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Hey, everyone. Welcome to Quick Serve. Thank you so much for participating in these little shows that we do after the matches. Guys, I woke up, and this Matty Keys-Swiątek match... The match of the year might have happened in January. It was so good. It was so athletic. It was... Such a chess match where what each one was trying to do was so obvious.
Again, ideas are easy. It's easy to go into the comments and go, well, do that. I mean, Maddie's hitting her forehead hard, so just like hit it to her backhand. The problem is, and we saw it in the breaker a couple of times, is when someone goes that hard, right? Maddie's natural shot is across to the forehand or she pulls it. She's good at both. She can hit the forehand.
Her forehand and that swing and how fluid it is through the zone is, it makes me jealous. It's just so, she creates such power. without looking strange like she's trying to create power it's like this sweeping motion and so Listen, I guess I skipped the headline. If you weren't watching, Matty Keys wins 7-6 in the third against Igish Vyantek, 10-8 in the Superbreaker in the third, was down one set.
played about as probably as good a set of tennis as i've ever seen her play i'm guessing she would say the same in the second set to go 6-1 this back and forth in the in the third set where it's It felt like every point was like edge of your seat. And one, props to Iga, right? We've been questioning how the...
contaminated substance melatonin situation was going to affect her coming into Australia. I didn't know she is someone that is not thirsty for attention. I think the last thing she wants is some sort of negative spotlight. keeping her name out there. Not like Sinner where everything feels very calm. I relate to watching Ega a little bit more because I was a little more frantic. I was a little more fidgety. Her intensity point to point.
is rafa like she goes you never see her take plays off she emotes more than rafa which makes us view her as you know rafa doesn't give you anything when he's losing points ego will look at the box maybe looked maybe look a little more panicked sometimes, but she's right back. As far as point to point and refocusing and resetting, it's not hard to see that Rafa was her idol. She mimics that.
one point to the next one to the next one her intensity never falters now does she have an issue when someone goes with massive pace on fast surfaces to the forehand side because she has a pretty extreme grip yes The other thing is slow to her forehand when she can create that spin mechanism that jumps off the court. It's great. It's this weird trade-off when you're playing someone as great as Iga is. And when you're Matty Keys is...
If you lay one off and it's not with a lot of pace to her forehand, all of a sudden she can create that height and get the ball to jump outside the sideline. But if you're confident that you can create pace, you can go through that side with Iga and... They got into this cross-court rally over and over, whereas Matty taking big cuts to the forehand. Iga's good at playing D cross-court with that forehand. But what does that do? It ends up in Matty's sweet spot.
Right. Maddie's going to win that rally over and over again. So it forces Iga to try to switch directions line, which is not the natural shot that she wants to hit there. But then she wants to access Maddie's back end where once it turns. Iga's got the better end of that cross-court exchange. So it's just a constant chess match where the advantages for Iga are obviously, one, her shot tolerance off of massive returns is unparalleled.
Both of her knees are an inch off the ground. If you see some of the slow-mos that they were showing, the athleticism is just insane. Her ability to extend the court, right? She can take a backhand in the middle of the court and still have it cross after the bounce. over the sideline before the baseline. That is not easy. I dare any of you chuckers to go try it today. I might later, and I will fail. I promise you.
But then Maddie, obviously, what she has over Iga, she's going to hit it bigger all the time. She's going to hit it through the court. Not as consistent. She doesn't get out of the corners close to as well. as Iga. So it's this chess match of give and take where Iga is trying to at least make Matty move two or three steps on each shot. And once Matty gets into a rally where Pace is winning...
It's harder for Sviata to create those angles like we were talking about the other day, similar with Novak and Alcaraz. He stuck him in the middle. Once Matty gets the upper hand and the front foot, it's a lot tougher for Iga to switch directions because of the pace of shot. with Matty Keys. Listen, Matty, as we all have, it's a tough ask, especially against the greats of all time, which Iga is. Now...
I don't want to hear your chirping about clay versus hard versus anything else. Iga's going to win a handful of grand slams on surfaces that aren't clay. She just will. She's 23, right? And she, oh, by the way, while she's trying to figure that out, she's going to win like five more French Opens. So save it. I don't want to, like, everyone's better on one surface. It doesn't mean that the Grand Slams count any less. So save that shit. You can have that.
But Matty has been close before. Go ahead, Mike. I was just going to ask you, you know, how much you're talking about surfaces. How much did, you know, the roof closure change? the playing style, or was it just... I think any time Maddie can guarantee a cleaner hit on the ball against Iga, it's probably better for Maddie.
And you hear the ball a lot bigger. When you're thumping it, it sounds better. When it's more predictable, when Maddie's trying to create pace over and over, and how she strikes the ball probably matters more than how Iga strikes.
each individual shot. Iga's trying to extend the court. It's a process to it. She's switching directions. I actually thought she switched directions too often on the backhand side today from, you know, she would kind of look for that backhand line. She's really great at it.
