Ferrero & Shelton Dream Team? Alcaraz Unbeatable, Stan's Farewell | EP 228

0:00 All right, coming up on Nothing Major, we're going to review the big 500s that happened last week. That's Vienna and Basel. We also have some really big news to share that I think most people probably know about. Anyways, let's all head in the show. Let's get it started.

0:15 Big Jones, Stevie and Sam. Got close a few times, never won a slam. Nothing Major.

0:20 All right, welcome back to Nothing Major, everyone. I'm your host today, Jon Isner. The collared shirt. And the gel hair. That's it. That's me. That's me. Uh, Stevie J of course is here. Cal Ripken and Sam query and the team at sift creative. Uh, thank you guys for everything. Post Halloween show. Um, we did the tournament of terror last week and that social clip was Awesome. The whole segment was awesome. Shout out to the suits.

0:58 Yeah, very good.

1:00 Incredible idea. We can't take much credit for it besides doing the bit. Stevie, you sent some screenshot or something to our group message. I was a little confused as to what that was. The Rome tournament director got word of our segment and He was perturbed, to say the least.

1:21 I wouldn't say he was perturbed. I don't know if he got word of it, but I don't really care if he did or not. Alex Skubrowski, who we all know does all the transportation, like US Open does.

1:30 Yeah.

1:31 Everybody knows Alex. He sent me a message basically from Paolo Lorenzi being like, a lot has changed here. Get the boys back here. Let's get them back here. We'll review the tournament in whole, yada, yada, yada.

1:42 Yeah.

1:43 I don't see that happening, but I would like to do it, but we'd have to go incognito mode because they would send a hatchback or like a Vespa for the three of us.

1:51 Sam, we're going to go to Rome next year.

1:53 Fumanchino Airport.

1:54 Just for a transportation segment. That's it.

1:58 Maybe we can reach out to some players next year during Rome. Singles guys, rank 60, a few doubles guys. Yeah. How's transportation?

2:08 I bet we can reach out to them now and they could, you know.

2:11 It's more so about the airport pickups.

2:15 Yeah. The airport pickup was tough.

2:19 Yeah.

2:20 I mean, I guess during the tournament, the cars are a little small, but you don't have as many bags, so you can kind of make it work, but it still stinks.

2:28 Yeah.

2:29 But Sam was spot on, though, with the soccer game. Whatever soccer team is right next to that stadium, they'd be like, nope, soccer game today, walk the last mile in.

2:40 And you're like, well– They're like that or like if it's going on during the tournament, they're like, you must get in the car before 6 p.m. If you don't get in the car before 6 p.m., you can't get in the car until 9.30 p.m.

2:48 Yeah.

2:51 Good call.

2:51 Like, okay.

2:53 But our fans all over the world, you know, former competitors, they're always reaching out, seeing where we're at.

2:59 I love that they're paying attention to the pilot.

3:01 They're paying attention.

3:01 Ugh. How was Halloween for y'all? Did you guys dress up at all?

3:06 I did something on Wednesday night. I was like a half cowboy, but I couldn't find my cowboy hat and my cowboy belt.

3:12 Did you have your bolo tie?

3:13 Yeah, did you have your bolo tie?

3:15 I'm a new one. Good, good. And then on Halloween, no, I didn't dress up. I completely tanked, walked around. It was like kind of raining the whole time.

3:22 I know.

3:22 It was rainy. Did you dress up?

3:27 You a family costume guy?

3:29 I just put on a Georgia football jersey, so no.

3:32 Yeah.

3:33 Kind of.

3:34 Not really.

3:34 Yeah, not really.

3:35 Minimal effort.

3:36 It was hot here, though, still. It was, like, so muggy in Dallas. Like, back-to-back years, muggy, the mosquitoes were out. It was brutal.

3:46 Oh, we had the opposite problem here. It was kind of a nice drizzle the entire time we were out trick-or-treating. All right.

3:52 Well, sure, everyone. Sorry, I'm, like, wiggling. I tweaked my back the other day, and it's very uncomfortable when I sit down. I'm getting treatment later today, actually. All right. Glad everyone had a great Halloween. Again, our Tournament of Terror segment was awesome. Love that. Let's talk about the events last week in Winner's Circle. And let's start with Vienna.

4:17 They actually broke their all-time attendance record this year.

4:22 No surprise.

4:23 Yeah, I wonder why. Carlos takes a wild card, and Carlos plays five matches online. That's a recipe for breaking an attendance record. He wins the finals one and four over Alex Dumanure. Let's just talk about Carlos' level and how motivated this guy is right now. He can't get to number one. We know that, Sam. But I think both of you guys were calling Tennis Channel. We're at Tennis Channel this past weekend, maybe kind of calling both tournaments. Sam, what did you see from your vantage point of just how impressive Carlos was?

4:59 Look who he beat. In the route to the title. Khachnav, Bashyazvili, Tommy Paul, Medvedev, Demonar. Like, that's a pretty loaded run of guys he went through. I don't know. Khachnav, Bashyazvili, give or take.

5:14 The whole tournament, we know how loaded the tournament is.

5:15 Tommy Paul, Medvedev, and Demonar?

