Draw Preview & Sinnergate with Caitlin & Petko

The gang is back together in studio to preview the US Open—Caitlin predicts the Dobel twins, Aryna and Taylor, Rennae's got Carlitos, but don't count Sinner out, despite recent controversy. And Andrea (of Substack) breaks down the actual Sinner details as objectively as possible.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
All right, hi everyone, and welcome to the Renee Stubs
Tennis podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Listen here.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
I am so excited because we are actually in a
studio for the first time together in a long time.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Do you think people can pay the difference?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hold on?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Can you hear that?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I am joined by of course, Caitlin Thompson and drum
roll please, Andrea Pekovich.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
It is the three of us.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
When was the last time the three of us were
together doing a podcast that sounded this good?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
So I remember it was the podcast I said hoof
instead of because I remember you two laughing at me.
It was around November or but like two or three
years ago. Yeah, well maybe even before. It was before
the pandemic.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
My god, we have done Petco and I have done
a podcast in her closet in the in her I
heard you.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, we were ready to host you on Saturday. On Sunday,
sorry tomorrow, I'm playing the pro am at McEnroe's, which
Renee bounced on.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I actually technically did not bounce on. I was not asked.
Oh so Patrick and John fuck off?

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Love you get right out there is that part of
the day. No, So this time they will have a
Jitney are you doaking the jitney? No, the river plan.
Oh no, you're not. Calm down. I took it last year.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
I took a seaplane there and I took that shopper
back with pet.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
I often think to myself, who in God's name would
get into one of those seaplanes I did?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Is it really dangerous?

Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's really fun. It's actually pretty fun. You go, you
literally take off on the Hudson.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Okay, yeah, exactly on the East River, on the East River,
on the East River. I have to be so you bounce.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
And your bounce and your bounce and your bounce, your bounce,
you bounce you does that sound Yeah, it's kind of cool. No,
it's fine, You're gonna be fine.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
I also thought we were gonna follow this guy that
one time we were in a helicopter together.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, well you thought you didn't. Hey, we'll get to this.
We've got a lot to talk about. We of course,
the US Open draw has come out, came out yesterday,
you know, and it's the most stressful. I want you
to take us through. I know what it feels like,
but take us through that moment Peco when you're like,
what's the draw?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Do you were?

Speaker 1 (02:29):
You the type of person that needed to know right away.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
So I always tell everyone to go try and go
watch qualifying on the day the draws made, because you
will get the most emotional outbursts of all. First of
all on the practice scurse, because everyone is freaking out,
nobody knows who they're playing or they just found out
who they are playing. And then qualifying, of course you

(02:52):
have great emotional outbursts positively mostly, although yesterday I saw
both because there was also some match points missed. But
but yeah, that's but that. I was always most nervous
under day off the joinite. It's always stressful.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Some people like Serena Williams, I can tell you right now.
I told her her drole when the draw came out
at Wimbledon, So it comes out you always, usually on Thursday,
the week before, and I bumped into it at Orangie and
I said, oh, you play so and so okay, thanks
for telling me. And then when she won her first round,
she came up to me later on she goes, hey,
by the way, don't ever tell me who I play

(03:28):
in the first round that early again, because she hated
knowing who she wanted to play, because some players don't
like to know too far in events because they feel
like they ruminate over that the opponent.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
They think about it too much. Especially with Serena.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
It's about her game, not really anybody else's exactly, so
I think you can't be thinking about anybody but herself.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Serena's like, Okay, it doesn't matter who I play. If
I play my best, no one's going to beat me,
especially at Wimbledon. So she didn't want to ruminate over
who she was playing for too many days.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
You'd probably like to know was she playing Harmony.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
About that time she was like, she like, comes out
of the court, She's like, I got this.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
She probably did think she heard Harmony ten and went, yeah,
I got this. So that didn't go.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
So do you like perspect I always like to know,
and I always also knew. I didn't know every single round,
but I always knew the seeded players in my section.
I wasn't the type who didn't know at all who
was you know. Some players just wanted to know the
next round. I knowed, I knowed you terrible, but that's
Bob Dylan's grandma for you right there. I would always

(04:31):
know the seeded players and the good players in my
section but not necessarily who I'm playing, second, third, fourth round,
if it at all came well.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
I didn't want to know anyone about who I was
playing in the next round.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
That's it because because the problem I think most players
are are more like me. Yeah, I think most players
want to know the next round but nothing.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
But the reason I didn't want to know is because
there might have been somebody in my section that I
didn't I hated playing against, or I was like I
didn't like them as a friend people or whatever, and
so I was like, I was thinking about that, and
I'm like, why am I thinking about that? That's like
three rounds ahead, Like what if they lose? So I
didn't want to stress about the possibility of playing somebody
I didn't like to play until I had to do

(05:11):
it right, So they go. Anyway, let's get to the draw.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Let's talk about the draw.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
I have like five picks already that I'm so excited
about because there's nothing to me that is more fun,
probably just even including the last day of qualities, which
is incredible, yeah, than the first day of main draw.
I love going to the first day of any tournament,
any size, anywhere, because it's carnage and if a match
is a blowout or somebody doesn't show up, then you

(05:38):
can just bounce somewhere else and you just like my
goal is to see as many people and then try
to settle on like one or two major battles now
on the first day. So this already seems like there's
a couple that I'm kind of eyeing that I will
be headed towards immediately on Monday.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
And bouncing off that have a grounds pass on the
first totally another of Ash. Yeah, there will be terrible tennis.
Maybe there will be one good match if they don't
know it will mostly eighty nine percent.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Livelihood is the people on Arthur Ash and Armstrong are
playing against players that are lesser than them and so
you usually they should win, but never ago you might
get an upset. But the bottom line is Grandstand court
is great.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Round one. You have a ground spas so.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
You can get in the upper deck there that always
has usually the best matchups in the tournament, and Court
seventeen is always the court to run to as well. Listen,
we have to start with the top seed. Do you
want to get into the cinner thing now?

