← Served with Andy Roddick
Served with Andy Roddick
2026 Tennis Season Kickoff: Injuries, AO Wildcards, Retirements, & More | Served with Andy Roddick
00:47:55
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- [00:01]
A
New year, same extra value meals at McDonald's.
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B
So now get two snack wraps plus.
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A
Fries and a medium soft drink for.
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B
Just $8 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery. Hey everyone. Welcome to served. Welcome back to tennis.
- [00:26]
A
We're back.
- [00:28]
B
Big news off the top obviously with Novak releasing basically saying that he doesn't have anything to do with the PTP anymore. We'll read the full quote at the end of the show. But jw, what, what do you got? How do you cover this part of the year? Right. Are we making too much about every set that's played every, you know, boo boo that someone has coming out of the off season? Like how hard do you cover traditionally things that are happening on January 5th or 7th or 8th as you're looking at them going into Australia, I noticed.
- [01:03]
C
You did not say January 6th. I'd rather cover tennis than cover January 6th. You know, it's always, you know this. I mean, going into a major, you always sort of look at results skeptically. Is this player really dinged up or are they just preserving themselves for the event where even a first round loss might bring a six figure? I mean the majors are that important that players want to go in 100%. It's kind of like a benefit of the doubt time of year, right. So if you win, hey, Hubert Kirkosh is Hubie's back and he's dialing in serves. And here's a player to watch in Australia. And boozes. Monero plays a six love set against Coco. Keep an eye on her. So if you, if you have a good result, suddenly you've played yourself into at least sleeper contention at the major. And if you have a bad result, we say, well, they're just being hyper cautious because they're much more important tournaments that is a major than, than the United cup or whatever. So I feel like for these two weeks of the year players really get benefit of the doubt. What do you think?
- [02:00]
B
Yeah, I think I would strongly value if someone caught a heater before Australia, right, and won a tournament and won some matches. There are million lead up events and so I'd give that a lot of credit. Getting out of the gates hot. And also Taylor Fritz losing a match or Coco having a bad set. The whole point of going over this early is to knock some of the rust off like that that you're, you're, you don't choose it. It's not as if you, you're going out there and you're Trying not to play well or you're going out with an insurance policy, but you go and schedule that way so that if shit goes a little sideways in, in the first week, that you have enough time to figure it out because you haven't been in your regular flow. Like, there is no way to recreate match reps in practice. You just can't do it. And it's not like riding a bike. It really. It really. It will be again for them at some point in this year.
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C
Right.
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B
And it will be probably very, you know, sooner rather than later when you're talking about the pedigree of player of a Fritz or a Coco. But yeah, this is why you schedule. I actually had a conversation with, with. With Alex Verev a couple weeks ago and one of the things we agreed on was like, we. We were both like, I can't go. We were amazed by how like, Roger would just go into a major, you know, without any matches and compete. Alcaraz did it last year. Sinner did it last year in Australia. Like, I don't have that level of confidence to go just fly blind in. In my first match rep in two and a half months. I think it takes a very specific. You know, most of us normies need some time and to kind of work through. You know, we wouldn't go record a Netflix special on standup without running it by some comedy clubs first. Right.
- [03:54]
C
Detour. Did you see this thing on by any chance?
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B
Oh, is that the Will Arnett?
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C
You know, he did like five weeks of standup as his character before the movie. Just.
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A
Huh.
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C
You brought it up.
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A
And it made me think, Adam Sandler did that once before and we caught him at the Comedy Cellar and we thought he was bombing and we're like, dude, this is horrible. And he was pro practicing the bit that he did in that show of being a comic that bombs. And he was seeing if people would believe it that he wasn't funny.
- [04:20]
B
This is a complete side track, whatever. But it's the first week of January, so here we are. Would you all want to try that or is that like the scariest thing.
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A
Ever to go out and test stuff that you're. I would be petrified.
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B
Would you be scared of bombing? Yeah, I feel like I'd lean into it.
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A
Would you really?
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B
Yeah, I feel like it wouldn't scare me to bomb. Yeah, that'd be fun.
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C
A tight five.
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B
A tight five, guys. Sorry. Hi, I'm Andy. Have we met? I've failed publicly very, very, very often. This is not. That's Comedy. Seller with 12 people ain't gonna faze me.
- [04:56]
C
So as long as you know, it's the first week of January, we can take these detours. Have you thought about what your line to shut up the heckler would be?
- [05:04]
B
No.
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C
You thought about that one?
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B
I will. Should I tell you this story about. I had a heckler in Houston one time? This show has already gone off the fucking rails.
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C
It's January, man.
- [05:14]
B
All right, so this is. Here's your clip. Sophie, get ready. You ready? Okay. So I'm in Houston, and we just finished a Davis cup tie the week before tournament. I've won a couple of times. And, you know, there's a. There's a. You can tell there's a drunk guy. You know, he's all over me for. I'm playing Oliver Marach. I think he played some doubles and was, anyway, so winning. Six, three, you know, two, three, one.
