Alcaraz Mania in Vienna, Musetti Back on Top, Meddy Train Rolling | EP 226

0:00 All right, everyone. On today's episode of Nothing Major, we got a recap from Lyon, Brussels, and Almaty, and a bunch of other stuff, too. Let's get going. Big John, Stevie, and Sam. Got close a few times, never won a slam. Nothing Major. All right, welcome back. Got John in the red, Stevie in the hat, myself here. I'm at Tennis Channel.

0:21 Stevie's coming to Tennis Channel later. Of course, we've got the suits at SIFT with us. What a week of tennis. Busy 250 week. I got the background behind me. I'm at Tennis Channel shooting the show Second Serve in a little bit. That's why I'm here. Stevie's coming in a little bit. Before we recap the tour events, you guys want an update of my– I had a USTA match over the weekend.

0:43 We all had some big tennis over the weekend.

0:44 That's all I care about actually.

0:45 I knew you did. I got a big win personally and more importantly, the team got a big win. I played in a way match. Usually I don't play away matches, but this was against our rival club who like– You know, can't stand.

0:59 That's big for you to go to an away match.

1:02 Away match. Played the number one doubles line. Tough opponents. We played Matteo Savio, who is Matteo Arnaldi's brother-in-law. Yes. Who's got tennis in his blood.

1:12 Yes.

1:13 And this other guy, Campbell, who played at Rice. I played with Martin Parks, like one of our club pros. He got sick volleys. He does have good volleys. Great first volleys. Average serve. Better than you? Yeah, I'm not crossing. Like he'll throw in the serve at like 100, but I'm not crossing because I trust him to pick up shoestring volleys more than me like cross over the middle.

1:30 You were never crossing to begin with.

1:32 No, I did a few times. But a tight four and four had to save break points like serving for the match. I got tight. And I did kind of like tweak my groin again.

1:42 Oh, no.

1:44 So bad. I didn't feel it.

1:48 You did, didn't you?

1:50 Yeah, barely though. No warm-up and then like straight from the court into the car to drive home.

1:55 Doing a lot of good rehab exercises since Cincinnati?

1:58 Body mate, not one. I went to rehab twice and then never did anything. It'll heal itself over time.

2:03 Yeah.

2:04 I will say John and I did have an incredible event down in Jacksonville as well. I feel like I pulled the same query because I feel like my hammy is banged up now after playing.

2:13 But John.

2:14 John and I did this incredible event down at Tim Aquana Country Club. Man, what an event. John took me down again this year. Another win for John Isner in the exhibition department. But I did hit two backhand winners, so I'm very proud of that.

2:28 Yeah.

2:29 Very proud of that. This is incredible. I also missed like seven easy overhands.

2:32 One down the line and one cross.

2:34 Wow.

2:35 No problem.

2:36 I wish if I had that in my career, I'd still be playing.

2:39 Yeah.

2:39 Wow.

2:39 But ultimately, I did pull a hammy.

2:41 Those are the events people really care about. Now we'll get to the secondhand events. Let's start in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Daniil Medvedev takes out Bashias Vili. I don't think anyone had him go into the final. Stevie, you were in Tennis Channel a little bit over the weekend. Yep. Calling matches. You touched on the Almaty, Kazakhstan event. Medvedev, the good Medvedev is back. We all know I love Medvedev. He takes the title here. He beat Bublik in the semis, I believe.

3:11 Yep.

3:11 And then Basius Vili in the finals. He seems to be playing well here again late in the year.

3:16 Yeah, pretty amazing. Look, for Medvedev, he has one of the greatest stats, I think, in the history of tennis. When he had 20, it was either 21 or 22 titles in 21 or 22 different cities. He is now, he won in Dubai, I believe, earlier this year to like you know, be a repeat city winner, but now he's first time ever. He's a repeat, you know, back-to-back winner in Almaty.

3:39 Yeah.

3:39 Nobody had Basileus Vili in the final here. This was all Medvedev. This was going to be a bad loss if he, if he didn't win this one, but it was a real bummer because in the semis Medvedev played Bublik and Bublik was like banged up, hurt, just, he couldn't walk. He played a set, like couldn't walk and then had to pull the plug, which was a total bummer for the fans. Cause that was, I mean, the crowd was actually like, it was huge for that one.

4:02 Just kind of total bummer.

4:03 But yeah, good.

4:04 Medi is back. He just, as long as he doesn't kill a fan, he's in good shape right now to make the finals, but that is always up for debate that he might snap at any moment and hit a fan. So with that being said, I think he's, he's got himself at the driver's seat for return, but you just never know with Medi.

4:22 A lot of low, a lot of low fan from Shanghai is out of the, or for Beijing is out of the hospital yet. I know it's been three or four weeks.

4:30 He might still be in there.

