← Served with Andy Roddick
Served with Andy Roddick
AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2026: Alcaraz Dominates, Gauff’s Racket Smash, & Day 10 Analysis
00:42:32
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- [00:00]
Mike
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- [00:31]
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- [01:08]
Mike
Hey everyone. Welcome to Quick Serve, brought to you by ServiceNow. We're recapping again. A lot of good tennis, A lot of one way traffic though. Yeah, pretty, pretty, pretty nuts. I, you know, I, the results don't surprise me. They're not shocking, I guess, but the score lines are like, you know, Svitolina has been playing great. Had a win coming in, drilled Andrea, like that was one where it changed kind of the way I viewed her. But beating Coco 1 and 2 in a slam, that was, that was one way traffic. I'll tell you this about Svitolina, not never been known. Like, it's not if you name the top five movers on tour. I don't know that she's ever been in that conversation and I don't know that you've ever said, oh, she's, she just goes rip city. Like, she's one of the biggest hitters. She's always been like a very solid, you know, well rounded tennis player. I think she's moving as well as she ever has. I think she's as fit as she's ever been. Like, she's actually getting in and out of the corners. And second serve, she was stepping 2, 3ft inside the baseline and it wasn't a mystery what was going to happen. She was going to go massive to Coco's forehand on that first ball and then she would just go there again and again. But creating a Lot of speed, kind of just exposed it. Didn't really let Coco play much, you know, so she's playing. I mean, dare I say, I hate to be full of, you know, hyperbole, but I think she's playing maybe as well as she ever has.
- [02:47]
Co-host/Analyst
That's pretty. It's pretty incredible. I mean, she. She said after the match, you know, after having her. Her child, that her. Her goal was to get back into the top 10. And this win will put her back into the top 10. But it's like, hey, now you're in the semis. Like, you're not. You're not finished.
- [03:02]
Mike
No, I mean, and also this journey, like she was three in the world, one a ton of masters, 1000s, obviously had a baby with, with. With Gail sky, and then comes back, makes the semis of Wimbledon, and now this is her first ever Aussie Open semifinal ever. I mean, she was awesome in the conversation for best player not to have won a major. Now maybe has since, you know, maybe that's gone elsewhere. But I mean, beating Coco 1 and 2. I mean, Coco. And by the way, Coco talking about the match was like the moment most sober, straightforward. She's like, normally I can dig into a match, you know, get into the scoreboard, get some scoreboard pressure. Maybe they get a little tight. She goes, I just couldn't play. Like, I. I couldn't. I just got knocked off. I mean, and you could see how frustrated she was. You know, what do you guys think? Did you read the whole thing about afterwards, all she wanted to do is go break a racket in privacy because she didn't want to put it on her team. And, like, she couldn't find a place to do that.
- [04:08]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's. It's. Obviously, it's made the rounds on socials. They. They broadcasted briefly on the actual broadcast itself, but, you know, Coco went off the court, went back into the bowels of the. Of the arena and found a. A ramp somewhere and. And, you know, smashed one of her head rackets. When asked about it, she said two things. One, she's like, I feel like this should be discussed. Like, there's nowhere for players to have any privacy in this facility besides the locker room. And two, she's like, I don't feel. She's like, I've only done it once. One other time, it was at the French Open. She's like, I don't feel like it represents me well to do it out in public. So I just wanted to blow off some steam because it was that Or I was going to be nasty to people around me that didn't deserve it, saying that, you know, they did their best, I did mine. Just need to let the frustration out. So I, I thought it was sobering, but yeah, I mean, she's entitled to be really upset. They, they care a lot about winning.
- [05:05]
Mike
Can we, can we also talk about. I mean, I get you don't want people doing it all the time. I broke rackets I shouldn't have. It's not a good, it's not a good example. Right. But it's a slippery slope of like, that's a bad example for people watching. Like, it's sports. Does anyone ever tell the NBA not to say something to the ref? Yeah, yeah, but like, did. No one does it. It's not as if there's like a moral reckoning every time someone cusses.
- [05:33]
Co-host/Analyst
I go to every judgment on everybody else. I think it's her own personal feelings about her.
- [05:38]
Mike
No, I don't know about that. Like, I think she probably has to be. I mean, with how famous she is, what she stands for. I, I think she, she is as buttoned up as any 21 year old I think I've ever seen in this game.
- [05:54]
Co-host/Analyst
21. It's wild.
- [05:56]
Mike
Yeah. Like, everyone's talking about like, other. Like, even the other day we were talking about like Andreva and Jovic and, you know, Umoko and. Yeah, yeah. Tien's 20. Oh, my gosh. I'm like, Coco's 21. She's 21. It gets forgotten in every conversation. She's 21 years old. She's like as young as these people that are just kind of coming out now. But it's like part of me, it's like, can she go somewhere where she can just detonate? Like, can she just be allowed to be pissed?
