Canada - Who will take their chance with the big names out?

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Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast and happy August one and all. A month that will soon slip away like a bottle of wine. So we'll make the most of it while it's here. Joining me today, he's living for the hope. of it all matt roberts everybody how you doing matt very well thank you we've just had our recording delayed by some thrilling cricket that we all watched the conclusion of and back to full strength on the tennis podcast this week. Thrilled that David is back with us. Yeah.

Don't call it a comeback. Friends of the Tennis Podcast will already know that David is back. We soft launched his return on our Friends Q&A show last week. But let's call this the hard launch. David Law. come back hello david i've never been hard launched before i feel good i feel great

That sounds like something that young people do. And I'm not one of those anymore. And yes, I made my soft launch come back by messing up the stream the other day. So I'm trying very hard not to mess anything up on this. Yes, David has been granted by me a one-week... grace period post-holiday of forgetting how to podcast. 30 seconds before going live for our friend show last week, David said, I'm too relaxed. I've had too good a holiday. And then 30 seconds later, we were...

We were busy not going on air when we thought we were going on air. So look, of all the reasons to be substandard at podcasting, I think a relaxed David Law is the best possible. Yeah, I agree. And my back's on the mend as well now after my golf. uh catastrophe last week when uh i was on the seventh hole and i did a practice swing and then froze solid and then got buggyed off the court uh the court the course because yeah i couldn't move and now i can move so you know things are on the up

Yes, David rated his holiday 10 out of 10, despite it ending with paralysis on a golf course. So that's how good the preceding 10 days of the holiday. But don't worry, folks, it's a comeback in all respects. David is on the mend and we have been very much enjoying the tennis that we've been watching over the past few days from, of course, Toronto and Montreal.

We have reached the quarterfinal stage. The finals of both events will take place on Thursday because that is how tennis is moving and shaking these days. The quarterfinals are split over two days. Let's start in... Montreal, shall we, where the quarterfinal line-up looks thus. Victoria Mboko will take on Jessica Butas-Monero. Marta Kostiuk faces Elena Rabakina. Alina Svitolina up against Naomi Osaka.

and keys against Clara Towson. Matt, David, what has stood out for you from what we've seen so far in Montreal? What's been your favourite story? Matt Roberts.

Oh, good question. My favourite story, I think, probably Victoria Mboko. It was kind of a tough tournament for the Canadians early on here, across both the men and the women. There was obviously Bouchard's retirement. had a lot of attention and there was a really big good atmosphere that night but otherwise like it was defined by

losses for a lot of their homegrown players and their talents. Leila Fernandez coming off the Washington title, was very unhappy with the scheduling of her match, and she lost early to Maya Joint, Denis Shapovalov. Felix Ocealia seem lost in quite a sort of sad manner. And I just think for a nation that's had all these great talents and breakthroughs of the last few years, kind of seeing that cohort.

You know, just struggling a little bit at that home tournament was a bit of a tough scene. But enter Victoria Mboko, who has obviously been such a... shining light on the tour generally this season and has won so many matches when you take into account the lower levels that she's been winning at consistently as well and she's just absolutely risen to the occasion and she has become the home star of this tournament and obviously it all came together in that win over

Coco Gough the other night, the top seed in Montreal. Just an absolutely, incredibly poised, impressive performance from her in a big atmosphere, a big night session occasion. And look, Gough did not have... anywhere near her best game. But I was really struck by how Mboko handled the moment and handled the stage. And it just felt like one of those moments where a lot more people will start to take notice of Mboko, you know, real tennis fans.

Fans are aware of the talent, but that was a bit of a match and a moment that I think will hopefully... open up her game and her talent to some more casual fans and they'll be aware of her and they'll follow her. And I just thought it was awesome seeing her handle that spotlight. So I think that was my sort of moment of... of the tournament so far yeah i think it's fair to say that we're all david on board the victorian boco hype train right yeah yeah i think that's fair and and

I think it's really great that she's doing this so soon after the breakout at the French Open in particular. And other results, you know, in the clay court season, it would have been very easy for her to have that as the highlight. of the year and not really be able to do anything else. When she gets the wild card, you know, there's suddenly a lot of hype around and a lot of people at home are expecting a lot of her.

She's not only met those expectations, she's surpassed them. And she's done it in a manner that makes me feel like there should be kind of hope for the future as well. It doesn't feel like she's just riding some... adrenaline wave this this seems to be a very contained game that she's got a repeatable game that hurts but doesn't look like it's just sort of thrashing at the ball. There is a very good base to what she has.

I think she's very exciting for the future. I mean, I'm mindful that we've seen breakouts, particularly from Canada, actually. You know, you listed some of those names there and anything can happen and she will have different types of pressures over the course of time. I didn't expect her to be quite this far along. Even when we saw her at the French, I wouldn't have expected her to be doing this by this time. This is not a suggestion, Matt. I would never. But just genuine...

Curiosity. Where is she proximate to the backhand list currently? Well, for those of us who watched our shows on Tennis Channel during Queen's, you will know that we ran a section on the backhand list and we also did a little watch list section and Victoria Mboko was on the watch list. And very much remains there with...

You know, she might be first on the watch list. She might be the next in if anyone is to fall from the backhand list in the next few months. I would suspect that Mboko might be the one to replace them. It's a hell of a shot, isn't it? Particularly down the line.

The way she cracks it down the line. It's the down the line one that makes me feel things. And the forehand technique is kind of funky. She kind of hits across the ball a little bit. It doesn't look like that reliable a shot. It kind of does a lot of damage, but the backhand is the more solid.

production i think of of stroke and it does a lot of damage as well and it backs up a big serve and a big game generally and look she played she played golf didn't she earlier earlier in the season in rome and pushed her threatened her in that in that first set, but kind of couldn't keep it up. But here against a different Coco Gauff, I just was impressed with the way Mboko...

Yeah, rose to that occasion. I watched her from the front row at Wimbledon against Hayley Baptiste on one of the outside courts. And I was struck then by...

kind of how on eggs she seemed the entire match. Even though she was leading in that first set, she never felt like she had her nerves kind of under control. And I thought that might take some time to come with... with maturity but this just seemed like a really mature performance the other night she just kept it kept it together so well even when Goff was threatening a little bit more in that second set she had to save some break points didn't she but yeah I was just impressed and

And as you said, the backhand is kind of the leading shot. And I very much have my eye on it, of course. It was one and four against Coco Goff. So not even... close really although as you say there were there were those break points she had to fend off in the second set but she

which she did. And I believe this is the only match all year where Coco Gough hasn't broken serve. And frankly, right now, if she's not breaking serve, she doesn't stand a chance of winning a tennis match because of the state. her own serve is in, which is, David, a very, very bad one. I mean, I watched pretty much all of both her prior...

two matches in this tournament before the Mboko match against Daniel Collins and Veronica Kudomitova, two three-set wins. Utterly compelling in the way that bad Coco Goff matches often are. But 37 double faults across those two matches. Like, the Collins match in particular was an absolute shit show. Like, a glorious shit show. I loved it. but a shit show yeah

I mean, I can't think of too many matches that I've ever seen where somebody's hit 23 double faults in a three set match and won it. And it's a great credit to her that she finds ways. We were watching the next one. together when she was down and like a long way down against Krematova and Matt just said I just always expect her to win these matches and

I thought, no chance. She was a set in a breakdown, I think, at the time. And I looked an hour later. She's then... set all on 5-2 up and I'm thinking okay well I guess you just pulled things together but when I've watched highlights and watched some of this match against Mboko in particular I was struck by just how

She looked confused. She looked about why it's going wrong. There was a lot of times when she would hit a double fault and it wasn't like... missing a bit long it was sort of missing wide of the center service line and it wasn't even going in the right direction you know and and and she would then turn around and look at her team and just she always seems so

secure in her own mind about what she's trying to do and what she maybe needs to do to put it right and and she finds a way to do that but i i just detected somebody who's who's very confused right now and that must be a horrible feeling when you're as experienced as coca goff is that you've won two grand slams one of them quite recently you've come off the back of that where has the game gone how have you gone from grand slam champion to this in the space of

three months and barely won barely won matches it's it's very surprising and yet david because of who she is and there is nobody else on the planet that i would say this about the The fact that her game looks in an absolute state right now doesn't actually have much impact on how I feel about her chances of winning the US Open in a few weeks' time. Matt and I joked while you were still at... going down water slides in Portugal, David, after the Daniel Collins match that, like...

