January 15, 2025 • 35 mins
Czech teen Jakub Mensik has matched Joao Fonseca’s seed-slaying feat dispatching Casper Ruud — the first two teenagers to beat top-10 players at the same Grand Slam since Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in 2006. A bitter-sweet night for the Aussies with Thanasi Kokkinakis losing a heartbreaker to Jack Draper, and Aleks Vukic upstaging Sebi Korda to reach his first major third round, while Alejandro Davidovich Fokina overcame Felix Auger-Aliassime. Title contenders Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff are in cruise control, but 2024 finalist Zheng Qinwen has been knocked out by Laura Siegemund — experts Simon Rea and Candy Reid analyse Zheng’s demise, and preview Day 5 action: Iga Swiatek v Rebecca Sramkova, and Matteo Berrettini v Holger Rune. Plus, Hollywood director Leigh Whannell drops by Pod Laver Arena to discuss the art of the horror movie.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
She crushed me in the US Open when I had
my best out forever. I was so disappointed. I was
so mad, But yeah, I mean this was my little revenge.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good day and welcome to the tennis. For Day four
of AO twenty twenty five, John Houvenaar's with all the
big news from Melbourne Park every day of the main drawer.
Today on the tennis, Mensik continues the teenage dream with
a rude routing.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
It was my first time to be top ten player
on Grand Slam.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Jum goes down in a Siegamund siege.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
I wanted to show the variety of my game, be
very aggressive, and that's what I did.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Plus a preview of Day five and Hollywood director Lee
Wannell on where tennis and horror films collide with a movie, I'd.
Speaker 5 (00:45):
Get a hand held camera and get right down in
their face, turn all the crowd noise down so you
could just hear, you know, the breathing.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That's all ahead on the tennis.
Speaker 6 (00:59):
You kept me same weather of his career.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And he's into the third round of.
Speaker 7 (01:09):
The Australian Open.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Taboot, the one that called.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Pormts yakub Menzig has emulated the earlier feet of his
fellow next Gen star dral Fonseca, claiming another big men's seed.
On Night four, less than twenty four hours after Fonseca
knocked out ninth seed Andro Rubelev, the Czech young gun
eliminated sixth seed casperrud to book his spot in the
third round. Mensick more than doubled the Norwegian's win account
(01:34):
and converted five break points on the way to a
six two, three, six sixty one sixty four victory. Producer
ersin Keds caught up with the nineteen year old shortly
after his historic victory, his fifth top ten win in
his short career.
Speaker 8 (01:49):
What significance does this win here have?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Probably that was my first time to be top ten
player on Grand Slam. So basically, you know, reaching the
first round for the third time, two times in US Open,
one time in austral And Open. But definitely you know,
big win to beat you know, top ten player in
(02:14):
best of five sets, that's definitely.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
It showed me that I can, you know, play with
the with the best players and I can, I can
beat them even on the Grand Slam.
Speaker 8 (02:25):
I noticed that your physical called you tiger Ah.
Speaker 9 (02:30):
Yes, can I explained the whole the tiger.
Speaker 8 (02:33):
Yeah, you called them tiger after that, like.
Speaker 9 (02:35):
We are like we are like the team Tigers. Because
it's it's my private stuff. But I'll tell you. So
I graduated from Louisiana State University, right LSU. So over
there we all tigers LSU Tigers.
Speaker 8 (02:46):
Right.
Speaker 9 (02:47):
So when I came to this beautiful team, I said, okay, guys,
from today we are tigers and.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And and the point is that my agent was studying
also in LSU, so I was in the Tigers, so
all of us to beg all right.
Speaker 10 (03:01):
Our I created what's up group and the name of
our warsap group is or some Tigers.
Speaker 8 (03:09):
Yeah, Yakobayu with tiger in some way when you're on
or off the court, I mean, I'm Tiger Tiger.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
The last time two teenagers beat top ten players in
the same Slam was two thousand and six. The culprits
then none other the Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, perhaps
a sign of things to come for Mensic and Fonseka.
It was a bittersweet night for the Ossies, with Alex
Vukch recording a personal best result, but the Nasi Kokinakas
falling short of a maiden third round birth at his
(03:45):
home slam in another five set loss. The Ossie world
number seventy one, seemed to relish playing on John Cane
Arena early in his match against fifteenth seed Jack Draper,
but it evolved into a hard fought roller coaster. Kokinakas
snatched a first set to break, but the Brits struck
back to level the match before the Aussie went ahead
two to one. With a hostile JCA crowd against him,
(04:07):
Draper went to work, dominating points one on second serve
and capitalizing on kochen Arkus's sixty eight unforced errors. The
match deep into a fifth hour when Draper put the
final nail in the Aussie coffin to win six seven
six three three six seven five six three.
Speaker 11 (04:24):
You know, this is what I played for since I
was a young guy. You know, I wanted to play
in front of big crowds, and whether you guys are
with me or against me, you know, it was a
it was a it was a tough atmosphere to deal with,
as you guys are obviously all with to nask you,
but you know I had a little little fun back
as well. So it was so good to be out here,
really really happy with the amount of support we have
(04:46):
a year get here at these big tournaments and it's
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So Draper's third round opponent will be Vukich, who over
threw twenty twenty three quarter finalist Sebbie Quarter in a
five set epic. The twenty eight year old, who took
the first set in a high breaker, held firm against
the quarter comeback, winning seventy seven percent of points on
his second serve in the fourth and fifth sets, a
six four three six two six six three seven five win,
(05:12):
propelling Vukch to the third round of a major for
the first time in his eleventh Grand Slam main draw appearance.
Speaker 12 (05:19):
Yeah, I've had I've had a few good wins, but
that one in the Grand Slam. Yeah, in a five
set up, it is really nice.
Speaker 8 (05:26):
It's so good winning in five sets.
Speaker 12 (05:28):
It'd be nicely two winn three, but it's still I think,
you know, winning in five in Australia, it's yeah, I'm tired,
but I'm pretty I'm pretty awake as.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Well, so yeah, I'll I'll take it, and the five
set thrillers continued into the early hours on the outside
courts as Felix Augier Aliasim was bundled out by Alejandro
da Vidovich Fakina, the Spaniard fighting back from two sets
to love down to win six seven sixty seven six
four six one, five to three. Twenty twenty four semi finalist.
(06:00):
Her Golf has progressed to the third round with a
straight sets win over Jody Burridge. The third seed took
care of business in the first set before the brit
pushed back and briefly took the lead in the second.
Despite Golf landing just fifty eight percent of first serves,
she steadied to win six, three seven five.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, it wasn't, you know, my best tennis off the serve,
but off the ground I thought, I didn't you know,
then play too bad. I knew she was going to
come in being aggressive, and the first set she was
giving me a little bit more errors, but second set
they were, you know, her shots were landing and she was,
you know, playing pretty powerful. So I was just trying
my best to get through it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Waiting in the third round will be thirtieth seed Leyla Fernandez,
who defeated Christina Booksa in three sets.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
I think just again, She's going to be aggressive. That's
her game. She's a great mover. She didn't hit some
great shots. She's a great player Slam finalists and has
great results against top player, so I expect her to
play great tennis and I just, you know, hope I
can do the same.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
The last match on rod Laver Arena finished in the
blink of an eye, Alex Vere barely letting off the
gas against Pedro Martinez six one, six y four sixty one.
Speaker 13 (07:03):
Usually I play seven, six and a fifth, you know,
six four, four and a half hours, entertain you guys
a bit. I'm getting older, so I have to maybe
shorten things up a little bit, maybe not be as
entertaining for you guys, but hopefully I'll be more of
that in the later rounds.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Meantime, twenty twenty three semi finalist Tommy Paul continued quietly
on his way coming from a set down against Kanishikori
to win in four.
Speaker 14 (07:31):
Sigmund brings in a slice background and it's out from John.
The world ninety seven has just taken out the world
number five and last year's Australian Open finalists. Lara Segment
has a huge smile on her face.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Day four of Australian Open twenty twenty five brought the
biggest upset of the tournament thus far. The women's finalists
from last year Jan Chin Winn has been eliminated from
the competition at the hands of Lara Siegemund. Brace Stewart
is back with me on the Tennis Spotlight. Welcome Bree,
thank you, Simon Ray from gig Hello Simon, Hey guys,
and commentator Candy Reid. Hello Candy, for the first time
(08:07):
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 14 (08:08):
Hello John, It's a pleasure to be back.
Speaker 8 (08:10):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Lara Siegaman had a big match on her hands today
and she rose to the occasion seven six six '
three to eliminate the women's finalist in the second round.
