Sinner Out for the Season! Djokovic’s Finals Surge, Alcaraz Still a Level Above? | EP 221

0:00 All right, on today's episode of Nothing Major, we're going to go over the finals from Tokyo and Beijing. We're also going to go over what we think is the toughest era in tennis history, and we also have fan questions and life advice.

0:12 Let's get going.

0:13 Big John, Stevie, and Sam got close a few times, never won a slam.

0:18 Nothing Major. All right, welcome back. I got John.

0:21 Got Stevie, myself. The suits are always here at SIF. We can't do this without them. So thank you to the suits.

0:27 All right, everyone. We're going to interrupt the main program. What are we doing here?

0:31 We're interrupting the main program. Should I just jump in?

0:35 We're going to interrupt the main Thursday show to jump in to the finals review of Beijing and Tokyo. As you know, the Monday when we recorded, Beijing and Tokyo hadn't completed yet.

0:45 They're done now. So we're going to go over that. Let's start in Tokyo. Our boy.

0:50 Carlos Alcaraz gets it done over Yuri Lahechka, 7-6, 6-4. This was a good one, as we thought. Lahechka breaks Carlos out of the gate. Carlos ends up breaking back, gets him in two tight sets. This was a good match between two good players, Stevie.

1:08 Big.

1:10 It's not a big win for carlos because he doesn't need it but just saying yeah it's a big win he's right back where he left off and like always he's utilizing the drop shots on big points he's hitting passing shots left and right it was carlos being carlos.

1:22 Out there it's crazy dude like the drop shots that he hits are absolutely insane like you you assume he's not going to hit 30 a match but he does and he hits everyone like really good like i've never seen like i've never seen him just brick one on like break point down that like it's like a service line like mere mortals usually do but no i think this is a big win for carlos just you know if if there was any ounce of doubt in his um meant you know in his mental state about his wrist you know if there was any i think it's gone you know especially after the us open after labor cup now like He's put that to bed. He's healthy.

2:01 He's ready to go. He's just electric to watch. His movement is a joke. I don't know if there's ever been a more explosive athlete.

2:10 I can't think of one.

2:12 It's crazy because he takes routine, standard, run-of-the-mill ground strokes and is able to hit 100 plus mile per hour forehands on a consistent basis. It never looks like it's out of his shoes. It looks pretty like pretty measured, which is nuts, but it's great to see Carlos. Like, I think he's got to cut the hair quite frankly.

2:33 It just, it's too much hair. I wanted to see him, you know, go back a little bit more aerodynamic, but all things being equal, like it's great to see Carlos back. Two-time Tokyo champion. And just, he just picks up exactly where he left off.

2:46 Talking about his movement on the backhand side. There's rarely a ball that he can't get out and get his left leg behind it. Like he gets out there so fast.

2:55 It's nuts.

2:55 And also I feel like I noticed his labor cup and now Tokyo is he's got the drop shot. Obviously it's the greatest of all time. He's, he's using like the short slice, the one that like fed used a lot. I feel like he used that a lot in, in labor and.

3:08 Like, you know, just not as notable.

3:11 You use it as well. Sorry. Sorry.

3:13 He's taking a page out of a page out of your playbook and he's must be watching your highlights. And he's using the short little backhand slice now. And it's, he's just like, he's adding things to his game and fun things. He's, going back to the drop shot, beautiful drop shot. He actually missed the drop shot down break point.

3:31 First game of the match.

3:32 Yeah.

3:32 But did that hold him back after that? No, it did not.

3:35 Cause he threw off, threw up other drop shots in big moments, including the tiebreaker. He had a sick little half volley pickup in the breaker as well. It's so fun to watch.

3:44 Yeah.

3:44 But like, I mean, the drop shot is even more impressive because he hits the forehand so hard. You have to back up. Like you have to, you have to respect that as opponent. And then he hits the drop shot and you just, So it doesn't even have to be that good, and he still hits them. You would set up a bucket or something a few feet past the net and just hit him in practice or something.

4:02 I feel like he would be automatic, just 10 out of 10 every time if you just put a bucket out there and just drop it in there.

4:08 Yeah, totally agree.

4:10 He hits winners at 110 miles an hour, and he comes back and gets you with the winner at 10 miles an hour. And he is going to pick up 437 yards. $ 1, 000.

4:21 That is nice for him.

4:22 He will be able to purchase a flight to Shanghai with that money. Speaking of Shanghai, speaking of China, over in Beijing, Novak Djokovic, undefeated still. He takes out the Demon in Alex Demonar.

4:36 7-6.

4:38 Great first set. And then second set, two games in, the Demon had to retire, which was a bummer. He got the leg, like the WTA thigh wrap. I'm not sure what happened. Hopefully he's okay. Looked You saw some images like Leighton Hewitt kind of tearing up. Hopefully it's not a big deal.

4:55 We'll find out.

4:56 But Novak, I'm not going to say like out of nowhere, but it kind of feels like out of nowhere because we talked about it on Monday.