You know, we were talking about how dreadful it was and we both sort of cracked the same joke at the same time, which was, oh, she's probably going to win the US Open. And, like, she's not my pick for the US Open, Matt, but I'm absolutely not... counting her out despite how crap it looks right now yeah i think what we've learned about coco goff in the last year or so is that she's probably never as high as you think she is because

The technical flaws are always lurking and they can come in seemingly out of nowhere. Like the way they did earlier on in the season in the Middle East swing and the sunshine double off the back of some really good tennis she played at the end of last. season and the start of this season at the United Cup I suddenly thought right okay that is now Coco Goff's level but suddenly the double faults came back but then she's never as low as you think she is either because

She's Coco Gauff and she's so resilient. She's so incredibly mentally strong and talented generally that she can flip that form on its head and suddenly she can go and win a Grand Sam title. I mean, a couple of years ago, it was the...

The kind of nadir was that performance against Kennan at Wimbledon, wasn't it? And then she won the next slam. And earlier on in this season, we've had that low point through the Middle East swing and the sunshine double. And then she goes in and wins the next slam at Roland Garros. as well but what I would say is that

She did find form before those slams both times, you know, like two years ago, Washington and Cincinnati, she won. And then she won the US Open as well. And obviously this year she had the finals in Madrid and Rome, didn't she? So she went into those slams off the back of some pretty recent really big struggles with her game, but also just finding form in the nick of time. And I feel like...

For her to win the US Open, it does feel like Cincinnati is pretty big for her. Like she needs to show some signs of... you know, at least the game coming along better and not having all the double fault issues and that kind of thing. So I think it's a big, big couple of weeks coming up for Coco Gauff. But yeah, it is extraordinary the way that...

the way that these technical problems can just come and go. And I say technical problems. I do think they are technical. I think, you know, they've tried to make big changes. haven't they, with the grip. And there's definitely technical issues there. It was interesting hearing her talk about him as kind of mental issues as well, because she didn't hit a double fault in the doubles match that she played the other day. And she said that...

She wants to be able to serve in singles like she's serving in the doubles. She says something about having a partner and... You know, not like all the intensity and the pressure coming on my serve every time. She said it kind of frees her up a little bit. So I think it's a classic case of... These things are often a bit of both, right? A bit technical and a bit mental. I think she's in that space at the moment. So like a lot of work to do, not much time to do it, but...

If anyone can, if anyone can come from this kind of slump and in a few weeks' time be playing Grand Slam winning tennis, it is Coco Gauff. So, like, don't write her off, but at the moment...

Yeah, it's been a pretty dismal run of results and forms since Roland Garros, hasn't it? What about Igor Shiontek then? Looked to be absolutely...

We've all listened to the interview that she did on Andy Roddick's Served podcast recently where she just sounded like a... a different person to the one that we've been encountering in press conferences over the last six, nine, 12 months, like relaxed and happy and enjoying her tennis and her life and seeming... relatively, by her standards, stress-free and kind of liberated from the prison that the...

That the positive test seemed to kind of place her in at the end of last year and big hangover into this year, I think. And that seemed to be being reflected in her tennis through the opening couple of matches she played in Canada. Very straightforward wins. over Zhuo Hanyu and Ava Lise as well. And then, then David, she runs into Clara Towson. Wow. Different story altogether. These things can happen.

And Towson has a bit of the Ostapenkos about her in the way that she tees off on the return. And that's what struck me, is that she was... waiting for that kick serve taken at the top of the bounce and absolutely crushing it. And that impacts Svantec, even when Svantec's playing well. That sort of game can hurt her still. And she was...

She was doing some other things well. She was throwing in some drop shots, some of which she got to quite comfortably because she's such a good mover. And then there were some really, really high balls that were bouncing on the baseline, and there was one contentious line call. I say that, I mean, look, it's the Hawkeye Live, but, you know, there was one of those that Shrantech clearly didn't believe was quite right, that landed, you know, went halfway up to the moon and then came down. But...

And the wind, I think the wind was bothering a little bit, you know, occasionally suddenly coming up and that sort of thing. But... This was Towson showing what she's actually capable of, I think, if she plays her best stuff. It was...

I don't think there's anything to worry about there for Strontek. I think it's pretty amazing that she played this tournament, given all the withdrawals on the men's side, for the champion of Wimbledon with such little turnaround to come in and play the thing and have a... Gutler wins and be beaten in a hard-fought match like that, I would say, you know, I look at the losses she's had and Goff's had, and I agree with you. I think Goff needs some positive shoots.

in order to get a real US Open contending run together. Whereas I think Strontek's... just about where she needs to be and i i don't i don't expect her to just dominate this stretch of of of tournaments but i and i actually think now she gets a few extra days off and so forth but yeah it's interesting Yeah, no longer is doing the Canada-Cincinnati back-to-back thing. I think it's A, going to be incredibly rare for any player to pull that off, but B...

think it actually could be counterproductive to do that. I don't actually think it'll be a good thing now for a player to do the double in terms of prospects for the US Open just because of the sheer length of the events now. Do you agree, Matt, that this was one of those where it was way more significant for Towson than it was for Svantec? Yeah, I do agree. I think...

Look, Towson has shown herself to be really dangerous this year, hasn't she? She's beaten Sabalenka this year. She beat Rabatkaner at Wimbledon. Very impressive wins, those. she's one of the best servers in the world. And, you know, given that she was serving well, particularly on break points in the first set, as David said, she was then always a threat on return game. He felt like, okay, even if she wasn't necessarily getting into all of them, she had the chance.

to be dangerous on the return when it was there for her. And yeah, it is the kind of game style that can be tricky for Svantec. I think post-Wimbledon Svantec is going to be fascinating because... My read on what happened at Wimbledon was that a lot of why she was able to play her best and why she did so well was because the pressure was slightly off or if not off.

different and she was a bit more under the radar well winning wimbledon immediately thrust you back into that she's a favorite to win again and a contender for everything again and does one Wimbledon title, which is obviously a huge deal. She wouldn't trade it for anything. But it doesn't necessarily change the fact that for a year she hadn't won a title. You know, she has been vulnerable in the closing stages of tournaments.

here. There have been issues with her game that we've seen this year. Has all of that gone away just because she's won Wimbledon? I'm not so sure. I definitely think she's among the favourites to win the US Open, for sure. But it doesn't necessarily strike me that like Svantec, as we knew her a couple of years ago, kind of dominating everything is necessarily back. Do you know what I mean? Like, I just think she's going to have to.

deal with that pressure again and, you know, maybe cover up some of the holes in her game that have appeared. And I back her to do it over the long run. Like, I think Svantec is back in terms of... as i said being a contender and a real threat to win these biggest tournaments and she will be winning them but i think she's also a little bit more vulnerable still than she was

when she was on her streak for example or when she's had the periods of her best tennis so it's an interesting place to find her in i i think she said didn't she that you know no matter the results of any other tournament, she's happy with her season now because she's won Wimbledon. And I believe her when she says that. And I do think it has generally helped.

create a bit of a lightness around her and is going to help her over the course of these next few months. But that's not to say that she's going to be sweeping up and dominating everything. I wouldn't be surprised if... players like Clara Towson, and there's a few of them, big hitters, informed players, can keep causing her problems, as we've seen through the whole year. So, yeah, just absolutely fascinating.

where Igor Fiontech is right now. For Clara Towson, it's Madison Keyes in the quarterfinal. She saved match points last night to beat... Karolina Mukova also got her revenge over Lara Siegmund earlier in the week. Heck of a week for Madison Keys, I'd say. Yeah, I almost said Madison Keys when you asked me what my...

what my moment of the week of the tournament was because I was so swept up in that win yesterday over Mukava. It felt like a bit of a win-win, to be honest, because it was nice to see Mukava back. playing much better tennis again. Calling losing from match points up a win.

