Replay: The Nick Kyrgios Episode

It’s never boring when it comes to Nick Kyrgios. The Australian taltenizes with his ability on the court and his penchant for keeping to extremely real off of it. Ask 10 tennis fans about Kyrgios you’re going to get 10 different answers about their personal feelings towards the ATP’s iconoclast. This week revisit his stunning run in Acapulco and a new appreciation for NK.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hither Simon here, Devang and Iare still enjoying a few weeks to have
some R and R while we aretaking our annual tennis holes. Let's take
a look back to the mercurial NickKuraos, never far away from the spotlight,
the lightning rod Australian has had asomewhat up and down twenty twenty three.

(00:21):
When we looked at his career duringthe pandemic in twenty twenty, we
marveled at his brilliance and shook ourheads at what shall we say, his
quirks. Anyway, enjoy and we'lltalk very soon. Hello in Welcome to

(00:48):
the Open Air Podcast. My nameis Deven Desai and I'm joined as always
by mister Simon Bush or bush It'sepisode fifty to half century. Congratulations,
sir, I raise my bat upto the terraces Lord's cricket ground. Yeah,
there is some polite golf clapping goingon as we reached the fifty mark.
I do feel proud in a certainway we managed to get there.

(01:08):
I feel good about it, asdo I. We waited till fifty to
just make this a straight up crickettennis podcast. We all had it.
We had it in mind for awhile, but we waited to the half
century to wave to the adoring crowd, but in all seriousness to echo Bush's
comments. Massive thanks to those whohave listened to us from episode one or
we're just picking it up now.It's meant a lot and we love doing

(01:30):
this show. But Live ten isstill I mean Live Tour ten is still
a ways away. So this weekwe cover maybe the final newsmaker of the
pandemic, the voice of reason ina world of lunacy. Yeah, of
course I'm talking about Nick Kirios Bush. That's how we've always known him,
right, absolutely, and what afascinating player, not just his on the

(01:53):
court antics but off the court aswell. He's an amazing person to talk
about in so many ways. Thetalent alone inside of the four lines of
a tennis court is quite astonishing.So I'm excited to look back at some
of the stuff that he's done,and we're specifically talking about his exploits in
Mexico, which go down in historyfor an amazing tournament and a couple of

(02:15):
amazing matches, but we'll also touchon some of the other things that have
happened recently with him. With hiscomments surrounding some of the more idiotic and
chaotic things that have happened around theATP tour and some of the ATP's biggest
stars roving around COVID nineteen. Toborrow a phrase from another sport, we
love soccer, the shit housery NickKurios displayed in Acapulco is a legendary display

(02:39):
of basically being the wrestling heel andwinning and making everyone mad at him and
loving it. And that's the NickCurios. I think the situation, it's
it's a superb player on his daywho can really take out the top guys
and does not wilt when he doesplay the world number one, whether it

(03:00):
be Novak or Rafa or Roger.But he's also a guy that probably loses
matches you don't expect him to lose. And I think among the things that
we'll also touch on, I thinkis the fact that Nick Curios is okay
with not being the best. Andit goes back to what we talked about
in the Coco goth episode Bush,because I think it's a rare thing for

(03:21):
someone that good to admit that they'reokay with being just that good and not
needing to be great. You don't, really, you don't hear athletes talk
that way. No, you don't. And it's one of the more extraordinary
parts about who he is as aperson as well, that in a lot
of ways you can't really deny whathis stances on this thing, which is
he's made a ton of money,He's in the top fifty in the world,

(03:44):
He's had good runs at multiple GrandSlam levels. He's beaten pretty much
everyone that he's come across. Idon't think he holds. I think he
hasn't beaten a player inside of thetop twenty at the moment, which is
quite extraordinary for a player to justhave a not a winning recket, of
course, but has at least gota victory against everyone, and you mentioned
it. Of course. The thingthat's really special about him is that he
wants those matchups, right, Hewants the federal matchup, he wants Nadal,

(04:08):
he wants Jokovic, and he doesn'tshy away from it. And I
think it is that alone which makeshim one of the more fascinating characters on
tour, because you hear all thetime of players you want to stay away
from those big three. He definitelydoes not. So before we get to
the tournament in Mexico last year,I think we mentioned Curios is a lightning
rod to be sure. I mean, there's no getting around it. I

(04:28):
think tennis media as well, there'sa dearth of stories that revolve outside of
like the Big Three, Serena.There's like this weird mix of other stories
that float around, and usually Curiosis picked out as like that that main
clickbait part in the phrase. Butit's true, I think right like Nick

(04:51):
Kurios has written about anything that hedoes while there is on the quarter off
the court, but he didn't helphimself in the earlier days or in twenty
eighteen, in twenty nineteen basically losingthe plot on court a couple of times
and really getting people angry with himBush. I think there's certain there is
a few sides of this as well. In twenty eighteen was a tough year

(05:14):
for him by most accounts, injured, I think for the first real time
in his career, having some seriousinjuries, also very openly struggling with his
own mental health in terms of someof the things that were expected of him,
just the position that he was inin life as well, and I
think all of that sort of cameto a head with him just not really
caring a whole lot. And accusationsof tanking were right around this time,

(05:38):
and he's often been associated with thatword specifically, maybe more so than anyone
else in the history of the sport, we would say, And he's had
some run ins with chair umpires.Of course, you have the very famous
scene of I believe it's is itMuhammad Liani who's trying to give him advice
on court, Who's saying, Nick, I'm trying to help you here,
which led to a bunch of handringing and Monica being dropped the amount of

(06:01):
like the vitriol let alone at Curios, like not handling himself. I guess
well Leani was like They're like this, you just can't do this, and
it was strange. But I feellike only Nick Kirios can involve in a
situation like that blush right, Like, I feel like it's a it's a
one in a million situation when youhave an umpire pleading with a player.

