17 Burst results for "Alex De Menor"
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Tommy Paul might have a chance, a small chance, but a chance of beating Novak Djokovic in the Australian open semifinals. That will be the semifinal from the bottom half of the draw. We know that because Novak Djokovic has just beaten Andre Rublev for the loss of 7 games and Tommy Paul has beaten Ben Shelton. Well, don't Catherine. In four sets earlier on today, Novak Djokovic beating Andre Rublev is no surprise him doing it in three sets is no surprise. I don't think to any of us not least to Andre Rublev, the nature of the defeat, though. A little bit of a surprise. Well, certainly disappointing. I think from an Andre Rublev perspective, because I think there was a there was a chance for him to make it competitive tonight because Djokovic didn't start the match the way that he started the other night. He wasn't crystal clear in his focus and his comfort out there. He was irritable early on. He was worried about the wind, he did not like it was whipping around his clothes. He was, he doesn't like the wind, typically, does he, he's got the very precise produced strokes that are at their best when conditions are still, I think. And he doesn't like it. I think he's just irritates him. And he was feeling some twinges. It appeared. So I just thought, if Rublev plays really well here, he could at least extend games extend sets, call into question Djokovic's sort of demeanor and mood, which has been suspect in the early rounds here and was not an issue at all in the previous round. And he just didn't. He just kept on throwing in terrible rallies at the worst times, and then it just tailed away. And I think it was a really disappointing performance from him. It was my least favorite type of tennis match to watch a 5 set match. Which is lost before it's even taken to the court, really, because it's lost mentally. Andre Rublev might have had the tennis to, as you say, challenge that version of Novak Djokovic that we saw tonight probably not win, but make it a heck of a lot closer than that, but he was defeated mentally before it even started, and 5 sets of that, 5 sets of just playing something out. I find that a really off putting spectacle. As somebody that just wants to see competitive tennis, intensity, that match, a one sided score line, it had a lot of intensity to it, it had a competitive edge. Same with pergola. Exactly. I'd have liked them for the first even more competitive and to have gone to three sets. It's a shame that none of the women's quarterfinals did. And actually only one of the men's quarterfinals did that was the Ben Shelton and dummy ball match, but I found this a pretty grim watch quite frankly. Yeah, I don't have too much more to say about it, really. Rubs now lost all 7 Grand Slam, quarterfinals that he's played. I think he and Tommy brado share that unwanted record of having 7 losses and zero wins in grand Sam quarterfinals. It does feel like such a ceiling for him. I completely agree with David like there was a chance there to make Djokovic more uncomfortable than he did tonight and I think I've been out of the three of us, the sort of I think I've had the least big three big two fatigue, I think, but I've found tonight like a sort of real moment where I was like, you know, I'm seeing the 5 next to Rublev's name. He's the 5th seed here. And he's not even close to know about Djokovic. And look, I know know about Djokovic is quite possibly the greatest player of all time. He's staggeringly good. I don't expect Rublev to win, but. But he is 35. But he is 35. He's got he's got a good mummified leg. This things that are professional, you know, the world number 5 should be clinging to all the world number 6. Talking about the level of delusion that required to be a top tennis player. This things that can give you hope and help you convince yourself that you've got a chance. Yeah, I was about as interested in this max as I would have been if it was the number 55 against Djokovic. And that shouldn't be the case. Rublev has got quality and just never really. The thing is, I thought that he might just might be removing the pressure from his shoulders by saying all that that I've got no chance. And that it might even actually work. I ate it to relax him a little bit. Maybe make it a hiding to nothing for Djokovic like he can't win really canny. He can go through to the next round, but he's supposed to win. So what's to gain? Well, it wasn't that. There was actually Rublev genuinely didn't think he had any chaps. Going on to the court or at least that's what he said, pretty much. And that's how it came across in the match. So what else can you what else can you say? Another thing that was said tonight by Novak Djokovic in the post match press conference was an admission. An ambition of something that I think we knew and something David that you had interpreted in Djokovic's dark look and sublime performance against Alex de menor a couple of nights, which is that he said in no uncertain terms tonight, yes. There is an added something playing here after what happened to me last year I want it that bit more I have an extra edge, a quite fearsome edge quite frankly. Yeah, I think he does. It doesn't surprise me. I think, well, if I felt slighted the way he feels slighted, I would probably have a bit of an extra edge as well, whether I agree with his stance on that or not. But no, it does make it even harder for the rest. And like I say, going back to the federal years when he had the whole stadium against him, he just got better.
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"One of my favorite of the men's quarter finals, actually, when I think about how they might match up, I've always liked Tommy Paul's game and I will add my voice to the Ben Shelton fan club that we seem to be now. I'm not just giving updates on how drip and night train are doing. I did really enjoy his game as well. He sort of managed to make managed to make big serving really interesting and about so much more than that. You know, if he just told me that Ben Shelton had this big lefty serve and he didn't drop serving the whole match, I'd have thought, well, you know, how much is there to that? But there's a lot to his game. I thought he was great. And yeah, Tommy Paul, I've always liked and he did really well today against Bautista agu, you know, he's a test you've got to pass about his trigger. You've got to beat him. And it was a slightly strange atmosphere on there. They were playing on the second court and set in a bid in, maybe two sets in, the court just suddenly emptied because lots of the fans came out to where we are now in garden square to watch Alex de menor versus Novak Djokovic on the big screen and yeah, it was just a slightly weird environment to play that match in. But Paul did really well. He was very business like, isn't he? Tommy Paul. He's got quite a lot of flair in his game, but in terms of how he goes about sort of performing it, you know, weird atmosphere, all of that could have found ways to get annoyed, I think, in that match, but he's just a headache of an opponent, but just head down. Yeah. Yeah, no. I think you're exactly right. And also he's very fit, I think, but physically strong. He should have said in his own call interview afterwards that he was getting a little tired because Bautista agu was starting to move him around a little bit more and they didn't really come across that way. He looked, he looked ready to go 5 sets against Batista. And I haven't had a chance to ask him yet, but he's changed racket, manufacturer over the off season, which always slightly red flag. It is a little bit. A lot of players who've struggled with that member married saf in the world. Djokovic, and they were having to still give him his head racket, but in Dunlop colors. That happens quite a lot, I believe. Yeah. So anyway, so we'll try to ask him about that. But it seems to be performing just as well. And also something I've never noticed about him, but he signed all the autographs with his left hand, even though even those right handed and that's the sort of thing that makes me think no wonder you have a good backhand. Which he does. And if you've got two dominant hands on there, then that is going to help. Isn't it? And he's got good hands Tommy Paul. That's such a feature of his of his game. He can pick up the ball on off his forehand off his backhand. He's just talented, I think. And he's really making the most of that talent now. I really enjoy watching him play and yeah, that's an insider, great quarterfinal, I think. Yeah, and Ben Shelton said that Tommy Paul was the American player who had sort of most taken him under his wing and really made him feel welcome on tour, which is, which is really nice to hear, isn't it? Quite an interesting dynamic now that they've got a play. Yeah, isn't it just? Yeah. I think Ben Charlton will be able to put that. I'm finding reasons to say Ben Shelton over and over just so I can sort of get the muscle memory. I think you'll handle it. I think Tommy Paul has to be quite a heavy favorite for that match. The one thing that makes me think that that
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"Garin? Did he win one? No, Christian Gary. He won one? Yep. Pedro Martinez. Oh God. Who else could you have had? Nobody? No double news. Yep. Three. That was two. I could have had. Surely not. Where did he win the list? That must have been second week of a slam surely. Oh. It's too hard. And the final player, which was probably the most difficult, would have been a pointless answer, no doubt. Give us a clue. That was very late on in the season, wasn't it? He beat holger, and he was that Sophia? Yeah, I think so. I think you feel better about that win now. Yeah, do we say Alex de manor? Nope. We did not. Alex de menor, so yeah, Monfils, Nadal carrazzo, kokina, is public, Ramos, sausa, FAA, Opel. Oh, Riley papel, sorry. Castor rude RBA, Carlos alcaraz, Andre Rublev cam nori, Martinez, Fritz Goffin, sister pass Baez rune Djokovic, Tim van roven, bertini, her casual cerundolo musetti, cressy sinner, Alex de manor, curios, Medvedev, PCB, torch, mannarino, sonego, nakashima, nishioka, and hustler. Those were your 38 singles champions on the ATP tour this season. Wow. That was well done. And it does include Dan Evans. What Kim did do that to be fair. She did, it was impressive to manage that. Wow. Well done, guys. And I think that brings us to a close for our 2022, well, most of our episodes, isn't it? We might have a few potential surprise bonus ones, but for the main part, we are done for the year. Yes, listeners, I hope you've enjoyed listening to this quiz. The 2022 tennis weekly quiz recapping the season. And then you have a list has also been able to take a listen to any of our catch ups or our tennis weekly meets or book club series as well as our slam round by rounds. Anyone who's just supported us generally throughout the year, we really appreciate you taking the time to have a listen to our episodes. We are going to be taking a well earned break. There may be a couple of announcements coming up over Christmas so keep your eyes peeled for that, but this will be our last de facto episode before the year is out. Kim and Chris, any final words for our listeners? Just an early happy Christmas to those of you celebrating or soon be upon us and we'll be back ready for all of the exhibitions that occur over the new year, I guess or in the new year itself for the day. They'll be on they'll be here before we know it. So yeah, I think looking forward to the next couple of weeks of resting and yeah, looking forward to a new season upon us in the not too distant future. But thank you to everyone for listening. You took that a very different way than I was going to take it. That Kim, I was going to say, I'd like to thank everyone who supported me for this win. Last year, I was doing this quiz from home in this year and winning it on the podcast. So I've come a long way and thank you for this. I just need to get back in the quiz books, the tennis quiz books, I feel for the end of next season already. Some more reliable research, please. How shocking my school was. But yes, this is, we're going to, we're going to cap it there. Merry Christmas from us at tennis weekly headquarters. I know it's not even December yet, but I'm saying it now. And yeah, we look forward to seeing you for the 2023 season. One final time I'm going to say subscribe to us on your podcasting platform of choice or on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and all the major podcasting platforms out there. You can also listen to us on the download tennis dot com app. And if you want to show your support for the show, then why not leave us a rating or comment on Apple podcasts or Spotify. You can also follow us on social media. We are available on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at tennis weekly pod. So do give us a like and a follow if you don't already. Let us know any feedback, comments, questions for our mailbag and more on those social channels. And if you prefer, you can also email us at tennis weekly pod at Gmail dot com and don't forget to check out our website WWW dot tennis weekly dot co dot UK. And we will be back in the new year at tennis weekly headquarters for the 2023 season. So I hope you could join us for that. But for one final time, it's goodbye from Kim. Goodbye. It's goodbye from Chris. Goodbye. And it's goodbye for me. We'll see you again soon.