That's how bad things have been for Karolina Mookover, isn't it? She was hitting double-handed backhands, which she just wasn't doing earlier in the summer. So that was a win. And some of the stuff she conjured up in that third set... If anyone wants a reminder of what Mukova can do, try and watch the two-all game in that third set. There was a shot behind the back. She actually lost that point, but she held from Love 40 down. The look on Keyes' face said it all.

how are you getting my power back? How are you pulling off these little touch shots? And it was brilliant. But then Madison Keys did what Madison Keys has done a lot this year, which was, you know, just... go for it when she's down. And she just pulled the trigger on one of these shots on the match point. It hit the line and she ends up winning from saving the match points. And it was just a reminder of...

the drama that Madison Keyes has brought to the tour this year. So I loved that match as well. And, you know, I thought we were going to be on for a Keyes-Swiątek. I say rematch, you know, I'm obviously thinking about their Australian Open semi-final, which in my mind is still one of the absolute highlights of the year. But obviously the draw has kind of not gone that way. And now Madison Keyes has Towson instead.

Yeah, that was a real highlight for me, that match. Is Mooka still in your fantasy team, David? Did you hang on to her? No. I don't blame you. I mean, she literally didn't have a double-handed... backhand a few weeks ago. I traded her in for Leila Fernandez and immediately won Washington, so I'm going to call that a win. Yeah. But, yes, I do watch Mukova and think...

How can you let this player go? But it was, wow, it was fun, that match. And then at the end, just to see Keyes just make Mukherjee... irrelevant in the closing stages was also very entertaining. She would have made anybody irrelevant the way she hit the ball. It was like, I'm going to either win this or not. It's really that simple. Yeah.

Keyes Shvontek and Shvontek Anisimova are both matches that Matt had sort of penciled into his diary for this week that aren't going to happen. Just didn't see Clara Towson coming, obviously. Well, you know you should learn your lesson. Amanda Onisimova would have been playing Naomi Osaka.

in the quarterfinals had she not lost to Alina Svitolina. Quite handily, in fact. I watched some of this in a bit of a haze in the middle of the night. I woke up, checked the tennis scores, thought, huh, popped it on. Svitolina was brilliant, but I... I think Anisimovic ill, that, and like genuinely ill, not Berlin ill, or was it Bad Homburg? Not tanking anyway, genuinely ill.

Yeah, because she'd been absolutely brilliant against Emma Raducanu. Just a phenomenal performance from Anissimova against a player who's caused a lot of problems this year. She was 0-2 against Raducanu this year. But, you know...

I would use the phrase that David just used there about Madison Keyes and Mukova. Anisimova just made Raducanu irrelevant. Just hit her off the court. It was like nearly 30 winners or something, wasn't it? It was wild. She was just seeing the ball brilliantly. And I just thought, wow.

Enesimo was playing... really really well but I did think Svitolina would be tricky with you know just so tenacious and makes you fight for every ball and kind of makes you doubt yourself I think as well as Svitolina when you can't necessarily hit through her and Svitolina has been playing well and was great, but yes, it was a poor performance, very error-ridden, and she said afterwards that she was feeling ill. It wasn't a...

It wasn't a tank like Berlin when she just had enough matches on the grass. It was, yeah, she genuinely did seem a bit compromised, but Svitolina was great. So Svitolina against Osaka.

will be one of the two quarterfinals to be played tomorrow, as well as Madison Keyes against Clara Towson. Naomi Osaka. Another highlight. You talked about... you know, the need for green shoots. I see green shoots in Naomi Osaka. Now, this might not be a neutral take because I might be seeing what I want to see, but... Her victory over Lyudmila Samsonova a couple of rounds ago, saving match points along the way. That is exactly, David, the type of match that she has been...

So much of our analysis of Naomi Osaka over the past few weeks and months has been, she's got to win one of these soon. And that could make things click for her. Well, look, it's early days.

But that Samsonova win feels like it could have been it to me. Yeah, she's my story, really, I think, overall, Osaka. Mboko, of course, we've already talked about, but Osaka, because I don't know how many more of these she could have... taken really in the long run how many times can you know you're this good and just not be getting results and she's made the coaching change one i absolutely applaud um in

Changing Patrick Moratoglou for Thomas Witkowski, I think that's a really good move. And, I mean, look, trying to establish cause and effect, I think, is impossible, really, at this point. What you've got to do is give her the credit because she's playing against Ludmilla Samson of a...

Absolutely a match I thought she was going to lose. I watched the first set and a half of it before leaving for the airport to come home from my holiday. And she just couldn't make any impact. She would just lose an early game at the start of a set. And then she wasn't able to claw it back. You know, some son of a just swings and connects. And when she's like that, she's very difficult to stop.

get to the airport, watching the live scores, listening to Matt's reaction on our WhatsApp thread, and suddenly she saved match points. And suddenly she's turning it around. And I said to you guys at the time, when she won that, I just felt, this is it. This feels like a really seminal moment for her. A line in the sand where she's just, she's won a match that... Didn't look likely. She's lost so many of them. I sometimes wonder about the sliding doors of if she'd have won that.

the other year, the French Open. And then she's backed it up and she's still in the tournament. She's won two more matches. I mean, the one she's just won against Anastasia Sevastova. I don't think you can read too much into that. I did watch it. She's newly back on the tour and looks as though she'd hit the wall.

But still, it doesn't matter, does it? Osaka just got the job done. Now very interested to see if she can take it further. And I just hope she's feeling the confidence from these wins because... When she does get confident, you still see these angles of shots with power that nobody else really has, just different trajectories of shot. And I hope this is it for her. I really do.

Fun to hear you talk about the potential sliding doors with that Svante match because I often think about that match as well. And what was interesting here is that obviously... Witkarowski was in Svantec's coaching corner that day. That was the last match of Osaka's that he would have been kind of present for on... on court, I should think. And then he comes back and the first match where he's coaching Osaka...

is this kind of sliding doors match again, where finally she comes out on the right side of one of those close ones and it seems to have slightly unlocked her game in the next two matches. And what I found interesting about the Samsonova match was that... So often you think of Osaka as being able to dominate and being the one to just hit the winners. Well...

It's tough to do that against Samsonova because she's so aggressive. She's going after every ball. And Osaka said afterwards that she just kind of realized... I don't necessarily need to be the one hitting the winners here. I've got to keep the ball in the court. And a lot of the key moments in that second set, and actually at the end as she won it, Osaka, were defined by Osaka's defence. She was...

lunging and running in the corners and defending well and then being able to inject and hit the winner. But she was soaking up the Santon of her power pretty well. And that seemed like a slight shift in mindset and approach that... that I think was a great one and yeah of all the dormant volcanoes Osaka is she's the most dormant and the most volcano yes exactly because the eruption is the biggest like if it if it comes off

We've seen it. We've seen her win four majors. And I won't give up believing that it might still be possible. It might be deluded. But every time I watch her, I have that feeling of, God, what if this all... comes together and it's just it's just happened a little bit this week and as David said like a long way to go we can't read too much into the Sevastova match and I actually didn't see much of the Ostapenko match but

She's had a good record against Osterpenko. She's beaten her in that way before, and it not necessarily led to anything else. But just with the coaching change, with winning the tight match, I'm just starting to... to believe again. I'm ready to be hurt again, Catherine. Yeah. Oh, me too. I'm so ready. The defence really struck me... both as a weapon and as a tool in her arsenal, but also as a signifier of her hunger.

