Canada - Who will take their chance with the big names out?

38:59It's just... It's been great tennis, actually, in Montreal this week, hasn't it? Like, these women have brought the drama. Massively. I was, you know, more hyped about Montreal than I was Toronto and that has played out, but actually it's been better than I thought it would be. there have been so many good matches. I think it's been the tournament of the year with the most comebacks from a set down, like already on the WTA Tour. We've had so many. And as you said, Kostiuk has provided a hefty percentage of them. And like when we were doing the live show on Thursday night, the chat was very, very distracted by the closing stages of Kostiuk-Casekina.

39:44I subsequently went back to watch those closing stages. and I understood why they were distracted. Kostiuk was winning points on the floor at one point. And she needed, you know, talk about players needing a week like this. You know, Rabatkin, as you said, she'd lost her last eight from a set down. She hadn't won from a set down since February, which speaks to that, as you said, that lack of resilience in these matches. But she had it against Jastremska. And Kostiuk had lost six matches in a row since Rome. She hadn't won a match since Rome. She'd been on a really tough run of form. But yeah, that tenacity has been back this week, even though she'd looked down and out in the first match against Vondrosheva.

40:28She's come through the match against Kessler. I watched quite a lot of that. Very, very windy conditions, a little double faults between them. But again, she found a way through. And, you know, you feel like Rebacan has got a big power advantage against Kostiuk in that match. But the way Kostiuk's competing right now, you wouldn't put anything past her. So it's been a really, really fun week in Montreal, as you say, and Kostiuk kind of right at the top of that. Epitomises that. Yeah, absolutely. Just before we move on, I would like to give a quick shout out to Aoi Ito. I'm not sure if you both watched her match against Jasmine Paolini.

41:10I know she went on to lose and this story is sort of long forgotten, didn't turn out to be that significant in how the tournament has played out. But Aoi Ito might be my story still of the tournament from Montreal. She's Laura Siegmund without the faff, guys. I love her. She's so great. oh yeah she's i mean she's quite a lot like sue wei she in terms of her unorthodox style i mean she she basically only hit slice forehands she she actually hit over a few more as the match went on again against paolini but honestly probably the most original game the most unorthodox game on on the tour right now she like doesn't look like an athlete at all like doesn't Her serve is Whittaker-esque.

42:05The technique on the serve is crazy. She doesn't bend her knees. She often just sort of stands still in the middle of points. She's got this kind of goofy game, this sliced forehand. And yet to make that work, as she has been doing more and more, she's got a lot of wins at like lower levels. She started to have wins on the WTA Tour as well this year. She's only 21. Right. She's young and she's... She's coming, guys. She's smart. She's tactically smart. She puts these players in positions they don't want to be. On match point, she sort of semi-sabred the Paolini serve. I think Tim Hedman would call it a crush and rush on the backhand and then knocked off a drop volley.

42:52There's going to be matches where she's going to get absolutely thrashed. She's barely going to win games against a lot of players, But there's going to be matches like the Paolini one where she's just emanating joy for the spectators and causing her opponents to just go mad because they can't beat this game that's in front of them, which is so unorthodox. Yeah, if you get a chance, watch Ito because you won't regret it. There'll be something you take away from that match. Like, wow, I've not seen that before. Yeah, really fun. Absolutely. and just a final footnote from Montreal the retirement of Jeanne Bouchard probably something David we wouldn't mention unless there had been a unless she'd been given this wild card and there had been the ceremony obviously she ended up winning a match and providing some really great drama and I'm sure Canada feel really good about the wild card they gave her but I do feel like this giving this trend of giving out retirement wildcards is proliferating and different people have different feelings.

44:04I'm not a fan. But, yeah, Jeannie Bouchard has retired. We were asked one of our questions in our Friends Q &A show last week was to describe Jeannie Bouchard's career in five words or fewer. and I struggled to even find five words to be honest like I stopped at weird what a weird career yeah yeah I do feel like her breakout wins I mean in the space of a year she reached a couple of grand slam semis and Wimbledon final in was it 2013 and and that was more than I was expecting really from her at the time and and yet because she'd done that that was exciting and then look she had her concussion at the US Open and I do think that that really put her back and other players I think did find her out I think she was a pretty one dimensional player really but I didn't like the way her career ended up just kind of disintegrating and it ended up as a pickleball career but I mean I know I don't like that I don't like that sport particularly and I didn't really like the way she sort of just didn't retire from tennis and then started that up so at least there's a full stop to it now and look, she meant stuff particularly to Canadian tennis that was a big year, it's 12 years ago now but yeah, I do think we're going to see more of this for sure, one tournament does it another tournament sees it and another player sees it and they think, oh, that would be a nice way to go out.