5:02 Like maybe he just takes the rest of the year off. Maybe he probably doesn't care about Turin. Not the case. Goes to his favorite place in the world, Beijing, where he's never lost. Wins the title.

5:11 Takes out Zverev along the way. Medvedev along the way.

5:14 Demon. This... We said like, oh, was that a big win for Carlos in Tokyo? Kind of. This feels like a huge win for Novak.

5:20 Yeah, this is something we touch on in the episode as well, where it's one of those things like obviously like Novak, you know, probably doesn't need motivation. I mean, he's done everything, but he's put this big old carrot on the end of the stick now with him saying he wants to make Turin. So for him, he's got like this, you know, this goal in mind for the next season. we'll call it six weeks before the end of the season. Like he wants to make turn because he's not in it right now. He wants what he can have at the moment. And that's just what Novak does.

5:49 Like I know he wants to win a slam, but that's physically and mentally so demanding for him to just rock up to a slam and try and win seven matches, best three out of five, like without really having prep. These two out of three matches, I know we got a default against Medvedev and a retirement against Demon here.

6:06 But with him having a notable goal in just a few weeks time, I think this is huge for Novak. We're going to see Novak at his best again, what it is right now.

6:17 Yeah.

6:18 Just because he wants to make Turin and he's got that goal in mind.

6:21 You just had a line. I think that was like perfect.

6:22 You said he wants what he can't have, which he, which has not been the case for him ever. It's like, uh, not a good sign for the rest of the field. As we saw, he just, Takes the Beijing title. Let me get that prize money. He got some cheddar packs for Beijing.

6:36 $ 730, 000.

6:37 Something like that.

6:38 $ 730, 000 for Novak.

6:40 But this is a bummer for Demon outside of Novak.

6:42 Yeah.

6:43 It didn't look good. I mean, we don't know what's happening. Obviously, there's been no reporting for us yet since the match ended. But to see Hewitt crying, to see the box pretty somber over there, to see Demon's face, he's not a guy that just stops playing.

6:58 No, I know.

6:59 Especially in a final.

7:01 I'm sure we'll get some type of little injury update from him, I hope.

7:06 But a couple good finals.

7:06 We'd like to see him play in Shanghai because that would tell us that it's, you know, it's okay.

7:10 Yeah.

7:11 And since we recorded Monday, literally we stopped recording. We had these finals and then we had like three other big stories. So like while we were recording Monday, we had the Medvedev default to Novak. Medvedev lightly hit a ball into the crowd, in my opinion. It hit a spectator in the face. Yeah, she probably should be defaulted.

7:29 That dude sold it.

7:31 His head was down.

7:32 I would love to see a spectator get hit, pick the ball up, and fire it back at Medvedev.

7:38 Yeah.

7:38 How good would that be? I mean, it's talked about. To be honest, I do not know. We need to probably talk to one of the ATP supervisors. What is the letter of the law? Because in my opinion, you hit a fan like that, you're defaulted. I think it's black and white. That being said— you should not like the intent was not to like hit somebody from evidence.

8:01 So he should not lose his points in money. Cause that's crazy. That's a lot of points for him and money.

8:06 Well, okay.

8:07 Put the money aside. That's a lot of points after the U S open that he needs to make year end top eight. Like he can't just lose 200 points. Like that's a big number this day. And you know, right now, given where he's at in the ranking. So like, I get it. He should be defaulted. I don't, there was no intent there. Right. But I think he, you know, he hit somebody in the stands, like you get defaulted, but he shouldn't lose his points in money. In my opinion.

8:32 I don't know though.

8:32 It's, but you can't, you got to look at it case by case. The intent was not, it wasn't a malicious firing of the ball. It kind of hit it there softly. And then dude, the fan is head down. Yeah, man up.

8:43 He looked like he died.

8:44 Gosh, that was weak.

8:45 It was, it would just be great if he just started chucking stuff back in. But you have to take some of the subjectivity out of it. I think like, because a case by case basis, what are you going to review that in the moment? I don't know. There's no right answer.

8:57 Oh, no, I'm saying with you, like, you hit a fan, you're done. But then review it afterwards when it comes to do you take away prize money, take away points and stuff like that.

9:05 In this case, I agree with you.

9:07 Points should not be taken away because, in my opinion, and it sounds like your opinion, it wasn't like a malicious intent to, like, aggressively smack a ball at a dude's face.

9:17 I mean, we had, you know, in Tokyo, Terrence Ottman, like, hucked his racket, like a full-on tomahawk chop. Like that's another foot higher. Like that hits somebody in the stands. Like, but instead he gets to keep playing. He just gets a warning. So like the intent was way more malicious than that one, but he didn't hit anybody. So it's, it's, it's a strange, it's strange, but well said.

9:36 Yeah.

9:37 We also had some drama with Coco golf over in Beijing.

9:42 Yes.

9:43 Also in Beijing.

9:43 The women play like 10 weeks in a row in Asia. It's hard to keep track. She was playing this, this young girl son, I believe. In a big moment of the match, they're playing, they're playing, they're playing. Coco comes to the net, kind of pops one up, and the side LCD screens flicker. And then Coco looks at the umpire.