You know, she's prepared to chase down every ball and just put herself on the line just for an outside chance of scrapping her way to an extra point. I felt like that was, you know, again, this might be me saying what I want to see, but... But I felt like that was symbolic in a way. And the primary reaction I had when I heard that she was working with Thomas Wichorowski was relief. I too was very pleased to see that she had split from Patrick Mortoglu. I think it was pretty clear that...

That dynamic was toxic from the way that both of them were talking and the results weren't resulting either. But I did worry that after that split, she might... just not employ a new coach or do a bit of a... Do you remember when Dominic Thiem split with Nicolas Massou for the second time and it felt like the beginning of a winding down process?

And I did just worry that there was a risk of that with Naomi Osaka. And I saw this news that she was teaming up with Thomas Witkarowski, who is a no-nonsense guy. He's not signing up to any... gig i don't think without assurances that she's in this you know she's totally committed um to to make the best of of what she still has to give, whatever that might be. And I'm with you, Matt. I think there is a volcano there ready to erupt if it can just be, if the magma can just be unlocked somehow.

So, yeah, I was so heartened by that news. And I generally think he's a really good match for her because he just strikes me as so professional. And it just all seems, you know, I don't... He doesn't strike me as a laugh, necessarily. Like, not jumping to go to the pub with Thomas Wickerowski, although he, you know... There might be layers to him that I haven't seen. But in terms of his professional persona, I don't think he's a laugh. I do think it's all business. But I think...

That's a great statement of intent from Naomi Osaka. And I'm with you, Matt. I am so ready to be hurt again. A few other results to...

touch upon from Montreal before we move on to Toronto. So we've got Keyes Towson, Svitolina Osaka, Mboko Boutas Monero. That is the semi, the quarterfinal rather at the top of the draw. The winner of that will face the winner of... Marta Kostiuk and Elena Rabakina. Rabakina is such a weird player at the moment, David, isn't she? Like, I...

I find her so unconvincing and I'm waiting for her to crumble. But she's also just so damn good. So damn good. Yeah, that's what we're seeing, I think. One of the things that... I do remember talking to Goran Ivanovic about, is him saying she's so good that... It doesn't really matter who her coach is to a certain degree. She can get results. She will be a top-ten player because she's just that good. It's about how...

high within that top 10 you can get. Is she going to maximize her potential from here to the end of her career under her current setup? I'd be surprised.

Now, that may change. But, you know, you watch her go toe-to-toe. I watched the latter stages of the Jastrzemska match that she's just won. Who was playing... pretty lights out tennis herself and there were a lot of matches going like that at the time they were right down to the wire both players teeing off and this was one of those and sort of real chances on on both sides and Yet the sort of fluid natural ball strike of Rebecca, she's like the big punching boxer who never loses their punch.

And it's always going to be there, that ball strike. And like I say, I don't, I used to, I was thinking of her as part of a big three or four, you know, not that long ago. And I don't now. But maybe she will get back to that. It still feels like she's living off her skill, really, at the moment. Yeah. Yeah, no, I feel exactly the same. And I have so many... watching a Rebecca, you know, a lot of them uncomfortable because I just love her game. I love her ball strikes so much, but they're just...

Well, before the Ustremska match, which she fought through in pretty tough fashion, actually, 7-5 in the third, it just looked to me like all the resilience had gone. That's a tough sight to see. But she's through to the quarterfinals where she will face Marta Kostyuk, who is Kostyuk-ing, winning all her matches from a set down against Vondroshova, Kazakina and McCartney-Kessler.

It's just... It's been great tennis, actually, in Montreal this week, hasn't it? Like, these women have brought the drama. Massively. I was... more hyped about Montreal than I was Toronto and that has played out but actually it's been better than I thought it would be there have been so many good matches I think it's been the tournament of the year with the most comebacks from a set down like already uh on the wta tour we've had so many and as you said kostiuk has has provided a hefty

percentage of them and like when we were doing the live show on on Thursday night the chat was very very distracted by the closing stages of Kostiuk Kasekina I subsequently went back to watch those closing stages and I understood why they were distracted because it was winning points from on the floor at one point. And she needed, you know, talk about players needing a week like this. You know, Rebecca, as you said, she'd lost her last eight.

from a set down she hadn't won from a set down since since February which speaks to that as you said that lack of resilience in these matches but she had it against Jastremska and Kostiuk had lost six matches in a row since Rome She hadn't won a match since Rome. She'd been on a really tough run of form. But yeah, that tenacity has been back this week, even though she'd looked down and out.

in the first match against Vondrosheva. She's come through. The match against Kessler, I watched quite a lot of that. Very, very windy conditions, a little double faults between them. But again, she found a way through. And, you know, you feel like Rebecca has got a big... power advantage against Kostiuk in that match. But the way Kostiuk's competing right now, you wouldn't put anything past her. So it's been a really, really fun week.

in montreal as you say and cost you kind of Right at the top of that. Epitomises that. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Just before we move on, I would like to give a quick shout out to Aoi Ito. I'm not sure. I'm not sure if you both... watched her match against Jasmine Paolini. I know she went on to lose and this story is sort of long forgotten and didn't turn out to be that significant.

in how the tournament has played out. But Aoi Ito might be my story still of the tournament from Montreal. She's Laura Siegmund without the faff, guys. I love her. She's so great. Oh, yeah, she's... I mean, she's quite a lot like Sue Wei-shei in terms of her unorthodox style. I mean, she basically...

only hit slice forehands. She actually hit over a few more as the match went on against Paolini. But honestly, probably the most original game, the most unorthodox game on... on the tour right now she like doesn't look like an athlete at all like doesn't her serve is is Whittaker-esque

The technique on the serve is crazy. She doesn't bend her knees. She often just sort of stands still in the middle of points. She's got this kind of goofy game, this sliced forehand, and yet to make that... work as she has been doing more and more she's got a lot of wins at like lower levels she started to have wins on the WTA tour as well this year she's only 21 right she's young and she's

She's coming, guys. She's smart. She's tactically smart. She puts these players in positions they don't want to be. On match point, she sort of... semi-sabred the Paolini serve. I think Tim Hedman would call it a crush and rush on the backhand and then knocked off a dropped volley.

There's going to be matches where she's going to get absolutely thrashed. Like she's barely going to win games against a lot of players. But there's going to be matches like the Paolini one where she's just emanating joy for the spectators and causing her opponent... to just go mad because they can't they can't beat this game that's in front of them which is so unorthodox yeah if you get a chance watch Ito because yeah

You won't regret it. There'll be something you take away from that match. Like, wow, I've not seen that before. Yeah, really fun. Absolutely. And just a final footnote from Montreal, the retirement of Jeanne Bouchard, probably something, David, we... I wouldn't mention unless she'd been given this wild card and there had been the ceremony. Obviously, she ended up winning a match and providing some really great drama. And I'm sure...

Canada feel really good about the wildcard they gave her. But I do feel like this giving, this trend of giving out retirement wildcards is... proliferating and different people have different feelings. I'm not a fan. But yeah, she... Jeannie Bouchard has retired. We were asked one of our questions in our Friends Q&A show last week was to describe Jeannie Bouchard's career in five words or fewer.

And I struggled to even find five words, to be honest. Like I stopped at weird. What a weird career. Yeah. Yeah. I do feel like her breakout. I mean, in the space of a year, she reached a couple of Grand Slam semis and Wimbledon final in, was it 2013? And that was... More than I was expecting really from her at the time. And yet because she'd done that, that was exciting. And then, look, she had her concussion at the US Open. And I do think that that really put her back.