5:18 Yeah, but the tournament was loaded, so that's kind of like.

5:21 No, that's what I'm just saying. It was like a great run for him.

5:24 Yeah, true.

5:27 He's just playing on a different level. I almost feel... Do you think almost people look at him like he's the best player right now? I know Zverev is number one, but like– Totally. It's hard not to like watch Carlos right now and be like– Stevie, what do you think about that? They have this thing called the ELO ranking.

5:43 It's like who's actually playing the best at the moment.

5:46 Break that down for us technically, Sam.

5:48 I have no idea how it's done. It's like recent results. And it's Carlos. And when you watch him play, especially like against– Tommy Paul, who they've played three times this year. Carlos just has everything a little bit better. The Medvedev win was the one that I thought was like the best win because Medvedev was playing really well, I thought.

6:07 And then Demonar has just no answer for Carlos. I think he's 0-7.

6:12 No answer. Demon's a bad matchup for like some of the top players. We talked about it. Stevie talks about it all the time. He always beats who he should beat. And then– but Stevie, I guess answer Sam's question. Like is Al.

6:26 Yes.

6:26 Everyone look at Alcaraz as the best player. It's like, okay, there you go. Yes.

6:31 I mean, it's hard.

6:32 Not that it gets fair. He's totally deserving of number one in the world. One, two slams.

6:35 Absolutely.

6:36 Like 100%.

6:38 But yeah, it's Carlos's level is just better than everybody else's. It fluctuates more than maybe some of the, the best players in the world, like at his, if you're comparing him to, you know, the big three are those guys, like his level can fluctuate a bit more than those guys for sure. But still like.

6:56 He's, he's electric.

6:57 Like the forehand is insane. Like even if he has a couple of bad minutes, like he has a way to get out of it. It's just his skill level is off the charts. And he just took it, took everyone after he got through catching off. That was, that was a big one. And then he just, he rolled from there. I mean, that was pretty much straightforward as much as you can be in one of these tough five hundreds, but you know.

7:17 I feel like it was not interesting, but once he won it, the reaction and over to the player's box for the hug, like he won a major. You don't get that a lot from a guy that has seven majors and winning a 500.

7:30 But also, he took a late wild card, so he won it to win.

7:34 It's not like he's there for... Easy access to the player box, too, but... Still cool to see him so fired up. The reaction was like he won a match.

7:43 I think a lot of that has to do with how awesome the atmosphere is in Vienna.

7:47 For sure.

7:47 Maybe it kind of feels like a bigger tournament than it is.

7:51 I don't know. He creates the atmosphere.

7:54 He does.

7:55 He creates the atmosphere. You can go to wherever. I don't know the name of some horrible place. And there'll be an atmosphere for this man.

8:03 No, that's actually a really good point.

8:06 I'm just happy the mustache is there.

8:07 Undefeated.

8:08 And the mustache.

8:09 That's huge.

8:10 Still rocking the mustache and the long hair. Speaking of mustaches.

8:14 I know.

8:15 In honor.

8:16 I did it. No, I'm not going to shave the rest of my face. I can't do that.

8:22 He's undefeated this year at the 500 level. 16-0. He's won 26 consecutive at the 500 level. Probably puts him at the top of the 500 bonus.

8:35 No, I think Sasha won it.

8:36 No. Sasha won it?

8:38 Nope.

8:38 No, Demon won it.

8:39 Demon won it. Alex Demon. They have a bonus pool for the year.

8:43 Explain this, Sam.

8:44 They have a bonus pool. So if they take all the 500s during the year, whoever accumulated the most points during those 500s is number one in the bonus pool and so on. There's two, three. Alex Demon won it this year. And I think I saw the thing. He got $ 1, 050, 000 or something like that. I thought it was bigger.

9:01 I mean, there's another pool for Master Series. This is just the 500s. This is just the 500s. demon area is going to get a little over a million dollar bonus pool. And then the guys, two, three, four, five all got something. And it was slated down to 600,000 and 300,000.

9:16 Wait, is that just a top five thing?

9:18 Or I only saw a list for the top five. And I think it's just the top five thing. I don't think the guy who finished 17 and the 500 bonus pool gets like, you know, 3,800 bucks. No, top five, but it's big. Like human demon picks up. There we go right there.

9:35 This is on the website.

9:37 Um, Total prize, 1.2. 1.2 million for Demon. Alcaraz, almost 700,000. Fritz, 419. Shelton, 361.

9:48 Feast, 229.

9:49 So congrats to Demon.

9:51 That's so cool. That's so great. Happy for him.

9:54 That's incredible. Yeah, congrats to Demon. That's a nice little check. That goes on his prize. money too.

10:00 That I don't like.

10:01 These bonuses like.

10:02 That I don't like.

10:04 Add to prize money totals.

10:05 They shouldn't add to prize money totals.

10:07 Yeah. What's the big deal about that, by the way? I mean, I find it kind of annoying too, but like. I mean, it's always going to change, right?

10:13 Like these guys, I mean, you know, Novak has 200 million in prize money and then Sinner and Alcaraz are going to eclipse him just because like the prize money is more, but.

10:19 I don't know.