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Before the draw? We can if you want to.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
All right, well, let's get into the sinner thing, because
he is the number one seed in the men's and
we were going to start with the men. So let's
just talk about it and get it out of the
way right now, before we get into the draw situation.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Should we ask Andrea who is I feel like I
introduced Faster last week as the bad boy of Substack.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Really, I don't know if you want to be called
anything of substack yet, but under a Pactovich of Substack
of subsac Fame had a really thoughtful rumination on the
nature of objectivity today, which I thought, as a journalist
is really interesting and I love So set the table here.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Okay, so set the table. So the reason I came
up I'm reading the John Diddyon biography right now, which
is a lot about new journalism. We talked about it
just briefly, and how in the sixties journalist reporters inserted
themselves into the pieces and like, hey, there is no
objective journalism. This was not on my mind right when
I started writing the piece. My objective was to try

(07:41):
and present the facts as they are without inserting any opinion,
And I started the piece by saying the most drama
in the tennis world was caused by the least dramatic
person in the tennis world. And that already is a judgment,
you know, because I like Janick. Everyone knows I like him,
and I already showed sympathy towards him, so clearly, no

(08:03):
matter how objective I tried to be, I was already
arguing on his behalf, even though I tried to be
objective and so and so that's what. So when I
started the piece like this, I tried. When I edited it,
I was like, should I just take it out? And
I was like, no, this actually can be interesting. It's
the best part for me, really interesting. And so I

(08:24):
thought this could be really interesting if I just make
clear that I'm not objective, no matter how objective I
tried to be before. I then presented all the facts
and and that's and you can find that on my
on my substack Andrepatkovic off substack. So you're not going
to tell us you're going to make us go to substack. No, no, no,
I can I can give me if you give me

(08:45):
a synopsis of what So the synopsis, as I've i
read millions of sources I went into a deep dive
of people who have prosecuted doping cases. I've read the rules,
not all of them to be fair, but most of
them that are relevant to the case. And so what
has happened basically was Janick Syna got tested positive with

(09:06):
this substance that is an annabolsterosteroid which can be used
and is used in italy and ointments and creams to
help and sprace and sprays exactly to help cut wounds
and so on and so forth. But if you use
it differently, it can also be used to produce muscle growth. Right,

(09:26):
So this is why he was tested positive. And so
I think the crux is here, why wasn't he provisionally suspended?
And the reason for that is that the moment he
knew he was tested positive on the same day, his
lawyers appealed on his behalf. And so the rule is,
if you appeal on the behalf of your client with

(09:48):
enough evidence and proof and witnesses of what might have happened,
we'll get into that after that, and before the provisional
suspension is in place, the provisional suspension will not be
in effect. So basically that's why he was able to
continue playing. So it was an immediate intervention that resulted
in a non event in his life exactly for now,

(10:13):
for that moment. Yes, So that was the one controversy, right,
Why were other players not allowed to play? And Yannick
Sinner was And that was lawyers answers. I read somewhere
like there were different sources. That's why in my piece
I just wrote on the same day, but I read
in some sources that within an hour his lawyer had
already appealed the case after he got tested positive. Yep.

(10:35):
And that is very fast, right, that is way before
the provisional suspension gets into place. I even have a
screenshot for those who are interested of the rule because
I thought it was really interesting that rule. And then
I think the other controversy was why do we only
find out now? And that's very simply explained. The matter
can only go public once the tribunal has been closed down,

(10:56):
which was effectively this week, and that's why we learned
it now. So those I think the most controversial points
in everything else, whether you believe the explanation that you
can give or not, I think is up to anybody else.
But I think the things that people didn't understand because
they obviously don't know the rules as well. I think
that's what interested me as well, and that's what I

(11:18):
did at deep def in to try and explain it
to myself at first and then try and share it
to the with the people who are interested as well.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yeah, I think if you're going to talk on this
or tweet about it or put it out on social media,
read the rules, know the facts, Know what happened before
you sprout your mouth. And there's been some people that
have done that quite verbally, quite you know, aggressively on
social media's. We'll get into that in a second, but
so as everybody knows, the spray was used by the

(11:45):
physio to help with the finger, which we saw, you know,
video evidence of him in Indian wells with the finger
actually taped spraying it every day, probably to heal the wound.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
So it would quickly get done.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Because also as a physio, as you know, you're using
your hands off the time, and so cuts will open
all the time if you don't take care of them.
I think for me, the explanation was and if you
read what the doctors said, the independent doctors who did
not know who that is very the player was preferential treatment.
There was not preferential treatment. They did not know who

(12:17):
the player was.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
So that's very important. So that three experts in the
tubernal are presented with the facts, with the explanation of
the athlete and the sample in question, without them knowing
the name of the athlete. This is handled in every
case exactly the same. So they didn't know it was.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
And they said, highly probable these were the I think
though were the exact words. I could look it up,
but it was essentially the same words. Highly probable of
the explanation that was given is true. They said this.
For the explanation was given with the spray with the finger,
with the use of you know, him being a physio
and you know, Yannick had blisters and all kinds of things.

(12:57):
It didn't take them with the trace amount in there,
which was like one billionth of a gram. They said
that that explanation makes absolute sense.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
There you go both times.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Both times, and actually the second test was less. There
was less in the second tests, meaning that it was
going out of his system, or you know, maybe his
finger was healing and he wasn't using spray as much.
Who knows the question is why was the spray in there?
How dumb are you? As a physio, and as the
fitness guy is the one that brought it and then
gave it to the physio, You, as a physio, should

(13:29):
know better. And my second question to this is, and
I said this to a bunch of players yesterday, and
I've spoken about this quite openly, why do we have
to know who the player is if they are exonerated
or found being not liable in this situation and found
of no fault. Why do we know his name? Why

(13:51):
is it out in public? And I'm not saying it
because Yannick. Yes, we like Yanick Sinner, There's no question
about it. I am being biased as well.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Kay, also look at me too. I like Janick Sinner. Yeah,
but I think you're the most trained and actually in
actual journalism, and I think easier.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
I also love drugs, yeah, sount, I love performance enhancing drugs.
But let me tell you that spray doesn't do enough.
You know, I've tried a bunch of times. I wish
it did more. Like I'm just kidding, but.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Next time you're in Italy, you're going to have one.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I'm going to use all the drugs but a journalistic purpose.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
So to finish off my point, my thing is, if
a player is found to be essentially not guilty and
free of all, why why do we need to know
their names? That is a rule from the IA whatever
it is. I and they say it has to go
out because you know. And then apparently a lawyer explained

(14:49):
why those reasons are. But for me, I'm not like
those reasons. I don't think if I don't think we
should know, and that is inclusive of every single player.
Every player should want that rule to be changed. That's
what I think. If you are if you are not
found guilty, and you have been found of no fault,
we should not know in the public that you were

(15:09):
even under investigation, let alone, because now his reputation, no
matter what, is tarnished.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, and however, that's what I wrote, and I want
to hear what Caitlin says, because I do think she's
the most objective of us. But sometimes I did write
in my piece that the most severe issue from Janick
Sinner's perspective is that there will be probably the majority
of people will scan the headline, maybe read the first

(15:35):
paragraph and the side for themselves that Janick Sinner was
using performance enhancing drugs curios.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Nick curiosa volog. I mean, come on, these guys, just
absolutely within thirty minutes. I was on live TV when
we found out, I mean half an hour before, so
I had to talk about it on live TV. You
know it's a big deal, right. You don't want to
fuck something like that up. You don't want to say
anything one.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Way or the other.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Sure, I'm just saying read the facts.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
I'm trying to read through them as we're going through
on air. And then during that time there's a tweet
up for Nick saying he should be suspended.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
If this or any other player, Like what are you doing?

