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Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Mary and Bartoli. I'm Matt's Belander. This is Mary Carillo. This is Pam Shriver. This is Janik Noah and you're listening to The Tennis Podcast. Well, hello folks and welcome to tennis podcast hours on day 9 of Roland Garros, where it is 146 am and apparently that's not even a notably late finish time at the French Open anymore. It's not even a doggy point.
It's just what we do in tennis. Alexander Zerev has just beaten Holger in five sets, Runa having led by two sets to one and looked very much on top of that match for large periods of it had Runa won it. I do think that would have been the story of the day. But as it is David, and now that jock of itch and his win somehow over Francisco Syrindra, a 6157367563 in the fifth has to be the story I think.
Yeah, and I think pretty much in some ways maybe no matter what had happened because it seemed so unlikely really when he was struggling with the knee injury that he seems to sustain early on in the second set, which I think he said he suffered in the third game of it slipping around and he come into it with something.
But he, I mean, look, this is the second time we're talking like this in 48 hours and last time it was three in the morning after 4,29 minutes. This was even longer. This was another 10 minutes on top of that. And he was playing a guy 12 years his junior and he looked in a bad way. No, that jock of itch. He looked like he got no energy, but more to the point he looked like he just couldn't move properly.
And he figured it out. He found a way and that is just what he does, isn't it? And increasingly the older he gets, the more he seems able to find solutions, he is the ultimate solution finder. But I'm really shocked that he managed to do it this time. Yeah, you and everyone else in the tennis world, I think, because you know sometimes when you go on Twitter for the first time in a while and you get tweets from a little while ago, you get kind of backlogged tweets.
Well, I logged on to Twitter a short while ago and I got a load of tweets from people midway through the jock of itch match when he was struggling physically. It had the medical time out. He had just taken the painkiller, but the painkiller hadn't yet kicked in. That was what he was telling us about impress and everyone thought, look, I know I've seen no that jock of itch in this position a million times before, but I do think it's different this time.
And I do think he's going out. That was the, that was the chorus of opinion at the time. It really, really looked that way. There is lots to talk about here. Before we get into all of that, though, we want to tell you to get ready for the next chapter of spectacular sounds like a threat. Doesn't it David get ready? All right. Because tickets for the US Open tennis championships, the is final Grand Slam tournament are now on sale.
The tournament runs from August 26 to September 8. The world's top players will hit the courts in New York City to take on tennis's biggest stage experience the thrill of intense matches, iconic moments and the vibrant atmosphere that defines the US Open. I think the three of us can vouch for all of those things. Don't miss out on securing your seats for the event of the summer.
Visit the US Open website now for tickets to 2024 US Open tennis championships spectacular awaits and I was thinking as I read through this earlier about the fact that the US Open was actually the first overseas tennis tournament that I ever went to as a fan, the first tournament outside of Wimbledon.
I went with my dad in 2004. We got a three day ticket package, two day and night sessions and one day session followed by a very hasty journey to the airport where we were very nearly missed off light. And it was magical. It was absolutely magical and really cemented my tennis fandom. You'd have to work pretty hard to not have a good time at the US Open. Yes, you'd have to be quite a little joy. I think you'd be able to pull it off.
No. Giggin' some for ticket, I say. Yeah, it reels you in for sure. So tickets now on sale just go to the US Open website back to Novak Jokovic. Matt, were you reeled in? Did you think Jokovic was going out? Yes, I think I did actually. There was certainly a moment when I thought that against Lorenzo Mazzetti the other night and I think this was an even more precarious situation.
I think because his movement was so compromised and he was barely chasing down balls and he said that and his press conference didn't he? That there were times where he just kind of gave up in rallies. And that's different. You know, there were times when sometimes his energy seems very drained and you know there were times in this match as well. But the fact that there was clearly a problem with the knee made me think well he might not have time to get this back.
And given the context of Novak Jokovic's year and given the context of the fact that he was playing until 3am last night it just seemed like such a tall order against Serundalo today down what was he 4-2 in the 4th and then 5-all as well once he got it back he faced a break point like it was very precarious there in the 4th set.
And yet when the ends up turning it around you do end up with this feeling like oh why was I thinking that all along and I don't know it just feels a little bit like Serundalo's name has just been etched into a sort of stone along with all the others that Novak Jokovic has done this to over the years.