45:49So I suspect you're going to have to just get used to it. But taking a wild card just to say goodbye in a competitive event. Yeah. I mean, I get why you don't like it. I understand why not. Play an exhibition match. Play an exhibition. Put on a special exhibition and then have a ceremony after it. By all means, if you need the ceremony of a goodbye and you want it to be, you want it to involve forehands and backhands so it's reflective of the career that went before. That's harder to do. It's harder to put on an exhibition and get everybody to come. If you're her, you can just say, oh, well, they've already got an infrastructure and a massive crowd.

46:34I could just get a wild card from them and then I don't have to do anything. Sure, I don't blame her for accepting, well, I do a little bit blame her for accepting it because you are taking an opportunity away from somebody else. But, I mean, it's up to the... The tournaments are offering these wild cards. And a lot of it, I dare say a lot of them, particularly in Montreal, they're probably thinking, well, you know, Irina Sabalenka's pulled out. And on the men's side, you know, there's a lot of star quality missing because of the way these things have gone. She's a star. She's going to pack the place out.

47:09Yeah, I agree. And I guess fundamentally that brings me to the conclusion that I don't believe in wild cards. And I think this trend is just exposing that because they are anti-competitive. If you want to control who's in your draw, stage an exhibition.

47:30I understand. But happy retirement, Eugenie. And Vasek. We'll move on to Toronto in just a moment. Before we do, a bit of a PSA because the Tennis History Conference that you might have heard us talk about before is being held at Wimbledon this year on Tuesday the 9th of December. The topic, the sort of umbrella theme for this year's event is Trailblazers in Tennis, 50 years on from Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King winning Wimbledon singles in 1975. we're going to be there and we're going to be giving a presentation at the start of the day Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid will also be there and Hannah Wilkes is going to be there she's going to be giving a presentation as well as a couple of other Friends of the Tennis podcast which is really, really lovely we are thrilled that Hannah's proposal got accepted for one of the presentations I mean of course it did of course it did I'm sure it's absolutely brilliant.

48:38Tickets are on sale now. We will put the link to those tickets in our show notes and it'll be in the newsletter later this week. And I'll pop it on Instagram as well at the Tennis Podcast on Instagram. And yeah, if you want to subscribe to the newsletter, we'll put that link in our show notes and I'll pop that on Instagram as well. okay on to Toronto where the defending champion David had you also forgotten that Alexi Poparin was the defending champion in Canada validate me please no I hadn't but but I did take some some reminding um what's interesting about it is I I initially see all these withdrawals and I think why am I going to care about this tournament?

49:26You know, there's none of it. So many of the top players are not there. And then I get to the tournament and then these other players start becoming more relevant because, well, the other guys aren't there. The Sinner and Alkraz and Draper, et cetera, and Djokovic. And I end up thinking, oh, yeah, I'm actually quite enjoying these storylines now and the chance for them to get a bit of oxygen and them to be the headline makers. And actually, I'm quite into the fact that Popperin has managed to keep in the tournament. I think it's quite impressive that he's still there. And I think he's had one or two battles along the way.

50:04But it's quite difficult to back these things up. And he's not had a great year. So yes, I did have to kind of remind myself. But it was a hell of a run last year. And then, of course, he did the same last year. He backed it up and went and beat Novak Djokovic at the US Open. So that was pretty cool. But yeah, I have to kind of separate my, well, what does this mean anything? Kind of thoughts and actually just enjoy them in isolation and see these players kind of making names for themselves because the big names aren't there. It's tough, though, isn't it? Because it should automatically mean something because it's a 1000.