10:01 The girl kind of goes up, hits a forehand. Coco looks at the umpire and says, hey, those flickered for a second. We need to redo the point. Coco, in my opinion, again, 100% in the right. It's just a bad beat for the other girl. We saw this kind of similar thing in the Zverev-Jokovic match, but if the LCD screens flicker move during a point you replay the point it doesn't matter if someone has an overhead on top of the net it things happen in life things happen in tennis where it's just it's unfortunate it's a bad beat but i gotta defend coco here like yeah that's that just kind of the the ball bounced her way in that weird awkward.

10:39 Moment yeah no you're 100 right there's nothing you can do you replay the point if the it flickers right like it just that's what it is it just happened to be you know at that moment But all things equal, like if it flickers, it flickers. Just same with this verve. You replay the point. Like I get Novak's upset with this verve one. I get that this girl is upset with the cocoa one. But the letter of the law, like you replay the point. You have replay now. You look at it. If you see it, you stop the point.

11:06 Like same thing if a ball comes out of your pocket or a hat or a visor comes off or a napkin blows onto the court because, you know, it's windy in there, right? Like it just, you replay the point. Like there's, it just happened to be a tough time. But that, what can you do?

11:20 Maybe we get rid of those screens and just go old school chalkboard, someone writing up the scores.

11:25 Then we won't have this problem.

11:27 I bet they don't need to go that old school, but they don't have to go that old school. But the LED boards, they're in because they get new advertisements. You can get some new money in there, but they bring in a couple other problems.

11:40 And then finally, we got to touch on, again, after Monday, the tennis world just on fire after we recorded Monday, Yannick Sinner. Remember we said, like, oh, should he give an injury report, an update? Well, we got an update, and he's out for the year. That's what we got. I mean, out for the year. So now it's early October.

12:00 He has three more full months to recover, get the knee healthy, and three and a half months. Australian Open is kind of mid-January. But update for him, Zverev is going to end the year number one in the world. That's awesome for him. We're not going to congratulate him just yet because it hasn't happened yet.

12:18 A huge bummer, though. No one doesn't.

12:20 I mean, we all want to see Yannick Sinner back on the court battling against Carlos in these finals.

12:26 But the knee must be bad. And we got the update from Yannick.

12:33 You know, I want, I'm glad we got up there. We didn't really get an update. Just the knee. It's still the knee.

12:39 You know, still the knee.

12:40 I want, is it too much to ask for a little bit more pageantry from Sinner? You know, I know he's very methodical. He's not like an overly, exuberant fella out there on the court. But I just wanted a little bit more pageantry on the, the video that he came out with. It felt like he was just like a hostage situation, like reading a cue card.

12:57 He was a hostage.

12:58 If he was holding up just like an LA times with like the date on it. So we knew what date it was. Like, I wouldn't have been surprised that like, you know, somebody was forcing him to do that.

13:05 Can we get a better background with the video?

13:08 Like, I know he's got a nice house somewhere.

13:10 He's got a couple. For sure.

13:11 I'm sure he's got a couple.

13:13 You're in Monaco half the time. Give us some of those northern Italy mountains.

13:17 Just do it on the yacht out there right now and just be like, I'm enjoying my life.

13:22 Screw off.

13:23 I'm not going anywhere. I honestly would have loved that. That being said, this now opens the door. Something we didn't think about. Didn't think Novak wanted to play Turin. So we're down to, you know, seven spots kind of, you know, for everybody else. You assume Novak's going to make it, but now you're still back down to seven spots.

13:39 So that gives guys some life with Sinner.

13:42 Mostly like the Americans, like Fritz, Tommy Paul, Francis Tiafoe.

13:48 Yeah.

13:48 Who had terrible Tokyo tournaments.

13:51 So it gives everyone a bit more life. But yeah, it's a bummer. If I'm not mistaken... No Sinner or Alcaraz match this year.

14:00 Correct?

14:01 They did not play.

14:02 Wait. Alcaraz? No, they played and you called it.

14:06 Alcaraz-Sinner?

14:07 This year? In 2025? Yes, you called the match.

14:12 No.

14:12 In Monte Carlo. They played one time.

14:14 Oh, they did.

14:15 They did. You're right. You called it. This is usually some mistake that I make. No, no, no.

14:19 I didn't call.

14:20 I didn't do Monte Carlo. I wasn't calling that match.

14:22 Okay. But you were alive. And that's still.

14:24 So I was alive.

14:25 I was there.

14:26 You're right.

14:26 My bad. My bad, everyone. My bad.

14:28 Okay.

14:28 But I'm going to forget that one. Cause we didn't have any like memorable ones. That was just kind of like center kind of steamrolled them a little bit. You don't want to, I mean, I'm just bummed out that we didn't get to see like, you know, cause 2025 brought us some all time classics and 2026 was a bit of a letdown, you know, for these two guys and their rivalry. So, but a total bummer, these guys not healthy, but hopefully 2027, they'll be both a hundred percent ready to roll in Australia. So, Totally bummed out for Sinner and Tennis, right?

