← Served with Andy Roddick
Served with Andy Roddick
AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2026 RECAP: Evolution of Excellence, Alcaraz & Rybakina, & More
00:52:02
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- [00:00]
A
AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data workflows, and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters Most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people@servicenow.com Foreign. Welcome to Served. Brought to you by ServiceNow if you've been with us for the last two weeks, you see techie Sean, you see producer Mike, you see us all at our home setups because we are snowed in. And the return the Women's prediction champion JW at about 4:30 in the morning in Australia before you get on his flight to come home. What up jw?
- [01:04]
B
How are you guys? Great job holding down the fort. Fun tournament. Eager to vacate this hotel room. How are you guys?
- [01:11]
A
We are good. So we've been kind of spending a lot of time breaking down matches and you know, it gets to the point where the field thins out and you can kind of be hyperfocused on the matchups. But I think what we should do, especially because you've been down there covering the tournament on site for SI and for Tennis Channel and for, I mean there's probably 18 other jobs that you have, you know, on top of 60 minutes and so on and so forth. But I kind of want to take a step back from finals and you know, the reactions to Carlos and, and Robaka winning and Novak making final, obviously we'll, I'm sure we'll get to those as well. But let's take a two week view of some storylines from the Aussie Open. Jw, what were, what were your, some of your, your, your story takeaways?
- [02:03]
B
I don't know if you guys felt this in, in the US this is always such a weird tournament. Just, I mean, you know, it was, you guys were doing quick serve and it was, it was 3:30am where I was and people were writing me about matches that were like two rounds ago because they saved it on tv. I mean it's, it's a weird event in the US to consume on the ground. It's fun, it's a good time. There were a ton of fans, but there really wasn't that much to write about. That was. No, I mean the matches proceeded. There weren't any real classics. Venus and Stan rolled back the clock but didn't make it out of week one. And then all of a sudden the last 72 hours, it was boom. And this thing really came alive. It was kind. I mean, dud is probably too harsh by an order of magnitude, but it was not a particularly memorable tournament for 12. The running joke was the one point slam had the most gripping theatrics of the tournament. And then all of a sudden this tournament absolutely blazed to life. And that's what always happens, right? I mean, never mind a year from now or five years from now, I mean 90 days from now, we're not going to remember some dud sessions in the round of 16. What are we going to remember? We're going to remember King Carlos, we're going to remember Novak refusing to surrender to time. We're going to remember Rybakanus back and the Zverev and Sinner semifinal. It ended on a really strong note and it was really at odds with the first 12 days. So good event overall. Onward we go. We'll see what happens with Craig Tyler. There were a lot of sort of sub themes bubbling under the surface, but in the end, yeah, I wasn't particularly surprised.
- [03:33]
A
I'll just like, I mean, I'm sure you've heard the same and we don't have to belabor it because we don't know for sure. But everything I'm hearing is that he's gone and he's gone to the usda. Yeah, can I say that?
- [03:43]
B
And we'll see what happens. Yeah, I mean he, you know, people are entitled to change their mind, but it was sort of strange that we sort of weren't this, this act, absolute power broker and I mean this in the best way, but the sort of benevolent despot of tennis, nevermind. Novak was at Tyler's last major. That was sort of a theme on the ground and in the players lounge and it was actually really funny. Just real quick, he went out to present. He had sort of understandably, kind of ducked the question and it was sort of this, don't bring it up if you see Craig. And then he goes out to present the mixed doubles trophy where he thinks it's probably a safe space. And Christina Mladenovich, veteran player, gets her trophy and says, is this your last Australian Open, Craig? So he gets peppered Savannah Guthrie style by a player. But anyway, long, big picture, very strange cadence to this event. But we end up on a real high note and you end up, I don't know how you don't feel good about this sport. Leaving this event.
- [04:39]
C
Can I just say, I just want to give ESPN their props and even the Australian Open their props. They put out a couple days ago that quarterfinal action on ESPN. And ESPN2 is the most watched in nine years, over 418,000 viewers, up 64% year over year. The viewership for the tournament to the date of the post, which was the 30th, was up 22% year over year, and then the attendance records were all broken. So all in all, globally success, I mean, it's from a viewership standpoint, even though it was a little bit convoluted with ESPN unlimiteds and all of the different places, it seems tennis is cruising, even if it's in the middle of the night in the United States.
- [05:22]
A
Yeah, I think, I think the, I think that's giving the flowers to the game of tennis and the stars that are playing right now. You know, we mentioned this on the Quick Serve, the recap show, which we also went through, like, kind of march through the company that Carlos now keeps in tennis history at the old age of 22 years old. So if you haven't watched that and you're a bit of nerd for, you know, names like Edberg, Becker, Vlander, Lendle, you know, Connor's Macro, Agassi, and now Carlos squarely in the middle of that pack, then go back and give that 20 minutes of your time. But listen, the, the stars of this show, the reason why we're able to do a podcast that anyone cares about, the reason why ESPN's numbers are hitting, you know, on top of adjustments made, are because the product is really good and the athletes are outstanding. You know, the women's final, you have two absolute dynamic powerhouses beating the shit out of each other for three hours, you know, with all the pressure in the world on their shoulders. You know, the semifinals and the men's, just nine and a half hours of, of unscripted drama, you know, with the, the, the two that have taken the torch and then the one who's trying to hang on for one more piece of glory, and then, you know, the, the, the, the Zverev who is trying to break through, and, you know, he's that good. But this is how hard it is to win a slam. So let's not discount, you know, Alcaraz's success because he's won a bunch of them. You know, I think there are just so many storylines, and listen, we're all just grifting off of their performances of, of, of these athletes. I mean, let's, let's, let's Just. Let's just be honest with ourselves. You know, no one cares about what we have to talk about if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears a jw.