The fools that thought they had him. Right and we're all on that stone as well because we've all written Novak Jokovic off so many times and I think it is one of his most remarkable wins you know in the circumstances you know in terms of on route through you know we can't we can't just say that this is normal it's kind of normal for him but you know he's going toe to toe over 5 sets 4.5
hours with a great clay quarter in Serundalo having beaten a great clay quarter of Mousetti a couple of nights ago who they're both so many years as junior and the biggest thing I think for Novak Jokovic is that his tennis is really good at the moment and it hasn't been all year but he is he's playing well now he came out firing against Serundalo 6-1 first set ball pinging off his strings
and in that fifth set I thought both of them played really well and Novak Jokovic in particular there were a couple of moments one diving stretching volley after Serundalo had hit such an unlikely brilliant pass and in the penultimate games when the low 40 level up cruising on serve I said oh this is an unexpectedly easy service game for Serundalo
and yet Novak Jokovic even though was fully loved down in the game never gave up on it and he locked in and he ended up breaking from 40 level and he hit in a forehand onto the line the back edge of the line to clinch the break and let out this roar and the real Novak Jokovic is there on the court he's facing a lot of issues the knee the late finish the long matches that he's facing that are taking it out of him
still do wonder whether someone is going to pick up the pieces and I think I'm erring on the side that someone will not convince Novak Jokovic is going to win this tournament but his tennis is a whole lot better than it has been all year and he'll be he'll be very encouraged by that aspect at least
we're caught in this constant tussle with Jokovic at the moment of whether to see him and what he's doing in the context of his career or in the context of his year that's the tension isn't it because he has pulled off this kind of win
that's okay I think this was extreme I thought he was going out to you I really did even though I've seen him in this position so many times but we have seen him do this so many times this is this is what he does he does the totally improbable but he hasn't done this much this year not at all
and yeah I'm just kind of fascinated fascinated by that tension just to fill you in a bit on kind of the sequence of events and the context he put them in or the light he shed on them in his post match interview he said he had a pre-existing discomfort in his right knee that it had for a couple of weeks prior to this tournament didn't describe it as an injury described as discomfort something he was managing and something that wasn't affecting his play
he said regarding the late finish the other night he felt as good as it was possible to feel in the circumstances going into this match he was stretching out his neck in the early stages wasn't he but that didn't seem to to amount to anything he then slip in hurt his knee though and he said that disrupted me for two sets
he said there were points where he didn't know if he should continue or not he took an initial dose of painkillers and then asked the physiode come back on and give him more kind of said something stronger please how much am I allowed to take basically and he took the maximum dose at that point and was told that would kick in after 30 to 45 minutes which handly was the end of the four set or not so handly if your Francisco Surange alone he said he was able to play the
service set of the match pain free but at the time that he was telling us that he was in the press conference kind of in this weird situation of waiting for the painkillers to wear off so he could realize figure out how bad it is or isn't he said he would have more tests and screenings and checkups tomorrow and he kind of ended on a note of saying I don't know if I'll be able to step out onto the court and play again I hope so
yeah and we have heard him say things like that before during Grand Slam runs to a title most notably a couple of times the Australian open tearing something in his abdominals a few years ago and then some sort of tear in his hamstring I was going to go on in the evening the sort of title winning press conference saying 99% of players would retire would retired from this tournament would have pulled out of this tournament the moment they had the scan results because of what was there
and so he doesn't sugarcoats he tells you what's going on that he's feeling like this and then he's going to try and manage it and hopefully you'll get through and really that's what he did today
when it was fascinating to watch him I find him more interesting age 37 than I ever did at 27 because of the way he processes a setback he realizes he's not as physically dominant as used to be now that's even either in the moment or in the macro sense he's 37 not not 27 but he then just adapts and his economy of movement changes
as you said he was letting some drop shots go and all sorts of things but he just takes a couple of steps and then hits an incredibly thin shot to put the pressure back on and he uses the geometry of the court and in a way like I don't know anybody else does it like he's doing it at the moment
I think it feels like 20 years worth of tennis education is teaching him how to do this but at the same time big question marks he doesn't know how he's going to wake up and as you say the could well be a very flat performance around the corner again somebody you wouldn't expect to live with him that is definitely possible I think and I mean it's Casper Roode next isn't it and that's that's I mean listen to what I said
when I say not expected to live with him I mean this is a guy who who was putting up a great show in the first set of their final last year and kind of should have won that set Roode is not the guy you want to be playing if you're anything short physically and I remember thinking in that final last year that maybe the best route for Roode to win was to take Jokovic's legs I thought even then