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, like, find the facts out and look at the role.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
We surprised that Nick curious Not.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
No, but I'm looking forward to I'm working together at
the ESPN. If they're working together.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
This week, I I Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
I think the appearance of favoritism, which is why I
appreciate you taking care to note that the tribunal was
a double blind is the problem here. It's the actual
appearance of malfeasance and an attempted cover up that's the problem.
And yeah, for me, the I'm not objective about this

(16:48):
either particularly, but not because I like or don't like
any of the players or have had the experience of
playing at this level. I have had the experience of
using reforms hinting.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Drugs though and non enhancing drugs, and I also told.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Everyone I was taking them so that it could be
a you know, an experiment we could all enjoy and did.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
I think.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
But I think the issue here is the process is
yet another murky behind closed doors unclear. You need a
law degree to understand. The lawyers have to intervene in
some cases, even if the outcome is the same. If
the lawyers haven't intervened, then Jennick Center sits for the

(17:26):
time while the investigation is going on, it gets reinstated.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
So you were you would be in favor of what
the lawyer.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
I'm actually no, I'm actually I think Renee is right.
I think if the system is going to be, if
the system is going to be working in a way
that is, if the system, I think they should sort of.
That's tough, though, because what if somebody is guilty and

(17:54):
you let them play and they don't have a lawyer,
or what if they do have a lawyer.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
I just the the way it was handled is my issue.
I have nothing to say about Yanick center one way
there it's hard to imagine he was intentionally doping. But
also I don't know, like I'm sure what people said
that about all sorts of different people. I think from
the assistant, the system giving the appearance of impropriety, favoritism,
and a lack of transparency. Certainly it shouldn't have been
public if he was exonerated, certainly not. But if he

(18:23):
hadn't had good lawyers, we would have found out this immediately.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
And then what, No, we wouldn't. But yes, technically yes,
because he would have been provisionally suspended. Yes, But and
that's I think that's a that But that's really important
because not everyone first of all, has the financial means
that's the problem, to hire the best lawyers in the
world within an hour, or secondly the cultural knowledge to
have the phone number even you know or call your

(18:48):
agent who has a phone number, to hire the best
lawyers in the world.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
Yeah, what if this is a challenger level player who
gets the same physio truth the.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Same lawyer that's dealing with the English player The doubles girl.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Tara Moore was but he's on the other side. That's
the problem. He's prosisting again. And this is the one
that's the one thing that it's just me the wrong way.
Is the lawyer simultaneously he's an independent contractor, right, he
doesn't work for a company, but he simultaneously works for
the ITI, a who is prosecuting Tara Moore. And by

(19:23):
the way, I'm not sure if it's a she or he.
Let's just say they the lawyer because his or her
name is Kendra. Is that a woman's name or a
depends on the country. Also, they might be non binary. OK,
let's not get into that. The lawyer, the lawyer. The
lawyer is basically on the side of the Itia prosecuting
Tara Moore's case, but on Jenix simultaneously.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
So yeah, he knows how to handle it.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
But this this goes back. But we can go into
fifteen hours of this. How in tennis there is always
and will be conflicts of interest because it's a small sport.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Which is why I think we should allow doping because.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
And multiple and everybody will always do multiple jobs at
the same time that they press the.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Richer got to get richer anyway, and just you know,
on Hallop, you know, because there's hall Well, the problem
with Halip is that she couldn't figure out why and
how it got in her system. So she had to
do some major digging through months, right of like how
did it happen?

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Was it this stuff? Okay, you got to send that
to factory, you got to get that tested, we got
to see this. Did they figure out what it was?

Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, they figured it out. They eventually figured out what
was where it came from.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
It was a really good point because you have to
make it basically before the provisional suspense, and you can
only make the appeal when you have relevant witnesses and
evidence that this is the.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Explanation, which had immediately because the physical is making Center
look is a good lawyer but also less likely to
be guilty.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah, exactly. Anyway, so I mean we can't we could
talk about like you said, we could talk about it.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
Let's pivot into the drug center being amingly sensitive and
lovely young man plays Maggie McDonald.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
The first round.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
You normally pick Center and probably to go deeper win
this thing is this this guy gonna be rat on
by this whole thing.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
Well, he's gonna Oh yeah, I do some people don't
think so I do. I mean, he's a sensitive guy
and I think that it.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
I can tell you this.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
I mean, listen, he's not like a great friend, but
I've become friends with him, certainly through Darren Cahill. We
see him all the time at the tennis courts when when.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
We're there, don't put me into this, okay, So this
is the opposete of objective Drew.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
No, no, no, no. What I'm saying is, over the
last few months, I have noticed a darkness around him.
I have noticed him not be as friendly, not be
as his normal self. And I was always thinking, is
this is this getting like is him winning a Grand
Slam and getting to number one getting to his head?
Is he becoming a bit cocky and a little bit
aloof to me? Like it was weird because he was
always this upbeat, like really pleasant, but he wasn't like

(21:52):
that over the last few months, and I was always like, oh,
is it me?

Speaker 3 (21:57):
You know?

Speaker 1 (21:57):
I mean I started to think I was starting to
this was looming over it, And now looking back, it
all makes sense. Can you imagine Pecko? I mean, honestly,
for four months of how long has it been for
almost four months since March. Having that over your head.
Oh my god, no, wonder he's been playing like shit.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, like maybe it will be liberty, liberty liberating.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Well it was because he found out on Wednesday of
last week and then he wins Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
So but he was, you know, he looked a little
down on the cord. He wasn't himself. He was getting kissy.
He kicked the wall, he did the most gentle kiss
of the like all the stuff.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Though, just if you look back on his matches, he
did not look himself. He certainly didn't look anything like
he did at the beginning of the year. So there's
no question it wasn't weighing on him. Now will that
now be off of his shoulders? Now he has to
worry about his what's everyone and think about me? I
don't know, it's going to be hard anyway. He plays
an American and Mackie mcdone.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Well, he is from Zutiro and I don't think he
cares about what people think about that. They are like
solutionist sort of independent. Oh yeah, Mountain people. They don't
care about the Italians, they don't care about the Germans.
Everyone wants to clean them and they are basically like, no,
we don't care about in his fourth round is Tommy Paul.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
So look, we're guessing. We're not guaranteeing that they're all
going to be there, but we have to make some
sort of guesses. And Tommy Poul really should be the
one that gets through through to play him in the
fourth round. So do you think that Tommy will see opportunity? Yeah,
in that section the attractive man in tennis is and
that's actually what you think. Feast beats Tommy Pole in

(23:39):
the US in looks over five. Okay, so that's a no.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Probably not.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
Tommy Paul is having a very good summer and I
think he looks great and I think he likes playing
at the US Open. Yeah, yes, I think Tommy Pole
probably plays center if all goes to plan.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, I mean, can I just throw in spiserree?

Speaker 2 (23:55):
How do you say his name?