- [06:27]
Co-host/Analyst
Do you feel like there's too many, like, robo cams in like every hallway? Or do you feel like it's the nature of having. Having to cover 24 hours of something where you need to cut away and have conversation?
- [06:37]
Mike
Both. Like, I, I'm not saying remove all the cameras because I think it adds a lot of layering and texture. And it's fun when you see Carlos come in and, you know, do a handshake with someone else and laugh and joke. I think that it shows the players personalities. You know, when Sabalenka is walking down and she finds a camera and that's all fun. I think that's great. It's like the, it's like the. It's like the walk in at NBA games, right? We're like, that's fun. That's great. The WNBA games, it's, it's fun. It's great. Also, can there be a unisex place for people to have a private conversation and, or break something?
- [07:19]
Co-host/Analyst
Just like a break room.
- [07:20]
Mike
Like, but think about it like if you, if you, if there's no place outside of the locker rooms to go nuts, how are you ever going to have like an intense conversation with your coach if they're not the same gender at an event?
- [07:36]
Co-host/Analyst
That's a really good point. That's a really good point. I mean, you'd have to wait till you get back to the hotel, right? Or like, like at a. Get in it. You get in a car at a certain point.
- [07:44]
Mike
Like, we don't, we don't hear every conversation if an NFL coach is laying into their team or vice versa. Like, we don't, we don't. We. I don't know that we should be privy to that. All the public spaces is great. I just think the players should know where, when, how, and if there's a spot they can go to kind of be normal and petulant.
- [08:07]
Co-host/Analyst
That's, that'd be a really good. Because I was actually shocked about this one the first time I went up to the US Open with you. That warm up room that's right off the racket stringing room, that, that it's, you know, that's used by everyone and like I thought it was like so strange that there wasn't like, you know, home and awayside at the very least, you know, to like warm up. I've always thought that's so unique about tennis. Yeah.
- [08:27]
Mike
I mean, unless you. There's no home in a way when there's 128 people, like, it's just not gonna, I mean, in a single draw it's not gonna happen. But with all of these expansions and I understand it's not great for tv, but I don't care if they have to walk three hallways that are on camera to get to the place. That's not like you're still getting, you're still getting this stuff. Right. But like, should they be able to go, should Coco be able to go and have a heated conversation with her team? Should she be allowed to break down in front of her team without being. Being tabloidal? Probably.
- [09:01]
Co-host/Analyst
Probably.
- [09:02]
Mike
You know, I, I mean, I don't know. Like, you can't do it. You. And also the other thing is like you can't do that in A locker room, because I'll tell you the way that that works. And I remember, like, points in my career where it's like, you take a devastating loss in a final, and there's two things. There's. I remember Roger coming in after our last Wimbledon final and him knowing I was devastated, so him not being able to, like, celebrate.
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Commercial Announcer
He.
- [09:27]
Mike
Him and his team had to leave the locker room to go celebrate. Right. So that stinks too, kind of. And there's no natural place to go. But also, like, I'm conscious of, like, stealing joy from someone else if I'm having a meltdown. Like, you can't make a scene. Everyone else's, you know, part of someone. Everyone else's emotional set. So as a player, you don't want your shit to get in the way, but it's, like, highly emotional. So I get where Coco's coming from. Should she be able to go find a place to have a conversation or throw something if she's conscious enough to do it? Yeah, sure. But also what that does is it makes a lot stronger case for if Irina goes to the gym and knows his cameras in there and goes, snap, fooey. Fair game. Totally fair game. Even more fair. Like, no. No conversations had.
- [10:17]
Co-host/Analyst
Right?
- [10:18]
Mike
Yeah, let's. But the. The. The lead of this needs to be Svitolina. How she started this year, how she's improved her movement by 5%, how she's hitting the ball 5 or 10% bigger. She's a. I'm going to say this like, as the game has progressed, she's trending towards being a better player now than before she was a mother.
- [10:40]
Co-host/Analyst
Wow.
- [10:42]
Mike
You look at the Slam results, like, semi. I mean, now will she be able to play the volume of events she did back that. No. That affects ranking. Right? Like, there's things that are, you know, is she gonna get back to three in the world? Probably not. But is she more of a threat now to win a Slam than she was then? I think so. That's what I think.
- [11:05]
Co-host/Analyst
But before we transition off of this, and just with Coco's kind of tennis side of things, you know, in the. In the first set, she double folded five times, made 14 unfirst, unforced errors, you know, hitches two winners, and Svitolina won 29 points to 16.