that Roode had the advantage physically in that match but it all depended on him winning that first set in the final he put so much into it and he needed to have something to take away a bit of Jokovic's belief as well as his legs you know and I think that's the case here as well he is going to have a physical advantage route he's incredibly strong physically Jokovic's not physically at his best right now
and it's just a question of whether his tennis I think can last long enough to take Jokovic to that place and Jokovic's played so much tennis in the last two rounds he's played an amount of tennis now that people don't play on Roode to winning Grand Slam he's way beyond what you know even the people who have won Slam's playing loads of tennis have played at this stage like it's not good for Jokovic on paper right now he is vulnerable here and this is I think Roode's best chance to beat
Jokovic at a slam you know like it's not the final it's against a compromised Jokovic in the quarters and yeah it's a really big match for Kasper Roode I think if he loses it we can say it's no about Jokovic but I think this is his time to step up in a way I know what Matt I think he knows that reading his press conference quotes Kasper Roode following his full set victory over Taylor for it tonight
he's talking about five set tennis and managing five set tennis listen to this he said the goal is not necessarily to play three perfect sets every time and win straight sets sometimes you just have to think okay I won't play perfect but I'm going to be a tough player to beat in best of five sets on clay that's the mentality I've been working on I know the opponents want if I know if the opponents want to beat me
they're going to have to play really good tennis for at least three full sets and I'm going to try and make it tough for them physically I'm going to be in good shape and make them suffer if I can with my technical game we're going to try and play heavy and play the kind of clay court tennis that I like playing I don't think that's sort of target I don't think that's him sending a shot across the bowels to know about Jokovic
I don't think Kasper Roode is that guy but I do think that's a sign of something clicking for Kasper Roode about I guess experience and maturity and advantage he can bring to bear over somebody like like know about Jokovic certainly in this state I mean up until that last line about sort of heavy clay court tennis that could have been in no way Jokovic absolutely you know absolutely I also think Roode's game is better than it was last year
I think every year he makes little improvements I think he is hitting his backhand better I think he can hit it better down the line now whether it's enough you know there was a pretty big tennis level gap in that final in the last in the second and third sets last year
so whether it's enough I don't know but the game's improved physically he's got the advantage this is a big moment for Kasper Roode just on the area of controversy we'll certainly know about Jokovic's perspective controversy in his Surinjalo match he attributed the tweaking of his knee the exacerbation of that existing issue to wet clay to unevenness of the court due to wet clay and he was pretty aggravated on the court calling for the supervisor
and pleading with them to sweep the court more frequently they summarily sweep the court at the end of sets he was asking them to do it if not every change of ends then every couple of change of ends and they didn't want to do that they said no we you know we this is how we do things this is how we always do things and he went into quite a lot of detail explaining that in the press conference he said that he thought it was because of the accumulated wet conditions
followed now by dry conditions yes it was sunny today folks we can't quite believe it and that that has led to the clay being in this this kind of state now I have I haven't seen any other players complain about it I haven't seen any other entities of players stumbling more than usual or sustaining injuries or what have you but equally I kind of think what's the harm in sweeping the court more like it's the same for everybody and it costs it costs nothing
I don't know where do you stand on it? I know what you mean I haven't seen any other players struggle with the conditions and ask for that and I also sort of think I don't exactly know what the rule is or whether the whether it's just sort of you know the policy of a particular tournament to do it a certain way but one thing that did strike me and I'm going to name drop here I'm sorry about that but I'm going to do it anyway
when I left the commentary box at the end of that match also leaving the adjacent commentary box with John McEnroe and we we had a little chat about what we just seen and I'm just thinking now if if John McEnroe had been Francisco Surunderlo hearing Novak-Chuck of issues opponent say I want them to sweep the court more and they'd agreed John McEnroe would have been straight up to say well I don't want it swept I'm absolutely fine with it why should we do it for him
and I don't know what Surunderlo would have done he would probably have said yes you're fine John McEnroe wouldn't have done and I think that that is an element to consider here why should it why should everything bend to the end of Novak-Chuck of it?
Yeah and that is a point because this match started at 4pm Novak-Chuck of it had not before 4pm start time which was unusual yesterday's third match on Philippe Shatry I had an up before 2pm start time the the Alchora's match and that meant there was you know
not much of a gap between the second match and Alchora's starting belly any at all you wouldn't you wouldn't really have known there was a not before today there was a 2 hour gap where Philippe Shatry sat unused and of course this match went long it delayed the start of the night session we finished at 1.45 in the morning like that's no good this is crap and it's because they've bent to the woman Novak-Chuck of it you can give them a not before 4pm start time
I totally understand him wanting that he doesn't want to play in the night session again because of what happened the other night but you also want maximum possible recovery time because of what happened the other night which was the gregis he shouldn't have been put in that position but equally Do we know that for sure or was that a TV request?
