FRENCH OPEN WOMEN’S FINAL REACTION | Quick Served w/ Andy Roddick

Summary

Served with Andy Roddick: Episode Summary

Episode Title: FRENCH OPEN WOMEN’S FINAL REACTION | Quick Served w/ Andy Roddick
Release Date: June 7, 2025
Host: Andy Roddick
Part of: Vox Media Podcast Network

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1. Introduction and Context

In the latest episode of Served with Andy Roddick, Andy delves into the thrilling conclusion of the French Open Women’s Final, offering an insightful reaction to Coco Gauff’s triumphant victory. Joined by co-host Jon Wertheim, the discussion centers around Gauff’s performance, her ascent in the tennis world, and the broader implications for the sport.

2. Coco Gauff's Victory: A Masterclass in Resilience and Skill

Andy opens the conversation by expressing his admiration for Coco Gauff, highlighting her exceptional mental fortitude and technical prowess on the court.

“Coco just did a masterful job of mixing up paces, high, kind of floating heavy forehands, chipping on the run, using a backhand slice to bring not only Sabalenka side to side, but front and back.” ([01:50])

Andy emphasizes Gauff’s ability to maintain composure under pressure, particularly during critical moments of the match. He commends her “one more ball mentality” and her strategic use of the wind to her advantage.

“She was in disbelief on that match point she hit that high heavy forehand that kind of fluttered. She thought she missed it. She almost stopped playing and then Sabalenka just pulled that last backhand.” ([05:55])

Gauff’s victory is portrayed as not just a win but a significant step towards her legendary status in tennis. Andy notes her consistency and her growth from being ranked fourth to now securing two Grand Slam titles.

“Two-time Grand Slam champion, French Open title. I think clay might be her best surface...” ([04:30])

3. Irina Sabalenka: A Respectful Contender

Turning to Sabalenka, Andy acknowledges her formidable presence on the court and the respect she garners despite the loss.

“Sabalenka is probably the most devastated I've seen her outwardly post match. She always is respectful of her opponent. Imagine the disappointment when she loses that match.” ([07:45])

He reflects on Sabalenka’s consistent appearances in finals, underscoring her status as a top competitor in women’s tennis.

“Sabalinka has made finals in six of the last 10 slams. Right. And she's one of those and lost half those.” ([06:30])

Despite the loss, Sabalenka’s performance is lauded, particularly her ability to compete fiercely against top-tier opponents like Gauff.

4. Tournament Conditions and Future Implications

Andy and Jon also discuss the impact of court conditions, such as wind and weather, on player performance and match outcomes. They speculate on how these factors might influence upcoming matches, particularly in the context of potentially closing the roof due to rain.

“I think slower, colder conditions probably favor Carlos. I think Carlos does very well when the ball is able to jump.” ([11:40])

The conversation extends to the broader tournament, expressing excitement for future matchups and the emergence of new talents stepping into the spotlight amid the transition from retiring legends.

“They answer the door in the vacuum of those superstars. And gosh, the tournament... it's unreal.” ([12:10])

5. Closing Remarks and Celebrations

As the episode wraps up, Andy celebrates Coco Gauff’s victory, praising her as a beacon for the future of tennis. He emphasizes Gauff’s marketability and positive impact on the sport, ensuring her continued relevance and popularity.

“Happy to shut up. Way to go, Coco. Your champion, Roland Garros. Champion, U.S. Open champion. Second of many more, I think.” ([13:30])

Andy also touches on the podcast’s merchandise, thanking listeners for their support and hinting at upcoming products like branded socks.

“Thank you everybody who's been grabbing up some merch. Really appreciate it.” ([13:20])

Notable Quotes

• Andy Roddick on Gauff’s Mentality:
  “That one more ball mentality, that one more ball back...” ([01:50])

• Andy Roddick on Sabalenka’s Respectfulness:
  “Sabalenka is probably the most devastated I've seen her outwardly post match.” ([07:45])

• Discussion on Tournament Conditions:
  “I think slower, colder conditions probably favor Carlos.” ([11:40])

• Celebrating Gauff’s Victory:
  “Way to go, Coco. Your champion, Roland Garros.” ([13:30])

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Conclusion

This episode of Served with Andy Roddick offers a comprehensive and passionate analysis of Coco Gauff’s significant win at the French Open, underscored by respect for her competitors and excitement for the future of tennis. Andy’s insightful commentary, enriched with notable quotes and detailed observations, provides listeners with a vivid picture of the tournament’s highlights and what lies ahead for the sport’s rising stars.