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"Oh, this is really difficult. I actually am going to say that they didn't lose a singles. So I'm going to say so how many would that mean? In the group, a semi 8. I'm saying 8. Joel? What's your answer? I'm not confident they just walked it all the way through. I'm going to say, I don't blend a bench, which was in pretty decent form. I'm going to say, I'm going to say 6. So Chris, you know, it was actually 8. They didn't lose a single singles match. So bencic one all four of hers, golly, bitch one, two, and she'll teichmann also want to, so they were undefeated in singles. That went very that was a, I think I would have been pushed for an answer on university challenge there. Oh yes, yeah. I would have been a Jeremy Paxton and told you to hurry up. Right, so the next two questions I've done a lot of numerical questions I do apologize. I will give you points for either side on this one, I think. So I'll read the question out first. Felix auger aliya seems win in the final of the Davis Cup against Alex de menor, meant he ended the season with the most tall level wins for any Canadian player in ATP history. How many tall level wins did he achieve in 2022? So I will give you a point if you get within like two on either side of the total. Not a point for closest. At the two of us. Oh no, actually in fairness, that's not in Kim's interest because then one of us gets a point. So Kim can decide. That's true. I'm going to stick with what I just said, yeah. I'm going to stick with that. So have a think. And Joel, let me go to you first on this one. I am going to say, I think, because in my research, I feel like I came across this. I think it is in your research. Do you mean Google? I think it's something around 81. 81. This explains a lot about your research, Joe. That would be the highest of all time, probably, I think, 81. No, hang on. 61. 61. It was 61. Again, now he's gone back to his Google page. He's given me your answer. I'm going to go pretty nice. You're answering.
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"The tennis podcast following day four of the Davis Cup finals in malaga. I'm Catherine whisky, David Laurie is here. Hello, David. Hello. Hello. No pressure David, but you have got to be extra excellent tonight because we are once again without the star of the show, Matt Roberts. Good luck us. Getting good luck. We are, we sort of torn here between telling you that the show will not be depleted in any way and will be excellent and we'll make up for the absence of Matt, but also very much knowing that we are much depleted without Matt and he is much missed. He is still feeling under the weather, so we send him our best and I'm sure you do as well and we will do our very best to make up for his absence in full knowledge that we will not fully succeed in that task. But the tennis today, David, has gone a long way to do the work for us. Hasn't it? Because it all played out in pretty dramatic fashion today. We know our first Davis Cup finalists and it is team Australia and if you'll allow me to slap an explicit sticker on this podcast less than two minutes in to quote max per cell, there's nothing fucking like it, mate. That's exactly what he said. And to be honest, that was his first answer on international global television live. Because he was asked the question, how does this feel? And that's exactly what he said. And it did make me laugh because there wasn't time for the interviewer to even apologize in his behalf or anything. And actually, I just think you get to a point of delirium in a stadium like that, where you just think, well, that is an entirely appropriate reaction for what we've just witnessed. And I loved it. The celebration of just so euphoric and the players were swearing left right and center at each other in declaring their undying love for each other and how amazed they were at what they'd all achieved. But what this what this did in terms of the comeback, it just one up yesterday. It felt like the last three ties that we've had of all gone out of their way to one up each other with a deciding set and deciding doubles tie rubber in each one of those tyres. And this felt quite similar albeit not a Dennis Shapovalov hitting spree. This was different in the way the Australian team fought back in the doubles, but in terms of the fact that I felt very solid in my confidence that neither Canada nor Australia would end up winning when those double started. You know, yesterday I felt the same with quits and cravings being such a solid doubles partnership would never lost. And here you've got mech titch and pavich playing against, well, a kind of a new pair because it ended up being Thompson and Purcell. And they shocked me. They showed what Davis Cup can do, what a team, a team environment can do and what adrenaline and inspiration can influence things with and it's so intoxicating that that mixture of the unknown. Yeah, today was a good day for the Davis Cup. I would say, I mean, obviously if you're a Croatian tennis fan slash somebody that is picked Croatia to win the Davis Cup sorry Matt to kick you will need to help. But welcome to the club. We've got a full house now, a failure. Yeah. Yeah, less good, but just the neutral Davis Cup fans that want to see this tournament thrive. And look, you know, there are still caveats to this. I still don't love the way it's positioned in the season. I still have worries about the number of people that are watching this, you know, the better the day at the event, you know, we had a really great day today. We've had several great days. There is a part of me that goes, oh, but I'm not many people are watching this. You know, in order as many people are watching this as I want to be watching this and paying attention to it and seeing how good it is, you know, all those caveats still apply, but it was a great day for the Davis Cup. Today, I think, and you, I assume it was you, David, unless Matt from his slightly fevered state is still keeping a very tight control of our Twitter account, but you tweeted screenshots if the Australian team reactions and you know I saw it in real time and yet somehow this screenshots capture something so visceral about what that victory means to the Aussie team. I mean, there is a picture of Alex de menor that is like Mel Gibson in braveheart. It's true. It really is. It's. Pure emotion and I love to see it because, you know, that is what Davis Cup should be and the bond between him and letting Hewitt has made it all the more all the more everything. I think. But look, let's roll back a bit and take you chronologically. Step by step, how we got to that image of Alex, screaming out like Mel Gibson in braveheart. Let's start at the start of the day, which was a very, very reasonable hour. 4 p.m. local time David, 3 p.m. UK time, excellent time to start today's tennis. Today I had a nap before it even started. That's how it should be. People should have time to take naps, should they should they wish to. That is a perfect day's tennis. We started off, didn't we, David, with Bonita rich against the Nazi cook and Argus? And we speculated yesterday about whether it would be kokina is coming in. The top man on paper or whether it would be Jordan Thompson, who played in the tie in the opening round. And I don't think many eyebrows were raised about the fact that it was cock and Arcus. And I think maybe equally few eyebrows were raised about, the results, 6 four 6 three for born in torch. I don't think I can play badly or underperformed. I think Bonita rich performed and is a better tennis player at the moment than honestly who can argue. What do you think? I think that's right. I think charit is found himself in the last 6 months. I mean, obviously the most important thing is that he's able to rely on fitness and I know we still he still has question marks over day to day how his shoulder is going to feel when he wakes up. But he said in the post match interview that in many ways it's stronger than it's ever been because he's had to work on it so hard to build it up and protect the injured part of it. The part that was repaired paired by surgery. So as a result of all that and such studious work on his own serve, his serve is a reliable weapon when it's working well. You can't really do much with it. And the reason that they chose Cochran is two reasons that it was addressed in the press conference with him afterwards. That he didn't play on day one, Thompson was brought in, partly because Carter's was carrying a bit of an injury, just to twinge, but he said he felt a 100% today. There were no issues. And he was brought back in despite Thompson's win on day one. He was brought in Kaka nakas because of his power because they were hoping that his power could get to charge and to be fair to him he served 9 aces in the first set, and he still lost at 6 four. So the server was doing the job, church sent after the match. I was saying to my coach, I can't get near his serve. I can't read it. What do I do? And to the captain and but then he just started to get a read on it. And honestly, the moment he broke, it was to quote Catherine Whittaker 2013, a foregone conclusion. And that is loading. I'm all you've got today, David. I need to get you on side. Okay. And look, it is quite interesting to think of these two players who came along probably quite similar times in their careers, both of them have had horrible injuries. And yet at the moment, charge looks far more accomplished player of the two in singles. And so there they are one zero up. And based on our discussion last night, I think I would have agreed with you that I would have put chillage a very marginal favorite against Alex domino coming into this match. They played each other a year ago in the same event, two one was the head to head overall and chill it won that one in a very tight third set and it was diminished only ever singles rubber defeat in the Davis Cup to this point.
