15 | Thanksgiving Traditions, This or That & Buffalo

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Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Player's Box. I'm Desiree Krafcik, alongside Jenny Brady, Madison Keyes, and Jess Bagula. Please remember to give our podcast five stars and to subscribe to our YouTube. As always, we very much appreciate it. So every week we start with an unforced error where we share our tiny failures or mishaps that happen in our personal lives. If we're having a good week, we will throw in a quote unquote winner of the week.

So with that being said, Jenny, would you like to start us off? Yeah, so about 30 minutes ago when I was leaving USTA, I was driving and almost hit a deer that ran out in front of me. Maddie actually said, you know, apparently maybe I'm the problem. because all of my unforced errors happen while I'm driving. RIP Iggy. So yeah, my unforced error was, maybe it's a winner too.

unforced error slash winner i didn't hit the deer he survived the deer survived so he can go fulfill his endeavors um jess well i would say i have A winner. Taylor and I got a new puppy. Her name is Mabel. And she's a German short-haired pointer. Literally just picked her up yesterday. We'll see how it goes. She's currently snoring a little bit in the background here. She's a loud snorer. Hopefully it doesn't interfere. And on four stairs, she already pooped on my breakfast.

area i don't know how to describe it she like jumped up and she pooped no it's like a banquet it's like a banquet seating area like the one i like my little breakfast banquet and she jumps on everything and so at some point she jumped up there and decided to go number two. So that's also an unforced error. Found that this morning. Lovely. Maddie.

Um, well, I had an unforced error, but then I think the last like 20 minutes of my life has become the unforced error trying to get the technical difficulties of filming down.

um there was lots of movement happening um from one of us i won't single that person out and then we had a little bit of like a microphone issue where we were the wrong way saying that we were all the way down and like our ears were bleeding but i'm gonna say that was my unforced error the last 20 minutes yeah does do you wanna do you want to share yours yes i first will say that was me um yes that was my technical difficulties sorry mark in advance um

i have another unforced error which was i hosted friendsgiving this past weekend and i was heating up a bunch of food in the in the oven and i thought i took everything out and everyone ate had a good time We played Jeopardy! We did our White Elephant, and I was cleaning up. And I'm like, why does something smell like it's burning? And I look, and it's the other batch of cornbread stuffing. Luckily, we had enough of that, but like...

I literally left it in there and Steve, Steve Weissman was there and he was like, no, no, it's probably fine. So we open it up and it's like crispy, like. it's it's like dark like black he's like no let me just see if it's it's okay it's kind of edible and i was like okay well that was i had the oven on for six hours extra i was like oh my god so

Yes, that was my unforced error, but Friendsgiving was great. I think you win. Yeah, wow. You almost burned your house down. No. I think I win because I have two unforced errors that just happened in the last... I guess. That's true. 48 hours, but. Yay. Yay. Yeah. Total talent.

Yeah, what's our tally? We have we have to get a tally going winners and unforced who's got the most unforced errors I feel like Jenny's got a lot of driving unforced errors no you had another one in your that's four well everything oh yeah with my honking my horn and then also the one where you were in your pjs was involved with you driving somewhere oh no mabel

Oh, no. The puppy has awoken. She heard something. Hey, come say hi. Quick, special guest. Eat the headphones. My parents, say hi, Mabel. No. For anyone that can see. if she destroys your headphones then you have to get new ones and everyone will stop yelling at you okay go please yeah now everyone's gonna start yelling at me because i'm wearing wired because i don't want to melt my brain

Okay, well, I will happily take the unforced errors of this week, so yay me. What are everyone's Thanksgiving plans? Des, I know you just had your... friendsgiving are you doing anything else what is everyone traveling yeah i so i just had friendsgiving friendsgiving is like my holiday that i love and look forward to every year um and i'm actually just drove down to the desert for a few days um to spend thanksgiving here so it'll be nice to be out here it's just like weird not

Being here like when Indian Wells is happening, but it's just it's gorgeous. Can't complain. So Jenny Yeah, I mean we're filming this before Thanksgiving on Monday But I'm taking the Bright Line down actually to Boca to spend Thanksgiving with my mom. And then the next day, flying to Buffalo. Oh, we'll get there later. Yeah. So spending Thanksgiving with my mom down in South Florida. So what about you, Maddie?

Bjorn and I are flying to Pittsburgh and we're doing Thanksgiving with his family this year. And then we are driving to Buffalo. So we'll be all reunited soon. Jess? Yes. Well, I will be in Buffalo flying up tomorrow, spending Thanksgiving with the fam. And then we have, I mean, we can talk about this later, but I'm doing a charity gala event. I think we've mentioned it before on Saturday. And luckily, everybody here on this podcast is...