Speaker 14 (08:18):
I don't think anyone would have called that junctionin when,
as we know, had such a brilliant twenty twenty four.
She's one of the best on the WTA tour. Got
the gold medal in Paris last year, went back to
celebrate with her fans in China, of which there are many,
as you can possibly imagine a finalist here to Rinya Saberlenka,
the Australian open, unbelievable server, hugely aggressive. Off the baseline,
(08:42):
the odds would have been ninety ten in her favor.
I suspect against Lara Sigman, who's a veteran German player,
somebody who readily admits that her game is based on tenacity,
hard work. She's not the most talented player out there.
She's been playing for an awful long time, though, and
I just thought that her coach and longtime boyfriend got
the strategy and the tactics absolutely spot on. Against young today,
(09:04):
who was befuddled by Lara Sigamund's play, she never got
really a ball in the strike zone. She was made
to play difficult slices and chips and dropshots and forced
up to the net and then pushed back with high
lobby balls. Lara Sigmund was terrific and there was a reason,
and absolutely she got it all right that she went
on her back in celebration. She had a smile like
a Chesha cat.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Today.
Speaker 14 (09:25):
She earned that victory, and well done to Lara Sigmund.
Is all you can say.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
An absolute master stroke from the German Okay raiser, take
us inside the data.
Speaker 8 (09:32):
How was she able to capitalize well.
Speaker 15 (09:34):
It's been a little bit of a recurring theme for
young and she's been able to get away with it
in terms of you know, we've seen her win a
lot of matches down Under over the last twelve months,
but today it did bite her. And what I mean
by that is her first percentage today fifty five percent.
In terms of how many of those first serf she
lands in the court, if we harp back twelve months
to the final against Arena Sebolenka, she serves at fifty
three percent and she got well beaten that night. Now,
(09:56):
don't get me wrong, there's been a number of wins
along the way where she's been able to operate and
get through operating in the mid fifties as a first
serve percentage, But it's not a great number, and I
think it's amplified when you look at the fact that
Laura Sigamon today served at eighty percent first serves in play.
So what that enabled her to do. It's not an
overpowering service, Candy touches on this. Sigamon's not someone that's
going to hit you off the court with her weapons.
(10:17):
But it allows her to control proceedings. It takes the
pressure off her second serve and she's able to use
some of her court craft and her variety to get
the match more on her terms than she might have
been anticipating, and it was a recipe that worked beautifully
for her.
Speaker 14 (10:30):
Yeah, i'd agree with that. We know from the stats
from last year and even the year before that that
Jung has one of the best first serve percentage one
points in the game, but she does historically have quite
a low first serve percentage. Having said that, if she
can get that number up to fifty sixty percent, then
she's winning eighty to eighty five percent of first serve points.
(10:51):
And she's in business, which is what has got her
to the level. She's been working with Perariba, the ex
coach of course of Cocoa. Gough for some time. I
believe is having back surgery, so it's a little bit
of desabilization there. We're young, but she looks shell shocked
to me. She's beaten in the second round of the
Australian Open, so she's lost a lot of points, a
lot of ground. She'll be back for more. She's very
(11:11):
very young. Indeed, Lara Sigmund is moving on and she's
one of those players that no one, absolutely, no one wants.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
To face impress. She spoke about how she's always believed
in her game and her ability to mix it with
the top players. She's always just felt that her body
wasn't right. There might have been a nickel holding her back.
But today we saw really what she's capable of on
one of the biggest stages in tennis.
Speaker 15 (11:31):
Well do you speak about mixing it with the best
players and mix it up? Is exactly what she did today,
even from the perspective of where she returned the second
serve from, sometimes inside the baseline, sometimes on the baseline,
and on other occasions two and three and four meters
behind the baseline, so constantly keeping Jung off balance. In
terms of the look that she gave her, it really
was a masterclass in variety, not allowing Jung to see
(11:52):
the same ball on consecutive balls, keeping her off balance.
First serve execution we've mentioned eighty percent, that's elite execution
and the short rallies, so when the point was four
shots or less, they're split perfectly fifty to fifty, medium
and long rallies. So as the points got extended and
that variety starts to take effect, really one way traffic.
It's thirty points to nineteen in terms of balls five
(12:14):
and beyond in the favor of Sigamund. So that's where
the match was won and lost.
Speaker 14 (12:17):
The final game was so interesting to me because Lara
Sigamund or she didn't show any sign of nerves, and
the first point of the final game included a serve
drop shot, and the drop shot was unbelievable. It just
landed beyond the line, beyond the net, and John couldn't
do anything about it. And I think talking about Sigamund's health,
she relies on the fitness. She's so strong, the work
(12:39):
she does in the off season, and she talked about this,
and she's thirty six. She's got enough money in the
bank to say goodbye and be comfortable for the rest
of her life. But she put the work in once
again in the off season, which isn't easy to motivate yourself.
She obviously loves it enough. She believes that she can
challenge the best. You might remember it the US Open
that Coca GoF won in twenty twenty three. There was
that very feisty match between Coco Goff and Lara Sigmund
(13:02):
Sigamund takes time between points. She tries to rattle the opponent.
She tries to get into their head. She will do
whatever it takes to get across the line. She relies
on her physicality. She's absolutely ripped. We're talking Maria Sachary ripped.
That's how hard she is working at thirty six. She
could just be lying down or in the mall dives.
Can't she on a nice Lilah having a drink at
(13:23):
this point, not Lara, But that's how much she loves
his tennis and how much she wants to carry on.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Winning our other match for spotlight on day fort Simon
was the big serving Riley of Pelka, who fell in
five sets to the men's twenty sixth said Thomas Mahutcher
caused all sorts of headlines in the lead up to
this event. But mahutch going through three six seven six
six seven seven six six ' four in a fascinating
contest on fifteen to seventy three arena, Well, what.
Speaker 15 (13:48):
A contrast and styles and this just shows that power
and the ability to produce raw power and pay some
speed on the serve is still not everything in the
male game. So Riley Opelka, if you don't mine averages
two hundred and ten kilometers in our to day on
first serve and one hundred and eighty three kilometers on
second serve, So that's elite. I mean in the men's game,
(14:09):
you don't see higher numbers, and that maybe with the
exception of Impecchi Pericard who started to serve at two
hundred on second serve. So those are just elite numbers.
But Marhash does a great job of blunting the second serve.
O Pelka today only wins forty one percent of points
on his second serve. So it's elite returning from Mahash.
It's the ability to ask him the question over five sets.
(14:30):
It's accepting and actually maintaining your composure that I think
Opelker blasted forty aces for the match, So it's accepting
that for a big chunks of that match you're going
to be walking side to side and feeling somewhat helpless
in the proceedings. But then when the moment arrives and
you do get a second serve and you do have
the opportunity at thirty all there's a pressure points to
that which I want to get to in a second.
(14:50):
That was his elite performance under pressure to seize that
moment that saw him get the job done.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
He'll have Djokovic to face in the next round two.
He's no stranger to beating top ten players. I believe
Djokovic was one of the scalps he climbed in twenty
twenty four. He's got a big game.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
This check.
Speaker 14 (15:06):
Thomas Mahatch is a big game and he's a believer.
He's probably a little bit in the Lara Sigamund's elements
that he's a bit more of a grinder. He's a
smarter player. He's not the biggest guy out there. He
doesn't have a huge weapon, but he's very clever. He's
got the Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles with ex
or current girlfriend. Which is it, Katerina Seni Akabat. We
(15:27):
shall not know, and we shall not reveal if we
do know. He's known for wearing the short shorts. I
think he's a brilliant play. He's so clever about the
way he goes check. Your tennis is doing really well
now on the men's side, because we've got Yershi Lehechka
and Thomas Mahatch we've both made it through, and you've
got to put Thomas Mahatch not in the top element,
but maybe in the next rung. So I think he's
(15:48):
going to cause Novak a few problems. If he doesn't beat.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Him, where are his other weapons?
Speaker 15 (15:53):
Then well he's a little lead athlete. So from a
physical perspective, he profiles off the charts, and he needed
every inch that today to blunt some of those weapons.
And the heat and the ball speed that's coming at him.
Off the racket of Opelka, it'll come at them, but
in a different way off the racket of Novak Djokovic
in terms of quality ground strokes, ball striking from the
back of the court. He's a combative competitor. We saw
(16:14):
that perhaps bubble over and boil over at the United
Cup on occasion. But one thing is for sure, he'll
be up for the fight and he'll be backing himself
as a legitimate chance to knock off Novak. So yeah,
that's a really enticing prospect that matchup.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Turning the tennis spotlight to day five, I Fiontek in
action Candy up against Rebecca Shramcova. I must admit I
haven't seen a great deal of her play, but you have, I.
