35 Burst results for "Nadal Nadal Nadal Nadal"
AP News Radio
Djokovic beats Tsitsipas for 10th Australian Open, 22nd Slam
"And emotional Novak Djokovic has beaten stephanos to extend his Australian open record to ten victories from ten finals, the Serb who battled injuries earlier in the event closed out a 6 three 7 6 7 6 win that took a fraction under three hours to complete Djokovic climbed into his team box after the victory and broke down in tears before returning to the court to accept the winner's trophy. He's a huge relief because, you know, it hasn't been hasn't been smooth sailing. In addition to the title, the victory returns him to the top of the world rankings, and more significantly, secures his 22nd Grand Slam singles crown, Johnny Spanish rival, Rafael Nadal. I'm Graham agar's.
AP News Radio
Second seed Jabeur knocked out of Australian Open
"For the first time in 21 years in Australian open has lost its two top men's seeds before the third round, both dispatched by Californians, Maggie MacDonald entered the run of top seed Rafael Nadal on day three and Jensen brooksby followed up on day four, knocking out the second seed Casper Ruud, despite blowing three match points in the third set, brooksby closed out the win 6 two and the fourth, and next takes on fellow American Tommy Paul. Michael Moe and Katie volley nets also advance with upset winds, joined in the third round by two more Americans in
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"To the tennis. And we have to lead with the early exit the second round exit of the defending champion Rafael Nadal at the hands of the American Mackenzie McDonald straight set, 6 four 6 four 7 5. There were a few different chapters to this match and absolutely electric start for Mackenzie MacDonald. He was winning fair and square. It was a tactical masterclass from him, he really pushed Nadal into his forehand corner that turned out to be a really, really good strategy, but then in the 8th game of the second set in adult pulls up shortly, he's hunched over, he's grimacing, you know, instantly with Nadal when something is seriously wrong and he then takes an off court medical timeout and when he returns to the court, he is an absolute shadow of himself he can barely move, he can barely serve. He's clearly intent on finishing the match. And plays about as well as a wounded animal possibly can play tennis for a set and a half, but it's obviously never going to be enough. You've got so many harrowing shots of Nadal staring into the abyss that changeover is contemplating his sporting mortality at those sit downs. His support team in tears. And then at the end of the match, the absolutely haunting sight of Nadal's funeral march to the locker room a slow, slow trudge followed by the camera all the way. It was, it was incredibly poignant, Matt. And I don't know if we want to get into all of the will he be back at the Australian open how poignant is it will, you know, was that a farewell to the crowd, you know, that moment he took to wave goodbye. I don't know if we want to get into all of that, but it felt incredibly poignant. For sure. And to be honest, I'm not sure we can get into all that meaningfully because I think the theme of this injury that Nadal has got here is that he really doesn't know how serious it is. You know, it was bad enough in the moment to cause him a huge amount of pain and to make it impossible for him to win that match. But it really struck me that when Nadal had his foot issue at Roland Garros and let's be honest, that was pretty much the most career threatening injury that Nadal's ever had. You know, his career was in the balance there. But there was real certainty about what he knew his options were. It was to have the treatment and in either works or it doesn't. It was pretty black and white. And I think in a way, that was kind of easier to accept. You know, he knew the situation he was in. This is an issue now where he's just frequently piling up injury after injury and you have to start to wonder whether he can still take it to constantly be in recovery mode and coming back. You know, he's not getting younger, of course, he's, you know, we know that he's close to the end of his career and the question is how close and the more injuries like this happen, you have to suspect that as much motivation and determination and love for the sport that he still has, it's going to get harder and harder to keep coming back. And that was kind of what he was saying in his press conference. He is what he used the words mentally, destroyed, didn't he? To sort of describe how he was feeling, because he'd had a really good practice. And this is sort of not come out of nowhere. He said he had been feeling it a bit, but absolutely he didn't expect it to disrupt his tournament and yeah, it's just another injury setback and we've been talking about those pretty much constantly within Nadal since the French Open last year. You know, he just can't stay fit for a long period of time and that is really, really taking its toll now on him. And he really veered in that post much press conference between, you know, just saying, I'm going to fight, I'm going to fight to be back and rinse every last bit out of my career that I possibly can because that's all I know how to do and that's all I want to do. You know, he's asked at the end. What's your motivation for the continuing to put yourself through what's required just to continue to be a professional athlete. And he said, I love this. And I know he's been asked that question a million times and he's told us a million times, but I still think it was valid to ask it and to be reminded by Nadal live look, I can hear him onto that question to the end of time, just say, I love doing this so much. There is nothing else I want to be doing. And there is nothing I'm not prepared to do to feel like I've got every last drop out of my career. Except it is there, is there a limit to what he's prepared to do? Is there a difference between a two month period on the sidelines followed by a two month period of rehab and a 6 month period on the sidelines followed by longer rehab and longer trying to get match practice? I do, I don't think Nadal's love for and commitment to the sport has wavered one bit. I don't think it's in his makeup for that ever to happen. I do just wonder if the balance of the equation has shifted a little bit. In his mind. Yeah, I think that's very possible. Also his life circumstances have changed. He's a father now and he spoke, I think it was after his first round, wasn't it about how he didn't really know how he would feel if he had to be away from his son for a month. And he was happy that he didn't have to be because his son has come with him here. But that is going to be factored into decisions that he makes now over the over the course of what's left of his career. So I don't think we can necessarily judge Nadal by how we've always judged him in the past. We know his motivation will never waver, as you said, his love for it will never wave, but his body and just his life might tell him something different soon. And I don't know, there was something to go back to your word earlier.
AP News Radio
Hampered by bad hip, Rafael Nadal loses at Australian Open
"Men's defending champion Rafael Nadal has been upset in the Australian open second round the 36 year old injury plague Spaniard, struggling with a hip injury late in his last 27 year old Mackie MacDonald, the American secured the biggest win of his career and reached the third round in Melbourne for the second time with an impressive 6 four 6 four 7 5 victory. He had lined another good day for American hopes, with contenders, Francis tiafoe, Jessica bagula, coco golf, and Madison keys among those safely advancing. I am Graham agar's
AP News Radio
Nadal struggles at times during 4-set win at Australian Open
"Vince defending champion Rafael Nadal was lucky to survive the first day of the Australian open, the top seed struggling against the big serving Jack Draper before winning 6 one in the fourth set of a three hour and 41 minute battle, the Spaniard help when the English man started cramping late in the match. Francis tiafoe Sebastian caught it, Jessica poo goulder and last year's finalist Daniel Collins led the American charge on day one with all but the gola needing extra sense before advancing. I'm Graham agar's
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Rarely see those outlets and we saw it all on Friday night and yeah, I'm sorry I'm doing such a poor job of summing up all the emotion that it evoked, but it's almost almost too much. Maybe Ellie goulding's got some lyrics that can help us all process process this moment. It's like trying to get inside the mind of Nadal in these tears and where they were coming from. I think you've done a brilliant job of that, but it's like it's like federal was his totem, you know? It's like Federer tethered him to the tennis world even more so than Nadal did for Federer because of course Federer was there before Nadal Nadal never known tennis without Federer. He's always been defined by Federer. It's like Matt with the big three. Yeah. It is. It absolutely is. He doesn't know what tennis looks like he doesn't know what he looks like. Now I do back him on the court. To still be the same person for the fact of Federer is not being there not to affect him. Tennis wise, because that's who he is, isn't he? When he plays ten as much as he just goes into his own where all he sees is a tennis ball. And is magically able to block everything else out, but I do think off the court. And in his life, this is going to have quite a profound effect on him. Now, as you said, obviously he's got a lot else going on at all. Distract him in, well, mostly wonderful ways, but stressful ways as well. But it's going to be interesting. We may never know, we may never hear. Rafael Nadal tell us or express to us exactly how how profound an effect it's having on him and will have, maybe he'll never be able to. But gosh, it's a lot. It's a lot for us and it's clearly a lot for them. And I do think it might help them both. I certainly think Federer understood when he was in that press conference that being amongst his peers in that moment. We'll get on to the weather if his final press professional match or not, but it was certainly his goodbye and it was amongst familiar company and important company for him. I think getting all of that out will do him good in terms of moving on. And I think it might do Nadal good. To just, you know, he's been forced to face it. I think it might even do Murray good. All of them really. It's just given them a chance to just consider where they are in their careers and lives. And so I'm grateful for that on their behalf. We'll see where else their lives and their careers end up taking them. Just on that moment, Catherine, and we'll go on to the results of the lever cuff in a minute. But that line about it not being considered his final professional match. I assume, therefore, you mean that the hair catch match a Wimbledon is what you consider to be his final professional match, veterans. Yeah, unfortunately, I would love to think that his last set played wasn't a 6 love set lost to huber her catch it on center court Wimbledon, but I think it was. That's not just I, you know, I'm wary of going over old ground relay the cup. I don't think it does it down to call it an exhibition. I believe the best thing for the labor cup is to totally embrace and lean into being an exhibition. Big it up as the best exhibition in the world. And maybe maybe over years, decades, it will grow into something more than that, as we said, the rider cup is technically an exhibition. But you can't create meaning out of nothing. And I don't think that rankings points or ATP legitimacy does anything to shortcut any of that. I just think that that and many other aspects of it just make it seem like they are trying to have it all. They're trying to have legitimacy as well as the gloss of the exhibition. You know, they had to change the rules to allow Roger Federer to be able to play. There is absolutely no way that Roger Federer was the best team selection for winning that match and accumulating points which if it were a legitimate tournament that would come ahead of everything else. Now I'm absolutely delighted that Roger Federer played that tennis match. I'm delighted that the labor cup exists and existed and gave Roger Federer that opportunity in that platform to have a place to say goodbye to do it on his own terms. It felt really fitting. But it was an exhibition that much the tournament was an exhibition. It's clearly an exhibition that meant quite a lot to some players, definitely means a lot to John McEnroe. We know he, you know, I've seen him play champion servants, many of them which are exhibitions he can't turn that tap off. But it's not a professional tennis match. That wasn't and I don't consider any of the matches played over the weekend, professional tall level tennis matches, and I think that is fine. For the laver cup, I don't think exhibition is a dirty word. It won't be for everybody. Not everybody's into watching exhibition sport, but plenty of people will be.