So thank you guys for showing up for the pups. And that'll be really fun. So we'll actually all see each other by Saturday, which will be super fun. Yeah, so busy week. coming up but does anyone have any um traditions that they kind of do every single year for thanksgiving i mean i just always am kind of with my family but i wouldn't say we have any crazy traditions

No. No, we don't either. I mean, I think everyone's like, nah. I think tennis players, it's hard to have a consistent holiday tradition because we're very rarely like... actually at home for holidays so i feel like like playing junior tennis thanksgiving was always during yeah or orange bowl one of the two so i like missed thanksgiving five years in a row or something yeah i feel like in the juniors like or like in high school or whenever i was home

Everyone, or like even in college, everyone comes back and you're kind of like, oh, like let's go play tennis for fun. And then we all like go on our separate ways. It's just kind of like you reunite and see everyone you haven't seen that you grew up with at home. And then. Yeah, that's kind of like the only tradition I can think of, like back when I before I started on tour. But it's yeah, like you said, it's pretty hard to have traditions if we're, you know, doing different things. But yeah.

I would say my only traditions are usually like food. So we usually always make certain things every year. So what's everybody's top three favorites or not favorites?

like i feel like cranberry sauce is always everyone's lease but i actually love cranberry sauce yeah it's good with the turkey yeah it's so good um my mom's stuffing my mom's stuffing is the best like the best i've had thanksgiving at multiple people's homes and like it's been great and stuff but i'm like the stuffing my mom i don't know what my mom does i think she uses martin's potato bread um

So her stuffing is phenomenal. It's the best. Does she do sausage in it or does she go? No. see i like sausage oh i like sausage no cranberries i love sausage and stuffing no i don't like stuffing oh you have to try my mom i think you'd like it maddie I've always been, like, asides. Just a little bit of butter. Like, the green bean casserole and mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Cornbread I really like, too.

Oh, cornbread, I love. Love cornbread. Or like a Hawaiian sweet roll. Oh, we used to do the Pillsbury, I think it's Pillsbury, flaky layers. Biscuits? Not biscuits, bread. the flaky layers, bread, stuffing, that, I mean, turkey and sweet potato. Oh, sweet potato with casserole. Sweet potato casserole. Omit marshmallows. Omit. What? No marshmallows.

yeah no marshmallows for me i would do either i would do either but like i love i love sweet potato or like brown sugar i like on top yeah with the pecans i think i'm like the anti-thanksgiving person because all of like the the foods that everyone is like no that's thanksgiving i'm like no thanks i'll pass yeah i used to love mashed potatoes I'm like such a texture person. Like when I was a kid, I think I told this to Maddie. I used to mix my corn with my mashed potatoes to give it texture. Oh.

Interesting. I don't think I did it for texture, but I definitely feel like when I was a kid, I just mixed like everything on the plate. Yeah. I mean, I still like to mix everything, but. Is there like a favorite dessert that you guys are like, I need to have this at Thanksgiving? Pumpkin pie. Apple pie. Apple pie and you put cheese on it and you melt it on the apple pie. Hot take? So good. What kind of cheese? Like a cheddar. Or an American.

i've done both it's like you know when people eat apples and cheese together it's like the same it's like sweet and salty i don't know how i feel about the cheddar try it i can see maybe like a like a like a goat's gouda A Gouda could be really good. Honestly, I've done a lot of different cheeses. Wow, never tried that? Okay. Yeah, I don't know. My grandparents always did it and they're Canadian, so I don't know if it's like a Canadian thing or not really sure.

But who do you think on this podcast would you want or trust to cook Thanksgiving dinner? I'd probably say... Des and Maddie, just because you guys cook a lot, and Des, you actually have experience. I'm horrible with timing things out. Yeah. I was going to say Des until she told us that she almost burned her ass.

okay usually it was one dish but yes okay i will do the desserts and everything that's great but like i'll leave it to maddie to do the main courses and everything else i'll do the desserts i will thrive in that department Team effort. Yeah, I would say Dez. Well, Maddie cooks really good desserts as well.

i would say you guys could share it and um i feel like maddie's really good with like the very intricate like i don't know recipes or like i am not a griller i've never i don't do fire so i feel like maddie's really good in that fire you almost did do fire could you imagine dez like frying there is no well i mean yeah what yeah maddie no chance no chance

No, I'm afraid to like, I don't ever fry food. I'm so afraid to like put like too much oil in a pan and like it like overflow and then cause a fire. I don't even know. I'm like, yeah. Like even with bacon, I'm like. it just got me like it's dangerous or you're like in a sports bra or like a crop like you just roll out of bed and you have anyone ever burned their stomach or like here it gets up here

Oh, that's worse. It hurts. I don't know what you guys are doing. Yeah, so I think Maddie is probably the person I... Maddie, the main person. Yeah, main person Maddie. Des can help with desserts. Jenny's definitely the taster. I would be like there just like, if you need anything, Jess would be like making drinks. I was going to say Jess is bartender. Espresso martinis all the way. Honestly, it sounds like a freaking awesome Thanksgiving. Sounds great.

Jenny and I will just be bickering per usual. I make a really good sweet potato casserole. My friend, her mom shared this recipe with me. It's actually from Food Network. It's sweet potatoes.

I'm not going to go into the details, but... Thank God. Okay, I will. Oh, my God. So you just bake the sweet potatoes and... two bananas so like three sweet potatoes two bananas and you just bake it and then you peel everything peel it and then you put it all together in a bowl and mash it and then you add maple syrup and you toast pecans And then you top the casserole with the pecans. That sounds really good. It's like healthy.