4:32 How about the outfit that you wear when you win Almaty, Kazakhstan? Is it the hat? It's not a dress, a robe? I don't even know what it is.

4:42 Yeah, it's like native garb.

4:44 Yeah, native garb.

4:48 It's a tough look.

4:49 It's a tough look. I think one of the other big storylines in Albany was– Mikhail Kokushkin, our wild card into the hottie bracket a couple years ago. His last event, he won his first round, then went out to Tsitsipas. Kokushkin was tricky, though, all those years. We played him.

5:05 Couldn't stand playing that guy.

5:06 Couldn't stand playing him. He lost to Tsitsipas, and afterwards Tsitsipas put a shirt out and had Kokushkin sign the shirt. Like soccer players after this great career. And not to say that Kokushkin didn't have a really good career. That was a crazy moment. Tsitsipas asking Kukushkin for a signed shirt. John, let me go to you. Where does Tsitsipas do with the signed shirt now? Frame it, put it up near the Roland Garros finalist trophy or what?

5:35 What brand was Kukushkin wearing? Clothing brand.

5:40 I mean, that's the million-dollar question.

5:42 What do you do with that? Do you put it up there in your memorabilia room beside the messy signed jersey?

5:50 Yeah, you have to at this point.

5:52 Maybe he's got like a Giannis, like something, like something from Giannis, you know, being from Greece. Put it up right there beside it. I think it's pretty cool.

5:59 I mean, if Tsitsipas ever comes on this pod, the first question I'm asking him is, where is the Mikhail Kokushkin signed shirt in your house?

6:07 He's wearing head. He's wearing like a haggard head outfit. Yeah. That's a great question.

6:16 And there's not a lot of room. As we know, all these Europeans live in like little one bedrooms in Monaco. So there's not a lot of room for memorabilia. But that was a fun tournament in Albany. Good crowds. It was packed. The other event going on. It's moved around, right?

6:33 It used to be in Astana. No, it's right. Am I right about it? Yeah.

6:37 Yeah, you are right, actually. New cities pop up in Kazakhstan all the time. You know, you blink and they build a city overnight.

6:44 Right. one of the suits ask, this is a good one. Where does Kukushkin fall on the celebrity list in Kazakhstan? In Kazakhstan only.

6:51 In Kazakhstan? Z. C, dude. No. Z.

6:57 He's a C-lister.

6:58 C-lister.

6:59 Oh, God.

6:59 I think so. Nobody cares about anybody walking around there. Kukushkin, too, I noticed. Good looking wife. And I put this in the group chat. I want to know what the fans think. I want to do a segment on Players that have hot girlfriends or wives that you wouldn't necessarily think would have a hot girlfriend or wife. Let me know what you guys think with that one.

7:23 That one could have some legs.

7:24 Things maybe be like a bit of a Russian-ish theme to it.

7:28 Possibly. Possibly. We'll do a deep dive.

7:30 Deep dive.

7:34 Hold on for that. All right. The other event going on this week, one of three, Lyon. This event was great. I was at Tennis Channel calling all week. John, go to you. Lorenzo Musetti wins his first title in four years. He takes out Fritz three and four in the final. But in the quarterfinal, Lorenzi beat Van Asch in three hours and 33 minutes. In the semis, he beat Caboli.

7:54 In two and a half hours, he saved four match points, and then he saves his best for last. He beat best for last. He beat Fritz three and four. In my opinion, this is the best I've seen Musetti, everyone's opinion, this is the best Musetti's looked since January this year, where he was playing really well. This felt like a much-needed win for Musetti, who struggled with injuries for nine months. Yeah, no, it does.

8:15 I mean, he's not going to make the final eight in turn, we know that, but Sam, you mentioned he was playing so well at the beginning of the year. He was up on top of Djokovic at the Australian Open. He was looking to go really, really deep at Australia. Gets hurt and hasn't really been the same since. So for him to establish some momentum like this at the end of the year, I think it's huge for him going into Australia next year. Give him a clean bill of health. He's undoubtedly a top 10 guy.

8:43 Yes, a staple.

8:44 Last week, Sam, he's a staple. Or Davidovic, you know, not a staple. We think Musetti's a staple with a clean bill of health. Played like that, especially against Fritz. I was surprised that he had lost seven finals in a row prior to that.

8:58 Wasn't that crazy?

8:59 Yeah.

8:59 Very, very surprising. Also, going into that match real quick, Fritz hadn't lost serve the whole tournament, and then Musetti broke him at love. Fritz's first service game with three winners.

9:09 Yeah, no, it's crazy. I mean, that's one of those scenarios like, all right, he gutted through two matches that either one of them he could have lost. The Von Osh match and the Kaboli match. But, you know, it is kind of playing with house money like that. And he's clearly probably tired, so he's not thinking as much.