10:19 These guys get like a $ 6 million bonus every year.

10:22 They're going to eclipse him because the bonus pool is more. See what I'm saying? It's not actually one. I mean, it is one on the court, but not part of the tournament.

10:30 Right, yeah, good point.

10:32 So anyways, but in any event.

10:34 Right, right.

10:37 Speaking of Demon, he's 0-20 against Carlos and Center. So I think he has a problem against those two. Again, not many players have winning records against those guys. I would say no one does. Yeah, maybe Novak.

10:50 And it's not like there's a game plan. All right, 0-13, let's change it. What is he supposed to do?

10:56 The answer is nothing. There's nothing because you can't. He's not going to serve bigger. He's maxing out right now.

11:04 Yeah.

11:05 You build the best Australian tennis player of all time. He's still 0-20.

11:08 Yeah, probably.

11:09 Take Rafter, Hewitt.

11:10 Great run for, I mean, we didn't even talk about Demon taking out Zverev in this, by the way.

11:16 Number one in the world. 7-6 in the third.

11:18 Yeah.

11:19 That was, that was his, I saw, I saw that was his first win over Zverev in like a non-team competition. He beat him in Labor Cup. I think he might have beaten him in like an ATP Cup, United Cup, excuse me. First win, lost to him, got kind of, was that in Beijing? He lost to him, I think. But beat him in Labor Cup in a tight match, beats him here in a tight match. But Zverev just steady as she goes. He's, Playing every event.

11:46 Every event, yeah. Let's see him in Paris.

11:47 Yeah. Let's move on to Basel. The other 500. We've played both of these. Vienna, Basel. Basel Field was absolutely loaded, just like Vienna was. Bit of a lesser known final, probably, between Vashro and La Hetchka.

12:05 That's what everybody had penciled in.

12:07 Did not. It did not. But Vashro, I mean, the guy serves huge. He's a beast. You guys, like, Sam, it's like your height.

12:14 I know. I never knew that.

12:15 I didn't know that either. And he's like two, probably 220, like all muscle. He's a unit. But anyways, his game translates, clearly translates well to indoor tennis. Takes out Lehechka, three in the third. Stevie, again, you're at Tennis Channel all this past week. Let's talk about Vashro's triumph, I guess, in just the overall tournament as well in Basel.

12:44 Yeah, this was not the final that anybody had penciled in. You know, you look from like the quarters on, you're like, what happened to, you know, the Novaks, the Sheltons, like Hodars, all these big names. But ultimately, you know, Vasho was playing incredible tennis. I mean, the guy's serve is a joke.

13:00 We've seen it now for whatever, 15 months, you know, kind of since Shanghai last year, 14 months or whatever. It's indoors. It's massive. the forehand doesn't quite break down indoors. I think like there's not, there's not as much that can go wrong for him. So it's really, it's a little funky. It's a little funky, but man, his serve is a joke and his backhand is pure. The guy moves and I don't know. I just think he's one of those guys that obviously has bloomed late. So like he's so juicy and fresh, like for every tournament, you know what I mean? There's not going to be a crispy bone in his body because he's, you know, he's reaching these new heights at a later age. So he's like, he's last year, he, got a wild card to play Basel,

13:39 if I'm not mistaken. So, you know, it's fun for him. It's like great. He's, and he's insane, but the serve is a joke indoors. Like you guys know, I mean, we've all played Basel. It's a great serving court and he just took care of business. But Lehechka, I was a little surprised he lost this one. Maybe he was just a little nervous because he was the favorite in a 500, you know, who knows. But, you know, you never know what's going on between both these guys, but Basel played great all week. I mean, took down Fritz in the semis. He's juicy and fresh, as you said.

14:08 Yeah, I know. He's playing these tournaments for the first and second time at 27 years old.

14:14 So he's fired up.

14:16 Sam, have we ever, ever seen a case study like Vasherow? In the sense of he's like toiling away in challengers for, let's call it five years after he played college. He's ranked 200 and something. Squeaks into Shanghai Qualies last year, qualifies, wins the tournament. Then you're probably thinking, OK, talk about a flash in the pan. He's going to go back to being a hundredth ranked player. No, he's a bona fide top 30, maybe top 20 player. I don't see him go anywhere for the next five, six years. This is something quite remarkable because no one saw this coming.

14:53 I can't think of another example. He's 27 years old. right? You said he bopped around the challengers. It's not like he's 22. And if you would have said, like you said, a flash in the pan, I almost think everyone would have said by the time Shanghai rolls around again, which he did a couple of weeks ago, what will his ranking be? I think everyone would have been like, definitely not going to be top 50. He's ranked 27 in the world right now. He has established himself as a top 30 guy. Like he's six, four, he's strong. He's a workhorse. I've seen him practice a bunch of tournaments now and He's very focused on the practice court, like the effort level, the professionalism is all there. And yeah,

15:35 it's something that like we're, who knows we're going to see this again. And he also for him, like he took out Fritz, Hodar, Lehechka. It wasn't like the draw opened up for him because it opened up for a lot of other people in this tournament, but like not really for Vashiro. Not for him. Not for him. He's 9-1 on indoor hard courts this year is Vacheron. And so, look, based on when the tournament started, Shelton, Fritz, Hodar, Djokovic, no one had Vacheron winning this. So good for him. Yeah, absolutely.