It's really good. I don't think about health. It's my favorite sweet potato casserole dish. And I don't like marshmallows, so. No, I love when people are like, oh, let's make like a healthy dessert or something. And I'm like, healthified. No, thank you. I like, you know, full gluten, full sugar, full olive, full fat. Yeah. I'm not health conscious when I'm eating dessert. Yeah.

Yeah. Let's play a quick little game of this or that Thanksgiving edition. Cozy sweaters or cozy blankets? Blankets. Sweaters. Apple pie or pumpkin pie? Apple. Apple. Pumpkin. Just an odd one. Traveling for Thanksgiving or hosting at home? Ooh. Neither. Hosting. Hosting at home. Football or parade? Football. Maddie?

Did you say football? Football, I guess. Yeah, you know. Let's put the football game on. Early Black Friday shopping or sleeping in? Sleeping in. Sleeping in. Black Friday is like an entire month now. Yeah. You can online shop. It's crazy. Board games or movies? Board games. Board games? Board games. Board games? Or both. Family drama or avoiding family drama? Family drama. What'd you say? Love it. It's so funny. I love it. It is funny. Avoid. Yeah. Avoid it.

I don't. You can't avoid it, though. You can't. You just have to lean into it. You just gotta be like, yeah, I heard so-and-so's. Exactly. You just kind of like drop little bombs all night to see who takes them. Exactly. I agree. Who cares? I say you go with the drama. Sitting at the kids table or sitting at the adults table? Kids table for sure. Adult. Adult. Hosting people or being hosted? Hosting people. Being hosted. Yeah, being hosted. Hosting. Hosting. Family photos or no photos?

No photos. No photos. I'm a big photo person, but maybe not family. Oh. So no photos? Oh. Oh. Do you want to unpack that, guys? No, I'll save that for another session. Maybe not on the pod. Early dinner or late dinner? Early. Early. Yes. Pets in Thanksgiving. Yeah, we did it. You didn't finish the question. Oh, sorry. I was like, why is it worded like that? Pets in Thanksgiving outfits or kids in Thanksgiving outfits? Pets in Thanksgiving outfits.

Yeah, funny. Pets, yeah. It's cute. I mean, kids are cute too, but cuter. Your Thanksgiving table has five open seats. Which tennis players past or present do you want to have at your table? Oh, sorry, Maddie. She's like, do you not read? Do you not read it? I'm so confused. Jenny is off on the script today. Jeez. She's not reading it. I will say, when Des chooses the people, she puts the name after the segment instead of in front of the segment.

It's not highlighted Desiree when it's copied and pasted in the freaking chat. It's not highlighted, but I don't look at the chat. I only look at my notes. I only look at the chat. Don't look at the notes. oh see i have my phone on the stand and i just read the that makes sense now so it's That's why I read it, because Maddie is after the word. Well, why don't you look at the actual notes where it says. And you two don't like family drama.

No, look at the actual collaboration. Just look at the collaboration. Actually, there is. I did read the notes. Yeah, but why don't you just look at it? you don't have to you just have it on your screen half split screen okay maddie are you doing this segment or am i i also did you eat no i don't i don't use my phone i don't use my phone either my phone is thank you

I only used the chat and I had to get used to it as well because I'm like, why is the name after the segment? That doesn't make a lot of sense. But I will do that next time. Wayfair's big sale is returning. Get ready for Wayday. For four days only, score up to 80% off all things home with free shipping on everything. From October 26th through 29th, score Wayfair's best deals. Like up to 80% off Eric.

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I think I just peed a little. It's an absolute riot. And the only movie that can be described as... So much weirder than the last time. What last time? It's the freequel... You ready? ...we've been waiting for...

That absolutely slays. Disney's Freakier Friday, now streaming on Disney+. Rated PG. Okay, so we have a Thanksgiving table. It's the four of us, and we have five. empty seats who are we choosing jenny go first uh marat safin desiree who are you choosing oh no why just just because oh I mean, yeah, he's nice to look at. That's a great reason. Yeah, like referencing the two episodes ago. Okay, Des, who are you choosing?

I'm going to go with Foe because, I mean, he'll always be entertained and he'll probably be late. So we'll have to tell him to come early. But that, yeah, it could be entertaining. I was actually just gonna like say Serena because I feel but like Serena like now Serena because I feel like she's kind of like really funny right now and slightly like yeah she'd be down for a good time yeah I think it'd be very entertaining so I

Go with Serena. Maddie? Okay, I guess I'll choose the last two. I'm going to say to stick on theme, super funny at dinner would be Emma Navarro. She's basically a standard comedian. have a great time so weird she'd be so weird and so funny and we'd love every second in a good way weird way well in the best way yeah that's why she's coming

And then I would say Laura Robson because she'd probably bring like karaoke machine and we'd have a great time. We could film TikToks. TikToks for sure. Easily. She should host it. Yes, Laura would host. She does host, yeah. She hosts some parties, like, every week. I'm like, wow, that looks amazing. And she's got, like, it looks great. The outfits are so good. Side note, talking about Laura hosting.

party she really wanted specific Christmas napkins that only shipped to the US so she shipped them to my house and then had me ship them to her in the UK I was like, you realize napkins are costing you like hundreds of dollars. Wait, I saw her post that and I was like, huh, what was that? I thought you just sent her napkins as like a gift. Me too. I was like, wow, it's so nice. She ordered them to my house.