- [11:22]
Mike
Yeah.
- [11:23]
Co-host/Analyst
Midway through that set, you know, Coco was, like, tapping on her racket, you know, kind of signaling that her strings were right, her tension wasn't right. They ended up sending a ball kid back with three of the rackets to get them restrung. But by the time I think those rackets came back out, it was already 4:1. She said afterwards that she didn't really have the right tension or strength set up, that they kind of got word late that the roof was going to be closed. It was very hot. It kind of, the weather was a little bit all over the place. We won't see that for the rest of the tournament according to the weather. But can you talk through that process of analyzing your, your strings and, and like setting those up and, and know even if it's a little late, what is that process like? And just for us chuckers, you know, how does that affect everything?
- [12:07]
Mike
I mean frankly it, it shouldn't be late.
- [12:09]
Co-host/Analyst
Okay, Right.
- [12:10]
Mike
If you don't know if the roof, if, if there's a 10% chance that the roof is going to be closed, which now it's more predictable now they have your wet bulb mic. They have the whole, you know, the thing where like it goes up, up, up, up, up, up, up. And it doesn't matter if you know Yonex cramping. As soon as it gets above a certain thing, it's not about, it's not about someone's opinion on a decision. It's about numbers and data. And once that data gets a certain point, so check the like. If that weather is even going to flirt with it, you have to have a full set of options for day and a full set of options for. I say day but for roof closed and roofed roof open. So for example, I would go on court and my coach, my stringing team, they would get feedback from me, but they had kind of the run of show to, to kind of do what they wanted. But there was every chance I kind of knew what I was going to use, right. I was probably 80% of the time I was like, I'm going to use a racket strung at 63 today, right. But then stuff changes. You need the optionality to go up and down the ladder. 62, 64, 65, whatever it is, you need those different tensions and you need a stack of rackets with those tensions, maybe four or five deep. So the reality is I would most, most racket, most matches I would use one racket. I didn't. I wasn't big on the ball change. If I felt good, I just left it probably shouldn't have, but there is every chance where I would use one racket and then I had 12 other ones strong that I would flip back to the stringer or keep two for practice the next day just for a hit. Around. But yeah, I think it being late is, is. I, I guess you get that it's late and that's unfortunate. But that doesn't change the weather forecast. If there's a 5 or 10% chance, it wasn't going to be 88 and then it jumped to 110. You know what I'm saying?
- [14:11]
Co-host/Analyst
It says it was going to be 110 all day.
- [14:13]
Mike
I mean, we've been talking about it for two days, three days, right. So I think you have to have at least a set of prep rackets. Not like, oh, we think it's going to be closed, therefore we're going to have day rackets. And that, that setup, you have to have both. I mean, you just, you just have to have both. You know, it's, it's that, that's just, that's just kind of the way it is.
- [14:32]
Co-host/Analyst
And, and not that it maybe would have changed anything because civilian was.
- [14:35]
Mike
It probably would have changed zero. Just so we're clear, this isn't an excuse. It's just saying like, I don't.
- [14:41]
Co-host/Analyst
Just a better understanding.
- [14:42]
Mike
Yeah. And Svitolina, by, by the way, dealt with the same. It's not as if the roof was closed last minute for one person and not the other person.
- [14:49]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah, right.
- [14:50]
Mike
As far as an equipment setup, it's the exact same. It's not as if, it's not as if someone's battling an injury and one person's not. And so they're like exact same circumstances. But the. It. Everything changes when that roof closes, guys. I'm just telling you. And everyone seems to think it's all about speed through the court. Like the, the laziest version is indoor courts are faster. That's normally. Because they're not cement based. Right. They're like, normally in indoor, like indoor season, they're built on top of other venues where like, it creates a quicker surface sometimes. Right. So, but I'm just telling you the height of the ball and how it bounces, that's as important as the speed of the court, right. Like, I've played matches in that exact arena where you play two days before and you're outside and the ball's jumping with the air all over the place and you feel good. And I remember 06, I went indoors, they closed it and I played Bag Daddis and every single thing is in his pocket, out of the pocket, average in the pocket. Very good.
- [15:48]
Co-host/Analyst
So you're just getting like, like, like a foot and a half difference, 100%.
- [15:52]
Mike
Instead, instead of trying to talk about speed I'd also like to talk about speed and then show the way that the ball travels in the height differential when it's closed versus when it's open. And I'm sure they have that data but like the bounce of the ball matters as much as the speed through the court. And I feel like it gets completely undertold as we're kind of digesting it. We've talked this long and we've literally made it through two matches. By the way.