16:12 This is like just crazy out of nowhere. He wasn't even number one on his college team.

16:18 Yeah.

16:20 I mean, it's nuts. And it seems like kind of– I think he was on the pod after he won Shanghai, and he kind of had this happy-go-lucky attitude about him. That's not the case anymore. He's a killer out there now. I feel like, yes, he's a great guy, but these results, he expects results like these, as opposed to that came out of nowhere, I'm so happy with it. No, he expects results like these, and I think we'll continue to see him have these big runs and big tournaments like this for you know four or five in the next four or five.

16:56 Years yeah he's got over five million career prize money now i feel like that's like basically.

17:00 All within the last year and a half that's that's all within the last 14 months yeah that's exactly right now yes.

17:07 For sure and he's the um i love this term he's the uh first monoguesque monoguesque.

17:15 Monoguesque monoguesque player how do.

17:18 You call it a monaghan I want to get spoiler to have won an ATP 500 title into our history. It's probably, obviously it was the first one to win a thousand as well.

17:27 Anytime he does anything.

17:28 He's going to be the first time to do anything.

17:29 Yeah. First time to do anything.

17:32 First Monogastian to have 12 aces in a single match. It's going to have everything.

17:38 That's right. Special shout out to Holger Rune who made the quarterfinals. His first big result after pretty much Almost exactly a year ago, tearing his Achilles tendon, getting surgery to come back and win two tight matches over Hallease and Hurcats. Loses in the quarters to Vachero, but that's got to do wonders for his confidence. I think most importantly, mentally knowing that he's 100% healthy and that he doesn't have to worry about anything. Lower extremity-wise, coming off this huge injury. So, Stevie, I feel like you're about to say something sarcastic right now. Go ahead and say it, Stevie.

18:24 I said it would be great if we could ask anybody that we were really good friends with what it's like to come back from an Achilles injury and come back and play, but we don't know anybody of the sort because nobody's ever done the rehab.

18:33 It's good for hunger.

18:35 Yeah.

18:36 I didn't do the rehab that he was doing, but it's pretty– You didn't do any rehab. Do you think he'll go and play some challengers late.

18:40 In the year?

18:41 Yeah.

18:41 Why? Yeah, absolutely.

18:43 I think he plays Paris. He gets a wild card into Stockholm, and then he plays like a challenger too. But it's great to see him back. It's hard to tell though. We were calling his matches. He has this like weird like walk anyway where he.

18:53 Kind of like– He walks on his toes.

18:55 So it's weird because I'm like, is he hurt? Like is he feeling it or is this what he used to walk like when we used to– For me, it was weird calling matches.

19:03 He must be feeling it a little bit. It's impossible not to feel a little something. You should know, but we can't ask you. It's safe and fine.

19:11 Yeah.

19:12 I still feel mine.

19:13 He's going to have two rankings, right, Stevie? He has his protected ranking, clearly, and he has this ranking currently that he's working on starting from basically scratch, right? So, Sam, to answer your point, I think he wants to build that scratch ranking up as high as he can.

19:30 Yeah, because he probably has, like, 12 tournaments with like a protected. So he's used a couple. He'll use it for.

19:36 Didn't it used to be six? Like only six.

19:38 It's more if you're out for, I guess he wasn't out for a year. So I don't know. Maybe if he's nine months, there's like a sliding scale. If you're out for six months, nine months, 12 months, something like that. So my guess is he's going to use it for Ozzy and then. he's done the timing right so he can use it for French and Wimby. So we'll see what he does before.

19:53 Yeah.

19:54 But yeah, he was the, it was kind of one of those weird stats we were talking about in Basel. It's like the lowest ranked player in ATP history to make an ATP 500 quarterfinal.

20:02 So silly.

20:03 I hate when they do that.

20:03 He's like 1200, but like, yeah, he's been hurt. Like, what do you expect? But he did rise over like 500 spots. So like, he's a big mover of the week.

20:10 Huge, man. Yeah, he's the mover of the week.

20:12 Congrats.

20:13 Yeah, congrats, Holger Runeau. You were like 75 in the world. You went from 1,200 to 400. Basically. Yeah, yeah.

20:19 Basically.

20:20 Yeah.

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22:03 Before we move to the race to Turin, how good was Struffy's Instagram post after our last week's pod?

22:08 Good point.

22:08 Yeah.

22:09 Come on.

22:09 We told that Struffy story. Yeah, we told the Struffy story. Even though I banged it up, I kept saying he was standing inside the service line.

22:17 He might have been, though, knowing him.

22:18 Yeah, he might have been.

22:19 That's a good point.

22:21 Yeah, and he responded. I don't know if everyone saw that on his Instagram. He had a photo of actually getting pegged, like of the return, him trying to get out of the way, getting hit by my serve. And the aftermath had a photo of that. And I told no lies.

22:37 It's quite the wealth. That was a wealth and a half. The proof was, and that was after the match.

22:43 Yeah, Stevie said he had just– he had just lost– he had match points in the Basel semis.