Speaker 1 (23:59):
I should know he heard it. Three hours he got
through qualifying. Amazing matches yesterday against Von Saka, who we're
going to see for a long time, that young guy
from Brazil. That was the most fun match and that
was the epitome of qualifying.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, it was awesome.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
And that guy who's from Connecticut got through, and he
plays against Alex Michelson, another American, and so whoever wins
that match will likely play Yanick Sinner. So Yannick's just
surrounded by Americans, so that's not going to help him
with the crowd. Depending, I think he'll be fine. But
what do you think about that? Do you think Tommy
can get a win over Yannick if they get through.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
I don't think so. I think Tommy Paul I really
love his game. I think he's one of the most
complete athletes. Unless Janick Sinner is really rattled by everything.
I think he's just the more aggressive player. And I
think Tommy Paul doesn't quite have the weapons to push.
He doesn't have enough tools.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Okay, So in that top half of the draw is
also Steph a sits a pass. He plays Cochonakis in
the first round. Let me tell you something that's not
going to be an easy first round. You know, Steph
has finally flicked his dad, which I've said for years
he needed to do if you wanted to win a
Grand Slam.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, but I went to see his practice. He was
practicing with his brother, and I think his fitness coach
was his coach, because.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Oh my god, so you're telling me it's a disaster.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
No, not a disaster. He knows what he's doing. But
I'm saying, bring up Postolos back. I'm just joking. Get
a real coach, Get a real coach. It was just
what I was saying. I don't think he had a
coach in place already. I think he was just there
basically with his brother and his team. But he didn't.
So this was not a long planned, strategic divorce. This

(25:33):
is just like I've had enough. And granted this was
on Wednesday, so maybe he has somebody there now. But
I went to his practice specifically to see who is on.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
What a good journalistic instinct or just think But.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Speaking of gossip, you think Paula Badza had anything to
do with flicking the dad?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
I hope? So? Oh good?

Speaker 3 (25:53):
I so.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Well.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
F i A is in that section of the draw
to place it's a pass, he will be his first
real tough test. And if that, if he's all over
the shop, Felix is playing a little better. The Olympics
helped him. I think it made him a little bit
more confident. We remember what happened in Cincinnati with that
terrible call with the two names Jack Draper. But do
you okay, so you're calling the past to get through that?

Speaker 2 (26:19):
I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
I don't know what kind of shape tits passes and
in terms of his mental or sort of emotional well.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
Can we talk about part of this draw with Medvedev
but a section of the draw as well.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Do not usually put any money behind Faa as much
as I like him.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
So if they get through Medvedev Sinner quarterfinal, I mean,
can you have a tougher draw? This happens every Grand Slam.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
I feel like, yeah, Wimbledon, youick Sinner had the worst
draw I had ever seen anybody.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, and I mean even medi.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Second round, the one place Bertini plays amazing. Yeah, I
don't know why it came up perfect on grass. But
do we think that Mehdi can get the win if
he has totally? I think so totally he can mean
he I will say. So. I was calling Cincinnati and

(27:11):
it was really concerning. I was ready to call multiple psychologists.
And I'm not saying sports psychologists. Everyone to this tournament.
I saw five emotional breakdowns a day, Nishioka, Medvedev, al Karaz.
It was all men also just saying it was all men.

(27:31):
I know everyone. The women are so hysterical. I saw
at least three emotional meltdowns a day on the ATP side.
And granted it's an Olympic year, they played a lot
of tennis. It was really windy, it was tough conditions
and then it was flying. Balls were flying. Nobody would
control the ball. The tennis was awful. I understand it,
but Medjedev had a complete and not in a way

(27:54):
that he was throwing rackets, but he was on the
change over yelling at himself. He got a warning, and
he looked as if he woke up from a trance
to the chair umpire and was like, why are you
giving me warning? I'm talking to myself, And he really was.
You know, he can get bitchy about everything, but he
was really yelling at full lung capacity at him himself.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
And he's like, dude, you're giving me a warning, giving
myself a warning.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
It was like almost rube lev esque. Really, that's the
amount of like just emotional and psychotic psychotic strain that
he that so much. It felt like he had so
much pressure on him. Well, I can tell you it's
the only thing I would put out there that made
me worried for him. But I do think that he
can beat Center. I think he really has the game

(28:39):
to bother Center every time they play, especially on the hardcourt.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
I saw his coach, Jill's in a play a restaurant
or whatever a couple of days ago, and I said, oh,
you know, how's how's he feeling? Abouh blah blah. He's
such a nice guy. And he said, you know, the
thing about about Daniel is that he comes to play,
you know, on the big tournament. So he'll be fine
at the US Open. But if he is fine, I
just want him.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
I just want them all to be okay. Now, of course,
in the bottom section of the top half, I've drawn
gentle and age. It's surprising, it's so it's actually surprising,
I feel, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Again, can you can we concentrate here? Alcoraz, of course,
is also in the top half of the drawer. I mean,
what the actual f Alcoraz Medvedev's in the top half
of the drawer again, what they can't avoid each other,
those two guys. But Alcoraz looks pretty good. He plays
an Aussie in the first round. All the qualifiers got
the worst drawers.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
There was every qualify. I felt like was.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Playing a top seed. You know, Jack Draper's in that.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Section SEB quarter he got lead to. That was my
favorite match yesterday.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yes, I know, he came back from match point down.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
I was there. I watched it because if at least
the Jerman girl was playing after that. It was on
quart six, So I was there and I watched the
entire A third said, and did you cry? I was crying.
There was a lot of somebody. I like that.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
You admitted to crying. I cry when it's the tramp
for the human spirit.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
It was so good. He was so brave. It wasn't
only that he won and the other guy choked. No,
he was so brave. He played so committed and aggressively
the last few games. I was so proud of him,
even though I didn't know him, and I was like Ozzie.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
As Oh, let me tell you something. He's gonna He's
for that fight, he's getting He's getting Alcarez on arthur
Ashe stadium, so what but hey.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
But what one hundred thousand dollars one handed backhand?