- [16:20]
Co-host/Analyst
That one was the most. That one was the most fascinating I, I think of the day. The, the other one that the world number ones do. What world number ones do?
- [16:26]
Mike
Yeah, I mean Carlos, Carlos, by the way, do you know how well he has had to play in this tournament for us to talk about Ferrero? Zero. I mean, yeah, like think about that. If he had struggled at all, we would have overblown it. And the fact that it's largely been a non story so far. I, I think. And I also think where Ferrero probably adds the most value in slam wins is probably these next two matches. And also credit to Carlos. The serve looks great.
- [17:00]
Commercial Announcer
He, he.
- [17:01]
Mike
His ability to quickly see a ball make a decision that he's going in before he even hits the approach shot. He's doing the same shit that he did. It's against center at the US Open final last year. He's the maybe the only person on earth that doesn't need an approach shot to get into the net. He creates a ground stroke and then all of a sudden because he's so fast. I always think of that scene in Superbad where they're running for a while and they go and Seth Roden goes, the fastest kid alive. Cue that meme up. But he just is able to get into spots where it's not even natural if you're his opponent to anticipate him being there is backhand. He attacks it more than he ever has. His serve looks better than he ever has. He's going. He can go 128t all the time. He, he's hitting that little off speed cutter is. He's starting to get that serve variance where he's pitching the ball game where he can throw an 85 second serve and he can run it up to register to one or two. It's. It's similar to. Not as good yet because I think he's maybe the best pitcher ever, but similar to Roger where he doesn't need to hit at 145 like Zverev, but his ability to mix in the threat of what he can do on that first ball. Even a great returner like Demon has to overplay returns. Like, Demon's trying to take cuts because you have to, but that's not what he does. Right. In the greats. I say it all the time ad nauseam on this. They force you to play above your comfort zone, and then when it goes sideways, it goes sideways to the tune of two and one in the second and third sets. That's not because Demon doesn't know how to play tennis. It's because he's having to play a style that's outside. It's. It's revving an engine 20% more than what you should. The engine's more likely to break down.
- [18:58]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah, right.
- [18:59]
Mike
Like, Carlos is just playing silly tennis.
- [19:02]
Co-host/Analyst
Early in the tournament, right? There was a lot of. There was a lot of press and stuff around Carlos, you know, copying Novak's serve motion.
- [19:10]
Mike
Great.
- [19:10]
Co-host/Analyst
You know, like, where. Where does that come from? And we've talked about this a lot in the past, you know, few months that. That these guys between Carlos and Jannik, they're. They're just willing to continually make adjustments. Continually make adjustments, continually tweak. And. And these are the results. Just complete dustings of great tennis players.
- [19:30]
Mike
You ready?
- [19:31]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah.
- [19:31]
Mike
Okay. So Carlos, three years ago, if you go back and watch his serve, he would go down and up, and it would look like this. For those of you who are listening and not watching, I'm holding up two pens that are spread out at the top, and they're touching at the bottom. It's like a V, right? When you do that, you can basically hit flat, but you're not getting that, like, motion. Your elbow is too close. You need your elbow to be a little bit freer. Now, the bottom of his motion looks like this thing I'm holding up like a metal little tin where the bottom is rounded, right? When you round the bottom, all of a sudden your elbow's in a position where you can go. It's like a quarterback trying to throw with an elbow stuck to the rib cage as opposed to pulled back. Right? His serve. I mean, we talked about it with Holger Runa when he. When he came on the show, he goes. I said, what do we not talk about? Enough with Carlos's game? Even with the amount of time we spend on him, what's something that still doesn't get talked about enough? He goes. His serve. He goes. His serve is phenomenal. He goes. He can hit that kick. He can hit, like, the variety of his serve. There's Not a serve that he can't hit. Now, you know, we talk about pound for pound servers. What's Carlos six feet tall to have that much of a weapon? And also that he's learning how to serve. Like Andre did this. Learning. Learning how to serve and then have the return come into his strength. He knows that his serve doesn't have to be as good as mine because I need to serve to win points. He needs to serve to win points. But then set up the next shot because he's so good from that middle, that middle ball, and there's so much variety. So it's just now he's got variety on serve, variety on the next ball. Like, let's just, let's just think about this, right? He hits a little 92 mile an hour kick serve out to your back end, Mike, right? Your backhand's really good, right?
- [21:18]
Co-host/Analyst
It's great, great.