9:29 All right, let's go ahead and let's kind of, not slap, but let's turn up the aggression a little bit and see where the ball lands. And that's exactly what he did. And he was just entirely better than Taylor in this match. So great win for him, great result for tennis fans because his game is so pretty. You don't even have to be a tennis fan to appreciate how beautiful his game is and how much fun he is to watch.

9:56 It really is beautiful. Stevie, it's pretty wild that I know Mussetti's been hurt for the last seven months, but first title for him in four years, considering he's basically been top 10 for three years is kind of weird.

10:09 Yeah, it's a little strange just because, yeah, he has been top 10, like out of those seven finals, like You feel like he's going to pop one that's relatively an easier side of the draw or something in a 250, but good for him to get a title first time in four years. Seven finals is pretty nuts, but he looked really good. He looked really, really good in this tournament, even against the Caboli and the Van Ashes. You felt like it was trending in the right direction, and this was a complete dismantling of Fritz in the final, which...

10:40 it's not easy to do.

10:41 I mean, he's beat Fritz down five of the last six times, right?

10:46 It's just, I think it's, you know, it's like a matchup issue, right? But it's, it's one of those things that, you know, on the other side of the net now for Fritz, uh, It's, you know, he's playing Tommy, like, first couple games, like, in the semis. He's grabbing his elbow. Like, you just never know where Fritz is at physically. But he's just going to find a way. And a little surprise that Fritz didn't find a way in the final. Because, like, you just assume he's going to kind of keep, you know, trending towards that final eight. One of those, like, last spots to get in.

11:11 But for Mussetti... Speaking of that, you are at Tennis Channel. You're doing the Race to Turin show. Fritz with the final. Gets a... A few points, not as many as he'd like.

11:21 An extra hundred would have been nice for the win.

11:22 Right.

11:22 He's still on the outside looking at you.

11:24 Are you doing the thing, Stevie?

11:26 No, I'm not going full Kornacki. I would never jump on Sam's fit.

11:32 Yeah.

11:33 But I was trying to come out from behind the screen yesterday, but they kind of didn't want me to do that.

11:37 Because these are 250s this week, not a ton of movement in the race. It's really these weeks now, the 500s and 1000s, where we're going to really start to see some storylines where, okay, this match is worth 300 points if he wins this. This player can go from 12 to 9 kind of thing.

11:52 I feel like there's a lot of scoreboard watching the next, like, 12 days.

11:56 Oh, and this week, too, in Basel and Vienna, everyone's playing. Correct. Like, literally everyone.

12:01 Good to see Mussetti back.

12:03 You know, if you have Fritzi out there just taping everything up and just going to battle.

12:07 I feel like he doesn't tape anything up. He's just hurt. You're right.

12:10 Hobbles. Fritzi took a tumble first round of Lyon on his hip. I thought he was going to pull out of the tournament. He couldn't even sit down on the changeover.

12:17 He's not pulling out anything.

12:18 He's a masochist. I mean, he really is.

12:21 Yeah.

12:21 Unless his leg is popped the wrong direction, he's playing. He's playing. He's in.

12:25 He is. The other 250 event going on was in Brussels. This was a pretty, the semifinals here was nuts. John Leonard Struff takes out Arthur Feese. Arthur Feese was up a break, not once, but twice over Struff, including one time serving for the match. Struff comes back and beats him. And the other one, The good Cerundulo serves for the match against Greek Spore, loses it, and then Greek Spore comes back and beats him. And then it's Greek Spore, Struff in the final. Greek Spore takes the title. Stevie, I'm going to go back to you real quick. Greek Spore taking out Struff. He's 4-0 against Struff. Now, Greek Spore was real cranky the whole match. You were here watching.

13:06 He's so grumpy.

13:06 He's so grumpy. He takes out Struff. That match was– I called that match. It was tough to call, but, like, you know, big hitting, short points, grumpy guys. But I don't know. Title's a title for Greek sport.

13:20 Dude, title's a title for Greek sport. Like, I don't know how we got it done. I mean, I was watching the match, you know, while you were calling it, you know, because we were calling a different match. And, man, like, first set, he loses his serve, like, relatively early, and he just starts yelling at Hogstead that he, like, missed a forehand long. Like, full-on yelling. It's like, dude, you just missed a short– Thomas Hogstead.

13:41 Is that the ref?

13:42 Coach. He's coached like every woman in the top 10.

13:44 Oh, okay.

13:45 And Greek Spore.

13:46 Yes.