Other players, I think, did find her out. I think she was a pretty one-dimensional player, really. But I didn't like the way her career ended up just kind of disintegrating, and it ended up as a pickleball career. But I mean, I know I don't like that. I don't like that sport particularly. And I don't I didn't really like the way she sort of just didn't retire from tennis and then started that up.

So at least there's a full stop to it now. And look, she meant stuff particularly to Canadian tennis. That was a big year. It's 12 years ago now. But yeah, I do think we're going to see more of this for sure. One tournament does it, another tournament sees it and another player sees it and they think, oh, that'd be a nice way to go out. So I suspect you're going to... Just get used to it. But it... Taking a wild card just to say goodbye in a competitive event. Yeah.

I mean, I get why you don't like it. I understand why not. Play an exhibition match. Put on a special exhibition and then have a ceremony after it. By all means, if you need the ceremony of a goodbye. and you want it to be, you want it to involve forehands and backhands so it's reflective of the career that went before. That's harder to do. It's harder to put on an exhibition and get everybody to come. If you're her...

You can just say, oh, well, they've already got an infrastructure and a massive crowd. I could just get a wild card from them and then I don't have to do anything. Sure, I don't blame her for accepting it. Well, I do a little bit blame her for accepting it because you are taking an opportunity away from somebody else. But I mean, it's up to the...

The tournaments are offering these wild cards. And a lot of it, I dare say a lot of them, particularly in Montreal, they're probably thinking, well, you know, Irina Sabalenka's pulled out. And on the men's side, you know... There's a lot of star quality missing because of the way these things have gone. She's a star. She's going to pack the place out. Yeah.

I agree and I guess fundamentally that brings me to the conclusion that I don't believe in wild cards and I think this trend is just exposing that. Because they're anti-competitive. If you want to control who's in your draw, stage an exhibition. I understand. But happy retirement, Eugenie. And Vasek. We'll move on to Toronto in just a moment. Before we do, a bit of a PSA, because the Tennis History Conference that you might have heard us talk about before is being...

held at Wimbledon this year on Tuesday, the 9th of December. The topic, the sort of umbrella theme for this year's event is trailblazers in tennis, 50 years on from Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King winning. Wimbledon singles in 1975. We're going to be there and we're going to be giving a presentation at the start of the day. Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid will also be there and Hannah Wilkes.

is going to be there. She's going to be giving a presentation as well as a couple of other Friends of the Tennis podcast, which is really, really... lovely we are thrilled that Hannah's proposal um got accepted for for one of the presentations I mean of course it did of course it did I'm sure it's absolutely brilliant um tickets are on sale now we will put the link to those tickets in

our show notes and it'll be in the newsletter later this week and i'll pop it on instagram as well at the tennis podcast on instagram and Yeah, if you want to subscribe to the newsletter, we'll put that link in our show notes and I'll pop that on Instagram as well.

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Download the Jerry app or visit jerry.ai slash ACAST today. Okay, on to Toronto, where the defending champion, David. Had you also forgotten that Alexey Popperin was the defending champion in Canada? Validate me, please. No, I hadn't. But I did take some reminding. What's interesting about it is...

I initially see all these withdrawals and I think, why am I going to care about this tournament? So many of the top players are not there. And then I get to the tournament and then these other players start becoming more relevant because... well, the other guys aren't there, the Sinner and Alcaraz and Draper, et cetera, and Djokovic. And I end up thinking, oh, yeah, I'm actually quite enjoying these storylines now and the chance for them to...

to get a bit of oxygen and them to be the headline makers. And actually I'm quite, I'm quite into the fact that Popperin has. managed to keep in the tournament i think it's quite quite impressive that he's he's still there um and i think he's had one or two battles along the way but it's just it's quite difficult to back these things up and he's not had a great year So, yes, I did have to kind of remind myself, but it...

But it was a hell of a run last year. And then, of course, he did the same last year. He backed it up and went and beat Novak Djokovic at the US Open. So that was pretty cool. But, yeah, I... I have to kind of separate my, well, what does this mean anything kind of thoughts and actually just enjoy them in isolation and see these players kind of making names for themselves because the big names aren't there.

It's tough though, isn't it? Because it should automatically mean something because it's a 1000. So you're kind of having to treat it as not a 1000 and find meaning and fun elsewhere, which... good on you but like if i was if i was that event i would be well i would have issues with i'd be speaking to the atp um yeah well you said is it

Is it sustainable is what you guys were saying last week. Yeah, I don't think it is. I don't see how it can be because this isn't what they signed up for. You know, the reason they are a 1,000 and there's nine of them is... you're supposed to get commitments from the top players. And there they are. I mean, it was just inevitable, it felt like. I mean, like I said, my biggest surprise of the...

the whole stretches that Igor Fiontek ended up playing. But look, the Grand Slams and the women's side are best of three sets. That helps on that score. But it was no surprise at all that Alcraz and... sinner pulled out and and you don't want to be feeling like that if you're a 1000 that for when are you next going to see the Wimbledon finalists in your tournament I'm not sure you ever will and okay yeah I'm sure

I'm sure they would say, well, we're getting the extra revenue of the extra few days. But that's a very short-termist view of it. And will you continue to get extra revenue if... Sponsors start to pay less because it's less of an attractive event and the crowds show up less because they know they're not going to be seeing Carlos Alcaraz or Yannick Sinner.

Alexey Popperin mounting this title defence that he is, is a cool story. And we're tennis podcasters. We're here to talk about it. If you'd offered Toronto that story or an Alcaraz Sinner... or even one of Alcaraz Sinner or Djokovic or even Draper rocking up and playing, they'd be taking the not Alexi Popperin option, I'm afraid. This is damaging to you.

to that event for sure and I do do wonder what conversations might be taking place behind the scenes but having said that David is absolutely right Matt isn't he that Well, we've probably been underestimating Alexey Poparin and his prospects of mounting this title defence. I think in particular in Canada, because it's not even the same place, is it? It's sort of the same tournament by name.

Like it's not one of those things where you've walked back through the doors of the stadium onto the centre court and it's all come flooding back to you. It's like it's literally a completely different city, thousands of miles away. Yeah, when you hear players talk about...

you know, their favorite tournament, they'll often cite things like, oh, I go to the same restaurant all the time or I sort of build up these habits that I do. But, you know, as you said, he's in a different city. He can't do that. those things he's going to have different feelings and yet he's he's kept it going he's actually never lost in in canada last time was his last year was his first time playing the event and he won it he's won three matches here he's

9-0 at the Canadian Open. And it's been impressive. He is just perplexing, Alexey Popper. And he does seem to be a completely different player against... top players in Masters 1000 events. He's won nine of his last 11 against the top... 20 at this level quite a niche career isn't it very niche like only Carlos Alcaraz can match that in terms of like wins against fellow top 20 players from their last 11 matches it's kind of crazy

And yet I kind of look at the two big headline wins that he's had. And, you know, like, I just think Zverev in the next round is going to be much... much different test because Medvedev, I mean, literally left the court, didn't he, without his stuff, Medvedev. I don't know what headspace he was in. He just, he lost. Apparently he went straight out to the car. Just walked off, left all his stuff on the court. Like that was...

That was not a guy who is locked in at the moment. And then Holger Runa, you know, can kind of lose to anyone. And I did... I did quite enjoy Runa's tweet about the match afterwards. He said, good things and bad things tonight. I need to step up. And I thought, okay, that's his assessment of the match. He said, go out and defend that title, Alexi. And look, winning two matches like that from, you know, from...

Losing positions when you're the defending champion, it's been an impressive run from Popperin and fun that he's kept it going. But at this stage, I would still be quite surprised if he does go on to actually defend the title.