14:57 Yeah.

14:58 But it gives everyone else a chance to win indoors.

15:00 Yeah, I don't want everyone to have a chance. I want to watch Sinner. I want to watch the best.

15:06 You're right.

15:06 I will say.

15:07 I want to watch the best.

15:08 It's fun to watch those upsets sometimes, but at the end of a tournament, I want to see Sinner. I want to see Alcaraz, Novak, Zverev. I want to see these guys. No offense to everyone else. Right?

15:18 Yeah.

15:18 I don't need to watch a Manorino final in Vienna. I want to watch a Sinner final. No offense to Manorino.

15:25 That's a big delta there, but yeah.

15:26 Okay. All right.

15:28 That's our update. We had to chime in. Now back to the rest of the show. We just had so much happen that we had to do an emergency little update here.

15:37 Emergency pod. Emergency pod update pod. All right.

15:41 See you guys on, no, no, Monday. I don't need to say that again because we're jumping back into the normal pod.

15:45 We're still here on Thursday.

15:46 Bye. You guys want to see my dog? Come here, Ruby.

15:51 No, we shouldn't. You should not be allowed to have a dog alone by yourself.

15:54 The dog doesn't want to.

15:55 The dog doesn't want to be with you. You don't want to be with the dog.

15:59 She's so chunky. You don't walk her.

16:02 Just like you.

16:04 This way. Does Ruby like you?

16:06 I don't think Ruby likes you.

16:08 Oh, Ruby's graying a little bit on the chin.

16:09 All right. Anyway, let's move forward to the toughest era in tennis.

16:16 That dog really loves Sam, let me tell you.

16:18 I love Sam.

16:20 All right.

16:22 We think 2012 was the toughest era in tennis. John, I'm going to throw it over to you first. Just so we know, the year-end rankings of 2022, Djokovic.

16:35 Federer, Murray, Nadal, Ferrer, Burdick, Delpo, Sanga.

16:41 This isn't a segment on like, oh, tennis was way tougher then compared to now, or 1992 was tougher then. We're not trying to like, necessarily compare generations we're not yeah we're not doing that because that's that's tricky but john start with you why do you think that that era specifically or that year was just the toughest and peak tennis.

17:02 Okay i i think it's because you have the big four right let's throw murray in there obviously yeah he's up there and this is we took year-end rankings 2012 we were trying to just find you know when all those guys were pretty much in their prime close to their prime And, but it's after, it's after the top four players who, you know, who those are, of course, it's the Ferrer, the Burditches, the Delpo, like a healthy Sanga.

17:30 It's ridiculous how tough that was. I think what makes it so tough is that five to eight range of those, of those guys, especially the five to seven with Delpo, Burditch and Ferrer, like those three players. And so when you talk about like making the world tour finals, the, The top eight, this is 2012, Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, they're not taking that off. Murray's not taking that off. And then you kind of always, with Pencil, Burdick in, and Ferrer was never going anywhere. For everyone else, it seemed like there was just two spots available at the beginning of the year. Whereas now, it seems like there's five spots available.

18:09 Yes, agreed.

18:10 With Sinner, Alcaraz, Zverev, and then five at-large.

18:13 Spots, basically.

18:14 Exactly. And back then, it seems like there was only two at-large spots.

18:17 So you go into the year like, I'm feeling good about my game, but there's only two spots for me to get in there. Because if these guys are healthy, they're going to be in the top six. Those aforementioned players. And so, as you look at the totality, especially the top ten, just ridiculously tough.

18:36 Like, absurdly tough.

18:37 Yeah, no, but it's crazy, though, because think about it. Like, that year, all four guys, like Murray, Novak, Roger, Rafa, all split the slams. So, like, they each won one. And Novak still has 13,000 points at the end of the year. He won one slam and has 13,000 points. And the points hasn't changed, right? 500, 500, like, his dominance everywhere outside of, like, the other three slams that he didn't win were absolutely a joke. I mean, for context, like, center those guys, like, they have, like, 11,000 points, like, at year end or... And they're basically winning everything, like multiple slams. So it's crazy Novak's dominance outside of those slams.

19:13 And you felt like that group, too, when it came to the Masters Series, maybe each guy would skip one. Maybe they'd skip Canada, maybe Paris at the end of the year if they were already in. So every Masters Series, going back to John's point where the year-end final felt like there was two spots available– The Masters Series felt like there was no spots available to win one.

19:33 Yeah. Because they didn't take them off. Nobody won one.

19:38 And I also feel like when you kind of go down to that group of 9 to 15 where you.

19:42 Had Gasquet, Roundit, Isner– Cilic, Wawrinka.

19:53 Those guys too were– we all know like everyone I just mentioned, you guys all had like big games, right? So like you were threats to potentially knock off some of those guys sometimes. You're like, oh, if I look at my draw in a master series, you go to Cincinnati. If you drew– Kay Nishikori first.

20:10 Round, you're like, okay, that's doable. All right. He's not seated.