- [07:16]
B
Yeah, I was. I had. I had a similar thought that I wanted to bring up, which is this is all very hard to quantify. And it's. It's not like, you know, humans have been running for millions of years, right? Hundreds of thousands of years, humans have been running, same activity, but the times keep getting less, you know, times keep improving, Right. I mean, I don't know if someone from the 1968 Olympics would be a decent college runner, Right. And I think we have the same thing in tennis. One thing I was really struck by, and some of it's technology and training and sports science, all those things we talk about. I'm not sure I've ever seen tennis played at a higher level, both men's and women's. And making qualitative arguments is sometimes tough, right? It's easy in track and field when you just look at the clock and you just look at the stopwatch. But the level of tennis watching, I mean, and it's not. I mean, Carlos is probably the highest exponent of that. But just watching your average third round match, you know, Medi and Lerner, I mean, just, just pick a match sitting there alongside the court, even practice. The level at which this sport is practice. I'm talking about practice. Sidebar, not a game. You know who was spotted, you know who was spotted at the Crown Casino by many players in Melbourne, strangely enough, was Allen Iverson. This tournament. But back to our show. I just think the other thing, that this sport is being played at such an extraordinary level, and it's not just the two players that were holding the trophies.
- [08:44]
A
And when someone says that, because all. James Blake made a point, and I said this in a quick serve last week, and he said it to me, James is pretty simply matter of fact in the best possible way. And it's not without thought. It's very thought out, right? But we were arguing last year on text when he was calling a match. He said something I called bullshit. And then we end up getting into like a side text where he, you know, we're talking during commercial breaks. It was some version of like he. He said last year when Novak was struggling early in the US Open. Didn't look like he was trying to kind of play his way into shape, wasn't he, didn't look great in the first two or three rounds of the US Open last year. And James made The comment on air, he was like, the 2025 version of Novak is better than the 2015 version of Novak. I was like, like. And so we get into that whole thing, and you can think what you want. I'm not saying. I'm not saying this to say I'm right. He made a point that I couldn't really argue. He goes, can we make the assumption that over time, tennis gets better and better and better and better always? And I said, yes. I'm not one of the people who walked uphill through the snow both ways to school. Like, I'm not that guy. I have no ego about, you know, our generation and this generation, and we're done. I'm done. It's over. Right? But he goes by that logic, is anyone who's number one in the world at a given moment the best player of all time? And I was like, I don't think I'm all the way there, but I think the point is a good one. Right? And. And also, people get so upset in this generational conversation. Carlos and what he does, the way he does it and why it's so special is because he's watched Federer. It's because he's watched Nadal. It's because he's watched Novak. And then all of a sudden, there's this melting pot of Carlos, and the output is what we've seen. The best version of Carlos does not exist without the people that have preceded him. They all have a hand in shaping what the next generation of talent looks like. It does not reach the levels that JW was just mentioning without the people that have maxed out before them. That should be a. That shouldn't be controversial.
- [11:02]
B
That. That's a great point. And it's not just, you know, hey, hey, I'm. I'm. I'm seeing and I'm incorporating. I mean, this. This has material. I mean, Carlos talked about how he tr. Basically copy or incorporate some of Novak's service motion into his serve. So it's not just, oh, I've seen these guys on tv, and they inspire me. There are real practical ways in which one generation sort of drafts on the other. And that's the way it should be. I mean, that's great. That's progress. That's evolution. We should be happy for that. I would take two seconds. I want to say this about Novak, that I've noticed. One thing I've noticed in covering other sports is when athletes get older, they're crowd favorites. They become sentimental favorites. They don't tend to have much to do with the culture. They're these older NFL quarterbacks who can't remember their teammates names. And you remember Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards would sort of be on totally one end of the locker room. Novak, at 38, is doing what he's doing. He's winning five setters, then coming back 48 hours later and winning the first set of the final. I mean, we've run out of superlatives for what he's done. I was really impressed by how central he still is to tennis. And I don't know if you've seen these videos. And they're wheelchair players he's congratulating and he's visiting kids from the children's hospital and he's coaching. You know, he's giving Eva Jovic tips and he's high fiving Carlos after the semis. He is very much a part of the culture and a part of the locker room. He's really immersed in this. That's not something you see with athletes at the tail end of their career. I, you know, time caught up with him a little bit in the last hour of, of last night or whatever, you know, a couple hours ago, but I don't think that, I think he's got to be really happy, big picture. I mean, I was just so thoroughly impressed by him on the court, but also in the tunnels.
- [12:49]
A
Well, let's, let's, let's play that for. Because I think that's a good point. Pete leaves the game and all we want is to see him sometimes. Like we, you know, we, we, we, we want to honor him. We want him to be a part of the orbit of conversation. Always when Connors left, when he came back and was my coach, he hadn't been around tennis. Like, think about this. We walked through the US Open. And I think I've, maybe I've told a version of this story before. We walked through the US Open, you know, a grand slam that he won five times on three different services. And, you know, a lot of people would argue that he made it mainstream from, you know, the early 80s, then through his run in 1991. We walked back into a venue it had been so long. Jw he had never been to the new stadium. He didn't know where to go at the US Open. No, man, like, he didn't know where to walk. He didn't know a tunnel. He didn't know entrance.