Speaker 14 (16:36):
Have because she did so well in twenty twenty four.
She's from Slovakia, turnpro back in twenty thirteen, so it's
been a while, but of course not everybody makes it
the rare air straight to the top. Rebecca Shrampkov has
taken a time. She's got thirteen ITF singles titles, quite
a few in doubles as well, and now she has
one WTA Tour title as well, so she's doing really well.
One in hua Hin last year. She's got an excellent game,
(16:58):
a big, hard, flat hit, moves really well, is intimidated
by no one. I'm a little interested to know what
Eger's level is actually like, because of course she's dropped
down to the world number two, behind Arena Saberlenka, who's easily,
for my mind anyway, the best player in the world
right now. Saberlenka the red hot favorite here. I think
Madison Keys is a favorite as well. She goes up there.
(17:20):
Coca Gough, who's doing brilliantly, won the season ender last
year and of course won the United Cup alongside Taylor
Pritz for the United States. So in my mind, actually
Eager's maybe three four five favorites, but I think Shramcover's
got one of those games that could trouble Eager. Eager
lost to Linden Oskova to my mind, last year, so
she's fallible here at the Australian Opener tournament she's never won,
(17:42):
and Rebecca Shramcover just watched her player. I think you'd
be mightily impressed. She's not afraid to come forward, she
doesn't mind slicing when she's on a game. She's a
clean ball striker, as I said, a really good athlete.
So that could be a three setter. Absolutely.
Speaker 7 (17:56):
How far do you think, and this is a big
lofty question, Eager can?
Speaker 15 (18:00):
I think if Eaga finds her best tennis, she can
be a champion here this year.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Australia.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
To fall in love with her.
Speaker 15 (18:07):
Yeah, she's got those qualities, and I think it's something
about her, her personality or what we perceive her personality
to be, that we don't feel like we know as
much about her. She does seem so yeah, that more sheltered,
more is ave more a private type personality. That's the
external view looking in anyway. But I think in terms
of what she brings to the table, if she can
find her best tennis and build towards finding her best
(18:27):
tennis in week two of this trainer, she can go
all the way. There's no debuying that.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The other match who wanted to focus on for Day
five is a great second round contest. Matteo Berrettini, who
took care of Cameron Nori in the first round, is
up against hog God Runa, who played a magnificent five
setter against Jung Jizen in the first round. They play
each other in a very interesting and high octane second
round battle.
Speaker 14 (18:48):
Candy, Yeah, I just looked at the head to head.
I was interested to see that they've played four times before.
Berrettini won the first and Holgarunas won the last three.
Holgaroun is another one who's had lots of different coaches.
He's back with his child wildhood coach, Lars Christensen, who's
a friend of mine. Lars up to about the age
of forty, used to be a circus performer, a brilliant.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Piece of information, juggles other problem and now he.
Speaker 14 (19:11):
Juggles other problems. It was It's Got Pun, then it
was Clara Towson, and now he's back to Holger. I
think it's the right decision for Holgoes had coaches like well,
he's been with Kenneth Carlson and he's been with Patrick Morrotoglu.
I think this is a right choice for him. Lars
is very very calm, very calm in that he's horizontal
(19:31):
to Holger's vertical. There's a lot of drama and a
lot of calmness, and I think that's a good matchup.
We want to see Holder back in the top ten
because to me it's such a fun, dynamic player.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I really like him.
Speaker 14 (19:43):
Brettini though, It's lovely to see him. He's a man
that's now won more titles after coming back from injury.
He's got a massive serve, a huge forehand, the slice
is obviously pretty good. It's great to see him. He's
just such an interesting guy. As the overall, I'm not
sure which way that one it's going to go. Be
interesting to see the numbers. I would say it's a
bit fifty to fifty. But how hard is Berrettini's draw
(20:05):
kam Norri in the first round, holgar Aruna in the second.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yep man he might have her cutch to come if
he gets through here. Simon, what does he have to
do to get past well.
Speaker 15 (20:13):
Candy mentioned they head to head being three to one
in the favor of Runa, but their last two battles,
both on hard courts over the second half of twenty
twenty four, were marathon battles and there wasn't There wasn't
much in either one of those two battles, So I
think this one does really appeal as a must watch
on Day five at the Australian Open. I'm calling it
a fifty to fifty. I think Berrettini can get over
the top of Runer, and I think there's a couple
(20:35):
of key factors in their Cincinnati matchup back in August
of twenty twenty four. On second serve, Brettini found the
middle of the box a lot and paid a price,
only won forty three percent of his second serve return points,
and Howlgaruna really got after that second serve return in Shanghai.
It was a bit different all of a sudden. He
couldn't impact on the Runa's service game and Runa's winning
sixty and seventy percent of his own second serve points.
(20:57):
So there's a couple of things that I'm looking for
to see how they pan out. Early in set one
but I do think Bertini perhaps comes in with a
slightly bit of preparation into this matchup than what we've
seen from Runa. I think Bertini gets it done tomorrow.
Speaker 14 (21:11):
Brilliant served down the tea of soccer. In play though
Mukava up to the net.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
A lot has gone up.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
She's been pushed back.
Speaker 14 (21:18):
That's unbelievable from Nervi Osaka.
Speaker 8 (21:20):
How on earth does she win that point? How on
earth does she win the match? It smiles around in.
Speaker 14 (21:25):
The Japanese camp and she's just been carrying a Mukova
for the second time. Even's up the heads head of
two at piece. When's this one six three in the
third It was a fantastic performance.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Now me Osaka is through to the third round in
Melbourne for the first time in three years, and it
took a lot of heart to get there. After dropping
the first set to Caroline and Mukova, the two time
AO champ dug deep to take down the twentieth seed
one six six ' one six ' three man.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It means a lot. You know, She's an incredibly difficult
opponent for me to play. She crushed me in the
US Open when I had my best outfit ever, I
was so disappointed. I was so mad. But yeah, I
mean this was my little revenge and.
Speaker 8 (22:11):
It's not a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Like revenge is competitive, you guys, But yeah, it means
a lot because you know, she's one of the toughest
opponents out there.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Having already accounted for Caroline Garcia and now Mukova, Asaka's
path doesn't get any easier with Belenda Benchicic awaiting in
the round of thirty two.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I mean, you know me, I love it. I love
playing the big opponents. I think that's where I play
my best tennis. And honestly, for me, if I played
better and better opponents as around goes on, I think
it's more interesting because I feel like it's like the
clash of two titans almost, so I think, you know,
(22:51):
the fans probably appreciate it, and I also appreciate it
as a player.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Ben Chic continued her comeback campaign in style with the
straight sets When I've a Dutch women's who's on laments.
The twenty seven year old spoke to A radio's Craig
Gabriel about the perspective she's gained since motherhood.
Speaker 16 (23:07):
Yeah, I think it's changed a little bit for me
that I can now separate tennis and my personal life
a little bit better because I feel like, you know,
before tennis has been is such a huge part of
my life, and I was always like thinking about tennis,
like breathing tennis, eating tennis, like doing all my day
around tennis, And now it's just there's something much more
(23:29):
important for me. And therefore I feel like, you know,
when I have a bad day in the office, how
you say, it just stays there, and then I'll go
home and just you know, play with Bella and be
with her, and then just completely my mind doesn't think
about tennis.
Speaker 17 (23:48):
And in a way, do you maybe enjoy your professional
life as a player more now or is it about
the same before Bella was born.
Speaker 16 (23:59):
I think I enjoyed more now a little bit. I
feel like it's more relaxed. I feel like it's more work,
you know, And I definitely enjoy playing. I have so
much passion for the game, and it's something I've done
all my life. But then I feel like now with ballets,
it's different, it has a different purpose. And you know,
to be able to get for her to travel with
(24:21):
us and for her to be here, it's really nice
For me, I get to see her and we really
enjoy our time off the court even more, I would say.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Novak Djokovic's quest for an eleventh title in Melbourne remains
on track, despite being tested again, this time in the
second round by Jim Faria. After conceding the first set
six to one, the Portuguese qualifier took his game to
the ten time chap, hitting seven aces and seventeen winners
in the second set alone, which he won in a tiebreak. Frustrated,
(24:50):
Djokovic worked his way back into the match in the third,
capitalizing on Faria's second serve and winning forty one percent
of receiving points to eventually progress in the six one
six ' seven six three six two. Victory was his
four hundred and thirtieth major win, eclipsing Roger Federer's previous record.
Speaker 10 (25:09):
I try to give my best, you know, every single time.