22:47 Yeah, match point against the Hetchka in the Basel semi. Then like 35 minutes later, like must have seen the clip, just scroll and then he's like, I've got a photo of me getting absolutely blasted by a John Isner serve.

22:56 See, that's the kind of like great attitude he has. It's like back to the story I was telling. Like we played like this big match in Paris. There's like a lot of points at the end of the year and I probably won sixth and the third like I did indoor tennis. And I just remember after the match, he was like, great match, John. And he pulls up his shirt and starts laughing. He wasn't like pissed off, you know? It was just kind of.

23:21 Super nice.

23:21 He's a good dude. Really good dude.

23:23 And you know who he reminds me of? Of a former German player, Michael Berrer.

23:27 Michael Berrer. Yeah.

23:28 You knew where I was going with that one. Great attitude.

23:30 I absolutely did. But man, he's like, not many people are talking about him. He's like 37?

23:35 Yeah. It's insane.

23:38 Playing at this level still?

23:39 Back-to-back big weeks in Brussels and Basel.

23:43 Yeah, big weeks. Big points these indoor seasons. Let's go to the race to Turin. We all know who number one is. This Alexander Zverev is going to finish number one. Center in second place. He's not playing. We know that. Alcaraz has got a somewhat comfortable lead. Three over Ben Shelton, but I guess most importantly, we need to look at the bottom. Who is going to get in that nine spot, which will guarantee them entry into the year-end finals?

24:19 It's razor, razor tight right now. It is, but like, so Hodar right now has that last spot. Yep. 3,194 points. Diemen are right behind him at 3,170. Then it drops. Djokovic, Fritz, and Paul are. Over 200 to 300, 400 points behind him. Those guys have to make a big run and hope that Hodar and Diminar lose early.

24:45 Djokovic needs a semi at the very least. Yeah.

24:49 He plays Vashro first round.

24:50 Ooh.

24:51 Yeah.

24:52 But, I mean, we all have, like, Kaboli and Feast, like, these guys are like, you never know if they're going to turn up.

24:58 What's going to happen? You know, these guys are turning up. Kaboli and Feast have never made it.

25:01 Kaboli, like.

25:02 Yeah, we were calling that one.

25:04 I thought his season was done.

25:05 Dude, it– That was weird. We were calling it and all of a sudden we're like, oh, he's like– you know, he's playing. And then we look over, the camera pans over. He's got like the towel over. Like, oh, he's just trying to regroup himself and he was not. I don't know what happened.

25:18 Well, yeah, but he's like totally fine, right?

25:20 He's fine.

25:21 Totally fine. He's playing this week in Paris.

25:22 I thought like his career was over. I thought he like– his leg was getting amputated like on the bench over there. It made no sense to me. But he's just a, we'll call him a fiery, emotional Italian.

25:32 You know what I feel like is going to happen?

25:34 He's fun to watch though.

25:35 Like the race we've been talking about for a couple of weeks now, everyone's available, like can, you know, hop and whatever. I feel like no one will hop. It's just going to stay exactly how it is. No.

25:45 Well, go ahead, Stevie.

25:47 I think Demon or Novak. I don't know.

25:49 Like, They just, Sam's right.

25:52 Like it's, it seems that Novak is pretty close, but he would need to make at the very least semifinals.

25:59 And hope that those guys lose in the first or second round.

26:03 It does seem like it's.

26:05 Two men for one spot and whoever has the better tournament between Demon and Hodar makes the finals. If they lose in the same round, it's Hodar. Simple as that.

26:17 Right. That's what it feels like.

26:18 Any chance if Novak doesn't make it, he goes as an alternate?

26:22 Zero.

26:22 Okay, just check it.

26:25 Zero. That would be incredible. Just sit there and eat sushi for five days and hope your name doesn't get called as the alternate?

26:32 Yeah, that would be funny.

26:33 It would be funny. But no shot.

26:35 Sam, when you went, you didn't get on the court, did you? Did you play a match?

26:38 No, I did not. They bring two alternates.

26:41 But still, it's a little unlucky. You feel like a lot of times players.

26:45 Well, I was going to say the first alternate, Pablo Carreña-Busa, got in and played two matches.

26:49 Okay.

26:49 So then I was the first alternate for maybe the last three days or something like that. I mean, two alternates, great. That's not going to happen.

26:57 It's a tough slog being the alternate. I mean, they take care of you well, but, man, it's hard to fire up for practice. If you know there's an 85% chance you're not going to play.

27:08 Yeah, yeah. It's tough. Yeah, it's tough.

27:11 It's not tough.

27:11 I mean, you're getting the– The alternate now probably gets $ 125, 000.

27:14 No, I'm not complaining about it.

27:16 More, more, way more.

27:18 Way more?

27:19 I think the women's alternate in Indian Wells we just saw was like $ 150, 000, I thought.

27:25 Oh, wow.

27:25 So I would assume that, you know, but dude, it's... Do you get paid, though, even if you go and you don't? Like, if Feast goes and he's hurt, like, do you still get, like, I feel like he should get the money because he's earned it, even though he, let's say he's hurt and he.

27:38 No, he can go and be the alternate.