I don't know that for sure no but I mean it seems it's Nancy reason that I've never seen it before and I can't see any other reason I mean I definitely think he the third slot is the one he would have wanted I was reading Roger Rashid the Australian coach saying he wouldn't want the night session match because he wants to get his body clock back on a tournament winning timezone which is the afternoon that's when the next match is all we played I don't want that
I mean yeah it is interesting isn't it to see how all these things work and look whatever happens that is ridiculous to leave the court dormant like that I also when I was seeing him get so so head up and aggravated about this court sweeping situation and I did just wonder if it was and I totally understand if it is this you can't two days later in your next match still be complaining about the late finish and the night before finishing it three or six in the morning but it's still in you
that emotion is still in him he still knows that at whatever stage he ends up losing in this tournament unless he goes on to win the title he'll always have in the back of his mind maybe I wouldn't have lost if I didn't have to play till three or six in the morning against the end of the day
that time so I do feel like there's probably some he's probably just consumed by anger about that that will manifest in other ways I feel like you're more likely to find things to be grieved about and that that will you know anger needs to come out you're going to be anxious
you find a host for that emotion anybody is up late like that and loses that much sleep even if you make it up it's out of kilter you're going to get ratty you're going to answer about things and if something is a personal attack I mean I want to describe us throughout yesterday I mean I honestly I know even from sort of sleep deprivation of parenthood and stuff like that all sorts well all the sleep deprivation we have doing this job
you know you you find fault with stuff don't you I'm not talking about you Catherine I'm talking one finds fault with stuff David told me in the lunch key yesterday I'm going to say all I saw what the option things body I found fault with it things do body it when you sleep deprived
or when you've oh yeah that situation how old you you were in a terrible yeah it was it was it was as bad as Matt Roberts ever gets French open broke Matt for about four hours so rude jock of itch quarter final two days from now the other quarter final will be Alexander Sverev against Alex Domenore Domenore beating Daniel Mervative 4662 6163 roaring I love clay Oh bless you at the Suzanne Longling crowd afterwards he was so good today Alex Domenore and I think Daniel Mervative was pretty taken
aback by how good Alex Domenore was. Mervative had treatment for blisters at 2-1 in the second set so at that point he's a setup it's on serving the second it's a tight match but Mervative's on top of it which is kind of exactly the script that you'd have written ahead of time yet treatment for blisters there's this absolutely grotesque close-up of his feet while we're all having lunch Matt discarded his sweet potato soon afterwards and rightly so and then suddenly Mervative's
form just drops off a cliff you know you hear how many games does he lose after that I mean he's barely winning games after very very much like the jock of itch match in that way yeah it was except that Mervative was absolutely adamant that the blister wasn't the reason for the drop-off it was and I know players do do this they're so desperate to not be sore losers that they don't come in and say unless you're Holgeruna they don't come in and say well I was injured and that's why
that's why I lost that's not a reference to tonight we don't know what Runa's said tonight he just has done that a bit in the past a lot in the past yeah no he but I don't think that's what this was from Mervative he was like yeah you know well it wasn't nothing but I was fine and Alex Dimonore was so good today I think he he I think he was shocked by it I really did the surf he said he said that was one of the on the basis of today he's one of the best servers on tour wow yeah
and I know I think the serve is an area where Alex Dimonore has improved massively you know remember when he beat no that jock of itch earlier in in the year and barely barely lost a point on on on first serve against the great
no that jock of itch return we finally have a link to the 2004 French open you know we've been desperately saying all all lead up oh this is going to be just like the 2004 French open it's turned out to be nothing like the 2004 French open well Alex Dimonore was the first Australian man to reach the
finals of of Roland Garros since 2004 when when Laten Hewitt got there and it it's it's kind of interesting how Dimonore thinks this is also unlikely you know why he's able to joke about sort of loving clay now because he'd
ever been passed the third round at the French open and never really felt that comfortable on clay you know given the flat trajectory of his shots and you just always seemed a lot more comfortable on hardcore and and grass courts but I think overall this is just a demonstration of how he's improved
generally you know his serve absolutely has improved his clay court level has improved he now beats players like Medvedev this is not the first time he's beaten Medvedev it's I think three maybe times now that he's beaten him and you know
we were saying the other day about Shapa Valov and you know I think of Shapa Valov and Dimonore was coming through at the same time and 2024 Alex Dimonore beats 2017 Alex Dimonore every single time no question about it and it's an easy victory maybe sometimes 2024 Shapa Valov beats 2017 Shapa
Valov but I'm not convinced like I think that right there is kind of what Shapa was saying other players have got better Alex Dimonore was a perfect example of that I do think we have to slightly question Medvedev like where is he at right now you know he's he's been so consistently number four you know behind Jockovich Sino and Alka as for what feels like a year maybe a little bit more now but he doesn't hold a title his game is I think he's I think he's
excusing himself a little bit there with that take afterwards I didn't think that was a good performance from from him Alex Dimonore was great but I really thought Medvedev's game drops off and I thought it was because of the foot and I thought that was going to be the reason as it did in his previous match right he did suddenly he did suddenly just a bit yeah I don't I don't think he's I think for a long time he's been hitting his ground strokes really well and that's been
making up for the fact that his serves not been there I think there were times this tournament where he did find his serve I think his ground strike I think his game was was there today against Dimonore look I still think obviously how courts is where he flourishes and he and he had an extraordinary Australian open so like you know it's not it's not all a crisis by any means but you do the title you could do with a title you could do with a big win over one of his