20:14 He was like Nishikori to play roundage, to play birdage, to play fed, to play an adult. It was just absolutely insane. And going back to my point of they never took events off. They literally never took events off.

20:27 And anytime you went up against like a Ferrer or birdage, man, it's like, You sort of had– you kind of had to hope that they would have a bad day or something. So they're just rough, like crazy underrated guys. I think especially Burdick, he just gets lost how good he was.

20:45 We've talked about that before.

20:46 Yeah.

20:47 I mean Burdick for rare– there's a handful of other guys too maybe you might be in there too like you guys probably would have had us they would all those names i mentioned might have had a slam without i don't think you should put me in there but but.

21:02 Those guys will put.

21:03 You in there too birdage for air maybe a couple yeah exactly exactly i'm i'm i'm with you there and they have they have like a like a thriving like if you look at the tennis economy as a whole in 2012 like you need a thriving middle class yes in 2012 had that right you need a thriving middle class and i think 2012 had that which made it so freaking tough i will say that's like it's that's peak tennis right there doesn't get any better than that and it was 14 years ago.

21:34 Yeah in one week master series in one week master series.

21:37 Exactly the uh 2011 the year prior to that with novak It says he qualified for the year-end Masters on the 15th of May.

21:48 Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's crazy. The 15th of May. That is crazy.

21:52 Was that the year he won like Australia, Indy Wells, Miami, and then won like Monte Carlo Rome or something?

21:58 The 15th of May. That's not even– we haven't even played a second slam yet.

22:02 That's just so insane.

22:04 That's ridiculous, dude.

22:06 That's 2011.

22:06 Like that is in– It's crazy.

22:11 Back then, too, going back to the week-long Master Series, you'd go to Cincy and the schedule would come out for the day. It's like Murray at 11 a.m. And then you'd have Fed Nadal on center court. And then the night match would be Djokovic and someone.

22:24 You'd have Murray on grandstand.

22:27 You'd have the most insane lineups.

22:30 It's the women also.

22:32 So it was like Serena, Roger, Rafa, Sharapova.

22:37 You know, center court.

22:38 It's crazy.

22:39 You know, it's Djokovic on grandstand.

22:41 A ticket will never be that good in tennis again if it stays as it is. You're not going to get just, like, three to five unbelievable names.

22:50 If we could find, like, pull up an old order of play from, like, day three in Cincinnati or something.

22:56 I think the best order of play was, I think, one of the years in Acapulco was Novak, Rafa, Delpo on center, like, you know, and Serena. Or, like, when Venus was, like, actually winning matches. Like on center court, like in one 500 event, it was crazy. Like Milos team, these guys were all on court to a top 10 in the world at a 500.

23:18 Yeah.

23:18 No, it's crazy.

23:20 I mean, it was a fun time.

23:23 To play it's a good it's a good debate i want our listeners to chime in like do you agree with us like 2012 you can't top that in terms of level on the men's game right there in the men's game yeah i really i mean let us know what you think like in the comments and you know or if you if you think there's an era or a year that was tougher let us know i.

23:42 Mean the top 14 guys in 2012 are maybe some of the all-time greats there's a way to.

23:48 Add all the points like top like all points could like take those guys who year-end top eight add their.

23:53 Points together from all the years is that prove anything who knows.

23:57 Um and by the way 2012 was like that that was i think this year andy roddick retired so that's like tail end andy roddick as well yeah he wasn't.

24:05 Top 10 that year yeah finally he was for i mean he retired in 2012 yeah yeah.

24:11 And so It's pretty good in 2010-11 as well. You give me that 2010-2015 range. That wasn't a lean year.

24:20 Those were not lean years for the tour.

24:22 Thriving middle class. John said it best. Yeah, thriving middle class. That's what you need.

24:28 That's what you need.

24:29 That's a good debate, though.

24:30 Speaking of a thriving middle class.

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25:10 Am I supposed to say something there?

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25:16 You're Rod Burgundy. You are Rod Burgundy. You are Rod Burgundy.

25:20 You're supposed to fill in the blank, Sam. You're supposed to fill in the blank.

25:23 Well, I don't know.

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25:31 What is wrong with you?

25:32 We've been doing this for a couple weeks now, dude.

25:35 I must have missed those.

25:37 You didn't have that line because Steve and I were able to do it easily.

25:40 Dude, John, what are we doing right now?

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25:48 What are you, Shaquille O'Neal? A triple X tennis shoe?

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25:55 I didn't know what he was going with it, Stevie.

25:57 Yeah, I didn't know what he was going with either. And then it hit me that he's Ron Burgundy. And I'm the one with the mustache.

26:02 I'm not Ron Burgundy. You are Ron Burgundy. It's unclear. This is on the suits.

26:06 You can't just put triple X and think that it's.

26:10 Can you talk to the people what they should be excited about other than the XXX shoes and rackets?

26:14 Okay. You can get– they've got everything there.

26:18 What I'm excited for is the shoes, the Nike shoes that I've been wearing.