- [13:43]
B
He didn't.
- [13:44]
A
It was, it, it was gone. And now you mentioned Novak still being a part of the fabric of the game. Fed was there before the tournament started, Rafa was there on finals day. So it seems like, is it a hopeful trend that we're seeing players kind of maybe stay around? Andre's back in the game. Like, he. He was gone for a while. Is this a trend that we think will stick? Are the next generation of champions going to follow this generation again and kind of not stray too far from home?
- [14:19]
B
It's a really nice community is the bottom line. And you saw. Even if you saw what. What Novak said to Rafa, impromptu, I thought was really poignant, I mean, not to be naive. And people are going to say, well, they had commercial obligations and a sponsor paid. So what? Exactly. A. So what? You don't. You know, Roger didn't stay for all three weeks. Roger didn't stay for all 15 days. Whatever it is, that's fine. But no tennis one, you know, we can. There's plenty to criticize, and there's plenty we wish were improved or different, but tennis really takes care of its own. And if you're Steffi, if you're Pete, if you say, I'm done next, you know, chapter 2.0, we're done, that's fine. But tennis really accommodates its former champions. And there's. There's places in the game when you're done hitting balls over the net.
- [15:05]
A
And to be fair, like we mentioned, different personalities.
- [15:10]
B
Yeah. Are.
- [15:11]
A
Are like, Stephie is the warmest, nicest person. And by the way, as we're talking through these marches, through history, and I made the mistake in the recap show, like any conversation that talks about historical context and winning Grand Slams and winning the Grand Slam and all that, Steffi needs to be top of mind all the time. I'm guilty of it. She's a goat like she is. You look at her win percentages, you look at when she retired and what her Grand Slam count was. She retired eight or nine years before Serena did. Like, she's. She is amazing. She is in that conversation firmly. And because we don't see her, and I think it's the same thing with Pete, we're not top of mind all the time, and that doesn't change their accomplishments, and it shouldn't treat the way that we remember them.
- [15:55]
B
Right.
- [15:55]
A
And, I mean, she's just so fantastic. But, yeah, I mean, some people, like, she's also the most humble champion of all time. You can't even talk to her about her without her wanting to stop the conversation.
- [16:08]
B
Right.
- [16:08]
A
So if you're her, the last thing you want to do is go to a venue and an event or an audience that all they want to do is celebrate you. That's just not who she is. And in the nicest, you know, most humble way possible, that's just not what it is. You know, luckily with Andre coming back, we get to see her more often, you know, as, as, as, as they are partners, you know. What else struck you from these two weeks, jw?
- [16:38]
B
I think the range of player. I mean, there was a time when we said, oh, teenagers don't have what it takes in terms of physicality. The young crowd held up their end of the bargain. I think just big picture, I mean, they're two guys. We talk about this all the time. But I mean, the facts on the ground are the facts of the ground. We came out of this gilded era with three towering champions who won 20 or more majors. They're two guys who have won each of the last nine majors. And this was Carlo's turn. It was his turn at the US Open. At Wimbledon, it was center. I'm not sure we got a whole lot of intel. One of the big overarching questions is who's going to make a March against these two guys? And it ended up being the 38 year old with 24 majors. And then on the women's side, I'm sort of fascinated by Sabalenka, who is number one. She's become this absolute bankable second week player, but she's got a real habit of losing tight finals. And we saw that again. I mean, she was up 30 in the third set. And she's the player who's won this thing too the last three years. You figure she's going to close and didn't come good. But no, I mean, honestly, it was a weird tournament. We didn't have a great controversy. We didn't have one of those matches that goes till two in the morning that everyone remembers. We didn't have a mid tournament retirement. It was really kind of thin on storylines. The tennis kind of ruled the day, the festival atmosphere ruled the day and then boom. That was three, three great days of tennis to cap this thing.
- [18:12]
A
Well, it's interesting, all the, all the big storylines seem to be C yelling at Osaka Saka looking like a jellyfish, Coco Golf breaking a racket. And it was, it was stuff that really wasn't match centric. Right? It was, it was, it was, it was almost tabloidal the first week. And so you cover it and it's a story and I have people asking me about, you know, what was Osaka doing and you know, who inspired this outfit. And you know, you know, I, there's some people, you know, there was also this narrative that I've been reading and maybe, I don't know if it's just the way I consume news, which is just on a newsfeed now, but it seemed like there was almost this Karen and movement where it's so popular and the players are generally responsible citizens that we almost have to make, you know, someone's trying to make Coco, you know, into a polarizing figure. And this guy who we worked with, I, I did, I mean, he, I, he used to interview me. Literally a 75 year old man came out in an Australian article and said Coco was acting like a. I'm like, what is wrong with you? Like, you remember Craig Willis?
- [19:29]
B
I didn't see that. Yeah.