- [21:20]
Mike
So let's say you handle that, but also in a quarter of a second, you have to worry about his second serve going 102 and going the other spin direction into your forehand, right? He gets you out, and all of a sudden the, the, the. The width differential between those two serves is like 8 or 9, 10ft, right? And so then you see it off of his racket. You'll be able to tell really quickly because, you know it's either the. It finishes like you're coming. I'll say I'm trying to describe everything for people, like, listening or watching, but, like, the second serve slice is, like, coming. Like, imagine you're peeling around the side of an orange. You see the racket flow in that way, so you know it's going this way as opposed to peeling from the bottom to the top on the inside of it, which, which is a kick serve, right?
- [22:04]
Co-host/Analyst
So you almost present, like, the front to the back of the rack.
- [22:07]
Mike
You see, you see the way the hand hand goes out for a kick serve, hand goes around for, for a slicer, right? So that's the first, like, clue along with sound. But okay, he hits that little kick out, you're three feet wide of this sideline with a backhand, knowing that if you don't hit it perfectly, it's in the middle of the court. He has a forehand, okay? So let's say you hit it well, but not perfectly. It's in the middle. Now all of a sudden, he's there with a forehand. And again, on a split second, you know that the most likely shot is to pull to your forehand with, you know, just rip city if you sprint there, he has the ability to hold, play it off to your backhand side against your movement and. Or you have to guard 20ft in front of you on that. On that drop shot, too. That's one point. That's two shots in one point. And so, yeah, so those decisions have to be made over and over and over and over and over. And he doesn't really miss. He's like Ohtani or Bonds. Like, if he gets. If you make a mistake in the strike zone, you're going to get punished more often than not. And even if he doesn't punish you there and doesn't hit it perfectly, then you're just back to neutral in the rally. Like, if he misses that one where he pulls it to your forehand, you're back to neutral, which also gets that. That's not, like, great against him. But we normally look for those, like, dips, and he's shown us early in slams, like, he'll take a set off. He hasn't done that here at all.
- [23:38]
Co-host/Analyst
No, he's. It's. I mean, if you look at. If you look at his scores all the way through, right, it's. It's 3, 6 and 2, 6, 3, 2, 2, 4, 1, 6, 4, 5. Like, it's. It is. And then 5, 2, 1. I mean, it's. He. He's measuring them, and then he's just peppering them with hooks and jabs.
- [23:59]
Mike
It's. It's.
- [24:00]
Co-host/Analyst
And then it's. Knockout. Yeah, it's just insane.
- [24:04]
Mike
Yeah, it's. It's rough and. And I feel for Demon, too, because I've. I've been in that situation where it's like, I feel like I'm doing everything humanly possible, training wise, physically, mentally. And I could do all that. And it wasn't going to change the fact that anytime we were neutral, Roger could drop it to my backhand, knowing that I was either going to have to chip and come in or. Or I was going to have to little shove him, Magoo, and get back. Right. Like, there's. I just. I want that moment where he makes the semis and does the whole thing, and I want more for him because I don't. I don't think he leaves an ounce on the table with, with the way he prepares and the way he takes stuff head on. Like, he goes in there, takes it on the chin. He was down 7, 5, 6, 2, 3, 1. Saves a break point and, like, is still, like, into it. You would not have known. That's. That's the lesson for for junior tennis players. By the way, when you're watching these players, they're not whining, they're not doing this. They're not. Like, you go to first rounds, you're going to see a lot of this from players. You get to the tail end, you're not going to see much of that, especially with someone like Damon. Total pro. Carlos is, is, is playing well. Like, just think through how well he's played in his last. What are we now, 12 Grand Slam matches from the US Open through five rounds here? That's, I mean, that's big stuff.
- [25:39]
Co-host/Analyst
Well, let's, let's, let's talk about the guy that he'll be facing in the next round, Alexander Zverev. How impressed were you with his match?
- [25:47]
Mike
Very playing. I, I like, I like what he's doing. He's going after the forehand a little bit more, but not flat, because that's not his shot shape. Right. His shot, people like flatten it out. His shot shape isn't from here and then kind of coming across. He's going after it like with, with he, you know, heavy tumbling type ball. But I like that he's serving and volleying. Right. I like that it's, there's not just like an easy out to the forehand side. Also, like, can we give this guy a little respect? Like, I, you know, I, I love Eubanks. I'll text him this later. But he's like, you know, Zverev has to change up his game like he would against Carlos or, or Sinner. And I'm going, he's. No, he doesn't. Tien has to change. Yeah, I mean, I'm like, no, I don't know. No, he doesn't. Not yet. But Tien was. His ability to need no time to go after a shot. And also when he's on the run, they did these slow mos of him running to his backhand and up until right before he hits. Looks the exact same whether he's going crosscourt. And his ability to hit a ball.