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"With a 5% discount, they've not taken me up on that tagline. No. I offer it up for minimal royalties. Get in touch. I'm waiting by the phone. She has actually used that in a number of conversations with me to describe things. She's paid money for outsourcing. My current state, I would pay money for someone to, I mean, eat breakfast for me in the morning. So really rapey state of affairs. Sorry about this. Other than the podcast, David. Yes. See, we thought about outsourcing this, but no, there's only us too late. Exactly. We were going to just map them on a little bit. Exactly. Wouldn't even do a voice note for 48 minutes, like I asked for. Anyway, we get to talk, Catherine, because we at least have watched along with everybody else that I seem to not only know from within tennis, but outside of tennis, we've watched the laver cup and the moments, most importantly, that Roger Federer's career ended as a professional tennis player and even knowing it was all coming and even having done the interview with Ivan lubitsch and gone to his press comments last week and kind of expected tears. I have to say I was surprised there weren't there wasn't some emotion in that press conference in a way and I was slightly nervous about asking him what he was most going to miss, but he seemed so at ease with his decision and as though he'd already processed it and and he described in that press comments, didn't he, that he kind of done some of the grieving for his career in the weeks and months that had gone before before he'd actually made the announcement so he was kind of ready for it. aback massively taken aback and overwhelmed by just how emotional those scenes were on Friday night. What did you? What did you make of it all awareness you start? I thought those scenes which ended up unfolding at about 1 a.m. on Saturday morning, in fact, didn't they? Because scheduling Alex de menor against Andy Murray, even with a match tiebreak instead of a third sorry, a labor labor breaker? Apparently in labor breaker. Labor breaker. That is never going to happen. Anyway, even with a match tiebreak, instead of a third set, that just had tedious marathon written all over. It was actually really good fun, but I mean sort of tedious in terms of you just knew exactly what those points we're going to look like and exhausting and never ending. So it wasn't until about 1 a.m. that Roger Federer has struck his last professional tennis ball, I would like to put just a little bit of an asterisk after that comment because I'm sure we'll come on to this when we more generally discuss the labor cup and have the same discussion that we do annually about it. I'm not sure I do consider that to have been his last professional tennis match. I do consider it to have been his formal farewell though. And I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it. In fact, I know I haven't. I was completely overwhelmed by it, in fact, a very blindsided by that. We all knew it was coming, both in the macro and in the micro sense. You know, he's 41 years old. Of course, his retirement has been coming for a long time. He hasn't played a professional match in well over a year we knew he'd had surgery. We knew he was up against it to get back to professional tennis, let alone to competing for Grand Slam titles. And then in the micro, we knew since his announcement we had recorded a brilliant podcast about it and Matt and I had submitted our voice notes and you know had the opportunity to sort of assemble. Our feelings on it all. I'd listen to his whole press conference, which he went down to David and I had the opportunity to process all of that and digest all of his thoughts about it. And as you said, he seemed completely in control of the decision of the emotion and then it was like he released the hold on the dam, didn't he? And I suppose that's been characteristic of his career incredible control and self control and incredibly controlled person, but then these little moments of extreme release where you suddenly realize what it all means and how human he is. I'm thinking in particular the 2009 Australian open final and that it's killing me moment and rod laver presenting the trophy, Rafael Nadal, pipping him at the post there and him attempting to do the speech and simply crumpling, really. And that's what Friday night was like. The O2 Arena, you know, the much, frankly, was underwhelming. The match didn't feel like much of an event I found it quite difficult to watch because Federer was so compromised. You know, I've sort of thinking I don't need to see this. This actual match doesn't feel like anything of particular significance. I'm glad in principle that he's getting it. I'm glad that it exists. I'm getting I'm glad that he has this opportunity to feel like he's taking control of his retirement within the confines of what the knee is dictating. But then the match ended in the event started with the only detractor from the whole thing for me was Ellie goulding. I don't know what she thought she'd been booked for. I don't think she did either. No, she thought she'd been booked with the lava cup. That's what she tweeted afterwards. Really just to be at the lava cup, last night. And it was one of those, you know, she did a sort of medley of her what else you met her greatest hits, which I was sort of listening into the lyrics, thinking, is there going to be a lyric at some point that bears some sort of relation to Roger Federer's career or federal adults, rivalry? Is it all going to click why illegal is here? That moment never came. Anyway, poor Ellie, I don't think it ever came for her either. But apart from that, the outpouring of completely uncontrolled emotion. Was extremely overwhelming, not just from Roger Federer, I think, in particular for me, from Rafael Nadal, who was just in pieces, absolutely in pieces, it was. It's really stayed with me for the last few days. It might even have made me ill, David. Because yeah, it really hit me very hard. And for you, I knew there's extra emotional weight to Federer's retirement in the sort of you express very well, you know, the bookending for you with going to that final press conference, having been at his first. Professional press conference, I'm sure you were hit in similar in similarly hard ways. Yeah, and that's not because of any relationship I have with him. I don't have a relationship with him. Yes, he knows who I am from because of all those years ago. It's, in my case, I think it's just simply a case of age and it's a sort of moment that hits you when you realize you're getting older and things are changing. And somebody can come into your life like Federer came into mind and that happened in the first year of my professional career on the ATP
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"I don't think, I think it could have been routine for bertin. He particularly that third set. Murray, I think he saved 8 out of 8 break points. The fact he even made it to the tiebreak for me was a small and minor miracle, but it just shows again his sort of his nature as a fighter and a believer and it was to me, yeah, watching it on Friday evening was really, really exciting. But were you excited? Did you think it was a foregone conclusion? I thought probably. Yeah, you know, I was sort of envisioning him going out in four, but the way I think the match prevailed to me gave me kind of more confidence for the future. And I think Murray said to said in his conference afterwards, although he was disappointed with the defeat. I think he's been happy with the form. He's been happy with how his body is holding up. And I think that's been probably one of the biggest positives to sweep because in recent in recent tournaments in North America, we've just seen him cramping in best of three, format, really not being able to kind of get it done. So yeah, that was all very, very promising. We also had cranio buster defeat Alex de menor, real contrast in emotions on batch point, wasn't it with an incredible what? Was it tweener lob on between a little bit? It was between a lob. And he almost celebrated like he'd won the whole thing with it. As well. We've seen so many good shots on match point. Yeah, and it's a bit of a complete opposite fashion just completely smashed his racket, but yeah, good, good win for PCB in four sets, particularly in that four set tiebreak. We also had quarantine mute get through to the forefront. Now, Chris, I'm only bringing this up because mute is a lucky loser, which has never happened, I believe, at the U.S. open. The last time it has happened at a grand Sam, I think it was Stefan Robert. Good nurse. That's around $20. 2013, 2014, don't put me on the spot there, but I think it's something around that, but yeah, really great win for him to come through. He called himself a lucky winner, I think. Lucky winner. He went out to whoo in the last round of qualifying. So they've both had good results, but I mean, if you're paying, he's playing against Casper, who has had a pretty long last match. So is this the question I put to you? Is this the new radar colony result where you win 9 of ten matches in New York? Well, yeah, good point. I mean, that rude pool match was a real long one. They were just kept going. Just kept going and going. And then, yeah, for me it was one of those matches that actually, if Casper Ruud had played this kind of like last season, I think he would have he would have lost it. So I think this is one of those matches which you point to his development on the tour, particularly obviously getting to a Grand Slam final for the first time. And really powering through in that 5th set was vaguely bagging Tommy Paul 6 love in the 5th. That for me was a great, great win for him. But yeah, there will obviously be questions with how much how much gas is left in the tank in terms of will he be number one on the 12th of September. He's one of the motivating in itself. So we'll have to see how that goes. But yeah, let's move on to the, let's move on to the women because we had relatively more straightforward matches, didn't we? We had coco Goff coming through against Madison keys, 6 two 6 three. We also had Zhang defeating Kim's favorite Rebecca's favorite. The prophecy did not come true Rebecca Marino did not prove Kim wrong and win the U.S. open. Something we had not shocked about. Exactly, exactly. And we also had a couple of Russians Samsung and cuda coming through Samsung that I feel like is in really dangerous form at the moment. 13 match win streak. She's almost rivaling Caroline Garcia in terms of confidence and momentum I feel. But yes, I'm very, very good victories alongside on jabour as well. Yeah, some great matches. I think for me, some of the standouts, I think coco is, although she didn't necessarily play that well, it's really impressive that you can hit more errors than winners, but still find a way to win. And that's such a big thing that not everyone could do is not play your best, but still come through in that sort of way. But I do think, and I think Joel, you did call a matter of a dark horse of this competition. And I think it's definitely so consistent at grand slams, I feel, or recently anyway. I saw some of that and she was striking the ball so, well, and so was some sort of a so I think that it's going to be tricky to beat them. And I wonder whether some of the Russians are more fired up because they haven't had a Grand Slam opportunity for longer than they would have done previously. So maybe that's something that's inspiring catching of and Rublev as well. But it looked like super dialed in and it will take a lot to beat both of them. Yeah, I agree. It's going to be fascinating to see how that comes. There's something we always know with Russian women's tennis particularly the strength in depth there and it seems that if one fails two others will succeed and it's great to see Samsung are included mesa Verde doing so well into round four. I mean, another player who is doing well, going a little bit under the radar for me who had Apache kind of run up run up to the U.S. open on jabor came through against Shelby Rogers in great match. Four 6 6 four 6 three 6 three really, really entertaining. Yeah, to me might be the match that gets on jabal start believing again because ever since, you know, Wimbledon where, you know, I think we're all kind of talking about her as one of the favorites. And doing well, but not quite able to get it done in the end. But yeah, she's sort of faded a little bit for me since then, but it certainly feels like with the U.S. open. She is coming back into form at the right time. She is a big match player I do believe that I think she's also someone who I wouldn't call it like an emotional player, but someone who buys the heart on her sleeve when she plays and we've seen her where she's been unable to bring out the best because she's not feeling her best. And so I think she talked about the heartbreak of that Wimbledon final. We all know that it was her phone background. Was the trophy there for a while she did change it after she lost she did say, but I didn't know that. Is that true? Yeah, it was literally the background, the Venus, rosewater dish was literally the background of her phone, which has been going into her final press conference. And she said she'd probably do you think Serena Williams's background was like Margaret court holding up 24 trophies. Do I think that probably not probably not. But maybe it's just the number 24.