- [05:37]
C
Pretty.
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B
Pretty comfortably. And I miss a shot, and I was like, dang it. And this guy goes, you kiss your mother with that mouth? And I said, no, I kiss your mother with this mouth. And he ran down.
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A
Well done.
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B
He ran down and the security had to take care of him. But that was so. I don't know. But I kind of would like to know, right?
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A
Did the crowd give you like a. Ooh.
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B
It was. Well, it was one of those ones where, like, whoever heard it, I knew I hit it. Killed, buckled them. Killed, buckled them.
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A
Which is which, John, you had a point to all this.
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B
Sorry. Welcome to no Go.
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C
There are all sorts of great YouTube videos on how to. How comics shut down hecklers. Sam Kenison takes the prize. But yours was pretty good, I got to say, for a tennis court format, that's a good comeback.
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B
He had been on me. I had been thinking about it for an hour and 12 minutes up to that point. Just to be. Just to be fair, we lost the thread. So should I just start over? Welcome a served. Or should we just do an awkward transition into something else?
- [06:40]
A
You know, actually, because I think this is a good trait you were talking about. Getting matches in Australia is a unique. Australia is a unique environment, given that it is the summer. It's hot, you know, it is getting matches in that environment.
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B
Good question.
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A
Just as important, because if Roger can just walk in there without. Where is he getting the heat of closure?
- [07:00]
B
Roger doesn't sweat. So that makes it easier. That's a little bit easier. That's another. That's a story for another day where it freaked me out during a Wimbledon final one time. But we'll Tell that story another time. But yeah, so to your point, I would always do my track training in Austin during November, and I was pretty aggressive with it. You know, I even missed Masters sometimes. Cause I wanted to start that, like, base of prep work. Right. I was able to avoid major injuries for a lot of my career. But I don't think that's an accident. You know, I think you build up and so you can take it and then you space and schedule work. So I would do that. But then we would stop over a lot of times to the Big island in Kona on the way over, and they have these courts that, like, the walls are made of lava rock and you just bake.
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A
That's sick.
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B
And so we would do 10 days of, like, the first three days was. Were hell. Like, you're just baking and. But then you got to Australia and it wasn't as bad.
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C
Right.
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B
And obviously, you know, if Australia turns up the heat, you feel like you're playing in a hairdryer sometimes. Like, it's. It's absurd. But, yeah, I mean, we would. We also had what we would talk about, like, with our team. You'd be walking around and be like, ooh, who is good eye test and who is bad eye testing? And it was like, if you see, you know, someone who skin look like the pastiest stuff you've ever seen, it's like, oh, they're gonna have a rude awakening this practice week or this tournament week, because they obviously have not been outdoors, they have not been training in the heat. And then conversely, you'd see someone who looked like seven pounds thinner, just tan. Just when I was ready in Australia, we got out there, I'd be hitting for four minutes. Flip the shirt off.
- [08:39]
C
Ready?
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B
Let's go. Like, we're all just posturing, but the eye test is like a real thing. To your point. When you get down there, you can see who's been like, you know, who's a little pale and just waiting for their freckles to connect in the sun and who's actually been, you know, you come down there in full tan and full, you know, situations like, oh, this person's actually been somewhere hot doing work. But you get those. There's a million of those, like, little tells in the locker room. I gotta tell you, one of the things that I was disappointed to see, and it's kind of becoming. It seems like it's becoming pretty concerning, was the Draper withdrawal from. From Australia. And I just. It makes me sad because of how well he played at the beginning of last Year through April, through the French Open, and to pull out of the US Open after the first round, to not play anything. And then you have months, right? Like, it's, it's, it's hard to kind of pull a rabbit out of the hat with injury. And, like, you need time to recover. When you've had months and you're pulling out of the Aussie Open three or four weeks in advance, that's. That seems concerning to me. That's like, oh, gosh, I hope, I hope this isn't like one injury in speed bump.
- [09:59]
A
Just 10 minutes ago, they actually just. BBC just posted that Draper is set to return to action after over five months out of injury in Great Britain's Davis cup tie against Norway in February.
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B
I hope so. I hope that. I hope that's right. I mean, that's, that's great news. I mean, he's obviously, like, incredibly marketable. He's from. You know, you need to market people. You know, Draper, if he's winning going into Wimbledon, that's great for tennis, right? The coverage, everything that he kind of adds to the game. And, you know, we are kind of victims of the moment. But he is one of the guys who has the weaponry. He took out Carlos and Indian Wells last year, right? He has the weaponry to, to, to be a disruptor and to win there and on different surfaces. So that's what gets my attention in the off season, is like, gosh, you hope this isn't overly concerning. And when I saw that, I kind of just went, oh, that's, that's. I don't like that. J.W.