And I'm going, oh my gosh, like, how is that not going to Maddie's back in every time and make Maddie beat you with her worst shot? And the one that gets a little nervier. Iga's forehand gets a little nervier and Maddie's back and gets a little nervier.
And Maddie, when she was in that cross-court rally, rarely broke it unless she could finish the point. Iga, I felt like she was trying to force it into Maddie's forehand and switch a direction on backhands. I couldn't figure out why, right? And that's the way she plays. She's like an algorithm.
Right. She's she's a bit of a machine, which which I envy. But in this specific case, I'm not sure why she ever gets out of that backhand to backhand rally with Maddie. Right. I'd rather have Maddie attacking me with a backhand line to my forehand than. her natural shot shape, which is that sweeping forehand to forehand. But listen, Maddie Key has been close before. It's 10 years since her last semifinal in Australia. She made the U.S. Open final in 2017.
And I think admittedly, kind of the moment got the best of her. Sloan beat her, I think three and oh, she's had chances. It's not as if she hasn't been in the tail end of slams. There's a reason why. John Wertheim, by the way, for all the shit that, and a lot of it is valid when you guys come into the comments and just crush him. And I enjoy it. Techie Sean has the biggest smile I've ever seen right now laughing about it. But when you pick the 19th seed.
Before the tournament starts to make the final and it happens, credit where credit's due. JW got it done. It doesn't make up for Korda. He pre-wrote that story. He pre-wrote it. He pre-wrote it and wanted to, he better have an absolute manifesto ready because he's had two weeks to think about it. We're excited, JW. Better be like Hamilton with the pen. Hashtag friend Lenny.
friend of the show. But listen, Maddie has gotten to these stages before and at times she hasn't played her best in those matches. It was... And not only because I really, really like Matty as a person. I know a friend of the show, Lindsay Davenport, it's like she views her like a daughter, like she loves her that much. A good friend of mine here in Charlotte is best friends with Bjorn Frantangelo, was in their wedding.
And just you hear the best things about Madison. She's easy to be around. She's not self-important. If anything, she rips on herself probably too much. But to see her kind of step up in that moment and Sean, the... The moments where you're seeing someone have an active therapy session with themselves in the middle of a moment because they're trying to overcome some sort of...
moment where they might've faltered before you saw Madison having a running dialogue with herself. And I'm going, Oh my gosh, please. Like this is, you know, on one point I'm appreciating the greatness of ego. And the other point it's like, Who doesn't want to see someone overcome something that they've been fighting for for that long? And you knew she was going to be emotional when she closed it out. And she stepped up and she was down 7-5 in the breaker and just stuck.
to her game plan. She knew there was no winning with just putting the balls in the court. She had to fire when she had two feet underneath her. It was a clear game plan. Game plans are easy. Ideas are easy. execution is hard every otherwise every person would be a professional tennis player now if you're eager to sean the first time i think since we mentioned it the other day first time that
Madison Keys wins 33% of her second serve points. Sviatek wins 41%. So when it gets the grain of the stat, everything I've been teaching you this week out the door, but. The one way to offset that, you're not going to offset that by serving 53% first serves like Bedosa did against Sabalenka. Both of these women were struggling to win second serve points, and both of these women served...
Matty Keys, 69% first serves in. Shviatek, 70% first serves in. It's a great match. You're struggling here. You need to step up on your serve because you're not winning second serve points, and you do. I thought it was a phenomenal match. If you're Svantec, how much more can you improve on your serve? Zero aces, seven doubles, and winning 41% of your second serve points is not great.
It's the biggest area for improvement for Iga. But, you know, how does the racket work? Is it, you know, she doesn't have that loose arm like a Maddie Keys, but Maddie Keys doesn't have that footwork. Like Iga Sviatek, it all is different. Basically, how do you apply, and these are where the best coaches do, how do you best apply what you do well to affect someone negatively in a given matchup? It's not just, hit it to her forehand.
Iga's forehand when she has time, one of the best on earth, can create a spin profile like nobody in the game. When she's rushed to that side, it's a bit more of a struggle because she has to create that spin off of something that's shooting through. The court, not as easy. Has to hit up to someone in softer. Shot tolerance on the backhand. She drives that back leg, gets down, and is able to kind of drive through that backhand. The forehand, she has to create spin. Up. It's not as easy.
as people in the comments make it out to be. It's just not. This match was so much fun to watch for me as a fan. Both of what they do very well was on full display. The chess match was, I thought, clear on both sides of what they were trying to do. Iga had to extend the court. Anytime that Matty had to touch a sideline during a point...