AP News Radio
Roger Federer's last match is doubles loss with Rafael Nadal
"To the sound of Coldplay's when I rule the world one of the greatest sporting careers has drawn to a close the tears were flowing from Roger Federer his retirement has now begun I felt that was actually able to handle the situation pretty well I felt overall I did okay even though yes sure I was crying too It wasn't quite the fairytale ending He and Rafa Nadal lost his final match to Jack sock and Francis tiafoe but it was an incredible match for 6 7 6 11 9 the packed O2 arena in London rose as one to bid farewell to Roger Federer at the lever cap Craig Gabriel London
AP News Radio
Roger Federer's goodbye will be in doubles, maybe with Nadal
"Winner of 20 Grand Slam titles is not competing solo at the labor cup in London So here I am trying to prepare for one last doubles and we'll see with who it is and obviously I don't know I'm nervous His doubles partner might be longtime rival Rafael Nadal To go through a career that we both have had and to come out on the other side and being able to have a nice relationship I think is maybe a great message as well to not just tennis but sports but maybe even beyond Federer says he's at peace with walking away He's most proud of his longevity I always look to you know the Michael Schumacher's Tiger Woods is all the other guys who stayed there for so long at the very top that I didn't understand how they did it And next thing you know it's like you're part of that group Bedroom says he doesn't want his departure to be a funeral more like party mode I'm Ed Donahue
AP News Radio
Frances Tiafoe upsets second seeded Rafael Nadal to reach US Open quarterfinals
"Men's second seed Rafael Nadal has been knocked out of the U.S. open in the fourth round by a hard charging Francis tiafoe The American 49 winners including 18 aces on his way to his first quarterfinal New York securing the three hour and 34 minute battle 6 three in the fourth the men's championship is now wide open In women's action Jessica bagula reached her first U.S. I've been caught after straight setting Petra kvitova that the next face the top seed iges fun tech Bad news over fellow American Daniel Collins She lost in three to irina sabalenka I'm Graham agar's
AP News Radio
Serena's gone, Open must go on: Kvitova, Pegula set rematch
"Men's second seed Rafael Nadal has posted his first straight sets win at the U.S. open this year moving comfortably past French veteran Richard Gasquet that on his way to a fourth round showdown with Francis tiafoe the hard hitting American advance of the final 16 for the third consecutive year in New York after a straight set upset over the 14th saint Diego Schwartzman Success also for American women's hopes Jessica pagola and Daniel Collins both reaching the open fourth round for the first time after solid winds They now join fellow Americans coco golf and Allison risk Armitage in the second week I'm Graham I gots
AP News Radio
Nadal hits nose with racket, tops Fognini | US Open updates
"American women's hopes Jessica bagula Danny oak Collins and Lauren Davis have all reached the U.S. open third round bakula and Collins through impressively and straight sets data so taking three before moving into a showdown with a top seat eager fun tech after her win over Sloane Stephens bad news for Serena and Venus Williams they fell in straight sets in the doubles first round Serena now free to concentrate solely on her swan song singles campaign And it means action to win for second seed Rafael Nadal who joins American hopes Francis tiafoe and Jensen brooksby in the third round I'm Graham agar's
AP News Radio
Venus Williams, Raducanu, Osaka all out in US Open 1st round
"Women's defending champion Emma rata has been upset in the first round of the U.S. open falling 6 three 6 three to the experience at least a corneille of France American hope Daniel Collins also pulled up an upset winning a one hour and 34 minute slugfest against a two time former champion Naomi Osaka She wrapped up the match 7 6 6 three She was joined in the second round by fellow Americans Sloane Stephens and Jessica pagola Men's second seed Rafael Nadal playing in New York for the first time in three years overcame a slow start to advance in four I'm Graham agar's
AP News Radio
Djokovic moves into 8th Wimbledon final; will face Kyrgios
"Djokovic is one match victory away from a fourth straight title at all England club following a two 6 6 three 6 two 6 four semifinal victory over British player Kim nori Djokovic reached his men's record 32nd Grand Slam title match 8 of which have come at Wimbledon Curious will be making his first Grand Slam final appearance The Australian advanced on Thursday when Rafael Nadal had to pull out of their semifinal match due to injury The women's final was scheduled for Saturday with aunt jabber taking on Elena's sabana I'm Dave
AP News Radio
AP Sports SummaryBrief at 12:22 a.m. EDT
"TP sports I'm chuck Freeman the New York Yankees are simply walking away with the American League east and their stranglehold on the division got even tighter The Yankees win their open air against the Boston Red Sox's geffen kobal reports Josh Donaldson's 6th career Grand Slam in New York's 5 run third inning helped the Yankees hold off the rival Red Sox in a 6 5 win It was a big situation for us So you know give us a little bit of a cushion there Donaldson slam was followed by a solo blast by Aaron hicks Houston beat Kansas City 5 two Justin Verlander got his American League leading 11th win I had to make some pitches and some big spots and trust my defense behind me and every game is not going to go perfectly without traffic Toronto failed to Seattle Baltimore down the LA angels Detroit beat Chicago White Sox first major league Grand Slam for JD Davis in the New York mets ten nothing route of Miami This is just a great night Got three barrels and just contributed to the ball club and it's a great team win St. Louis avoided a four game sweep by beating Atlanta three two in 11 manager Oliver marvel says the win was much needed That's a good win We've gotten beat the last couple of days here and they played good baseball Ellie Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs Philadelphia over Washington Colorado beat Arizona San Diego beat San Francisco and extras and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati split it up header Wimbledon Rafael Nadal has pulled out of a semifinal match with Nick curios because of a torn abdominal muscle so curios moves on to his first Grand Slam final where he'll meet Novak Djokovic or cam nori Anz jabara advanced to her first Grand Slam final she'll meet another first timer Alayna rob akina in the women's final Your isle of kosky The first ever Slovakian taken first in the NHL draft he went to Montreal I think it's a really good organization and importing thing is that they know what they want and I know what I want So it's good for me that they picked me WNBA star Brittany griner pleaded guilty to drug position in a Russian court could face ten years in prison Check Friedman AP sports
AP News Radio
Wimbledon updates | Matthew Ebden reaches another final
"Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Friday's scheduled semifinal match because of a torn abdominal muscle It's obvious that if I keep going the injury is going to be worse than wars The injury puts Nick kurios in Sunday's final On stripper has reached her first Grand Slam final with a 6 two three 6 6 one victory over Tatiana Maria The kind of result I was hoping for so no one more much one more step and to continue and hopefully get the title Jabra is the first African woman in an Arab woman to get to the title match at a major She'll face Elena rebutt Cana who rolled to a 6 three 6 three win over Simona Halep I'm Dave
AP News Radio
Injured Nadal pulls out of Wimbledon semifinal
"Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Friday's scheduled semifinal match because of a torn abdominal muscle The 22 time Grand Slam champion was injured in a 5 set quarterfinal match against Taylor Fritz the injury puts Nick kurios in Sunday's final On chipper has reached her first Grand Slam final with a 6 two three 6 6 one victory over Tatiana Maria Jabr is the first African woman in Arab woman to get to the title match at a major She'll face Elena rabaka who rolled to a 6 three 6 three win over Simona Halep like gibber
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Welcome to Wimbledon folks. You might wonder where our music is. You might wonder where Katherine is. More of that later, you're going to hear both of those two things. In the course of this show. But we'll come clean, Matt and I sit in on the broadcast roof overlooking court one and Henry hill at the moment. We had already recorded the podcast about 40 minutes ago, completed a lovely hour of chat about all things, semifinals today, looking ahead to the semifinals tomorrow Catherine winter away. And then two minutes later, we heard that there was going to be a press conference and Rafael Nadal was returning to Wimbledon to take part in it. And that meant we knew that Rafael Nadal was going to pull out a Wimbledon. So what we're going to do just when you think you're ahead of tennis ahead of the news, you're ready for an early night. No. Yeah. So where does that leave us? It means that we're going to have to remove the bit where we were talking about Rafael Nadal in the main show, but you're going to hear all the rest of it. And Matt and I have been in that press conference and that was in the room itself. I was watching on TV while whilst filing reports for BBC Radio. But we'll just react to that now and go through that story and then let you listen to the rest of the show that we conducted with Catherine and Simon Briggs. Honest stitch worth it. But Matt, it's been a strange day, hasn't it in a way because we had all the kind of the drama and the inspiration of yesterday him getting through that match against Taylor Fritz clearly in trouble with this abdominal tear, which was confirmed today when we heard that he'd got a 7 millimeter tear. He'd had a scan overnight, that was what was the result of it. We then had this comical situation where word got around that he was going to be practicing on court ten this afternoon. So I went out there with my BBC microphone and headphones on and word spread and people started to hear about the room and people started to come to the court ten and eventually I got to a point where I realized he's not coming. So I messaged the picture of myself looking lonely on this court to his agent and I said am I wasting my time here and he said you're wasting your time on that call. So it turned out he was on a court ten, but it was in the practice area not on the match courts and that was all the way over the other side if Wimbledon. So I went there and sure enough rattled out spent about 45 minutes, practicing ground strokes, volleys, serves. Right in the distance. I mean, we could barely seem to be honest. Deliberately tried to pick his private accord as they could, I think. No great surprise to see him not going through a hugely vigorous practice session, particularly with what is clip was clearly an injury. But it didn't necessarily mean that I thought he was going to pull out. I've personally, until an hour ago, I thought he would probably take to the court, not honestly. And I know that Djokovic was practicing there, so I was curious. Nobody was going through the most intense
AP News Radio
AP Sports SummaryBrief at 3:04 a.m. EDT
"Movies sports I'm Tom merriam The Yankees and Aaron judge got the second half of their schedule off to a grand start by slamming the pirate 16 to nothing Judge hit a Grand Slam becoming the first 30 home run hitter this season to lead a Yankee attack that featured four other homers This seems enrolling We got a good lead in the east and you know we got a big opponent coming up here with Boston for four Fenway First time going there all year The Astros winning streak was snapped at 8 by the royal 7 to four The Yale's other first place team the twins lost the seesaw battle in Chicago Here's AP's David Shuster Lauri Garcia's RBI single in the tenth inning was the game winning hit as the White Sox edge of the twins 9 to 8 It was a wild affair with the sacks coming from behind 5 times including on a two run Homer from Andrew Vaughn in the 8th Kind of in the middle I looked up and saw that we would score David score We would score they would score and kind of going back and forth and you know it's a good baseball game The race ripped the Red Sox 7 to one Randy arozarena drove in three Other AL winners the Blue Jays tigers Orioles and the angels who beat the Marlins 5 to two behind Shohei Ohtani who struck out ten and allowed just two hits in 7 innings on the mound In the NL the braves completed a sweep of the Cardinals with a three zero shutout but remained two and a half games behind the mets who scored once in the 9th to tie the reds and then 5 times in an attempt keyed by Brandon nimmo's three run Homer to win the game 8 to three This does nothing but add confidence to the offense and to the guys in the Clubhouse So very important when you know even though it's against Cincinnati W is also for the cubs Giants nationals and Dodgers who one hit the rockies two to one At Wimbledon Rafael Nadal won a 5th set tiebreaker from American Taylor Fritz to advance to the semifinals against Nick kurios who won his quarterfinal match in straight sets Nadal nearly had a drop out of the match due to a nagging abdominal injury I had this feeling for a couple of days But without a doubt today was the war's day Tom Arian AP sports
AP News Radio
AP Sports SummaryBrief at 12:50 a.m. EDT