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"Question for the mailbag as well this week from Ed on email. So edge has said hi, Joel and Kim. Inspired by the Commonwealth Games. So Ed was asking, if tennis was in the Commonwealth Games, who would you have as your gold medal winning champions in the men's and women's singles events? So that's a really good shout. I actually went to the Commonwealth Games this weekend, but I was ruminating on the fact that tennis wasn't included. And I'm sort of thankful if I'm being honest, Kim, it's not been included. Yeah, I think it's probably a bit too much given that they do play the Olympics, and I think given the not even everyone plays the Olympics. Oh, no, exactly. And there's always a bit of debate over that. And the Commonwealth Games would not actually not many tennis players at the top of the tours would be classed as Commonwealth players. So it would be like a few of them going off to do something. And they probably would want to focus on the U.S. open. So I mean, who would you have as your champs? Yeah. It's a tough one. I mean, you've obviously got UK Canada, Australia. I think has maybe your big, big three. I might go someone like Alex de menor, maybe, or Nick curios. As my kind of men's champion, women's champion, I'm going to go Sam Stosur. Maybe not Samsung. Maybe not Samsung. I don't know, Emma randa cardi. Especially at home in Birmingham. I think she would have risen to the occasion. But yeah, that was sort of where my head was at, but yeah, you'd think the field would be if even if it was like a full field of it would feel more like a two 50 or a 500 I feel. Yeah, I would say so, yeah, just because of, I think even like the likes of Alex domino, they may not have wanted to have played it. And that's no disrespect to the Commonwealth Games, but it might have been something that and maybe we'll see this if it's ever introduced into the Commonwealth Games, but yeah, I was sort of thinking maybe a Jordan Thompson or a Tommy yovich of the world could excel at something like this. Yeah, exactly. If he wanted to play at home, although I don't know who he would have represented because his sort of part Scottish part Welsh, I think. So I grew up in New Zealand. Yeah, so he's just everyone gets a medal. He's just very Commonwealth, isn't he? Anyway. Great, great question. Ed, thank you for getting in touch with us. It's very, very kind of you. So Keaton coming, would you love listen to questions on the tennis weekly mailbag? But your one thing I wanted to kind of discuss, I guess, with yourself today was there's been a report, I guess or on a sports blogging website actually. Called 5 38 for the reference there. It's a very interesting read. I don't know if any of our listeners have read it, but it was talking about how tennis and outdoor tennis especially could become and I'll quote from their headline could become sports sports first big climate change casualty because of all of the rising temperatures and tennis players being outside for hours and hours on end and these ridiculous heats and how will they cope with that. It's going to get to a level that's unsustainable from a health perspective just to be out there playing in these sort of unhealthy temperatures, not to mention the fact that I guess tennis by its very nature as a global sport probably isn't the best for the environment, what with all the sort of emissions produced by it. So and what did you make of this report when you had a look at it? Yeah, it was certainly something I've not really kind of thought about and the actually the only real way I've been thinking about the environment and the tours is more to do with the carbon footprint of players flying from tournaments a tournament all around the world as opposed to thinking about it in terms of the heat and that endangering lives of players and we do have tournaments where the conditions can be extremely punishing. This week Washington D.C., the humidity factor just looked like it was felt very, very almost like unplayable at times to a point where you just think the play who's going to win is the play is just going to survive. And I wonder if some of the players think that when they go through these conditions given how punishing they are and even earlier on in the season Kim, that match between Nadal and zverev in the French Open on that indoor setting was just a very, again, very, very punishing, maybe not necessarily from a weather sense, but very slow core, dry conditions just did not help anyone or do anyone any favors, I think. Again, Australian open is and is another who's, you know, they're sort of they're probably at the forefront in the sense that they have some science there that tells players and fans, if it goes above a certain level, then they stop. But it certainly does feel like it's becoming more and more of an issue.
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"This tournament, I think, is pretty much normally won by a check player, obviously they've got they've got so many of them and I think booster is the 5th Czech player since the tournament began, I think, about 7 years ago to win, so they used to having someone at home win. It wasn't critique of her who perhaps would have been the more likely champion she went out in the second round to hibino of Japan. But yeah, she's got that title duck off her back. She's our 5th new WTA champion on the tour, so far this year. Instantly alongside Potter paper who did want to title earlier in the season. So she's joined that exclusive 2022 club. Yeah, it's an obviously it's a nice club to be in. And for Potter pover, you spoke very quickly about the wind she had against cultivate the top seed in the quarterfinals, 6 one, 6 one. That was a kid. I think it just shows how hot and how cold I think plotted over can be in the same tournament. And I think that's going to be her kind of issue and a challenge kind of going forward is. She's got to have that level of consistency and although she was able to bring it against cultivated. It just wasn't working in the final, she'll be disappointed, but you know, again, good tournament for getting to the getting to the fun in itself is an achievement. And I think a lot of these players, unlike the players in the Poland open, the fact that this is on a hardcore has already given them I think a little bit of a head start when it comes to going over to United States and getting on to the American heart. I think this will do them a bit of a service. Yeah, for sure. I think it's a nice, I guess, transition. At home in Europe, off you go to the states who yeah, I think there's quick keeping up how good form, as I said, after Wimbledon and cultivate kind of getting a few a few wins under about as well. She's had a obviously we alluded to this couple of weeks. Well, over the last few weeks or so, post COVID getting it back into the groove. Ever so slightly, although I don't have high hopes for the hardcore. I mean, I don't have high hopes compared to where she was at last a stages of last season where she was just, you know, the dominant force in the game. But yeah, we'll see how it all goes as the WTA Tour moves over to the states. But the men are some of the men are already in the states. Let's go to Atlanta, Joel, because we had hard court event out in Atlanta. This is the event that was just dominated by Australian and American players. And funnily enough, we got surprise surprise. We got some Australian champions. In fact, they did a complete sweep of the singles and the doubles. We had Alex de manor winning the singles and we had curios and coconut is getting their second doubles title together of 2022. In an all Australian final as well. So what did you make of what we saw out in Atlanta Joel? Yeah, it was great for de manor's straight sets in the final against Jenson brooksby 6 three 6 three. I think what I noticed in that final watching it on TV was I think we've de manor. I think we're just know him as a speed demon. We know him for his footwork, his movement around the court and actually in this final. Yes, that was all on show, but certainly when he was getting to the ball and certainly from the back of the court, his forehand, I think is really kind of developed over the last over the last 6 months or so. I think he's added some more speed to it. I think it goes through the air a little bit quicker. And I think it's a little bit hotter to handle actually. And I think that's been the issue with de manor on the tour is that he just didn't feel like he had a secret weapon in terms of his shots. And it was sort of like, yes, you've got kind of great footwork and agility and you can get to the ball with lots of time, but I think there was a question around was he doing enough for with it once he got there and I was impressed with him in the final given his shot making from the back of the court and although I think brooksby plays a similar sort of game, another player I think doesn't really he's still quite young and still developing, but I don't really think he has a shot that you could say is his X Factor. I think there are certainly a few shots you could actually be working on. His serve, but I think that I think they both had very similar tactics, but domino was just basically able to execute on a level that wasn't able to deal with. And I was very pleasantly surprised by how well yeah, I think Domino's ground strokes have come on. Certainly since last year. Yeah, I think curios had pulled out of the singles as well. So you were saying that perhaps kiryu should have been favorite to win the singles, but obviously having regardless of what he's up to, Alex de menor, very, very consistent player. Perhaps he doesn't have that killer weapon, but you know, as you said, he's known for his speed and movement around the court and able to nullify a lot of opponents weapons. And yeah, really impressive week from ADM. He won this title a couple of years ago. So yeah, he loves it in Atlanta. He absolutely loves the courts here. And good week for brooksby as well, you know, home event. He does really well on American soil, I think. He has had less success overseas, but American hardcore Jenson brooksby is where we see visiting. I feel like we just obviously he plays he's a good tennis player, but yeah, he's not he's had a sort of underwhelming I think last couple of months in Europe and I think he'll be looking at the hard courts here as feeling right at home really kind of familiar and he'll be looking to kind of play his game and it's served him for the majority of tournament really, really well. He picked up some very good wins against Mackenzie MacDonald, TFO in the semifinals and John Isner also in the quarters. But yeah, in the final, I just think he just came up against a player who had a very kind of similar game style to him, but was just kind of executing it on a better level. And I do wonder if Jensen brooksby is like Alex the manor in the sense that he's like Alex de menor, maybe a few seasons ago when he didn't have an X Factor in, I think, for me, brooksby is in still in that category of what's this guy going to what's this guy got that is really going to kind of propel him, I think, up the rankings.