Speaker 8 (25:12):
It's been over twenty years that.
Speaker 10 (25:13):
I've been competing in a Grand Slam at the highest level,
and whether I win or lose, one thing is for sure.
You know, I'll always leave my heart out on the court,
and so Grand Slams, of course, they are the pillars
of our sport.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Earlier in the day Arena. Sablenca cruise through her second
round match on Rod Labor Arena, the two time defending
champ ending the campaign of Jessica boujas Manero six three,
seven five, denying the crowd a more hotly contested battle.
Speaker 6 (25:41):
Well, definitely, people, Definitely, the atmosphere.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
I fell, the support.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
I mean, okay, I have to say today you guys
were a bit more cheering for her.
Speaker 8 (25:51):
But it's okay. I forgive you. It's okay.
Speaker 18 (25:53):
Make sure next one you come out and you cheer
for me.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
The world number one now faces Auckland champion Clara Tawson,
who defeated Tachiana Maria two and two.
Speaker 13 (26:02):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
I don't think I have to do anything different than
I'm used to doing. I'm playing world number one, so
I'm gonna do the same as I always do, and
then we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
There's just something about mirror Andreva playing on fifteen seventy
three arena, which is where she held a famous final
stand to put herself on the map in twenty twenty four.
Today she defeated Moyuka Uchiyama in a thrilling third set
super tie break six four three six seven six, conceding
fifty three unforced eras the seventeen year old clawed back
(26:33):
Uchiyama's lead in the third, pushing the set to a
deciding tie break, where she held her nerve to win
the last four points of the match.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Honestly, the only thing that I had in my mind
is that this court is cursed and I don't want
to play on that court again. I just had the
thought that this stupid court, it's all because of this
coord and I just tried to, you know, forget about
this and play every point. And yeah, after losing three five,
(27:01):
I kind of felt the same energy as last year
from people, and it really helped me because they started
cheering even more for me. I guess they wanted to
see the comeback. So I just tried my best to
stay in the match, and in the end, on the tiebreak,
I was freaking nervous, but I'm so happy that in
the way in the end I managed to win the match.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
And seventh seed Jessica Pegoula has dashed past Elisa mettin
six four six two, a businesslike performance by the American
who gave away just ten unforced errors in the seventy
minute display.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
Really good match today. Played strategically perfect, really smart and
just kind of executed exactly what I wanted to do
to beat a player like Elise, So I'm really happy
with yeah today's performance.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Pigoula's next opponent is Serbia's Olga Danilovich, who upset women's
twenty fifth seed with Miller Samsonova six one, six to two.
Despite the evening heroics of the Aussie men, the rocky
road can continued for the local contingent on day four.
Isler tom Lanovitch battled bravely on John Cain Arena against
Deanna Schneider, but the twelfth seed was unfazed by the
(28:10):
one sided Ossie crowd on the People's court, grinding her
way to a six four, seven five win.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
Sometime it's staff, sometimes emotion steakhover your brain, but I'm
trying to work on that too, and you know, just
play my game and tried to play freely and aggressive.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Ozzie wildcard Tally Gibson fell to the superior Powla Medosa.
James Duckworth also out in straight sets against Roberto Cabe
Spaena wile Jordan Thompson, who was seated for the first
time at his home Slam has been steamrolled by Nuno
Borges in straight sets, the Portuguese rising star taking care
of business in the first two sets, while Thompson regathered
(28:49):
himself in the third in a last ditch effort to
stay alive, but with the end in sight, Borges streamed
towards the finish line, winning thirteen out of the last
fifteen points to seal a sixty three six to sixty
four win.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
No, I'm also very surprised.
Speaker 18 (29:03):
You know, it's not every day I get to play
in a big stadium, and I thought I dealt with
it very well. It wasn't easy dealing with the nerves,
you know. I knew it was not gonna be the
crowd favorite, and Jordan was playing amazing. I'm sorry, really
sorry for finishing it this way, and I'm sure he
was struggling throughout the match. It wasn't just this, But still,
I thought I played a pretty good match, served amazing
(29:26):
and you know, just really consistent throughout the whole the
whole time, and I'm really proud of that.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
His next opponent, Carlos al Karez, who made light work
of Yoshi Hito Nishioka to progress six Love sixty one
sixty four. He sent down fourteen aces and won eighty
nine percent of first serves in a near perfect serve
Bot performance.
Speaker 19 (29:44):
Or I felt much better today with it self, just
ironic things that I must have bought. But I think
I have to improve a lot if I want you
to put my name, you know, on that list. But
but yeah, if I felt really well to they would say.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Are the day four winners for the women Marta Kostyuk,
Anastasia Pavlachenkova, donovekch and Magdalena Fach And for the men,
French trio Ugo Umbert, Arthur Fis and Benjamin Bonzia all
through to the round of thirty two. And perhaps there's
somewhat of a conspiracy theory brewing around Jilahitchka. He claimed
the title in Brisbane when both his semi final and
(30:22):
final opponents retired. Well today he's been granted another walk
over into the third round after Ugo Gaston retired in
the second set. The Australian Open attracts fans from all
walks of life and all sectors of industry, including from Tinseltown.
Acclaimed Hollywood director Lee Wannell recently took a break from
(30:44):
his promotional tour of the new movie Wolfman to visit
rod Laver Arena. He also stopped by pod Laver Arena,
which is where I spoke to him about his impressions
of tennis as a film director and how he'd approach
a horror film about tennis. There was a great moment
here last year at the Australian Open, Russian player Andre
Rublev played Australia's Alex Demenor. Lev ended up winning that
(31:08):
in five sets, but he didn't do it the easy way.
He looked tormented out there. He came off the court
and remarked that it was like a scary movie was
playing on repeat in his head and he just couldn't
get it out. And I thought it was a very
bizarre comment, but it sort of spoke to me about
the impact of you know, film and horror movies specifically.
(31:30):
What is it about these pictures that seemed to get
inside people's minds and mess with their heads at the
most inopportune of moments.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Well, they exploit our deepest, darkest spears, Like I think
human beings were genetically programmed since we first crawled out
of the mud. To be afraid of threats. Threats like
there are great white sharks patrolling the waters around Australia. Now,
statistically it's like it's not likely that one of them
will buy you, but it could happened, yeah, somebody. You know,
(32:01):
we've all seen that news story where it's like a
surfer was taken by a great white shark. The thought
of that happening. Horror movies play on that. The horror
movies present the idea that, oh, it is happening, and
and so that I think that's why they stick in
our heads. They're like someone put our nightmares up on
a screen and made us fork over our own hard
(32:22):
earned money to watch it.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
And does that aspect help us make sense of the
world as well?
Speaker 5 (32:27):
I think it does, especially in bad times. Horror movies
always seem to do well in times of social turbulence.
You could say, when has there not been a time
of social turbulence in human history? But I tend to
see an uptick in people. They need that catharsis, you know,
and I do think it's it's a really necessary genre.
I think for the human being as necessary as comedy.
(32:50):
We need to laugh, we need to cry and we
also need to like face our fears.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah, no, I think that's exactly what he went through
rublev last year. You're about to go into rod Laver
Arena to see the sable Anca play the defending champion.
But what sort of connotations would like if you were
to have a film that we're set here at Melbourne Park,
inside center court, roof, closed lights on. What sort of
emotional themes do you think you could play with in
(33:16):
a stadium environment in your genre?
Speaker 5 (33:20):
God in horror, Well, I feel like being in the
player's face, Like the one thing you can't get on
television is that super personal like what it's like to
be that person. That's what a drama can do. So
I feel like I'd be using a lot of close ups.
I'd be quoting, it'd be all about that Russian player.
It would be I'd almost do like the whiplash version
(33:41):
of tennis, where like your hands are bleeding and you
get the close ups of the blood dripping on the
court and the guy is shaking and just the fear
of like losing, Like what film is what you want
to do is offer someone the view they can't see.
We've seen the sort of static locked off shot broadcast
view of tennis, right, I have to shoot it like
that so you know what's going on with a movie.
(34:02):
I'd get a handheld camera and get right down in
their face, turn all the crowd noise down so you
could just hear that, like, you know, there's like the breathings.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
That would be it.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
That would be my approach.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
That is so different, isn't it a way more introspective?
Speaker 8 (34:15):
Look?
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Yeah, exactly, like what's it like? And then that person's
point of view of this crowd, these alien non faces
just staring down at like anonymous faces just staring at
you when you're like god, you know, yeah, that would
be my way.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
In fantastic to get inside the mind of a Hollywood director.
To watch that interview in full, head to the Australian
Open YouTube channel and look forward the tennis under the
podcast tab. That's all for Day four of the Australian Open.