rivals and those aren't coming at the moment and yeah does leave him in a bit of a bit of a tricky place but credit to Alex Dimonore because that's that's a hell of a result really to to reach the French open quarters and he unveil himself as a French speaker which was amazing it was amazing I've been hiding honestly I was I was cringing when when it was became clear that that interview was going to be in French and he just put me at ease straight
away first sentence really great accent he said it was French he learnt at school but that sounded superior to early secondary school level French to me he had really great French accent it was it was brilliant it was really it was just one of those lovely wholesome revelations and he had his his superfan this kid called Paul do you know about Paul David I've seen the tweets from from Dimonore who seems totally won over by this lad how's that happen let me tell you
if you're having a bad day check out the Paul content so tell me tell me how I'm not very social media so Paul was at Dimonore's previous match which was against Jan Lennard Struth you know one of the ones delayed and it was in the drizzle moved to court number 412 in about eight degrees so Paul was already marking himself out as a die hard for being there and he was cheering the whole way and Alex Dimonore was very grateful for that and then he put on Twitter I
think it was Alex Dimonore saying we've got to find this kid and get into my next match because I need him you know he was great and I don't know who found him the powers of B. I'm rolling Garros cotton on to it and said we've got to find
this kid yeah and there he was today on on Suzanne Longlen and they'd ended up interview together at the end which was lovely yeah it's really great and Paul from do we know France France okay that's a lovely somewhere in France I'm gonna I'm gonna see he seems quite easily able to
come to the tennis at the drop of a hat so I'm gonna say Paris the Paris area and he just seems to have decided Alex Dimonore's his man yeah and Dimonore said that even in the the biggest stadium today the louts who's on Longlen court he said he could still hear Paul after every single point and he
said he's gonna come to my next match or ever many next matches there are Paul's gonna come he said he's probably gonna be chilling with me tomorrow my practice day that's great so by the way just on Dimonore something you when you
were talking about his improvements I thought today that of all the players that I think I've ever seen top players the player that has improved the most during his career is no about Jacović I think Nadal did as well make extreme improvements but I think Jacović should be the one but of the current
generation of more recent players I think Dimonore's right at the head of the queue there I agree because I really didn't think he had much more in him than say five years ago I didn't really see this this being possible what he's doing right now for me this year I he's my most improved player I've completely reframed the way I think of him and I've I formed that opinion at the United Cup this year I was blown away by him at the United Cup but I did just caveat it in my mind
with but this is Australia it's the United Cup it's a team competition like Alex Dimonore is that guy right you'd expect him to to raise his level for that so it did just sort of think okay we'll see I'll track this as the season goes on but for him to be doing this on clay at the French Open this is his first top 10 sorry top five win at a slam you know these are new milestones for him and he was asked about that achievement in press today his first quarter final here
of course and he said I think that achievement's pretty extraordinary he said I'm really proud of myself and that's just great yeah I'm love to hear him say that and there's probably some people listening and shouting at their phones right now saying yeah Nick Sina, Yannick Sina he's he's gonna be the most improved and I think you know factually that would definitely be correct and he has improved massively I think the difference is that anyone who
watched Yannick Sina knew that there was the potential for him to one day be kind of doing something along the lines of what he's doing now how quickly he's doing it and how dominant he's been has surprised me I'll be honest but like we've seen the weapons that he's got in his game and how he can hurt top players I didn't think that Alex Dimonore with his tools would necessarily be able to improve to the level that he has and it's it's so impressive Yannick Sina
was was in a lift or an elevator on his way to a on his way to a penthouse whereas Alex Dimonore has built he's done a loft conversion perfect great teamwork man just finally on the men's side the match that we've just been
watching Alexander's very five sets over Holger Runa did Runa let it get away David I would say yes I think he was somewhat forced upon him by his very just being able to hang around long enough he's another one that's been to the Novak Djokovic School of Five set tennis management yeah he is an
incredible fighter and survivor within tennis matches you know what is it it cockroaches that survive everything well you know he's that and in tennis terms and it's so difficult to put him away and the thing is he was getting comprehensively outplayed by Runa Runa I mean that okay there was a six one set for the second set but even that the flashy moments the exciting moments were provided by Runa but he's ungelating in his level he's all over the place
and he and it's what makes him so difficult to play against I don't think that's very likes the matchup fundamentally I don't think he really knows how to play against the guy the way we normally have a clear strategy against other people because different things are coming from Runa I think it goes hand in hand with the fact that we don't quite know how to define Runa as a player sometimes so all that shot making was coming from him he then put an incredible
spur together in the third set from a perilous position of five or fifteen forty Runa became unplayable won that set and I really thought he was going to win this match he stayed with Zvere throughout the fourth set I felt he had the chances to win it but you got a credit Zvere for hanging around again and he just outlasted Runa and then when they went into a four set tie break I'm afraid Runa's inner child came kicking and screaming out he lost that
tie break I think seven two he went off the court screaming in himself he was just totally mentally fried I think also physically fried I think it was those two things went hand in hand he was outlasted and he's gonna have to learn a lesson from that but the level from him was high yeah and I said to Catherine as they went into a fifth like I felt like the next ten fifty minutes here is so important because as you said it you could tell that Runa had gone a bit in that