50:46so you're kind of having to treat it as not a 1000 and find meaning and fun elsewhere which, good on you but if I was that event I would be well, I would have issues with I'd be speaking to the ATP Yeah, well you said is it sustainable is what you guys were saying last week Yeah, I don't think it is I don't see how it can be because this isn't what they signed up for You know, the reason they are a 1 ,000 and there's nine of them is you're supposed to get commitments from the top players. And there they are. I mean, it was just inevitable, it felt like. I mean, like I said, my biggest surprise of the whole stretch is that Igor Fiontek ended up playing.

51:32But, look, the Grand Slams and the women's side are best of three sets. That helps on that score. but it was no surprise at all that our crowds and sinner pulled out and and you don't want to be feeling like that if you're a 1000 that for when are you next going to see the wimbledon finalists in your tournament i'm not sure you ever will and okay yeah i'm sure i'm sure they would say well we're getting the extra revenue of the extra few days but that that's a very short-termist view of it and will you continue to get extra revenue if sponsors start to pay less because it's less of an attractive event and the crowds show up less because they know they're not going to be seeing Carlos Alcaraz or Yannick Sinner Alexei Popperin mounting this title defence that he is is a cool story and we're tennis podcasters we're here to talk about it If you'd offered Toronto that story or an Alcaraz-Sinna final or even one of Alcaraz-Sinna or Djokovic or even Draper rocking up and playing, they'd be taking the not Alexi Poparin option, I'm afraid.

52:48Like this is damaging to that event for sure. And I do wonder what conversations might be taking place behind the scenes. But having said that, David is absolutely right, Matt, isn't he? that, well, we've probably been underestimating Alexey Poporin and his prospects of mounting this title defence. I think in particular in Canada, because it's not even the same place, is it? It's sort of the same tournament by name only. Like, it's not one of those things where, oh, you've walked back through the doors of the stadium onto the centre court and it's all come flooding back to you. It's like it's literally a completely different city, thousands of miles away.

53:28yeah when you hear players talk about you know their favorite tournament they'll often cite things like oh i go to the same restaurant all the time or i i sort of build up these these habits that that i do but you know as you said he's in a different city he can't he can't do those things he's going to have different feelings and yet he's he's kept it going he's actually never lost in in Canada. Last year was his first time playing the event and he won it. He's won three matches here. He's 9-0 at the Canadian Open. And it's been impressive. He is just perplexing, Alexey Popper, and he does seem to be a completely different player against top players in Masters his 1 ,000 events.

54:16He's won nine of his last 11 against the top 20 at this level. It's quite a niche career, isn't it? Very niche. Like, only Carlos Alcaraz can match that in terms of, like, wins against fellow top 20 players from their last 11 matches. It's kind of crazy. And yet, I kind of look at the two big headline wins that he's had, and, you know, like, I just think Zverev in the next round is going to be a much, much different test because Medvedev, I mean, literally left the court, didn't he, without his stuff, Medvedev. I don't know what headspace he was in. He just, he lost. Apparently he went straight out to the car.

54:56Just walked off, left all his stuff on the court. Like that was, that was not a guy who is locked in at the moment. And then Holger Runa, you know, can kind of lose to anyone. And I did, I did quite enjoy Runa's tweet about the match afterwards. He said, good things and bad things tonight. I need to step up. And I thought, okay, that's his assessment of the match. He said, go out and defend that title, Alexi. And look, winning two matches like that from losing positions when you're the defending champion, it's been an impressive run from Popper in and found that he's kept it going. But at this stage, I would still be quite surprised if he does go on to actually defend the title.

55:47Just on Medvedev, I know that this isn't new. This is the continuation of a trend which has been running all year. In fact, prior to this year, the decline of Daniel Medvedev has been a theme of the tennis podcast. Matt, you called it very, very early. But this does, I mean, And like, how are we worried about how low he might potentially go here? Like, I think we all called this decline is sort of him slipping out of the top 10 and failing to be, ceasing to be a staple at the year-end finals. But I'm now starting to worry about where the bottom of the barrel might be for Daniel Medvedev. What do you think, David?