Join us again tomorrow for all the big stories from
day five. Be sure to subscribe to never miss an episode,
(34:50):
and please consider leaving a rating all review so more
fans can discover the tennis. You can also watch our
daily spotlight segment on our YouTube channel Australian Open TV
and I'll catch you you tomorrow. For more of the tennis,
oh m
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Hm
She crushed me in the US Open when I had
my best out forever. I was so disappointed. I was
so mad, But yeah, I mean this was my little revenge.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good day and welcome to the tennis. For Day four
of AO twenty twenty five, John Houvenaar's with all the
big news from Melbourne Park every day of the main drawer.
Today on the tennis, Mensik continues the teenage dream with
a rude routing.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
It was my first time to be top ten player
on Grand Slam.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Jum goes down in a Siegamund siege.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
I wanted to show the variety of my game, be
very aggressive, and that's what I did.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Plus a preview of Day five and Hollywood director Lee
Wannell on where tennis and horror films collide with a movie, I'd.
Speaker 5 (00:45):
Get a hand held camera and get right down in
their face, turn all the crowd noise down so you
could just hear, you know, the breathing.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That's all ahead on the tennis.
Speaker 6 (00:59):
You kept me same weather of his career.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And he's into the third round of.
Speaker 7 (01:09):
The Australian Open.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Taboot, the one that called.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Pormts yakub Menzig has emulated the earlier feet of his
fellow next Gen star dral Fonseca, claiming another big men's seed.
On Night four, less than twenty four hours after Fonseca
knocked out ninth seed Andro Rubelev, the Czech young gun
eliminated sixth seed casperrud to book his spot in the
third round. Mensick more than doubled the Norwegian's win account
(01:34):
and converted five break points on the way to a
six two, three, six sixty one sixty four victory. Producer
ersin Keds caught up with the nineteen year old shortly
after his historic victory, his fifth top ten win in
his short career.
Speaker 8 (01:49):
What significance does this win here have?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Probably that was my first time to be top ten
player on Grand Slam. So basically, you know, reaching the
first round for the third time, two times in US Open,
one time in austral And Open. But definitely you know,
big win to beat you know, top ten player in
(02:14):
best of five sets, that's definitely.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
It showed me that I can, you know, play with
the with the best players and I can, I can
beat them even on the Grand Slam.
Speaker 8 (02:25):
I noticed that your physical called you tiger Ah.
Speaker 9 (02:30):
Yes, can I explained the whole the tiger.
Speaker 8 (02:33):
Yeah, you called them tiger after that, like.
Speaker 9 (02:35):
We are like we are like the team Tigers. Because
it's it's my private stuff. But I'll tell you. So
I graduated from Louisiana State University, right LSU. So over
there we all tigers LSU Tigers.
Speaker 8 (02:46):
Right.
Speaker 9 (02:47):
So when I came to this beautiful team, I said, okay, guys,
from today we are tigers and.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And and the point is that my agent was studying
also in LSU, so I was in the Tigers, so
all of us to beg all right.
Speaker 10 (03:01):
Our I created what's up group and the name of
our warsap group is or some Tigers.
Speaker 8 (03:09):
Yeah, Yakobayu with tiger in some way when you're on
or off the court, I mean, I'm Tiger Tiger.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
The last time two teenagers beat top ten players in
the same Slam was two thousand and six. The culprits
then none other the Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, perhaps
a sign of things to come for Mensic and Fonseka.
It was a bittersweet night for the Ossies, with Alex
Vukch recording a personal best result, but the Nasi Kokinakas
falling short of a maiden third round birth at his
(03:45):
home slam in another five set loss. The Ossie world
number seventy one, seemed to relish playing on John Cane
Arena early in his match against fifteenth seed Jack Draper,
but it evolved into a hard fought roller coaster. Kokinakas
snatched a first set to break, but the Brits struck
back to level the match before the Aussie went ahead
two to one. With a hostile JCA crowd against him,
(04:07):
Draper went to work, dominating points one on second serve
and capitalizing on kochen Arkus's sixty eight unforced errors. The
match deep into a fifth hour when Draper put the
final nail in the Aussie coffin to win six seven
six three three six seven five six three.
Speaker 11 (04:24):
You know, this is what I played for since I
was a young guy. You know, I wanted to play
in front of big crowds, and whether you guys are
with me or against me, you know, it was a
it was a it was a tough atmosphere to deal with,
as you guys are obviously all with to nask you,
but you know I had a little little fun back
as well. So it was so good to be out here,
really really happy with the amount of support we have
(04:46):
a year get here at these big tournaments and it's
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So Draper's third round opponent will be Vukich, who over
threw twenty twenty three quarter finalist Sebbie Quarter in a
five set epic. The twenty eight year old, who took
the first set in a high breaker, held firm against
the quarter comeback, winning seventy seven percent of points on
his second serve in the fourth and fifth sets, a
six four three six two six six three seven five win,
(05:12):
propelling Vukch to the third round of a major for
the first time in his eleventh Grand Slam main draw appearance.
Speaker 12 (05:19):
Yeah, I've had I've had a few good wins, but
that one in the Grand Slam. Yeah, in a five
set up, it is really nice.
Speaker 8 (05:26):
It's so good winning in five sets.
Speaker 12 (05:28):
It'd be nicely two winn three, but it's still I think,
you know, winning in five in Australia, it's yeah, I'm tired,
but I'm pretty I'm pretty awake as.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Well, so yeah, I'll I'll take it, and the five
set thrillers continued into the early hours on the outside
courts as Felix Augier Aliasim was bundled out by Alejandro
da Vidovich Fakina, the Spaniard fighting back from two sets
to love down to win six seven sixty seven six
four six one, five to three. Twenty twenty four semi finalist.
(06:00):
Her Golf has progressed to the third round with a
straight sets win over Jody Burridge. The third seed took
care of business in the first set before the brit
pushed back and briefly took the lead in the second.
Despite Golf landing just fifty eight percent of first serves,
she steadied to win six, three seven five.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, it wasn't, you know, my best tennis off the serve,
but off the ground I thought, I didn't you know,
then play too bad. I knew she was going to
come in being aggressive, and the first set she was
giving me a little bit more errors, but second set
they were, you know, her shots were landing and she was,
you know, playing pretty powerful. So I was just trying
my best to get through it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Waiting in the third round will be thirtieth seed Leyla Fernandez,
who defeated Christina Booksa in three sets.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
I think just again, She's going to be aggressive. That's
her game. She's a great mover. She didn't hit some
great shots. She's a great player Slam finalists and has
great results against top player, so I expect her to
play great tennis and I just, you know, hope I
can do the same.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
The last match on rod Laver Arena finished in the
blink of an eye, Alex Vere barely letting off the
gas against Pedro Martinez six one, six y four sixty one.
Speaker 13 (07:03):
Usually I play seven, six and a fifth, you know,
six four, four and a half hours, entertain you guys
a bit. I'm getting older, so I have to maybe
shorten things up a little bit, maybe not be as
entertaining for you guys, but hopefully I'll be more of
that in the later rounds.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Meantime, twenty twenty three semi finalist Tommy Paul continued quietly
on his way coming from a set down against Kanishikori
to win in four.
Speaker 14 (07:31):
Sigmund brings in a slice background and it's out from John.
The world ninety seven has just taken out the world
number five and last year's Australian Open finalists. Lara Segment
has a huge smile on her face.
Speaker 7 (07:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Day four of Australian Open twenty twenty five brought the
biggest upset of the tournament thus far. The women's finalists
from last year Jan Chin Winn has been eliminated from
the competition at the hands of Lara Siegemund. Brace Stewart
is back with me on the Tennis Spotlight. Welcome Bree,
thank you, Simon Ray from gig Hello Simon, Hey guys,
and commentator Candy Reid. Hello Candy, for the first time
(08:07):
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 14 (08:08):
Hello John, It's a pleasure to be back.
Speaker 8 (08:10):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Lara Siegaman had a big match on her hands today
and she rose to the occasion seven six six '
three to eliminate the women's finalist in the second round.
Speaker 14 (08:18):
I don't think anyone would have called that junctionin when,
as we know, had such a brilliant twenty twenty four.
She's one of the best on the WTA tour. Got
the gold medal in Paris last year, went back to
celebrate with her fans in China, of which there are many,
as you can possibly imagine a finalist here to Rinya Saberlenka,
the Australian open, unbelievable server, hugely aggressive. Off the baseline,
(08:42):
the odds would have been ninety ten in her favor.