13:47 You recognize him. You saw a picture. But like he's yelling at him like, dude, like you just missed a short forehand. Like the coaching had nothing to do with that. Like you just completely bungled it. But Greek Spore is a grumpy man out there, but somehow got the job done. But I will say Struff is one of like the funnier guys to watch for me because he has like, it doesn't matter. He could hit 10 straight winters. 10 straight errors. Like he, you're still going to get the same reaction. Like he got broken in the third set of this match today or in the, in the finals, excuse me. He gets broken and then starts fist pumping to his box. He's like, all right, I'm going to get this thing back. And you're like, dude, like you

14:22 just got broken. Like, what are you positive about right now? Like I'm impressed with it, but it's like, it's one of those things where it's true. Like he'll go up the line. He'll have a 37 second service game. Cause he had four winners, but he'll also get broken in like, you know, the next game in a minute because he just, you know, four first ball errors. Like there's no, You don't get any real rhythm in that match.

14:39 He does a good job at playing at one speed. You could say maybe he should toggle back a few times.

14:45 No, he plays his way. I think it's important that he plays his way.

14:48 Exactly. So at 5-all, 30-40, he's going for it the same he would at 1-all, 15-all.

14:54 Which is impressive.

14:55 Yeah, I respect it. I respect it.

14:58 Every single time.

14:59 Which is really hard to do, but it's... No long points though. Sam was right. It was kind of like a, you know, no like highlight-y stuff like in that final. It's just one grumpy guy and one kind of positive guy out there. The grumpy guy won.

15:09 Were the courts faster there?

15:11 Looked like it. Lyon was slow and low bouncing.

15:14 I think the Brussels was hard for these guys. I called the semis day because they changed venues. I think like the sight lines was hard for these guys to see over the course of the week because it changed venues a couple of times. Like midweek, like they put it in a new facility. So it was tricky, I think, to like get your bearings right, like in the facility, like in the stadium.

15:32 What do you say? Like first two rounds were played. It's this big multi-purpose venue. First two rounds were played in one part of the venue. Then they tore the court down and like moved it to another part.

15:40 So I think it was hard for these guys to see.

15:42 Because they like double book with a concert.

15:44 It's tricky.

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17:09 Is there, you ever played Struff?

17:11 Yes, I played him. I played him one time at the indoor tournament in Paris. And like, you know how he is. He stands up on the baseline, right? He doesn't go back. So I played on that like small court that like the hockey arena court, you know, exactly what I'm talking about. The old bear seat. And we were like deep in a third set. And it's like a big point. And this dude's like inside the service line returning against me on my first serve. I'm like, all right, this is like a great opportunity. Like literally like a half foot inside the service line. Like I'm going to go right at his body. And I pop a body serve, probably 140 yards. And I hit him right here, clean. Couldn't get out of the way. Ended

17:50 up winning the match. Immediately after in the locker room, he's like, John, great match. And he pulls up his shirt. He's like, look at this. And he starts laughing.

17:58 I like Stroopy.

17:59 I really like Stroopy. Stroopy, he had a welt on his stomach like this big. I'm like, dude, you were asking for it. Like, what are you doing on that court? He's like, I know, I know.

18:08 Maybe the best serving court of all time, John.

18:10 No, I still give Madrid those like covered courts in Madrid.

18:13 Yeah, yeah. I don't know what.

18:15 Sam, as a fellow big server, like I thought those covered courts in Madrid were even better than that indoor in Bersi.

18:22 I just felt like that indoor Paris was like so small you could kill someone.

18:25 Very small.

18:26 Bersi, there were times that Bersi was slow. The speed of the court would change where Madrid was pretty consistent.

18:31 But like that one– the court number two or one, not center court in Bersi, it's like you couldn't– I mean the ceiling was so low. So it was just like a Sir Bali court in– It was extremely– like you'd have to– to hit a good lob, you'd have to miss the roof by like this much.

18:51 You'd have to graze the roof.

18:52 It was impossible to lob.

18:53 I know what you mean there. But this was a fun event in Brussels. And for Fies, a little bit of a– I mean, up a break twice against Struve.

19:02 Yeah.

19:03 That's a match you just don't expect him to lose. I'm not worried about him or anything, but.

19:07 Especially where he's at in the ranking. Like another extra like 100, 200 points. Like that could kind of solidify himself winning that tournament.

19:13 But this was a good week of 250s. I saw before the week started, 15 of the top 30 players in the world played this week in 250s. You probably aren't going to see that any other time during the year.

19:25 We look at this week's slate of all the ridiculous matches. I mean, these 500 tournaments and the.

19:31 250s this week. I mean. Yeah. You see some of the first round matchups this week? We'll go over it later.

19:37 That's what I'm talking about.

19:39 This is the toughest 500 combined week, I think. because there's so many guys that still have a chance to get in. So they're all playing. Usually like half the guys are like, you know, they're already like seven of the spots are usually already set. So it's like wide, wide play I think.

19:51 Yeah well everyone's toggling right and it's like everyone's playing for something.