- [10:55]
C
What? Let me ask you two questions. One of them, this Draper injury is a weird one because it also seems to affect the bone. And, yeah, he's. I mean, he, he talked about this. He did. Did a YouTube video that was very poignant about what he's going through. Arthur Feast, we've talked about Holgeruna, Jack Draper. Those are three ascending stars under age 25, missing big chunks of time with three different injuries. Injuries are part of sports. You, you, you know, this is. You're using your body, it stands to reason you're going to get hurt. Does tennis have a problem here or do you. I mean, sort of. We're on the continuum of we need a panel to address this versus sports or sports and shit happens. Where. Where do you lie?
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B
I mean, we're going to, we're going to get people to just turn this off because we're going to end up talking about schedule a little bit. We're going to End up talking about, you know, it's not actually totally dissimilar to what's going on in the NBA. Like, you look at the usage rate of the top 50 contracts in the NBA and they've. I'll get it wrong slightly, right. But they've missed something like 40% of the games. Like the top 50 contracts in the NBA. It's some insane number this year. Bigger, stronger, faster, more extreme is going to lead to blowing out tires. It just is. You know, when I get concerned is like you mentioned bone, I'm like, ah, that's not a, that's not a groin pull.
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C
Right, Right.
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B
That's not a sprained ankle. You know those things like, oh, that sucks. You hope the timing of a sprained ankle doesn't ruin your season or doesn't affect it in a major way. But like feasts with a, you know, a stress fracture in your back and like, these are pressure injuries. Holger Rune, out of nowhere, snapping his Achilles at, you know, 22 years old is. It stinks. And it is something that we need to have a very, like, sober and serious view about. We cannot, as tennis, have the view of like, oh, they'll get back at some point. No, we have to take player health very seriously. And I hope there's a full scale investigation as to what's changed, what the difference is, where and why it's happened, what surfaces, is it happening? Like all of those questions that I don't think I know the answer to. Beyond overuse. And the game is just getting stronger, right? And faster and like more physical, which leads to more blowouts, you know? You know, but it just gets to, you know, my number one issue. And people hear me talk about it to the point where it's like, okay, we get it, we know the thing and. But it's the answer to many, many questions. The schedule is long. You have to be able to physically prepare. Right? So when I was playing, it was November, December. I'm building up armor. I'm building up armor for my body to withstand the next three months on hard court. And then that doesn't last for the entire year. You have to keep building it. So I scheduled two or three weeks where it was a lot in April, where it was mostly bodywork, track lifting. You're creating that next set of armor for the next two or three months. And right now if you do that, you're missing out a lot. I mean, it's a tough thing. So we do need to keep tabs on these young guys having these like Blowout type injuries, not tiny ones.
- [14:16]
A
Well, we're gonna have Holger on next week.
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B
I cannot wait for that.
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C
By the way.
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A
Really excited. Talk to him about just the state. The state of the. The tour and get some insights on the guys that are on it and.
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B
See how he's doing will be nice. It'd be great. We can just ask the question directly. Directly to him. So I'm excited because, you know, one thing that, you know, we've had great interviews, right? And one thing that I never want to do, be or become as an analyst is someone who pretend like I don't want to pretend like I know what Carlos. What his ball feels like. Right. I know there are plenty of people where it was like, you'd be watching Raf, and I'd hear someone say, well, you just got to take that on the rise and come in. I'm like, then you haven't felt Rafa's ball interesting, right? So I think I'm so happy that Holger's coming on. I'm happy that Francis came on. I always want a bridge to the current players to understand what I couldn't possibly understand. Right. So I'm very excited for Hoga Runa to come on. I don't know him at all either, which is also very exciting. You know, we've kind of built this show on relationships and easy conversations with people that, you know, I have a history with, and I think it's really important to have current voices in the mix, adding value to our show. Jw, you never.
- [15:32]
C
You never talked to him? You ever talked to him?
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B
I think I've. I think I've met him in passing. I've never. I've never talked to him for. I haven't talked to him for more than 45 seconds. High by.
- [15:41]
C
He. He is. He. He's absolute open book. And by accident or design, I think he really is enjoying and leaning into talking about what he's going through and whether that's just his fallback personality or whether that's part of. I mean, he. I talked to him a few weeks ago. I don't think he said he. He's not dealing with a therapist yet, but he's very open about everything he's gone through and what he needs to do to get better and what life is going to be like when he gets back, and I think he's very open to having a candid conversation. I think you'll enjoy that. Let me ask you tangentially to all this. I don't know if you Saw, the ATP has a new heat policy, heat and humidity policy. It's basically what the women have. You know, you're playing, I think doubles as well, but one player can say, I need a break in between sets.