I would guess that Ego wins post-return, right? Because you hit it, don't give me the second serve return, your foot's one step in the alley. But once the rally starts, if Matty's foot goes outside of a sideline, I'm guessing Ego wins 80% of those points.
Right? Easy. Except when the ball's coming. I mean, Matty was hitting forehands at 98 miles an hour in the third set. When the ball's coming that fast and that flat, you can't create those angles to extend the court. That is where the jockeying for position... came in this match, right? And Iga's like, I'm going to keep it a lot tighter. My air count's going to be lower. Maddie's going to take the chances.
I need to fight off those peaks and valleys. And she almost did it. I thought for the entire match, I felt like she was going to find a way to win because she has. She's proven in these scenarios, right? Hasn't lost in a Grand Slam final ever, 5-0. She knows how to play these matches, right? And save it just because she's not as good on a hard court as she is on a clay court doesn't mean she's not good on hard courts.
One point away from being in the final with a real shot. I don't know who, you know, maybe Sabalenka is a slight favorite in that one if Chianta gets through. But she's going to win nine French Opens and she's going to win three or four other majors. Where does that leave her on the all-time count? Save it. Some people are better on different services. I'm really, really, really, really, really overjoyed for Madison Keys. She's a great person.
She, you could see the active mental gymnastics that she was going through, stuck to it and executed and sounds easy enough. It's not, it's two hours plus of. Absolute mental fatigue, torture, physical. Remember, she played 6-4 in the third yesterday. Came back. She needs those days off now, and she's going to get them. She's going to get a full day of rest.
They're probably, I don't think they play until night. I mean, it's going to be, she's going to have the legs for it. And if you're her and you are feeling physically fatigued and you're Bjorn Frantangelo, who is her husband coach, which.
That guy deserves a fucking award. How do you pull that off? We can't decide what we want for dinner. It's like, what do you want? I don't care. What do you want? I don't care. Well, then we can fight over that in our household. They're trying to win majors together. I'm just really happy for the both of them. Maybe there's something to JW's we got married, put her in a final thesis from the draw show.
I think it's, listen, if it doesn't end up being the best match of the year, it's going to end up being one of the top three matches of the year. So however you want to define that. Execution, excellence, physicality, mental gymnastics, all of them checked the box. Iga just missed one more forehand at the end of the match than Matty did backends. It was great stuff.
Maddie down a bunch of break points in the third set. Her first serve percentage, she wasn't having to fight off the second serve points because she was stepping up and making first serves. It was a clutch performance from her. You know, that's the question mark. Can you, when you're later in your career and you don't, I mean, I don't know about later, but she certainly, it's not 10 years ago. She's not up and coming. No, she turns 30.
Yeah, which, you know, in tennis has become younger and younger. But the point being, there is some mental scar tissue from being so close so many times and still not having had that major. She's a lot better than a lot of. women who have won majors simply and she hasn't is this the time we will see uh we'll get to the uh the preview i'll tell you this
The strategy is not going to be as nuanced with Sabalenka and Keyes. What they do well is the same thing. They create more speed than anyone on earth. Sabalenka is a little bit more complete, probably on both sides. She's not having to hide.
one side as much but maddie keys also last last thing here has made the adjustment from it seems like she's trying not trying to kind of guide it cross court and get that left hand around because that left hand is kind of laid off which means you have a hard time getting around the outside of the ball which means you have a tougher time getting a cross court
It seems like she is really committed to, listen, I don't need to get it cross court as long as I hit it firm and deep. And I actually think that's great because it brings a little bit more traffic from the middle to that forehand. And when she's hitting winners at will, like she was today. That's a tough ball for an opponent. You got to kind of squeeze it into that backhand corner and or go to her forehand firmly and redirect.
I just like everything I'm seeing about her. I like her bringing that foot up on the serve more and more. It used to be a platform serve and it was good then. I feel like our first serve percentage has gone up 10 percentage points.
per match. And I don't know the actual stats on that, but it seems like it's just a lot more reliable first serve, getting a little bit more action on it, a little bit more tail away on the slice serve on the ad side, which means that Iga Sviatek is not getting a clean hit on the forehand return. It means...
that she's fighting it off a little bit more, which means that Maddie is 50 or 60% more likely to get a forehand on the first ball. All of these little things matter. It's not as simple as... A lot of people make it out to be. I was fascinated. I was riveted. I couldn't take my eyes off of the match. I don't want to gloss over Sabalenka because there was a match that was more dramatic.
She just went out and took care. I mean, if they're friends, she doesn't treat Paolo like one all the time. I'll tell you that. They're supposedly best friends. Like, I don't know, man. Didn't treat her like it today, but the match in my mind was over. If you're looking backwards and you would have given me the stat sheet yesterday and you would have shown me that Bedosa made 53% first serves, we talked about it. I said she has to serve well. If you give me the stat sheet...