Transcript

[Mike]

Support for the show comes from Amazon Prime. You might think of prime as only a way to get fast free delivery or maybe as the place to stream movies, shows and sports, but it's actually way more than that. Maybe you've got a passion or a hobby, prime can help you get the most out of it. Whether you're streaming documentaries on marine animals, ordering action figure stands with free one day delivery, or finding the perfect playlist to impress that special someone, prime makes it easier and faster to do what you love. Whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.com, to get more out of whatever you're into.

[Unknown]

Support for this show comes from pure leaf iced tea. When you find yourself in the afternoon slump, you need the right thing to make you bounce back. You need pure leaf iced tea. It's real brewed tea made in a variety of bold flavors with just the right amount of naturally occurring caffeine. You're left feeling refreshing, refreshed and revitalized so you can be ready to take on what's next. The next time you need to hit the reset button, grab a pure leaf iced tea. Time for a tea break. Time for a pure leaf.

[Mike]

Hey everyone. Welcome to Quick Serve, brought to you by Amazon Prime. Coco Gauff, your French Open champion this year. I am happy to be wrong with, with my prediction. I've always thought the world of Coco and just you can't, like we can talk about. She's, she's probably heard it ad nauseum from idiots like us. The forehand, the serve, they held up. What you can't teach and what we can't nitpick is her ability. That one more ball mentality, that one more ball back, someone hitting a big ball, it just, she stayed the course and just tough Sabalenka out. I mean, props to Coco losing that first set in a breaker. I mean, the entire match was like a roller coaster. She won 19 more total points. She was the better player start to finish today. I think the wind was a net positive for Coco. You know, she hits that ball high, that heavy forehand up above the strike zone of Sabalenka and that thing starts dancing. Anything that throws off the rhythm of a pure ball striker like Sabalenka, I feel is to the advantage of Coco. I think she should have been pretty happy when they decided to leave the roof open outside of rain. I don't understand what the conversation is around closing the roof versus opening it, versus for, for it's an outdoor tournament. Like we're okay with Wind. I am so, so happy for Coco and it's like that next step in just being kind of marching her way towards legendary status. You know, winning that first major and then it wasn't easy from there, right? She had, it's like her basement kept rising, right? It was like four in the world and we're going, oh, she can play better. That's how good she is though. And then now she's two in the world. Two time Grand Slam champion, French Open title. I think clay might be her best surface is set at two days ago after she had won the semifinal or most consistent surface anyways. But I just wish all good things for, for Coco, her family, her team, she goes about it the right way. Listen, the only reason any of us want her to win more is because we like and respect her. And I think it's just such a fascinating story. TNT hit the jackpot with, with, with this match, you know, this match, Jannik and Carlos in the final, Novak in the semis. That kind of hesitated walk off last night where even Novak said I don't know if I'll play here again. Just what a win of a tournament. What a win for Coco Gauff. It's just, it's just amazing. It's almost like she was in disbelief on that, on that match point she hit that high heavy forehand that kind of fluttered. She thought she missed it. She almost stopped playing and then Sabalenka just pulled that last backhand and it's like in the span of 3 seconds you go from thinking that you miss a forehand and you're back to deuce and you hope you can serve it out to your life changing and now forever she'll be a champion at Roland Garros forever she'll be, you know, at least a two time slam winner. And this ain't going to be the end. You know, she can rely on, on, on her legs. Sabalenka stepping up. She's the only one that can catch up to her speed sideline to sideline, right. She doesn't like pace to the forehand on clay. It slows down a little bit, but she can take Saba's best shot on her backhand side. She doesn't like the pace to the forehand, but she takes pace on the backhand about as well as anyone in the world and can redistribute to arena. And Coco just did a masterful job of mixing up paces high, kind of floating heavy forehands, chipping on the run, using a backhand slice to Bring not only Sabalenka side to side, but front and back. And um, I just thought she played with the variance in the wind and Saba just never really got totally comfortable. And it was just not dissimilar from, from their US Open final where Saba came out and was the better player in the first set. And then Coco just clawed back that one more ball mentality. You learn that when you're 7, 8, 9 years old that her, her base level of being able to get to that is just, is just phenomenal. And she's such a great athlete and such a good person. This is going to be a very popular win around tennis. And Sabalenka, it's probably the most devastated I've seen her outwardly post match. She always is respectful of her opponent. Imagine the disappointment when she loses that match. 2nd Heartbreaking Grand Slam loss, a final in a row, but still goes over and gives Coco her respect. And even though she was down in that ceremony, she was still classy. I'm, I, I'm a bigger and bigger fan of, of Irina's all the time for, for, for many reasons and I hope it's tough to see the forest through the trees, but you know she's going to be your favorite going into Wimbledon. She's still the favorite in any tournament she enters. Well deserved. Number one in the world. But this was, this was Coco's moment.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I mean she's made. Sabalinka has made finals in six of the last 10 slams. Right. And she's one half those and lost half those. And I think when you look at her numbers, like it's, it's not like she's no longer the number one player in the world. I mean, it's, it's ridiculous. She, she's made two finals so far and who's to say she won't make the next two also, right?