(06:24):
He is like involved with officiating.He's like asking him just try a little
harder. Everyone in the tennis worldseems to be saying this to Nick Curios,
and I do think there are somecomparisons with him and Ernest Golbis as
well, just in terms of personalitytypes and in terms of play style and
all the other things. But Ido think that there's a certain amount of
this, which is especially on themen's side. You get you tend to

(06:45):
get two distinct categories of players orpeople who come up through and play the
sport at a high level. Youneed to get people who one side of
it, which is people who aredesperate to succeed and will grind out anything
and the whole life revolves around thestay that came from nothing and they've made
a living out of this. Orthere's the other side of it, which
is that it's often from very wealthyfamilies. They like the sport, of

(07:11):
course, but they're kind of happywith where they are and they see it
as a living, especially if you'reinside of the top one hundred. Curios
kind of sits somewhere in the middleof that, which is a very rare
thing in tennis, right, whichis that it is important to him to
a certain extent. But he's alsospoken hopingy about how he wants to be
a basketball player and how he wishedhe was as well. And it's not
often that you find someone who isthis extraordinarily talented who really doesn't really give

(07:34):
a damn about the sport that he'schosen to play, and it makes for
a fascinating character and one that Ithink oft and oftentimes I think the ATP
should do much more to embrace ina lot of ways, because there's some
very very vanilla personalities and if youlook at it through the lens of what
I just said, in those twoparticular camps, it does lead to some
pretty bland personalities and some pretty blandsort of situations within the sport, which

(07:59):
I think in some ways is whyChurios anything that he does gets magnified,
is because the rest of the sportis quite boring to especially on the men's
sde I think the women's is alittle different, but the men's side,
certainly it is a little dull andoutside of the Big three. You can
see why he is a figure thatthe ATP tries to elevate in some ways
and puts his name into the headlights. I do think in some ways to

(08:22):
round that out, it is quitesimilar to the NHL in some ways right
that it is kind of boring,like the personalities of the players, and
it is, for the most parta fairly rich person sport or a very
very very very working class sport interms of hockey is and I think there's
certain parallels in terms of how thepersonalities come across one hundred percent, and
I think they don't really need todo a better job of marketing him right

(08:45):
now. And it goes back tothat racket article, Matt Willison's article we
talked about a couple of weeks ago, right where they're kind of resting on
their laurels with the idea that fedNadal, Joker Serena are selling this game
and they don't really need to domuch. But I think it's the writing
is on the wall that they willhave to very soon, if not already,
because they're losing ground. Heelther's sportslike F one and Nick Krios.

(09:07):
Crrios is that kind of guy wheremaybe he's not Lando Norris and he's streaming
on Twitch, but he definitely doesbring something else to the table that not
many people do in tennis. It'sa fact. It's a really interesting situation
now as well, because I thinkout of the coronavirus pandemic and out of
everything that's happened, very few tennisplayers have covered themselves well, and I

(09:30):
don't think we would have guessed itbe Curios being one of them that did,
or like spoke out forcefully about thingsthat people believed in and people thought
was right. So I think that'sbeen great to see. But I think
on this week's episode, we're goingto go to a point where this is
Nick Currios at an amazing level tenniswise, and it's also him at an
amazing level as the character that Ithink we want tennis to embrace. But

(09:56):
it is up to Nick as wellto bring the goods with his game,
and he definitely that in Mexico ASimon, no kidding. This is a
extraordinary week. And I mentioned Ihope you enjoyed reading through some of my
notes to Vang because I have myown, my own quips that sometimes I
try and refer back to here.But every single match in this stupid tournament,
and I say that in the mostpolite way possible, because it looks

(10:20):
like it's filmed underwater, this match, this this tournament, with the way
the camera setup makes it look likeit was filmed at three o'clock in the
morning through like an artistic you knowwhen you have like first year art students
who are filming projects. It's likethey put a filter over everything just to
make it look a bit more spicy. Every single match in this tournament has

(10:41):
a storyline that we could talk aboutfor hours, and it's really funny that
you have it lines up so perfectlythat the players that he plays against and
plays really really well against. It'sjust awesome, and it's a It's the
kind of thing that you really hopeif tennis is to evolve and to make
itself more accessible to people, thisis the kind of week that you want

(11:01):
to see more of. Disclaimer.I was listening to some some NK clips
beforehand and I heard the commentators saycurios a bunch, and I looked it
up, and that is the correctpronunciation. But I've been saying nick kurios
forever, so I've been trying tograpple with the idea that I've been saying
it wrong and now trying to sayit correctly. But if I do say

(11:22):
curios from time to time, itis not intentional. I just I'm struggling
here. So I may a culpbefore we get into this bush, but
I think it's it's curios. Ithink it's curiosity. Do I say it
correctly? I have to check myselfnow. I feel like the British way
of saying it is the correct way. But who knows you would say that
right. I think that's been theBritish Empire's modus apparandi for quite a while.
Oh my good, we're doing itthe right way. We're doing it

(11:43):
the right way. I think that'sa fat That is a fatha. And
the other thing the court. Ithought the court colors maybe the most beautiful
I've ever seen on a hard court. Agree, it looks like a swimming
pool, doesn't it. It lookslike that beautiful sort of blue ocean coin
that you see when you look outat a sparkling summer day on the Pacific

(12:05):
Ocean. It literally does, andthe shading is perfect, and it does
look like they're levitating on water,which a man from Australia basically did.
When we come back after the break, it's the Acapulco run in twenty nineteen
from Nick Curios. Coming up nextto Open Era. Welcome back to the

(12:35):
Open Air Podcast. It's your Curiosat the Mexico Open in Acopolco, twenty
nineteen edition. Bush. I mean, it's a hell of a run.
It's a hell of a lineup ofplayers that Nick plays throughout. It's pretty
wild, It's incredibly wild. Let'sjust do a little bit more scene setting.

(12:56):
I said that he was off theback of tanking and mental health problem
and an injury that he suffered aswell in twenty eighteen, which leads into
twenty nineteen. He also chatted abouthow seeing the fight between deionte Wardo and
Tyson Fury sort of gave him someimpetus to get back and play a sport,
so that he I was gonna saylove, but that's really not true,

(13:18):
is it. It's a skill thathe is his professional career. Let's
go with that instead, which leadsinto this tournament and realistic nothing is expected
of him here. He's seventy secondin the world. I think this is
probably the lowest he's been in along time, and the lineup of players
that he has to play. Thedrawer is not favorable to him at all.