And you tell me, insert your score when Bedosa hits 53% first serves in against Sabalenka. I say, I don't know, three and three, four and three, two and two. It's not good. That's a telling stat. If you're giving Sabalenka that many looks at second serves, it's not going to be great. If Maddie Keys wants to win the Australian Open, her number needs to be up around that 69-70%.
above 65, 67. And she's going to have to move the second serve around the box a little bit. The kick is great because it gets up above. Iga was able to handle it. Sabalenka will be able to handle it. I would love to see her just mix it up even early against Sabalenka so she doesn't know what's coming. If Sabalenka knows what's coming, she is going to put an absolute hurt on the ball.
And Maddie's going to have to switch directions earlier in rallies than she normally likes to. And she was threading lines today. She's going to have to do more of that. Sabalenka, I don't know. She's going to... Try to get the first strike, and she's going to have the first strike be towards Maddie's back end. She's going to want Maddie to play defense on the back end side, which she's not great at. That's not her strength. Maddie Keyes has to make a bunch of first serves against Sabalenka.
But what a match to watch early in the morning, right? Oh my gosh, it was just fantastic. We talked about Sinner Shelton and what I thought Ben had to do. to bother him yesterday. So please go back and look at our quick served episode from yesterday. I didn't really touch on the Novak and Zverev of things. Obviously Novak, the last three matches, you know.
beating Mahach, beating LaHechka straight sets, and then running through Carlos from a set down. We don't know what we don't know. Novak, we could see that his movement was compromised, and then it wasn't. I don't know how much of a factor that's going to be. He did not want to talk about it and explain. I don't know that we know exactly what the injury is besides pain in a leg.
It's like a diagnosis that I would do. Wow, you know, I've heard your symptoms and I don't know. I'm going to go with the old pain in the leg diagnosis. So we'll see. All these could be a moot point if he comes out and can't move. But let's assume that he can because he has. We saw the last two sets against Alcaraz and he was in full flight. I mean, not only was it not compromised, it was as good of a movement as I've seen in 18 months.
Zverev is not going to pinch the second serve return like we talked about. I broke down the Alcaraz-Novak match, and I think the biggest factor was Novak running that second serve in, and Carlos not making the adjustment to give himself more space on the return.
Zverev is someone who drifts back, right? He's not someone who is going to make contact with the returns, at least not normally. He's not going to make contact two, three feet in front of the baseline. I think the biggest factor in this match... is going to be, if Zverev is going to be able to defend his second serve, his first serve is going to be up around 70%. He's the most consistent bankable first server in the game.
Doesn't hit spots as well as some people, but consistently throws down with pace at a very high percentage. Novak is the best returner of all time. How many of those first serves can he fight off when he's fully extended and chip and get back and kind of neutralize and dance a little bit? And can Zverev find a way?
to take time away when he is hitting forehands to Novak. Against most players, they say, oh, the forehand's a weakness. It's not a weakness. If Zverev's game was reversed, right, and he had this... loopy backhand that he never missed that he was able to attack but just not on short notice right he needed time to do it but
his forehand was something he could take and drive to the court, we would hardly hear about it. But because it's a forehand, that's the loopy one. And we expect everyone to be able to just hit winners. And that's how spoiled we are as tennis fans these days. Then we wouldn't really talk about it.
But it's almost as if he creates points like a lefty a little bit, right? The backhand is the one that he can flatten out. It's the one that he can create winners on. It's the one that he can drive deep to create some space. And the forehand's loopier. Can he find a way to be effective offensively off the forehand side? It's a question that he will have to answer. And I promise you.
It's a question that Novak is going to ask over and over and over again. He is not going to get out of a lot of rallies similar to Madison and Shviatek where he's hitting massive forehands and the biggest forehand that Novak hits. And the most natural one is when he's moving to his forehand side and can absolutely crush it to Zverev's forehand side. Now, Zverev against most people just resets with a little loopy Magoo down line to the opponent's backhand. Well...
Novak has one of the best backends of all time. So Novak will ask the question, can you create under pressure with this shot? And if not, I'm going to go after your legs. I'm going to control the middle of the court. And if you choose to just loop that over and over and over. It's going to be a war, my legs versus yours. Let's assume that Novak's legs are healthy-ish. And that's the breakdown. And we'll see. Can he create some speed on that forehand consistently?
Novak will ask the question. We'll see if it gets answered. I can't wait. This tournament has been great and it is only getting better. Sean, how are you feeling after your banana peel fall yesterday in the ice? I'll be honest, my wrist. Hurt most of the day yesterday, but we're feeling good today. So it's better now? Yeah. Oh, so the medication kicked in. Medication. I don't know what you're laughing at, Mike. Thanks for watching, sir.