And then I took them to UPS and sent them to her house in London. And I was like, these are some expensive napkins. I hope someone takes it home and frames it and hangs it on their wall. They've traveled near and far. That's incredible. Wow. They were a good napkin, though. I did. I saw it. We don't have to say what they said, but they were really funny. Yeah, they were.

Well, we won't be together for Thanksgiving, but we will all be in Buffalo together for Jessica's charity event. So, Jess, can you just explain to the listeners just about your charity?

the event that's happening this weekend yeah so we're having our first ever charity gala to raise money for rescues and service dogs to get trained and cared for so it's the first kind of like big event we've ever done so we're kind of freaking out this week because we're like oh it's like actually happening and i'm like there's a girl helping me that has done these before so my husband taylor

used to do some like fundraising events in buffalo so he has like a core group of like friends where they all did this as like volunteer work and so they have experience but this one's i think maybe a little bit bigger maybe nicer than the other ones that they did Um, so the girl, I'm like, I have friends flying from out of town. Like this better be nice.

like freaking out she's like i know it's gonna be great but we're like kind of all panicking it's also just a busy week with thanksgiving but it was kind of the only weekend that we could do it this year But it's kind of a it's a James Bond Casino Royale theme. So we're going to make it kind of funny with the dogs involved. And we'll have some of the other nonprofits that have trained actual service dogs.

be there with the dogs, and we'll have rescues and stuff like that. So hopefully it turns into a really fun night and everyone can get dressed up. Jenny? You don't have a dress, but we'll figure it out. I have a dress. I'm just not sure if it fits. We'll find out in a few days. Try it on before Thanksgiving.

Or actually maybe don't try it on after. Yeah. Well, we don't, I don't play. It's just me and my mom. So like, we're not going crazy. That's true. Like, yeah. Oh, your mom's coming? You don't. What? No. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I was like, whoa, okay. That's nice. No, but she actually did want to go. Yeah, so you guys are all going. There's a couple other tennis players going. Aaron Routleth, Alexis Cumming, Brunner.

Asia can't come, which kind of sucks. I was hoping her and Jamie could come. Maybe Danielle. We're not sure. She's going to make an appearance. I have to text and ask her. um but yeah it should be a good fun group and i mean obviously i was born there and like from there taylor's from there but everyone's for some reason very excited to come to buffalo new york i think it has to do

a little bit with the wings wings and the bills yeah uh we're gonna go to a sabers game friday afternoon i believe um nice unfortunately josh plays sunday yeah so he definitely will not be in appearance but jenny what would you what would you do if you saw josh for those who don't know jenny has been a josh allen fan though like the entire time you've been obsessed with him i've yeah since since he's

honestly before i even really like became like a bills fan like before i like got closer to you and then like started really like cheering for the bills i was just like obsessed with josh allen um but yeah i don't i don't know what i would say uh yeah i don't know

something so if he was just like you saw him walking you wouldn't you wouldn't be like oh my god josh allen like can i get a photo you would just be like no there he is yeah i should be like oh wow look it's josh allen you wouldn't want a picture with him

Something goofy. Or give him a hug. And never let go. No. I feel like you full on, like, you just, like, freeze. Yeah, I probably wouldn't say anything. No. it would be all talk like yeah sure like hi and then yeah like hey run away hi jennifer brady nice to meet you um all bark no bite obviously everyone knows about buffalo and their wings and i know jenny's been wanting to go to see or to go try out some wing spots is there like a specific yeah we're doing a wing tour

Yeah, but is there a specific order you want to go in? Because I know there's a few, like top three of places you want to go to. Bar Bill. Bar Bill. But I don't know. Depending on... timing and all that, but whatever Jess says. But she started yelling at me the other day because I was already scouting out places and was looking at reviews and she was like, why are you doing that?

Yeah, I'm like, you just need to go because there's so many hole in the wall places that probably like don't have the best reviews for overall like. whatever but they have really good wings yeah so i'm like those are kind of like really good places and they're all going to be better than like what you usually have so i threw out a couple names and she like googles these pictures and she's like these don't look like

like them and i'm like okay we're just no we're not being super particular you need to just try and then make your decision i was like you can't just start picking and choosing like you've never even been you have no idea i was like you just need to like going with a clean slate. And if you hate them, then you hate them. But you need to kind of go through the list. Jenny is the queen of research on the front end and being like, no, hate it.