(13:41):
He has to get through Andre Seppiin the first round, which is
not an easy matchup at all beforeof course the hotly anticipated second round matchup
before the tournament against Rafa and Adalif it was going to take place.
But also this tournament's full of stars. The Rinka's in this tournament isn't's in
this tournament. Sorry, he's nota star zvers in this tournament. So
there are players in this tournament thathe has to get through in order to

(14:03):
make a solid run here. Butreally nothing is expected going into this tournament.
It's a good job. Our friendJohn Millman is here, Steve Johnson,
Francis Tifo, Alex Demonauer is here, Diego Schwartzman. Rafa Nadal obviously
the clear fan favorite most places hegoes with That's especially so in Alcopolko at
this tournament, while Martin del Pochowould be a close second, but he
was unable to defend his title fromtwenty eighteen. When it's a good field,

(14:26):
it's a good field for not maybethe most high profile tournament, it's
one that you don't see every starcircle on their calendar. Some of them
always go. Rafa goes a lot, Sasha Zverev has gone since he's gone
on the tour, but Kirios isstill a draw, and I think as
a wild card in this tournament,he's unseated. He's kind of positted in

(14:48):
a place where he's supposed to becannon fodder for Rafa in the second round
if he can get there. Causeeppi'sa guy that can give people problems.
I think in twenty nineteen this isthe Swan song of Seppi. Really maybe
dangerous on any hard court. Ithink that might be being too generous to
him even saying that. But they'vehad some good matches before, right bush,
So is that unquestionable to say thathe might have some problems here.

(15:11):
No, And the pair met inAustralia in twenty fifteen and in twenty seventeen,
and curis lots and lots of cause, curis lots and lots of problems.
They shared five set wins each andboth of them are absolute epics that
I would encourage you to go backand watch. Seppi Loki very good watch
in a lot of ways. Justa really solid player who also has a
flare for some sort of exciting creativemoments on courses on court as well.

(15:37):
So they are a good matchup witheach other. They so both of those
ones a sort of fresh in thememory, and this is probably Curios's best
performance in a long time. Inthe first round against Seppi, he plays
extraordinarily well, bangs down thirteen eightes, serves extraordinarily well and sort of dispatches

(15:58):
him in an hour and fifteen minutes. And if you look around some of
the reports from this time, lotsof people basically saying that this is this
is as good as Curios has lookedin a long long time. So big
confidence building when and going into thesecond round matchup with Rafael and Nadal,
the one that everyone has circled inthe calendar and Devang there is history between

(16:22):
these two, and I think it'sfair to say that these two do not
like each other a hell of alot. That is very fair. You
mentioned Curios is coming in like hisstar is fallen low. But the name
he had made for himself, atleast to this point on the tour was
a guy that was taking out bigguns seemingly when they were at their best,
and Rafa Nadal was one of them. The way it went down contentious,

(16:45):
I think you could say, simon, and that led to some some
animosity that just continued to Linger itfelt like I think this also stems back
from that first wimboarded matchup when Carrios, of course took Rafa and A out
and if you look at sort ofbaby face Nick twenty fourteen, maybe that

(17:06):
long ago. I think it wastwenty fourteen, right, they played each
other when he took Nadal out.I'm not sure Nadaal particularly likes the antics.
I'm not sure he likes the flareon court. And I've come around
a lot on Rafay on Nadal andI think he does. I think he's
a very good person and a verygood guy. But I think there is
a little bit of a stick upthe backside when it comes to carry ofs
in particular, and I think theremight just be a lotle bit of a

(17:29):
blind spot when it comes to this. Dude is basically a clown, right,
and sorry, a clown is thewrong word. This guy is basically
a troll, and you're being trolledby the person, and that's exactly what
they want you to do. Itshould be noted coming into this match,
Kiras likes, likes playing in Mexico, and especially likes being an Acopolco.

(17:49):
There is pictures around this time ofhim going to have some drinks. There
is chap going into this match thathe has a bit of food poison.
I'm not speculating where that came from. There is some pictures around there with
him being on a jet ski,so I'm just saying that he is enjoying
the lifestyle of being at this tournament. Perhaps not what you want coming up

(18:12):
against the most professional grinder of alltime, but you know what, I
think a lot of guys probably wentin with that mindset where they didn't sleep
the night before when they had toplay a Roger or Rafa or Novak.
You're super nervous, or like I'mplaying one of the greats, I'm gonna
be so tight, like this isnot going to go well for me,
but I'm gonna try my best.And they overthink it and they outthink themselves,

(18:33):
and I don't think the Curios wasgoing to do that. I think
this is a player that is spottedat pubs near tournaments that he's at on
a pretty regular basis, including Wimbledon. Like I think that this is a
guy that has found an equilibrium wherehe's happy treating the game as he does
when everyone else is not, andwhen everyone else is not happy, it's

(18:53):
usually because they see glimpses of curioslike they do in this second round matchup
against Doll, which I think frombeginning to end is probably one of the
better hardcore matches from twenty nineteen.The atmosphere bush absolutely electric. We've talked
about some matches in these look backsover the past few weeks and months,
but have at two thousand and oneWimbledon being an absolute ultimate highlight. But

(19:17):
atmosphere wise, what like this wasjust electric charge? So good off the
chart's good this one is. It'sone of those that we always call out
tennis for being stuffy and all overthe place. If we could just have
more crowds and more tournaments like inAcapolca, I think we'd probably do fairly
well. Boisterous, colorful, electric, any adjective you want to use to
describe what this crowd is like,you can have it all. One of

(19:40):
the best crowds I have heard fora match in a very long time.
Obviously they love Raffa, but theyhate Carryos. They hate him. It's
amazing. The booze and the whistles, the white hankies, everything you could
possibly want from a Mexican crowd froma Latin crowd born of the sort of
football foundom that's bought into a tennisarena. It's on the coast. Everyone's

(20:03):
there to have a good time,have a few drinks, enjoy some very
high class tennis. And this isan amazing match between these two. Nadalad
the head to head three two headinginto this match, and he's fresh fresh
off of an absolute demolition in Beijing. I think maybe not fresh off is
the wrong word, but I thinkthat the last like divisioning file, it's

(20:26):
in twenty seventeen, it's a measuringpoint. I think that Nidal has something
to prove as well with that thatloss, that win will instill in his
mind from a few years ago.But at this point it's Nadal the clear
favorite. I don't think the firstset does anything to dissuade that notion.
It's Nadal being just better than Curiosby a far margin. In the first

(20:48):
set, push looks pretty textbook.I mean, nothing shocking from what I
saw, No me neither. Ido think in this first set, the
thing that stands out for me isthat Kris can rally with him, and
it's very very rare to see someonewho is not afraid to trade blows with
n daph in the back of thecourt, and Curios just possesses such easy

(21:08):
power off both wings. And wealways talk about weapons, don't we.
And I think this is true acrossmost sports. Like what is it that
elevates you as an athlete, oras a team or as an individual above
everyone else, or as a coachin a lot of ways, what is
that one thing that separates you?And Curios has like fifteen of them.