- [16:31]
A
I can give you some of the details, please now if you want. So effective immediately, they introduced a mandatory cooling break using the wet bulb globe temperature, which is effectively like a mixture of the humidity effects, evaporated cooling calculated with thermometer. You can look it up online. It's not Nerds, nerds, but it's a 10 minute break is allowed when the wet bulb globe temperature hits 86 degrees. 86.2 degrees Fahrenheit or 30.1 degrees Celsius, enabling cooling and coaching. Play a suspended 86 degrees for this thing. 86.2, but it's wet bulb. So it's like, it's, it feels like, you know, when you get the thing.
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B
It feels like 86.
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A
I don't know.
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C
That's my wife turning up the heat.
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A
I don't work in Weather Channel.
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B
Like you're not going to finish the things.
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A
Play a suspended if it exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
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B
That's every day in Australia. How are we going to get through a tournament?
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A
I'm going to look up the wet bulb temperature.
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C
Well, I mean, for the record, I think this is just tour. I think the, the majors have their own heat and humidity policy. So I don't think this would be the Australian Open. But no, it's. That's a good point. That seems like a pretty low threshold, doesn't it?
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B
That's every day. And like how are you ever going to get through a tournament in Washington or Cincinnati?
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A
I don't, I don't know.
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B
Like every day is 90 degrees and it, like when it's 78 there in the summer, in the morning, it feels like 95.
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C
And this, this isn't a straight. This is a wet bulb. Right. So it's not just.
- [17:51]
B
What does that mean? Everyone keeps. I feel like everyone just keeps. I feel like this is a term I've never heard before and we're never going to stop hearing it now.
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A
Wet bulb.
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B
Are you saying bulb bulb, bulb bulb. Wet bulb?
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A
Yeah. It's a comprehensive heat stress index that measures how hot it feels in direct sunlight, combining air temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation into one number to assess risk for humans during physical activity. Developed by the US Military and is used by the military, OSHA and sporting organizations to set guidelines for work and exercise in the heat.
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B
So when the military is doing this does clothing have any? Because they wear like full everything, so it's going to be hotter for them.
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A
It didn't, didn't list it didn't list it.
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C
I mean, you know what, I think it's lost in this. I mean this is the, this is the WTA policy. So clearly they've dealt with it and we haven't had to play till three in the morning. I think one thing that we forget is it's not just the players that are out there in these conditions, but they're officials, their fans, their ball kids. But I mean, I think this is probably a discussion for another time. The three hottest, you know, the three hottest years recorded temperatures in history. 2023, 2024 and 2025. The planet's not getting cooler and tennis needs to reckon with this. But I, I, I, I don't think these are just to be clear. I think this is just an ATP policy and I think the majors have their own.
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A
Okay, so I found a calculator online. If it's 90 degrees outside with 70% relative humidity, the wet bulb would be 81.8 degrees.
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B
I will tell you, my first knee jerk as like a former player and you never want to like, I'm trying to like have patience with this and all cards on the table. I, I couldn't have, I couldn't have it hot enough on the court. I loved to bake. I did not want to play in 48 degrees in Hamburg and I wanted to absolutely bake. Not because I liked it, because I hated it less than someone else. And when the ball jumped, it was good for, and also dealing with it was a lot of times and it's different for different people. I understand that some people are, you know, more prone to enjoying it or, you know, less affected by it, but a lot of times it was about preparation. I will tell you that. Nothing would have pissed me off more than being up two sets or being down a set and then winning two and feeling like you have your fist around someone and they are failing physically. And then to have like the last thing I want also is to go from extreme hot to go sit in an air conditioned room for 15 minutes. My likelihood for injury coming out of that cool down is more. Right. It's the same reason why you don't go work out 10 minutes after you finished working out.
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C
Right?
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B
You don't stop in the mid, you keep, you break for, you know, little moments of time. I'm torn on this one. I'm sure this is, you know, to protect the players, also to Protect the tours from. From, you know, you know, liability and, you know, that whole world. Mike, of legal liability, you know. So I guess I try to understand it. Like, I don't. I can already tell I'm going to get annoyed by the term wet bulb.
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A
You know how they measure it?
- [21:07]
B
Wet bulb.
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A
They wrap a wet towel around a regular bulb. Regular thermometer.
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B
What bulb?
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A
The bulb at the bottom.
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C
Light bulb.
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A
Thermometer bulb.
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B
A thermometer. They wrap a towel around a thermometer. Yep.
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A
Really scientific.
- [21:21]
B
Does someone have that job like at center court?
- [21:24]
A
Yeah.
- [21:25]
C
Remember our last show when we were doing fake resumes of Sam Sadova?
- [21:31]
B
That's true. I want to write that down.
- [21:33]
C
Yeah.
- [21:33]
B
We've been gone a month. I forgot about that.
- [21:35]
A
The LinkedIn job post for the Cincinnati Open for the wet ball operator.
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B
What if we put up. Because no one listens to this show. What if we put up a fake LinkedIn? Can you put up a fake LinkedIn offer?
