about? Like okay, yeah, yeah,
I get.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Let's go for an eco conscious metaphor. It's like a bike, right,
Like it's like a beautiful a Brompton. There you go.
That's what people in the bike world like.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I love stats like this where it's like almost backhanded.
But he now tops the open air list for most
attempts made before winning a men's double slammer titled surpassing
Regie Ram at fifty eight. It's all right, thanks, we
get it took a long time, but also fantastic, huge
dad like I feel like his celebrations are also very
dad vibesy, Like the chest thing he does he does
with Ebden I think is hilarious and weird.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Oh my god that there's so much to be said
about row here. One lengthy thing I did think here
was Robot par Is has to be the widest man
on tour.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
He's got to.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
He's so wide.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
That's a fridge.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
The man looks like a door.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
He's squatting. Squatting is the question.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
He's got some big sampress energy on return of server
as well, bending over like a dinosaur looks fantastic.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
He's got a candle link too. He won the one
with Gabby Debrowski at the French Open, so he's got
a mixed doubles title as well. That's why another reason
why that stat was not necessarily like it took them
ninety years to get this title.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Like things gray bird, love it, love the just the
overall energy in the vibe is just fantastic there. It's
great to see him.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
It's a good sign that, like like rand not random,
but like I don't it doesn't Chapo's link with him
doesn't make sense to me, but it does because he
seems like a good guy to have around, right, Like
that's the only reason that there has to be a link.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
And Indian Indian tennis as well, that no know what
of a lie here, Like it's actually a massive win.
Have another Grand Slam champion on the men's side, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
I think this is only discord but and Josh was
asking for a deep dive into why India has has
produced a lot of good doubles players, and I kind
of thought to myself, court time is limited. Doubles makes
sense because there's not that many courts. But I feel
like there's something to be written there. For sure. Perhaps
the front of the show is on it already. But
(36:26):
if he's not.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Do your thing, man, and in honor of and in
honor of.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Are you gonna speak in me again? A lot of
direct messages, shock, anger, fear, frustration once they heard the
open air about full of bush is Hindi.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Here we go, people, I'm going to wish mister bar
congratulations in Hindi. I'm not, of course, I'm not that.
Why would I do that?
Speaker 3 (37:01):
You?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
God damn it? He was waiting. Okay, shout out to
Matthew Ebden as well. Simon. He seems like one of
the hes, like a normal Assi, you know, like someone
you could kill along with, don't. I don't want to
make that sound like Australians are not normal, but you
know what I'm saying. This is like he's not in
the curios. That's basically it. He seems all right.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
I agree with you. For the longest time I saw
his name in a draw and really thought it was
Peter Rebden, the British snooker player, and was like, wow,
that's a big change of direction for mister Rebden.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Getting around this fine.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
It was amazing for that though, right like you have
you have Ebden running around like a blue assed fly
and just all over the net, and you got Boponna
just like gently strolling around the court hitting boss shots
and just economy of movement. Beyond to use that terminology here.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Please listeners right in with who is wider than? It
could be dangerous but genuine only curious? Is there someone timon?
Al Right? We do this every tournament, every Slam for sure.
But was this tournament good? Question? Mark? Was it actually good?
How do you feel now that we're done?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Great?
Speaker 1 (38:14):
It was?
Speaker 2 (38:15):
It was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot. Like
the the winners, I don't want it.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I don't want the revision its history though to gloss
over how close you were to deaf con one, you know,
like we were very close.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah we were, Jesus Christ. It was looking dicey for
a time there. I think across all of the singles
and doubles and everything, you got a lot of feel
good stories of winners. Chisho weigh one of the doubles,
one of the mixed doubles, upon a one of the
men's doubles, uh grout, one of the women's wheelchairs ODA one,
and the men's in the men's singles in the wheelchair
(38:48):
which is you know, it's surprise, And it was a
big grudge match again in the final against against Hewett.
There was good winners all over the place, and I
think it's kind of nice as well, the extent of
winning that against the back drop of some very old
gray beards and gray hair literally in some of the
other disciplines as well.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Said I think you're right, And I think Owen said
this last week when we were at the halfway point
that it was better already, and I think he was
right then and he's right at the end. Like I
think the quality was great. We got a bit lucky
because of some shambalic scheduling that a lot of stuff
was on like through the morning. They are part of
the world, which is kind of rare but always welcome. Yeah.
(39:28):
I had a great time. I was locked in on
ned found myself being a fan fan again for the
first time in a while, which felt nice but also
a bit sad because it didn't go the way I
wanted I was remembering, how like, obviously not to this level,
but twenty nineteen winveld In final probably the lowest point
(39:49):
defendom for me in terms of but I haven't hadn't
got close to feeling that way a bit of a
match in a while, and this one kind of brought
me back. So in some ways I think that's okay.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Of being accosted online for someone who doesn't have a
social media presence. And I do mean this with the
greatest of respect. Also, you know, take this with a
how many caveats? How can I put in front of
this statement? The men's sport is better than novo Jocovich
doesn't win, it just is which is a more interesting place.
(40:24):
And I kind of wonder whether the deep down and
the sort of ghoulish areas of the ATP, whether they
kind of want him to just is it time, Novack,
How you're feeling, how's the body feeling? You want to
hang it up sometime soon? Let some of these other kids.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
But I think it's important that he's still involved though,
you know, because there's got to be someone that people
can use as a as a measuring stick for the Layman,
So I think that and that way, he's still very
important to the greater game. But I get what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, I guess you have that wonderful narrative of slaying
the dragon, and you always have this wild card in
every tournament who's gonna win it? So taking him out
is this huge scalp. As opposed to just the wild
west two titles.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
You get two titles, tied title matches basically whoever can
beat Nomack and then the actual final and oftentimes it
was only one match and Nomac won anyways, So yeah,
I think that's a it's an interesting point. Shall we
get to two challenges to rating? Or you got anything
else for this tournament?