tie break he was getting very frustrated looking over a lot of this team and I've seen him play a lot of bad deciding sets quite frankly not able to quite last mentally and physically and those are not you know concerns you have about Zvere if you know he's gonna be there mentally and physically through these matches and he didn't miss a beat in that fit set didn't miss a ball took a lead where while Runa was sort of a bit ragged and then even if Runa had
got it back together the lead was so big at that point and he didn't he he continued veering between sublime and and pretty eras-truined did Runa Wells-Verove was just constantly on it and he does he really does and but I must say again back to back five set matches is not easy to come back from and
he's got a good head to head against Alex Dimonore very good I think it's seven two he does like playing him and both of Dimonore's wins have been either ATP carp or United Cup which you know when he's kind of in his element there I think that's a good match up for Zvere but again there is this feeling of keeping this going for for a long time and will it catch up with him eventually which again is why I'm looking at Casparood like this once again feels like a
big chance to me for Casparood to reach the French Open Final like it's gonna be tough he's already been tough he's had to play you know extravary and David of itch for Keena and tough one today against Fritz but he's come through those
tests and he's got more tests but he's the guy right now that I'm looking at and then thinking you've got the game and you've got the physical advantage over a lot of these guys right now trust your toughest hunts with gear from vortex from bino's to rifle scopes we make gear that's tough reliable and built to travel across the globe on every adventure you can imagine from mountains to tree stands knew this year the revamped Viper HD rifle scope line is packed full of features you'll love with
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time the women's matches that we saw today around the sixteen we started at eleven a.m. with the lane we're back in a beating a leaner's fitness six four six three i only defer to you to on this one because i set my alarm i slept through it neither of you woke me up it's awful math who deported that was like oh yeah did hear alarm going off but you know well though as David too as David said waking you up catherine is one of the scariest things i've ever done yeah i've
done it once i'm not doing that again tell me what happened in rebecca niss visselina well do you know very similar to rebecca niss previous match against at least murtons in that you know visselina was staying with rebecca niss through that first set and
at times troubling her but there's such a poise and she's so kind of imperious when when she's playing well we're back in her and she just always had the advantage you know in in terms of power and shot making in this match it was just on her racket and you know
she actually spoke about how she preferred the heavier conditions at ronal garros and it wasn't that today the sum was out especially during her match it was it was really glorious weather that David had had forecast for her arranged and we appreciate and yet you know so i found it
interesting that we're back in a seddac because it didn't feel to me like there was a big difference in performance whatsoever um she'd lost as fitselina before you know in that in that bronze medal match at the Olympics a few years ago so there's some history there but
i think when rebecca niss in in this kind of mode it doesn't really seem to matter who the opponent is that much it's just about her and about whether she can deliver her game and i find it quite relaxing actually i just sat here having my breakfast watching rebecca niss listening to my alarm go
what she would back in her just calmly hit winners and being control and i think i think i don't really necessarily think of rebecca niss as a clay court you know specialist in any sense but once again like it doesn't really matter
with that game it can work in kind of any conditions on any surface and she's sharing that right now and i am so excited about the match-up potentials that remain in in the women's draw i mean we've got brilliant four very interesting quarterfinals but you know the prospect of potentially getting another rebecca niss abalenka you know it's just i think extremely exciting right now given how both of those two are playing we've got all four reigning grand sum champions through to the quarters been
quite a long time since that that's happened i do think for a backer it's pretty significant that she's got to this stage so undented and so unchallenged physically because once again she talked in press afterwards she referenced the trolls that she's had sleeping
and she said she's she's lost weight because of these periods of viral illness that she said she said i've i've lost weight and i've had a loss of physique as well which i guess means i interpreted that as kind of a loss of strength and she does you know visually look that way as well so
um look she hasn't been tested enough for us to know what impacts that will have and i suspect she feels the same but it can only be a good thing for her that she's going into these latter stages presumably with as pretty much as much as you can have in the tank in the second week at this stage so yeah i mean these at these are mouthwatering potential late stage matches i mean i'm pretty excited for a backer palini i have to say palini beat avanesian today four six six love six one kind of
as soon as she settled into this match palini there was only one result it was like oh once palini started playing you're like oh okay i see what this match is now yeah i'm sort of choosing to believe that palini like me just hates the Suzanne Longland shadow because as soon as that had gone palini really started playing and it was quite interesting how you know palini's really short and avanesian's tactic as it had been against Junqin when maybe it's just her tactic generally but
so many moon balls and someone on the bogs had kind of aggressive moon balling she was trying to sort of get the ball up high and over palini and it's interesting because i think clearly Rebecca is not going to do that at all but she's going to be able to just i think
kind of dominate physically and i remember watching their match in in stucco which was close a few weeks ago played a tough didn't she did play a tough but again it always felt like Rebecca no was in control and you know palini's got weapons she does have a really big forehand but
they're not weapons in comparison to what Rebecca has got and did the moon balling work it did to begin with and i think palini got wise to it and i also think avanesian wasn't up to it physically she had some very elaborate strapping on her leg