- [19:30]
A
I'm like, he like posted about it. I'm like, he goes this current. And then it starts getting into this like, what? I never want to become outrageous. He called her like I called a 21 year old young woman a dickhead for breaking a racket. I'm like, get the out of here. Like, what is wrong with you? But then it starts like the older tropes where it's like the young players and I saw, you know, some people, you know, mad at the players because, you know, of the prize money thing and they, you know, what the, the share that they want. I think I want to mention really quickly that the players aren't demanding more cash. That's not there, all right? It's, it's, it's a percentage. So if they're not getting, you know, if they're getting 17% for context, the NBA players get what, close to 50% of the take, right? It's not as if they're saying, go find us more money and bring it to us. We want a percentage of the revenue that's already being generated, right? So if they're not getting it, that means someone who's not playing in any of the matches is getting it. Right? It's going somewhere. And they're just saying, shouldn't we be more of a beneficiary of the product that we're creating? And then you see this narrative of like, oh, well, they have, you know, sound rooms and the food's great at the venue. I'm going, yeah. Who do you think creates that opportunity?
- [20:43]
B
Right? But also that's like saying, hey, hey, we're not going to give you a raise this year, but we got a really expensive coffee machine in the break room. Like, if I'm a Player. I'm like, thanks for the free Uggs.
- [20:53]
A
Yeah, it's like. It's like someone's going to go fucking full Clark Griswold on the Christmas bonus.
- [21:00]
B
That is a reference right there.
- [21:01]
A
Thank you.
- [21:02]
B
Yeah. I always feel like these tournaments can have it both ways, Right? You can't send me the breathless, gushing press release about how many of the signature drinks you sold and how many fans in the Oval. I don't know. I never verified this, but there was a stat going around that, like, one out of three fans in Melbourne don't watch a point of tennis. They're there basically to hear the bands and to have a drink and to go to the Oval and to see the matches on the big screen. That's all great, but in one side, you can't tell me what a great tennis festival. And it spans three weeks, and it's 1.4 million fans and all of the facts and figures and then not bump up the percentage of. I think that's a really good point. We're not talking about going to the money tree in the backyard and somehow artificially, this is just about a split of a pie. And when you're telling us at one point, you do the back of the envelope math, right? And you send out a email about how the expensive the secondary market is for finals tickets and 1.4 million fans on the grounds, and then you say they made how much. Keep in mind, too, the exchange rate is not favorable to athletes from Europe, where something like 999 of the last 100,000 champions are from. Exaggeration, but not by much. But we really. I mean, look at this tournament in terms of euros and far and away, it is the least well paying of the four majors. And, yeah, I mean, you have this. We're breaking attendance marks. We're selling that bar court. I don't know if they showed that at all. It's a cool concept that every place should. There's literally a bar with a DJ and a turntable. We're not talking about a keg and a guy with Dixie cups. I mean, this is a full sports bar overlooking a court.
- [22:42]
A
This is my hell. Playing on that court would be my hell.
- [22:46]
B
There was a great. It was Ayala against Parks, and it literally was like, two players happened to be in the corner of the sports bar. There was, like, a DJ with a turntable. I don't know if he was too. They sold daily shirts that had. So it didn't just say Australian Open, 2026. It said, Final, Final, Saturday, Arena Sabalenka and Elena Robakina. There's merchandise, there's food, there's.
- [23:10]
C
Yeah, but.
- [23:10]
B
Yeah, exactly. No, right, exactly. It's like a concert T shirt that. That's very specific. But my point is, you have all of these rivers of commerce, and then we say, prize money went up 7% or whatever it is. And you say, well, that's funny. You're bragging about your attendance going through the roof and you're, you know, the number of signature. I forget what it's called. Lemon Ace or something. Everyone's imitating everyone at these majors, so we have a signature cocktail. I'm sure the one point slam is moving, but anyway, yeah, players. One of my takeaways is, players deserve more money. Yeah.
- [23:40]
A
The other, the other thing that I always. I always ask crazy questions, so here goes. One of my favorites is like, yeah, yeah, okay, all this happened and we're using. Well, we bumped prize money 3% this year. So, like, shut up because. Just don't ask for anything because we bump. Now, what I want to know is, Was revenue up 7%?
- [23:59]
B
Exactly. Right. We have a cold plunge this year.
- [24:03]
A
Correct. Like, the, the offset is like, there's nuance to these conversations and I don't think, I don't think. And like, I'm sure the comments are going to be. Liddy, if once I say this, I don't think it's like there was outrage because, you know, at one point you're saying, like, we need more than 70. And then Coco makes X. And then she's like, oh, I thought I was in private. I wanted to break a racket. They're like, well, you shouldn't want to break a racket if you make that much money. I'm like, but then also, we get mad when. But also we get mad when athletes make a lot of money and then don't give a.
- [24:39]
B
Right, Right.
- [24:40]
A
So it's like we have to be. Have some consistency with our arguments. Right. Or is it just a matter of writing something to get a click? I don't know.
- [24:47]
C
That racket's probably worth more now than it was beforehand.
- [24:50]
A
Fact.
- [24:52]
B
Yeah, exactly. It's good for the. Could you imagine, though, an athlete wanted a little bit of privacy before they blew off some heat after a stinging loss? I always feel like it's. It's kind of a function of the tournament. Right. People have to write something. So, gee, a player doesn't, like, turned into a meme when there's surveillance cameras at every corner of a tournament. If the next match is Semi classic. We're not even talking about that. It's like water, you know, nature abhors a vacuum. You got to write about something. So if they're great matches, nobody cares that Naomi Osaka says, come on between first and second serves. But again, it's always the case in these events, right? You have a mini controversy and you've manufactured outrage and you've got some silly story that travels in memes. And then in the end, kind of the. We call it the business end for a reason, like the, the adults ruled the show and nobody's talking about mermaid dresses at the end of the tournament.