- [27:05]
Co-host/Analyst
This is t. This is, this is.
- [27:08]
Mike
Tn his ability to hit a ball crosscourt at the last second, kind of work that right hand on the outside of the ball and have it cross the sideline before it crosses the baseline consistently is unbelievable. And it looks the same as when he goes line.
- [27:25]
Co-host/Analyst
So if you're, so if you're, if you're playing that, he's holding you in position a little bit longer, waiting to decide what he's doing with that backhand.
- [27:32]
Mike
And his ability to Hit it flat, but also open up the court with width is. Is elite already, like, absolutely elite. And it's funny because people are talking about, like, oh, his movement isn't perfect or big or, you know, it's. He's not the fastest guy ever, but he has that Murray thing where Murray was very fast, but he has the Murray thing where someone who hits it that well and has racket control on the run versus someone who is. Is really fast but doesn't have control of the racket face. Feels the same, right? It feels the same like James was. Was commentating the match. James is. You knew if he. You were going to get him on defense most of the time, he was going to hit his way out of it. So it wasn't like that clawing defense where it's one more ball, two more balls. It's a different set of. It's a different pressure set. So Tien doesn't. He can be a step slower than the fastest guys on Tour, but because he has so much control of his racket face when extended, it's the same. Like, I have to assume it feels the exact same. Zverev is really good against lefties. We said it the other day, like, TN being able to pull him out to that. The wide serve on the AD side works against most of Earth, and Zverev is just so comfortable in that pocket.
- [28:48]
Co-host/Analyst
It works against all of Earth because Zverev, I believe, based on our stat of the day, is 37 one against lefties. That one being against TN.
- [28:58]
Mike
Yeah.
- [28:59]
Co-host/Analyst
I mean, so he's good against all of Earth.
- [29:03]
Mike
Yeah, I'm telling you, like, yeah, I think he. He's very comfortable. And also, like, you got to think like, that roller forehand where he works at crosscourt is all of a sudden going to a backhand like that, that. The way it shifts for him to play a lefty. And I always say, like, every lefty not named Rafa because, like, that's just a different sort of rpm. And, you know, it's. It's. It's pretty crazy. But Zverev served fantastically well. Tn was on, like, early. Like, the first point of the match, spare went big, and TN was on a return, like, right away. He mixed up his second serve. He mixed up where he was serving. He served and volleyed. He was down 15, 30. Like, it was one all two, all in the first set. Served in volley, like, three times in a row. Tien's going, oh, wait, that's okay. I have to think about that. Like, is this part of the situation, that's something we have been talking about on the show too. Like the ways that he's going about being aggressive aren't just, oh, I'm gonna get my court positioning irresponsibly close considering my take back. It's, it's like a measured aggression which I think he really has a hold of and you know, he needs to be talked about in this, in this tournament. You know, his head to head record, it's like the narrative is he can't beat the, you know, the big guys. And it's like, okay, you look at the head to head, he's six and six against Carlos.
- [30:24]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah. Well, after the match, Eubanks had him on the court and he was, he was asking him about, you know, his box and he was asking about his team, his asking about his family. But it's. This will be our perfect delivery of.
- [30:37]
Mike
The day because I love to see this good from what's really, really committed.
- [30:42]
Co-host/Analyst
Take a Shaw. Give us the perfect delivery of the day.
- [30:45]
Player Interviewer
You had some really good volleys today. I was really impressed with your feel around the net. I want to know how you would grade your volleys but more importantly, how would Misha grade your volleys today because they seem to be really good.
- [30:56]
Mike
Every single on court interview is about him. I'm playing. I'm here. He used to play. He used to play 10 years ago. He was very good. We get it. We beat Andy Mary here.
- [31:07]
Player Interviewer
Wow.
- [31:07]
Commercial Announcer
Yay.
- [31:11]
Commercial Announcer 2
Every sip of Coca Cola brings you closer to the excitement of the FIFA World Cup 26. Nothing compares to the joy. So grab a Coke and drink in the FIFA World Cup 26. No purchase necessary 13 in 50 US states and DC with a web enabled device. Ends March 1 with eight entry periods. Rules@cokeurl.com Soccer Rules.
- [31:44]
Player Interviewer
Just because you said that, I'm going to ask you another question about your table team. You're one of the few players who has your, your dad and your brothers part of your team. We know what it's like on tour. Your family travels with you, your team travels with you.
- [31:57]
Mike
Do you guys ever get sick of each other?
- [31:59]
Player Interviewer
Like you never get a break?