26:25 They're great. They feel good. Oh, my gosh. Oh, man. It's at a tennis warehouse, whatever you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

26:35 Tennis Warehouse is not triple X rated, by the way. It's a family company, guys. It's a family company.

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27:11 Thanks, Tennis Warehouse. Great partners. You've never had this line before. Stop it. Stop it.

27:16 But we have. We have. Stevie and I have. We have had that line.

27:22 This is unbelievable.

27:25 You're still blaming the suits?

27:27 I'm still blaming the suits. It's not obvious. That's crazy.

27:31 By the way, speaking of league tennis, are you still playing league tennis?

27:34 Thank you for bringing that up. Our first league match is tomorrow.

27:37 I'm not going to be able to make it, but we're maybe trying to put one together on Sunday.

27:41 But yeah, I'm on the USTA team at our club again. Nice. Best of luck. Thank you.

27:46 Tennis Warehouse has you covered.

27:47 They do. They got me and the whole team covered.

27:51 But yeah, I'll keep you guys updated with, I'm not, we have a school carnival at our kid's school on Friday, so I can't make the night match, but I'll let you know how the team does. And I'll keep you guys abreast of the situation throughout the season.

28:02 Well said, well said.

28:03 Good word. Love that word.

28:04 You can get that right, but you can't get the other one.

28:07 Exactly. I'm telling you. Okay. Triple X could be the name of the new head racket. The head triple X. All right. Did you guys see this? Let's move on.

28:19 Um, The Olympics are coming up in two years. Have you guys ever seen the Olympic headshots for the tennis players?

28:27 Yes.

28:29 I think we're going to share them on the screen here. They look like mugshot.

28:32 It's like whoever the photographer was said, hey, definitely don't smile on any of these photos.

28:37 Yeah, but you guys did like processing right before you guys went to– John, did you go to Beijing or no?

28:43 No, I can't remember what we did.

28:46 When we were doing ours in Rio, they– do like the whole get together. They take you through the stuff. You get all your gear, whatever.

28:52 Right.

28:52 And they're like, all right, like we're going to take your Olympic photos. And we're all like, all right, like, I'm not going to, you know, we're not going to say anything, but it was like, and then Serena's like, Nope, I'll send in my own photo. They were like, what? She's like, no, like, I'm not taking this photo. I'm not ready. I'm so like in our Olympic, like book that we got, it's like, we all have these kinds of photos that we share on the screen here. And then it's like, Serena's like perfectly like, you know, headshot from like completely, you know, a different, It was funny.

29:17 She's like, no, no, I'm not doing this. And they're like, okay, Serena, that's fine. You can do whatever you'd like. Send in whatever you'd like.

29:24 The Olympic process.

29:25 I remember when I went through it, we went to like San Jose in Northern California, sat through some spiel.

29:31 And then you went to.

29:32 Like a Costco sized warehouse with a shopping cart and just went station to station, like through an Olympic, vest.

29:38 Shorts, shirts, hats, all the gear. It was so cool.

29:40 I remember 2008, Sam, you went to Beijing and it was– I think I might have gotten in it like the last second. Like I was like an alternate or something, but I said, no thanks.

29:51 I'd rather play the LA Open. So I was in your backyard while you were playing.

29:55 I know.

29:56 I wish I would have played LA. I lost first round to Igor Andreev. Like on a Tuesday and then lost him in doubles like three hours later.

30:03 Then I was done.

30:04 Exactly.

30:11 I was hitting up R & D Kitchen in the bungalow in LA.

30:14 Olympics in Beijing. Just landed in smog. All right.

30:18 Let's move on to fan questions and possibly life advice. Let's start with Colin from Durham, North Carolina.

30:28 John's Backyard.

30:30 Wondering if you guys ever wanted to get knocked out of a tournament early, just so you could vacation in a new place. I see players who lose round one, suddenly touring the great wall of China or hanging around NYC for a few days. Did it ever cross your mind? Maybe if you were down and breaking the first set, Stevie, you want to start with that?

30:46 No, no, absolutely never to vacation. There was a few times I got down an early break in a first set somewhere and I was like, I can make this flight home tonight and go home, but never, uh, never on a vacation. John and I had, uh, That one match in Shanghai. You remember that one, John? On the third court?

31:02 Yeah.

31:02 We were like six and six.

31:04 Of course.

31:05 Yeah. I think I was up in both breakers and you greased me out and I looked up. I'm like, there's my plane. There it goes. I'm going to be on a flight home tomorrow. Blow this to John. You never want to go vacation somewhere. You just want.

31:17 To go home.

31:18 In the back of your mind, you know that if you do lose, it's not the worst thing in the world. If you know you're not going home after that tournament. Sam, you and I played the finals of Memphis years ago. Then we went from indoors Memphis to Acapulco outdoor clay. Because we had Davis Cup in Serbia on clay after Acapulco.

31:40 That transition is hard going from indoors to outdoor clay right away, like two days, got to turn around and do it. We both lost first round, but we enjoyed our time.

31:49 In Acapulco afterwards.