- [25:51]
A
I have a, I have a question though, because as we're getting into this and I just. As you were chatting, I kind of thought of it. It's weird because we're simultaneously saying we have to do it for clicks, but then also we're announcing that one in three fans in week one or whatever it is, don't actually watch the matches. Isn't that the same conversation?
- [26:11]
B
Right.
- [26:11]
A
We're writing something for social media, so it goes crazy and people are just going. And Sean, as our resident person who's not old, like, do you just go, are you there for the gram? Is, is all of this the same conversation? Is it feeding a positive part of the ecosystem, which, you know, comes with a negative part of the ecosystem?
- [26:31]
B
Yeah, I.
- [26:34]
D
I can't imagine myself going to an event like that and not watching whatever it's centered around. But I do think there's, there's something to, if you're going to add all these extra pieces to an event. So it's like tennis, but then you do have all these concerts, you're going to attract people that just want to.
- [26:51]
B
Have a good time.
- [26:52]
D
So if you're not making tennis the center piece, then I don't know, you're.
- [26:57]
A
Just going to get a lot of.
- [26:58]
D
People who just want to drink and listen to music, which I don't necessarily think is bad.
- [27:01]
C
But I, I mean, I brought this up on the quick serve, but, you know, Carlos had this world famous DJ sitting in his booth or in his coach's box during one of his matches recently. And then the AO was also promoting her because she was playing a live show there at some point around the matches. And I think what they've created is a pathway to get people in and around the sport by offering them entertainment that isn't necessarily them going and sitting through a whole match. But then maybe by some circumstance they find themselves becoming a fan of tennis.
- [27:38]
A
Oh, yes.
- [27:39]
C
Oh, yeah, right. I Think that it is all part of it, right? It's all part of it being Graham acceptable and being a wonderful experience. But I think it's one of the few sporting events that exists. As somebody who takes my family to sporting events where I would, like, enjoy going with my kids, I got to take my kids to NFL games. Like, it's not an enjoyable experience. Maybe a soccer game, but, like, we went to the Cincinnati Open last year with the girls, and we had a great time. We were there for five and a half hours and had a great time.
- [28:08]
B
I feel like this was a little bit of a hedge. I mean, there's a lot going on here. It's actually a really interesting conversation. I don't. But, you know, I mean, I think some of this was a hedge, right, that. That these guys got in a room and said, holy shit, you know, Roger's out, Novak's out, Serena's out. And if we've got to sell, you know, Joe against Sven, we need another reason to create this event here. So it goes beyond. I can't remember the DJ's name. You've actually heard. It's like Peggy goo or something. Someone was telling me, thank you. I know, but I'm like, shit, I've heard. I've heard. I mean, you know, I'm in my 50s. I've heard of her. So it wasn't like they. They grabbed some. Some rando from no go check her out on Spotify. Trust me, the. It goes. I mean, there were. There were influencers. People were complaining that, you know, there's a match going on in Victoria. Mboco is trying to serve out Clara Tassen, and someone says, this is my third apparel spritz there. There's a whole army of influencers. I think it probably was overdone. I think, Mike, you're right that some of the thinking is if one in four of these fans says, oh, my God, this sport is amazing. This. This Lerner kid is incredible, and he's lefty. If one in four of these fans walks away saying, I need to download some tennis apps and listen to served and become a fan of the sport, we all win. It's a real balance. But again, I think a lot of this was done as a hedge of, oh, shit, we've built these big stadiums, We've got all this infrastructure, and what are we going to do when it's not Roger and Rafa in the final, but it's, you know, Boris against whatever, Genadi.
- [29:40]
A
Frankly, I don't give a shit how it happens, but what Tennis has done a great job of. Through Covid and then post. Covid is capturing fandom after the first touch of exposure to our sport.
- [29:56]
B
Right.
- [29:57]
A
So Covid comes. Participation rates go through the roof. Because we've talked about this before, but, like, everything's going bonkers, and all of a sudden someone's, I don't know, I want to do something. I want to see my friend. I want to do an activity, Tennis. I don't have to be next to you. You can cough and, you know, whatever. Like. And now it's like we're getting these little pieces of. It feels like we're capturing more fans, Right. If it's because an influencer posts something, great. If it's because the tennis is the greatest thing I've ever seen, great. Let's just capture more fans. Let's keep them. Let's hold them close, and then let's fucking let Carlos and Janik and Irina and Rybakina go do their thing. Why do we care where they come from? Why do they care what the motives were? My motives are better than your motives. Like, just bring them all in. It's a massive tent. Let's take everyone.
- [30:53]
B
Yep. And we saw and we got a great example of that. Right. And I even think some of it was about the level of tennis. Some of it was about the drama, I think the diversity of this sport. Right. I mean, nobody says, I love Carlos, but who's that woman who won the women's. I mean, this sport has so much going for, you know, all this bitching about. I don't know if you guys caught this, and maybe we're all just in our social media echo chambers, but, you know, the Rybakina wins a major, and she celebrates as if she got Wordle on the fourth try. Like, there was a lot of bitching about this. Why is she withholding emotion? She should be doing somersaults. And I'm thinking, this is our fucking sport where you can win a major and barely crack a smile. And you're. You're Mona Lisa walking to the net. And you can also fall flat on your back like Carlos. And you can drive a go kart in your off day, or you can. I mean, it's the ability of this sport to accommodate ages, genders, body sizes. Lerner plays nothing like whoever Zvera. I mean, it's just. I thought that was really on full display here. And if we're talking about getting these. We're not even talking about casual fans, right? I mean, we're talking about fans who are coming to drink Aperol Spritzes and watch a dj, if again, if I'm one in four of those, walk away saying, actually, this is a really frigging.