19:56 Yeah Alcaraz took a wild card in Vienna you think he still gets an appearance fee what of course he does what are you talking about sorry I meant to say like at a way discounted no Dude.

20:07 Do you see the crowd that was watching him in practice like.

20:10 Two days ago? Yeah, no.

20:11 There was 10,000 people watching him in practice. No way he's getting a discount.

20:15 I just didn't know. Like, you know, wildcard, the tournament has a budget. If he's late, they might just be like, look, we don't have an extra million.

20:22 You go to the Ursta Bank.

20:24 Exactly. Go back to Ursta Bank. They can make it up with more sponsors. You got a rainy day fund.

20:29 Go into the oil reserves.

20:31 You always got to keep some in the holster for a center or an Alcaraz.

20:35 Good point. Good point. My bad. You have to.

20:37 They could have a rainy day fund for both those guys to show up on a Friday before with wild cards.

20:42 That's it. That's it. I mean, the ask is out to his team, you know, before round of US Open time, you know, type of thing.

20:53 John knows us, a member of two tournaments basically. He knows that you start early with these guys. You start in conversations. You start, you know, working towards getting them there.

21:00 That's true. That's true. All right, that's winner's circles. Congrats to, we got Medvedev, Grigspor, and Musetti. Let's move on to major news. We talked about the Tsitsipas getting the amazing autograph shirt from Kukushkin. Can you guys remember the first, when you were little, like first big autograph you got?

21:19 You're like, whoa.

21:21 Yeah.

21:21 That's a big one. I can too.

21:23 I got a couple when I'm young.

21:24 I got a Jan Michael Gamble signed racket when I was like 14. I remember that was like a big deal.

21:29 The Prince?

21:30 The Prince.

21:31 His Prince racket? Because that thing is a classic.

21:33 No, it might have been my own. Maybe it was a ball, but I just remember that moment.

21:37 Nice.

21:38 Stevie, who you got?

21:38 I had like, I remember getting like Sampras as a kid and Guga at the LA Open.

21:42 Guga's good.

21:43 Back in the day at UCLA.

21:45 Everyone's got a Sampras ball.

21:46 I don't have anyone that cool.

21:47 I mean, nothing compares to a Kukushkin signed shirt. I mean, that's as good as it gets.

21:51 Don Flo used to put on– he's like the principal behind the Winston-Salem Open. He used to put on like an invitational event like in Winston-Salem like years and years ago. And they'd get like pretty good players. Maybe it was like an Alex O'Brien interview. I mean interview. Interview.

22:08 Autograph. Excuse me.

22:10 Yeah. A long time ago.

22:12 Nice.

22:13 OB.

22:14 Another big event in Brussels, David Goffin, the best Belgian player probably ever. I don't know any other good ones. I'm probably missing some from like the 70s and 80s. Melisse. Melisse is good, but certainly not as good as Goffin.

22:26 Goffin is better than Melisse.

22:27 Way better.

22:28 Career-wise.

22:29 17 years on tour, six titles, which actually feels like he had more than that. Career high of number seven, four slam quarterfinals. Goffin had a four or five-year run there where I feel like he was top 10 almost every year.

22:41 Yep.

22:42 I mean, and not the biggest guy, maybe three-year run.

22:44 No, he was slender.

22:48 5'10, 155.

22:48 Timed the ball insanely.

22:51 We all played him. The dude could go forehand to forehand or backhand to backhand. Basically anyone in the world. Yeah. So I feel like that was fun to watch him play. He actually won a round. It's the only tour event this year he played, and he won a round and then lost to Alex Mickelson.

23:05 Good for Goffin. What a career.

23:08 Stevie, he was 1-0 against you.

23:09 I got him in a challenger. Thank you very much.

23:12 That doesn't count.

23:12 It does. It counts.

23:14 That didn't count. That didn't count. Where did he beat you at the men's level? No idea.

23:19 Couldn't even sniff that one. But I beat him in Bordeaux on clay. I'll never forget it. Like, badly.

23:24 Stevie loves... Stevie just loves going back to the Challenger time.

23:27 I couldn't tell you where he played me on tour.

23:28 But you.

23:32 Got him in Bordeaux. John, you were 2-1 against him.

23:36 I can't recall a single match.

23:38 And I was... And he was 2-1 against me. Like Stevie, I remember the match I beat him. I lost him twice in Canada. He also beat Stevie in Canada.

23:48 He got me in Canada.

23:49 It's a tough out, but congrats to Goffin. On the women's side, Iga Sviantek ends the season early. I think, was she into the ladies championship?

23:59 She was not. She was on the outside looking in and was supposed to play Ningbo and pulled out because of a thigh injury. So she shut her season down and she's done.