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"And the most interesting element of being there with him and Todd woodbridge was asking them about nerves, no matter how good you are, how experienced you are, what a champion you are, what you've won and here we've got demino who hadn't been broken all match suddenly unable to serve properly. And play properly when he was serving for the match. And they just said, look, it just it happens to us all. You can't, I don't think you can stop that happening once in a while. And sometimes more than once in a while, no matter what you've won, and we've seen it, we've seen the down Titan in those situations. I can't remember too many I suppose with Djokovic necessarily. I'll definitely see it with Federer. You know, sitting with all the great champions. And yeah, just getting their inside and that was really interesting. And Brody fought his heart out. And he won't make any jump in the rankings because of the lack of points. But just listening earlier on today on my way in as preparation, listening back to the interview we did with him two and two and a bit years ago. Where he was struggling to make ends meet, really, and he was he was saying the pandemic is going to cost careers because there are going to be a lot of us that just won't be able to afford to play anymore. And I'm just trying to hold on until I can play and earn again. And that autumn he qualified for Roland Garros and one €60,000, and that's just life-changing money for him, really, and now he's earned in so much more and he's earned a 120,000 pounds as part of this run. I don't know, he's just great to see and also what a big achievement for dimino first time he's been to the second week of Wimbledon and it's opening up. Yeah, he's got Christian green next. Well, the man that was once known as a clay court specialist, but is now reached back to back round four at Wimbledon. It's officially his most successful slam. That's amazing. It's one of those quirky things. Say a green against him in all the other round of 16 match up from the bottom of the drawer, be Taylor Fritz, who mulch and today in three sets. And he will face Australian Jason kubler, who beat Jack sock in 5 sets today. Now I thought could be a slow news day. Today, why don't I do a deep dive on Jason kubler? Who is this guy? The podcast listeners are going to want to know, unfortunately, other stuff happens. So I'm going to have to squeeze my sort of 18 bullet points. Of information about Jason kubler into about a minute and a half. I miss match point in any some over gough today because I was on a Sydney morning Herald. Article about Jason kubler. What would you like to know, folks in the space of a minute and a half? Who is he? He is Jason kubler is 29 years old. He's Australian. He's been the name is Murray. He's a former world number one junior and used to be referred to as the right handed Rafael Nadal. He has earned more money by reaching round three this week than he has all year and obviously has exceeded that by reaching round four today. He has had 5 knee surgeries on his right knee and one on his left he has a congenital knee condition. He was asking his press conference today. Could you just confirm Jason? I know you've had a lot of surgeries. How many knee surgeries it is it and he sort of looks to the sky. He thinks about it and he goes, oh, only 5. And actually, one on the other one. So wonderfully Australian. Yeah, incredible. It's like the way they talk about really dangerous animals. He's one 19 of his last 21 matches. Now, obviously, a lot of those are at lower levels that qualifying, but you know, winning comes a habit. That's serious winning. Today was just the second 5 set match. He's played. You know, he's been pro for 11 years. He was a set down. He was asked about this today, you know, was there was that did he feel this run coming? Did you feel this form coming? Was there a moment when you felt like, yeah, I'm onto something here. And he said, you know, I was a set down and break points down in the first round of collies, and I could so easily have gone out and he said, tennis is just about the tiniest moments and the tiniest margins and he said it feels like luck that suddenly a few of those tiny moments have started going in my direction, he said, maybe it's not like they're all accumulating. Maybe I'm sort of making my own luck, I suppose, but this is a guy that in 2017 to 5 years ago when he would have been 24, so still, you know, 6 years out from being junior number one and heralded is the next big Australian thing. He completely ran out of money and turned to coaching for a few months, and he said, that was as close as he got to quitting the sport altogether. He physically had no money to carry on. He said, he quite liked coaching, but just not quite as much as he. He liked being on tours when he sort of earned a bit of cash and got the opportunity to go back out on Tory took it and here he is in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Amazing. Jason kubler, ladies and gentlemen. And 5 sets over Jack sock. I mean, that's a heck of a result, isn't it? And I don't know about you Matt, but I really enjoyed finding out about Jason king. And now know who he is. Yeah, that was really interesting. And Alex de menor spoke glowingly about him in his press conference saying that he loves it when kubler's around. He just he lifts everyone up. I can see that. He's got a great energy and a luscious head of hair. Dense and black. He had clearly washed and dried his hair before coming to press and he kept running his hands through it. You know that floppy hair that's just sort of could be in a hair advert. That sort of hair. Okay. I did get all my information about Jason kubler in after all. Right, we're going to move on to enjoyed it. Amanda Anderson over against coco Goff, shop, which Matt and I watched pretty much all of apart from on my part match point because I was knee deep in Jason kubler. But it was mostly a great match, and yet I'm looking at the school line 6, 7 6 two 6 one Francis over. And those second two sets look so one sided on paper. You know what? The reason I failed to notice much point was partly because of Jason kubler, but also partly because it just seemed to come around so suddenly, you know, it felt like such a contest..
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"So it's nice I think for rapha just to kind of communicate maybe it could have been done in private and perhaps Nadal felt that at the end of the match, he said he sort of regretted, I think, just doing it out on the court. Maybe you thought, hey, worked with Shapovalov at the Australian open, maybe I'll work with sonego at Wimbledon. But that psychiatry. I mean, his performance was so, so much better. I feel that we have seen in the first two rounds. And against a better opponent as well, an opponent that has shown form on a grass court. I thought it was going to be a lot of much trickier proposition. So it must be really encouraging given he's gone into the second week and he's played he's played his best match against a player who I think many of us thought was decent for at least one set. Yeah, exactly. And I'm sure I think rappers since said that they've spoken to him in the locker room. I'm sure they've resolved it all. I think he just said he really didn't want to of course. Then he like significant offense or anything, which obviously would no rap as a class act. I'm sure it will all have been settled. But yes, tennis wise, he needs to step it up. Obviously his first two matches he wasn't at the level that we know he needs to be able to be in with a shot to win the title. So today was a step in the right direction. He's got van der zan sharp next who has a really decent game for grass, recent queen semifinalists. They did play at Roland Garros recently. Obviously Raphael won that one, but I feel like this will be a slightly different story or on grass. Van der Zandt came through quite a close match with Richard Gasquet and gasket should have won that first set in that match. He was, I think, serving for it was 5 three up and ended up losing it. Through into the fourth round. I was going to be a tricky encounter, I think, and Rafa's got to make sure he's still on it like he was today. I mean, we've had a few other sort of fairly comfortable victories today. Alex de menor, straight sets over Lee and Brody, I was kind of hoping Brody when he broke back at the end of that third set. I was hoping he might be able to sneak a set, but obviously wasn't me. It was very close, wasn't it? That towards the end of that third set, I felt he was good for a set. I was a bit disappointed he wasn't able to make it a little bit more interesting, but Alex de manor, he's just a very smart customer, isn't he on a grass court, that win against Jack Draper now Liam Brody into the fourth week. I think sorry into the fourth week into the forefront. How long is this? But he's producing some career best results this season. And I think this is another one to add into his into his highlights for this season because I think this is a career best result for de manur getting to the forefront and he's a very he's going to be a very tricky player come to come the second week, given his movement around the court and yeah, it was just a bit too much for Brody today. And Taylor Fritz was too much for Alex malkin. That was a straight sets win as well. And Christian garin won through over Jensen brooksby as well. So yeah, Christian. Clay quarter. Back to back four frowns at Wimbledon. Really? Two in a row. Yeah, he did the same. Did the same last time. Which feels strange because yeah, he's not really done anything at the French Open. We just think he should be back to back four rounds at the French Open. I know, well, we're doing him a disservice. Clearly, but we do have, along with Alex Seminole and Nick kyros, we've got a third Australian in the fourth round as well, with Jason kubla, who is a qualifier, beat down Evans in the first round. He's come all the way through to the fourth round, beating Jack sock today in 5 sets. So it's the first time since 2002 that we've got three Aussie men at this stage of the tournament. Yeah, Jason kubler, I literally, you know, as many qualifies, I don't know much about him, but apparently he had a really awful knee injury earlier in his career and he was out for a long time, not to surgeries, had to play on clay courts for a few years. So the fact that he's got to the fourth round on a grass court slam is, yeah, pretty pretty cool. That Dan Evans defeat for Dan Evans fans is looking better by the rounder's nephew. Yeah, no, Jason Jason kubler was great. A big missed opportunity. It has to be said for, you know, another qualifier in Jack sock who is a player who looks like he might be getting back to at least some sort of semblance of four me showed that all those years ago it feels like now on the ATP tour. So promising result for him, but yeah, for kubler, just great. I mean, he's won 22 of his last 25 matches. He is on some real real momentum and as you said, you can't just help but feel happy for him given his story in tennis. You know, he's 29 years old. He's had 6 knee surgeries. I mean, as an anti Barry fan, I feel like I could relate to Jason gubler fans given the amount of pain that he and rehab that he must have gone through over the years and the fact that he, as you said, has spent four years of his professional career playing exclusively on clay courts to avoid any kind of structural damage to his knees. It just shows his dedication to the sport, his commitment and his drive to kind of keep going in the face of these knee injuries and, you know, when I was reading about them, this is a hereditary knee injury. This is something that's not going away. So it's amazing that he's being able to kind of manage this and yeah, this season's just been great for him. He reached the mixed doubles final at the Australian open. His home country back in January and now to add to that four frowned as a qualifier, I believe he's only the second qualifier to do that this season, the other one was zapata Morales. I know I needed to get some batter Morales reference in there. But yeah, nice story fit for JC Cooper coming through into the second week as a qualified. Every podcast has to have as the pattern Morales reference in. Well, I will say though, he will be annoyed. I think though he will be annoyed that, yes, the prize money will be great. And I think he's going to seriously, I think, like kind of 6, $700,000, I think, and he's now set down like 200,000 or something like that. But I feel like these sorts of players are the most who are going to be annoyed about the fact that there are no ranking points because his ranking would have shot right up by imagine from wherever he is in the world, probably outside the top hundred. Yeah, I just feel like that's probably the one sort of annoying thing for him, given how well he's performed. Absolutely. And talking of other players who have done very, very well. At this lamb won't benefit in terms of ranking points, harmony tan, you know, she's into the fourth round..