(21:29):
That's the I think that's the thingthat makes people pull their hair out about
him is that he can play anyway that you want him to play,
and he can do it at alevel that's better than most players in the
world. Which one of them isyour favorite of his? Bush? Because
I have one by a mile.If I could choose one of those fifteen,
I know what I would use.I think I think on the run

(21:49):
ability to create power is one ofmy favorite things I've ever seen on a
tennis court, Just watching someone who'spulled out wide, just unleashed, like
one hundred five mile an hour offorehand out, no backswing, Like that's
not normal. You shouldn't be ableto do that. It's just incredible to
watch. That's a great shout.I think the serve is a great shout

(22:10):
that serves as a rocket. ButI love the I love his touch.
I love the the slicy attempts toput on balls. I like the shots
he tries to create with spin.I think it's something rare from a power
player like he is, like someonewho can hit absolutely through the court,
also has obscene hands that he cando pretty much whatever he wants for the

(22:33):
tennis ball, and to have thatability is something else. I think the
best comp and I know this isgonna sound silly, and I think it's
because I have the NBA on mybrain, but best comp in terms of
another sport is someone like Anthony Davis, Like someone who should be just a
power monster just crushing people and doesthat routinely, but also just has such
soft hands, such ability to workaround the basket, can shoot three points,

(22:57):
can do just about everything. Isjust the size of him and the
athlete that he is just completely trouncespeople in just a raw power way.
And I think that is kind ofhow I would summarize what Nick Kuraos is
as well. Just the touch thathe has is alone is amazing. And
I always come back to that pointbecause I think it's very funny in the

(23:18):
Labor Cup when Nadal and Federer aretalking about him and saying that he reads
the game really well. I thinkhe does. I think he just has
such a natural ability on the coreto understand where the ball is and to
know how to hit an aggressive shotor a winning shot, not necessarily aggressive,
but a winning shot in a point. And that is that's not only
god given talent, but that isjust a natural understanding of the game and

(23:41):
an enormously high IQ level for thesport of tennis. With all that being
said, it's looking especially grim afterthe first set because he's down to Nadal,
but he's also taking a medical timeout. You mentioned the food poisoning
quote unquote. He said he tooksome tablets to physio gave him which made
him feel woozy. He was alsodealing with a knee injury. It's medical
timeout after the first set. Chancesare he could retire. The comm hereters

(24:03):
seem to be predicting he will retire, but he doesn't. He comes back
out for the second set to givethe fans a show. Maybe they didn't
want to see because he's not goingaway at all. And I think you
get an idea of how serious thesecond set's going to be when Curios Unleash
is a you know, a dropshot with the hubrist that you maybe need

(24:25):
to confront a man like Rafae andthe Doll on a stage like this.
You know, when you're playing sportand you see a shot in your mind
and you think, wow, Ican do that. You have that sort
of split second moment like whatever sportyou're playing, I think, in goodness
me, that's that's there for me, I can do it. And then
you try it and it spectacularly fails, and you're like a complete idiot.

(24:47):
It's like carry Us has that everysingle shot that he hits, except he
makes all of them. That's thecrazy thing, and the one that you're
talking about. He gets dragged outwide and the correct shot is just to
play a slice shot middle of thebaseline, recover and get back to the
middle of the core, not dropshot, sort of a reverse hand drop
shot cross core for a straight winner. I mean, it is the right

(25:07):
shot, isn't it, Because hewins the point. So maybe I'm maybe
I'm a full here, right andwith the nonchalance as he's pulling it off
as well, just adding to theperfection of the image. Rafa's incredulity as
he's watching this unfold, but he'snot going away, and then some by
holding his serve and getting into someadult service games. But I think the

(25:30):
under arms serve bush is probably thebiggest talking point as well. Before we
get to the tie break, Rafais standing nine thousand feet behind the baseline.
We've been pleading for people to dothis more often. Makes sense.
I know it's controversial, but damnit makes sense. How is it controversial
to bang? How did this everbecome this sport? Is this sport?
This sport is stuck in nineteen ninetyeight or wherever and wherever they want to

(25:56):
be, That's how. But Iknow, I know, I always think
it's funny when people talk about likehow you know all the stuff around care
he'd likes to go to bars andlikes to go in drinking and you know,
enjoys the party life. What doyou think happened in all of these
team sports in like the seventies andthe eighties, They weren't choir boys paragons
of virtue. Simon I'll have nothose slander are directed to the greats of

(26:18):
the game of Yesterdayear what do youthink andre Agassi was doing? Silly,
silly, silly stuff more under armedserving and I mean, hey again,
if you want to stand that farback and you want to get into a
point against someone with Nadoll's ability,I think you could try to give yourself
every advantage you can. So hedoes it there. That's also a revelation.

(26:41):
Now the crowd is out for blood. I think they took that underarm
served bush as a personal affront.It seemed like they would be targeted by
the Australian. But it's a it'sa banger of a set, and we
get to a banger of a tiebreak in which the curiosity looks fantastic till
the early but it's a big,big result. He wins the tiebreak and

(27:03):
he busts out one of the bestair guitar celebrations we've seen in Sometimes it's
a good moment, it is.It's a great moment. The comeback is
well and truly on. Nick Carrioshas found a way to turn this set
in his favor. When he wasas close as you can be to walking

(27:23):
out of the stadium when he wasa set down, he say four break
points and he's dominates at the timebreak We're going all the way and I
could pull cut. Crowd angry like, wow, we got to stay around
for this? What is this?Who with this guy carry us busting out
the air guitar basically making that youcan't go home sign. And basically the

(27:45):
camera contrast level going from bright todark court being maybe twenty five percent visible
with the darkness. It's it's allgreat. It all makes for great cinema.
It's fantastic. It does. It'sactually really really unique going back and
watching the highlights of this, becauseyou expect us to see just a normal
looking tennis court, and then justwatching this in particular, there's a very

(28:07):
compact feel to them. There's avery enclosed, sort of suffocating feel that
this court has and just everything aboutit, and just these two are the
perfect gladiators to play against each other, and they match up so well personality
and style wise. I think that'sout of the matchups, obviously, I
would take number one as curious againstFederick because they're just some of the matches

(28:29):
they've had their Labor Cup encounters havebeen incredible. I think watching him play
against someone who is so so solidas Djokovic and just hitting through the all
time greatest wall of all time isanother wonderful feeling to watch. But this
one against Nadult, he has towork really, really, really hard,
and Nadal's not going to give himanything. And I think that's what makes

