Aus Open Day 10 - What happened to Coco Gauff?

32:56He's got to pull the trigger. He's got to go for it. And maybe there's a little bit of the Alex Dimonor about the way he'll view it. I may as well just roll the dice because playing within myself isn't going to get it done against this guy. That's it. I think that is the question ahead of that semi-final. Can Zverev actually, in practice be a bit more aggressive and not resort to standing several feet behind the baseline and doing the stuff that can get him through rounds at majors but will not beat an Alcaraz or a Sinner or a Djokovic he has to impose himself and there have just been very few occasions over his career where he's actually been able to do that in the very biggest matches against his biggest rivals um and the serve will if he serves like that he'll have the foundation to do it because he will get the balls that he can that he can attack um but i don't know i'm not convinced that he that he will i think it's when you're under the highest pressure that you're most likely to revert to type right and there is no there's no higher pressure than Alcoraz or Sinner.

34:16But it'll be interesting. If he can serve like that, we might get some jeopardy. Yeah, I think that's... Yeah, I do think so. Yeah. OK, well, that'll be the day session match on Friday, right? Guaranteed to be scheduled that way because this side of the draw, get the extra day off relative to the side of the draw that we'll play tomorrow. We'll look ahead to that order of play in part three. And in part two, we're going to talk about a huge upset and a shocking result for Coco Gauff. But first, of course, a word from our wonderful sponsors of this and every podcast throughout the Australian Open.

34:53It is, of course, celebrating their 50th anniversary year, Steve Fergal's International Tennis Tours. The premium hospitality and experience provider. and who's with me an official ticket and travel package provider of roll on garros 2026 i reckon if we write it down we can do it it's in the agenda every day oh yeah guys every day i could do it in my sleep i don't need it in the agenda

35:25some people like that reference david i did um will steve fergal who can say what i do know about Steve though is that he offers tennis fans a trusted way to experience one of the sports most iconic tournaments in Paris in the springtime it's wonderful it's a bucket list thing to do we cannot recommend the French Open highly enough and tennis podcast listeners can save 10 % on Roland Garros ticket packages with Steve Fergels meaning you get to do it the official way with full peace of mind and you can just get tickets you can also add on premium hospitality options you can do it whichever way you want and you can do it with a 10 discount just go to toursfortennis.com forward slash podcast that's tours the number four tennis.com forward slash podcast and use the code paris10 for 10 off welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast where it's now close to 1am and the leaf blowers are out you know it's a late pod when there's leaf blower sound effects in the background so apologies for that uh it feels a long time ago doesn't it that Coco Goff was out there losing 6-1 6-2 in 58 minutes to Alina Svitolina who was awesome tonight and will be given her flowers but this was an alarming shocking defeat for Coco Goff was it not?

36:55oh I know that we're always on a bit of alert for what Coco Goff might show up you know we talked about it at the United Cup that was in the same tournament we had the Boutas Monero performance and the Igor Svantec performance that inconsistency is there a poorer performance does, you know, feel around the corner sometimes. But I did not expect this. I mean, she could not really play today. Like, it was that bad. She actually started OK. She did get broken in the first game, and the serve was a bit of an issue from the start. But she broke back in the next game, and there was a 26-shot rally, and she was looking pretty secure from the baseline.

37:49And, you know, I thought we were going to be in for, OK, maybe one of those days where she's not at her best, but where she's able to dig in and fight and scrap and maybe up her level as the match went on and cause her opponent to malfunction. I thought we were going to be in for the full Coco Goff experience after those first couple of games. And I was excited about it. I thought, OK, this is going to be our close match because these two are looking evenly matched in the first couple of games. But then it... Life really does come at you fast. It went so wrong. And so quickly. So quickly. It was just over.