- [32:01]
Mike
I get sick of them, but they don't get sick of me because I pay for everything. I kind of, I'm kind of into like there kind of seems to be a movement towards no given. Like Rublev started it. Like Walrinka is just ripping Rip City. Sasha's just going. And by the way, can someone, can someone show me the lie with anything?
- [32:23]
Co-host/Analyst
He just said no No, I just love how relaxed he is, too. I think it's like, you know, it's. He has this hanging over his head about the Slams, and I feel like, yeah, just be relaxed. Be. You play the way you want to play.
- [32:35]
Mike
I get sick of them, but they can't get sick of me because I pay for everything.
- [32:40]
Co-host/Analyst
I mean, facts.
- [32:42]
Mike
I mean. Sorry. I. I don't know. I. I have. I tell my kids that I have. Yeah, I have no notes. I have no notes. I don't. I don't have any notes. I will. GCS Verev's commentary on. On TN and the way that he's able to play from the baseline, he basically said no one. I. I haven't seen someone that good from the baseline for a long time.
- [33:05]
Co-host/Analyst
I mean, that's exciting. That's exciting. It's.
- [33:08]
Mike
It's. It's very exciting. But, like, also credit to Sasha, right? Like, serve. He's like, if I didn't have my serve, I would have been in trouble. Yeah, well, you do. I hate it when people, like. Like he had, like, 20 aces or something. If he didn't have his serve, like, why does. No, why isn't it. And this is probably my own personal be. Why doesn't anyone ever say, if Lerner didn't have the ability to switch directions anytime, he would. It would be a lot tougher for him. Like, yeah, if we took away everyone's strength, it would be tougher for them. Give me a break. How stupid is that bias against servers? I don't like it.
- [33:46]
Co-host/Analyst
Oh, man. All right, so what's the. What's the popcorn match today for you? Now you've got to sleep on it. Still Shelton Center.
- [33:52]
Mike
Yeah, it's. I just. I'm curious to see. Ben has improved always, all the time. Consistent trajectory since he's come up. And also he's 1 and 8 against Yanik. The time he beat him was 2 out of 3 sets, not 3 out of 5. On a really fast court in Tokyo after the US Open, I'm just curious to see what adjustments he can make that might be able to bother Yannick. And also the weather the rest of the way, it's pretty muted.
- [34:25]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah, it's highs of. We got 74, 77, 85, 78, 70, 66. On championship Sunday, the roof's closed.
- [34:35]
Mike
The. The bounce is a little muted. Maybe Ben's kick serve comes down 3, 4, 5 inches. All that stuff matters. I don't think Jannik's going to have to fight the heat anymore. So he kind of got through what he needed to get through. So that's the one I most like. Like, I feel like Musetti and Novak, it's going to be a little bit more predictable as to what we see, like what Musetti has to do with what Novak has to do, how they go about it. You know me. Seti likes that kick, but it goes into the strength and he's got to mix up the serve a little bit. Curious to see how much Musetti goes to the chip versus Rip City on the backhand. Curious how Novak, I mean, we haven't seen Novak in like half of a week.
- [35:21]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah, right.
- [35:22]
Mike
Like, I mean, he kind of got away with, you know, to his own. And this isn't me. So savior Novak fans, just save your commentary. Novak said, I got lucky. I should not have done that. So therefore you can't get mad at me when I said Novak got lucky. He should not have done that.
- [35:39]
Co-host/Analyst
Fair. Fair. I think that's fair. I think that's fair.
- [35:42]
Mike
Okay. It seems like it should be fair. And if that's not fair to you, then that's, that's, that's a you issue, not a me issue. Yeah, I, I think Shelton center still, I think Pula. Anisimova. Anisimova. If our stats are correct and God knows, like, can we just get a simple stat sheet? Can we do that? Can we, can we figure that out at some point, Mike, where it's not.
- [36:02]
Co-host/Analyst
Like just something that isn't buried in multiple places.
- [36:06]
Mike
Can we also. Like, I'm looking at the, like, data is great. I'm a big fan of numbers and math and that should dictate a lot of things. But like, as I'm looking at matches, the prioritized data doesn't. I don't factor in tweets about the person. I don't care about that. Right. Like, I don't care about what happened seven months ago in a match. I don't value that the same as what happened in the last two weeks. I don't value that the same. I don't value the numbers against someone who's 90 in the world and apply those to the matchup against Carlos. Right. Like, that doesn't seem so. It's like the more, more data, like, I would want like really focused data. Data.
- [36:57]
Co-host/Analyst
What would be like the. If you were to make a data dashboard to show head to heads, what would be the 4 or 5 stats you would want to see?