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"The best seats in the House just by turning up the day before the morning of it's great. You know, I will say though, you know, they have been doing these digital restocks online, what seems like every day, which is a very much feels like a very much a first for Wimbledon in terms of that accessibility to show court tickets during the during the event itself. And I find that interesting because I think one way to increase attendance is get rid of the rule around one pair of tickets per household because I feel like I've seen fans on social media be a bit frustrated by the fact that that kind of rule is still in place and I feel like there are fans itching to go and pay more money to get show caught tickets, but they can't because of previous rules around being limited to one pair of ticket per household. So again, it might be things to look at in the future, but we'll see how that develops. But let's move on to the tennis and we'll start with all the action from today, day four. It's been a it's been an interesting round I feel for the Brits because it will come on in the second half to talking about Andy Murray and emirati Carney. But today, we have had some great success, haven't we? And I think in unexpected, unexpected areas, you know, we've had Liam broady win against Diego Schwartzman. We've had Heather Watson come through overnight today against Chang Wang. But on center court, we had Katie boulter against last year's runner up Karolina Pliskova. Now bought it did beat Pliskova last week in eastbourne and, well, she beat her again today, three 6 7 6 6 four in the third. Yeah, it was a great performance from balto, was a performance that reminded me of her situation that she was in last year when she came very, very close to another highly ranked player, sabalenka, but just wasn't able to get over the finish line, but today she didn't blink and was able to get the victory. Yeah, and going into this, I thought, I thought she had a good chance given the fact that she beat glitch for last week, but you know, to do it at a Grand Slam on center court in front of your home crowd on a big scale is very different to getting a win at a warmup. But the fact that she was being able to get two wins out of two essentially is just fantastic and she got off to a cracking start when a breakup immediately and then she could have pegged her back and then broke and got that set and he thought, oh, you know, missed opportunity there for Katie. But to give her her due, she stuck with bush cover all the way, took that impetus in the tiebreak, I think she went for all of up and managed to kind of maintain that grab that second set. And then broke and served it out. I mean, what a match point as well. It was a fantastic way to end the match. Got it getting it done on her first batch point. I thought from the word go, she looked really on it, you know, really hitting well. Very focused. She definitely, you know, I feel like with pisco, she's one of those players that doesn't give anything away emotionally. And she has a very sort of languished sort of style, doesn't she? Around the corner. She also did know where said to court was because she, I don't know if you saw her entrance. She went left, there's a new entrance this year where you just go straight. And she was like, oh, very serious looking, serious face, serious face, going on to the court. And she turned left and then balti was like, you've gotten the wrong way there. And so there was a bit of a bit of like awkward laughter. Coming back onto the court. So it was quite a funny, quite a funny opening, given the entrance that happened. I missed that because I was in this in the stands and so I missed that like pre preamble, but yeah, I feel like capable just personality kind of shone out in comparison with British cabaret like she was really engaged really on it. And I thought she absolutely deserved, deserved the win. And I was cracking out some massive serves at times. There were a few games that you couldn't really do an awful lot, but then her serve did falter. She threw in a few doubles here and there and Katie was just able to get on it and break at that at the very end, really. And then serve it out. So real, really composed as well at the end. I thought, considering, you know, like you said that Saba lenka matched last year. I think she's obviously learned from that experience, which is great. I mean, she's such a talented player and I feel like injuries have obviously set her back, but you can see on the big stage. Other Brits, she really kind of relishes that opportunity and she feels right at home on center court and another reason this win was so emotional and powerful for her was she revealed in the post match ceremony on court that grandma had died a few days ago. So having that in your mind as well, just sort of being able to kind of block that out and focus on the match again. I think just showed the mental, toughness of Walter, because I think if she had lost this and this news would have come out, then it would have been very easy, I think, to say, that's fair enough. That's a really hard thing to deal with and to process, particularly in the immediate reaction from it. But again, it was just very emotional when she brought that out and it hired her to the fans very much and again, it was a way I think of showing, yes, it's a very emotional moment, but it was impressive how she was able to keep that to one side during the match. And then let it come out in those tears in the ceremony afterwards. Yeah, I mean, perhaps, you know, actually helped her in this match, you know, gave her that sort of inspiration so often can do. Yeah, obviously really sad news and hopefully she can channel that and sort of let her tennis shine and as a way of, you know, I guess in memory of her grandmother and I do want to know Kim. I saw her on court for Alex de menor versus Jack Draper. I do want to know who she was cheering for. I'm assuming it was Alex de manor, which is her boyfriend. But Jack Draper, British tennis, you know? I thought she'll work which way I would go there..
The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Passing Shot Tennis Podcast
"That's a call that he has made. The sword that he wants to stand on. Fair enough, you know, you do you. Yeah, you do you. I mean, my favorite bit of the interview went was when he said that his son, Stefan, was basically a rapper fan, had been supporting Raphael in Australia in April. That was the big reveal to be quite honest wasn't it. Yeah, I thought that was a nice touch. At the end of the interview. But just talking about COVID vaccinations, Alex de menores had a bit of a trouble week surrounding his vaccination status because essentially there was a hospital in Madrid, which is under investigation for providing false COVID certificates to some of its patients, turns out Alex de manor had his second vaccination at that hospital. So obviously, people put two and two together. Thought, oh, he must have got a fake COVID vaccine, but he's come out and said, that's completely not the case. I've had both my vaccines. So she'll media post came out so quickly after the after that news break. And I think understandably so, yeah, just getting caught up, I think, in the wrong situation, because from what, for what I understand him, Novak Djokovic is the only player in the top hundred who isn't who isn't vaccinated. But same time, I don't know if there's this paranoia about it has anyone faked their status in order to play events on the tour. I feel like that would be a big scandal if that was that was true and I know that there are still some suggestions around that with Novak Djokovic that we haven't really fully got the answers to, but we can never I don't think we can say that with any with any sort of fact at the moment. But yeah, just sort of feel like there's sort of a little bit of paranoia, isn't there around tennis players and COVID passports and vaccination statuses, et cetera? Yeah, it's not going to go away anytime soon. I don't think, especially after the whole Djokovic incident. So let's hope that there's no further troubles, I suppose. I mean, yeah, like you said, Djokovic is the only player in the top hundred who hasn't had it, but well, let's see if there's any more stories that emerge, but hopefully Alex demon will put that behind him. Let's have a look, Joel at what's going on this week because, well, the tennis is already underway, just seeing cultivate as one as well as we're recording this out in Doha. That's where the women are this week. Well, a lot of the women, top women, it's the 1000 event out in Doha. Balti is not there. So arena sabalenka is the top seed. And critique of is the second seed. What do you make of this? Who are we looking at for this one? I can see we've already had an upset today with Simona Halep losing to Caroline Garcia. A bit of an unexpected one there. I have to say, but I don't know what was going on with palette, but maybe Garcia was just good, good for once. I don't know if that loss, that loss to oster penco, the manner of that third set, which was a bagel, and that tiebreak, which was a bagel against Oz pecos as stayed with highlight because yeah, you would certainly think Caroline Garcia has been in dreadful form the last few months. I don't know if she's just magically rediscovered her form from what 2017. I mean, she must have done, but yeah, not the great not a great result for Simone Halep. Who, as I said, I thought has been playing pretty good tennis apart from that at least cournet result in Melbourne. So yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Kim also yesterday I was watching a bit of Azarenka versus Putin and it got very, very heated towards the end, the handshake was very, very ugly, Putin's for calling for a medical timeout with Azarenka serving to stay in the match. She was not particularly happy about. I think she called, she called she was caught on camera calling putins for a, she needs a psychiatrist. You need psychiatric help. Which was quite interesting. So we've already had some we've already had some drama, but yeah, in terms of the draw, yeah, I'm looking potentially at someone like Kant of it is probably the form player at the moment on the WTA Tour. So I'm looking at her in terms of can she can she keep it up and go all the way to the final. I think she's in the nicer half spital and mertens Switzerland has already out on shapour as well as coming back from injury. She got to the quarters last week. So I think she's in quite a nice section of the draw. So I think quantitate could go and kind of continue potentially her run from running the indoor hard courts to the outdoor hard courts. Yeah, or as oster penko is already won her first match. So could she do two on the trot? One player I'm not going to go for is badosa because she completely messed up my prediction last week. I was surprised by that. I was surprised by that. Yeah, no, it was not a great week for her. Ribena and Kerber have also already lost and kvitova is the defending champion here. So perhaps she can recreate that magic from last season..