"AP sports I'm Tom mariam The Yankees literally slammed the pirate 16 to nothing Aaron judge and Aaron hicks each belted with Grand Slam as part of the 5 Homer 22 hit attack as The Bronx bombers won their 59th game to start the second half of their schedule The Astros 8 game winning streak came to a royal land as Kansas City top Houston 7 to four The mets needed ten innings to beat the Red Sea to three and stay two and a half games in front of the braves who shut out the Cardinals for a three game sweep At Wimbledon Rafael Nadal survived an abdominal entry and Taylor Fritz to pull out a 5 set win over the American and advanced to the semifinals against Nick curios who won his quarterfinal match in straight sets Baker Mayfield has finally found a new home the former brown's quarterback was traded to the Carolina Panthers for a future draft pick The NHL draft stores Thursday night with the Montreal Canadiens hosting and holding the first pick The White House says President Biden called the wife of WNBA star Brittany griner who is detained in Russia and pledged he's working to win her release as soon as possible Tom AP
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"I would say, so yeah, I agree with I agree with Matt completely. I don't think he carries that responsibility. However, I also think it's completely legitimate for Taylor Fritz to be fuming. And irritations. Yeah, it is. And it's not on the person in question. But it is an issue that tennis has. Now, some would say that the defeated players should get to stand in. Yeah, maybe that's the case. I don't think so either. Fritz was very, very keen to not give any sense that he thought there was any untoward behavior from Rafael Nadal out there whatsoever. He was totally supportive of him. But yeah, it is an interesting one. I mean, I mean, I suppose the case is very, there's the argument in principle, and then there's the argument in relation to Rafael Nadal, because maybe you would have a point in principle, but I almost think that Rafael Nadal has done so many possible things with his failing body. That even if you accepted the argument in principle, it might not even apply to Raphael Nadal. I mean, he could still have a scan think, you know what? I'll give this a go. And then who knows? Particularly because of who he plays in the semifinal, and that is Nick kyrios. Nick kyrios speak Christian garin today 6 four 6 three 7 6 looked for a long time towards the end of the match like it was going to go for and had it gone to four could very easily go on to 5. We know we know what Christian corinne is like when he gets a sniff of a comeback. He's Australian. He had him right where he wanted him to sit down in the title. And honestly, he saw how disappointed green was to lose that day. He thought it was on, I think, he was so frustrated himself to go so far with the comeback and pay curios back and not take it further. But you know, I texted the group early stages in this match, but curios came out immediately got his serve broken and it looked like a sort of panic tank type situation. He was playing quicker than I've ever seen in play. You know, this sort of quick that just feels like a tank because you can't possibly play that quickly and be concentrating. And he lost his serve and was pretty much every moment that the ball wasn't in play. He was chanting. He was talking to himself to the crowd. He was just talking away. I couldn't make out what a lot of it was, quite frankly, but there were words. And I thought, you know, he clearly wanted it was on those days where he wanted someone to rail against. Someone or something to rail against. And I tasted the group, and I said, I think this is a straight sets defeat for curios. I just think. The curios that could win three to a Grand Slam semifinal is not shown up today. And I was completely wrong. He was really, really good today. Yeah, he was his tennis was accident. It was good. 'cause I didn't get to see any of that much because I was commentating. Well, the bits I saw and I spent a lot of that match in the Wimbledon library. But the bits I saw were he played the big points very well. Garena, I think, had 8 or 9 break points in the match. And every stage. He took one very early, as you said, and then from then on, whenever he had a chance, curios served extremely well, saved the big points. Green was actually from what I could see doing pretty well in the rallies, putting curios on quite a lot of pressure and curios soaked it up well. He just played, it was just a tennis match in the end and he just played really solidly and won the big moments. It was nothing fancy. I mean, Sam and Briggs in the press conference pointed out that there were no what he would call trick shots, no tweeners or underarm serves through the legs. Nothing like that. It was just focused kind of efficient tennis, really. Yeah, it was a tennis match and he was the superior tennis player. I mean, the service. It is such a weapon, such an enormous weapon, and a bit like with Cameron norrie's enormous lungs. I think free kitchen. I think the fact that he's got that serve in his locker helps the rest of his game, it takes so much pressure off the rest of his game, particularly in those big points. And the shoulder that we'd seen him sort of massaging in the previous round and sort of gesturing that he was feeling it a bit because explaining in the post match press conference afterwards that he was feeling it a bit because of how much Tennessee had played, there didn't seem to be any signs that there was an issue with that. It was just a good Nick curios today. He didn't even violate any clothing rules as far as I can tell. I don't know if that's coincidence. I'd be surprised if it was coincidence that he decided not to bring any circus today. But he was very, very good at tennis. And I would say actually, if you put it in just straightforward terms and line those two players up against each other on a grass court, it's kind of what it should have been. There are other considerations with Nick curios. But if you line them up as tennis players, that's a straight sets win for him. On paper. And it was actually a bit more stressful than that from what I saw. In terms of the start, as you mentioned, you want to break down, didn't he? And in fact, he was barely winning points at all at the start. But and then the near comeback at the end. But even so, you know, you're often going to get that in a big match green was trying his heart out, but ultimately that's the result it should have been. Matt took one for the team and went to the Nick curios press conference. We appreciate you Matt. Tell us about it. Well, of course, he was asked about the court summons straight away. That was the first questions from Simon Briggs.
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"So a Wimbledon semifinal lineup is set after wild Wednesday. 19 just came to me folks just came to me. Works. Does it okay? I was open to feedback on that. Okay. We're here at tennis podcast towers myself, Catherine Whitaker, David lol mat Roberts. Are we far enough into the podcast yet that I can mention that we've just been having dinner with Billie Jean King? Have I waited long enough? I think so. Great. I managed for it not to be the first first thing that I said. And I think I did well then. World Wednesday came up first. Thank you very much. That's where the pod is a little bit late tonight, folks. And that is kind of wild as well, isn't it? Yes. Yeah, it all ties into the theme. It's truly, truly wild. We also needed time to process wild Wednesday. Yeah. I don't think I have. I'm not sure we yet have. I mean, not all events of the day were wild. I'm referring in particular when I say wild to one match, that of Rafael Nadal beating Taylor Fritz in 5 complicated sets. I mean, you could do a whole podcast on that match. In the aftermath. It's why I'm leading with it. I really wanted to leave with the women's matches today and we'll give them plenty of time. But you can't not lead with Rafael Nadal and everything related to that match, how it played out, the upshot of it, the aftermath of it. What's going to happen now? It was, it was a lot. He's trying for the calendar slam, folks, and he's two legs in, and he's in the quarterfinals with a very real chance of winning the third leg. And then he's injured himself. It sounds like not today, but worsened today, and he looked done. He I was commentating on that match, his dad was telling him to retire from the box. Rafa ignored him. Rafa spent the whole next two and a half sets, basically playing on his own with no encouragement from his box, not that they didn't want him to do well, but they were worried for him and they thought he's crazy. What you're doing is the gist of what I was getting from it. He was avoiding eye contact, wasn't he with the box because he knew he was doing something they didn't approve of. There was something very. I was like superhero going it alone. Do they know Rafael Nadal? It was like, of course he's going to play. We were imposing in a way on a domestic between the family and all in his whole support team alike family to him and certainly because they want what's best for him. But I know what you mean, but I mean, he has retired from a couple of grand slams before when he's been in real trouble. I guess this was sufficiently borderline and he makes his own mind up, but what an incredible process to go through in your mind to feel whatever he was feeling, and still carry on and still persevere. Is it a process, though, or is it, I'm not sure there is that process, I think it's he doesn't know any other way. I'm not sure how complicated a process for us it would be complicated, but for him it's extremely simple and clear. Is it possible for me to carry on, okay, then I will. That's the equation. Yeah, such a big match, as you said. He's aware of the calendar slam thing. He knows this is his shot. Anything to just get through this match, and he says it all the time, things can change so quickly in tennis. We know he's going to have a scan on this injury and look, it doesn't sound good. It really doesn't. But he's all about surviving in the moment that he's in and figuring out whatever comes later later. Just get through this if he can. And he found a way, didn't he? He slowed down his serve, dramatically, he had to alter that shot, but the rest of his game at times was incredible still. I mean, some of the points he was coming up with from the baseline, Taylor Fritz was saying I was throwing everything at him and he was turning it back on me. I'm sure we'll come on to Taylor Fritz's performance, but I felt Nadal's level. Tennis wise is still really, really high. That was as bullish as he's been for a long time about his own form. That he thinks the tennis is right there and that's why clearly so gutted. 367-536-7576 ten four in the match tiebreak which decided the contest at what stage David you were commentating on sets two and four but obviously I think watching from the 5 live commentary booth for lots of it and from the 5 live green room for the rest of it and what stage did the what we think is an ab injury become most apparent to you. As you say, we were wearing the previous match that he was clutching at his stomach area a bit. But at what stage did it the severity of the situation become clear? Well there are a couple of weird things happening with the score. He went up to love in the first set and you and I almost instantaneously said he is honest today, and it wasn't just the score line. It was the way he was going about it. He was just that caged animal thing. He was all over the change had been smothering the burying shots and there was one shot where he swooped into the air and did almost like a slam dunk smashed. There was such confidence about him, then he went on a bit of a losing streak and he lost his break of serve. But in the second set, he did the same thing because he ended up he ended up losing that first, so didn't he? But then in the start, the second set he went up three love again, you know, and you're thinking, okay, he's doing exactly the same thing and the same thing started to happen with Fritz coming back into the set. I was commentating alongside Laura Robson and BBC Radio. And he went for serve and he sort of collapsed on the serve and almost went on one knee and I didn't really catch it 'cause I was watching where the server had gone and Laura said, oh he's hurt on air. He's in trouble. And you realize then he's cropped. Suddenly he's not moving properly. He's arming the ball over. The server's 99 miles an hour, not a 119 miles an hour. And this went on for several games. You can see him conversing, or at least communicating with his box, shaking his head. It's a problem, and his dad's like waving his arm pretty violently and vehemently insane. Just stop, get out of there. And he's just ignoring it. And he's thinking, well, I almost want Indian Wells with a broken rib. And I won French Open with a zombie foot. Australian open when I believe retired a month earlier? That's it. I mean, in the context of Nadal's year, this match fits perfectly, doesn't it? It's what he's been doing all year, surviving and winning. But an app an ab injuries usually curtains, isn't it? I mean, I feel like I've learned a lot about our injuries in the past three weeks. It's the injury du jour, isn't it? It's injury over the last 18 months because if you remember post quarantine posts locked down, everybody was having them in Australia and Djokovic got whatever degree it was. You know, with these, you never quite know the degree of the tear, do you? And he had his and he managed his and maybe Rafael Nadal will be able to somehow manage his, but from what we heard at the end of the match, he was struggling to walk up the stairs and he had to cancel his TV interviews and he sounded pretty damn beats. And he's going for scan, he said, didn't he? And that's never a good sign mid tournament. Is it? No. Although, I mean, I think they want to know the severity.