- [32:12]
A
Cool sport coming next year. We all might even watch next year.
- [32:15]
B
Yeah, yeah, be great. Or I'm watching Wimbledon, you know, or, hey, when's. When's Roland Garros run around? There's a tournament in Indian Wells. I'll be in la. Maybe I'll pop up. Yeah. I mean, if one in four of those fans can be converted, we're all doing okay.
- [32:28]
A
Yeah. Tennis is just. And I say it at the end of. It feels like I say ad nauseam at the end of every slam right now. But tennis is just winning. It's just winning. Like, you're taking, you know, what Billie Jean and Arthur Ash and what they started building and the visions they had, and then it grows and grows, and it has this moment, the 80s, where, you know, McEnroe still sells more sneakers than, you know, than Larry Bird for a while. And then it ebbs and flows, and now it just feels like on the backs of the previous generation.
- [32:58]
C
It's just.
- [32:58]
A
It's just going. It's just going, and it's adapting, and it's no longer like, no one looks at it now in the offering and the way the players dress and the way players look. And no one points at it right now and goes, oh, it's that antiquated sport. It's that. It's that sport that's, like, stuck in them. Like, it's. It's crazy. It's in.
- [33:21]
B
Yes.
- [33:21]
A
That's what we want. The game is the same. We have historical context. We have all this new cool shit. And then we still can talk about how Carlos compares to, you know, Ivan Lendl. And it's fantastic. It's. It's. It's such a great spot for. For the sport to be in. Jw, as you kind of propel off of this tournament into the rest of the year, what do you think are some. Some storylines to look at?
- [33:52]
B
You know, the big one is the Alcaraz center dynamic. And where we go from here, we have this rivalry. We were very close to another, you know, Alcaraz center final, number four in a row. We didn't get that. But these are still two guys that are towering, I think, where does Novak go from here? People were parsing every word. It's like, you know, the criminologist parsing the consolation speech, which was very gracious, and I encourage everyone to watch. But People noticed he did not say, see you next year. So what's going on with Novak Zverev? Great tournament for 5.8 rounds and then leaves with another sting. Can he recover? On the women's side, we have a new multiple major champion. Elena Rapacano just paved her way to the hall of Fame. Can Sabalenka recover? Remember what happened last year with Sabalenka? Where is the state of co. I mean, that's the other thing. These storylines keep going. Right now it's King Carlos, but, you know, it wasn't King Carlos at Turin, like, 60 days ago. So plots. Plots flip over quickly. I mean, that is one thing about this event. I mean, there were. Lerner Tien made his mark, and there were a couple of sort of Eva Jovic. I'm not sure. Big picture. There were any sort of foundational changes to tennis. I mean, three weeks ago, what would we have said? Can anyone beat Carlos and Jannik? Well, no. Yeah, someone beat Janik. He's 38 years old. Can Sabalenka close a major and not lose a tight final? Well, no, she did very well to get to the final. I mean, I'm not sure much of the tennis firmament was really rocked at this tournament, but that's all right. Plenty to look forward to. As we march on, I don't see.
- [35:35]
A
Myself getting any closer to walking back my claim that tennis is the hardest sport on earth. After seeing what we've seen over the last thing, it's like, literally, you know, I don't often turn on the TV and see people just baking to the point where, like, there's. It's actually not safe to be outside at all. And then to play five sets in it, like, it's. It's just. The drama is amazing. The characters are amazing. You don't have to. You can say what you mean and mean what you say, because you don't have 60 teammates that have to answer for your opinion. You know, as. As a journalist, JW are.
- [36:13]
C
What.
- [36:13]
A
What are you seeing with the players from where I sat, and it's like, you know, Rublev post match going. I have. I don't know. I'm gonna sleep and I'm gonna drink coffee. I'm asleep. I drink coffee. I'm a sleep. I drink coffee. And it's like a character. It's like I feel like the players are almost entering the. Like, I don't give a phase, and I'm here for it. Like, Zverev going, they can't get sick of me because I pay for everything. And all these, like, things that would have been outrageous, like even 20 years ago, I would say something half as amusing and would get credit for it because it just wasn't the standard thing. Are you seeing players open up more? And if we have instances like Coco in the privacy thing, like, we want players to give us more, right? Like, we don't want to like, shame them if they break a racket or do like we. We want. Every time someone says an F bomber has a real moment, I start laughing.
- [37:07]
B
We want as much coal shoveled into the content furnace as possible. And you know, I mean, go back, by the way, if you just said as an aside, if you're. If people are bored, watch the go watch Rublev Wally Masseur interview.
- [37:22]
A
It's the best we played it. It's unbelievable.
- [37:24]
C
Oh, you did.
- [37:24]
B
Oh, they will not be having a second date. But yeah, I mean, some of this is the age we live in and we all like memes, we all like clippables and memories. I mean, I think someone can do something outrageous and it is not going to define their career.