I'm going to hate it because they garnish with one thing, and I hate garnishes like that. Yeah, I hate cilantro. yeah or like i don't like it's not super fried or this one looks too fried and i'm like also we're going with other people so what if they like that i'm like we can't just like

It's not about you, Jennifer. Get rid of all the good places because you're like, ugh, the picture looks weird. But I want to go to the good places. Then we'll go after. We'll go. I just said, no, I just said that they look a little saucy. And I don't love. See, here we go. I'm like, thanks. Wow. But I feel like also you could ask for like less sauce. Yeah, no. I'll be easy. We shall see.

We'll do a vlog and just see if you can keep your word on that one. Yeah. No, it'll be fun. It'll be great. Oh, yeah. And then you guys decided you wanted to practice. Oh, yeah. We're practicing. Yes, we did. On Saturday and Sunday. Yeah. I don't even think we asked Maddie. Because why would she want to practice? Well, I just assumed that Maddie would not want to practice.

Look at her. I'm not going to bring, I'm not checking a bag. So like, I'm not going to bring a singular racket to go hit for like an hour. Yeah. That's why we didn't ask. Yeah, that's why we didn't ask. Yeah, so we're gonna bring some rackets. I'm definitely gonna have to check a bag. The packing is not gonna be easy. I don't think I'm gonna check a bag. I'm gonna attempt not to but

We'll see. It's three days. I don't understand how you think that you need to. But isn't it so cold there? Yeah. I'm hitting doing gym. Like I need like a few outfits. Yeah. Like four outfits. What are you, are you bringing like a parka that you're going to put in your suitcase? No, but like if I, if I'm going to go do gym, if I'm going to do gym, like then I usually change after that. Then I switch into tennis and then like I switch after that. So.

I need a few outfits and we're hitting a couple of days. Hey, she's the most stylish person on tour. Yeah. On tour. Oh gosh. Yeah. What are we going to do out of this group? I don't know about on tour, but.

Don't take notes from me. I don't. So a few other headlines, Davis Cup thoughts. The atmosphere looked absolutely crazy from the clips that I saw. I didn't really watch but I just saw clips. This is their third year? Yeah. Third year. Back to back. It's amazing. I think it was their third. Third in a row. Wow. Three feet. Congrats. And then the woman.

Back-to-back, two years in a row. I mean, tennis in Italy is, like, wild. And did anyone see, like, the cute little story of Caballi and Barrettini? Yeah, so cute. No. What happened there? I guess when... they had a picture of caboli when he was like nine they said and berrettini was maybe 15 and he was saying like how it's his dream to win

davis cup or something and barrettini was kind of his mentor or something and there was like this picture of them and he's really little and mateo is really tall of them walking on the court and then they just showed like them winning davis cup together it was really cute oh that's really cute yeah it was a cool cool little story um what about rune practicing after post achilles it's gotten a it's been a hot topic yeah actually um i woke up this morning and uh

I went on the gram and I saw Dasha was talking about it. And actually, yes, she was talking about it. And I agree with her after someone who's been through.

she was just kind of like like it's great for him basically that he's practicing and stuff but like also it's like there's this point of like almost like rehab like exhaustion and like fatigue like where you just like kind of hit a wall and it's really hard like once you know once you start like practicing again like after surgery it's it's like it doesn't all go like uphill and it's like i don't know just kind of like he's doing a lot like very soon what he had surgery like

a month a couple weeks the month yeah like five weeks ago or something six weeks ago and he's like freaking i don't know And that's a long-term – these are long – because she had a lot of long-term injuries, and that's what she was referencing. Like, he's going to – it's going to be, like, almost a year. Yeah, it's not like he's going to play, like, in Australia. Yeah, where he's trying to –

yeah so i don't know i mean everybody's different like maybe he like needs to do that to like feel um you know like he's doing some but it's also like if it's your first like major injury you're still like so motivated and like it's um But if you've been out and like... But I also...

I was watching him. I'm just like, don't hurt something else. It's like, that's what I felt like. I was like, oh my gosh, like it's a little soon. I mean, obviously I'm not a doctor or whatever, but like just maybe just chill. hopefully like try not to compensate like because you could compensate on one leg or like your arm like something so you hope that that won't happen as well when he's trying to like be in rehab but i'm sure he i mean maybe it's on him but like

He wants to be out there practicing, but I think us tennis players I can speak for myself. I need to know like when to not over push and just like hey like it's okay like you need to just hit for 30 minutes hit for 30 minutes even though i can hit more or something like that but yeah i think i'm sure he's got a good team around him but yeah it's that's kind of what scares me when i saw the videos

I'm just like, oh. I think the other thing is when you're trying to come back from like a major injury, surgery, all that, it's like you can only do so much tennis stuff. That it's like, okay, how many weeks can you sit in a chair and swing a racket before you lose your mind and you want to break all of your rackets? Yeah.

yeah no i know and like someone who's been out for two years like it's like i've done the whole okay 15 minute hit 30 minute hit 45 minute hit okay now with movement 45 like the whole progression thing and it's so exhausting it's so draining and it's like you can't just like not pick up a racket for You know whatever a year and then expect to go and you know practice for two hours at Eight intensity and expect to like wake up the next day and feel nothing and do it all over again

it's like you have to like do like those small progressions and they are so it's more draining mentally than it is physically and also um i know dasha spoke on this too it's like um you know we have to pay like us tennis players like being an individual sport like we have to pay for our coach pay for our physio pay for our strength and conditioning so like it adds up too and then when you're out

you know for a year or however long you're out like you're not making you know you're not earning any prize money so it's like then but you're investing in yourself Yes, of course. No, no, no, but I'm saying it just adds up and it becomes really expensive. Yeah, of course. It becomes a stress thing. Financially stressful.