AP News Radio
Hampered Nadal gets past Fritz at Wimbledon; Kyrgios next
"Although his father motioned for him to quit playing the 22 time Grand Slam champion pulled out a 367-536-7576 victory awaiting Nadal as Nick kyrios who's in a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time after a 6 four 6 three 7 6 victory over Christian garran Simona Halep in Elena advanced to the women's semifinals Alep was a 6 two 6 four winner against Amanda anisimova Dropped her opening set before defeating four 6 6 two 6 three I'm Dave
AP News Radio
Quieter, calmer Kyrgios in Wimbledon quarters years later
"After being fined $4000 for cursing aloud in his previous match Nick kyrgios tone things down a bit in a 5 set victory over unseated American Brandon nakashima The 27 year old Australia next plays Christian garin 26 year old from Chile The other quarterfinal on their half of the draw will be 22 time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal against 11th seeded Taylor Fritz The woman scored a final set Monday a 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep versus Amanda anisimova and Elena ribena versus islay tumult John I'm Ben Thomas
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"And then there was challenge drama because green was out of challenges and he wanted to challenge a backhand down the line. It was clearly in his head. It had all the ingredients for a really fun match including the atmosphere and that was something that Gary and spoke about in the press conference, wasn't it? It seems to be a Chilean community here, and they were really, really getting behind. Well, I ran into it at the end of the match when I was trying to David was in it. Exit and green came out of an exit and suddenly I'm in this log jam of people, everybody holding up phones, crane into try and get a picture of green and I was stood there for a good ten minutes, but it was just a brilliant atmosphere. And perhaps the most interesting thing about this is that, of course, this is the Matteo bertini vacated section of the draw and Christian gorin was due to face beretta in the first round. He was the person most directly benefiting from claritin is unfortunate withdrawal because of COVID. And he said, he was really annoyed that he drew baritone in round one because he felt like he was playing well. He felt like he was, you know, perhaps set up for a run and then he saw baritone and he thought one of the favorites for the tournament. And just think that mindset of not having to face peritonei, maybe just freed him up and he's playing even better than he was expecting. I tried to go to diminish press conference, but it clashed with the lenora bacchanal who we'll talk about in a little while. And I had to leave to go and interview her and I can only imagine that he was crushed by this. This must be one of the hardest defeats he's ever had and on match point he'd tried to bend his rocket. Of course. Tried to break his racket over his knee, Stan Wawrinka style, and the rinka just sort of folds the racket over his knee like a piece of paper, or like he's folding a tea towel. And demon or tried it. And it was framing. He couldn't do it. It was a real metaphor for the last. Four hours, all of his effort. He said. He said impress fortune favors the brave, and that's why that's what I wasn't able to do. Today. It's quite a breaks your heart, doesn't it? Yeah. It does a little bit. So look, assuming that Nadal comes through and he's up 5 three now and serving, so again, you'll know by the end of this podcast. Assuming that the dog does come through that the court of finals that we've had set up today in a doll against Fritz and curios against green. They're good good quarter finals aren't they are interesting. Green, by the way, was saying he's a real fan of Nick curios. He said, I watch his matches and I think he's really good for tennis. I did kind of want to say what about if you're up the other end and in stephanus city passage? We'll ask you in two days time. We will. But you know, again, it's a great draw for curios. It is an ordinarily I think that that's a red flag for curiosity expected to win, but that was the case today, and he coped with it very well. So let's see. Let's see, that's going to be very interesting indeed. As will Fritz Nadal, I think that again, you know, we said early rounds that Nadal's going to have to play better. And he has been playing better. He's got a bit better with every round, I think, but this is a significant step up once again. Fritz's Fritz's property he's dangerous. And he knows he can beat him. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. With a sort of semi broken ankle. If what I think is going to be in the Netflix documentary I'll see your broken ankle and I'll break my rib. Yeah..
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"And so I would imagine there have probably enormous self confidence. He thinks he's going to he's going to do more. I'm sure in the future. But I mean, and this was a way worse ankle turn. I think than what Greg had and Greg, Greg reckons, it'll be out for 6 weeks. Minimum. Obviously none of us are doctors, but I mean, he's going to miss Wimbledon. You know, there's no way you're going to play Wimbledon with that ankle. And who knows whether he'll be back for the U.S. open? I mean, it looked horrible. I used to get onto Taylor Fritz's yes. Yeah. What body part was that that was at a knee. Yes, I believe. Do surgeons tend to do multiple don't know. Knee and ankle specialist probably above our grade. In terms of explanation. We're in medical corner folks. Which isn't where we want to be, but I'm not sure where we do want to be today because it's all I keep looking at Matt, think you've got anything to say, Matt sort of is avoiding eye contact because. Nobody wanted that much to win that way. I mean, I think we did want it to end. Sooner than it was on track too, but obviously not that way. Desperately not that way. It was horrible, absolutely horrible scenes. It was horrible for the crowd. It was obviously horrible for zverev. Horrible than a doll who, of course, dealt with it so elegantly, exactly as you'd expect. It was such genuine concern and sportsmanship from Raphael Nadal, which is no surprise whatsoever. But it was just all so awkward and weird and horrible. You said to me, Catherine, while we were having dinner, something which I hadn't thought about, whether there would be any kind of impacts on the doll in the final because of the way this match finished, just the fact that he didn't get the usual moment. He didn't, he didn't go through by winning the match, and would it affect him at all going in to the final. And my immediate reaction was no. I don't think so, you know, it's Nadal, he's through whatever. Maybe more fuel in the tank, even. Yeah, exactly. You know, because minimum, that was looking like four and a half, 5 hours, even if he'd won it in straight sets. It was three hours 13 for less than two cents. I haven't seen a match. We've seen over four hours in a three setter, but for two sets. Back to back like that, I can't remember one. I believe there's never been a straight set match. At a slam three out of 5, that's over four hours. There's been best of three sets, which have gone over four hours, but never a straight sets three, three sat max. So it was very much on track for that. Anyway, but I was thinking about this and I was listening to John worth I'm on tennis channel this evening. And he made the point that, yes, okay, there was the fact that it got cut short. If you can call it short, so it might help him from a physical standpoint, but Nadal has had a very emotional role on Garros. If you look at the players, he's had to play. There was the whole turning at all situation in round four against ocean allia scene. Okay, maybe it was least impactful from the dial, but still there was there was a situation there and it was an emotional match. Djokovic, that carries a lot of weight and there's his so much history on the line when they play. This was an emotional finish today. And the final will be because it's a run on gala's final. He's going for something completely extraordinary. So he's sort of taking on a lot here in adult and just emotion wise. And I think he will be fine. I think he will handle all that, but it's an extra element, then I think is at play here for Nadal, this tournament. And there's also the emotion. I asked him about this in press after his last victory. There's the emotion of what he keeps telling us about of knowing, feeling, telling everybody that every match he plays could be his last at Roland Garros and of his career. And I asked him, you know, whether that emotional burden has any kind of toll and he's pretty much said yes, didn't he? He said, you know, it is what it is in classic Rafael and adult style, but of course it does, you know, that's an incredible weight emotionally to be to be carrying on his shoulders. So we'll talk about Casper rude obviously in due course, but regardless of all of it, he'll go into the into the finals a heavy favorite, I think, but it's not insignificant. And how about his answer in the Spanish portion of the press conference when he was asked, obviously, it's his birthday today. And he was asked whether what if a Genie with a lamp came along for your birthday and offered you winning the final on Sunday, but keeping your foot as it is. Or losing the final and getting a new foot. And I thought Nadal wouldn't engage with this question. He doesn't like hypothetically. Does he like that? Straight as an arrow. And he was straight in there that he would choose losing the final and getting a new footage. You know, but he was really putting it in terms of life. He said it's painful. It must be so it must be miserable. And you think of what Andy Murray was like. When you interviewed him after that match against bad district, and he was sort of pulling himself onto a stool. To sit down and he couldn't really move about probably and everything was hurting. He couldn't put his socks on, all these sort of things. And then when he got the resurfacing done, suddenly the pain had gone and his mood lightened. I mean, I get it from Nadal. And when we talk about the emotion, can imagine next week, regardless when or lose now, you'll be in bets for days. You would have thought, just how much he's going to have to just kind of get himself over this line, how much is that going to take from him? Probably a heck of a lot. It was reported in marker, the Spanish newspaper today that Rafael Nadal has already decided he won't be playing Wimbledon, he'll be taking several weeks off.