- [37:37]
A
That's true.
- [37:38]
B
I mean, I always say this at this event. I mean, I think we also. These players on balance are fantastic and they're funny and some are more extroverted and introverted than others. It's a range. We wouldn't want every single one of them to be our next door neighbor, but I would say unbalanced compared to any sport. And yeah, I mean, I think some of this is the age we live in. Some of these are. The attention spans are going down. But yeah, I don't think the. I mean, this is a longer conversation. I don't think necessarily that the press conference format with transcription and words out of context are necessarily the best way for players to get their message across. But yeah, I fully agree.
- [38:17]
A
They should all just come unserved instead.
- [38:20]
B
They should all come unserved where everything will be in context. We won't burn them, we won't ambush them with questions about how they feel about ice. But no to your question. I feel like the players, they kind of get the drill and it doesn't mean it's perfect. I mean, again, we don't have to do it. The racket smash, I think, brings up a number of issues in this balance between providing content other than a ball going over a net, which, you know, great. There are only so many highlights you can show of a forehand winner. We need something else to talk about. But the cameras are absolutely ubiquitous at this tournament.
- [38:57]
C
Didn't Sabalega last year after losing to Matty, go back into the, into the room and put her bags down and pick her racket up out of her bag and smash the shit out of it and then put it in a trash can and just calmly go about like, like it happened a year ago.
- [39:10]
A
And it's like, but the different. Like, you know, I think it was in the gym, if I'm not mistaken. Like, you know, she was like, in the gym.
- [39:17]
C
There's cameras on.
- [39:17]
B
Yeah.
- [39:17]
A
And it's great. Like, I don't give a shit. I made this point last week and I'll make it again. And then I want to get to you wrapping up the brackets, Mike, and to see who won, where, why, when. But like, I don't know. Jw, would you be super mad if, like, you know that your neighbor broke their own chair?
- [39:37]
B
Like, if my neighbor broke. Yeah.
- [39:39]
A
Why do I care if an adult broke a racket if it's theirs? Like, I don't give a. Who cares?
- [39:44]
C
I think the biggest thing was just Coco was saying she wanted a private moment.
- [39:47]
A
I know when she tried, it's someone's like, oh, she knew it wasn't private. I'm like, she was in a back hallway with nobody around. What are you talking about?
- [39:55]
B
No, but also, I like her. She did not want. She, she did not want this public. She knew that this wasn't like, you know, I actually thought it was kind of poignant. She didn't want young kids to think that breaking her equipment is something that's, that's par for the course. I mean, I also thought her rationale was actually really kind of sweet and cool and mature. Yeah, we all. It's like ring cams everywhere. It's like, I think one thing I heard from players just. We don't have to. But one thing I heard from players is like, you're sitting there on the exercise bike and you do something stupid or you snap someone with a towel and by the time you go back to the locker room, it's a meme and you see it on your phone.
- [40:33]
C
It's like Ega forgetting her credential. It's like, who gives a no?
- [40:36]
A
It's like Yannick Sinner looking at his phone on a warm up bike and people zooming in to see who his girlfriend is.
- [40:41]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [40:42]
A
Like, give me a. I mean, come on. Like, I understand. And then they'll be like, well, they make him up. Like, not everyone. Whatever. Anyways, give us, give us, give us our, our bracket updates, Mike. I know we're all on pins and needles and JW all the winner.
- [40:55]
C
We need like, we need like an animation and we need like sound effect. We need like something so some. Some bracket shouts. First of all, thank you for everybody for signing up. We crushed it. We added a large portion of users. People also signed up for the newsletter. People are inside the subtack substack chat with Andy. You know, Megan who runs our newsletter even pointed out that we had somebody in the chat literally sitting in the Rod Laver arena texting in the chat while also watching the semifinals. So I think it's really, really cool that we have that. But on the men's side, Andy, you ran away with it a bit over jw. You both picked six out of the eight quarter finalists, three out of the four semifinalists. But Andy had Carlos to the finals. JW.
- [41:42]
A
Really fucked JW there.
- [41:44]
C
Both of you picked Sinner to win, obviously.
- [41:47]
A
Crazy.
- [41:47]
C
No chicken there. Andy, you had 1,705 over JW's 1525 points.
- [41:53]
A
Wait, where did Blair and Kim end up?
- [41:56]
C
They were. I will tell you right now. On the men's side, Kim had 1282 points.
- [42:04]
B
Oof.
- [42:05]
C
Might have to work on that. And then player at 1105 points. So just barely losing out the JW there. Shout out to the men's bracket winner Francomb claiming the title with 2,146 points. They had six of eight to the round of 16. Seven of eight semifinalists only missing on Fritz over Mercedi. Then picked the semis and finals correctly.
- [42:28]
B
Wow. Well done.
- [42:30]
C
Yeah, well done. And then women's side winner was Teddy Bear, who also took home. The combined score was 2,147 points on the women's side and 3,786 on the combined. Shout out to Teddy Bear and Francomb. Now this is where it got interesting, boys. This is where bonus points in scoring systems that were long fought by a team of brilliant mathematicians. Say it, Techie, Sean and myself.
- [43:00]
A
This is going to be tough.