(28:52):
all three players so different in theirstyles. And there isn't that many players
in the world. And I wouldchallenge anyone to sort of answer this question,
how many players in the top onehundred in the world can beat all
three of these players the way thatCarryos can. There's not that many of
them. You would argue someone likeWavrinka could do it. You would argue

(29:12):
someone like Delpo could do it,and then you're kind of running thin.
Sorry Dennis Millman, of course,Dennis moment, David Milman, John Millman,
right now, Dennis Milman, John, my goodness, sorry, sorry
to good friend of the show.My god. Stan put together some of

(29:34):
these runs where he literally lights outand at the highest level of being able
to hit winners from very bad positionsbecause they constantly put in bad positions by
these three guys. Because that's whatthey excel at. But you're right,
I mean it's a very short listcurrent players, even a couple of years
ago. I think now Bandian,as we went into in depth, got

(29:55):
lightning in a bottle in a goodmoment in time to take all three out.
But it's a very very short listedI think we were glossing over what's
happening before these tie breaks, butjust to stay in these sets against the
Nadal that's playing well, I wouldnot say this is Nadal playing poorly.
I think it's a really good matchfrom both players. And the third set,

(30:18):
I mean, as expected, weget this build up of amazing second
set and a big culmination in thetiebreak for Kirios. It's a bunch of
the same in a third set,toe to toe, big shots, not
a lot of room in between eitherplayer. Another tiebreak and honestly, Bush
I think I mentioned there's a bunchof times here. But like Ralph,

(30:41):
Nadal to me is the most impressivecompetitor. He's one of those players that
you really have to you have toearn. I guess what you're gonna get.
He's not gonna give anything to you, which is a massive cliche,
but I think that it's Nadal toa t I don't know what the all
happens here. Honestly, I thinkthis match is done and dusted, watching
it again like it should have beenover. It's astonishing that he doesn't win

(31:02):
the match. He's up six'three, he has match points. This
is Nadals speaking. The crowd isfired up. They're all over the place
and ready to celebrate a big winfor favorite, favorite player and everything.
And I think Kurios got so annoyed, just so so angry at the historyonics

(31:23):
and the doll gets to get tomatch point. I mean, he gives
it such a big one. Touse the British the British phrase. He
is fist pumping like crazy, wavingof the crowd, waving the arms and
everything. And what follows through thenext sort of five minutes as a period
is one of the most entertaining andfunny moments I've seen on a tennis court,

(31:45):
because everything that a troll could possiblythink up of doing. And imagine
the worst troll that you know,Imagine that blue egg, sorry the blue
check mark or the egg on Twitter, the deepest troll who also happens to
be one of the most talented tennisplayers of all. That's basically what happens
here. First match point, Curioshits one of the most insane volleyed winners

(32:07):
I think we've ever seen with againthat nonchalance like I do this every day,
not a big deal, arrogance thatleaves everyone in awe. You get
an amazing guest there for Rafa Nidalkind of checking himself and also realizing that
Curios has no regard for human life, as our friend Kevin Harlan once said,
like it's a ridiculous shot. It'sit's the audacy to try it when

(32:30):
you're going to lose. I thinkhe's totally fine with losing as well,
which is why he tries that.Yeah, and this is all off the
back, of course, of himbashing down an ace to get to six
four, which is cooled back bythe share umpire because Nadal being what Nadal
does, is he takes his time. He takes his sweet time. He
puts the hand up and says thathe's not ready, and by the way,

(32:52):
he was clearly ready. But that'sa different story in its entirety.
And Kurios is furious has he breaksthe umpire. He's smashed his racket on
the ground sort of anyway between thefirst and the second serve. He then
goes very very slowly to pick upa new racket from his bag, and
I mean extraordinarily slowly, just tofully hammer home the points. And it's

(33:14):
all about time wasting. It lookslike you know the Charlie Brown slow walk
back to the chair, or youknow when you're in school and they say,
yeah, go and go and dothat thing, and you're like,
oh, I don't want to,so I'll go and do it as slowly
as possible. This is exactly whatCurious does and so angry he's staring straight

(33:34):
through him. To change your racketagain. He's down a match point and
he's faulted once. To change yourracket at that point, I mean,
you're just showing like I frankly don'tcare, like I don't think. He
gives a damn and it it's knownto everyone in attendance, it's known to
people watching. It's an amazing one. When he comes back, gets gets

(33:57):
the point with another volleyed winner.You call it a lucky shot. It
hits the tape and lands on theline. It's a hilarious moment again because
at this point, maybe Nidal isbeginning to dote that it's meant to be
for him, which you rarely getto get to see from the Spaniard.
Right, it's a really rare occurrencethat six' five Nadal makes an air
double faults in double faults. He'sit's one one time in my I think

(34:22):
is the list on my hand isvery short of the times I can remember
them that are completely being shook,and I think this is it. Here
he completely loses the plot and it'svery very strange, maybe the atmosphere and
the player that he's playing against,but he dumps the seconds of right at
the bottom of the net. It'snowhere near close. And what follows is

(34:44):
Keios plays a very standard point andsteals a win and goes absolutely insane second
serve match point. It's long andit is incredible, an unbelievable free for

(35:06):
Curios. How on earth has heachieved it? Who knows? Nadele desolate
Curios emphatic, delirious booze from thecrowd cheers as well, but the most

(35:27):
extraordinary performance from both of these players. Most of the fans on their feet
to applaud an incredible night that noone here will ever forget. And curios
incredibly as one three Sex seven Sexseven six got to love just audible booze
coming raining down following the end ofa match. I love it. I

(35:49):
love what happens in tennis. Somethinghas gone wrong, it's usually for the
better in terms of entertainment or thespectacle. It is definitely it. Nadal
posts I mean the handshake for onething. I've the match one of the
most curt that we've seen, Nadaldecerately knowing any part of it. He's
called after the match saying, quote, I don't think he's a bad guy,
not at all. I think he'sa good guy. But what he

(36:10):
lacks is a little respect for thepublic, for his rival, and also
for himself. I think you shouldimprove that. Today we have to say
congratulations. He was good an hewon classic Rapher. He's like, you're
a terrible human being. You discussme. You play well today, shaws
to you, great job man,but you you yourself, you discussed me

(36:30):
at ah. Also, I don'tthink he did anything wrong. I really
don't. In this match alone.Yeah, I know the thing at the
end can probably wind you up alittle bit, but you gotta stay from
his perspective as well. Nadal makesa living of winding players up by taking
ninety seconds between points, and forsomeone to actually do it back to him,

(36:51):
it's the ultimate cathartic moment if you'rea hater of that sort of behavior
on core and the end of that, to hear the booze ranging down,
it is very much And here comethe prep souls from that Simpsons episode.
Whether it's just lobbing things, it'sit looks like a WCW ring back in
the nineties, where people are likelobbing trash into the middle of the ring.