38:30It was over. It was within a flash. It was 1-6, love 3 for Coco Goff. And she won 10 % of points behind her second serve in that opening set. She hit two winners and 14 unforced errors in that opening set. She finished with three winners and 26 unforced errors. Like, she was so bad today. Like, had no feel off either wing. The backhand was bad. The forehand was bad. She actually, in the second set, just totally started rolling her serve in. So to avoid hitting second serve. So it meant that, OK, she wasn't double faulting, but her serve was not a weapon at all. It was just a point starter. And this is someone whose serve, OK, has never been the most consistent shot, but it has at points in her career been a weapon for her.

39:26But right now she was just having to resort to get it in. And her team were telling her to literally just hit down the middle of the court because anything else was a danger of making an error. She was under pressure from Svitolina, who I think absolutely sensed her opportunity and her chance and played really well and aggressive and with real intensity. And that made it extra hard for Coco Gauff as well. But honestly, it was a disaster. And what started out as just a couple of issues on the serve in the early couple of games, as Chanda Rubin said in the commentary, seeped into the rest of her game, and it was a horror show.

40:14It was so tough to watch. I couldn't believe how flat she was. That was extremely strange to me for the game's ultimate competitor in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. I found that really bizarre. she was very distracted by not having the right string tension available. You know, she, just like everybody does, comes onto court with this enormous racket bag full of rackets strung at all different tensions. Well, she didn't have any of the tensions that she wanted out there. I don't know whether that's someone messing up. I don't know whether that's an oversight. I just don't. You should have talked it down in the presser, didn't she, in terms of it being a potential mistake from anyone in the team.

41:01Yeah, she was keen to sort of defend herself, really, that she hadn't misjudged anything, albeit the conditions are a little different because she wasn't used to playing... It was her first night session match, wasn't it? And it was under the roof. Under the roof, so it is different. But, I mean, the gist of it was she was just trying something. She wanted... It wasn't working the way it was going, so she sent some off to try to get some other options um but the main thing that came out of the press conference was that she just didn't understand what had happened and why and she needs to get to the bottom of it um because we're so used to her being this incredible problem solver and somebody who digs in and and she referenced that united cup match and it's happened here again and she just didn't have any answers and and i think as the match was going on the body language which I saw was, I can't play.

41:56I can't play. I don't know what to do. And it must be a horrible, horrible feeling. Imagine the thing you're best at in the world you suddenly can't do when you need to do it most. What a horrible feeling. You could see how scrambled her eggs were by the second. I mean, well, you could see it by about the second game, but it compounded, didn't it? It got worse and worse and worse. and there was one of the weirdest shots I've ever seen from Coco Goff midway through that second set. So weird. Like, I'm still a bit stunned, actually, at what happened. Describe. Svitolina hit a ball that hit the net cord and it was one of those net cords that wasn't a dead net cord but also didn't sit up.

42:46It was right in that region where suddenly Goff was having to sprint after it to try and track it down and with her foot speed it was very possible that she could track it down and she set off for it as she normally would and within a couple of feet from the ball she switched her racket from her right hand to her left hand and tried to play it left-handed and dumped it straight into the net it was completely inexplicable i have absolutely no idea why you would try to play that shot left-handed rather than just hit a little bunt on the backhand side like she did the hard bit she got there yeah and then try to hit it with her wrong hand like it it was it was bizarre and as you say totally illustrative i think of the of the just scrambled nature of her mind and brain at that time.

43:46I thought she did a really great job, Svitolina, and not only, as you say, playing a very tight game from the baseline and keeping up her intensity really well. And that's not easy to do when there's something weird happening down the other end of the court, which is creating an uneasy feeling in the crowd. The vibes were odd, and yet Alina Svitolina just created her own little vibe bubble, which I think must be very difficult to do. But what she also did was play quickly to really emphasise that feeling of it just being a runaway train for Coco Golf going in the wrong direction. I thought that was very clever from Svitolina.