31:51 We had to practice on the clay for Davis Cup. So it wasn't like, so we stayed there and then went from Acapulco to Belgrade.

31:58 Yeah.

31:59 All these players, look, half the players are going to lose first round in Beijing. They want to win, but when they lose on a Monday or Tuesday, they then have six days until Shanghai starts. So they stay in Beijing for a few days to practice. And on those days you, You go to the Great Wall of China in the morning and you go practice in the afternoon or you go to practice in the morning and go to the silk markets in the afternoon or something like that.

32:19 But to what these guys to kind of piggyback on what they said, no players ever losing on purpose to go on vacation. They're just you have time to kill in these cities when you lose and you might as well go take advantage of all the great places that the tournaments are.

32:33 Yeah.

32:33 All right.

32:34 This is Kelly from New Jersey. Did you guys ever sign up for a tournament just because your friends were playing there? Also, what is it like backstage with the ATP and WTA at mixed tournaments? Is there ever an awkward energy at a tournament if two players dating has just broken up? We're in the same players lounge.

32:48 Ooh, juicy. Stevie, go ahead.

32:51 That is juicy. Yeah, there's, yeah. I mean, more so on the, I guess we all tried to play the same events. If there was like outside the States, like you'd play like Leon or, you know, Beijing or Tokyo, just so you can like have somebody to hang out with and like, you know, to be, but, I'll remember, I think it was 2013 or 14, Sam. It was one of the last years of Nice. You remember this?

33:12 And they had that competing event in Dusseldorf. You were like right on the borderline. You weren't having a great year. You got into Dusseldorf on like a Friday night and we're all in Nice and they're like, hey, like, do you want to come? You're in the main draw. And you're like, no, thanks. I'd rather play Qualis here in Nice.

33:29 So you stayed in Nice. You played qualifying instead of being in the main draw of Dusseldorf. You ended up losing in qualifying. Long story, you then get into the second round for Monfils because he pulled out.

33:39 I remember that.

33:40 And, you know, but Sam just goes, no, I don't want to fly to Dusseldorf by myself. Like, my friends are here. Like, I'm going to stay by qualifying instead. I was like, this guy's out of his mind.

33:49 No, that's not crazy. That's not crazy. I'm already in Nice.

33:52 Yeah, but you're going to take an hour flight to Dusseldorf or whatever?

33:55 It's a 250, though.

33:56 It's not like a master series. Yeah, but qualifying stinks, dude.

34:01 He was into the second round. He was the same thing as the.

34:04 Top four seed.

34:05 He goes classic quote. I remember I'm playing team first round that year and he looks to CB and he goes, I'll see you guys in the second round. Cause he had, you know, and I ended up losing first round. I'm like, no, I won't.

34:16 You know, it is like sometimes yes, players do that. You know, from if you have buddies and there's a tournament in Basel and Vienna the same week, you might be like, Hey, are you guys playing to play Vienna or Basel?

34:28 Basel. I'll go to Basel too.

34:30 Sydney and Auckland is game of the year.

34:31 Sometimes you do it, sometimes you don't. Yeah, especially when it's not in your country. You're kind of like, oh, I'd rather be with my friends if all things are equal. All right, this one's from Francisco.

34:43 Cerundolo, maybe?

34:45 From Buenos Aires. We're going to assume this is Francisco Cerundolo writing us in.

34:49 Hey, guys.

34:50 Big fan from Argentina. I have a personal two-part question. Everyone has dreams, but pro athletes have more realistic aspirations. I doubt even Djokovic will ever feel truly fulfilled, so bear with me. When you were competing, what did you think kept you from reaching higher highs? And looking back, has that perspective changed at all, given that the hindsight is 20-20? For example, Stevie might have felt his backhand was holding him back back then, but now feels it was more about the mental pressure of being such a high achiever in college.

35:22 Good question. Yeah, that's not Francisco Cerundola.

35:25 That can't be Cerundola. Maybe he was also– he played for the Gamecocks. He's a college guy.

35:29 How do you know it's not Francisco Cerundola?

35:30 He played for the Gamecocks.

35:31 It probably is Francisco Cerundola. Let's assume it's Francisco Cerundola. Thank you for writing in. Great question. No, look. This is heavy.

35:42 It's– It's tricky. No, like you always just try and get better. I mean, that's, I mean, every athlete just tries to get better at their sport, I think until the day they stop. And, um, I think for me, yeah, like I worked on my, I mean, I've practiced with Sam for 15 years. Like I bet, you know, Sam can attest, like I tried and worked on my backhand for hours a day, every day forever for, I promise you there were some mental issues there.

36:06 Probably.

36:07 I probably had some scar tissue. My slice was really good, whatever, but it's something I worked on every day. And I think, you know, I was able to compete and win those matches in college more so than the pros, just, you know, to that level because the level is just that much better. You know, it's a little bit better. These guys are just, there's no holes, right? Like I can get through a guy playing number one for UCLA because I can just out-tough him. Hard to get through, you know, Querrey or Isner or Almagro if you want to go back to the day, like with, you know, not your best stuff.