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A
You can just put up a real one.
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B
I mean, what if we had an office wet bulb operator?
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A
Just our analyst. Our wet bulb analyst.
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B
Any outdoor live show.
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A
What's the name of the guy on NBC that does all the calculations on election day? We need that person to do our wet bulb.
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C
Kornacki.
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A
Kornacki. Let's get Kornacky on to be our wet ball analyst.
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B
If you all haven't, it is good.
- [22:05]
A
It's gonna protect the players.
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B
If you all haven't already turned this episode off. Venus, jw. I feel like every time she gets a wild card now, it's the same conversation. People are going, she didn't qualify for the tournament. And then you have people like me going, she's fucking Venus Williams. You know, Is there anything changed? Because I feel like we had this conversation before US Open and people are like acting like it's shocking again.
- [22:28]
C
No, I feel like this conversation has gotten tiresome. We are skeptical of wild cards. They fly in the face of fairness. We need to acknowledge that there are some times where you need a mechanism to get in a star player. As far as I'm concerned, do it like golf, right? If you've won an event, you get in in perpetuity. We shouldn't even be debating whether Stan gets into Australia. No. You disagree?
- [22:52]
B
Oh, Stan's different. I perpetuity, like there's a reason, you know, 52 year olds don't play tennis.
- [22:58]
C
Well, they're not. I mean, active players, you know, I don't. We don't want to see. So my labor unretire to enter A.
- [23:04]
B
Draw to, like, counter you on something that I agree with you with, which is, I'm sure not annoying at all. You know, if there were, my first would have been like, have you been an active player in the last two years? Right. Stan still plays tennis. He still beats players. He's still 150. He's still, you know, getting in challengers. But I was going to say that. And then I realized that Venus didn't play for like two and a half years before she came back at the US Open last year. So I would have failed my own point of reason.
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C
Don't you feel like it would be one. You look at who gets these wildcards and the fact that these are used and they're swapped for reciprocal arrangements and management companies use them to induce players to sign with them. These are commodities. So you may as well give it to the player who has actually compiled the resume. I have zero problem with Venus. I hope Stan gets one. If Azarenka needs one, she should get one. It's the wildcard who has been promised this for signing a contract that we should take issue with, or the, you know, French player because this got traded in some back room. That's what we should be taking umbrage with. But, you know, we have this debate every tournament. I do think, I don't know if you want to talk about Venus and Stan. I don't know why. Maybe it's where I am in life, I think, and I don't know, I'm curious if you have this instinct at all, but this ability to downshift and say, I used to win majors, I ain't winning majors anymore, but I just like tennis. I like competing, I like being out there. I like the rhythms, whatever it is, the self discipline. And I'm not playing to hold trophies, but I don't want to give this thing up. I find that so not just admirable, but kind of moving, kind of, kind of poignant in its way. Do you have that instinct at all? Do you even get. I mean, you left pretty much, you know, not far from the peak of your powers. Do you get this instinct? I mean, Stan has a teenage daughter. Venus is 45 years old. Do you get this at all?
- [24:55]
B
I respect the hell out of it, I'll tell you that much. We had this conversation a bunch when, like, Murray was 40 or 50 in the world.
- [25:00]
C
Yeah.
- [25:01]
B
You're not playing. I'm like, are you? You're worse at your job than he will ever be. Like, he could play till he's 50. Like, give me a break. It's weird. I had, I was miserable when I woke up thinking that I knew that I couldn't win a major and that killed me. Like I couldn't. I would lose and I would put stock in it and I would, like, I needed to feel it. And it's weird. My progression was I didn't play for a long time after I retired. I would play like little, you know, paid one nighters or like customer tennis here and there. But I never went out and just played for fun. And now I'm at the place the last two years where I go and play for fun most days and I love it and it's the best ever. And I wish, I wish I could have gotten through. I wish I could have gotten through my own mental shit earlier and just enjoyed it for what it was. So I'm simultaneously. I don't know that I had that gear. I wish I did because they're better than me for it. My love of the game at that moment in my life needed results. It was results based. I liked results more than I actually liked the playing of the matches. I wish that I would have given some time. I wish that like, you know, for, you know, I retired five years later. I would go play an exo and beat someone who was top 10 or 20, 30 in the world, right? Like, and I know there was more. I never came close to coming back. But anyone who says, like, they shouldn't be doing it, like, who are you to tell them they can't do it? One's won seven majors, one's won three majors. How on earth do you think that you get an opinion on this? She's taking a wild card from someone else. Again, I'm just going to say this. A wild card is given to someone who is undeserving based on ranking already. She's not taking a spot from someone who has earned a spot based on the cutoff. Same with Stan. Now, if I'm Tennis Australia and all these great champions who add value to my event want to come and play and I hold the cards, great, I would call the USTA and I'd be like, we're getting a wildcard into the US Open. Put it on someone else. It's okay to get something back, right? Whether it's Bush, Dodd or Basel or whatever it might be. If there's a young, you know, Aussie man or male or female player, I'm fine with that too. I'm fine with, I'm fine with that, you know, trading of like kind of Earn whatever it is. But just the simplest argument that you hear is they're taking a spot from someone who's deserving. No one who gets a wild card is deserving of a main draw spot. Otherwise they would be in the main draw. We have protected rankings for people coming back from injuries that protect their spots in the draw. They're not taking a spot from anyone. Are they potentially getting a wild card over someone who is an up and comer? Sure. Who deserves that spot more? I might argue it's the person who's won Wimbledon five times. I don't know. Go to quality. I would have never, ever, ever in my life been offended. And I was lucky because they were searching for an American kid. So I had wild cards and then I won tournaments and then I was in.