44:28Yes, I agree. And she found, I think they said, about an extra eight or nine kilometres per hour on her forehand today compared to the rest of the tournament. Just that constant feeling of trying to rush Coco Goff, I think, was present in the way she was playing and how she was going about her game. Don't give Coco Goff a second to get out of this because Coco Goff is the one player who I was watching that match thinking, well, she's got no game. Surely she's going to lose this. But there was something in the back of my mind saying, well, if anyone can turn this around and if anyone can win from here, it is Coco Goff.

45:08and I'm sure her opponents feel that too and I'm sure Svitolina must have been aware of that and Koko Goff did hold in that second set, finally. And then the next service game, you just felt like there was a little bit of pressure there for Svitolina because, you know, Koko Goff had been playing so badly and yet there was only one break in the second set at that point. If Goff broke back, suddenly you're back on serve and does Svitolina start doubting? but she just didn't allow Coco Goff to find her game. I do think the overall take on this match was Coco Goff's performance, but as she said, it doesn't happen in isolation.

45:53You are, you know, your form is caused by your opponent, and Svitolina did play well, as she has done all tournament and all year, and she does deserve a lot of credit for that. She had a very violent racket smash backstage. Coco Gauff, seven smashes of her racket, taking out that frustration and something she was asked about in press because it was caught on camera. They've got these CCTV-style cameras everywhere here and they throw up brilliant content. I'm lapping up these clips online but I also have in the back of my mind Like, I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy this. Like, is this OK? I am going to enjoy it if I'm being given it, but not entirely sure this is OK.

46:42And Coco Goff did say, like, I thought I was somewhere without cameras. I tried to get somewhere without cameras. Like, it was a controlled thing. Like, I wanted to take out some frustration. I wanted to do it away from prying eyes so that I didn't take it out on my team. And it was shown live on TV. and we saw it with Sabalenka, didn't we, after the US Open final when Coco Gauff beat her. And it, again, like, that's a fascinating insight for us into where Coco Gauff was. And it's a picture that paints a real story, but I think we probably shouldn't have been allowed to see that. And it does feel intrusive.

47:24She really was not happy about that at all in that press conference. In fact, I've been in a lot of press conferences with Coco Gough when she's lost tough matches and she's often been emotional, tearful. This one, she was hugely frustrated and pretty angry, I think, with her performance and desperate to find out what happened. But actually, the thing she was most steely about was wanting to complain or at least have a conversation with the tournament about this surveillance and this feeling that the only place she's going to be able to go to have any privacy whatsoever is the locker room. I sort of, I mean, I do sympathise.

48:13I do sympathise. And I do think there is a big question mark over whether this is a bit too much. I would say though that I think everybody knows this is the deal so you you better make sure I think is the other argument maybe it just needs to be accepted because it is creating such great content it is creating insight and if you want to maybe you just can't do it, maybe you've got to go to the locker room maybe you've got to go back to your hotel maybe I'm being unfair and I'm sure if I was her I'd be angry and frustrated too but

48:56I'm not sure you can put it the toothpaste back in now yeah I thought she gave a great answer about why she smashed the racket I mean that was that was really powerful hearing her talk about how she knows that she it feels emotional in those moments and the last thing she wants to do is have an outburst at her team. And I'm sure that was why she wanted to get the racket smash done, get it out before she went back to the locker room and the privacy of the locker room where her team likely would have been. Because she said, I was trying my best out there. They're trying their best for me. Everyone is putting in a lot of work.

49:37No one deserves to be shouted at or have anger taken out on them after a moment like that. And she said, so I knew that the best thing to do was actually smash the racket, get it out of my system and then go and see my team. So I thought that was incredible perspective and tells you a lot about Coco Gauff as a person, I think, and how much she respects the people around her. but yeah I very much see the dilemma here in terms of the surveillance in terms of content versus player privacy maybe there needs to be a private racket smashing area yes imagine that you just go in and just close the door if that happens before the media sleeping area that I've been pushing for many years I will be soundproof room where they can go in and just go ah can i go in there and scream on days when there are only crap matches daily daily visit uh on switalina she's she's the most amazing story isn't she i mean this is her first australian open semi-final it's her fourth major semi-final overall her second since maternity leave after that one at Wimbledon a while ago.