[Mike]

Yeah, she's far and away the, I mean, the most consistent best player in the world, the most bettable entity still with this result, I mean, it takes Coco playing a phenomenal match. Coco protecting her second serve. She won 50% of her second serve points. You tell us that going in against Sabalenko who just crushes second serve returns. That's a big number for her. That's a stat that probably won her the match. Her ability to defend her second serve against big sitter big hitters is probably her Achilles heel. But you know, Sabalenka gained points still. I mean she's, she's the clear cut number one in the world. And that's probably the next thing that, you know, Coco wants to, to go after. But post US Open last year, and props to Matt Daly and her team, post kind of Brad Gilbert transition. They have done a phenomenal job because through the US Open last year, Coco was kind of up and down. She played great in Australia, was serving great in Australia. And then it wasn't easy last year in kind of the, the, the, the vacuum of winning that U.S. open, she struggled some. It wasn't like it's been smooth sailing since then, you know, but she is such a professional, even when it's hard, you know you're going to get effort. You know, even if she's not feeling perfectly, she's going to show up. She's going to be a professional. She does all of the things that she has to do. And by the way, something we won't talk about enough. Have you ever seen Coco tired on the court ever?

[Unknown]

It's absurd.

[Mike]

We talk about fitness, her fitness levels and arena, by the way, their fitness levels are through the roof. They played almost three hours of intense tennis today. Coco, I don't know that I've, I've seen her frustrated, I've seen her angry, I've seen her timid, maybe not confident. Never questioned fitness. We don't even mention it. And she's covering some court. She was the one running, tracking balls down the entire time. And when you're playing against her, that has to be stressful mentally to know that you're not going to beat her based on physicality. Now, you might beat her based on X's and O's and merits and the whole thing, but she isn't going away. And her skill set defensively is phenomenal. And I'm just so happy for her. Her team, the expectations are, they just seem outsized all the time. And I don't want to say unfair, because you create your own shadow. And the only reason any of us have expectations for Coco is, is because we know how great she is and because we also know how great she is for the game. Like, we want her success because tennis wins when she's successful. She's such a good steward for the game. So I, you know, even I'm sure arena in her biggest disappointment would say, you know what? Coco's great for our game. I don't want to lose to her, especially in Grand Slam finals. But Coco is amazing for tennis. She's such a good person to be able to lean on for the health of our sport. And listen, I was one of the idiots in the kind of vacuum of Roger going away, of Rafa now leaving, of Novak saying, I don't know when I'm going to stop, of Serena going away, saying, we're going to have a lull. We're going to have to replace a lot of star power. And guess what? Carlos Jannik, arena iga, Coco, they answer the door, man. Like, they answer the door in the. In the vacuum of those superstars. And gosh, the tournament, Listen, Coco wins huge storylines. Novak's gone, doesn't know what's happening. Oh, and we still have a 1v2 final tomorrow with the new two, as Jim Currier likes to call him, which I think is so appropriate. The new two, Carlos and Yannick. And we're going to see Carlos hit those fade away back ends, mix up paces, hit those slices, hit those drop shots. He's going to try to, like, do what Coco did to arena today, right? Not let her, not let Sinner get, you know, three, four balls in the same spot where we know he's effective. We saw what he was able to do against Novak. But there's no one who's better suited to kind of fight off Sinner's power. Similar to Coco is the best person in the world that fights off Arena's power. And by the way, now she has a winning record against Sabalinka.