Just on Medvedev, I know that this isn't new. This is the continuation of a trend which has been running all year. In fact, prior to this year, like the decline of Daniel Medvedev has been a theme of the tennis podcast. And Matt, you called it very, very early. But this does, I mean, like how... Are we worried about how low he might potentially go here? Like, I think we all called this decline sort of him slipping out of the top ten and failing to...

ceasing to be a staple at the year-end finals. But I'm now starting to worry about where the bottom of the barrel might be for Daniel Medvedev. What do you think, David? Well, you know, there was a press conference not that long ago where he was asked about how long he wanted to keep playing, whether he thought about...

I think probably because all this discussion about how players retire and that sort of stuff. I think it was Paris. I think it was French Open. He looked very confused about why he was being asked this to me. Because, well, I suppose there's an element of, well, what else would I be doing? You know, I'm not old enough to be retiring yet. I'm not that bad, you know. But he's nowhere near what...

what you would expect him to be, what he used to be. And he just seemed to be going from tournament to tournament looking a bit nowhere. But he also did say, David, in response to that question, yes, that was sort of part one. He was like, oh, you know, it's not that bad. Like, I'm not thinking about retirement. But then he said, oh, but if, you know.

If I dropped out of the top 50, then it would maybe be a different discussion. Well, like, that doesn't feel beyond the realms of possibility. Like, what level of...

level of tennis by ranking is he playing right now? Probably outside the world's top 50. And I think what I've been struck by is obviously like last year... like the game just didn't look good you know the serve was a problem it wasn't impacting matches and obviously that's carried on but I think what what's also come in this year is a what what feels like a certain level of

delusion in his press conferences. I remember the one in Paris where he kept talking about like, he felt like he was playing really good tennis on the clay and like it would maybe help him on the grass and the other surfaces.

You know, if he's genuinely feeling that, who am I to say that he's wrong? It just didn't feel like that was necessarily what the reality was. And then do you remember that press conference at Wimbledon where he kept going on about how everything was fine because he played well in Halle?

And yet Haller was the exception. And I always felt like Medvedev knew who he was as a player and knew what he had to offer on the court. And he was a real maximiser. You know, I never would have thought Medvedev would have...

won a slam and got to world number one. He's done those things. In my mind, he has kind of overachieved. But equally, I didn't see the... decline coming like this and i think a lot i think a lot of it has been physical he's talked about that shoulder being a real issue and causing a lot of pain and he wasn't always able to practice and i think that was a big reason for his serve

But yeah, he's just in a really tricky place right now. And yeah, I would say he's still playing top 50 tennis, but he's a long way from playing... Top five tennis, which he was for several years. And he's much more vulnerable now to kind of lose to anyone. Like I always have Medvedev on. upset alert and it's kind of becoming is it even an upset anymore and yeah i i think it's more likely that he continues this decline than it is he gets back to where he was

I really do think the peak Medvedev years have gone. I'd like to think that he can hopefully get back, you know, be better than he's doing now. But... It feels a long way back to where he was, especially with new players coming through compared to when he was at the top. Quarterfinals wise in Toronto, we have Alexander Zverev, the top seed against Alexey Poparin and Alex Mickelson against Karen Hashanov. Those are today's two quarterfinals and then tomorrow's two are Alex.

Dominore against Ben Shelton and Andrei Rublev against Taylor Fritz. David, same question to you that I asked about Montreal, your story of the week. from Toronto, other than unexpected Alexey Popperin reaching the quarterfinals? Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I think probably it's the way...

The Americans just squeaked through these third set tie breaks last night. Fritz and Shelton and our... sort of players that I'm expecting to because they're the next group in line particularly Fritz of course I'm always very interested who ends up winning these tournaments when Sinner and Alcraz are not there I mean proper and good luck to him you know he came

and he played big tennis and he won the thing last year. This should be Taylor Fritz or Alexander Zverev, shouldn't it? One of these guys should be winning this tournament. There should be no question about it. They should be in the final. That should be it.

I don't necessarily think that that is the case. I think sometimes, a little bit like how Popperin plays his best stuff against the top players in the world, I sometimes feel as though, say, Fritz plays his best tennis when he's... fourth seed you know and sinner and our crowds are still there and he can just do it under the radar a little bit

Now you're putting expectation on him. He's supposed to go do this. And I'm interested to see whether he does. I mean, that was a really close match he had against Jürgen Hechke last night. He does...

And he's made a thing the last couple of years of winning those sort of matches. And then you had Shelton, who had this absolute knock-down, drag-out affair with Flavio Caballi, where Caballi's 5-3 up in the deciding set. I mean... you know that he should have won that match and then they've had some aggro at the end as well and he's made some sort of gesture that he says i think is towards his team that shelton thought initially was towards him and they had some words at the net

And so 5-3 has ended up being Shelton winning it on a tie break. And I just find, I don't have a single player that I look at and think, there's the story of the week. I just find the whole mix of these guys... Who ends up coming out on top is the story of the week for me. I want to know who's going to end up making hay in the absence of Alcaraz and Sina and Djokovic.

I'm not absolutely convinced it's going to be the ones who should do it. Great answer, David, but I cannot believe you didn't say Dan Evans against Alejandro Davidovich for Kina. Why should I have said that? Oh, because it's right in the aggro sweet spot, isn't it? It's petty. It's silly. Someone does have a point. Davidovich Vakina ended up winning at 11am, which was a great final act to the aggro episode.

Matt, do you want to fill people in in case they're not across this? I really like Hanver Davidovic-Vikina. I thought this was a crazy thing to be complaining about. He didn't just put out like a little tweet about it or an Instagram post. It was such a po-faced sort of essay. It was in English and in Spanish. He wanted everyone to know his point. And his point was that...

He was the only match scheduled at 11 a.m. that day, and he was staying an hour away from sight. So to start at 11 a.m., he was going to have to get up really early. And I just kind of looked at that, and I did think... That strikes me as really unremarkable playing at 11am. Like people do that all the time. Someone else had played in that slot the day before. It wasn't like a one-off, total one-off, only him.

And then Dan Evans pops up on Instagram a few hours later. I didn't even realise Dan Evans was on Instagram. I thought that Dan Evo official account. It just smacked of not official. That's a management account, mainly, I think, designed to put the occasional thing up about his results and his sponsors to keep them happy.

I think he must have nicked the login because he got annoyed about somebody complaining about working for a living, which always winds him up. Right. And I can't remember his exact words. It was basically... Wake up and play. Like people are going to work at eight o'clock in the morning, nine o'clock in the morning. It was get a grip, wasn't it? They've got longer commutes than you and they're earlier.

What are you complaining about? And I have to say, as I said, I really like Alejandro Davidovich-Vikina, but I was totally with Evans here. I thought he lost his mind a little bit there, Davidovich-Vikina. That was... It does happen. I think the players have a lot of points when they complain about scheduling and all of that. And we're so often in agreement with what they're saying. But here...

I was a bit like, get a grip. Come on. Yeah, well, he ended up winning that match, but lost. Well, no, weird retirement yesterday. I think it just sort of hitting the wall. Like sort of unspecified, nothing left to give reason for retirement against Andre Roblev. The internet seems confused about reasons for retirement as well. Matt, other than Evans against Davidovich for Kina, your story of the week from Toronto and the quarterfinal that you're most looking forward to.

I think, well, definitely the match I'm most looking forward to is Shelton de Manor. That's the one that's popping off the screen for me. I mean, I was kind of expecting that to be the Washington final, actually, but then... Alejandro de Bidovich-Vikina played so well to beat a kind of flat Ben Shelton that night, a very error-strewn performance from Shelton. And like David said, Shelton has been amazing.