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Thinking because it just wasn't none of it was panning out how he had planned. But yeah, it was a frustrating watch from alcaraz. Yeah, and look, I think alcaraz will learn from this and I think ultimately it will end up being an experience he will use, you know, think about the way he used that experience against Hugo Gaston at the end of last season in Paris. That was quite a scarring experience or moment you would have thought where he lost his lead and the crowd was all against him. You know, you felt like they could there could be some sort of hangover from that for a few months and he just come out this season seemingly toughened by it. So I think in the long run this will be a good experience for our careers, but from various point of view, this was the Grand Slam performance that I feel like we've been waiting years for. I mean, it's the first time he's beaten a top ten player at a Grand Slam. He was previously Owen 11 against them and yeah, I do think in those last couple of sets, our crew has played well and stuck with him. Played with him and I didn't think this performance was going to come, to be honest. I've certainly not in this match. I kind of thought we knew who's where I was as a Grand Slam player. The difficult thing for him is he's, you know, it's only the quarterfinals. He's still got to do it again against Rafael Nadal if he is to take that next step. Here's one for you. Is Alexander zverev as he made this stride and beaten this top ten player, because he's on probation. And because he can't afford to throw his racket and lose his temper. And hold it together. Has that given him a poise that is enabling him to actually get the best out of himself now? Well, the next one will ask him. Yeah. I'm not sure how that'll go, but we'll ask him. Yeah. It's just interesting because he hasn't pushed the boundaries of that probation. Since he's had this situation in February, and I did think, you know, he's somebody who's so tightly wound up and he usually just explodes, doesn't he? And the racket goes and he'll say what everybody thinks. What he just he hasn't even come close to doing that since then. And he can't afford to, but he also hasn't done it. So I just I wonder whether actually this is in some really weird way has ended up aiding his attempts at becoming the best player he can be. That also incidentally is evidence that hot headed tempers in the heat of the moment can be controlled. With. Rules and measures and consequences. Talking about all this all these other acts of tempestuous headed racket abuse and all the rest of it in dangering members of the crowd and court furniture and all the rest of it. This does make the consequences stiff enough and it works. Look, we'll have plenty time to previews whereof against Nadal. That's in.
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"And I thought he's not happy here with some of the stuff he's hearing. But look, we've seen that before and invariably seems to bring out the very best in him and edge that you don't get unless he's wound up. Look, the French crowd are on the edge generally when they're into it. And I love them for it. I've just been completely swept along with that because this is my first ever trip to the French Open, but I'm not here in individual things what has been what are being said. I can imagine how you would feel if you're trying your heart out and things are being said. It may well have crossed the line. And it's unquestionably of for me cross the line at the U.S. open for Djokovic against Federer in the past, and even at Wimbledon once. I thought, come on. You know, I don't like the double fault cheering or whatever it might be. And a bit of baiting of him sometimes, but look, that is sport. People are swept up and wound up and getting into it. You can't really have it both ways. You either want people getting involved, and yeah, if somebody's really abusive, check them out. But for the most part, it's usually just a noise, isn't it? It might be sometimes at the wrong time, and yeah, it was mostly behind Nadal, Djokovic had his pocket of support. That's kind of what typically happens. I think particularly with Nadal at this stage of his career, people are know that they've got to make the most of it. And they're now showing that appreciation, I think, for him. It was just a very hasty exit from Djokovic from the Philippe chantry court. I thought he might acknowledge the crowd a bit more because yes. Yes, they were prone to doll, but he had his pockets of support and they speak up, don't they? His support, the flags that they had were bigger than the Spanish flags that were around. You know, they try and they really try and make up for it. The people that are there supporting him and he just look, it's understandable. It was close to 2 o'clock in the morning, but I was just very, you know, I was struck by how haste. I think it would have hurt, you know? The argument would have gone that yes Nadal on the Australian open, but now that Djokovic wasn't there. So does it really count? In the eyes of the Djokovic fans, that would be the case, right? Well, Djokovic was here and he's just got beaten and he got beaten fair and square. I think there was also a time in Paris where Djokovic was really, really popular. You know, I always think back to that ovation he got after he lost to wearing co in 2015. I think they wanted to see him win here in 2016 when he beat marry and that was right in the middle of perhaps the period of Nadal fatigue that we've talked about in the past. But the balance has tipped again with everything that I've been through over the last year with his foot. Well, how about that foot because without any specific mention of the word foot? It was sort of at the very heart of Nadal's post match press conference, wasn't it? Because once again, as he did on in his uncle interview with Marion bartley, as he did after his last run and as he has done consistently at this tournament in particular, he was talking about how this Roland Garros could be his last and he walks on to court knowing that every match could be his last, and while some of that is sort of Rafael Nadal realism, I think that sort of, you know, shrug of the shoulders. Well, you know, he's, you know, that living in the moment thing that Rafael Nadal has taken nothing for granted. I also do think it is laden. With something here, I'm increasingly getting the impression and particularly this evening that there's something more and we don't want to put words into his mouth, but Matt and I both came away from that press conference this evening thinking this could be it. This could be it he could be thinking when here, number 14, number 22, call it a day, the pain is too much to bear any more, he said. He confirmed today he's brought his doctor with him to this tournament. He was talking about the pain he was in in Rome. He said, I brought my doctor with him here. We're making it work. It's not a long-term solution. He said, we'll keep trying to find long-term solutions. I'll always keep trying, but what he's doing here at this tournament to make himself able to play and able to play four hour matches like he did today is not sustainable beyond this fortnight. I mean, so I assume we don't know what he is actually doing, but for all we know he could be doing a cortisone injection or something. Imagine nerve blockers. He said in Spanish that he's not going to talk about it now, but he would reveal everything after the tournament. In terms of what he's doing. And I agree, I left the press conference with the same impression. There's a very real possibility that this is, well, I put it 22 and out. You know, I'm sort of counting on him winning the next two matches, which is by no means a guarantee, but. I don't know how much longer he can stand what he's what he's doing to himself to get through these matches and these tournaments. That's the impression I have. I don't think I can, I don't think I can bear the potential emotion of watching the remainder of our final adult in this tournament knowing that or feeling that we don't know it, but I've already experienced too much emotion today, let alone this tournament. I'm not sure how much more I can bear just before we move on to other matches that we watched today. I mean, we have to cover the fact that it finished at one 30 in the morning and it started at 9 o'clock at night and it didn't even go 5 sets and tennis being silly, isn't it? And it doesn't need to be this way. And both players said this is ridiculous. And what are we doing? What is this sport doing? I'd love somebody to explain it. And tell me that this is, and look, it was a packed house at the end. And I'm sure the viewing figures were good, but surely they'd be better if it was earlier, and surely it would be, I don't know. One set in the morning. I mean, I can never get away from the fact that the ultimate internist is going to the 5th set tiebreak, or the final set tie break. And if you go to that, you're going to be after 2 a.m. every single time. Why? Why would you do that? Because tennis is always the answer. There's no other sport that does this. There's no other sport that plans. For a 2 a.m. finish and has one consistently. But hey, you've heard us talk a lot about tennis finishing late recently. So let's move on to other topics. How about the man that Raphael Nadal face in the semifinal in three days time? And that three days could be crucial. There's the extra day off for both these two players. It's an even playing field, but obviously feels a lot more crucial for Raphael Nadal, he's played. He's playing more than 8 hours over the last two rounds Rafael Nadal will play Alexander zverev in the semifinals who beat Carlos alcaraz today in four grueling sets three hours and 80 minutes. So damn site shorter than Djokovic Nadal, but alcaraz and they play a lot quicker between points in those two, don't they? 6 four 6 four 6, the comeback looked on from Alcatraz. It went to a four set tie break one by Alexander zverev, 9 7 in the fourth. This, I mean, is the highest seed, the seed far more far more Grand Slam pedigree, formal French Open pedigree, and yet it felt like a monumental shock. Yeah, there's an upset..
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"It was their 59th meeting as he pointed out, David, the headset does not fit on one page, and it was Hannah was asking something on our WhatsApp group earlier on today about their head to head and David just sent screenshots to the photos of the head to head. I haven't got time, Hannah. Draw through all two pages of music. Too long. Exactly. Exactly. Did we see what that stands for? I've been wondering for years. Did we see anything different or unexpected tactically tonight from either of them? Or do we know what we're getting from these two and you might get a slightly different riff on it, but it's basically this is how these matches are played against one another. Did anybody try anything different tonight? I find it very hard to tell in kind of in the moment you just so wrapped up by the emotion of it all. I felt like Djokovic wasn't using the drop shot as much as he did in the 2020 final. For example, I was just talking about the sort of history of their rivalry, something that dal said in the Spanish portion of his press conference tonight was that he felt this was the second time he'd really been the underdog against Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros. And the other one was the 20 15 quarterfinal, which coincidentally I was also apt. That was when I came to Roland Garros as a fan. And Djokovic destroyed Nadal that day. It really did, you know, he beat him handily and it was jarring to see Nadal lose that way on the court Philippe chatrier. And we talk about the incredible things Nadal is doing this year alone, 2022. But to me, it's also completely remarkable that we are 7 years on from that match. Where Nadal looked a shadow of himself and he is playing tennis like this. I think we can talk about the sort of individual tactics of a match. But Nadal has not reinvented himself as a tennis player over the last 7 years, but he's added to his game. He's improved his game. He's figured out a way to get the best out of himself while he's in his 30s. And to me, that is remarkable. If you'd said to me on that day, 7 years ago that in 7 years time, you would see the doll beat Djokovic in the same round at Roland Garros. I would have thought that's not possible because Nadal's career looked almost done. You know, he was so handily beaten that confidence crisis at that point. He was. Absolutely. And I was talking about how I listened to episode one of the podcasts the other day. And at that point, Nadal had got 6 rowing Garros titles, and now he's got 13. But actually, the one thing that was different today that I don't recall ever seeing and admittedly I'm watching this from the 5th floor of court Philip Schneider. So I'm a long way away, but my sense was that there was 8 needle between those two in that fourth set. And they were circling marks at each other in the were going up and inspecting them more and I just, it wasn't a warm embrace at the end of the day. I was going to say that. But for players that have met 59 times and who will be defined one by one another in many ways, once their careers are done and in the history books, and that could have been their last ever meeting, it wasn't a warm embrace. When there was so much at stake tonight, because Nadal's in a race against time here, he hasn't got long left, really, as he. Even to my eyes, he hasn't got long left. And I know you both went in the press currency and can tell me about the impressions you got from that, but I saw them in when they were coming out in the corridor. And they never even met eyes, and they were right next to each other. There was not even acknowledgment of each other. And I just got the sense that they were aware of the stakes. They know where they stand in history now, this really is at a premium. And also, I think back to the Australian open this year, Nadal's comments about Djokovic, I felt at the time, I think I said it on the podcast. There will always be respect between them, absolutely, but I felt in Australia like Nadal distant distanced himself a bit from Djokovic. He just said, I don't agree with how he's handled this. And yeah, I wasn't sure how to put it. I wasn't sure. It wasn't aggro. It wasn't. Needles are great. But needles are great word. There was a slightly simmering tension. And I felt in the press conferences, they weren't throwing praise at each other. You know, there was, again, there's immense respect. There's absolutely, that's always going to be there, but I agree, I do think that was a bit of a difference tonight. A few more topics to cover on this match before we move on to other very, very dramatic events of the day in Paris, the crowd. You're a very good gauge of crowds, I think David obviously it was a pro Raphael Nadal crowd. I think pretty much whoever he'd be playing, it would be maybe if he was against a French man, although even against Corinth and mute the other night, it was maybe 50 50. Did it ever cross the line into disrespectful for you? Well, it was difficult to tell, but there were things happening that Djokovic was clearly getting wound up by and there were a couple of points he won where he would win them and then almost turn immediately to a section of the support, who he assumed thinks were getting unnecessarily an over the top behind Nadal. And in my commentary, I said, he's turned to them and he said, come on, and I'll take you all on..