[Unknown]

Yeah, Mike, So they were kind of talking in the post game about the court conditions and the challenge, and obviously it started sprinkling and they were wondering, like, are they going to close the roof? Are they not tomorrow? If conditions are similar, you know, who. Who does that favor? Right?

[Mike]

I actually think slower, colder conditions probably favor center. I think Carlos does very well when the ball is able to jump. It's like everyone kind of lazily early on was like, well, you know, Rafa is really good and, you know, cold and slow. I'm like, Rafa's. He wants his ball jumping out of the zone. I think Carlos wants the ball jumping out of the zone. I do. I would not think that Carlos wants that roof anywhere close to being closed. I think he wants the wind. I think when you're playing ball strikers, you want any sort of variable to make sure that they're not getting that. That sensory feedback of a ball well struck over and over and over again. That's what builds confidence.

[Unknown]

That's so interesting.

[Mike]

So. So we'll see. I don't think it's crazy either way, but, you know, the. When Rafa lost in 09 to Soderling, it was a cold sprinkly gross day, and he was up against a guy who can just crush the ball. You know, I think Sinner wants the ball in his pocket a little bit more. He can create, you know, more consistent speed off both sides. And Carlos wants the ball dancing. He wants it to get up and out of the zone. He wants to switch directions. He wants it to be kind of dusty with footwork, too, to where it's slippery. You know, if it's sprinkling and gets muddier, that's a little bit more stable footing for Yannick as opposed to the dry, slippery when the ball's jumping. I think that would favor. Favor Carlos, but, I mean, I just can't wait. This. This tournament's been like a 12 out of 10. I mean, imagine. Imagine being the new kid on the block with TNT and coming in and getting these matchups right away.

[Unknown]

It's unreal.

[Mike]

It's. It's pretty great. Can't wait to get up in the morning. Gotta be honest. Pretty big fan of like 9am let's watch Slam finals. Don't hate that.

[Unknown]

Yeah, get your day over.

[Mike]

I don't. I. I don't hate that at all.

[Unknown]

That was like when I lived in LA and literally I was. I was a Bengals fan, which still m. Sadly. And I wake up at 10am, watch a game, be done, be on the beach by 2:00. Like, I like this.

[Mike]

Rough. Nice Rough. What you. It was rough. We lost Little. Little Golf to the office. Little. Little. Little Quick podcast. Sell some merch.

[Unknown]

Yeah, you know, sell. Sell a little bit of merch. By the way, thank you everybody who's been grabbing up some merch. Really appreciate it.

[Mike]

Mike's so happy.

[Unknown]

Socks will be online soon, people. The socks are having some issues, apparently, but socks will be there. If you haven't seen the socks, go check them out.

[Mike]

All right, well, we got. We got nothing else going. I cannot wait. Congratulations to Coco Golf. I'm happy for tennis. I'm happy for her because I just like and respect her so much. And I think she takes a lot of criticism all the time because she is wildly famous and wildly successful and wildly marketable, and we wildly need to talk about her all the time. And therefore it probably leans to the point where she's sick and tired of hearing from us and you know what? Happy to shut up. Happy to. Way to go, Coco. Your champion, Roland Garros. Champion, U.S. open champion. Second of many more, I think. And props to Irina Sabalenka. Hell of a run. Thanks for watching. Quick serve brought to you by Amazon Prime. We'll see you tomorrow. Sinner Sinner Chicken Dinner and the Chuckster Carlos Alcaraz Support for the show comes from Amazon Prime. Prime is more than just fast free delivery. It's your go to for streaming music, movies and sports. Plus, it's also a great way to connect with the things you love into skiing. Stream ski films on prime video even when the slopes are bare. Love fishing. You can get new gear delivered fast and be back by the water in no time. Planning your next big trip. Prime helps you get everything you need faster than you can write your out of office email. Whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into.

[Unknown]

Support for this show comes from Pure Leaf Iced Tea when you find yourself in the afternoon slump, you need the right thing to make you bounce back. You need Pure Leaf Iced Tea. It's real brewed tea made in a variety of bold flavors with just the right amount of naturally occurring caffeine. You're left feeling refreshed and revitalized so you can be ready to take on what's next. The next time you need to hit the reset button, grab a Pure Leaf Iced Tea. Time for a tea break. Time for a Pure Leaf.