27:40 No, I'm saying like Feast, if he gets in, like the top eight, Feast, but he's hurt. Like he's earned like 360 grand, but he plays like the one obligatory match to like get paid and then pulls out. You know what I mean?

27:51 Like I feel like he should still get paid. At a tour event, hypothetically, if you're playing Indian Wells, you're seated and second round money is 30 grand. You pull out, you get half of it.

28:01 No, you get all of it.

28:02 Are you sorry? You get all of it.

28:03 Yeah.

28:04 If you're onside, pull out. It almost feels like if you make your end and you pull out, you should still get it.

28:09 I feel like some guys go there just to play the one match. They lose three and three. They're like, oh, I'm hurt, but I want to pick up the big check. And then they let the alternate play.

28:17 We might not find that out, but that's a good question.

28:21 Fair.

28:21 Let's move on. We got one tournament to go. We should actually break down the doubles race, too. I always love the doubles race.

28:28 James Watts, big win in Seoul.

28:31 James Watts. big win the 125 and soul.

28:35 Ellie magelli had me on my toes all week with the quarterfinals semifinals.

28:39 Magelli's bona fide top tenner.

28:41 I look we're probably three weeks away from my year-end top 10 influencer list.

28:46 Okay don't give anything away right behind camera away right behind sam's camera is a big whiteboard it's got the whole list of movers shifting it's moving yes it is exactly.

28:54 He's got the whiteboard he's moving it he's like uh uh orlovsky like breaking it down you know yes But let's move on to, I guess, the major news that most of the tennis world is talking about. And one that we didn't see coming. We were speculating as to who Juan Carlos Ferrero was going to be coaching next year.

29:14 He teased it. A bit crazy. He's been in the news a lot. He made an announcement to make an announcement, then to make an announcement, now to this is the announcement. But JCF is taking on a coaching role alongside Brian Shelton. To Tudor Ben Shelton.

29:34 I like the move.

29:35 Did any of y'all see this coming prior to, I guess, Twitter or X breaking it yesterday? No.

29:40 No one saw this coming.

29:41 No one saw this coming.

29:42 I don't think.

29:42 Everyone's like, oh, is it Hodar? Maybe like the center thing's been thrown around. I was shooketh.

29:48 Well, Sinner's got a new coach too, doesn't he?

29:50 Yeah, Sinner's got Magnus Norman starting next year. But, yeah, this is– I wonder for Juan Carlos Ferrero, he'll be there with Brian Shelton, who's obviously an incredible coach. Will Juan Carlos be there every week? Is he just popping in for big events?

30:03 I think we see him– Well, he's going to be in Orlando in the offseason.

30:05 Yeah, offseason.

30:07 Yeah, Australia, Indian Wells.

30:10 Miami.

30:12 I think one of those two, not both.

30:14 So, Stevie, you only think he's going to be there like majors and maybe like Two or three other matchup series?

30:18 No, because then I think he'll do most of Europe. Like, it's over there. But, like, he'll come over for Toronto, you know, USO. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I don't see him doing Asia. Didn't do Asia with Carlos, I don't think. But I will say, I was enjoying the Juan Carlos Ferreira drama, like, dropping hints. But I was kind of over it when he said he was, like, making an announcement. Dude, you're not the star attraction anymore.

30:40 Do you think he had to ask Ben? Be like, hey, do you mind if I tease this online?

30:45 Yeah.

30:46 Yeah.

30:46 I like it, though. I do like it for Ben.

30:48 Okay, so you do like it. I don't like how he did it. What do you think he can bring to Ben's game? Outside of experience, yes, he's won Grand Slams. He was number one in the world. He coached one. I think that's the biggest thing he can bring to Ben's game is the fact that he coached Alcaraz ever since he was a kid.

31:06 Yeah, I think that's the big one. You just nailed it, John. It's not like he coached No offense. He's not like Ed Burke when he coached Roger.

31:14 You know what I mean?

31:15 He wasn't there. To see the proof of success that he had with Carlos since he was 14 years old, he's shown that he can grow a game. Obviously, Ben is still young, but this is huge. I love Brian. I love Ben and their dynamic as father-son. It's incredible, it seems like. I've never heard anything bad about it, but it can't hurt to have another set of eyes to help someone with this experience and Brian Shelton is not going to be somebody that his ego is not in play at all. He just wants what's best for his son. So I think it's just a phenomenal hire for Ben. Why not? What's the missing piece for him?

31:51 Slam success. Who's had it at a player and a coach?

31:53 Ferraro.

31:54 Maybe he could help. I don't know if they could help with this, but Ben for a guy that's so good, he has taken a lot of first and second round losses this year. I don't know if he can help with consistency at some of the big events.

32:05 Yeah. Yeah.

32:07 I think it's going to be great for him. You've got to nitpick.

32:10 Guys that are this high. Can Juan Carlos Ferrell help him get it? Let's assume center's healthy. Alcaraz looks damn healthy going forward. Is there anything he can add to Ben's game? What can you add to Ben's game? Maybe help him get sharper on the backhand wing? He's not going to improve Ben's serve. No.

32:28 I don't know.