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Well, it is nearly 3 o'clock in the morning and we have all just watched Rafael Nadal do something truly extraordinary. Which is a phrase that I and others have said far more than we should ever have been able to say over the course of the last 20 years. But tennis finishing one 30 in the morning and Rafael Nadal doing superhuman things are no longer have never been particularly unusual events and yet we should not take them for granted. We should not take what we are seeing tonight for granted, David Lawrence. No, no, we shouldn't. And I've still struggling to get over the fact that he's here at all and competing properly after what I saw at the end in Rome. That looked too far, gone. And injury or problem, a physical impediment for him to be able to perform like this. Well, that was made to look stupid. It wasn't it. And I think most people felt like that coming into this tournament. I don't know too many people who thought he had a realistic chance. Given given how he looked, but then he worked his way through those early rounds. He's withstood the FedEx Oceania scene match, which he didn't look very good in really for parts of that. But tonight, the way he came out and just took it to Djokovic and just decided, I'm going for it. And I thought he was trying to win it quick and like he did two years ago. A year and a half ago in the October match that they played and it was very similar, wasn't it to 6 two three love just pummeling Djokovic and he was shortening the points and flattening it out and absolutely blistering shots left right and center. But it was almost more surprising what happened after that. How we won when he didn't win that second set. I can't get my head around that. Matt, when we watched Rafael Nadal win the Australian open in January of this year, just doing the completely unthinkable. I mean, a reaching that final in the first place having been in absolutely no formal fitness before the tournament, but doing what he did in that final coming from two sets to love down to win it. We decided we would we would never again back against Rafael Nadal that we would forever think anything was possible. And yet two months later, this felt impossible, didn't it? I know he hasn't won the tournament yet. And he may not, but he feels a little bit like he has in some ways. Yeah. We're idiots. We're fools. Matt did you think like we thought? Because you're usually the one who says, no, no, it's Nadal at Roland Garros. I always say that. Except I didn't say it this year. And that is despite seeing what I saw in Australia as Catherine says, I was so taken by how much pain he was in in Rome. As you said, just a couple of weeks ago and I didn't think this was possible. You then throw in the fact he's playing, playing Djokovic at night. I don't know what we were so worried about. I mean, and again, it's a case of honestly doubting him because I would have had probably the same feelings going into the 2020 final that you mentioned, David. And he came out in this one like he came out in that one, as you said. Just a blistering start. Absolutely vintage Nadal for the first hour. While there was still blue sky above the stadium, he was incredible. And then honestly, the sky turned black. It turned dark. And there was 45 minutes, 50 minutes there. When it all barely won games, as Djokovic fought back in that second set and I did think, okay, maybe these are the conditions slowing down. Maybe this is all favoring Djokovic. He was starting to time his returns and starting to dictate with the forehand and I started to think, okay, Nadal's incredible, but this is the match I was expecting, Novak Djokovic, being able to handle him. And then the start of the third set happened and the doll goes up a double break and I just didn't see that happening at all and then the latter half of the match was the Nadal we've seen this year in 2022. Him doing things which I no longer thought were possible for him to do and yet he keeps doing them. He's extraordinary. It was the third set that was the biggest surprise of the match to me. Their last two meetings at this tournament Nadal has made strong powerful starts in both here last year, and of course he went on to lose that epic match to Djokovic and in 2020 when he went on to continue what he did in the opening set and roll over Novak Djokovic frankly in that October final. So yes, although it was quite startling, seeing him do that given everything we've said about his form coming in here. And I think Djokovic looked quite startled, we've seen it before, Djokovic coming back in the second set. We've seen that before. Rafael Nadal just squashing that momentum that Djokovic had gained in that second set. And as you said, making it look like the tide is his turn here, especially with the weather changing. That was just an extraordinary feat of tennis and of match management, which is such an unsexy term, isn't it? But it's relevant there. Yeah, Nadal Nadal made it sexy tonight somehow, didn't he? He went to double break up in all three of those opening sets..
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Well, I rounded off yesterday's podcast by appealing to the tennis gods for better tennis today. And it turns out the tennis gods are listeners to the tennis podcast because boy did they deliver day 8 has been a corker. David's here. Hello David. Hello, you're right. It's been great. I've just come back from commentating on the last match of the day with Carlos alcaraz. And that was something else. It's the sort of performance you can only sum up with sort of guttural noises, not sure this is going to be the best listened match here. We'll rely on map to produce eloquent words for things. I will do my best. Yes, it's very cold today around on Gary. But the tennis was super, so it made up for it. Yeah, we've just been watching while you were commentating David. We were watching the Prime Video French coverage of the evening session. The presenter was wearing a coat in a scarf. Yeah. I was in the press seats for sets one and three because I was only commentating on set two. And by the end, I mean I was the only one left in the press seeds. Nobody else was braving it. But I was wearing a full woolly jumper and my coat. And there was people in front of me in between games dancing up and down just to keep warm, like they were jogging on the spot. Wow. Yes, they were handing out blankets to the spectators throughout the day. It was that cold. It is scheduled to get warmer from this point onwards. And I think quite substantially warmer, and obviously the conditions are always such a feature of this tournament and we'll talk about them today. We'll talk about them every day going forward, but obviously that change is certainly could be significant. Let's talk about the tennis today. At around about 5 p.m. this afternoon, the news broke, the Roger Federer has got a dog. Yeah. And at that moment, when I stared, when I gazed adoringly for many, many minutes as I did at the photo or Federer with willow, I thought there is no possible way that this won't be leading the agenda on tonight's tennis podcast. I don't care what Rafael Nadal pulls out of the bag. I don't care what kind of shot Carlos alcaraz produces this evening. I do not care willow is going to be is going to be what we predominantly talk about. And so it is. Do you see what I've done there? I'm sort of saying we're not leading with willow, but we're also a little bit leading with that. Just about managed to shoehorn Carlos alcaraz in there by virtue of having just should we should we just get willow chat. Roger Federer has got a dog folks in his own words. He gave in, I mean, I don't know why it's taken this long. But anyway, he's finally seen the light. He's got willow. He has not declared what type of dog willow is, but I'm going to deploy my best investigative journalism, and I will, I'll bring you the scoop as soon as we have confirmation. My diagnosis is that it's a cockapoo. Oh. I know what it is. Oh. That's fluffy one. Series done by Matt. Well, I was wondering, because I mean, presumably, they also have with those twin. That's how the federals roll, isn't it? They don't do one of anything. Maybe they'll be a tweet tomorrow. Unveiling willow's twin. Gets himself into the bluming conversation to me. You know, it's all our careers. He knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing. He famously doesn't like dogs because he quote doesn't trust their intentions. Especially willow. Anyway, willow is a Butte. I'm sure you've all seen mellow on the Internet if you haven't check her out. I think assume it's a she. Anyway, we'll bring you all those all those scoops when we have them, David is making faces at me like the listeners have tuned out and move along. Right then, should we talk about Nadal? Should we talk about the 13 time Roland Garros champion? Yeah. And what he did today. He won 6 three in a 5th set over Felix auger aliya seem four hours and 22 minutes Hannah. Brilliantly on our Twitter today said, how can something we've seen so many, many, many times still astound? And that is how I felt watching what he did out there today. Matt and I watched that 5th set together just as we watched the Australian open final together earlier on this year and it gave me all the same feelings how are we watching this and how are we still surprised by it even though all we seem to do is watch astounding things from Rafael Nadal. He is he something else? Here's something else. I think just before we get on to that element of it. Is also part of the conversation there, the fact that he ended up in that hole in the first place because he came out and he had 6 break points in the first set. He didn't take them. He was miss queuing and he didn't look on. And then he was two sets of one up. And I'm assuming he's winning in four. I'd completely written the match off. And look, that's a, that should be a huge credit to ocean a scene because he didn't go away mentally. He stayed with him, and he actually kept his game pretty tight. He played really well. But is the headline that Nadal got him in himself in that position, or is it that he dug himself out of it? I think it's that he dug himself out of it. Nadal in his press conference was interesting because he gave what I felt was a very sharp analysis of the match in that he absolutely credited Phoenix auxilia scene with playing really well and we should talk about that because he did..