- [28:32]
C
Right.
- [28:32]
B
But I would have never, ever been offended. I went to my hometown of Austin, Texas to play a challenger when I was 17. 17. Just turned 18 and may I get in trouble for saying it. It was widely suspected and we're pretty sure that we knew that they were selling the wild cards. I obviously wasn't going to pay for a wild card and so I was in Qualys. Was I pissed? Sure. Did I use it? Sure. Guess what happened? Qualified and won the fucking thing. Then you don't have to take wild cards anymore. But at no point did I have an actual argument that I was deserving of that main draw spot. Could I be pissed that they were being shady with them? Yes. Did I skip the event because I didn't want to play Qualys?
- [29:15]
A
No.
- [29:16]
B
I bitterly got my way through. You can't imagine me being bitter about something. No, never.
- [29:19]
A
Never.
- [29:21]
B
But then we got the win. See, we got what you're looking forward to. Yeah. So I have no issue with it, jw. I do want to spend some time. We'd be wildly remiss if we've spent a lot of time on Venus. You know, last year at the US Open was. I loved it because it was a massive love fest for her that entire summer starting in D.C. through, you know, taking set off of Muhava to the doubles run with Leila Fernandez. We've probably gone too far into this conversation without saying congratulations on getting married. Also amazing.
- [29:56]
C
Yeah, that's right.
- [29:57]
B
Fantastic. Amazing. Apparently the honeymoon's in Australia.
- [30:03]
C
But.
- [30:04]
B
Amazing. Amazing. I have known Venus since we were kids. She is the nicest, classiest, smartest, one of the smartest people I've ever been around. Right. Like, she doesn't give you much in the face when she's Playing and you know, she is guarded sometimes and she is an absolute, just near perfect person. Like I just, I love her. I think she's fantastic. I hope she plays as long as it brings her happiness, you know. And also if someone doesn't give her the wild card at some point in her future, I'm not going to be upset about that either.
- [30:42]
C
Right.
- [30:43]
B
Like I'd say I probably would have, but I can't tell the French Open to give her a wild card. They probably won't, you know, so either way she's not deserving because she's hasn't played enough to get in the main draw. If they give her one. Great. Totally understand that's a value add to the tournament. If she doesn't. What are we going to say? She's not in on merit.
- [31:00]
A
That's.
- [31:00]
B
It should be a very simple. Jw we need to spend some time on, on, on Stan. Stan the man. Stanimal. Give us, give us kind of your thoughts. And then I kind of have some thoughts too because it was. He wasn't one of the guys that came out at 17, 18 and was three in the world.
- [31:19]
A
Can you level set that? He announced, he announced that Stan will. Rinka announced that this will be his final season on tour.
- [31:25]
B
Yes, it will be Stanwelrinka's final season on tour. Yeah. So good, good call. This happened while we were off. I'm still a little rusty too. I need those losses in Brisbane to get me back up to speed too much into this. But just talk a little bit about, about Stan, his progression, kind of what you think and how he will be remembered. Jw.
- [31:46]
C
I mean I think honestly, tell me if I'm wrong. I think these last few years will factor into, I mean the top line is going to be the three majors he won. This was always someone by sort of dint of country of origin. He was always a bit in Roger's shadow and he's sort of Roger's, Roger's little brother. And then he has this mid career good to great which also happened to be the name of the coaching alliance that he was playing under. And all of a sudden in this compressed window, he wins three majors, three different ones. I mean he's a Wimbledon away from a career major. So he wins three different majors, took down Novak in the finals of two of them, beat Novak in the third and really re characterized this was a real transformation, really sort of recharacterized his career, got to number three in the rankings, won three majors and suddenly this wasn't you Know the guy with the nice white, the guy's guy with a nice one handed backhand who happened to play Davis cup with Roger every now and then this was a legitimate player. So much so that we talked at times about big, big four and big five with Stan and Andy Murray. So he, he goes along, has a sort of mid, mid to late career bump that really redefines him as a tennis player. And the last five or so years there have been some injuries but he has hung on and he has found that not unlike Venus, he just likes competing. He's very open about the fact he's not doing this to win a fourth major. But there's, there's something to be really admirable. He's, I think he won four, I don't have it. I think he won like four tour matches. I mean he has not had great success but you know, he just a few days ago beats Arthur Rindernesh 76 in the third in a three hour plus match. So there's still some magic in that wand. And this will be his last year, he's in his 40s, he turns 41 in the spring. That's another part of this whole thing too. Don't you want to give a former champion a send off at the event? In terms of these, this could be his last Australia, this could be Venus's last Australia, this could be Craig Tyler's last Australia. Why would you want to deprive these people of the experience? But, but I think Stan, he'll go in the hall of Fame, three majors is going to be number one. But I think his hanging on and just love, love of the game stuff, it sounds almost hokey, but I think there's, there's something that really, it's a window into his personality, it's a window into his relationship with tennis. And I think there's something really cool about a guy north of age 40 saying, I'm not playing for the trophy, I'm playing because I still really like this fricking sport and everything it brings me.