51:04She only got an incredibly abbreviated on-court interview after this match. Two questions. Two really nice questions. It was well done. And, you know, it's not Yelena Dokic's fault who was doing the interview. There was clearly a pressure to get that done quickly because the headline, the main show, Alex de Menor against Carlos Alcaraz was waiting to come onto the stage and look I understand that and I know how TV works trust me and I know an Australian is always going to be the headline act but this stuff matters now more than ever how viral, I haven't even looked online but how viral is the clip of Carlos Alcaraz doing his racket trick demo with Jim Currier going to go online.

51:55That's going to be amazing for our crowds and for the Australian Open and for men's tennis. Alina Svitolina and the WTA was denied any opportunity to have that kind of exposure this evening. And that makes me really sad. She earned that and she's been denied it and it shouldn't be allowed to happen. no and when I considered that the match lasted what 58 minutes I mean okay if it had been three hours and Alcraz and Dimonor are trying to get on for court at 10 o 'clock for a best of five set match I would get it but this was 58 minutes ask her four questions for god's sake do a proper interview it's not going to hurt you so Svitolina against Arena Sabalenka is going to be the semi-final in a couple of days time that because arena sabalenka in the first match of the day this really does feel a long time ago beat ivy jovic 6-3 6-love and we'll watch this one together at at the flat because it was too hot to be anywhere but uh the flat um and look my take on it was that three games feels really harsh for ivy jovic but entirely fair for arena Sabalenka.

53:19Yeah I think that's a good way of putting it that that opening set felt closer than 6-3 to me I think it was pushing an hour in in length it's just on its own that that first set and I thought Jovic played really well I thought she did quite a good job actually of of handling the Sabalenka game at times certainly it felt like she was able to handle it from the off better than Mboko had the previous round, another teenager. You know, I think she's just a bit more stable off both wings, Jovic. And she kept it pretty close. She saved a set point with a forehand on the run. She had breakback points.

54:03You know, it was a good set. It was really entertaining. But Sabalenka was awesome in it and even better, I think, in the second set. Like her ratio of winners to unforced errors was remarkable. And in the end, she just totally overwhelmed Jovic in the match as a whole. And Jovic didn't quite have what Mboko had at the end of that match, which was the ability to actually hurt Sabalenka. She's still developing her game, as you would expect. But yeah, Sabalenka was, well, kind of in that flow state, really, that she was in in the previous round. and she started it today. There were great drop shots.

54:49There were slices to negate some of Jovic's nice moments. And then there was just the overwhelming blistering power as well. It was so good. And yeah, I was really watching that thinking, well, this is the tennis to beat. Someone is going to have to go some to beat Irina Sabalenka here. We've talked about it. before but her record in Australia and I mean here but also in the lead-in tournaments as well is incredible and it has taken Madison Keyes and Elena Rabatkin in Brisbane playing pretty much out of their minds to be able to beat her in these conditions in the last few years and she's just laying down the level that everyone else in this tournament is going to have to to try and match and and even new alina svitalina post maternity leaves svitalina this incredible aggressive force that she's rebanded but rebranded into that is not a madison keys or an alina rabatkin like she just doesn't have the type of game to hurt sabalenka like that it's a 5-1 head-to-head for sabalenka she has typically played her tough svitalina a lot of those have been tight sets or three setters.

56:11The one victory for Svitolina was in Strasbourg back in 2020. I'd be surprised if this was a beatdown like we saw today, but I would also be surprised if San Belenco doesn't win. Yeah, 6-3, 7-5, the most recent one. And then it was 7-5, 6-2 on a hard court in Cincinnati. The one really close one was the Italian Open in Rome, 7-6 in the third for Sabalenka. That's a year and a half ago. So there's been close sets, as you say, in all of them. And I was in Svisalina's press conference. She's aware of what she's up against. She's not deluding herself about how hard this is going to be. But she's also, I asked her whether she thought she's a better player now than the one that won the WTA finals sort of seven years, six, seven years ago.