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"A bit of ruffalo with the crowd because, you know, there were some calls between serves and when players were in particular deal Medvedev was going to serve. But mostly it had been kept in a lid on, but set number four, you start to see him physically ale, I think he's just a split second slow, but more than that, you start to see the shot selection just go haywire in the most dramatic, almost pretty laughable way. There was the old laugh out loud moment from Daniel Medvedev and just the absolute epitome of a brain cramp, I think, basically. Yeah, there was some weird drop shots. There was some moments where he had the whole core open and he would hit it straight back at Nadal, and obviously part of that is Nadal's anticipation, I suppose. But yeah, I think Medvedev's decision making was pretty suspect and was indicative of someone whose mind had been pretty scramble just by Nadal's ability to stay in that match. And it's interesting what you say about the noise because, you know, tennis matches are so often, you know, silence and then noise, silence and then noise. My overwhelming memory of that was just noise. I can't remember there being that much silence during the match. And maybe that's just because, you know, the noise was so loud it was sort of continuing to ring in your ear even when it was quiet. But it was difficult to think straight. And I think possibly maybe Medvedev was feeling that as well. And obviously, we'll talk about the crowd. But yeah, it just makes it all the more remarkable to me that Nadal did make great decisions because I think actually Medvedev making bad decisions was kind of indicative of the frenzy and at the moment and of everything that was going on around him. But it was Nadal's clear headedness that was amazing. And just the way that atmosphere in the stadium changed as Nadal started making his comeback, Nadal's shot started having much more on them instead of having more effect instead of being more effective. And with that, I think, you know, the crowd sensed it. There was suddenly more noise. There was this couple sitting, I don't know, ten rows in front of us, and at the end of the second set, there they were standing up, waving their Spanish flag so limply and so sort of pathetically that they just were waving it because they had it with them. You know, it was like a sort of prop. It was an apology. It was so apologetic the way we've brought this, we know you need us, but oh, there's not much to wave. But then come the fourth set. I mean, the guy at his guns out. He was fist pumping. He was brandishing his flag. You know, Bobby's head, just they sort of, I think, perfectly encapsulated the way that the way that the feel of the match and the way that the crowd responded to the match just changed through that through that third and in particular, I think the fourth set, because even once the dollar won the third, I still think Medvedev was a pretty strong favorite in the match, but it was the fourth set where really, as you said, Medvedev's decision making Medvedev's physical state became quite alarming for him in the door was just growing taller by the moment. And then after Nadal takes that full set, they both go off the court, don't they, and there's a long enough break that both Matt and I could sneak out to the loo without missing any of the tennis. So thank you, Nadal and Medvedev. For that lube break, we all took a loop break together. So they come back on the court and you'd already pointed out David I think all of our minds had gone to the fact that at this stage it's a mirror image if the one previous Grand Slam final they had played at the U.S. open in 2019. It's a reflection, isn't it? Nadal that took the opening two sets in that one meant that I fight back takes it to 5. And then so often there's that reset going into a 5th set isn't there and so it proved in New York in 2019 and it did feel like, okay, everything's everything is blank slate now from this point forward. But Rafael Nadal did not feel that way because he just picked up right where he left off and immediately started putting pressure on the Medvedev serve. He doesn't break. I don't think at the first time of asking, but he does get quite an early break in that set. And he ended up losing that break while serving for the match. He got to 30 love up, didn't he on his serve. I'm remembering this as I go if that's not completely obvious. And I remember Matt was counting on his fingers. So when he went up to serve for the match, Matt had four fingers up and then I think it was a service winner on the first point and that goes down to three fingers up and then it was another fairly short point to go 30 love two fingers up and never got closer than the two fingers..
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Vintage Nadal for the first couple of sets. He wasn't adhering to carrillo's carrillo's first law today was immaterial. No, the laws are hold your serve, hide your weakness and have a weapon. Now on a good day, obviously, he can do all three of those. We've got plenty of evidence now of a terrible teeny bit for two sets. Didn't do any of those. And he fronted up to that impressed, didn't he? Yeah, he did. I asked him about those first two sets because he said he expected more of himself and I said, what were you expecting? And he just said, my attitude was bad. I was in the wrong mood, was the phrase he used to describe those two sets. He didn't say it was flat, he just said my approach was wrong, really, and I thought that was a pretty honest assessment. He's also got the problem that one of his ways of hiding the weakness is to use the slice. But that's an absolute no, no, against Nadal, because slices fit right into Nadal's topspin forehand and that's just what I mean about it being even more of a matchup problem if the backhand if hitting being hit if Nadal hitting your backend is, you know, being made fun of by sibling, then giving him the slices, you know, like a wedgie. I've noticed that Nadal's footwork is like the roadrunner cartoon when anybody hits a slice to him. He sort of spots it immediately that the guys open the face the racket always hit in a slice. Right. I don't care where this is going. I am not hitting him back with a backhand. He can hit it right onto my backhand side. I'm going to get over there and hit a forehand winner. That's the end of it. He takes it almost as a personal insult if somebody dares to hit a slice to him. And he's just going to make them pay. And that's what he did. I think right at the start of the match. And then that amps up the premium on bertini striking through his own back end. And actually, as he got into the match in that third set, he started to just decide, I've just got to hit the thing. I've got I've got to go for it because it's the only way possible and occasionally he nailed a few, you know, it's not like a shotty can't hit. He just can't hit it with any reliability. But there was, I mean, I think you make quite an important point. I think it's so easy to focus on the game plan of Nadal was perfection and he is brilliant at identifying witnessing going for it. But I think that that's slightly does down his own performance to focus too much on that. He didn't just play his normal self today, which is always very good pretty much today was exceptional. Today he would have beaten pretty much anybody. I think for those first two sets, that was just dominant tennis. And he was just a better player than the guy. It was for two sets at absolutely was everything you just described, but he did fade, didn't he? He did fade. It was his will and animalistic competitive instincts that got him over the line, I think, in that full set, I think a lot of us were anticipating a 5th, maybe David you sent us a text saying bertini's eyes are wide here. He sees opportunity. He sees a man on the ropes and my goodness me the credit and a doll for breaking the baritone serve and getting across the line. But how big an issue is that physical fade that we've seen in a doll for a couple of matches now? It's an issue for sure. He's actually lost the third set in half of his matches here because he lost it to action of. He lost it to Shapovalov and he lost it again to bery today. Definitely an issue. And it does seem like sort of fade is the best description. It's not like he can't play, but he really has to manage his energy levels, I think. And there was this period in the match where bertini won 23 points in a row on his serve from the middle of the third set to win the dial actually ended up breaking him decisively in the fourth set. And I think part of the reason was because once he wasn't winning the first couple of points in the service game, he was sort of checking out of those games. He was economizing, wasn't he? Yeah, he was conserving. There wasn't any need to get into those games. It was most important to protect his own serve at that at that stage. And I was watching the match in the stadium with Simon breaks, and I don't want to throw someone under the bus here, but I'm going to. He thought bartini would win the match in the fourth set when there was such a physical difference between them. And I just said, yeah, Barry definitely has the physical edge, but I still back in the doll mentally. I still back him to maybe finally get into a service game and pounce and he said he knows when to push Nadal. And in the end, I do think that is what happened. I thought bertini when he lost his serve it was actually his forehand, which led him down. You know, all the talk about the background. It was the forehand that made the errors. And that combined with Nadal's will and his sense of the moment it was just all too much for him. He's peerless in that regard in terms of will and sensor the moment I think. Let's talk about his reaction after winning. There was disbelief there was pure joy and then there was this real Andy Murray like outpouring of emotion. You know, extremely Andy Murray like, actually, really made me gave me chills and sent me back to Andy Murray Washington 20 19. It would have been, wouldn't it? And Matt spoke to him about it, impressed. He was asked a lot about it in person, was extremely open about it. And it sounds like those tears came from an extremely similar place to Andy Murray's in Washington in 2019, Matt. Yeah, it was a question from Ben Rothenberg, actually about the tears at the end. He said, what was going through your mind then? And he said, well, conversations I've had with my team with my family in the last few months about retirement. You know, about the possibility of not being able to come back from this injury. And yeah, it is, I don't want to say miracle because it's a lot of hard work. You sort of stress that as well. He said, I've worked really hard to get back here. But his career was on knife edge over the last few months. He really did not know whether he was going to be able to play again. Certainly at the level that he's displaying this week. And yeah, it just, it just caught up with him. Just obviously we're going to talk a lot about 21. And that is actually the thing that Nadal plays down the most, the significance of 21. And I genuinely do believe him when he says that what is most important for Nadal is he's back. He's competing and he used this phrase on eurosport. I think it was David to Maxwell Anders saying that he feels alive again and that's what I asked him about. And he said, yeah, I feel alive because I can play tennis again. My tennis career has got life and I didn't know that it would have. And that for Nadal is the most important thing about this tournament and what he's doing here..