Speaker 3 (30:38):
I know, well, I love him now. Also Carlitos is
in the middle of having evacuated his own spirit since
the Olympics. So what's I'm just saying. I don't is
this guy gonna beat him? No, but Carlitos, this might
not be a shoe in this whole uh sexual draw. Oh,
he has the Draper in the third es Draper in

(31:00):
the third round.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
If again, Draper will played really well and then cramp
in the fourth set.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Triple Z has to play him though in the first round,
So I'm going triple Z.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
He's got a silver metal now.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
Might have an upset in that first round with Jack Draper,
but we'll see. But in that also section of the draw,
sep quarter, he's made an amazing turn around in the
last twelve months coming back in that section, and Alex
Demonor is down there. We don't quite know physically how
he's doing after Wimbledon. This is the first tournament he's
going to be playing.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
So it's look great. But my secret favorite player finished guy. Yeah,
he's really cool.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
You think he's going to get through that section because
that's Alex dimonos.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Se Probably not, but I really like him and I
hope the best for him.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
All right, Well, actually, the surprise packet in that section
really because there are some great players in that section
but have been injured, like Demonor and her Cutch down
the bottom, and I think that good old Karen Hutch
enough might come through that section.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Jordan Thompson, he was playing, he played amazing and then
he strangely lost one and one to Zverev in Toronto
in Montreal.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Well, listen, if Jordan wins his first round, he will
play her couch if her Touch wins, and so he
has a real chance in that matches because physically, how
is Herbie Horby going after having the knee surgery. But
he's great to see him back, by the way. But
listen to the bottom half of the draw. There's no
doubt that al KaAZ with you know seb quarter, these
types of players, it's not a bad draw down the

(32:28):
bottom there.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
But first round, man, that is yeah, that's gonna be fun.
I will be at that match, Yes, you should. Anybody
should be at that match because you know how you
feel in the first round. You don't know where you
stand at. Yeah, and then you play Muti, who's like, yeah,
it's slicing and dacing. I its chaos out there. But

(32:49):
they could be you know what, He's going to take
you to the deep water.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
That court will be on grandstand or seventeenth for sure.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
So get out there and Keaitland will be on that court.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
Okay. The bottom half of the draw, which will be
played on Monday, is headed up by Kaspar Rud who's
been playing more golf than tennis over the last couple
of months. He has not been playing well at all.
And he plays against I believe another qualifier in Boo,
the Chinese guy who got through an amazing match yesterday.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
He beat He beat Karatsev.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
Karatse won the first set and then yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
don't worry.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
I'll keep you up to date.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
But in the second part of that, if Casper Wendsy's
first round he plays the winner of Malfie and Schwartzman, clap,
can we just.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Give a clap?

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Day getting through qualities in his last ever tournament at
the US while his last year, and he was so
happy when he won. He said he got so nervous
in the last game to close it out, but he
came in. He missed such an easy volley to give
himself two match points at five three in the second
set against serv and then he just duffed this forehand

(33:55):
and then on match point in the next game, after
he kind of choked the first match point, he came
in and the best fourhand volley ever. And his reaction
to his coach's box was like, how about that volley?
And then he and then he gested the one he missed,
and I was like, when you think tennis players aren't
thinking about the fuck up from the game before, he
was still thinking about after he won. So it's nice
to see that. So diego against Gael Montfees. That will

(34:17):
be on court like seven. That'll be a great court
seventeen match.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
We're doing the schedule for the USTA. But anyway, whoever
wins that plays against Casper Route.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
I hey, whoever wins between mont Fees and Schwartzman has
really great through the third round.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
And up there is Bubleck, who is like a box
of chocolates. You never bloody know what he's going to do. Montreal,
he was not playing well. He looks out of sorts. Yeah,
and I'll tell you he's looking good at that.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
And ut there if they play well, is Taylor Fritz.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
I actually think Taylor Fritz is my sleeper to win
the whole thing, I think, oh wow, to win the
whole thing, I am calling. I think Taylor Fritz has
it and I'm doing I think he's in forum.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
I think he's well, he's in the right half.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
He's in the right how let's put it that way.
I think he'll go very far. He will play the
best tennesse he's ever played, and then lose and really
really tied three sets to work.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Well, let me tell you something.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
At least dreams.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
At least he didn't play a lead up tournament coming
in here like he did last year.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
You know, he talked about how he didn't play a
lead up. He played seventeen lead ups to the US
Open and then was cooked.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Well, he played the Olympics, so it was for him
to have a little bit of time off. But up
there is also Holgaruna and Mussetti. Of course Merseti's had
an incredible couple of months he has.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
But he doesn't play well on hardcore. No, why is that?
If you can play on grass, how can you not
play on hard courts? Grass is so much harder, is Shweisnick?
That's a mystery to me.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Plays against and I want to be we want to
give a shout out to the friend of the pod
and just an all around great guy and Riley.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, and he plays Mussetti, so.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
That that's actually going to be a pretty interesting you calling.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Are you calling an upset there? Maybe with Riley and Mussetti.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
I don't think Misati plays well on hardcourts enough remotely
to get over the Opelka serve, which is.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Definitely tough, all right, and up there is Verev. He's
probably the hottest player up that section of the drawer.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
To be honest. So it's a really tough first round though.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's not gonna be easy. But
I think he wins.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
He's playing too well.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
No, he's playing really well. I think he's playing I
think he's playing the best tennis of his life. Really,
is the only thing that is with him. Usually used
to be the case. He was like a diesel motor.
He needed a bit of a start into a major tournament.
Now he's good. Now he's much better. But that's the
only thing I will say that's.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
A tough first likelihood is I mean, Runa certainly can
surprise and get through, but you would think that it
would probably look like a Taylor, Fritz and Zverev quarterfinal.
Up that section of the draw down the bottom.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
I will give one thought for Holga Runa. I was
really impressed in Cincinnati with him. He looked so much
more patient and as if he had a plan. Yeah,
he'd be very teen. Patrick Moritaglo as a coach that well,
he lost the first set and he was the same
runas so wild and then in the second set and
third said that he won. He started playing like just

(37:10):
solid to the backhand, and when Mateo was hitting a slice,
he came to the net and put the volley in.
I was like, is that a tactical genius?

Speaker 1 (37:18):
He's back?

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Am I grating you on a curve? Or have you
been so?

Speaker 3 (37:23):
I love Una and I love his very silly short hold.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
But he plays Nakashima first round. That is Russa, Worri,
Zverev and Nakashima Runa. I would go watch if I
was a fan, and if they are not scheduled on
because Vera will probably be ok.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Right, Well, I'm predicting Taylor Ansverev, but you can, guys
can have a little Runa in there.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
I'm just saying they have challenging first rounds. But I
do think that you're right. I can't talk about twelve hours.
I know we have to get to the women.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Also, Okay, so Rublev is down the bottom, he's having
a mental crisis, you'rela Hetchgat is in that section is
playing really well again. Yeah, but he's also capable of
losing his But he just.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Final and made it very credible. He played really well. Yes,
both Montreal and Cincinnati played really really well.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
He got smoked by Alex Poppram in the final.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Okay, but he made it to the final and before
he was losing first second round.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Here's I'm going to reset the table here. Please, let's
talk about Benny Shells.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, so Benny Shell's up against Dominic team in the
first round.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Shelton, I don't get the American nicknames.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Listen. Also, I just wanted to throw but I think
Australia Greek god Dimitrov is going to also be very
sneaky in that section of the drawer. And so down
the bottom half of the section with Novak is Ben Shelton,
Francis Tiafo, who definitely.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Play team first round. They played here last year.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
Yes, and Tiafo is always also in that section. Popren
is the seed in Novak section, so likelihood seeds Novak, Popren,
Ben Shelton, Francis.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Tifo's part of the draw makes me honestly, honestly, I
am always honestly and always on the verge of not
conspiracy theorists. But I swear to god Novak has played
all three slams. Not sorry, not I think French Open, not,
but I think Wimbledon, Ouschen Open. And now has Poppyarin

(39:14):
in the third round? Is that true? True?