57:07And she gave a long answer about how that player has led to this player. And there has been a clear movement of trying to be aggressive. And it's been successful. I think the problem is it still ends up on Sabalenka's racket. I think Svitolina could play really well and hit the shots and still not win. That's the tough thing. And we've seen that. Well, we've seen that a lot today. And I mean, there have been occasions where matches are on Irina Sabalenka's racket and that ends up being a very stressful experience for her down the stretch at majors. Now, a lot of the time, those occasions have been against Coco Goff.

57:55And it's one of the fascinations of tennis that Alina Svitolina can beat Coco Gauff like that tonight, and yet I think it's good news for Rina Sabalenka that Coco Gauff has gone out. Like, I don't quite know how I reconcile those two things in my mind, but I do believe that. Yeah, like, I was thinking tonight, watching Coco Gauff, that if you just changed the rules and said, if this was around Robin, and Coco Gauff had put in that performance tonight against Svitolina and she was still coming back in two days' time to face Sabalenka, it wouldn't really affect what I saw tonight wouldn't really affect how I'd feel about her taking on Sabalenka in two days time.

58:37Yeah. But I do expect Svitolina to play well and I would be very surprised if there's not at least one tight set there. Problem is, tight set might mean a tie break. And we know how Sabalenka steps up in those. She's got the defences even for a tight set. like it's such a tall order interested to see what the crowd's like yeah and of course there's that you know there's that element for Svitolina 20 % higher win rate against Russians and Belarusians than versus all opponents since the war started so that will be a factor, I expect Svitolina to show up and have that look in her eye I just expect it not to be not to be enough.

59:30Matt's promising me Jeopardy again. You tease Matt. Where's that coming from? Well he promised me one tight set one tight set that's what counts for Jeopardy at the 2026 Australian Open. Hang on, sir, I promise I predicted I'm holding you to it Folks, do you know what never disappoints? Sensation of the day Sensation of the day and it's a good one today. We'll see you in part three Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast, where we have a few contenders for Sensation of the Day. Well, in fact, what we have is some runners-up. We have Olivia Gadecki and John Pears, who beat Aleksandr Krunic and Matej Pavic in straight sets, the fifth seeds, to reach the semis of the mixed doubles.

1:00:14Well done, Gadecki and Pears. They've already won Sensation of the Day, and they continue in the tournament, so they will have another chance. So they get a little runners-up rosette, as do Jason Kubler and Mark Polman's yesterday's Sensations of the Day winners. They've won again today. They beat the 12-seeded French team to reach the men's doubles semifinals. But I'm afraid for Olivier Gadecki, John Pears, Jason Kubler and Mark Polman's sensation of the day was sewn up at 12.21 when a DM slid in from, if you'll remember a couple of days ago, the iconic Fred.

1:00:58Fred. I love Fred. I'm obsessed with Fred. Fred says, he said, thank you for championing my cause for Friday's sensation of the day, but the correct decision was made. He's okay with not having won it on Friday. But he's made another, he's taken another big swing, David. And he has sent a BWS, which is an Australian brand of, they call them bottle shops here, don't they? Beer, wine and spirits, it's called. He has sent us a gift card for BWS. And I'm afraid it doesn't matter how hard you give me that look. Fred is winning sensation of the day. have we stopped doing it as a combined decision well if we are it's 2-1 because I'm voting for Fred as well I don't drink they do non-alcoholic beer at BWS and you can support our joy I was keen to make the claim for the lovely woman who gave me three dinners today but no no it's Fred It's Fred.