Speaker 2 (41:21):
I mentioned the group briefly, Now if I was every
single time that we talk about the wheelchair singles and
doubles and everything, the winning streak always comes up. Do
you want to take a guess at how many it's at? Now,
FORDI grew four hundred a Grand Slam level, I'd be okay, go.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Anyway off Grandsom levels of it. Let's say ninety more.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Than it's over ninety. So this is twenty one majors
and the winning streak is one hundred and thirty five.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Wow, that's good. That's better than the Undertaker, right, Definitely,
definitely the Grud's got some great writers. I guess that's that's.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
The gain tri going on exactly scripted.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Quite what an accomplishment, but I do it. It's cool
to see as well, the the field getting bigger for
these sports and the accessibility to play at a high
level grow. I think that was a big challenge as well,
in terms of where where these players were coming from,
(42:33):
in which countries could produce wheelchair athletes. It would be
great to see athletes from different nations get the same chance.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Agree. I have a question for you. At what point
do you go from like board to being terrified to
being excited of protecting this winning streak? Do you think
you're like border is right around like forty.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
I would love to know. I mean, I would love
to think that she wants to be beaten, she's just waiting,
or it's a maniacal possession of hers, like call them
in the ring that you cannot afford. So I hope
it's not that, but it would be kind of funny
if it was.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Is there a more impressive streak in all of sport.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
I'm trying to think, don't spoil, don't spoil my two
challenges remaining, because I'm going to get to one.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Leading with that, let's get the two challenges. What is yours?
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Love?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
I love to shout out Simon Bushell's beloved Edmonton Oilers
on the second longest winning streak in NHL history. Surely
this means that they're going to win the Stanley Cup.
And surely by shouting them out here, I'm not chinxing them.
So shout out to the Edmonton Oilers, Simon, what a team.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Have you been enjoying the way they've been winning matches
as well? Matches jes let's get on here.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Look at these Edmonton fans calling these matches Gretzky once
the time. I think they've been playing a bunch of bumps.
The teams they've been playing it in garbage, So let's see,
let's see what happens when they play some real teams.
But nah, good on you guys.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I think there's something really funny about that whole thing
as well, which is that, yes, I think the team
they've played is less than stellar, But then everyone would
fucking do it, wouldn't they what's your sixteen game winning streak?
It would have been so popular teams to do people.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
We had it so good when this team was terrible
at the beginning of the people forget, You'll forget there
are true monsters that lie with him. Okay, that's mine.
What do you got signed?
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Let's talk about the Edvontillton. His name.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Corey Perry.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, exactly, No, seriously, it's nice to see him back
and getting the help that he needs.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
You've gone full Edmonton Talk Radio.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I need to be wearing like a pair of sunglasses
or something, don't I on this broadcast and backwards hot Yeah,
backwards house, Steve Dangle? Can I go? Can we do
a Steve Dangle episode of Open Era at some point
dev where I'm yelling into the camera. Is that possible?
Speaker 3 (45:08):
Soon?
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Soon? My two challenges remaining is is cycling of all
things and specifically waterproof clothing. So what happened to me
was I made the mistake. I have lived in Vancouver
for twelve years and still I got caught out by
this was I had. I was going to go over
to my office and I was cycling across. It's like
(45:30):
a fifteen minute bike ride away, and I saw a
break in the clouds and was like, it's my time
to shine. I'm getting on the bike, I'm getting over
to the office. I'm not going to get wet. Two
minutes into the ride, soaked head to doe. I got
tought in a doubt deluge was completely and utterly soaking.
And I'm there, like with an afternoon full of meetings booked,
completely soaked, no shower, no no tumble dryer.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Now left at that point, I just left all of
your gear on those meetings I did.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
I was so close to being like, oh, I'm not
feeling well. I just gotta go on like I'm feeling so.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Who would have doubted that if these are you soaked?
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Though?
Speaker 1 (46:09):
I think you had you had grounds.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
And in response to this, in a fit of rage,
I went out and bought some waterproof trousers and clothing
for my cycling ride. And since then, it's been funny.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
You mentioned that that's an Actually I feel like this
is an omen. That's my partner. Partner and I and
I get said to embark on a bike ride shortly,
and I always asked if I had waterproof pants and
I don't think so, Simon, I.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
Don't do it, dude, life changing. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Is this how marketing works? Is to sound the algorithm works?
Now it just thoughts, is this even just me throwing
around the word algorithm for all to to explain everything?
Speaker 2 (46:45):
All right, Yeah, I'm technically a sponsored post like That's
what I am at this point. That's the new start
of marketing.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
That's end this year before the Sunday scari is truly
destroyed me a reminder. We are on patron Com Forward
Slash Open Era. I mentioned the discord a bunch because
they're great. The people on there are great. I had
a blast. We had a blast all throughout the tournament
chatting with them. Considering the time zones, like, I thought
the best way for me to catch up literally was
(47:15):
to see what the folks and they were talking about
and then tune in accordingly, So Joe Story to score.
Join us on Patreon and you can join them, plus
you get the show out free and you get it
early on Sundays. We're on x Slash, Twitter dot Com,
Forward Slash Open Air Pod. Really really trying times until
(47:36):
Novac and it's fair I've got kicked out, but truly
deranged fan bases out there. Holy cow. I don't know
if it's it is definitely worse, but like got what
it says, pool X.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Should we go to Threads.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
I haven't opened that app in a long time and
I don't think I will, so.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
Okay, good decision.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
It's all bad. Probably okay for a pretty ucer dial
on the ones and to use Andrew Simon, thank you
so much for listening the open Era. We'll talk to
you next time.
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