32:31 Ben's backhand at the US Open was like lights out.

32:33 It was better.

32:34 For sure. I thought it was good.

32:36 I don't know. It's tricky. It's a hard hurdle to climb. What's the barometer of success? Beating Alcaraz and Zverev on your way to an Aussie Open title? It's going to be very difficult.

32:46 Yeah. What is the barometer to success? If you occasionally beat one of them, but they still get you 80% of the time, is that good? I guess all it depends is can you beat one or two of them in a major? Yeah.

32:59 He's using it for major success, and that's it. But hopefully it works.

33:03 It's hard to say. I think I don't think many people can say like, I think.

33:06 But he's kind of already had like majors. I know he hasn't won a major, but he's been.

33:09 He's had success.

33:10 He's had a lot of major success. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm with you, Sam. If there's anywhere he.

33:15 Like shines, it's actually at the majors.

33:17 Yeah. We'll see. I mean, look, I think.

33:20 I think it's good, though.

33:22 I think it's good. It shows Ben is he's not just happy to be four in the world. And he's obviously doing everything right. And Stevie said he's got an incredible team. with Brian, but they want, his team wants what is best for Ben and they are investing in this. We'll see if it, if it pays off. It's very intriguing for sure. Tennis Twitter is loving this.

33:45 Oh yeah.

33:46 But you know, we'll see if Ben can kind of put his name in that conversation with those three guys ranked ahead of him in 2027.

33:56 Yeah.

33:56 Still a lot to play for the rest of the year, but this partnership starts in Orlando in December. Yep. Officially.

34:08 I'd love to see a Shelton-Alcaraz match in Paris. That'd be kind of fun.

34:13 It would be fun. Or no, their first match with Ferraro in Shelton's box is going to be fun. I don't think that's going to be fun for Ben, though.

34:21 I don't think so either. I think Carlos, like, he goes, you know.

34:24 We see Carlos at laser focus.

34:27 He's going to dig that knife a little deeper. Yeah, but anyways, great story. They played in an Aussie Open semifinals or something with JCF in the box.

34:39 So juicy.

34:40 Yeah, it would be juicy. Anyways, some huge news. We thought Hodar, right? That's what I thought.

34:47 Me too.

34:48 I like that Hodar hasn't hired a coach.

34:50 I hope he never does.

34:51 I hope he never does. I hope he never hires a physio, like all.

34:54 That BS that we see every player. Just one man, his dad.

34:57 Yeah, one man. He's the guy who had all those.

34:59 Yes.

35:00 Yeah. Q-Ball, you always ask about Moise Kiwami and kind of where he's– because you're right. We haven't heard his name since Roland Garros this year. Well, he emerged in a big challenger in France in Brest.

35:16 Brest.

35:17 And he takes out Martin Dom Jr., who's a heck of a player, indoors. And I think I saw that Kwame's up to 130 in the world or something like that.

35:28 Feels about right.

35:29 Feels about right.

35:30 And he's 17 or is he still 16?

35:32 He's 17 now, I think. Played in Lyon as well, but it's a big win in Brest.

35:37 You're still investing in that stock, right, Sam?

35:40 Kwame, yeah, his forehand worried me a little bit in Lyon. Like, alligator arm did a little bit, but dude's 17 years old. Ranked 130 and just won a challenger title. So, yes, give me some Kiwame stock. But you said it better. Like, third round of Roland Garros, he was, like, such a thing in Paris. Oh, yeah, of course. Like, he's very exciting to watch. And then it kind of went quiet for, like, three or four months. But now he's back.

36:03 Yeah. He's back. God, there's still a lot to cover here on this notion. Did you all also see this kind of made its waves on X? Yeah. This Aussie player that I don't think any of us have ever heard of, Matthew Delevadova, not the NBA player who played for the Milwaukee Bucks. I think he won a championship with the Bucks, right?

36:20 I think he won a championship with the Cavs, I think.

36:23 Cavs. Sorry?

36:23 I think he won a championship with the Cavs, LeBron era Cavs.

36:27 Oh, you're right. It's not the Bucks.

36:29 He was on the Bucks. He was on the Bucks.

36:31 Oh, okay. He was on the Bucks.

36:32 Post-Cavs.

36:33 I think you're right there, Stevie. matthew delvadova won his 100th match of the year this is across all levels mostly futures yeah um his record is 101 and 33 i mean he must have played 40 tournaments he's got to imagine he won seven of them yeah that's a lot of that's a lot of wins i mean he's playing futures when he should be playing challengers at this point toward the end of the year right yeah yeah he um I mean, he's overpowering. He won the 25K Futures in Tamworth, Australia, and he won 0-1 in the finals.

37:09 But look, there's no substitute for match wins.

37:11 He's a hardcourt specialist. 99 of his wins are on hardcourt. He's a hardcourt specialist.

37:16 They don't have clay courts in Australia. He probably hasn't left the continent.

37:19 I think he's played a lot in Asia.

37:22 Well, he played 33 times he lost this year. He probably won a bunch. He probably literally played like 43 tournaments this year.

37:30 Yeah, no, exactly.

37:31 Um, it's a lot of matches to say the least, but.