1:02:12It's Fred. It's a slam dunk for Fred. I thought Gadecki, but you know. No, it's Fred. We love you, Fred. Tomorrow's order of play. Day 11 at the Australian Open. All the singles action on the Rod Laver Arena from 11.30am. Elena Rabakina against Igor Svjantek. Big, and look, we always get this because the women have to come back and play the next day. But it's a big get the women out of the way flavour. and it'll annoy me, but anyway, I'm not going to let it get in the way of how pumped I am about these matches. Rabakina against Svantec, followed by, not before 1pm, Pagula against Anisimova. It's a big day for Matt.

1:02:55He's got to get shorts for the one-point slam as well. Hold on, when's that got to be fitted into the shirt shop? I know, but it feels quite important. Matt doesn't have any tennis shorts. I forgot my tennis shorts on this. I've just been wearing sort of other shorts that aren't specifically tennis shorts you're not allowed to enter otherwise no but it's like when I win I need to look good I need to be pleased with my outfit New Balance Wilson Nike, no not Nike New Balance, Wilson Adidas, this is a come and get me plea to kit out the bottom half of Matt Roberts for the media one-point slam on Thursday.

1:03:39There might be a sensation of the day option up for grabs. Yes, absolutely. Very good. Yeah, absolutely. Night session tomorrow is Mazzetti. Sorry, not night session. There's a not before 2.30. So the third day session match is Lorenzo Mazzetti against Novak Djokovic. And then the night session is Ben Shelton against Yannick Sinner, followed by potential sensations of the day, Talia Gibson and Kim Birrell taking on Ina Shibahara and Vera Zvonareva in the year 2026. That's a women's doubles quarterfinal. Do we foresee any upsets tomorrow? Upsets would be Rabakina. Well, she's the favourite, Rabakina.

1:04:25And that... I don't buy that. That took my interest for the newsletter predictions, which you can sign up to. She's not my favourite. No, I don't think she's mine either. But, I mean, look, it would be an upset. It's not an upset, wouldn't it? She's playing bloody well. Pagula.

1:04:52Who do you think is going to win out of Svantec and Rebecca? You two. I'm going to go Svantec. Svantec. And I'm going to go Inesimova. but I'm going to get those two as well Muzetti would be the upset in the Muzetti-Djokovic match no that's not happening I've got a little feeling about that which might be silly but it's silly isn't it you're grinning like Carlos Alcaraz when he said but it's close you're about to back Lorenzo Muzetti against Novak Djokovic I certainly am in the newsletter Shelton Sinner Obviously, logically, I would go Djokovic. Sinner, yeah, I think. The second court tomorrow is all doubles, quarterfinals.

1:05:39You've got men's, women's mixed as well. Kia is a mixture of lots of different wheelchair events. You've got quad wheelchair singles, women's wheelchair singles, men's wheelchair singles. Alfie Hewitt, the top seed in the men's, is in action. Sam Schroeder in the quad, Yuikimiji the top seed in the women's Takedo Oda is last on the Kia Arena Is he not the top seed? He's the second seed behind Alfa Hewitt but I'd imagine the favourite we'll check on that based on recent times and then you've also got the quad wheelchair doubles and the men's wheelchair doubles and I think the women's wheelchair doubles all starting tomorrow there's legends if if marcos bagdatis and tommy haas taking on layton hewitt and pat rafter is what floats your boat then that's happening tomorrow as well and we'll be back at the end of all of it with another tennis podcast and with news of matt shorts situation we have an update from lovely mascot gus gus gus says while the tennis podcast crew is soaking up the sun in Melbourne.

1:06:55Upstate New York is buried under snow and no one is happier about it than Gus. No matter how cold it gets, minus five degrees at the time of writing, Gus is constantly requesting access to the outdoors. Once released, events unfold in a very predictable order. Her snout is immediately plunged into the nearest patch of snow for a good sniff. The rest of her body soon follows in dramatic sliding motion as if she's trying to wriggle into it. This then evolves into a full 360 degree roll so that she's simultaneously in under and entirely covered by snow what a maneuver uh she's wearing winter coats uh and she's very very happy in the snow covered photo of her that i am looking at uh renee says mum being australian means she has a natural aversion to quite this much winter but watching how much joy it brings gus has completely changed her appreciation of the colder months.