24:10 Done for the year. Okay. She's a little up and down emotionally at times. We're seeing more players now. I feel like kind of just at some point during the end here, just be like, I'm done. And they kind of just missed the last tournament or two. Do you think for Iga, John, let me go to you. She's missed the tour finals after withdrawing. She's pretty much been in the tour finals for the women the last– six, seven years. What do you think's going through her head right now?

24:38 Oh, nothing. She's totally fine. Like let's rest and let's rest and recoup. I've been there, done that before. Yes. I mean, she's not like, she doesn't like not care about this event. Yeah. She wants to make it next year, but her body's a little banged up. So obviously her and her team think it's wise to give her that extra month to of recovery so that she can go into Australia at close to a hundred percent, which is what everyone's trying to do. So I think this is a smart decision because if she's not at her best to compete and be able to, um, you know, give herself a chance to win this year in championships, then take the time off, get to your vacation spot and, and reset mentally, physically, and get ready to go next year.

25:26 Stevie speaking of the year-end finals rabakuna just won ningbo yep is she the favorite to win in the desert the overwhelming favorite or who do you got.

25:36 One of them yeah no she's she's definitely the favorite i mean the way she's playing now once again she's playing just kind of like last year she won ningbo leading into the wj finals and so she's the favorite i mean she's playing some incredible tennis she's number one in the world i think she she feels more comfortable now she didn't have a great couple results at the beginning um After US Open, excuse me, when she was number one in the world. So yeah, she's the favorite going into Indian Wells, but still a couple weeks away.

26:02 So a lot of time left for these women to really kind of get their footing right. But yeah, she's the favorite. I mean, hard to bet against her. Sabalenka hasn't had a great last couple weeks herself. So hard to tell, but hard to bet against Rabakina in the final.

26:18 Can she get supplanted as world number one or she clinched that? Yeah, yeah.

26:24 She's got like a 1,500-point lead. I think if Rabakina literally goes winless and Sabalink, I think, wins all five of her– or goes undefeated and wins the World Tour finals for the women, I think she can eclipse her by a couple of points, which seems unlikely. But if you're saying there's a chance, there's a chance.

26:43 Another storyline this week. We get a lot of storylines late in the season. Stan Wawrinka this week, upcoming today or tomorrow– I think tomorrow he's playing in Basel. Could be his last match ever. This is truly he's had a farewell. It feels like three years. This is the actual last tournament. He's still playing at a good level, though.

27:02 This year he dropped down and played a bunch of challengers. He's winning matches.

27:05 This guy loves tennis, man.

27:07 We always say, like, guys, people love tennis. He actually loves tennis.

27:10 He does love it.

27:11 When you drop down and play challengers in your farewell tour, you have three majors, and, like, you don't need to do that. You love the game. You love the game.

27:20 It's nuts. Yeah, it's crazy, but good for him.

27:22 All right, let's move on now. We're going to go to Major Opinions. Stevie, do you have a Stevie stat for us?

27:29 I do have a Stevie stat for us. So Arthur Fies was seeded number one in Brussels. Prior to that, when was the last time a Frenchman was seeded number one at a tournament, and which player was it?

27:41 When was the last time a French player was seeded number one at a tournament?

27:44 At any tournament?

27:45 ATP event.

27:47 It's got to be like Songer or Monfils?

27:49 Okay, good guesses. That's Manorino at Newport.

27:53 Stop it.

27:54 Yeah, Manorino at Newport in 2024.

27:55 Okay. It's a funny stat.

28:00 I was shocked as well, quite frankly, when I saw this.

28:03 Wasn't going to get that.

28:04 Wow, I actually like that Stevie stat.

28:06 I broke the infamous Newport Casino curse one year with the number one seed at that prestigious historic event. Never ever won the tournament. Then one year I won it as the number one seed. Everyone remembers that.

28:20 Wait, nobody had won it as a number one seed?

28:23 Until I did one of those years.

28:25 Wait, really?

28:25 I didn't know that. That's insane.

28:29 Yeah.

28:29 That seems hard to do.

28:30 You're about like the Boston Red Sox curse, the Chicago Cubs curse, the Newport.

28:36 You're basically like Babe Ruth.

28:38 Campbell's Hall of Fame open, number one seed curse.

28:42 Good to know.

28:43 I like the Stevie set. Well done. John, I feel like you wanted to get rid of– Serve out of the week. Serve out of the week. Yeah. I'm allowed– if you want to go random player of the week.

28:53 I got one.

28:53 You can do that. You got a random player of the week?

28:55 All right. You can tease it.

28:56 You can just tell us whatever.

28:57 Are you going to give us some stats and we're going to guess or are you.

28:59 Going to– No.

29:00 Spanish, smaller, three-namer.

29:03 All right. That's every Spanish guy. Every Spanish guy is a three-namer who's like small.

29:08 Yeah, I know.