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Went. And I also think Felix is a really good FrontRunner. Once he gets confident and he's on the role and then suddenly he just rolled him comfortably. But I'm still not convinced by Oceania seam. I think he is beatable by people that probably shouldn't beat him. Well, great FrontRunner is actually exactly how Dan Evans described him today. And you've given a more charitable assessment of Evans performance than he gave his own performance but he agreed with you about the how crucial those break points in the first set was, he said, I panicked. I panicked after I didn't take those break points, and he and I think he put down that sort of lack of composure. He put it down to the walk over that he got in the second round. He on reflection and that's the first time he said he's ever had a walk over in Islam. That was not a good thing. He said at the time, he thought, oh, great. Brilliant. But it turned out to be really not a good thing. He said it was flummoxed by it, lost momentum, had too much time to think about the match today. You also said he'd he wishes his taking the opportunity to check out the court that he was playing on today. He was really, yeah, flummoxed again by his surroundings. He was irritable with everything. It was the John Cain arena David. Which we discussed yesterday on the pod and it's different to everywhere else. At Melbourne park. There was also a concert going on outside. There was, although that was the highlight of the match, he said, he didn't sound like it at the time. Yeah, well afterwards, he said that the hearing rocket man was the highlight of his afternoon. He was getting really wound up about that in the first set. And I did think about that. You know, that I can't ever remember him having had a walk over in a Grand Slam. And the pace of these are fidgety guy he likes to be doing stuff all the time. He's not, you know, I don't think that would have sat well with him thinking about it. And yeah, constantly looked on the edge of his nerves out there. So we've got chillage trying to pull off another movement killing in the next round against Felix or gerarde. It's quite a movement tea half of the draw, actually, isn't it? Because we've got Alex de menor against Yannick sinner as a fourth rounder Alex de menor beat Pablo under her pretty handily on the rod laver, arena tonight, he was very touched by the fact that he was playing not only on the rod laver arena in prime time, of course, Saturday night in Australia, but also in front of rod laver himself. He would that really meant a lot to him and there was also quite a lot of adorable dog chat in the post match interview which videos and videos Enzo the dog. It was all lovely. Stimulus dog is it? All right. Golden retriever called endlessly. I've also written in the agenda here, something to do with the nipple, which I need mat to explain. Yes, after they showed the picture of his dog, they showed a very close up video of his nipple because that's where he's got his Davis Cup number tattooed like all of our previous backers when they didn't give their full name when they were anonymous. And Jim Courier asked him about what the number 109 and representing Australia being part of the Davis Cup team means to him and in short a lot. Yeah. I've got it literally burned into my skin. That's how much it means to me. Him and sinner is a match I really like the sound of. Me too, David. I said that to Catherine and got a bit of a blank response. I find Yannick sinner a little bit of a vibe killer. I didn't insure in last year, have to say that's given me pause for thought I saw a different sinner at the ATP finals in Turin and I'd liked it. And look, I love his game. I just find this not much to get your teeth into. Yeah, so I don't know what you mean. I don't want to lay into the guide. Active negatives to say about him. Yeah. You all, I'm pleased for you. I'm pleased that everybody's excited. Look, it will be big up here. And that could be exciting. The atmosphere I think around that much will be exciting. His big ball striking against diminish scurrying is a combination I like the thought of. I mean, I was just having a quick look and it's two zero head to head sinner. One of those being the next gen finals, which I don't know how much to put into that. But you know I just can imagine the rally construction making for some gasping moments from the crowd, you know? Yeah, what David said. I am excited for that. I think sinners shots a girl's been using and diminishes movement is gasping. And also diminish started that thing where he's trying to be the aggressor in points more now as well, which I like that mindset of him trying to stop the other guy taking hold of a rally and whether he's whether he's able to do it or not. Okay, so I'll be watching and I'll be hoping it's a great match. We've got Taylor Fritz again Stefano sits a pass also in that hospital. It is good. I'm really excited about this one actually. And I haven't I haven't given that much deep thought to Taylor Fritz. Over the years, I don't know whether you have it, I was aware of him quite early, I think I remember following the I think he was beaten by valov in he was with he was in the Shapovalov generation of junior champions. I think the year that Shapovalov on junior Wimbledon Taylor Fritz won the junior U.S. open Tommy Paul had won the junior French Open that year and this is Taylor Fritz's first time into the second week of Islam. It is taking him a lot longer. Than his than his next gen cohorts. And I hadn't quite registered that. It's been a bit tougher for him than it has for the others. And he beat Roberto Bautista a good today. 6 four in the 5th set. Right. Passage. Yes, David. You took the words right out of my mouth and he was really emotional afterwards. This means something to him and I went to his press conference and I've never spoken to Taylor for it to provide a date. If I have, then it wasn't memorable. I put it that way. You're both forgotten it. Yeah. He loves it. I'm sure I'm sure you remembers it really fondly, but I have forgotten it. And I found it to be really engaging. And really straightforward and very open and I asked him whether this felt a long time coming and he said hell yeah pretty much. It has felt a long time coming. He said he never doubted that it would happen. But he really feels like he's had the rough end of some draws over the years. He and he has. I mean, the players he's lost to in the third round before. I would say only son ago would be one that you would count as a bad loss, otherwise it's been team Federer, Djokovic, and there's a reason for that which he went into in some depth. He said he said something really interesting actually about it often being better to be unseated in a Grand Slam drawer than to be one of the seeds 25 through to 32 and he feels it's made a massive difference getting himself out of that bracket and getting his ranking up so that he seeded in the 17 to 24..
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Actually, in some ways. Yeah, he's actually. Maybe it's because he's playing on the same day as Medvedev, perhaps, and I don't know. My attention kind of goes to Medvedev. I think lots of people would probably feel the same. He described his win as a lot of fighting and a little bit of swearing, which I thought was quite a good summary. He was frustrated. He said it took him a time quite a bit of time to work out buyers, someone had never played before. Quite a tricky game. I think I asked him straight up. How was your elbow? And he said, fine. He said, honestly, I've not troubled me to Sydney. It is fine, and he didn't need any treatment, or anything like that. So it's a good sign. Because that's my biggest worry about sits a pass. You know, I do think other than that, the game, the game can be there. So then it sort of feels like. I've dropped a clanger then is what you're saying by not having him in my quarterfinals. I haven't got him in there. We've only worked with the information in front of you. I sort of, I had him losing to Taylor Fritz in round four, which is a much still on course to happen for it to beat TFA today in three sets, which is a big win little wobble from any double faulted serving match point serving for the match, but then he wrapped it up in the third set tiebreak. So they're on a little collision course. That TFA for it to match. I think it was, we didn't get to see that much of it three very competitive sets. I think, for those three, I mean, so striking the difference in physique between those two. One of them has been playing a lot of golf. And the other one's been playing less golf. I would say, but yeah, Taylor Fritz looking good. And I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, we're all thinking vaguely the same thing. So Fritz now faces Roberto Bautista, a goo and sits a pass faces Benoit pair. Who's unexpectedly doing a thing, he's having a run, he's beaten Grigor Dimitrov, he's got this extraordinary head to head, I think, with Gregor Dimitrov has and he's beaten in four times. So who knows? Maybe it's just one of these quirky head to heads, or maybe Benoit paire is ready to finally fulfill his talent anyone want to speculate about whether that's the case is he going to pass? Happy to take it in its own isolation, that particular match. Not to try to read anything into it whatsoever. Understood David understood. Pablo andujar, the movement killer. He has reached round three at the Australian open for the first time aged 35. And I think that deserves a little bit of a round of applause. And he faces Alex domino next. So he's got the chance to do some more movement killing. The first time Alex de menor had won a match on the rod laver arena today, which was a big moment for you. That was the only person that showed up for his press conference. Really? Great, Aussie hope, I know. Wow, that does surprise me. Yeah. How did that conversation go, Matt? This is where I say, find out in the newsletter. But it was very nice. It was very nice. Yes. Sign up then. We didn't plan that folks. Last match, I think that we want to mention is Felix auger LS theme against Alejandro davidovich for kina on the care arena my goodness me this was grueling. I mean, Matt and I went out to watch a short portion of it and that was grueling enough. Went out for a second stint. And that sounded grueling, and then the match seemed to go on for another 7 hours after that. And it was only four sets. Goodness knows what would have happened if Alejandro davidovich for managed to take it into a 5th, which could have happened four tiebreak sets. It was, wasn't it? Marathon marathon stuff. And I know Felix is an extraordinary physical specimen, but he has had serious court time to get to this point. Yeah, and played right in the heat of the day. It was hot today at Melbourne park and this was in the baking sun for four plus hours. Yeah, I found it interesting. I remember we commented on Aussie against battista goo at ATP cup and how good was your earliest scene looked, and how secure he looks. He wasn't making the same errors that he often makes. And I really thought maybe that playing someone with that rhythm helped him. But he's played two players here who give him rhythm. Rusev Rory, and davidovich for kina, their baseline that he's had rhythm. And yet, I've watched quite a lot of him. And he is spraying the ball. You do not know what is coming off of his racket. It's either a sweet connection with a perfect pop, and it looks brilliant. It's sort of mesmerizing. Or it's a shank and it's going ten feet long. And it's a real mix at the moment. And I do think perhaps though the video makes for keener and Rousey, both have firepower. And I think he's been wary of that. And I think he's been trying to pull the trigger a little bit, perhaps when he shouldn't be. Very different style of his next match against Dan Evans, who didn't have to play today. After render kanesh withdrew with a wrist injury. So couldn't be more contrasting circumstances for those two Felix about 8 hours court time into matches Dan Evans very fresh, having had a day off. Sometimes that doesn't help. You know, sometimes that can actually hurt a player. So that's an interesting third round, but gosh, Felix has had to have to battle through and his celebration afterwards was as big as you see from Phoenix also alias seem. He was buzzing to have won that today. He really was. Felix augere seeming in Stan Evans is a match that I can definitely get excited about. That'll be in a couple of days time. The schedule for tomorrow is tasty. It's very tasty indeed, David. There is a lot of this that you're not going to be allowed to watch because it's happening in the middle of the night. And if I see you tweeting at 3 o'clock in the morning again, there is not going to be a podcast tomorrow. Those are the rules. I don't need to start a burner account or something. Yeah. I mean, close your ears for this scheduled David because you're not allowed to watch any of it until the night session, okay? As a ranker against fitter first up on rod laver arena. We'll let you know the result in the podcast, David. Critique of our Panko. Thanks. And then in likely sensational match that you're not allowed to watch news, David, and watch some of this. Alcaraz against bertini. Look. Oh, I'm watching that. If it goes long, you can watch the end, okay? Can you make the others go longer?.