- [34:10]
B
So I spent New Year's Eve getting to Spectrum center here in Charlotte early. And the reason I did that, I was there two hours early and I took our son and his two little friends and the reason I wanted, because I wanted them to watch Steph Curry go through his pregame progressions, right? So you get to the 25 minutes of what the coach that goes through with him. I don't think they said a word to each other the entire time. And he went through his routine which Is now infamous for. You see it on TikTok and whatever else. Young people watch that. Throwing up a half quarter at the last second. But that's not the show for me. The show is going out. And how does he add to his legacy now? It's like championship or bust, right? Playing a game in the middle of the day in Charlotte like it's his hometown. But coming going through the same thing every day and having a love of that discipline and a love of that sacrifice is why I wanted the three boys to watch him go through his progressions. You know, the one foot shots. And also the fact that, like, it blew me away. He's done this so many times with this person that. That if he hit three in a row from this corner, the guy threw the ball to the next spot and Steph just automatically went there. They had done it so many times together, focused, and he still cared if he made each shot right. And then you'll go see other players who aren't Steph Curry, go and, you know, throw the ball around for 7, 8 minutes and walk off. Stan is that Steph Curry type person with his preparation, right? I remember talking to Danny Valverdeu is coaching him later in his career. This is probably 5 years ago at the Open, you know, and even at that point, you're going, well, you know, how's he doing? Is he. He goes, andy, he still wakes up every day and I'll see him at noon and I'll be like, what'd you do this morning? He's like, I went and ran three miles in Central Park. He said, the guy is a machine. He's an absolute machine. He loves it. He is as motivated at 37 and 36 as he was at 26. And I think that's the point you're getting at. And like, I don't know that I could. I don't know that I had that gear when the prize and the carrot wasn't in front of me. And I sure as hell respect people who can do it not having that carrot and knowingly not having that carrot. He's also one of the few. I mean, maybe like Murray and Stan and maybe Del Potro, I'll throw him in that. That category. Maybe like a song about, like on certain days, but, like, consistently their best stuff could beat the Big Three in a given match. Now is head to heads against the Big Three. You're still behind, like, like all of us rough and delivering your best stuff. Like, I could get to the final and I couldn't knock off you Know Roger, when he was playing his best, I tried my ass off in a 3 out of 5 set format. I couldn't do it or I didn't do it, he did it, you know. And then Rafa, the first time was like battling a back injury. So you're going, okay, you know, you would have liked to actually seen that played. And then what does he do? He goes and beats Novak in two slam finals at the French Open. After Novak beat Rafa, by the way.
- [37:35]
C
One of those years as Novak was going for the career slam. And I think when he lost to Rafa, I mean when he beat Rafa and Rafa had the bad back, I think he, he had beat Novak previous in the tournament, you played him. You know, we don't often get to have this conversation with active players, but he's one of them. What was he like on the other side of the net?
- [37:58]
B
He worked because early in his career his serve was okay. And I actually, I had a bunch of matches. Like I played him in Rome in the semis and we played one game and my back fell apart and like I had spasms and I couldn't move and I had to like stop. And then we were supposed to play in Shanghai one year and I blew out my knee. Like didn't play again for the year. You know, acl, mcl, the whole thing. So I don't know that I have a super fair barometer. Like when he connected, you felt the weight of shot. Like you felt when it was Rafa. It felt like an explosion. And the thing that set him apart was like you were always ready for him to take your head off. Like the threat of someone's right hook that you know, if it catches chin, you're sleeping is a big deal. Not the fastest guy, but like the most self aware person to where if he got on a string, he was going to take a rip because he knew that he could hit himself out of trouble instead of running himself out of trouble. One of the things I've talked about many times with him is you would go big serve and early in his career he would take these big swings. Robredo did it against me over and over and over again where he would try to like come over returns and I'm like, he's not going to be able to catch up with with 136 consistently. Stan started, you know, blocking chips and it was a learned practice that he put all the time. Then the second one he would unload on. So just the progression in the pursuit of greatness is something That I really respect, because he's not the guy that came out. And he was good, I think 19. I think he broke top 10, but then went back and for a while he was floating between 15, 30, you know, would have good runs and was streaky, but a product of work and a product of an elite skill. And that was bashing your face in and also just opening up the shoulders. Like, the best players in the history of our game had to respect his punching power every time they played him. And to be able to produce your best stuff against the best people, not just like one time, but three times, is special. And I think, especially when he's, you know, when you look back at his career and see what he did against those giants on their stages, I don't think you can undersell that ever.