I suspect against Lara Sigman, who's a veteran German player,
somebody who readily admits that her game is based on tenacity,
hard work. She's not the most talented player out there.
She's been playing for an awful long time, though, and
I just thought that her coach and longtime boyfriend got
the strategy and the tactics absolutely spot on. Against young today,
(09:04):
who was befuddled by Lara Sigamund's play, she never got
really a ball in the strike zone. She was made
to play difficult slices and chips and dropshots and forced
up to the net and then pushed back with high
lobby balls. Lara Sigmund was terrific and there was a reason,
and absolutely she got it all right that she went
on her back in celebration. She had a smile like
a Chesha cat.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Today.
Speaker 14 (09:25):
She earned that victory, and well done to Lara Sigmund.
Is all you can say.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
An absolute master stroke from the German Okay raiser, take
us inside the data.
Speaker 8 (09:32):
How was she able to capitalize well.
Speaker 15 (09:34):
It's been a little bit of a recurring theme for
young and she's been able to get away with it
in terms of you know, we've seen her win a
lot of matches down Under over the last twelve months,
but today it did bite her. And what I mean
by that is her first percentage today fifty five percent.
In terms of how many of those first serf she
lands in the court, if we harp back twelve months
to the final against Arena Sebolenka, she serves at fifty
three percent and she got well beaten that night. Now,
(09:56):
don't get me wrong, there's been a number of wins
along the way where she's been able to operate and
get through operating in the mid fifties as a first
serve percentage, But it's not a great number, and I
think it's amplified when you look at the fact that
Laura Sigamon today served at eighty percent first serves in play.
So what that enabled her to do. It's not an
overpowering service, Candy touches on this. Sigamon's not someone that's
going to hit you off the court with her weapons.
(10:17):
But it allows her to control proceedings. It takes the
pressure off her second serve and she's able to use
some of her court craft and her variety to get
the match more on her terms than she might have
been anticipating, and it was a recipe that worked beautifully
for her.
Speaker 14 (10:30):
Yeah, i'd agree with that. We know from the stats
from last year and even the year before that that
Jung has one of the best first serve percentage one
points in the game, but she does historically have quite
a low first serve percentage. Having said that, if she
can get that number up to fifty sixty percent, then
she's winning eighty to eighty five percent of first serve points.
(10:51):
And she's in business, which is what has got her
to the level. She's been working with Perariba, the ex
coach of course of Cocoa. Gough for some time. I
believe is having back surgery, so it's a little bit
of desabilization there. We're young, but she looks shell shocked
to me. She's beaten in the second round of the
Australian Open, so she's lost a lot of points, a
lot of ground. She'll be back for more. She's very
(11:11):
very young. Indeed, Lara Sigmund is moving on and she's
one of those players that no one, absolutely, no one wants.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
To face impress. She spoke about how she's always believed
in her game and her ability to mix it with
the top players. She's always just felt that her body
wasn't right. There might have been a nickel holding her back.
But today we saw really what she's capable of on
one of the biggest stages in tennis.
Speaker 15 (11:31):
Well do you speak about mixing it with the best
players and mix it up? Is exactly what she did today,
even from the perspective of where she returned the second
serve from, sometimes inside the baseline, sometimes on the baseline,
and on other occasions two and three and four meters
behind the baseline, so constantly keeping Jung off balance. In
terms of the look that she gave her, it really
was a masterclass in variety, not allowing Jung to see
(11:52):
the same ball on consecutive balls, keeping her off balance.
First serve execution we've mentioned eighty percent, that's elite execution
and the short rallies, so when the point was four
shots or less, they're split perfectly fifty to fifty, medium
and long rallies. So as the points got extended and
that variety starts to take effect, really one way traffic.
It's thirty points to nineteen in terms of balls five
(12:14):
and beyond in the favor of Sigamund. So that's where
the match was won and lost.
Speaker 14 (12:17):
The final game was so interesting to me because Lara
Sigamund or she didn't show any sign of nerves, and
the first point of the final game included a serve
drop shot, and the drop shot was unbelievable. It just
landed beyond the line, beyond the net, and John couldn't
do anything about it. And I think talking about Sigamund's health,
she relies on the fitness. She's so strong, the work
(12:39):
she does in the off season, and she talked about this,
and she's thirty six. She's got enough money in the
bank to say goodbye and be comfortable for the rest
of her life. But she put the work in once
again in the off season, which isn't easy to motivate yourself.
She obviously loves it enough. She believes that she can
challenge the best. You might remember it the US Open
that Coca GoF won in twenty twenty three. There was
that very feisty match between Coco Goff and Lara Sigmund
(13:02):
Sigamund takes time between points. She tries to rattle the opponent.
She tries to get into their head. She will do
whatever it takes to get across the line. She relies
on her physicality. She's absolutely ripped. We're talking Maria Sachary ripped.
That's how hard she is working at thirty six. She
could just be lying down or in the mall dives.
Can't she on a nice Lilah having a drink at
(13:23):
this point, not Lara, But that's how much she loves
his tennis and how much she wants to carry on.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Winning our other match for spotlight on day fort Simon
was the big serving Riley of Pelka, who fell in
five sets to the men's twenty sixth said Thomas Mahutcher
caused all sorts of headlines in the lead up to
this event. But mahutch going through three six seven six
six seven seven six six ' four in a fascinating
contest on fifteen to seventy three arena, Well, what.
Speaker 15 (13:48):
A contrast and styles and this just shows that power
and the ability to produce raw power and pay some
speed on the serve is still not everything in the
male game. So Riley Opelka, if you don't mine averages
two hundred and ten kilometers in our to day on
first serve and one hundred and eighty three kilometers on
second serve, So that's elite. I mean in the men's game,
(14:09):
you don't see higher numbers, and that maybe with the
exception of Impecchi Pericard who started to serve at two
hundred on second serve. So those are just elite numbers.
But Marhash does a great job of blunting the second serve.
O Pelka today only wins forty one percent of points
on his second serve. So it's elite returning from Mahash.
It's the ability to ask him the question over five sets.
(14:30):
It's accepting and actually maintaining your composure that I think
Opelker blasted forty aces for the match, So it's accepting
that for a big chunks of that match you're going
to be walking side to side and feeling somewhat helpless
in the proceedings. But then when the moment arrives and
you do get a second serve and you do have
the opportunity at thirty all there's a pressure points to
that which I want to get to in a second.
(14:50):
That was his elite performance under pressure to seize that
moment that saw him get the job done.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
He'll have Djokovic to face in the next round two.
He's no stranger to beating top ten players. I believe
Djokovic was one of the scalps he climbed in twenty
twenty four. He's got a big game.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
This check.
Speaker 14 (15:06):
Thomas Mahatch is a big game and he's a believer.
He's probably a little bit in the Lara Sigamund's elements
that he's a bit more of a grinder. He's a
smarter player. He's not the biggest guy out there. He
doesn't have a huge weapon, but he's very clever. He's
got the Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles with ex
or current girlfriend. Which is it, Katerina Seni Akabat. We
(15:27):
shall not know, and we shall not reveal if we
do know. He's known for wearing the short shorts. I
think he's a brilliant play. He's so clever about the
way he goes check. Your tennis is doing really well
now on the men's side, because we've got Yershi Lehechka
and Thomas Mahatch we've both made it through, and you've
got to put Thomas Mahatch not in the top element,
but maybe in the next rung. So I think he's
(15:48):
going to cause Novak a few problems. If he doesn't beat.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Him, where are his other weapons?
Speaker 15 (15:53):
Then well he's a little lead athlete. So from a
physical perspective, he profiles off the charts, and he needed
every inch that today to blunt some of those weapons.
And the heat and the ball speed that's coming at him.
Off the racket of Opelka, it'll come at them, but
in a different way off the racket of Novak Djokovic
in terms of quality ground strokes, ball striking from the
back of the court. He's a combative competitor. We saw
(16:14):
that perhaps bubble over and boil over at the United
Cup on occasion. But one thing is for sure, he'll
be up for the fight and he'll be backing himself
as a legitimate chance to knock off Novak. So yeah,
that's a really enticing prospect that matchup.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Turning the tennis spotlight to day five, I Fiontek in
action Candy up against Rebecca Shramcova. I must admit I
haven't seen a great deal of her play, but you have, I.
Speaker 14 (16:36):
Have because she did so well in twenty twenty four.
She's from Slovakia, turnpro back in twenty thirteen, so it's
been a while, but of course not everybody makes it
the rare air straight to the top. Rebecca Shrampkov has
taken a time. She's got thirteen ITF singles titles, quite
a few in doubles as well, and now she has
one WTA Tour title as well, so she's doing really well.