(37:13):
It would be excused to think thatthis wasn't a tennis match. If
we saw Kurt Henning walking around thecenter court there in Mexico, I wouldn't
have been shocked because it did feellike a nineties WCW crowd. Credible scenes.
I mean the doll I think thedoll double. He didn't double down,
but I think he tried to clarifyby saying, like, think about
the children with an example curios setsand it's a good one for the kids

(37:34):
because kids are like this, man, these are what kids are like like.
I think people have to understand thatthis is what people are like now,
and I think not everyone is goingto be the Big three or reach
the stratosphere of the Big Three,and I think it's hard for guys like
Raffa to see that. I thinkthat's the issue in the way they look
at someone like Nick. Also,the line from his quote, one of

(37:57):
the best things our generation have withme, Roger and Novak was always respect
for each other. For Novak,really, what are you talking about?
Yeah, man, sure, sure. So we go from a shocker against
Nadal into another big match against StanRavrinka, who we mentioned before. Nick

(38:19):
Currios. Obviously he's a lightning rod. He's done many things. He's done
bad things as well. I thinkhe's done stupid things, He's done offensive
things. I think this is anexample of one of them. Bush with
Stan. Yeah, and I don'tknow how much we want to dive into
the Vavrinka storyline. It probably deservesits own sort of mini episode in itself.
But effectively, the background is thatkras has said some said some vulgar

(38:44):
things which a microphone picked up.I don't really want to repeat it because
I don't want to get as bannedfrom the internet. Effectively, these two
don't like each other a hell ofa lot, and I think that an
underrated and the low key thing thatthat needs to be said about Vavrinka is
is also quite lippy himself and doesspeak to this as well. It's kind
of known that Virinka does say afew things on court as well and is

(39:07):
known to piss off quite a fewpeople. And I think if you're gonna
sort of have that sort of behavioron court, there's one player in the
world who is gonna be probably givingit back to you. And more some
the fact also that Nick Carrous isAustralian and the sort of legacy of sledging
as well that comes out of that, the sporting culture as well, probably
the worst person to pick a fightwith on a tennis care So after that

(39:30):
incident that Stan had with Curios forVrinka kind of echoing what you hear a
lot of in terms of the elderstatesman on the tour, the respected statesman
on the tour saying court, Ijust hope the ATP takes big measures against
him. He's young, but that'sno excuse every match he behaves very badly.
The problem is he doesn't just behavebadly towards himself. He behaves badly

(39:52):
towards the people around, the otherplayers, the ball kids, the umpires.
I really hope the ADP will takemajor action against him this time.
So that's the background between him again, it's like it's just like school yard
stuff, talking about girlfriends and otherplayers on the tour. Stupid stuff that
was caught on a mic near thecourt during a Canadian Open event. So

(40:13):
that adds to the animosity as weget to this quarter final encounter in Alcoholko.
It's a great match, Bush,I mean it's tight, super tight.
More tie rakes. Two guys,you can hit the piss out of
the ball, and we love towatch that great match. Another one you
should try to, you know,find a way to watch again if you
can do. I believe it's allon Tennis TV at the moment. So
do your self a favor and checkthese two. I mean these two whenever

(40:34):
they play each other, or whenevereach of them plays a good watching just
the way they hit the ball socleanly off either wing. Caryos wins is
resoundly bued, resoundly booed. Atthe end of this match, the Pretzels
continue to rain down at the endof this one, and it isn't really
his surprise, but he's fully embracedthe villain role at this point and a

(40:57):
huge win. Honestly, a hugewin and one that I think he built
upon the confidence that he gained outof that Nadal win against a player who
was coming back in to form.I think Vivrinka had an underrated second half
of his twenty nineteen and also hadan underrated US Australian Open at the start
of twenty twenty as well. Sothere's a player that can still play at

(41:17):
the top level and carry us toget this win here is an enormous achievement.
I thought it was pretty shocking whenCurios spray painted nWo and the body
of Stanvrinka before leaving the court.I don't know if that was called for
it, but I mean this isthe new World Audit Rate, so yeah,
well I expected it. I haveto say I saw the swerve coming,
so we can't really be surprised aboutit. Dvan can I can I

(41:40):
queue up y semifinal because I havesome things I'd like to say about this.
Please note to our listeners as well. When I just want to know
before I read Simon put the Nosetogether for this episode, and I had
probably the best laugh I've had insome time, because it's a good entry
and it's spent some bleak time,so you need laughter in but this is

(42:00):
good. Well, when we talkedabout this episode, I feared that it
might run a bit long, andthen I saw who carry Us played in
the semi final in the final,and after you know, some of the
events that have happened over the pastweek, I figured it was a good
time that we can just certain peoplehave been canceled from this podcast, and
I think rightfully so. So inthe in the semifinal, Carrios plays against

(42:21):
John, Isn't it and that's theend of that. Isn't lose us?
Carry Us wins and we can moveon to the final. Well, he
plays Alexander Verev in absolutely demo sasheswhere of three and four like sashes really
touches Carryos here. I think there'sa sign of again it's my favorite worry,

(42:42):
but the audacity carry Us O loveforty trifle match point. They're just
like basically like trading blows on thebaseline, hilariously needless Tweeter mid rally that
it's basically a lot loses the point, the sphere of crestfallen like no reaction.
He's like, please stop building me, man. It's the ultimate ultimate

(43:02):
contrast of styles. You're like,he's not even close. It's carryos all
day. It's another reaction that Ithink we loved by the end of this
tournament, by the end of thisrewatch, like everybody hated Nick, but
we liked him a lot, andhe's the champion. In twenty nineteen,
Watch Out Nick curious capus sensational weekwith the trump Man sad for tonight to

(43:30):
take the tunnel of the cool Cotwatch Out World. It's a hilarious call,
and that commentator said curios, SoI think it was an American versus
Ozzy pronunciation. That was the twentynineteen Mexican Open. Nick Krrios Champion,
iconoclast, the man everyone loved tohate, beat some huge names and showed

(43:51):
everyone again once again for maybe thehundred times, that he's got everything.
He's got all the shots in thebag. But it's that other stuff possibly
that is more interesting. And it'sbut Simon and I are going to touch
on following the break when we finishup this episode of Open Era. Welcome