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Right?

Speaker 2 (39:16):
They played at the Open, paper was not a seat,
so they played second round. They played in Wimbledon second round,
didn't they And now they are playing again in the
third round.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
I think he played in the third round of wimbled Anyway,
it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
But the bottom line is Popperin's threat.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
He has some confidence.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait, just quickly back
on that on what on the bottom half? What about
the question I was going to ask, because I've been
going to all these parties. Ben Shelton is at every party,
really every party. Everybody's decided Ben Shelton is it the man.
Ben Shelton is not making it out of that quart

(39:50):
of the draw much less. I mean, he will be
lucky to get to Djokovic. But does Djokovic have anybody
credible who can beat him in that bottom half?

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Not really, not really, I don't think so either.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Can we look at it because this is and I
know because I'm trying to move on to the women,
because we can't talk about the men for five hours.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
Okay, you're looking at me like I'm trying to set
you have the computer, keep going.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Okay, so listen, let's get to the women.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
All right, Yes, Tailor Fritz, I'm calling it. Taylor Fritz
is going to win. Okay, there you go, right, I'm
leaving in twenty two minutes.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Yeah see, there you go. All right.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
So eager Shon Tech is up against a qualifier, no,
a lucky loser.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Actually, well it's technical. Well this is going to take
just get to the big name.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Hey, hey, hey, don't be abusive. In that section of
the draw is published in cover. Chances are she will
probably play through. But up in that section of the
draw it's pretty good for ego. I think the toughest
player that she will play if she gets through is
mirror On Dreva. What are our thoughts about that playing
in the That'll be the fourth round playing on Dreva.
If she gets through, sam Sonova's in there, and when

(40:55):
she's at her best, she can beat anyone.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
But I think that I think that Ego will beat
Andreva and a bit more straightforward because she beat her
in Cincinnati and the court, I swear to God, lightning, lightning.
I've never seen a fast when you work.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
On a hard court and it's glary, yeah, like it's reflecting.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
It was like an ice rings. Yes, it was like
literally an ice hockey ring. It was crazy, and yeah,
they gotta work. I've never seen a faster court in
the last ten years i've played, and so I think
it will. And she beat her there, and I think
it will be easier here because the courts are not fast.
It's much better for he even slower than they were
last year. They are still play on the faster side

(41:34):
of hard courts, but they are not as fast as
they were last year, and nowhere near fast as fast
as Cincinnati, because there was an absolute the tennis was horrible. Yeah,
it was not.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
They're gonna have to work on that. And I don't
understand how the US Open and Cincinnati in particular, because.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Those are so back to back different.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
They've got to come on, guys, get it together. You've
got to have the same speed, bananas of court. It's
just stupid and not.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
I don't understand it.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Anyway. We love Cincinnati's owners obviously, and the people that
run the tournament are amazing, So guys like, get the
same surface, please, so the players aren't having these just crazy,
crappy conditions.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
I appreciate that trying things out, but I think if
you're the lead up, you know, I think that there
should be tournaments that have different because that's the one
thing that differentiates us the tennis from everything else that
every single week you have different conditions, different surfaces, different bars,
and the best tennis player, as Novak shows every single time,
is the one that that's the best. It doesn't matter,

(42:35):
and that's great. I think that's a really great skill. However,
I agree with you, if you're a lead up to
the last major tournament of.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
The year, you have to have the players have the
best preparation they can exactly. So it also up that
section of the drawer. Daniel Collins last year is Open.
She will play against Caroline dahl Hyde first round. That's
not going to be easy for Danielle. She's got will
be going on out there. She has not played much tennis.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Are Injuring three six four Danielle three and four?

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Okay, well she hasn't played enough tennis and she lost
easily in Monterey. The best thing is she's probably a
couple of eight weeks ago, a couple of days ago
against the younger Andreva sister, I think, and then she had.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
To fly here in an airplane filled with puke.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
What follow her Instagram? It's really worth oh my god. Okay, well,
let's not talk about that. But up there, I think
die Anna Schneider might be a bit of a tough
one for all these chicky babes to handle, because she
is she is just a fighter.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Such a great competitor. Oh, such a great competitor, really
great tennis player. Two. Of course, the only thing with
her is she's played a lot of tennis.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Will she be Yeah, she's Russian man. They played come on,
you know they You look at the Russians at the
end of the year, they played like thirty tournaments like
they're insane.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
But still, you know, you have to be fresh at
the US Open because it's a lot being in midtown.
I just walked for three minutes here and I'm already
mentally exhausted and will pull a Medvedev on myself later on.
Just make sure you you know. And there's when there's
always a wagon where all the seats are empty on
the subway because there's one crazy person. I will be
the crazy that's going to be. It's going to be

(44:09):
clearing out at every style. Great. So up there.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
The one player that I think has been playing so
well over the last few weeks, you two knuckleheads, is Jessica.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
I haven't seen she's been a lot time. You should
have given us ten minutes to get this energy out
before we start recording. But we literally sat down and
you went like, hello, welcome. That was a great joke.
That was an elite joke. It was a New York
Times because she got a wagon. It was perfect.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
My god, you're both insufferable.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Sorry, let's keep going, as you like to say, Pegola, Jessica,
she's had a great summer.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
What a great watch and eager gets through. That's a
quarterfinal now.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Please, for the love, jess please make it through. If
you make it to that quarter finals, she's in that match.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
Oh my god.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Well, you know, that's all I'm saying about it. That's
all I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
It's like, it's like the the opposite of the wall
that Trump tried to build. What do you mean, well,
the wall's not there, and Pegola is trying to knock
down the wall. You were going to say, And I
was like, it's like Pagola's only had a wall in
front of her in the quarterfinals. I don't know where
that went.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
I try to understand, because she's never made it past qualify.
I saw I bought that for her. So I worked
with Mark Knowles, who was on her coaching team last
week at Cincinnati, and markland yes, and so Mark Knowles
and I worked together in the commentary box for the
entire week. So I was there when she was playing.
We were watching on his phone and his computer, and

(45:34):
so I know what they are working on. I won't
give much away, but I think the biggest change for
her was and it's been really impressive because before I
saw Mark, I called her matches in Toronto, which she won,
and I noticed it before I talked to him. She's
much better from the defense. She's better in the defensive positions.
She plays way more percentage tennis when she's on the defense.