One in hua Hin last year. She's got an excellent game,
(16:58):
a big, hard, flat hit, moves really well, is intimidated
by no one. I'm a little interested to know what
Eger's level is actually like, because of course she's dropped
down to the world number two, behind Arena Saberlenka, who's easily,
for my mind anyway, the best player in the world
right now. Saberlenka the red hot favorite here. I think
Madison Keys is a favorite as well. She goes up there.
(17:20):
Coca Gough, who's doing brilliantly, won the season ender last
year and of course won the United Cup alongside Taylor
Pritz for the United States. So in my mind, actually
Eager's maybe three four five favorites, but I think Shramcover's
got one of those games that could trouble Eager. Eager
lost to Linden Oskova to my mind, last year, so
she's fallible here at the Australian Opener tournament she's never won,
(17:42):
and Rebecca Shramcover just watched her player. I think you'd
be mightily impressed. She's not afraid to come forward, she
doesn't mind slicing when she's on a game. She's a
clean ball striker, as I said, a really good athlete.
So that could be a three setter. Absolutely.
Speaker 7 (17:56):
How far do you think, and this is a big
lofty question, Eager can?
Speaker 15 (18:00):
I think if Eaga finds her best tennis, she can
be a champion here this year.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Australia.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
To fall in love with her.
Speaker 15 (18:07):
Yeah, she's got those qualities, and I think it's something
about her, her personality or what we perceive her personality
to be, that we don't feel like we know as
much about her. She does seem so yeah, that more sheltered,
more is ave more a private type personality. That's the
external view looking in anyway. But I think in terms
of what she brings to the table, if she can
find her best tennis and build towards finding her best
(18:27):
tennis in week two of this trainer, she can go
all the way. There's no debuying that.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The other match who wanted to focus on for Day
five is a great second round contest. Matteo Berrettini, who
took care of Cameron Nori in the first round, is
up against hog God Runa, who played a magnificent five
setter against Jung Jizen in the first round. They play
each other in a very interesting and high octane second
round battle.
Speaker 14 (18:48):
Candy, Yeah, I just looked at the head to head.
I was interested to see that they've played four times before.
Berrettini won the first and Holgarunas won the last three.
Holgaroun is another one who's had lots of different coaches.
He's back with his child wildhood coach, Lars Christensen, who's
a friend of mine. Lars up to about the age
of forty, used to be a circus performer, a brilliant.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Piece of information, juggles other problem and now he.
Speaker 14 (19:11):
Juggles other problems. It was It's Got Pun, then it
was Clara Towson, and now he's back to Holger. I
think it's the right decision for Holgoes had coaches like well,
he's been with Kenneth Carlson and he's been with Patrick Morrotoglu.
I think this is a right choice for him. Lars
is very very calm, very calm in that he's horizontal
(19:31):
to Holger's vertical. There's a lot of drama and a
lot of calmness, and I think that's a good matchup.
We want to see Holder back in the top ten
because to me it's such a fun, dynamic player.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
I really like him.
Speaker 14 (19:43):
Brettini though, It's lovely to see him. He's a man
that's now won more titles after coming back from injury.
He's got a massive serve, a huge forehand, the slice
is obviously pretty good. It's great to see him. He's
just such an interesting guy. As the overall, I'm not
sure which way that one it's going to go. Be
interesting to see the numbers. I would say it's a
bit fifty to fifty. But how hard is Berrettini's draw
(20:05):
kam Norri in the first round, holgar Aruna in the second.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yep man he might have her cutch to come if
he gets through here. Simon, what does he have to
do to get past well.
Speaker 15 (20:13):
Candy mentioned they head to head being three to one
in the favor of Runa, but their last two battles,
both on hard courts over the second half of twenty
twenty four, were marathon battles and there wasn't There wasn't
much in either one of those two battles, So I
think this one does really appeal as a must watch
on Day five at the Australian Open. I'm calling it
a fifty to fifty. I think Berrettini can get over
the top of Runer, and I think there's a couple
(20:35):
of key factors in their Cincinnati matchup back in August
of twenty twenty four. On second serve, Brettini found the
middle of the box a lot and paid a price,
only won forty three percent of his second serve return points,
and Howlgaruna really got after that second serve return in Shanghai.
It was a bit different all of a sudden. He
couldn't impact on the Runa's service game and Runa's winning
sixty and seventy percent of his own second serve points.
(20:57):
So there's a couple of things that I'm looking for
to see how they pan out. Early in set one
but I do think Bertini perhaps comes in with a
slightly bit of preparation into this matchup than what we've
seen from Runa. I think Bertini gets it done tomorrow.
Speaker 14 (21:11):
Brilliant served down the tea of soccer. In play though
Mukava up to the net.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
A lot has gone up.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
She's been pushed back.
Speaker 14 (21:18):
That's unbelievable from Nervi Osaka.
Speaker 8 (21:20):
How on earth does she win that point? How on
earth does she win the match? It smiles around in.
Speaker 14 (21:25):
The Japanese camp and she's just been carrying a Mukova
for the second time. Even's up the heads head of
two at piece. When's this one six three in the
third It was a fantastic performance.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Now me Osaka is through to the third round in
Melbourne for the first time in three years, and it
took a lot of heart to get there. After dropping
the first set to Caroline and Mukova, the two time
AO champ dug deep to take down the twentieth seed
one six six ' one six ' three man.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
It means a lot. You know, She's an incredibly difficult
opponent for me to play. She crushed me in the
US Open when I had my best outfit ever, I
was so disappointed. I was so mad. But yeah, I
mean this was my little revenge and.
Speaker 8 (22:11):
It's not a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Like revenge is competitive, you guys, But yeah, it means
a lot because you know, she's one of the toughest
opponents out there.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Having already accounted for Caroline Garcia and now Mukova, Asaka's
path doesn't get any easier with Belenda Benchicic awaiting in
the round of thirty two.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I mean, you know me, I love it. I love
playing the big opponents. I think that's where I play
my best tennis. And honestly, for me, if I played
better and better opponents as around goes on, I think
it's more interesting because I feel like it's like the
clash of two titans almost, so I think, you know,
(22:51):
the fans probably appreciate it, and I also appreciate it
as a player.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Ben Chic continued her comeback campaign in style with the
straight sets When I've a Dutch women's who's on laments.
The twenty seven year old spoke to A radio's Craig
Gabriel about the perspective she's gained since motherhood.
Speaker 16 (23:07):
Yeah, I think it's changed a little bit for me
that I can now separate tennis and my personal life
a little bit better because I feel like, you know,
before tennis has been is such a huge part of
my life, and I was always like thinking about tennis,
like breathing tennis, eating tennis, like doing all my day
around tennis, And now it's just there's something much more
(23:29):
important for me. And therefore I feel like, you know,
when I have a bad day in the office, how
you say, it just stays there, and then I'll go
home and just you know, play with Bella and be
with her, and then just completely my mind doesn't think
about tennis.
Speaker 17 (23:48):
And in a way, do you maybe enjoy your professional
life as a player more now or is it about
the same before Bella was born.
Speaker 16 (23:59):
I think I enjoyed more now a little bit. I
feel like it's more relaxed. I feel like it's more work,
you know, And I definitely enjoy playing. I have so
much passion for the game, and it's something I've done
all my life. But then I feel like now with ballets,
it's different, it has a different purpose. And you know,
to be able to get for her to travel with
(24:21):
us and for her to be here, it's really nice
For me, I get to see her and we really
enjoy our time off the court even more, I would say.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Novak Djokovic's quest for an eleventh title in Melbourne remains
on track, despite being tested again, this time in the
second round by Jim Faria. After conceding the first set
six to one, the Portuguese qualifier took his game to
the ten time chap, hitting seven aces and seventeen winners
in the second set alone, which he won in a tiebreak. Frustrated,
(24:50):
Djokovic worked his way back into the match in the third,
capitalizing on Faria's second serve and winning forty one percent
of receiving points to eventually progress in the six one
six ' seven six three six two. Victory was his
four hundred and thirtieth major win, eclipsing Roger Federer's previous record.
Speaker 10 (25:09):
I try to give my best, you know, every single time.
Speaker 8 (25:12):
It's been over twenty years that.
Speaker 10 (25:13):
I've been competing in a Grand Slam at the highest level,
and whether I win or lose, one thing is for sure.
You know, I'll always leave my heart out on the court,
and so Grand Slams, of course, they are the pillars
of our sport.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Earlier in the day Arena. Sablenca cruise through her second
round match on Rod Labor Arena, the two time defending
champ ending the campaign of Jessica boujas Manero six three,
seven five, denying the crowd a more hotly contested battle.