In the latter stages of matches this week, he's won a couple of deciding set tie breaks, continued his head-to-head dominance over Brandon Nakashima. But I'm not sure he's playing. necessarily his best stuff. He's sort of bringing it at the end, but he's been a bit vulnerable and Dimonor's just had an odd week. because he had to rush over from Washington and play a match reasonably early. And then...

the sensation Christopher O'Connell withdrew. And in a week like this, where you get days off anyway, that meant that he ended up with three days off in the middle of the tournament. And he said after his win over Tiafoe, he really... did find it hard. He kind of switched off. Like, it's just not normal to have that amount of time off in the middle of a tournament like this. But I thought he really outplayed TFO yesterday for two sets.

and yet found himself in a third set so he had to he had to battle through that one and yeah it's just I'm excited about the potential for the rallies in that match. They're both such good athletes in kind of different ways as well. Shelton... Shelton's obviously got that huge serve and he can kind of athletically win points, whereas Dimonor, he is just, I know it's not new, but he is so fast. There was a couple of points right at the end against Tiafoe where he's just...

No one else, I don't think, is getting those balls back. Maybe Alcaraz, maybe like Peek Monfils, but he's in a group kind of on his own or maybe with one or two others, the way he uses his speed. And I think that could be a great... kind of electric Max Shelton against Dimonor. So that's the one that is jumping out for me for sure. Yeah, same. I'm looking forward to that. Karen Hashinov, of course, is popping up because...

Well, just because, reminding us that he exists. Alex Mickelson is popping up and bringing me some sweet, sweet points. I'm glad I weathered the... The natural surfaces rough patch with my man Alex, because grass and clay were not good to us, but he's coming good again. He was puking against Lorenzo Mazzetti. I don't know how... Post-Puke Mickelson. On my fantasy team. Mazzetti really should have won that match, but...

Mickelson did and then he backed it up by beating Lerner Tien and they're good friends aren't they Tien and Mickelson we learned that earlier in the year and yeah it's very open that match Mickelson-Hachanov I could make a case for either of them really Yeah, so the winner is Verov and Poparin to face the winner of Mikkelsen-Hashinov and the winner is Shelton-Dominor to face the winner of Fritz and Rublev. As I said, the finals of both these events are Thursday and we will be back with our...

Canada Rap Show on Friday. And that show, if you fancy joining us live, will be live on YouTube at eight. PM UK time. That's it for part two. Join us in part three, where I will be poking the David bear about the US Open mixed doubles. When you're a forward thinker the only thing you're afraid of is business as usual. Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people and money today so you can transform tomorrow. Workday, moving business forever forward.

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Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast where there is just a spot of US Open news. We have the 14 of the 16 mixed doubles teams announced for the US Open. and David again announced via an Instagram post. which stated at the top of it an official Grand Slam tournament, which is making me laugh every single time. The eight doubles teams that are getting direct entry via their combined singles rankings.

Emma Navarro and Yannick Sinner, Paola Bedossa and Jack Draper, Igor Shontek and Kasper Rood, Elena Rabachner and Taylor Fritz, Abandra Nisimovar and Holger Runa, Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev, Jessica Bagula and Tommy Paul. and Mira Andreeva and Daniel Medvedev. We understand the combined ranking cutoff was something like 19 to get direct entry.

Alex de Manor is campaigning on behalf of himself and Katie Bolter because they are not currently on the list because the teams receiving wild cards currently are Emma Adekanu and Carlos Alcaraz, Madison Keyes and Francis Tiafoe. Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic, Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, Venus Williams and Riley Opelka, and Sara Arani and Andrea Vavasori. Now there are two more wildcards still to be awarded.

Of course, there are going to be withdrawals because this event starts the day after Cincinnati finishes because tennis. But... As it stands at the moment, David, as you predicted, they have thrown a bone to the defending champions, Irani and Vavasori. But that is it in terms of doubles players at this doubles. It's a no to Katarina Siniarkova and Marcelo Arevalo, who pulled a real rock star move by entering as the two number ones. How do you feel about this, David?

The thing is, I'm simultaneously excited about seeing what it's like and seeing all these stars together playing mixed doubles, but also just really miffed that... it could have been so much better and so much more interesting if they'd have been up against some of the best doubles players in the world I'd love to have seen that I'd love to have seen

And Aravalo and Sinyakov, they should be on that list. They should be there. And I mean, look, there might still be. There are still two wild cards still to come. I think that there's probably a better chance of it being Serena Williams and somebody than it is to be them.

I mean, I have no idea if Serena Williams actually wants to play in this tournament. But if she did, she'd be getting a wild card, 100%. And I mean, look, I'd want to see it. Of course I would. But I still feel no matter who they...

no matter who they have the opportunity to give one of these things to, the very best doubles players in the world should be there. I think it is pretty disrespectful that those two are not being... given a wild card when all these others are um and i understand reimagined i understand the the point and look it will sell out and it will be amazing tv and people will love it and

And people will rightfully point the finger at me and say, well, were you interested in the mixed doubles before? Probably. No, I wasn't really. There's no need to go to those extremes. You don't need to just prove your point to me on people and the doubles players. You can have somewhere in between. It's fine. And that's what they should have. And I think it's a real shame that they don't, both in terms of the format of scoring and in terms of the field. Matt.

Anything to add? I just can't stop thinking about Belinda Bengtich taking a protected ranking to get into this event. To play fast four with Alexander Zverev. I think that's crazy. She's almost lost her place on the backhand list for that. Like, what are you doing? Yeah, Victoria Mboka is not doing that, is she? You mentioned Serena there, David. I know this is pointless speculation but she has been posting training videos on her socials.

Wouldn't surprise me at all. It's suddenly not totally ludicrous to imagine that one of those wild cards is being held back for her, right? To play fast four over two days. She could win it. It's not ludicrous at all. Absolutely. What's in it for her? I mean, I don't know how much fun life is after tennis when you've been a superstar and everybody's been cheering your name.

for 20 years i i mean if you get chance to do a couple of days of of arthur ash stadium and just be the center of attention and just be able to compete and be up against players that you probably think actually I could still beat this lot. I think there's plenty in it for her if she actually feels like she could do herself justice. I don't think for a second she'd want to play if she didn't think she'd be good.

Well, she's just watched her older sister win a singles match. And Venus was asked about Serena making a comeback from those Instagram training videos in one of her... press conferences in washington and like she kind of says everything with a little glint in the eye venus but she did say i've got no news but i'm sure if serena's got news she'll tell you and i don't know i did kind of think maybe

Maybe. David, would you rather see Serena or Sini Arcova get the wild card? There's two wild cards. Oh, so you want them both to fill the slots? OK, but if it was... If it were just one. If it were one, who do you want? That's not fair. That's not fair. OK, I've got another question. They had seven wild cards, didn't they? Eight.

Yeah, but who are they going to turn down? Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Radicani? Well, there are others, aren't there? It wasn't just them. Go through the list. Venus Williams and Riley Apelka. Well, I mean, I'm delighted to see Venus. Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton. Quite happy with that one. Madison Keyes and Francis Tiafoe. Quite happy with that one. Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic.

Yeah, I get your point. Ansari Rani and Andre Vavasori, you campaigned pretty hard for. Yeah, look, it's difficult. It's difficult. I take your point. Okay, who will, in this imaginary scenario where she's playing... One of those, plus Serena, one of them have got to go to make room for Cinearchive. Yeah, who is it? I will get rid of... Who am I going to get rid of? Do you want to hear your options again? Yes, please. This is like that scene from The Office, isn't it?

Always the same. Always the same. Madison Keyes and Francis Tiafoe. Olga Danilovic and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz. Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton. Venus Williams and Riley Apelka. Sara Arani and Andrea Vavasori. And you have to get rid of both. Players in the partnership, David. Right. You can't just get rid of Riley Opelka. I'll drop Djokovic and Danilovic. I don't think Djokovic is that into this. He's not.

He's not bothered. Hang on, if we're dropping people based on how bothered they are. about it i think that's a completely different thought experiment okay final final question um in this highly speculative section of the pod that i am loving who will her partner be oh a brian no that's lame That's lame. What? What's lame about it? Wouldn't you choose O'Brien? I would. No, but the US Open wouldn't choose O'Brien for her.