29:08 Every Spanish. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

29:11 Good guess.

29:12 Oh, good guess, dude.

29:14 But not it.

29:14 What time frame?

29:15 2014.

29:17 2003 to 2013. Oh, man.

29:23 I'm only going to give the one guess.

29:24 Daniel Jaminotrever. Yeah.

29:26 That's a really good one.

29:28 Yeah.

29:29 He was good. He was pretty good.

29:30 Yeah.

29:31 He was good. He ripped the ball.

29:32 He did.

29:33 He was built like Davidovich Fokina.

29:35 Yes, he was. Yes.

29:36 Same build, same pop.

29:37 Daniel Amino Travere is my random player of the week. I like this segment. I want to bring it back. It's been a while since we've done it.

29:44 I like it.

29:44 So I'm going to start the proceedings off with the three-namer.

29:47 Yeah, next week it's Stevie.

29:49 D-G-T. D-G-T, baby. All right.

29:53 Shout out to Daniel Gimeno Travere. Travere? Travere?

29:57 Travere.

29:58 Travere. What's his total prize money suits or playing a little game with us? Career prize money for DGV, whatever.

30:06 It's a little unfair. Obviously, you know, he didn't play in the big prize money days, but I'll go.

30:10 I'm going to say he made $ 4. 7 million.

30:14 $ 3. 7 million.

30:15 Say $ 5. 2.

30:16 $ 3. 2. Ooh, he's probably back in the workforce. That goes quick. God damn.

30:26 All right, all right.

30:27 Jeez, you're so grumpy in the morning, Sam, today.

30:29 As I told you guys off camera, we're dog sitting for my wife's friend's dog. It was barking at 2 a.m. I had to go move it, get it put in the garage.

30:37 Are you going to say something to your wife's friend?

30:40 Absolutely not. Assuming she doesn't listen to this either. Honestly, my wife would be mad at the fact that I'm talking about it on here.

30:52 You got to do it.

30:52 Probably because you didn't feed the dog or take the dog out. The dog had to go to the bathroom. You know you're supposed to let dogs out to use the bathroom.

31:00 I realize that. It's not– I didn't agree to watch the dog. I understand.

31:04 But you still have to take care of the dog.

31:06 At 2 a.m.? It's not a puppy.

31:08 Yeah, but you're supposed to take the dog out at 9 p.m. so it doesn't have to get out.

31:11 You don't think I did that? We did that. We did that. It was just agitated and then I couldn't go back to sleep.

31:19 Is this going to affect your performance today on camera?

31:21 Probably.

31:21 Probably. already having a bad hair day it looks that way um all right i don't have a queries query i just have a bone to pick yeah oh it's with isner and we went to santa fe we had the great photo collage of the three of us on instagram you know you accept to be the collaborator you didn't accept i will.

31:41 Say i like didn't know that i had it had an invite and then i saw it like two or three days later and it was too late to do it.

31:49 It's never too late it's never too late You just don't want to be a part of the group or it's fine?

31:53 Yeah.

31:54 Did both of y'all accept it? Yeah.

31:56 I accepted it. How about we kick you out and bring the Oracle back?

31:59 Well, we are bringing the Oracle back.

32:00 People love the Oracle. Yeah, the Oracle's coming back.

32:03 Yeah, that's true.

32:04 Fair enough.

32:06 Fair. I missed it or something and I saw it when I looked at it and I saw it a couple days later, I realized that I had an invite.

32:13 Yeah, yeah.

32:14 Full panic with the suits. I feel like they had an internal meeting about it.

32:16 Oh, gosh.

32:18 Yeah. But it did sting. It did sting. That's valid. That's valid. Maybe I'll accept it right now. Go for it.

32:25 You won't. I will.

32:27 All right.

32:27 Let's move on. We got Basel this week. We've got some blockbuster matches. These are just first round matches in Basel. Shelton versus Rude. Djokovic versus Umber. Wawrinka Lehechka. Fritz Sitsipas. Feast versus Perikar. That's actually not that fun. Hercotch versus Bergz. These are things you used to get in like the Masters Series, the one-week Masters Series. Now we got them in Basel and in Vienna. It's even better maybe. Alcaraz against Khachanov. Tommy Paul. Accepted. Tommy Paul versus Rublev.

33:03 Accepted, by the way.

33:04 Tiafoe versus Mussetti. Caboli versus Dimitrov. That's unbelievable. Some of these first-round matchups. Let me go to Stevie.

33:13 Stevie.

33:14 Break it down. Break it down. Is one of these that I just mentioned, is there one particularly you're like, I can't miss that one? Which event? Either event.