Speaker 6 (25:41):
Well, definitely, people, Definitely, the atmosphere.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
I fell, the support.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
I mean, okay, I have to say today you guys
were a bit more cheering for her.
Speaker 8 (25:51):
But it's okay. I forgive you. It's okay.
Speaker 18 (25:53):
Make sure next one you come out and you cheer
for me.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
The world number one now faces Auckland champion Clara Tawson,
who defeated Tachiana Maria two and two.
Speaker 13 (26:02):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
I don't think I have to do anything different than
I'm used to doing. I'm playing world number one, so
I'm gonna do the same as I always do, and
then we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
There's just something about mirror Andreva playing on fifteen seventy
three arena, which is where she held a famous final
stand to put herself on the map in twenty twenty four.
Today she defeated Moyuka Uchiyama in a thrilling third set
super tie break six four three six seven six, conceding
fifty three unforced eras the seventeen year old clawed back
(26:33):
Uchiyama's lead in the third, pushing the set to a
deciding tie break, where she held her nerve to win
the last four points of the match.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Honestly, the only thing that I had in my mind
is that this court is cursed and I don't want
to play on that court again. I just had the
thought that this stupid court, it's all because of this
coord and I just tried to, you know, forget about
this and play every point. And yeah, after losing three five,
(27:01):
I kind of felt the same energy as last year
from people, and it really helped me because they started
cheering even more for me. I guess they wanted to
see the comeback. So I just tried my best to
stay in the match, and in the end, on the tiebreak,
I was freaking nervous, but I'm so happy that in
the way in the end I managed to win the match.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
And seventh seed Jessica Pegoula has dashed past Elisa mettin
six four six two, a businesslike performance by the American
who gave away just ten unforced errors in the seventy
minute display.
Speaker 7 (27:35):
Really good match today. Played strategically perfect, really smart and
just kind of executed exactly what I wanted to do
to beat a player like Elise, So I'm really happy
with yeah today's performance.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Pigoula's next opponent is Serbia's Olga Danilovich, who upset women's
twenty fifth seed with Miller Samsonova six one, six to two.
Despite the evening heroics of the Aussie men, the rocky
road can continued for the local contingent on day four.
Isler tom Lanovitch battled bravely on John Cain Arena against
Deanna Schneider, but the twelfth seed was unfazed by the
(28:10):
one sided Ossie crowd on the People's court, grinding her
way to a six four, seven five win.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
Sometime it's staff, sometimes emotion steakhover your brain, but I'm
trying to work on that too, and you know, just
play my game and tried to play freely and aggressive.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Ozzie wildcard Tally Gibson fell to the superior Powla Medosa.
James Duckworth also out in straight sets against Roberto Cabe
Spaena wile Jordan Thompson, who was seated for the first
time at his home Slam has been steamrolled by Nuno
Borges in straight sets, the Portuguese rising star taking care
of business in the first two sets, while Thompson regathered
(28:49):
himself in the third in a last ditch effort to
stay alive, but with the end in sight, Borges streamed
towards the finish line, winning thirteen out of the last
fifteen points to seal a sixty three six to sixty
four win.
Speaker 8 (29:01):
No, I'm also very surprised.
Speaker 18 (29:03):
You know, it's not every day I get to play
in a big stadium, and I thought I dealt with
it very well. It wasn't easy dealing with the nerves,
you know. I knew it was not gonna be the
crowd favorite, and Jordan was playing amazing. I'm sorry, really
sorry for finishing it this way, and I'm sure he
was struggling throughout the match. It wasn't just this, But still,
I thought I played a pretty good match, served amazing
(29:26):
and you know, just really consistent throughout the whole the
whole time, and I'm really proud of that.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
His next opponent, Carlos al Karez, who made light work
of Yoshi Hito Nishioka to progress six Love sixty one
sixty four. He sent down fourteen aces and won eighty
nine percent of first serves in a near perfect serve
Bot performance.
Speaker 19 (29:44):
Or I felt much better today with it self, just
ironic things that I must have bought. But I think
I have to improve a lot if I want you
to put my name, you know, on that list. But
but yeah, if I felt really well to they would say.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Are the day four winners for the women Marta Kostyuk,
Anastasia Pavlachenkova, donovekch and Magdalena Fach And for the men,
French trio Ugo Umbert, Arthur Fis and Benjamin Bonzia all
through to the round of thirty two. And perhaps there's
somewhat of a conspiracy theory brewing around Jilahitchka. He claimed
the title in Brisbane when both his semi final and
(30:22):
final opponents retired. Well today he's been granted another walk
over into the third round after Ugo Gaston retired in
the second set. The Australian Open attracts fans from all
walks of life and all sectors of industry, including from Tinseltown.
Acclaimed Hollywood director Lee Wannell recently took a break from
(30:44):
his promotional tour of the new movie Wolfman to visit
rod Laver Arena. He also stopped by pod Laver Arena,
which is where I spoke to him about his impressions
of tennis as a film director and how he'd approach
a horror film about tennis. There was a great moment
here last year at the Australian Open, Russian player Andre
Rublev played Australia's Alex Demenor. Lev ended up winning that
(31:08):
in five sets, but he didn't do it the easy way.
He looked tormented out there. He came off the court
and remarked that it was like a scary movie was
playing on repeat in his head and he just couldn't
get it out. And I thought it was a very
bizarre comment, but it sort of spoke to me about
the impact of you know, film and horror movies specifically.
(31:30):
What is it about these pictures that seemed to get
inside people's minds and mess with their heads at the
most inopportune of moments.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Well, they exploit our deepest, darkest spears, Like I think
human beings were genetically programmed since we first crawled out
of the mud. To be afraid of threats. Threats like
there are great white sharks patrolling the waters around Australia. Now,
statistically it's like it's not likely that one of them
will buy you, but it could happened, yeah, somebody. You know,
(32:01):
we've all seen that news story where it's like a
surfer was taken by a great white shark. The thought
of that happening. Horror movies play on that. The horror
movies present the idea that, oh, it is happening, and
and so that I think that's why they stick in
our heads. They're like someone put our nightmares up on
a screen and made us fork over our own hard
(32:22):
earned money to watch it.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
And does that aspect help us make sense of the
world as well?
Speaker 5 (32:27):
I think it does, especially in bad times. Horror movies
always seem to do well in times of social turbulence.
You could say, when has there not been a time
of social turbulence in human history? But I tend to
see an uptick in people. They need that catharsis, you know,
and I do think it's it's a really necessary genre.
I think for the human being as necessary as comedy.
(32:50):
We need to laugh, we need to cry and we
also need to like face our fears.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah, no, I think that's exactly what he went through
rublev last year. You're about to go into rod Laver
Arena to see the sable Anca play the defending champion.
But what sort of connotations would like if you were
to have a film that we're set here at Melbourne Park,
inside center court, roof, closed lights on. What sort of
emotional themes do you think you could play with in
(33:16):
a stadium environment in your genre?
Speaker 5 (33:20):
God in horror, Well, I feel like being in the
player's face, Like the one thing you can't get on
television is that super personal like what it's like to
be that person. That's what a drama can do. So
I feel like I'd be using a lot of close ups.
I'd be quoting, it'd be all about that Russian player.
It would be I'd almost do like the whiplash version
(33:41):
of tennis, where like your hands are bleeding and you
get the close ups of the blood dripping on the
court and the guy is shaking and just the fear
of like losing, Like what film is what you want
to do is offer someone the view they can't see.
We've seen the sort of static locked off shot broadcast
view of tennis, right, I have to shoot it like
that so you know what's going on with a movie.
(34:02):
I'd get a handheld camera and get right down in
their face, turn all the crowd noise down so you
could just hear that, like, you know, there's like the breathings.
Speaker 8 (34:11):
That would be it.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
That would be my approach.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
That is so different, isn't it a way more introspective?
Speaker 8 (34:15):
Look?
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Yeah, exactly, like what's it like? And then that person's
point of view of this crowd, these alien non faces
just staring down at like anonymous faces just staring at
you when you're like god, you know, yeah, that would
be my way.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
In fantastic to get inside the mind of a Hollywood director.
To watch that interview in full, head to the Australian
Open YouTube channel and look forward the tennis under the
podcast tab. That's all for Day four of the Australian Open.
Join us again tomorrow for all the big stories from
day five. Be sure to subscribe to never miss an episode,
(34:50):
and please consider leaving a rating all review so more
fans can discover the tennis. You can also watch our
daily spotlight segment on our YouTube channel Australian Open TV
and I'll catch you you tomorrow. For more of the tennis,
oh m
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Hm
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