I think she could play with anybody. She could play with Matt Roberts. Why would they choose a doubles player? They don't want doubles players. Yeah, but the Bryans aren't just any doubles players. They're American legends. The US Open loved the Bryans. Who would you choose for, Matt? I think if you're convincing Serena to play, you try and convince Federer to play.

Would he do it, David? Is his post-retirement career sad enough that he might want a bit of this? Like I say, if he actually thinks he can... not embarrass himself, I think he'd absolutely do a two-day thing playing fast four. Why not? One of the quite funny things about this is that...

They're missing the biggest star of all. Coco Goff's not playing. Coco Goff. And she's been consistent about that all year. She said at the start, I'm not going to play that because it's going to affect my preparation. going into the actual, you know, the actual US Open. I do wonder whether, you know, if she... Well, two questions, actually. If she goes out early in Cincinnati, might she reconsider? You know, she'll be...

She'll have a lot more time. Are they allowed to pick a wild card from a bunch of people who haven't entered? I don't actually know how that works. The thing is... You can do what you like. I think they can, but they have picked people we've entered. Because of the schedule, there's going to be partner swapping. Isn't there? Because let's say Emi Navarro reaches the final in Cincinnati and Yannick Sinner loses earlier in Cincinnati. They are not going to...

let a willing Yannick Sinner not be able to play just because Emma Navarro is unavailable. They're going to find someone for Yannick Sinner to go to the dance with. So there is going to be partner swapping here. So I think kind of, I think you're right, David, I think all bets are off and they'll find a way to make it all work. I mean, what if, David, we ditched Olga Danilovic and we got Serena in with Djokovic?

Sure. That could happen, couldn't it? I mean, no offence, Olga. I mean, some offence, but yeah. OK, last bit of very important US Open news, which I simply have to put to David. Have you seen Game Set Matchmaker, David? You know, I did see something about it. And then I just... Instantly thought, this is not for me. It's definitely not for you. Is it for anybody? I think is the real question.

Would you like to hear? I'm going to read out details whether you'd like to hear them or not. Introducing Game Set Matchmaker, a bold new US Open YouTube series that follows one tennis savvy bachelorette. the champion, on her quest to find love, one match at a time. Over the course of eight episodes filmed during US Open fan week, will any of her seven matches be destined for a real-life doubles partner?

The series will air during the tournament. And the first reply I've got, the first comment I've got showing up on my Instagram feed is Donna Vekic saying, wait, what? Crying, laughing emoji. It just about sums things up. I mean, who is this for? I'm partial to a naff, you know, turn your mind to mush dating show. And I'm also partial to tennis. And this is not for me. This makes me recoil in horror. I've seen what happened when you went to one point slam.

It's true. I shouldn't rule out. Can you tell me, Matt, that you would be that surprised if Catherine turned this on just out of a bit of professional curiosity and was into it within about four minutes? Not even very professional curiosity. Just curiosity. Yeah, you're right. It's true, isn't it? No one has gone from zero to 100 harder than Catherine at the one point slam. So anything is possible. It's true. I wouldn't judge you.

I'd just observe it. I would judge me. I think I would keep it to myself. If internally I was enjoying Game Set Matchmaker, I think I'd keep it to myself. It just feels like, first of all, it feels very like 10 years ago. Like that was the crest of the Love Island, Love is Blind, well, maybe five years ago, but it just feels a bit late to be doing this. And it also just feels like, I don't know, it feels to me like...

Boomers thinking they've nailed what Gen Z want. You know what I mean? Like boomers sitting around a table going, what do Gen Z want, guys? What are they into? Can I tell you what I want? A proper US Open draw. I didn't ask for this mixed singles. I didn't ask for this, whatever it is, matchmaker. Just stream the draw and do it properly. That is how to improve the fan week of the US Open.

Can't wait for the moment the PDF lands in your inbox, Matt, and we get this rant all over again. Who's pumped for the US Open? I am. This time in two weeks, we'll be on a flight. They're on two separate flights. Awesome. Cannot wait. Folks, we have two mascots for this episode. I think these are returning mascots. I think I know these guys. We have Snicker and Doodle. Snicker and Doodle owned by Amy Tarr.

And they are Maltese Shih Tzu crosses, which apparently is called a Shmaltese, which is a name I'm very much here for. They're both seven years old, they're brother and sister, and they live in New York City. They say, when we're not inside watching tennis or sci-fi with our humans, we love to go for walks in Central Park as long as it's not raining. We love watching children go around the carousel or finding a sunny spot high up on the schist.

To observe all the action in the park, fellow dogs, squirrels, birds and pedestrians scurrying in all directions well. Amy, that's exactly what I hope to be doing in a couple of weeks' time, watching the world go by in Central Park for an hour or so. So I very much hope I bump into Snicker and Doodle while I'm doing so because they are incredible and I really love them. name Schmulties.

Love that. So thank you, Schnicker and Doodle. And thank you, Amy. You'll be going in our newsletter and on our Instagram. And if you're watching us on YouTube, you're probably looking at their lovely faces. They look like they're... friends to me.

In a brother and sister kind of way, I'm sure they have their moments, but they look like they're friends to me. And of course, animals being friends is the best thing in the world. Hello to our mascots, of course. Hello, Phoebe. Hello, Maisie. And hello, Roger. Hello to our top folks. executive producers Greg, Chris and Jeff. Thank you to The Athletic. We are, of course, proudly part of The Athletic Podcast Network. And Matt, it is over to you for a very special shout out this week.

Yes, that's right. Pam Shriver got in touch with us to tell us about Braun Levy. He was a Loyola High School tennis and sports star. all set to attend the University of Virginia later this year. But in May of this year, he was tragically killed by a drunk driver, and it was just a devastating loss for the... Southern California community, tennis community, and his family and his friends. And Pam described him to us as an outstanding young man and wrote in her tribute.

on Twitter that he was a pillar and a gem. The USTA wrote that he was a passionate tennis player, a devoted teammate and a loyal friend. And Bourne's lasting impact wasn't written only through wins or rankings. It was written through the happiness he gave others. He had a way of brightening every room he walked into. His sportsmanship never wavered and his love for tennis, for people and for life was always evident. And yeah, since his... Since his passing, a number of efforts have been made.

to honour his legacy. And a scholarship fund has been set up in his name, Live Like Braun, to support a Loyola student each year. And his family have created a foundation in his honour, the Live Like Braun. like Braun Foundation. And the reason we wanted to pay tribute to Braun this week was because this Saturday, 9th of August, would have been his 19th.

birthday and a tournament is being held in his honor and will be held in his honor in future years in the southern california area on and around his birthday so Yeah, Braun sounds like a very special person and that event sounds like it's going to be very special this weekend. And yeah, we just wanted to say that we're thinking of his family.

with Pam and all those who knew him. Absolutely, and best of luck to everybody involved in that tournament this Saturday. It's a desperately sad story to hear about, but... incredible from Braun's family and community to create a legacy and honour him in that way. So best of luck to everybody involved on Saturday. Best of luck to everybody involved on Saturday. We will be back on Friday with our next show. That show will be live at 8pm on YouTube.

for the link in our newsletter and across our socials. It'll also be available as a podcast as usual as well. Enjoy the rest of the week of tennis in Canada. We'll be doing just that. Thank you for listening and we'll speak to you on Friday. Popsicles, sprinklers, a cool breeze. Talk about refreshing. You know what else is refreshing this summer? A brand new phone with Verizon.

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For too long, those that have worn the cloth of the country, that have fought and sacrificed for our nation, have been left out of the greatest financial engine the world has ever seen. My service paved the way for my success, and that's true for so many entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Kaj Larson, and in each episode, we'll bring you the stories and the wisdom of those who have gone...

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