(44:17):
back to the Open Air podcast.It's the Nick Kurios episode. Long time
coming. Simon, there's not beena lot of tennis. That's no exhibition
or uts or whatever that's been goingon. There's not a lot of it.
I think the big story, obviouslyin the tennis world has been the
players and how they've handled themselves,sure in the pandemic, and that brings

(44:38):
us to Nick and Sveraev and Dominicteam and Novak Djokovic, And I think
I'll let you begin because basically wherethis starts is with Curios rightfully calling these
guys out right. He absolutely does. And we have mentioned on this podcast
previously the stock contrast that exists betweenhow the the women on the WTA side

(45:00):
and how the men on the ATPside have handled this and the various different
directions you could argue those two tourshave gone in certainly from their ambassadors and
how they've handled themselves, not leastCory Goff, Bianco Andrasco and Naomi Saka
about some of the things they've spokenout about and been so wonderful and eloquent,
and how they've spoken about big socialissues. The opposite cannot be said

(45:23):
for the ATP side. We hada nice long dire tribe and soapbox episode
about Novak Djokovic about how we expecta hell of a lot more from him
being the president of the Player's Counciland also a global figure, just the
people that he chooses to associate withCharlatan's con men and also dangerous individuals who

(45:44):
spread anti vaxxing lies. Kurios tooksome time to take aim at Sashi Zverev,
who he beat in the final.As we just touched upon in Acapulco,
so Zarav is an interesting one,right, So it gets Zverev goes
to the area to event that Djokovichosts, he ends up contracting. He

(46:07):
ends up contracting the virus and he'ssupposed to be in self isolation. Then
it turns out that he is seenon an Instagram live post where he is
effectively partying with ourther individuals when he'ssupposed to be in self isolation. This
causes Curios to take to Instagram Livehimself and brand Sash of Arab as selfish.

(46:30):
And I'm actually gonna read his quotebecause I think he sums it quite
nicely. I'm not going to dothe Australian accent. I see you more
controversy things happening around the world.But one thing that stuck out to me
was seeing sashes Arab again, managain. How selfish can you be?
How selfish can you be if youhave the audacity to put out a tweet
that you made for your management,fing right on your behalf, saying that

(46:51):
you're going to self isolate for fourteendays and apologizing to the general public of
putting their health at risk, atleast have the effing audacity to say inside
for fourteen days. My god.The tennis world is pissing me off,
seriously. How selfish can you get? Seems reasonable to me. I disagree

(47:12):
with him. I mean you couldapply it. I don't. I don't
think. I don't think you needto limit that to coronavirus. That last
quote, just in general, thetennis worlds, the tennis rule's pissing me
off, seriously? How selfish canyou all get? Full stop about anything?
Anything? Generally? How copy pastorhas become an integral part of the
sporting world right It feels like thiscould be just translated into anything. You

(47:35):
know, you could probably insert JeffBezos's name into this and be fairly accurate
in terms of just different effects ofpeople being selfish in today's world. So
you had even backlash to these commentsby Nic Curios, which many people agreed
with. I think his sentiment washeld by many, including us here on
this show, but I don'tven agree. I think dominate team with someone that

(47:58):
voiced his Porfos lashes Vera basically sayingthat certain opinions in Australia are unnecessary,
referencing Nick. It's funny, simon, because we talk about post twenty nineteen
for Curios after all Capolco, andthere's a string of like stupid events with
Nick that like highlights some of theless good moments. There's the incident in

(48:22):
Miami with a spectator in which hesomehow under arm serves and an altercation with
a spectator are mentioned in the samebreath, like they're the two of the
same things. They're not at all, Like they're not a thing. He's
smashing rackets. He gets into ahuge issue in Rome again with the Alliance
person at Wimbledon does not really giveus what we wanted to see against Nadal

(48:45):
in a rematch I get four greatsets, but I think we wanted something
a little more, and then Idon't know what they all happen Cincinnati,
Simon. That is probably the lowestmoment for Curios, both on and off
the court, in recent memory.Yeah, and also it comes to the
back of Curios calling various members ofthe ADP corrupt as well, which leads

(49:06):
to the place that we ended upwith going into twenty twenty and the probation
period that he suffered. I haveto say, I don't necessarily think the
ATP is entirely corrupt, but Ican sort of see. I can sort
of see in some capacity where Kiosis coming from on this one. Just
he he's not wrong honestly about thegoverning body in a lot of ways,

(49:30):
but he's also a bit of anidiot and a bit of a douchebag.
So it's a weird scenario to endup in. I personally think that his
position in the sport and just thefact that he has to be the one
making these points does a disservice tothe fact that I think he's making good
points. I think if anyone elsemakes the points that he makes, then

(49:52):
it probably is treated with a littlebit more respect, And I think that's
the unfortunate part about when someone likethat makes some of the comments that he
makes, and I think overall hewants good for the game, he wants
well for the sport. I thinkit's sad that someone like that has targeted
and gets some of the vitual directedhim at him that he does. That's

(50:14):
why I want to kind of mentionwhat happened at the end of twenty nineteen,
as we mentioned Curios coming off asa good soldier in this fight against
coronavirus and speaking truth to power.It's not all good. It's just simply
not. I think we are played, especially in tennis role with easy judgments,
and the judgments that have been piledon Nick forever or for the most

(50:36):
part, been inane and ridiculous tome, and people trying to fill time,
which I get they have to doduring the fortnite or two weeks or
whatever major it's always at least acouple of days while it's Nick Currios like,
you never know, and he's gotall the shots of will they put
it together? People love that stuff. I get it. He's a tantalizing
talent. But I think there's somany different sides, and I think the

(50:57):
most endearing size that I'm ready toreckoning with how I feel is I think
I like the fact that he's notnecessarily obsessed with being the best. I
think that is super endearing. AndI like the fact that he will call
out players on a tour where Ithink a big problem is everyone is afraid
to really say what they feel.Simon, I don't know how if you
agree, but I think this ideathe ATP is corrupt. I think the

(51:19):
ADP is so inundated with handshake agreementsand backroom negotiations between people that no one
is ever saying how they actually feelabout anything. So we get to these
points where no one knows what thehell's going on, whether it be how
they devy up prize money or whatthey do with the lower ranked players when
there's no play going on, orshould there be a US Open. No

(51:43):
one has any idea because there isjust a complete breakdown of honesty. And
maybe Nick Carrios is not going tofix everything, but at least he's not
like the rest of these guys.Because I'm sick of it. I agree
with you entirely. I think theidea you need someone sometimes to speak truth
to power. And I think sometimesthere is a scenario that you get into