- [37:06]
Mike
You don't even need that many of first serve percentage. So if someone has the amount of Times broken if Sasha serves 75 versus if he goes down to 62 against Yannick and Carlos break points converted is. Is a big one. Did he get 15 looks and only convert two and lose? That's deceiving because that means he was actually getting. Doing a lot of good and just not getting it across the line. Or was he 2 for 2 won a match, but then literally wasn't in any other return games? Right.
- [37:35]
Co-host/Analyst
The.
- [37:36]
Mike
The drop shot usage rate with Carlos and if that comes off of a forehand right, it's tough to drop shotsverev when he hits that backhand through because the ball is coming in lower and hotter. Whereas when you have a little bit of loft, Carlos can play a little bit more the spread on where they serve each other. Right. Does. Does Carlos try to get width so that he can move Zverev on the next ball or does he want to go higher percentage? So, yeah, just to start, but I would do there. You know how much Twitter chatter there is about the person I could give a shit about.
- [38:07]
Co-host/Analyst
Yeah.
- [38:07]
Mike
Just so we're clear, like, I don't care. I also, I just don't care what happened at a tournament in Holla last year, second round against someone that's been out of this tournament for nine days. I don't care. Doesn't matter to me. So it's less about like what, Like I know what I would look for, but it's less about what's completely irrelevant. Right. And I don't know what the data says outside of those things. What I would want to do is remove a lot of the data noise and actually get. See what the outcome is with that. The women's matches, I know we're supposed to sit here and say, like, I know I'm pretty confident. I'll tell you when I'm confident about something. I don't know. Pagula's three oh against Ana Samova. Anna Samova is not the same person she was, I'm guessing, when Jess won all those matches, you know, but obviously there's something. Jess being able to play against movement and accept pace, her shot tolerance with pace. She can switch directions. She can get people where they, you know, kind of are on, you know, feel like they're on skates a little bit. That's plus for. For Jess. But Jess also doesn't like playing the big hitters with her second serve. So Anna Samova's going to be lining up and it. There's not going to be a lot of nuance with what she's going to do with Jess's second serve now it's going to be the shot tolerance with. If Jess can get kind of out of that quickly.
- [39:26]
Co-host/Analyst
I mean they haven't played each other since 2024. Let's not play not the same. And it was three sets in both those and then the Other one was 2020 was at two sets and they. Yeah, it's completely different.
- [39:38]
Mike
I don't know. I'll tell you this, like I, I chose Anna Samova through. She's done nothing to discourage the faith that she's getting from dummies like us to get through in this tournament. Pula is doing a lot, she's done a lot this tournament to inject herself into the conversation of us dummies. Right? So I don't, I don't know. Robakin and Wiatek, I don't know. Nothing would surprise me any. I could go over two on this very easily. Go for two for two on this, flip a coin, have some fun. Curious to see where rocking the serves, her first serve percentage is going to matter more than maybe anyone else's in this because IGA returning second serves is very different than eager returning first serves. IGA too. You know, her serve improved a lot last, you know, Wimbledon last year. But this is like we're getting to it. There's as much chalk meaning favorites on favorite favorite on favorite crime in this tournament as any slam that I remember in the, you know, recent memory. And everyone's playing well. Like it's not as if someone like the person who's basically just survived until this point is sinner who would have been the least likely to just survive out of anyone in the tournament. Right. Like we've gone into like the last slams and Novak, we're going, oh gosh, his body's breaking down. I don't know what we're gonna see. There's really not that going on here at all. Like Zverev seems good, but all the way also by the way. And like we talk about a little bit his process with having to check his insulin and inject himself on court. Wild, crazy, crazy. I mean we won't go crazy but like my father in law is a type 1 diabetic. I see the maintenance that he has to be generally aware of on like a random Tuesday, not like a five set match. Like it's, it's, it's looney tunes. And I don't know that you can overstate that, but it feels like everyone's pretty healthy, everyone's pretty happy, everyone's playing pretty well. Like, it's setting.
- [41:48]
Co-host/Analyst
It's.
- [41:48]
Mike
We're setting ourselves up for a pretty. A pretty great kind of final weekend here in Australia. I like Novak. I like Sinner. I don't know. I don't know.
- [42:03]
Co-host/Analyst
We should.
- [42:04]
Mike
I mean, I can tell you what each person, like, has to do well, and I think we've.
- [42:08]
Co-host/Analyst
I think we've done a good job.
- [42:09]
Mike
I think largely covered that, but, like, they're all play well and they're all like this. I don't know.
- [42:16]
Commercial Announcer
It's.
- [42:16]
Mike
Pick them. I'm sure that's the analysis that you came here for. Thanks for watching Quick serve, presented by ServiceNow. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Bye.