wake up at 2 a.m. like oh my god like am i ever gonna play tennis again am i wasting my money like blah blah blah like you know it's just like kind of like you just have doubts yeah so it's it's not easy like having you know like a really big injury like that so I hope it goes well for him but like to see him like already like literally like full-on training practicing like I know I was like

Sitting on a box. Don't get hurt again. Yeah. Yeah. This episode is presented by State Farm. Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like needing the protection of an offensive guard on the football field, but getting an elementary school crossing guard. Sure, they're both guards, but you can only trust one to keep your quarterback safe when the game is on the line.

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Well, I wanted to touch on one more quick topic because it kind of was, it was a hot topic, I feel like, in the sports world. But Conor Bedard, which is, he's a forward for the Blackhawks. He's only like 20 years old. Total superstar for those of you that don't follow hockey. Des probably knows who it is. But there was a video of him basically denying someone.

An autograph but the guy was trying he was older and he was obviously like selling these autographs and I just thought it was really relatable because we definitely had a lot of those people and it kind of went viral and a lot of people were like oh he's kind of kind of like being a douche and we're like I mean I saw it and I was like

okay wait a second like let's just shed some light on this situation because he was like walking back from dinner just with like a couple people or something like that like casually walking and the guy was like really bugging him so what are your guys I mean I know what I think but what are your guys thoughts on people, especially a lot older people that bug the crap out of you for autographs when you know that they're just going to sell them? I usually ask.

Cause it's like, it's obviously at that point, it's usually, especially at like specific tournaments, it's the same three people over and over and over again. And they'll literally whip out a whole book and it's like,

15 pictures of you. And a lot of times I'll just be like, are you selling these? And I play really dumb. And they're like... no no of course not like i i keep them and i was like so you just have like a shrine of all of us all over your house like wallpaper like how do you have so many pictures of all of us if

you don't sell them he's like no no i i would never sell them and i was like well if you if you do sell them i feel like since it's my face like i kind of want to get paid for it some commission the fun the best part is when you get when you take they're like can we take a photo of you and with you you take the photo the next day they come back it's printed and they're like can you sign it and i'm like whoa oh but i feel like there's a lot yeah

and i'm like i just took this or like if they don't see me they bring it back the next year but there have been fans at specific tournaments um i'm not gonna say where but That they are just hovering outside the hotel and it's just like you can't even walk out of the hotel like

There's a lot of players, even a few of us, like we stay at different hotels because we're not getting bombarded. It's just like too much. And you guys are, especially you guys, you guys are so used to being bombarded all the time. And I don't think people understand. That when people get aggressive or like persistent, it's like too much. And it just wants you to like step off and just like not do anything. So that's my opinion. I see it from his side of things.

I mean, it's yeah, it is. It's tough. But I think when it's like the for me, it's always I'm honestly always typically fine with it unless and until my.

like security and privacy starts getting taken advantage of a little bit of course like when you're going to get in the car and they are literally you can't even turn around because they're on top of you and you have stuff getting shoved in your face or like there's places sometimes where people will literally throw things at you to sign them or yeah like one time in a hotel a woman

followed me to my room yeah and i turned around and was like what the hell and she was like yeah can you sign this and i was like okay but like do you realize how weird this is like that was it's it's kind of for me it's more when it gets like a step too far and yeah it's like they kind of lose i think sometimes yeah it's like they lose kind of the sight of

you're still a person that like your boundaries yeah like this would be weird if this happened to you but i think sometimes it's like when fans see someone and it's like they just Or like, oh, I'm going to go take a picture or whatever I have to do. Yeah, it's tough. I am the same. I feel like I am always down to sign. I would say sometimes.

i will stop signing for those people if they come back and like i'll do like two or three or maybe even just two and i'll tell them i'm like hey i'm only gonna sign one because i see that they have like 20 pictures i'm like sorry i'm not gonna sit here and just sign like 20 pictures for you especially when there's like kids and other people yeah i would much rather go sign for kids and then yeah i'll sign one for you but then sometimes you see them

they come back around and they try to get you to sign another one or they try to, they'll give it to another guy because there's usually like a group of them all trying to get autographs to sell them. And they'll give it to another guy in hopes that I don't see that guy. And then he comes up to me and I'll literally be like, you're really trying to get me to sign this, huh? And I do the same thing. I kind of mess with them a little bit because they try to be sneaky.

smart and i'm like this you guys stand out like i i know who you are and then it's like the same guys every single day morning and night i've been followed before i think from a female perspective especially the boundaries thing gets really weird because they tend to always be older men and it's just a little it's just a little creepy like it's just it's a little too much and i i think when the boundaries thing gets crossed like in his instance like he's

just trying to walk to dinner who knows maybe he just signed like 20 of them for this guy and he didn't feel like signing another one because this guy's harassing him i feel like it's it's a boundaries thing for me like it yeah like when it's they forget that you're human and that yeah following you to in the elevator into your hotel room is too much totally crossing a line and then when that happens it kind of ruins your want to do it again

Yeah. Yeah. Because then you do one good, you do one nice thing for them and you sign it once and then all of a sudden now they think they can get you to sign whatever they want, whenever they want. So it's just, I feel like there's a lot more that went into it than him just telling.