(52:05):
where it's all just a little bittoo comfortable and everyone is all just a
little bit too nervous to ever raisetheir hand and raise up points that are
necessary. And I think if youget into that scenario and you feel like
people know things are wrong and aretoo scared to do anything about it,
then you're never going to have anyresolutions and you're never going to have things

(52:27):
change in a positive way. AndI always think there is a side of
that that exists in wider society aswell, which is that some people will
come up with extreme views and Ithink there is a place for that in
a certain capacity. And that's whenit gets into really thin and dicey situations
because you're like, how far thatgoes? Does affect people's lives? I

(52:52):
don't think it does in the tennisworld. I think in a wider society
it probably does more so in tennis. In the tennis world, I think
probably it's just making a few sponsorsvery nervous, and the more sponsors that
the nervous, the more happy Iam. So I think that's probably fine
in the current scheme of things.To quote that line from a famous movie
when he says, is this yourking? This is our king for this

(53:12):
moment, for this moment. Yeah, I'm also pretty shocked. But I
think very few people emerged from thismoment that we live in well in the
tennis world, especially on the men'sside, and I think NK might be
one of them. But it's notall easy. I think you'd be the
first to am it. It hasn'tbeen a straight road. I think you

(53:32):
see you're seeing someone grappling with theidea of being a professional athlete in very
open ways. You're seeing Stefano SissyPass maybe do it as well, I
think. And then more insight tothis. I think we'll show people what
what it means or what it takesand how kind of bizarre this whole thing
isn't bizarre in the way I mean, like it's it's f man to not

(53:52):
swear like it's it's it's a lot. It's a lot on people. And
I think the I also have Bush, but he's like, we we drive
people like this away, like wechallenge curios for like ah, man,
like take it more seriously, blahblah, blah, like we were driving
them away from the sport and keepingit kind of say it was, Well,

(54:12):
that is the thing, And Ithink it's one thing that I'd like
to to touch upon because I don'tthink I don't think we spoke about his
We spoke about how good he reallyis right during the course of this episode.
And this is one thing that I'dlike to conclude upon, is that
there is such a rush to tellhim how to be, and such a
rush to tell him that you haveto act and play in this way.

(54:36):
I think he's pretty damn good.I think he plays pretty damn well.
And maybe it doesn't fit the moldof what you want to be, but
honestly, screw you. Like letlet the dude. Let the dude play
tennis in a way that really isrevolutionary in a lot of ways, because
not that many players play like him, if any, in the history of
the sport. And that's the onlyway that it ever gets pushed forward,

(54:58):
because I know it sounds corny,but out there there is some kid.
There is some kid probably from aminority background as well, which we didn't
touch on this episode, but Carriosalso comes from that background as well,
who is going to want to hitthe ball like him, and he's gonna
want to play creative trick shots,and he's gonna want to entertain. And
the more people that we attracted comingto the sport that play like that,

(55:20):
the better, because it's not likethis guy is a mug or a muppet.
He's probably one of the most talentedplayers to ever pick up a tennis
racket. And that's the best thingI could ever say about him. I
think that wud be a great pointto leave it on it carryous is a
guy that'll play a huge part inwhere tennis coast from here as well,
and they excited. I think weboth are to see where that exactly is,

(55:42):
because who the hell knows right now. A lot of things are up
in the air, signing anything else, anything else we missed. You know,
it's a lot to pack in andhe's someone we're gonna talk about again
for sure, but anything else beforewe leave. I'm fully on the boat
and I don't know if you are, And it's one that we'll put out
to our listeners. I do thinkhe should have more impact in the actual

(56:04):
governance of this sport, and Iknow it sounds silly, and it's you
know, a reactionary take and allthat sort of stuff. But you could
do worse, right, You coulddo worse than having that voice in the
room, in the player's council.You could do worse than having someone like
that who legitimately gives a damn right. He gives a down about people,
first and foremost, less about thesport perhaps, but more so about the
people. And I think there isa position for someone like that in the

(56:29):
room. And I think it's niceto have a balancing act because you've also
got a especially in the world.I mean, let's not forget that we
do live in a capitalist society,so there still has to be thoughts to
sponsorships and growing of the tour.But I think at a personal level,
and at a level of a humanhuman being level, you could do a
lot worse than having him in theroom to make some of these points as

(56:49):
well. And I don't think heshould be shunned for that. I think
you should embrace them or risk itbecoming more of an issue down the road.
He's been pretty consistent in twenty twenty. I mean the Australian bushfires,
which definitely feel like they happened twentyyears ago, not six months ago,
but that was this year and Nickcurios led the charge to help his country
and help his countrymen Ya tennis bythe Australian Open. He was one of

(57:13):
the main guys. So he's beendoing good for a while. It's good
to see a complicated guy who isn'twho isn't man. One final thought,
just to close on this, becauseit always gets brought up, and I
know it's a silly one, butit always got a ask to me for
some bizarre reason. Anytime I talkabout Nick Kurrios with anyone who is not
a tennis fan, they always askme one question about him, Will he
ever win a Grand Slam? Andyou know how much we love predictions on

(57:36):
this show. Do you think heever we see it in the next ten
years of him being on tour,whether he actually does post a potentially post
Big three world that he is he'sraising one of those trophies, assuming,
of course, the tennis comes backand is continuing to be flighted with the
Kiviat that there are no major rulechanges in tennis within these years. I
say, no, yeah, Iagree with you. I think that's probably

(57:59):
a good place to say about it. I think unless there is pretty substantial
change in the way that Tennis operates, I don't see him winning a Grand
Slam, not with the not withthe competition that's out there, and not
with the level of consistency that isrequired to win seven matches in a row
over five sets. I don't.I don't see it. Well, there
you have it. Open Era fullyon board. Change the rules, change

(58:20):
the damn rules, and let's getlet's get your carry us a couple of
slams because you want to see it, all right. That is this week
for openerow on patreon dot com.Forward slash Open Air three dollars a month,
a massive help for us to keepthis show going, keep the lights
on. Massive Thank you as alwaysto producer Shordinair Dylan Wilson on the ones
and twos. You can find uson Twitter at open Era, Pod questions,

(58:45):
comments, dropping some really cool stuffwith the social team throughout the week.
Awesome content. It's a really coolto see and we'll talk to you
soon. We're getting into August,Tennis knock on wood. We'll be back
soon and we'll talk to you soon. Give them to the