- [43:02]
C
JW, you did pick Rybakina to win. Congratulations. You accumulated 1,721 points. But not so fast. 1 Andy Roddick, despite not having Rybakina even to the finals, edged out a victory by 31 points over UJW with 1,752 points. This comes down to this perfect scoring system. Picking Embako over Tossen and I'm sorry, over Tossen and Jovic over Paolini gave andy more than 60 points plus the bonus points because of the lower seed differential. To edge you out. Jw.
- [43:39]
A
Jw. Here's.
- [43:40]
B
Here's. Here's the steel.
- [43:42]
A
Here's. Here's.
- [43:43]
C
I'm the steel.
- [43:46]
B
I'm gonna.
- [43:46]
A
I'm gonna. I'm gonna coach you through this, okay? So just. Just settle in for a second. I've been. I've been here before, all right? I've. I've. I've been in your seat before, okay? You did great. You executed as well as you could. You tried your little heart out, and you came in second.
- [44:03]
B
I don't like to use the word rigged. I don't like to use the word flim flam, but you. Seriously, you can. You can pick the winner. And yeah, if you're.
- [44:15]
A
If you're really bad for the rest of tournament, you can pick the winner and lose.
- [44:18]
B
All right, Honestly, I like this. I got to see the paperwork before, but I do like this. I do like this system. You should be rewarded. I mean, think about, though, you know, if you had Novak, you weren't feeling great after that two sets of Lorenzo Musetti. I mean, I think we saw Medi burn me.
- [44:43]
A
Me too.
- [44:43]
B
But this was fun. This was fun. And I do unbalance All Stop the steel. Jokes aside, I like the scoring system better. You got our fortune favors the brave.
- [44:52]
A
Jokes are jokes. And I think if you've listened to the show long enough, you know, we are the first ones to just absolutely go El Torcho on each other when we don't make the good picks. I think this is two years in a row row where JW has picked the women's winner. I want to say you may have taken Maddie last year, which. Which was crazy. So I just did it. And if it's not, I'm just not going to let the truth get in the way of that story.
- [45:19]
B
I would just. We have fun with these picks. It's part of being a sports fan is projecting. I also had Maddie beating Carlos Alcaraz. So these. These things have a way of balancing themselves out.
- [45:32]
C
We're going to set. We're going to send the winners, though. Just some merch. We got emails from signed up and we'll reach out to you all and congratulations and thanks, everybody for participating and we'll run it back for the French Open.
- [45:44]
A
All right, well, thank you. Wait, wait.
- [45:47]
B
I got. Wait, I got one. Hold.
- [45:48]
C
Let me.
- [45:49]
B
I got one. Because I just. This came to me, like, when we were talking about 20 minutes ago. Real quick. So two years ago, I am marooned in a hotel room in Australia, as is the case right now, and I get a call saying, hey, we were talking about doing that podcast. Can you jump on? The Australian Open just ended. Jannik Sinner and Irina Sabalenko won two years ago. To this day, I believe that was first served podcast. I believe this is our second anniversary. And I would contend that this has come a long way in two years. So happy second anniversary, buddy.
- [46:23]
A
Go us. Jw.
- [46:24]
C
Thanks for.
- [46:26]
A
I remember when I called Jay, I was like, would you want to do a podcast? He goes, oof.
- [46:33]
C
That sounds.
- [46:34]
A
It was like.
- [46:35]
B
It was.
- [46:35]
A
It was like the sound. It was like the soundtrack to him trying to get a zoom camera to work.
- [46:40]
B
You know, it's more profanity.
- [46:43]
C
Speaking of milestones, before we go, we give a shout out to Casper Rude and his wife.
- [46:47]
A
Yes. Great child.
- [46:49]
C
On January 30th, which. Which is our actual anniversary of our show January 30th. So now it'll be special in many households.
- [46:56]
A
Fantastic. Listen, congratulations to. To Casper. We were talking about. I kept betting against him because I was like, he's going to go home and have a baby. Anyways. He. Congratulations to the happy parents. Glad everyone's happy, healthy. Listen, moments like that, roots having the baby bigger than any match will ever be. Let's never lose sight of that. Appreciate you guys. Great work over the Fortnite, jw. Safe travels. Coming home is the recap. And then actually next week, we're gonna. We're gonna go on the socials. Peter Lebedevs, who's the tournament director in Dallas, on Q and Andy later this week, definitely send us some questions for him. So let's say not a Grand Slam, not a Masters 1000. How does the sausage get made at one of these events? We will read them to Peter. We're gonna talk to him in the next couple days. I will be. I'm all over the place next week. I will be playing in Dallas next Saturday, which will be fun, but that'll be great. So send in those questions. I'm sure we'll give you a prompt. Mike and Sean are smarter with that stuff, but hopefully we'll be able to make that happen. But send those in and we will catch you on our regular cadence. Mike, remind everyone what our cadence is.
- [48:13]
C
Tuesdays is this show. Wednesdays is Love all with Kim Kleisors and Blair Henley. Thursdays will be Q and Andy, and then Fridays we will be back with Served five Setter, where you get your news updates for the week. And then we run it back every week.
- [48:28]
A
Look at us. Look at us. Two years later. Look at us. Look at you. We love this. We love the feedback. I don't think we've ever had more commentary underneath the episodes in the substack. All of it. Our goal is to create community. Please help us with that. And thank you for your participation. Thank you for watching serve. Brought to you by servicenow. We will see you. I don't know, one of those shows that Mike just said, see ya.