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Well then two of the singles semifinals are set at the Australian open. We have Madison keys against ash Barty in the top half of the women's singles and in the bottom half of the men's we have Mateo bartini against Raphael Nadal. We've all been watching the whole day's play full disclosure. Matt and I have done that from the comfort and air conditioning of our apartment because it has been too hot to leave the flat today and we were feeling guilty about that until Raphael Nadal the physical colossus that is Raphael Nadal confirmed that he was feeling pretty horrible in the heat today and we feel seen. We feel validated. We feel comfortable in all of our choices, Matt. Yes, we also went to bed at 5 o'clock in the morning last night, and I don't know whether Nadal did or didn't. But yeah, today was a struggle. Today was a recovery day that I think everyone needs doing a Grand Slam. The Dow has got two of them coming up. And yes, I think there was a moment where we considered going in, but gosh, once once we decided to just stay put here, I think that was. That was an okay decision. I feel okay about our choice. We'll be back in tomorrow, I promise. And I know a lot of people that are suffering terribly cold, winter condition and conditions wherever in the world you're listening a role right now. I get that I would be doing that at me in your position, folks. But the thing with the cold is that you can layer up, you know, you can pop a big coat on. There is a limit to how many clothes you can remove in the heat. Especially in a workplace. Especially if you're not in your own apartment all day. Yeah, so, you know, but David, I feel your pain. I understand it has been rather cold in today. I did wear three hoodies this morning and it still wasn't enough, so I've sent out for more. But yeah, it is interesting though, isn't it? Just as a little insight into the Grand Slam life. I mean, that's one of the reasons we always used to love that middle Sunday at Wimbledon is the only one where you got a sort of break, which you were kind of had built in that was allowed for everybody to have. But the others are grueling and relentless. And yeah, I think sometimes you do have to just not try to do everything all at the same time. Listen to me talking as though I've ever done that. But I'm learning growth. We've gifted ourselves in middle Sunday, except we spent the whole thing watching tennis and set a new world record for a number of deliveries in one day, I think, hashtag no regrets. Including including a stand-alone ice cream delivery, I saw. Yeah, we deliver really nice. I've never seen anybody do that before. We had the aircon on full pelt at 16° and we're still uncomfortably hot. It really was, well, I mean, Nadal struggled big time today. It made him ill. I don't know if there was something else going on. I don't know whether he had been to the same restaurant miter bertini went to before his first round match, but Nadal was in a bad way today and it's what caused him to get involved in a 5 set thriller. He won through in the end. Winning the 5th against Dennis up valov. But for the first two sets that were won by Raphael Nadal, Dennis Shapovalov. Wasn't in that much. I mean, the level from Nadal varied, I think he was brilliant in the first set, really dipped in the second, but Shapovalov was nowhere near. He was in he was in rabbit in the headlights mode. He was panicking. That I think I'm not excusing it, but that I think is the reason for some of his pretty poor behavior on the court and really disheartening depressing things that he said about the empire, which we'll get on to, but he was a rabbit in the headlines. It lights. It was reverse hashtag growth. It was reversion to type, and it was like, you know, junior tennis again from Dennis Shapovalov, didn't know what to do out there. Nadal was brilliant and it this is not Dennis Shapovalov's take on the match. It should be said he reading his transcript explaining his perspective on things. It was like he watched a different match to us. And look, he was there. We weren't. So I'm not going to tell him he's wrong. But I'll take on the match was that it required a significant drop in level for Shapovalov to get any foothold. Yeah, I think so. I mean, those those first two sets in particular were like two people had a kind of code to crack and Nadal had all the instructions of how to do it. And was sort of methodically going about it and doing it in the right way, whereas Dennis Shapovalov didn't really have a clue and was just sort of randomly plugging in numbers and hoping for the best. And the sort of difference there is Nadal's tennis IQ. He was hitting the right shot at the right time. He was doing the right things. He was playing really, really well in the dark especially in that first set. But Shapovalov was really all over the place, just as you said, going for shots that weren't on. Just everything we said about his match against zverev, you could just throw in the bit. It was the complete opposite of that. And then I think one big thing throughout that as well as he was really struggling on return. I mean the doll was just rolling through his service games, most of the time. And Shapovalov's return, I think, is a weakness and it's especially hard against Nadal because you can't block a return against Nadal because it just sits up for him into his forehand. So he was really having to try and swing at it and just not making enough returns to be honest. And that was a problem for him. But then, as you said, my take on it was Nadal.
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"One winner. Some of the best tennis. Some of the tennis that Dimitrov played three or four years ago when he reached the semis was with Daniel Valverde, who just seemed to simplify his mind into just four hand movement serve. You know, focus on those things. And find repeatable ways to win points. And anyway, it was a very exciting performance from Shapovalov and a very, very professional one too. And the only in the quarterfinal where he'll be facing Raphael Nadal Nadal beat Adrian mannarino today in three sets. That's sentenced by no means tells the story of this match. There was a 28 minute first set tiebreak one by Nadal 16 14. It was, and I know we've used this word a lot, but it was epic. It was the longest tiebreak of Nadal's career in terms of points anyway. I should think in terms of time. And it was epic. It was really high quality. They were both coming up with brilliant shots. There was in the dial forehand pass, which we both jumped out of our chairs at. There was a there was a mannarino forehand onto the line to save set point, which I think we all thought gone out and turned out it had rushed the line. It was stunning, actually. And mannarino was flagging, I think, a bit physically during it. But it was but he didn't know he was going to be playing the dolls. So he didn't know how tough it was going to be. And then, you know, in the dark, just wouldn't give in, would he? He saved multiple set points. He wasn't phased by the fact that his were coming and going. It was an unbelievable tiebreak. And I think the first set lasted longer than the second and third set put together. That was the match, really, right there, and then as soon as Nadal won it, he was away, wasn't he? He was so happy after that when he has been so happy all tournament, you know, we've covered this after his last couple of victories he, he didn't expect to be anyone near here. Just quarterfinals of the Australian open. At the start of the tournament before he even taken the court, he said, you know, if you'd offered me just being in the drawer at the Australian open a few months ago, he said I would have signed the paper. That was his sort of expression that he was set on the court as well. He said, I would have signed for that. And here he is in the quarterfinals playing brilliantly, really, really brilliantly. He's, you know, it's just it's the same as we said after many of his other wins this tournament so far. So it's all right. It really is and I can not wait to see him take on Dennis Shapovalov in a couple of days time. Nadal's beaten him every time they've played since that breakthrough victory that Shapovalov had in 2017 and, as I said, that was something that I asked Rafael Nadal about after his win today. This one is asking about your next opponent done a shepherd of and actually your first meeting with him back in 2017. I know you've played since then, but that day he beat you in Canada, what are your memories of that match? And what is he made of his progress incident? I remember because I was playing for the number one. But he played great. Honestly, he was very young and he played with amazing intensity and creating amazing shots and. As everybody knows is one of the players with the biggest potential on the tour. I mean, when I played against him after the match, I said, he going to be potential multi Gran Islam winner. And I still think that if he is able to keep improving here will be a multinational and we don't know he has a lot of amazing things on his game and. His results says that when he's playing well, he's very difficult to stop him now. So you can see today against a great player like Sasha, strate. If he's able to play regular in terms of his level, going to be a potential way very high ranking player. So I want to be a tough one for me. But I think what the final. I mean, he's a match though to try my best to play at my highest level if I want to have chances to. Go through. And yeah, I am excited about it. Honestly, no, I didn't respect the way I am weeks ago. I mean, he really is excited. He genuinely is every time he said, he says, I'm in the court of vinyls. He just has this enormous grin on his face. It's wonderful to see. But I found that quite interesting or very interesting. In fact, what he said about Dennis Shapovalov and I know there's a big Nadal if he keeps improving, that is a big if, but I still think that's a big prediction. You know, I toss big rogue predictions out left right and center and I'm not saying he's going to be a multi Grand Slam champion. You might be, but I certainly wouldn't step my neck on the line the way the way he has. I find that very interesting. Yeah, I'm trying to think of the things Nadal will really appreciate and Shapovalov as a tennis player, because I think he will appreciate how hardworking he is, how seriously he takes his career, you know, hiring someone like Jamie Delgado, looking for that little age. I think he will know from their meeting in Rome last year, actually on the clay. That was, I think that might have gone to a deciding set tiebreak. It was very, very close. He knows Shapovalov can hurt him. But it's interesting because that Montreal win in 2017 is kind of defining for Shapovalov. You know, it was sort of carefree.
The Tennis Podcast
"nadal " Discussed on The Tennis Podcast
"Chong Wong, this was, you know, in terms of her form really out of the blue and coco gough had reached a semifinal in Adelaide last week and in her own words, she said, I had a great preseason and I was ready to have a good run here. She was completely at a loss after that match for why she wasn't just wasn't able to show up today wasn't able to get anything going. She didn't feel free was just tight throughout the whole thing and yes, she said, look, the conditions were a bit different in Adelaide last week, but she said, it's the first time she's played the week before Islam, the week directly preceding Islam and she said perhaps that preparation just doesn't suit her so well she said I'm learning about when I play my best tennis. Really tough. Those aren't those circumstances. And as soon as I relayed those quotes to Matt, I was going to say David, he said, by contrast to alcaraz, who just seems to know himself and his game so well already. Fascinating that, yeah. Yeah, because alcarez was obviously one of the other stories today and we speculated yesterday didn't we about why he hadn't played a warmup event the Australian open. We hadn't seen him since he pulled out of the Davis Cup with COVID back in late November, that would answer. He was in the gym. True. Absolutely true. And he has I mean, if you compare and contrast alcarez today to the last time we saw him in a sleeveless shirt, which he was wearing today, which I think was at the French Open last year, it's a different body that he's got. And he said he went into the off season with his coach looking to gain power that was his aim and he transformed physically actually. And yeah, because we all used to look at alcohol as and go, where's the power? Well, yeah, that's feeble. Yeah. He was slammed. There was an amazing description of this transformation in el pais today, translated. They said a thick, elongated vein, shaped like an anaconda, snakes up cholera, Carlos alcazar's arm from the deltoid to the wrist. The muscular tension flows into the handle of his racket and there at this charge is cannon shots at more than 200 km/h. Wow. That does feel like I know I didn't see our cries as much today. I haven't seen him in this sleeveless shirt, but you could be describing the doubt right there. And David well. No, carry on, carry on. What a small people's cards for Nadal comments to come. All I would say is that I do remember in the very, very formative stages of Nadal's career from the moment I first saw him to the second time I saw him, the physical transformation he underwent of looking like a boy turning into a strapping young. Man, and he did there was a transformation in him. And I know I still feel slightly uncomfortable about making such throwaway easy comparisons between the two and I feel like that's unfair to alcaraz and maybe not doing enough respect towards Nadal, but the parallels are so stark. And if alcor's hated the comparisons, that much would he be wearing a sleeveless shirt? I don't know, it's certainly not saying don't compare me to Nadal. He's not shying away from it, is he? No. No, exactly. And just a couple of other little things which came out of our crisis press conference week. I went to he was asked quite specifically what his goals are for the season in terms of ranking and he said top 15 is his goal, and then his stretch goal is to make the ATP finals. He said that he rents now. Where would he be ranked at the moment? He's 31st seed, I think, isn't he? No. Because it quite interesting hearing I was hearing Seb corder today so that his goal last year had been to get into the top 50 and now it's to get into about the top 30 or 25, and just hearing the way they sort of compartmentalize their careers in a way is interesting, but it does feel like alcaraz is just fast tracking his own intentions. Yeah, I mean, he was brilliant today. He won in straight sets. He's never lost in the first round of a slam, 5 or in round one appearances there. And he is not a guy who doesn't look at the drawer. He says, I like looking at the drawer and I like dreaming. Oh. I thought you'd like that, David. Right. He's heard about you predicting that will win the calendar slam, David and he's dairy to dream. I like to say that the draw and dreaming of your backing David and he's also got the backing of Raphael Nadal. He was asked in the Spanish portion of his press conference today, Nadal after his extremely straightforward win over Marcus gear wrong of the United States. He was just, it was so classic Nadal, bright sunshine, he to the day, wearing hot pink just teeing off on the forehand. It was just, it was, you know, right in the sweet spot for phi Nadal fans. And he was asked, it was a great press conference afterwards. I think we were two with three English language media in the room, so.