- [40:11]
C
I'll give you a quick little anecdote. He beat, remember, Brian Baker from Tennessee? Tennessee, yeah.
- [40:17]
A
Yeah.
- [40:18]
C
So he beat Brian Baker to win the Roland Garros boys event. And I remember, and Roger was already. I don't know if Roger had even won Wimbledon yet, but Roger was already being talked about. And he sort of said, oh, man, there's another kid, another Swiss player. What's in the water? Ha ha, ha. And I remember somebody saying, well, first of all, he's from. You know, he's from Geneva. He's from the French side, so he's not going to. This is not going to be Roger Jr. And also, it's just a question of whether this guy wants to work. And he. Even as a early in his career, no, he may have had 10 extra pounds, and he sort of had that. That farmer, he had that sort of big ten wrestler build. And the question, when he WINS Roland Garros Jr. Boys, is this guy basically, is he willing to put in the work? And it may have taken a few years, but we got a resounding answer. And here we are 20 years later, and he's. He's still at it.
- [41:04]
B
He's a barrel of a human, like he is. He is that. Like, you feel like you punched him in the arm and the arm. There might be some recoil with your fist. Like, he is. He is. He's. He's thick, two Cs, like. But, like, in a fit way. And everyone used to kind of, you know, is he. I'm like, has anyone ever seen him get tired? And they're like, no, not really. I'm like, so what are we talking about here? Maybe it's movement. Maybe he can catch a step or a half step, but, like, he Wasn't like one of the guys who you thought you were just going to wear down and even if he was getting worn down, he'd just blow your head off. Like he had that power and he had the awareness, like that's not always. Those don't always go hand in hand. You know, you're kind of fighting your nature. But like he knew when to punch, he knew when to sit, he knew when to make, he knew when not to let the person hit.
- [41:52]
C
Present tense. What's that? Present tense.
- [41:54]
B
Clutch serve.
- [41:55]
C
You just beat renderneck.
- [41:57]
B
Yeah. Yes. And you know we're gonna.
- [42:00]
C
I'm kidding. Yes.
- [42:01]
B
I mean he can still play. There's, there's no doubt he doesn't move like he did and he's not gonna serve as well all the time. And you know, 41 year old legs are different than 28 year old legs. But I hope he feels at peace. You know, you never know. Maybe the fact that he's made this decision frees him up a little bit. It'd be fun. If he's in the third or fourth round of a Grand Slam, no one's gonna complain, I promise you. That decision frees him up a little bit. It'd be fun. If he's in the third or fourth round of a Grand Slam, no one's gonna complain, I promise you that. I hope he has a great year. Mike. Anything else?
- [42:28]
A
I think we just have to close out with a little bit of a news update. So over the break, the PTPA and Tennis Australia announced that they had come to terms on a settlement for their part in the existing lawsuits brought by the ptpa. Details have yet to emerge on what that settlement looks like and it is still developing. But sticking with PTPA News, Novak Djokovic, co founder of the organization, put out a statement on social media on Sunday that he would be leaving the organization. Writing after careful consideration, I have decided to step away completely from the Professional Tennis Players Association. This decision comes after ongoing concerns regarding transparency, governance in the way my voice and image have been represented. I am proud of the vision that Vasek and I shared when founding the ptpa, giving players a stronger independent voice. But it has become clear that my values and approach are no longer aligned with the current direction of the organization. I will continue to focus on my tennis, my family, and contributing to the sport in ways that reflect my principles and integrity. I wish the players and those involved the best as they move forward. But for me, this chapter is now closed. Novak statement as well as a statement from the PTPA that was released shortly after that are included in the show notes. These are obviously ongoing stories, so we'll be keeping track of them as they develop. Great.
- [43:55]
B
This does not feel like a story that's going to go away quickly. We'll see. I was shocked when I, when I when I heard the news or when it came across yesterday. I'm off any sort of social media, but you know, it's a big story when you have 25 friends of which eight actually care about tennis texting you. So we'll see. JW, any thoughts or is this it?
- [44:22]
C
Yeah, I think this is an ongoing story. There is a major. At which point, sure, more details will come out.
- [44:30]
A
Great.
- [44:31]
B
Thanks for watching.
- [44:31]
A
Cerb.