which was covering her knee and her thigh and she did fade she must be so used to people moonballing her oh yeah she must be like oh it's another one that's trying this i'll show them i also think it's a it's a very specific tactic isn't it it's a bit like if all you're doing is basically
hitting drop shots eventually people just think well i'm just going to run up to them then and put them away and and she's too good she's too good to be moon balled out of the french open yeah really and and it's quite satisfying to me that she's reached the quarter finals because
there are times where you know kind of everything we've been saying about no joke of it she's like well what's been the point of the last three or four months then like now it's just rocked up at Rona Gareth and he's found his game it's like well palini is a perfect example of how the
tour does matter because this has been coming you know she has been showing these signs i think she reached the fourth round in Australia but then she won the title in Dubai and you know she's just sort of incrementally improved and showed these signs on the tour and now she's
displaying it at a slam and having a big run and it's like oh okay you can say like to someone who's maybe just tuning in for the french open no this isn't a total surprise this is someone who we have seen coming normal people have to
build yeah it's only 24th time grandson champions who can just sort of not play very well for four months and then suddenly be amazing yeah it's a great point great point the other quarter final that was set up today will be arena sabre linker against 17 year old mirror and Draver through to a
grand slam called final for the first time she'd beat vivore grachaver 75 62 that's incidentally the end of musketeer corner whatever it was musketeer watch can't remember what i'd branded it but anyway it's dead now until next year french person out of the out of the singles no no rendition of
the masaya's on good run they've been for java but outclassed by a classy player yeah mirror and Draver yeah she's she's growing up before her eyes and growing up with the helper kanshi tamatina as i really feel that alliance is such a cool addition to the to the player coaching
setup on the on the circuit because kanshi tamatina is is so calming and so knowledgeable she's been there and done it herself 30 years ago she's coached the very best in gubbinga maru and yet her way of dealing with and Draver from what i've seen is one that really works it would be on paper i kind of think is that is that gonna work she's so young you know is she gonna is she gonna listen to you is she gonna be able to take stuff on board and i and
very clearly they have bond immediately there's there's a there's a bit of teasing between them there's a bit of understanding of of her own kind of issues and draver she knows she needs to be calmer on court the way she's talking it's been drummed into her
in conversation all the time i think by martina's and it's not always gonna work she's still gonna she's still gonna lose it from time to time but these are major strides and pretty quickly as well i mean to have done this in a year um absolutely yeah i mean she's
she's so consistent at slams yeah okay this is the first quarter final which she was forced around in australia she had the breakthrough here last year like i just sort of expects it to be there in the second week of slams which is absolutely ridiculous really um she's she's played saboteca
already a couple of times in her career and they have not been competitive matches i asked about in about that in press today which is amazing that i kind of felt like i could put that to her and you know wasn't worried about her taking that the wrong way or
being sort of defensive or knocked off balance by it she sort of smiled at my questions she was like yeah i know i know um and i i said you know what have you what have you learned from those tough defeats both them in Madrid weren't they has to be said which is kind of safe haven for arina saboteca
um what have you learned from them and you know you're a very tactical player will you be approaching this match very differently to how you approach the match up in the past as she said i'm not going to tell you how but yes i'm going to do something very different
and then she said i don't know what yet because my coach does that um but it'll be different and and then i sort of followed up with um you know how does how does that work you know logistically how does conchi to do that would she how does she present
the plan to you i suppose and she said it starts with texts and then i kind of digest that and then we have a chat about what she said in text and she always says is there anything you're not comfortable with is there anything you want to add does this sound okay to you and it's a
dialogue and then she's like and then i play and that's how it is she's she's great and and you just hope that she gets a chance against saboteca because i think in their previous matches it wouldn't really have mattered what her tactic was saboteca's just
kind of dominated and stomped all over her you know and they have been imaged read as you said and that is you know such a great place for saboteca it seems like her game is sort of turbocharged there doesn't it but frankly the way she played today saboteca three times the number of winners
to unforesterers against eminivaro she got this thing going on saboteca with huge powerful shots and she's following them up with delicate drop shots i don't remember if saboteca necessarily having that in her game even last year at the frank show i don't remember that as such a
tactic it felt like she was constantly just winning points with big shots so as now she's winning points with with a bit of touch as well i remember kind of trying a few drop shots last year and i remember thinking oh that's that's not that it always looked like someone that's
going i'm on clay i should probably do the odd drop shot that's what you do isn't it it wasn't terrible but it definitely didn't look natural but it's looked really different this year so like a proper proper weapon yeah and she's been doing it all through the clay court season yeah it isn't
it isn't just here and and if you have power with the drop shot that is the secret sauce that's the Carlos Alcara's form you know push them back with the power then drop shot yeah and we get a we get a chance to to roll out one of one of the most incredible stats in
tennis really which is that well first of all sam belenka's never lost a a grand sound quarter final she's one eight out of eight that she's played which is the second most in terms of like your in terms of your consecutive major quarter final wins at the start of your career like once you've
made your first one how many of them win consecutively eight is the second most in women's open era history the first place belongs to Chris Everett who won her first 48 so it's like really that is one of the most remarkable stats like she's second