1:07:50There's a lesson in there somewhere. Embrace the season with enthusiasm and possibly a full-body snow roll. Words to live by, Renee. Thank you for that. Hello to Bodhi, to Maisie and to Roger, always embracing the season that they're in with enthusiasm. Hello to Greg, Chris and Jeff. I'm sure they're doing the same. Our executive producers and all-around top folks. Matt, let's have some shout-outs. we have Kristen Brockmeyer hello Kristen she is from Virginia USA and she says thank you for the joy you bring me oh Kristen oh that's extremely lovely Kristen I ain't got nothing oh have we got anything on Virginia this is Virginia Wade yeah well there you go yeah yeah it's virginia wade isn't it yeah christine please accept virginia wade at this late hour thank you very much we've also got blair patterson from manchester but originally from edinburgh hello blair hi blair and blair says he generally listens to the podcast when Now walking Colin, our five-year-old fox red Labrador.

1:09:13Oh, like Pippin, my parents' fox red lab puppy. Colin. That's a fun dog name. It is, isn't it? I got a lovely photo of Pippin earlier. She's getting big. She's doing a Roger. Excellent. But she's gorgeous. Tennis Blairs. Well, there's Blair Henley. Yeah, the most excellent on-court interviewer. Yeah, she's brilliant at it. superstar and rumour has it she's in the one point slam oh apparently she's quite good I've got problems I think she's a top seed can you get in the other half of the draw I've seen her play will there be seedings don't think so I'd be surprised this is my kind of draw yes we'll all be using wooden rackets if you have your say yes yeah Blair Henley let's go with that I can't think of any other tennis blares hope that's alright Blair and Colin like Colin Fleming.

1:10:09Yeah, he's also a top leg. Yeah. Thank you, Blair. And finally, we have Ali who is in Iran. Hello, Ali. Hi, Ali. Ali says, I fell in love with tennis because of Chrissie Everett, stood in awe of Monica Selesh and was utterly spellbound by Roger Federer. Yeah. Know how you feel, Ali. A lot of listeners will relate to that. Like Ali Nilly, the former umpire and supervisor on the ATB tour. I see him having lunch every day. Do you? Yeah. Do you not? I don't. No, I see John Blom every day. Yeah, we see a lot of the umpires. They all get their lunch in the media restaurant. They like a Red Bull, don't they, the umpires?

1:10:54They need it. Stay alert. I would just... Would you not just drop off in that seat? I would. No, I'd be so aware of the cameras on me, I think. You know what I'm like. I can't sit still. Yeah, I do think it's the job for you. Yeah, you would be a terrible umpire. Yeah. I would. Yeah. You could draft me into filling for toilet breaks. Well, you know, you do the rest of it. I think I could be an umpire. I'm quite good at sitting still for several hours at a time. Yeah, I think you would be good. I'd start wanting to do the dishes and stuff. You would, yeah. You'd get distracted. I just don't want to drink Red Bull.

1:11:34You don't have to. it looks they're right there knocking it back it looks an awful lot like you might have to Ali Blair and Kristen thank you ever so much for being friends of the Tennis Podcast you help us to be here covering this tournament at 1.26 in the morning with the sound of leaf blowers in the background and inexplicably inexplicably there's no leaves there's no leaves to blow but they're out there get on them well actually no I'd rather they stopped but anyway there's nowhere else we'd rather be and we're very grateful to all of our friends of the Tennis Podcast and the wonderful community that they have created so if you'd like to become a friend at the pod and join the fun then the link as always is in our show notes we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network and we will be back to speak to you tomorrow thanks for listening, we'll speak to you then