That guy, no. Yeah, I agree. And also there's only a video of that being seen, so people don't know the real maybe reason of it or something. I mean, there was like mixed responses, but I thought it was, it was a pretty, it kind of went viral on like Barstool and stuff. So I know it happens, happens to us a lot. Maddie, you want to give an update on Super Lives? Have you watched Super Lives?

I have not watched the new season of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. I... want to be able to focus and Bjorn asks a lot of questions when I'm watching trash TV and I like to be locked in so I need some time I'm downloading for my flight so I can Watch in peace. I have been obsessively watching The Real Housewives of Salt Lake. And if you don't watch a Real Housewives franchise yet, you have to watch this one because it is...

absolute cinema every single week. Bjorn always comes in and is like, why are they always yelling at each other? And I was like, they're just talking passionately. You don't get it, but it is... easily my favorite franchise it is so funny the all of the comments are so unhinged sometimes it happens so fast like you don't even you have to like you're like wait what did she just say

oh my god that's so funny and they're they're all very shady um and every time i see yeah every time i see on tick tock now where um there's like this thing where Lisa is people keep like saying like oh she's doing something illegal or whatever and everyone's like she's gonna sue you because she keeps going into like in the comments of videos and being like you can't say this i'm gonna sue you and whatever it's so good

You guys have to watch it. Wait, so they're in the same... So Secret Lives and Real Hives, it's the same city, no? Salt Lake? Aren't they all in, like... No. Wasn't there in... Mormon Lives are in Pro... Provo? Provo. Provo. Yeah.

but but wasn't there some link yeah oh utah man what's going on in utah more crazy what's happening in the water um actually last in the water last week i was texting maddie because i turned on the tv and uh real housewives of salt lake was on tv and i was just sitting here watching and i was like okay body says like i need to watch this so let me watch

I'm sitting here and then I just text her and I go ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

My gosh, like what is happening? Like literally I'm watching and so much stuff is unfolding and there's so much drama But I was like I could only do like one episode

I was like, I was pooped after it. Yeah, I get exhausted. It's exhausting. I can't ever like... i can't like binge it i can't and and and i think it was at like six o'clock and then there was an episode at seven and then a new episode at eight and i was like oh okay i'm gonna watch oh my gosh and then after that episode at six i was like oh

like i can't do this so i didn't even like i had it on but i wasn't even watching so i couldn't even like stay watching it but i mean i will say oh i was gonna say if you can watch like two episodes in a row if you go back a few seasons one of the castmates was arrested and she's in legit like literal prison now first wow i think it was i think she she was like defrauding specifically like elderly people oh my gosh yes and um but it all like

It all unfolded on camera, guys. Wow. It happened so that we could watch it. And that was the greatest gift. Maddie's loving this. It was, this is my sports. Like, this is football for me. Is this the Super Bowl? The finale is the Super Bowl, the tell-all. It is the Super Bowl. It's the, well, the tell-all.

the watch what happens lives afterwards are also like it's like the post game recap shows and everything phenomenal um but the funniest thing about the woman who was arrested from the cast is that she basically only got arrested because of the show because she was like everyone was like how does she have all of this money it doesn't make any sense like how do her her and her husband afford this lifestyle and

people started sending in like tips to the FBI and everything. And then it like all unfolded on the show. Like you can't ask for better TV. No. I need to start watching, I guess. Well, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, me and Dez, we watched that. Crushed. Yeah, I even started watching that literally just because you guys did. So good. Yeah, and... Obviously, we won't give away any spoilers. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Dance with the Stars is sadly going to be over this Tuesday. I am so sad. But...

Whitney, yeah, for those, spoiler alert, well, she already know, but yeah, Whitney was, I guess, there's conspiracy theories that she was, she knew that she was going to be off the show, but I mean, she's a great dancer, so. yeah she was my pick but who's in the final in the finale uh alex earl oh this will test me jordan chiles dylan efron robert And Robert Irwin. Yeah. I just think he's adorable. I hope he is. He's just so light. Yeah. So I'm excited. But sad it's going to be over.

Yeah. Landman just came out. I want to download that and watch that. Yes. I haven't watched any of that. Gotta get on that. Maybe I'll save that though for like... Isn't it like a prequel? Yeah. whoa you just got really loud sorry yeah i don't know what's going on um i feel like a lot of the shows that everyone watches are because

I tell everyone that they need to watch shows, and I'm starting to wonder if I have a problem. I haven't really been... I was like, Landman, everyone watch it. Secret Lives, everyone watch it. Real Housewives, everyone watch it. All right, we are going to move on and play another game called Who Am I? I'm going to give a few clues about a specific player.

could be past or present, while the other three and also you as the listeners will try and guess who it is. So mine from last week, my three clues, it was actually Anna Blinkova. Who got it right? If you guys guessed that right. Jenny and Des got it pretty quickly. Maddie said she had it in her head, but then she didn't think one of them matched up.