but she's 40 behind bloody hell yeah I mean it's 10 years worth several incredible yeah you'll be fine yeah she's here this week Chris Everett isn't she I think yes I think she's brilliant yeah wow you can't drop that on a smat the I need some time to reel from that your action said it all
wow okay so sam belenka against and Draver in a couple of days time what do we got coming up I think that'll be closer by the way I think the driver can make something happen I don't think she'll win but I think she can make it competitive yeah I think so too I think it'll be closer
I was I was very convinced by she's just convincing isn't she she just takes you in you want to go with it and go okay yeah I'll do whatever you say um tomorrow chattrie the vipless death slot at 11 a.m. to women's match folks go get go against on Draver I so desperately hope
that bombs are on seats for that but I know not all bombs will be on seats because so many tickets on chattrie are sold as packages that include a sit-down lunch so like part of what you've paid for is specifically to not be there during that first match they they know that that is a vipless death slot anyway goff against your bird we'll be watching only set an extra alarm for tomorrow I'm gonna brave the way up as well daddy's followed by eager shronter against marquetta vandracia does anyone
give vandracia for a chance yes how big a chance not very big but she's inexplicable she's yes you know she's nothing if not that I never think that it's impossible for vandracia but where where's the summer opponents for frantequin rolling hours form where I do
think it's not impossible I think you know I don't know what they are something like 75 25 80 20 something like that but I'm curious I'm curious as well I feel like yes we saw it a couple of times last year but cancun was too weird and you know
Cincinnati's not the major is it and looking forward to seeing a wrong play and not play cancun's a bit like laver cup when it when you pop two players into a head to head and one of them one of their matchups is from that I kind of strike it from the strike it from the record
it's just weird yeah a strike all the things yeah they're trying to include that on a head to head for one school line yeah don't get we started okay the first man's match to the day in the third slot grigal dimmature of against yannick sinner and then in the night session
it is Stefano sittapas against Carlos Alcoraz anyone foresee any upsets tomorrow an upset would be sittapas dimmature of vandracia ver or jibber winning no no but I think jibber's got the best chance but I think off for win a great but do tune into tomorrow's pod anyway
just laugh at us when we're wrong yeah we we'll be wrong it's going to be great okay that's tomorrow will of course be back with a podcast with our friendship and mascot bachir hello bachir hello Elise bachir is owner hello to our mascot the dearly departed Darwin
frances and hider and so so much that's uh or david rather david your run has come to an end and now i was in a fifth set there with whole guru and i thought thought it was going to happen again but he let me down where is dependable caspirude never let's you down and and good draw jasmine pal leave me yeah your faves billy jean is sponsored by billy jean king and elana closs we have our top folks and executive producers jame jame jame jame jeg that is a hybrid of gregg and jeff
well which reminds me sorry i've missed out a very crucial agenda point here uh sits idosa pulled out of the doubles today but and i've come up with this myself it's something i'm trialing patrofenos still alive anyone anyone that's very good it has to be that way round doesn't it does otherwise
it's just step off yeah yeah a lot of thoughts gone into this i mean some might say it is just step off well they beat the uh defending champion they did yeah big deal for patrofenos actually having a way if i say it enough times it'll catch on patrofenos i like it thank you jame jame jame jame jame jeg gregg and chris thanks to you mat over to you for shoutouts try not to butcher them we have jona burnhard in um cornealius north carolina right jona a little bit like corneal i
thought you're going to say cornealius street then i was going to lose my mind north carolina yes i'm out of a squash player it might be the closest we can get because all i can do is jona hill and i'm sure jona here's that a lot i'm fairly sure there was a
british squash champion called jona barrington i'm definitely in a wake up to text from a dad about that an avid squash player squash is such a blind spot for me i know nothing about squash you've heard of your hangar car no right is he the one who had a like
500 match winning streak that's the one okay that might be the only thing i know about squash jona barrington name another squash is an iris squash player who's 83 years of age i'll tell you what they will stay well there jona we hope that's good enough for you
we've extended to all rackets for i am not doing pickle ball on this one special occasion we'll all pickle ball players are tennis players david so um jona thank you we've got denis curly in minnesota right denis minnesota that's how minnesota say minnesota like islamin chaper-valov we're talking one n or two a double n situation and denis has attended the french open in nineteen eighty nine he's visited the ground the grand chang here yeah he's visited the grounds of winbidden he's been to
australian open and he is saving the us open until last this year tickets on sale today very good yeah you know i sometimes get called denis because there is because of denis law the the the Manchester United footballer denis law yeah you get john you get david Lloyd
yeah i get david Lloyd that's right and and joh and david laws the former politician but um he had a role in the coalition government didn't he something in the in the treasury yeah um and denis law so there we go yeah thank you denis and finally we've got
mariana manessi in kawfu right mariana we had a mariana the other night this is like mariana alves the empire mariana's abileter hold on a minute that's a man oh yeah same name though is it it is the same name yeah mariana you're right yes that's right it works for both
how did you come up with mariana's abileter that's really impressive is it a player yeah well our mariana has given us mariana value of it oh yes another umpire hmm that's very good isn't that mariana no no no okay mariana mariana she's looking up
anybody wondering that's what mat was like yesterday no janera's juice no got me mounted so jet lag mat is like mariana thank you ever so much thank you to all of our friends of the tennis podcast get us open tickets if you fancy it and why wouldn't you
it's a good time we'll be there in new york in august and september and more importantly for the time being we'll be back tomorrow with the day ten tennis podcast we'll speak to that this episode is brought to you by progressive insurance do you ever think about
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