36:36 These guys are damn good at tennis. And, you know, I'm not even talking the Rafa Rodgers, Novaks, right? Like the second tier guys. They're hard to get through with kind of a tricky side that doesn't work so well.

36:48 Before you answer, John, also when Francisco Ceruno puts in here, I doubt even Djokovic will ever be truly fulfilled. I feel like Djokovic will be fulfilled when it's all said and done.

36:58 If he's not, man.

36:58 I don't necessarily agree with that line. John, what do you say to that?

37:02 I think he will be.

37:03 Oh, this is unbelievable. You're such a tummy. No, a white scramble.

37:10 I'm logging off. I can't deal with this.

37:12 I don't ask for it. She's plumping me up.

37:15 What is that thing on the side of it?

37:18 This thing? Yeah. You know what?

37:20 This is a piece of cornbread that she made like eight days ago. She's trying to fool me by flipping it over to think it's fresh cornbread.

37:32 I think Djokovic will be because I think he's done everything his way, right? Even when he did all the COVID madness, right? I don't think he's losing sleep by the fact that he missed four or five slams, whatever the number was, right? Because he did it his way. So Djokovic, I think the answer is he's... If anyone is pro athletes that achieve a high level like all of us did, but Djokovic, of course, is in another stratosphere, like we do turn over every stone to, you know, to, you know, to try to make the most out of our careers, but Djokovic for sure.

38:07 I don't think he'll have any, any regrets. I don't know.

38:13 I think, I think for all of us, we had some stuff that would like hold us back and maybe Stevie, your backhand, maybe me was my, my return and my movement. Like when it gets down to it, like those, it can expose themselves like deeper in a tournament or in a, pressure situation i think for me it certainly did throughout the course of my.

38:30 Career yeah and everyone's going to answer that question differently like when it comes to like the mental side of things like stevie did your backhand struggle at times because like mentally you weren't there like obviously not like your mentality was great but the tough question from francisco but we thank francisco sarundalo for chiming in and we're happy that he's a listener.

38:51 Best of luck to him in shanghai yes and best luck.

38:54 The bad brother as well We got one more. We got life advice here. Mark from Orlando. Playing doubles with a guy at my club who I hadn't played with before. He goes in for a sliding drop shot, completely messes it up, and ends up lying flat on his back.

39:08 He's just lying there laughing.

39:10 But we're all initially stood there in shock because he didn't realize his shorts underwear had ridden up and he accidentally exposed himself. Eventually, we all start laughing, but I don't think he realized what we're laughing at. He just gets up, completely styles it out like nothing happened. and then acts like a tool for the rest of the match, which made the whole thing really awkward. Anyway, he's now asking to play doubles with me, and I don't really want to. And he's asked why.

39:32 I obviously don't know whether to tell him what happened or just make up some excuse. I play doubles with him. I don't... Yeah, come on, man. Come on, Mark from Orlando.

39:42 Yeah, it's like I was giving it his all out there.

39:45 Yeah.

39:46 It happens, right?

39:47 Well, I mean.

39:48 I've never exposed myself.

39:49 I don't think I have, but on the court like that, but yeah, it happens. Like credit for him for going for a sliding drop shot.

39:56 He's laying it all on the line.

39:58 I like that.

39:59 Risking life and limb out there. You want that guy on your side of the net.

40:04 You 100% do. So we, I think we're all in agreement. This feels like a three for three, like play doubles with the guy.

40:10 Unless he's just a really bad tennis player, then you don't need to play with him. But if he's good, you play with him.

40:15 Agreed.

40:16 Agreed.

40:16 100%.

40:19 Seriously wouldn't you eat a raspberry um i did yeah big raspberry guy i feel like two to three hundred raspberries a week i don't.

40:28 Like raspberries i mean i like them to taste but you can't they get.

40:32 Too soggy how do you there's a quick shelf life exactly extremely quick shelf life.

40:37 We'll get them at the supermarket and then like i eat the whole pack but do you wash them do you rinse them yes most 80 of the time but they get right from the Well, you've got to rinse them and you've got to lay them out to dry for hours and hours and hours. And then you put them in Tupperware with a paper towel on the bottom.

40:53 But even still, you make a great point. They can get soggy.

40:56 Yeah.

40:57 Sam's the guy that goes to the store and just starts eating grapes and raspberries out of the loose ones.

41:01 We got some incredible grapes yesterday. Like the best grapes I've ever had.

41:05 But you probably have good raspberries out there as well.

41:07 Good raspberries. Good raspberries, yeah. All right. That's it, guys.

41:11 That's the Thursday show. We'll be back Monday. We'll be mid-Shanghai. We're back to the beautiful extended master series that.

41:18 We all love.

41:19 So we'll be back to cover the round of 32 and that on Monday, which I know everyone's looking forward to.

41:24 See you on Burgundy next week.

41:26 Like and subscribe. And we'll see you guys then. Nothing made you. Nothing.

41:53 Nothing made you.

41:58 Nothing. Nothing made you.