37:34 He's not, he's not in the top 100 and he hasn't made that much prize money. There's nothing to say there. Like the futures, it's not about the prize money.

37:41 All right.

37:41 It's about the points.

37:42 So that's cool to win a hundred matches, but like, that's a heck.

37:44 Of an effort to win a hundred matches. So good on him. We'll see him in Australia next year. I hope they give him a wild card. I think they will always for sure. Um, all right, let's, uh, Getting close to the finish line here on this Monday episode. Stan Wawrinka finished his career in Basel. We did not forget that, guys. We're going to talk about this at the very end. He lost his first match to Laheczka.

38:12 There's it. I mean, we knew this moment was coming. Knew he was finishing in Basel. And there's the curtain call on his career. Hall of Famer, right, Sam?

38:21 He's got like a big send-off in Basel. Switzerland later this year. With Monfils, he'll get another send-off. Federer, Monfils, and Murray, which will be cool. But Stan, for having his last year, got battled all year. Third round Australian Open, played a bunch of long matches, dipped down and played challengers.

38:39 He played a high level until the very, very end here. And what a guy. I mean, I played him at the US Open 2010 round of 16. He wasn't quite like the Stan that he became recently. lost him like in a long five-setter in windy conditions on ash and after that he like kind of took off and started great but he's just he i feel like he's he's well liked in every country he plays in like everyone loves the one-handed backhand everyone loves every everyone handed back but his is going down is like legitimately everyone's top three like favorite shots ever i.

39:17 Just i don't Something tells me now that he's retired, it just doesn't feel like he's done. I don't know. It's just like Stan. He loves tennis so much.

39:23 I feel like he's lying.

39:24 I know.

39:25 It feels like my brain knows he's done.

39:28 That's what I think.

39:30 Like come Rotterdam next like February, I'm like, God, like Stan with like a wild card, you would be like.

39:35 Oh, okay. Yeah.

39:36 Yeah. No, I do think he is– One hell.

39:39 Of a career. First ballot Hall of Famer.

39:41 I think what people appreciate is just his passion for the game. I mean like the amount of times he dipped down into challengers– even after winning these slams, to build his ranking back up and compete like he was playing in a Grand Slam final is very impressive. You've got to tip your cap to him. He did it the right way. Played until he was 41. Had a lot of injuries. Had some surgeries. Time off. Got to finish on his own terms. I think that's all you can ask for.

40:11 Plus, his three slam wins were all super memorable. The match over Novak. I mean, two over Novak, one over Rafa.

40:18 Yeah, good point.

40:19 That's pretty damn impressive.

40:20 It's not like he beat Nishikori in a final. No, but like— He didn't take out Ethan Quinn in a random slam final, you know? It's easy, guy.

40:29 Poor Ethan, man. Oh, my goodness.

40:31 I'm done with Ethan Slander. I'm done with it.

40:34 All right, let's wrap this show up. Stevie, do the major opinion segment. Do you have a stat for us?

40:40 Yes, I do.

40:41 Let's see. At 17 years and 241 days, Moise Kwame is the ninth youngest player since 1990 to reach the ATP top 150. Who's numero uno?

40:53 Michael Chang? Oh.

40:55 No, since 1990.

40:57 Oh, sorry.

40:58 I think Chang won French in 89. He won the French in like 89.

41:01 Yeah.

41:03 You know what?

41:03 Is it Felix? No, I was going to say, is it Hodar?

41:07 No, it's Gasquet. Never forget about old Dickie Gasquet.

41:13 16 years, 237 days to be in the top 150. It's pretty good. Wow. Good for him.

41:18 Good one. Who's doing the random player of the week?

41:21 I can get one. This one was sent to me via Instagram, and I had a good chuckle. He beat Sam Erk. I think he beat Sam at the U.S. Open one year. Juan Ignacio Londero, relatively recent, had a flash in the pan, was top 100 for like a year and a half, two years.

41:35 He beat you at the U.S. Open, Sam?

41:36 Yeah. I think he beat you at the Open.

41:37 Maybe like 2016 or something. Juan Ignacio Londero, Argentinian.

41:41 That's a good one, Steve.

41:42 Another three-name.

41:43 I can't take credit. Somebody sent that one to me on Instagram. So whoever that was, thank you. I know you're listening.

41:47 That is a good one.

41:49 Because he is a random player.

41:52 All right.

41:52 I like that.

41:53 All right, Sam, you got a query?

41:54 I was going to go, who had the best Halloween costume? Like, what player over the weekend?

41:59 I didn't see any. I didn't either.

42:01 I don't really have one.

42:04 Okay. I don't know.

42:05 I don't even have a query of the week. I don't even have a query of the week. I've been trying to think of one the last 40 minutes, and I can't.

42:09 Maybe we'll give you another chance on Thursday, and we will see you guys on Thursday for another episode. We also have a great interview with the Wimbledon Junior Champion, and I think, like, the overall ITF Junior Champion of the Year, Jordan Lee. of America joined us and actually it was a very, very fun interview. So everyone will enjoy that. Thank you everyone. And see you on Thursday.

42:33 Nothing, nothing made you Nothing, nothing major. Nothing, nothing major.