But it definitely was kind of a little bit of a hard one. So I'm excited to see, you know, obviously we're filming this before. But if anyone comments, it was a pretty, it was a tough one. But go ahead, Des, with your clues. Okay, now I'm a little nervous. Mine's going to be tough. Okay. Clue number one. I kind of did like the chat GBT. Shout out to them. They're great. Very creative. Okay, first clue.

You know, chat's not actually a person. Gemini. Yeah, I know. Okay, first clue. I've climbed steadily through the ITF ranks, turning heads with consistency and determination. This isn't a good clue. Okay. Next one. Wimbledon isn't just a dream for me. It's just, I'm not going to give you an easy one to start off with. Wimbledon is a dream for a tennis player. Okay, both of these clues. Guys, I'm not done yet. Hang on. First, second clue. Wimbledon.

Wimbledon isn't just a dream for me. It's my home turf. Last clue. I'm a rising star from Britain whose game is built on grit and fearless hitting. I could just guess knowing you who it is, but... Oh. Just text me. Text me your answers. Okay. Well, comment your answers in our YouTube page or on Instagram post, maybe? I don't know.

um to see if maybe you got it right and then we'll reveal the answer next week okay let's move on to some fan questions First question from jmacharles12. Hi, Des, Jenny, Jess, and Maddie. This question may be most suited for Des as the double specialist in the group. But I was curious about teaming up with someone who is considered a close friend or even a best friend. And what are the potential pros and cons are of that? Des, do you want to take it away since you're the double specialist? Yeah.

yes I think it can be a great idea but it can definitely also be a bad idea I think the pros is just like it's really special I'm sure like to play with your best friend to be on tour playing at a high level and competing together that's a great pro there are some cons i think it would be if a match went south like how do you guys navigate that does it get

conflicted with your relationships can you put like your say your off-court stuff aside and be able to play the match and be businesslike and then move on from that i just think i just think it just depends um yeah it is it's it's tough because you can also like for example a few of us who are really close we room together we

do a lot of things together we see each other on the practice courts we see each other off the court like it's just a lot so you just have to manage like your own space and just be able to i don't know talk to your friend and be open about it but

There's pros and cons so I would recommend not rooming with your Friend if you're playing doubles together because then the way they breathe is just gonna bother you maybe that's just a me thing maybe the way they just maybe it's just you i think uh don't mix business with pleasure

Pleasure, but I don't know if that's pleasure. I feel like if you are really good with just like communicating with them, like, yeah, maybe there are times like, hey, we're playing together for a few weeks. Like, for example, doubles players only get five nights. or four so a lot of us will if at least me like with my close friends i will room with someone so we can combine our our nights which is eight nights or ten nights and you'll just i guess

For hotel per diem. For hotel per diem, correct. And sometimes you're like, all right, well, I don't want to pay for hotel. I'll just suffer through. But then there's weeks where you can be like, hey, I'm just going to take a week off. Let's just have some space. It just...

i think you just need to communicate that like anything but yeah good question good answer i agree um next question from qt 007 what is One of your favorite matches that you played well but lost Jess I I feel like I've had so many of them honestly a lot of my recent matches with arena have been really good matches like levels just super high and you lose but you feel like you don't feel like that

bad afterwards because you're like wow that was a really high level match like I had chances whatever but you feel like you put your best self out there so I would say just off of like brief memory honestly like most of my matches with arena over the last two years yeah i always come off the court feeling like that yeah maddie my match against jasmine at wimbledon was like very fun until it wasn't

So, maybe that one, I guess? That was a really good match, though. I remember watching that one before you got here. It was unbelievable atmosphere. The roof was closed. So, it was, you know... it's even was like louder and everything super fun but uh yeah and then i walked off in tears so that part wasn't super fun but up until then great time yeah My match at U.S. Open 2020, 2020 U.S. Open against Naomi was a really, really high level match that I lost.

i think it was probably like one of the best matches it like uh i saw i can't remember like i saw something it was like best match of the year granted there were only like six tournaments that year so Anyways, Des? Yeah, I'm kind of like Jess. I don't have a specific match that I'm like, oh, like, I think there's a handful.

But, like I said, high-level matches, and it maybe didn't go my way, and I just feel like I can't be really upset about it. Like you said, you can't just go off the court and be so pissed off about it because you've done such good things.

in the match so yeah i can't there's not a specific match there's there's a few yeah okay well thanks everyone for your fan questions this week Please leave us a rating and review. It helps people find out about the podcast. And don't forget to watch us on the Players Box YouTube page. And if you want to ask us a question, please DM us on Instagram at the players box pod or email us at the players box pod at gmail.com. Thank you. And this is the end.

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