(45:55):
She moves better, she's quicker around the court. And I
asked him, did you get a new fitness card and
he said, no, we have the same one. But they
have put fifty percent of their fitness practices onto the
tennis court. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm not trying to do
that much in the gym. I mean, still the gym
off courtchs and everything, but all the movement and agility

(46:15):
parts they are now doing on the court with the record,
and it's been you can see.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
It in the several Anka match, even though she lost,
she was hanging in points and getting back to the
neutral a lot more. And I didn't know what the
difference was because usually Sevelenka can just overwhelm her so much,
but she was hanging. I mean, it was still a
little bit one sided, but it felt like a different
for Google, It felt.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Closer, and I think that actually is why. I think
that's why she had.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
To defend almost every point from the second it started.
And listen, and it wasn't as it didn't look well,
it didn't look like one way traffic I think.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
I'm a big believer in doing a lot more of
that on the court. I'm going to so many of
these players do so much shit off the court with
this and that and blah blah blah. It's like guys
get on the court like STEFFI Graff used to do
hours and hours on the court doing training, like stay
on the court and do the work, do the foot rills,
do all that.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
So it's obviously working.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
So if she gets through the quarters, there are there
are multiple more things than just that, but I thought
that was the of course. And look, they're both.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Going to help her transition into the net better all
the things. So anyway, so if she gets through, okay,
let's drop down to the bottom half of the top
half of the drawer up the top. Their big news today, Yeah, Rebarkiner,
my favorite coach is gone.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Maybe this is the liberation was said in total Finally
you will get suit for other things podcast.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
That guy has been This is why I'm back on
the podcast to give her cover for saying controversial things
by angering entire countries.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Let's not get into that. I didn't say is gone
and Rebarkina has parted ways with what's his name, Let's
not even say his name.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
What a great outcome, Let's I'm rude. I always refra
what he's going on with her.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
I mean, she's either sick or she's injured. So I
don't know if this had a lot to do with it.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
We cannot speculate, obviously.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Let's peak Andrea speculate, but only I won't speculate. I
know a little bit that I won't reveal. I will
say one thing because she talked about it before, not
that because it's really private, and it's very private anyways.
One thing she said she mentioned herself, but that's why
I'm repeating it. She had trouble sleeping. She hasn't been sleeping,

(48:16):
she said. During Rome and Madrid, she has barely been sleeping.
And I think you can sometimes see it that she
has insomnia right now. And just imagine how it feels
playing a match when you've only slept two hours, and
now imagine that doing it week in week out. I
don't know if she still has that sleep problems, but
she talked about it that the French opened that during

(48:36):
the clay court season, and she looks struggling and in
addition to the Ambi injuries or the yes, but she's
looked flat and I think when you're not sleeping, your
immune system falls down, you catch everything that's in the
locker room, you get injured.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
All these things maybe a turning point. I love rooting
for her and I hope she does well.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
One thing we did skip over in that section about
the Draco Penko and Osaka Osaka.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
I mean when I first round, I love that, and
Kennan Emma Radikanu first round.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
There are some just seriously good first round that's amazing.
I think Osaka loses in the first round.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
I do too, and I picked her to win the
tournament like she Remember when she played that unbelievable match
against Ega, I'm like, she's my favorite to win the US.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
I think she was playing that well. This is I'm
the I know, I'm the only one. I think she
was hitting the ball. I thought she was moving unbelievably well.
I think she wasn't moving. I think IgA played the
most catastrophic day. She played. Play courts all season.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Stop pointing in my face.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
I'm sorry, but I think she's not moving well and
that's why she's losing. It's not her strokes. She can
play amazing tennis. I think she's I think she should
do the Jess Pagoula and do more things on court,
and it will change in a week for her because
she's so powerful. The three of us together, she has.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
Got better better ship together in the first round because
she's the Penko is going.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
To be like no, Pinko's had a great year ps
like Austin Pinco's well, everyone's been sleeping, She's been.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
I don't know. For Naomi, it's literally a salt a
billionth of a Graham. Oh wait, I've got a spray
that can help a billions of a gram away from
her winning major tournaments again. But I do think there's
just a little little bit in movement agility that she

(50:27):
needs to okay, well, get quite right, and then she
can be We'll see what happens.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
Leila Fernandez has been having a pretty good little run
as well. She's up there and Paulini and Bianca Andreetesco
first round. That is also a blockbuster, And it wouldn't
surprise me if Bianca actually pulls off a victory there.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
Really yeah, because I bet she likes playing against Paolini actually,
but that's they.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Both sort of play similarly. They both got their quick
hands and not super tall of both of them. They
both move well. I hope Bianca plays her bad, but
I actually hope they both to play really well and
we get a great Max much jam.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
No, there would be a great man.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
I can't hear I can't hear you loving Jasmin Pellin anymore.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
All right, shut up?

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Okay, So the bottom half of the drawer. Kudjikova wins Wimbledon.
I don't know where she's been since, hasn't been playing well,
but Doza is up there. She looks like she probably will.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Get through that section. I love good and powerful. The
best thing is, she said in the interview after she
won in Cincinnati a few rounds and after she already
won the Washington d C title, and they asked her
what changed for you? And she's like, I just finally
became an athlete again. That's perfect. And I'm like, Paula,

(51:38):
I know I love you, but now I know why
that's a shirt. I just believe.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
I don't understand why she's chosen.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
I'm just finally an athlete again. She said that I was.
That's a Shakari Richardson I'm not back. I'm better.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
I'm better, Okay, Solar Sakari up there as a ranker,
Emma Navarro Costure. It's that is a very good section
of the drawer with a lot of really good players
fit to Lina and chin Win Jung.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Did I say it right?

Speaker 3 (52:06):
Ka, you've actually actually but chin Win is in the
bottom half along with Sabalanca.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
I think that's no.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Let's talk about that until we talk about the fact that.
Excuse me, what about Anissa Mova and chin Win? That's
the first round?

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Oh, they are playing for a show. Yeah, I think
that's my upset on the first round. No way, I
think Cooka loses in the first round again.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
No, she's going to be girtch.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
I don't think she's a better player than Have you
guys watched any Cocoa golf matches recently?

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Yeah, but she wins these matches. She wins these matches.
It's the wins against really good players that she's not winning.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Yeah. Oh, you sound a little negative as well, And
I'm not negative. I'm worried for her because she has
looked so so stressed the last few the last few
weeks that I'm just worried if she's stressed in Cincinnati
and Toronto, how will she be here or where she
has two thousand points to defend and that's one thousand.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
The worst she's going to drop too is five or six.
So I would be saying, listen.