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"And basically, that's what happened. Okay, the first two sets weren't quite as ruthlessly efficient. But then the third set, the thing is, I mean, millman's perfect for him. He just gives him this regular ball. He's a ball machine and has a much bigger way to shot and he relentlessly did it. It's going to take somebody with weapons or variety to stop him. Or somebody who could stand up to him and yeah, millman was fodder for him to be quite honest today. Okay, well, chef, potentially around four potentially Nadal. In the quarter, so we'll see. Let's not get ahead of ourselves too far. He has weapons. It's all the gulf. A lot of culture. Equals weapons. Folks. Scheduled for tomorrow, with you through it quickly. Margaritas starting against cornet on rod laver Saba up next then Alex de menor night session starts with curious Medvedev. Great rod laver, brilliant match. Unacceptable that Simona Halep and Beatrice had admire our scheduled to play after that. They've put that much first on rod laver expecting it and hoping it to be a thriller to be a lengthy epic. So best case scenario is that they want Simona Halep and Beatrice had admired to be walking out onto court ten 11 p.m. unacceptable. Can I just say on that? On that one, I think that they should find a different chord for how that's matched. And a proper start time. I just don't think that there was a need for two matches. It was in that session. If you've got curious, Medvedev fine. I understand the one and stick that bang in the middle of prime time. Totally. But as you say, it's going to go on for hours if they're lucky. There's no need for another one after that. Total could not agree more. Could not agree more. Yeah, I totally understand. But you want it to know the start time if kiryu's method I've to advertise it, TV, want that brilliant. Okay, don't make don't make jalapeno had had my own fans of women's tennis suffer in order for that to happen. Second court is starting with contempt Taos and David's picked an upset there. Loves a bit. Is it an observable town? It is an opposite. It's definitely not an upset that you've gone for it. Yeah. I said, I said, I said, David, I need your prediction, please, and Catherine said, oh, David sent it in. I said, is it tausan? Yes it is. Haiti baptiste, the qualify American qualifier against muddy inglis that second on so pretty high billing for them. Then it's Stephanie sits a pass against Sebastian Bayes, who I don't know very much about from Argentina. He was at the next gen finals. And we didn't have very much about him then. We'll try and watch a bit of that for you tomorrow effects. And if he wins, we'll hastily read up on him. Night session, danke coverage against Emma ruddy Carney first up followed by Steve Johnson against Yannick sinner. We've got Fritz tiafoe. That's a bit of a pick on the John Cain arena tomorrow and fourth on John Kane. Not before 5 30 is Andy Murray against Taro Daniel Sam Stosur is second on the car arena tomorrow against Anastasia pavlyuchenkova could be her last Australian open or her last singles match. Indeed, you've got Anna connu against Daniel Collins Dan Evans against all to render knish. I'll keep saying that because I finally learned how to say render Ganesh. And I learned from Daniel Medvedev, so there's more value from going to press conferences. You know, pronunciations from genome effort. So that's all to look forward to tomorrow. I really feel like the tournament's gathering momentum, isn't it? What it's missing is a brilliant match on the rod laver arena. We haven't had one. I think we had one, three, we had sabalenka, didn't we going three sets with storm Sanders? But it wasn't a brilliant match. It was an area stream. It was a stream match really. It needs a need to cracker. And I hope it gets that tomorrow. Yeah, and I know we're running out of time, but that is actually a question I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on about first first few days scheduling other slam. I know the stars obviously deserve the stage. Absolutely. Of course they do. But would it be better for the tournament? Would it showcase the tournament better if sometimes better actual matches were scheduled on the main court through the first few days? You know, I don't know. It's just so used to it always being the best players on the best courts rather than necessarily the best matches. And I've totally, as I said, understand why they do the best players, but you get a situation like this. And I've barely watched the rod laver arena. You know, I've kept an eye on all of these big names. Of course I have. But the matches the best matches are happening elsewhere. And of course, that's good for ground pass holders and everything. But I don't know, TV tends to take the matches on the main stadium. And are they necessarily selling the sport in the best way? Are they representing will a Grand Slam is all about in the first few days? I don't know. I don't have the answers, but I just think it's interesting interesting point. Tweet us. Let us know at tennis podcast. Yeah, get in touch. Subscribe to the newsletter, all the things, check us out on Instagram. I am just spamming our Instagram followers with content this week. Not all of it is cat content folks. In fact, we haven't seen Robin the cat in two days and I'm very obsessed about it. Yes, I'm certainly think we're in a murakami novel or something. It was all a dream. And there was a dream. The street doing literal catcalls anyway. We have an Australian open mascot for the fortnight. His name is Charlie. He's lovely a beagle. He lives in Chicago. We love Charlie. I'll pop a picture of Charlie, maybe two pictures of Charlie on our Instagram tomorrow so you can look forward to that. Billy Jean is having a lovely old time with my brother. She sponsored by Billie Jean King and Alana kloss. David is sponsored by Darwin. I'm sponsored by Carter. Let's not talk about how the predictions are going Carter. Matt is sponsored by Gerald the cat. We have two executive producers. They are top bloke, Chris Albert Lee, and top bloke. Kyle vinegar. And we have shout out to Matt. We have Christie wellum from Dallas, Texas. Hello, Christy. Like Chris on? And I still have a very romantic view of Dallas for anybody who's an 80s product or 70s product that the show Dallas is something that is so important to us. Why are you two looking at me blankly? You don't even know about the whole who shot JR cliffhanger, do you don't even know what.
The Tennis Podcast
"alex de menor" Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Who it wasn't all plain sailing for them. They had the Czech Republic today. And Dan Evans managed to lose to Thomas Mach. The world number 143 in he needed cam nori to come through, still needed three sets to come on, and then jostle is bringing Neil's cup ski were very good in the doubles. But what happened to Dan? Was it the mustache? No. I don't think so. And by the way, apparently it's not a movember mustache. I was reading. So there isn't a good reason for it. That I can find. It maybe it's a lost deer. It's just a lads lads lads thing, I think, isn't it? Right, okay. The worst kind of mustache. Okay, all right. Well, listen, I think I would personally. I mean, watch that match from the first ball. I'd give all the credit to Thomas max because he was fantastic. And even in the first game of the match, Evans held after about four juices fought off break points. And when he's coming back to his chair with Leon Smith, he did that look that Dan Evans sometimes gives, which is blame. He's good, you know, that all that was hard work, you know, this is hard and I thought something along those lines. And I can understand why, because he was coming in, he was trying to he was playing quite quite well at points coming into the net hitting volleys into the corners, then hitting the next one on the other side, shipping charge in all sorts of the stuff that Dan Evans does. And mahak is one of the natural passing shot experts. He on the run flicks top spin little hooks, little dinks that dip at the feet. You've got all of those things. You could have put him back in the early 2000s or in the 90s and he would look the part. He would look the late and hear it or and drag as he part of dissecting serve and volleyers and having quick hands and hand eye coordination. Probably not as effective these days because people don't come in as much as they used to. But he also hit a jump four hand drive volley two feet off the ground. You know, he was doing that without any need to. And then there's no crowd, because if the COVID restrictions, there's nobody in the stadium. And he would show boat and in flashy and he was hitting blobs. He was a lovely player. I mean, but he went 5 two down in the second set did mahara. And you thought then, right, Evans is just going to take over here. And then reels off 5 games in Rome, wins the whole wins the match. Straight sets. I'm sure Evans here is press conference, but I'm sure he'll have regrets and disappointment. I mean, he was bailed out by his teammates. But I think we're going to hear more of this study. You never know for sure what Davis Cup is going to do or whether it's representative. But a 143 in the world, only 21, he looks like a player to me. He really does. So that means GB against Germany and Innsbruck on Tuesday. That is set in stone. I can say that confidently, nothing can happen in the next two hours to alter that scenario. We have a situation where Spain are a set up on Russia in this decisive doubles. Now Matt, if rush if Spain win this set and win this doubles match two sets to love. What happens? Let's give the people what they want with some soon to be added a relevant tennis news a niche subset of soon to be out of date, tennis news. My understanding from here is that if Spain win the doubles in either straight sets or three sets, then Spain will top the group and play Sweden and Russia will be a runner up, and they will play Kazakhstan. So both will go through. If Russia win, then that's when it gets complicated between Spain and Serbia. Which, I mean, no bias is obviously, but it was electric tonight in that stadium with the with the host nation being successful. I mean, obviously the fact that it was Lopez and everything we just discussed in relation to him, that helps, but it helps the tournament having these host nations stood in and yes, Italy are still in in Turin and that's great. And obviously, eventually from the semifinals onwards, the whole tournament will agglomerate in Spain. And who knows, you know, if Spain will continue through the competition, but it helps, you know, everybody agrees that the atmosphere of home and away dies was a regrettable loss of this new new format a necessary compromise or, you know, I don't think it's a necessary compromise. But you know what I mean? But if there's a way to keep as much of that as possible, you want to. So yeah, I'm sort of, I'm sort of rooting for Spain here, sorry, Serbia. But I also did I pick Serbia to win. No, I didn't. I picked Russia to win the competition. And on that note of trying to get more home teams basically, obviously, one of the talking points in some of the press conferences this week has been the report of Abu Dhabi, potentially becoming the host for the next 5 years that we spoke about. Lleyton Hewitt was very strong on it. He said that would be absolutely killing the competition. He really really went off on one there. Novak Djokovic gave a really interesting answer. Along these lines, saying he thinks that they should increase the number of home teams at the finals. You know, if you've got 6 groups, why don't you have 6 home teams, for example? So that you're just spreading out the number of teams that are able to have home ties and obviously it's been a shame having Innsbruck behind closed doors because we've missed out on an extra home team there. But absolutely the atmosphere is for Spain and for Italy's tires have been everything you want, really. And I must say in Madrid generally they've done a very good job with ticket sales, all the tires have actually been really well attended. Even Kazakhstan, Sweden, had a pretty good crowd and have been a system in place where they've been encouraging people to do lots of recycling. And if you do a certain amount, we'll give you free tickets. And that sort of thing. And just a little initiatives like that have actually been really good and really successful, I think. Oh, that's cool. But obviously, the atmospheres are the best when the home teams are involved. So I thought that was an interesting proposal idea from Djokovic. Australia, around to the competition, obviously, don't feature in the quarterfinal lineup, didn't feel like Leighton Hewitt had a great week, Matt, or David, anybody that witnessed his grumpiness. Well, I watched I watched quite a lot of their early matches. I mean, that team did not perform. And he was really gutted, I think, really generally Hewitt, because he heard his pre tournament press conference. And he was really enthused and he thought his team looked good, as there were preparing well. And then Alexi popper in lost a really bad match to be quite honest against Borneo Goya. And then and then they ended up losing that tie. And found themselves behind in the next one as well. And then Alex de menor managed to get a win and did a good job there, but they didn't get through. And I think he's such a competitor. It means so much to him and he's made it very clear even from three years ago. He was so anti this idea of losing the home in a way. And if frankly, if only every player and every nation had the attitude towards what was the Davis Cup that he had, well, the event would have been fine, probably, because everybody would have played all these players with a committed that had been that have built the plumbing calendar around the thing which is what failed to happen in the last 20 odd years. But, you know, yeah, Australia were disappointing. And they had one of those teams in one of those quite interesting teams where there's this kind of a decent amount of strength all the way through the squad and yet there aren't standout players that guarantee you a point. And they showed that actually that and Germany is a man should get through, but it's not a guarantee that just having a solid squad of good players is going to get you the points. No, what you want is a Marin Cilic and world number one doubles team. Yeah. And two blokes in the 200s, suddenly playing out in a mind..