33:23 I mean, look, for me, it's the Novak Umber. I think Novak is going to get the job done and find his way into Turin. But Umber is nasty indoors, like tricky lefty. That's the one surface you're like, this guy scares me. Novak hasn't played much, right? I don't know. I want to see Novak in the final eight. That's all I want to see. So I want to see him get through this. And I think if he can get through this one, the draw kind of opens up for him in a way. So I just think that's a tricky first round with Umber indoors on a fast and hard court. So I just want to see Novak in the final eight. That's all I want to see.

33:58 John, for the Americans, is there one? Shelton Rude, Fritz Sitsipas, Tommy Paul versus Rublev?

34:05 Shelton and Rude don't play each other. The draw changed.

34:08 Rude seeded.

34:09 Oh, yeah.

34:09 I saw that. All right. Take that out then.

34:11 Rude is in a different section of the draw.

34:13 Let me rephrase the question, John. Fritz plays Tsitsipas.

34:17 Tommy Paul Rublev. I like that.

34:19 Tommy Paul Rublev and Tiafoe plays Musetti. The Americans drew the long straws here. These are tough matches.

34:27 Yeah. I think they drew the short straws.

34:30 Yeah, the short straw. Short straw, not the long straw.

34:33 Yeah, they didn't draw the long straws. They drew the short straws. That could be a social clip right there.

34:40 I'm blaming that on the dog.

34:41 Yeah, blame that on the dog.

34:42 Actually, you know what?

34:44 Both those are really good. Paul versus Rublev. I don't know. I want to see the type of mood Rublev's in.

34:53 I know.

34:54 In that match. Because you know Tommy's going to be steady out there.

34:57 Yeah. Agreed, agreed. Tiafoe playing the The in-form Musetti?

35:03 Yeah, but I think that's a good thing for Francis, though, because Musetti's played three long matches. He's talked about how his body, like, wasn't feeling great. Like, I think he gets them just because he's played– Three tough matches.

35:13 In a row. I think Mussetti gets him just on confidence.

35:16 No way.

35:17 But we shall see. Mussetti didn't even look tired last week. He doesn't, he glides around the court. He doesn't work that hard.

35:22 You're so sweet. He plays like Fed, right?

35:24 I mean, just like. He plays like Fedder, exactly.

35:26 I know.

35:27 What do you mean no? He plays like Fed. Me? Oh, I thought you said no, he doesn't play like Fed. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He does. No, no.

35:33 He's one of like a must watch for me, like the way he plays.

35:36 Yes, exactly. Exactly. Stay tuned. Thursday, we've got a good episode. It's our Halloween episode. We may or may not be in costumes. We also have our much-anticipated Maldives draft to look forward to. I mean... Can't wait.

35:49 People are clamoring for that.

35:51 I've already had a few people, John, you have probably sent you, like, a few players already in the Maldives.

35:55 Yes. Yeah, and some I've never even heard of.

35:57 We already got one in the Maldives.

35:59 I had someone send me that Jamie Murray's in the Maldives.

36:01 Okay.

36:02 He's had a good season.

36:04 So that's why he still plays?

36:05 No. No.

36:06 No. But he still.

36:08 Counts for Maldives.

36:09 You don't know. He still counts. Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure.

36:12 He had a good year tournament directing in Queens.

36:16 Dude, Queens tournament director turnover is wild.

36:19 I feel like it's an honorary position.

36:20 It probably is. I feel like if you're British, you just get a tournament director job within four years of retiring. Totally.

36:29 Laura Robson's the– yeah, it's like– absolutely.

36:31 Absolutely. Wasn't Kyle Edmund telling us he's like assistant tournament director of like Challenger or something?

36:37 Nottingham, I think.

36:39 He's working his way there.

36:40 Yeah. It's amazing. All right, fans. For Thursday, too, send us your tennis whore stories, whether that's a bad match you had. Maybe you had a bad experience at a tournament. Maybe you're cheering for a player. They lost it. Maybe Medvedev hit you in the eye with a ball. Just let us know, and we'd love to hear it.

36:56 I'm taking his dog out at 2 a.m.

36:57 And we should actually do this, a little GoFundMe to send the Oracle to the Maldives.

37:01 Unbelievable.

37:02 That would be a great Christmas gift for him.

37:04 We're bringing him back, guys. We don't want to overdo it. I'm thinking a segment before every slam.

37:10 I couldn't agree more.

37:11 Yeah, I'm with you on that. For the Oracle? He was unbelievable.

37:14 He definitely doesn't have social media, does he?

37:16 No shot.

37:17 I don't think so.

37:18 Yeah.

37:18 No shot.

37:19 Even better. So, yeah, we're bringing the Oracle back. Best guest probably we've ever had.

37:25 Yeah.

37:26 All right. We'll see you guys in three days. Have a great Monday. Enjoy Basel. Enjoy Vienna. See you soon.

37:56 Nothing made you.

37:58 Nothing.

38:03 Nothing made you.