Speaker 3 (53:06):
Yeah, but you know it's not. I don't think it's
I don't think it's the points. I think it's new
Balance pop ups. I think it's the commercials. I think
it's the Wheati's box. I think it's all that stuff.
I think she has had during the flag carrying the flag.
I think she's had three solid weeks of just the
promotional machine. I think that ultimately is what made Serena
falter in her highest moments, because all of a sudden,
everyone was like, hey, so what is it going to

(53:28):
feel like to win this again? And it's like, well, well,
I haven't even won my first match.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
Let me win my first set.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Yeah. And I think that's what Coco's going through right now.
When Caitlin, the most liberal person I maybe now, turns
into a conservative older man on Twitter. She's like, she's
doing too many photo shoots, that's why she won't play. Well,
it's me, yeah, that's you. I mean I'm you know,
as always the mirror up to me. You know, I'm

(53:54):
not in a way that I don't love got my
Harris Walls, But I just think that the thing that
always makes me believe in Coco Goth no matter what,
no matter how bad she's playing, no matter how it's
dressed out, she is she has a champion's mind. She's
the best competitor we have one tour her and Vosniaki.
I know she hasn't maybe looked at against Putin Sieva
and against Schneider and Toronto, but it's in her. I

(54:17):
saied so many times. There is something special in the kid.
That's why she has had the success she's listen.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
You and I have talked about this at nauseum.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
We adore Coco.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
I agree with you with the champion's mentality. The problem
is where has that been of late? And it's a
combination for me. If you go into a Grand Slam
or any tournament and you know what your weaknesses are, right,
I knew why weaknesses. You knew your weaknesses, and your
weaknesses were really bad. In stressful moments on the court,
it was like all you could think about at night

(54:48):
was I'm not serving well, I'm not in my forehand. Well,
oh fuck. And then you get on the court then
and also sorry, there's a lot of cooks in that kitchen.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
Man.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
I look at her on the practice court and there's
like eighteen people around her. I'm like, oh my god.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
But you know how it is. Sometimes when you're not
playing well, especially the top players, they built protective shields
around them so they just have Serena did the same thing.
Whenever she was not playing well. All of a sudden,
she had an entourage of twenty seven. She held around
one person telling her what to do on that. I
tell but it doesn't matter, That's what I mean. You
don't know who's talking to her. In the end. It's
sometimes just the protective shield around the top players, so nobody,

(55:25):
you know, so a fan doesn't go up and is like, hey, cucko,
what's wrong with your forehand, because that's the last thing
she needs. That's why you have multiple people on the
lad I know it, but I'm just talking about Serena.
You coached. She was exactly the same. When she played well,
she was rocked up with two people, and then the
minute she lost I don't know, third round, which rarely
ever happened all of a sudden she was with thirty
seven people in a players lounge who all had a

(55:47):
circle around her and nobody could come near her.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
I tend to disagree with that a little bit.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
I think Serena always had the same types of same
people around her. And yes, with stars coming in every
now and again, like Beyonce bopping into the Megan Mark
called Buppin into her players, sure, but as far as
her core team, she always only had the same people really,
you know, physio, sister, maybe marm or dad who was

(56:12):
ever there. Clearly Venus was around, but you know she
had a physio, She had a hitting partner, same hitting partner,
same coach. So I don't know.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
My thing with Coco is I see her.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Practicing and there's this one guy from the moritaglu Clant
camp or whatever, and he's telling her how to hit
volleys the other day and I was like, Okay, who's
the coach, just Brad the coach, it's this guy the coach?
Is this the technical coach? Like there's so much going on,
which is why when shit starts going down on the court,
she's looking up at them in the players box going
tell me what to do, tell me what to do.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
It's like, oh my god. So the champion.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Mentality that we're used to her being calm, composed, unbelievably
composed for her age, that's gone. Where is that gone?
And so for me, when you know that you're not
hitting your weaknesses very well and they're breaking down under pressure,
which they are right now, it builds anxiety and stress
in you. That's what we're seeing. So hopefully, hopefully she

(57:02):
can get through a couple of rounds and get that
confidence back. With the Botto line is she needs to
not miss the foyant, which she wasn't doing last year
at all, and she needs to serve better. The second
servers become a liability. But we talked about it Caitlin
in the previous podcast. As we get to the end
of this one, I said, I didn't have a favorite
for the first time in my life coming into a
Grand Slam. There's no outstanding favorite. Hold the thought, there's

(57:26):
no favorite going into the US Open on the men's
or women's side. It's the first time I've ever felt that. Really,
I have now changed my mind. Sabalanca has become for
me the overwhelming favorite and the women's for what she
did purely because look, she didn't play well in Montreal,
blah blah, all the things. But when you come into
the tournament having won a tournament the way she won

(57:46):
one last week against the players she beat in Eager
and Pigoula for back to back, she comes in here
with all the confidence.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
She's my new favorite. Those were not the matches. Those
were not the matches I called the site match. And
she was playing the same she's played all year, dicey, choppy, crap, No,
not crap, just icy and choppy. And something clicked in
the first game of the second set against Sittulina, and
she was Arena Sabalenka from the Australian Open. And I

(58:15):
said it on air, she's going to win the tournament
and she's going to win amazing and one down, I
have one more to go. Okay, you could see, you know,
sometimes you see something it just clicks, clicks.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
That's about positions, like, oh my god, she's going to
win the US Open.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Like she wasn't missing a ball. So that is not
the case this year.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
So that's mostly because I were in a Sablac. I
forgot how to play tennis during the second.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
Yeah, that I agree with you. Sure in the final,
but in the end you have to win. You have
to hit the shots. And she you have to get
to the final. And she won Washington. She played great
and last year and she won.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
Since this year, it's the Dobell Ace Plumber double. It's Taylor,
Fritz and Abaca in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
So you're picking sabal Anka and I think al Chaz,
and you are picking Tailor Franz Okay and and Sabillaca.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
Who are you picking?

Speaker 1 (59:10):
We're all picking Sablenka. And I have to stick with
my original pick from months ago, and that was Yanick
Center I said. I said Yanick was going to win.
He was going to book end the years, was going
to win the natural surface tournaments. And so I have
to stick with Yanik. It is going to be like
going through sledge and sludge and mud trying to get

(59:32):
to the final between him, Alcaraz and ye the dra
of death.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
So if he makes it, but.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Listen, I got to stick with it because I picked
him and I'm not going.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
And maybe you're spot on because he will feel liberated
from all of what was going on for the last
four months weighing on him, and maybe he will feel
ten pounds lighter and fly.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
The last thing that dude needs to do is be
ten pounds lighter, because he will fly away. He'll be
He'll be picked up in the jet stream. He'll get
picked up in the jets him from Lagadi.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
This is a terrible combination, the three of us, because it's.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
Just well, it's been a real delight Leys coming back
into the studio.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
What a treasure guy to do a podcast?

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Have complaints? Take them to Kateline.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
What okay? Just because your name is on the show
now and rebranded, So do not take them to me.
Take them to so Just so everyone knows, Renee gives
us talking pines that we have to say, and so
it's all her. I do, Yes, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
I've never been able to tell you what to do.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
We don't have we don't have a free will. This
is a forced listen.

Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
We are is three very educated women and we're getting
our opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
That doesn't mean crap. Thanks for listening to it. Everybody listening, everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
We will be back the second Monday of the US
Open to bring you more of what's happened at the
first week, but thanks for joining us today on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
The Renee Subs Tennis Podcast, and we'll see you soon
by Choose m