56:34well you know there was a press conference not that long ago where he was asked about how long he wanted to keep playing you know whether he thought about i think probably because all this this discussion about how players retire and that sort of stuff you know i think it was paris yeah he got french open he looked very confused about why he was being asked this to me because well i suppose there's an element of what else would i be doing you know i'm i'm not old don't have to be retiring yet i'm not i'm not that bad you know um but he's nowhere near what what you would expect him to be what he used to be and he's he just just seemed to be going from tournament to tournament looking a bit nowhere but he also did say david in response to that question yes that was his that was sort of part one to he was like oh it's you know it's not that bad like not thinking about retirement but then he said oh but if you know if I dropped out of the top 50 then it would maybe be a different discussion well like that doesn't feel beyond the realms of possibility like what what level of 10 what level of tennis by ranking is he playing right now probably outside the world's top 50 and I think what I've been struck by is obviously like last year like the game just didn't look good you know the serve was a problem it wasn't impacting matches and obviously that's carried on but I think what what's also come in this year is a what what feels like a certain level of delusion in his press conferences I remember the one in in Paris where he kept talking about like he felt like he was playing really good tennis on on the clay and like it would it would maybe help him on the grass and and the other surfaces and I you know if he's genuinely feeling that, who am I to say that he's wrong?

58:32It just didn't feel like that was necessarily what the reality was. And then do you remember that press conference at Wimbledon where he kept going on about how everything was fine because he played well in Haller? And yet Haller was the exception. And I always felt like Medvedev knew who he was as a player and knew what he had to offer on the court. And he was a real maximizer. You know, I never would have thought Medvedev would have won a slam and got to world number one. He's done those things. In my mind, he has kind of overachieved. But equally, I didn't see the decline coming like this. And I think a lot of it has been physical.

59:09He's talked about that shoulder being a real issue and causing a lot of pain. And he wasn't always able to practice. And I think that was a big reason for his serve. But yeah, he's just in a really tricky place right now. And yeah, I would say he's still playing top 50 tennis. but he's a long way from playing top five tennis, which he was for several years. And he's much more vulnerable now to kind of lose to anyone. Like I always have Medvedev on upset alert and it's kind of becoming, is it even an upset anymore? And yeah, I think it's more likely that he continues this decline than it is he gets back to where he was.

59:58I really do think the peak Medvedev years have gone. I'd like to think that he can hopefully get back, be better than he's doing now. But it feels a long way back to where he was, especially with new players coming through compared to when he was at the top. Quarterfinals-wise in Toronto, we have Alexander Zverev, the top seed, against Alexi Poparin and Alex Mickelson against Karen Hashanov. Those are today's two quarterfinals and then tomorrow's two are Alex Domenor against Ben Shelton and Andrei Rublev against Taylor Fritz. David, same question to you that I asked about Montreal, your story of the week from Toronto, other than unexpected Alexi Poparin reaching the quarterfinals.

1:00:53Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I think probably it's the way the Americans just squeaked through these third set tie breaks last night. Fritz and Shelton and our sort of players that I'm expecting to, because they're the next group in line, particularly Fritz, of course. I'm always very interested who ends up winning these tournaments when Sinner and Al Kras are not there. I mean, Popperin, good luck to him. You know, he came out and he played big tennis and he won the thing last year. This should be Taylor Fritz or Alexander Zverev, shouldn't it? You know, one of these guys should be winning this tournament.

1:01:32There should be no question about it. They should be in the final. That should be it. And, yeah, I don't necessarily think that that is the case. I think sometimes, a little bit like how Popperin plays his best stuff against the other top or against the top players in the world, I sometimes feel as though say Fritz plays his best tennis when he's fourth seed you know and Sinner and our crowds are still there and he can just do it under the radar a little bit then you now you're putting expectation on him he's supposed to go do this and I'm interested to see whether he does I mean that was a really close match he had against Jurgen Hechke last night he he does he he's made a thing the last couple of years of winning those sort of matches and then you had Shelton who had this absolute knockdown drag out affair with Flavio Caballi where Caballi's 5-3 up in the deciding set.

1:02:24I mean, you know, he should have won that match and then they've had some aggro at the end as well and he's made some sort of gesture that he says I think is towards his team that Shelton thought initially was towards him and they had some words at the net and so 5-3 has ended up being Shelton winning it on a tie break And I just find I don't have a single player that I look at and think there's the story of the week. I just find the whole mix of these guys who ends up coming out on top is the story of the week for me. I want to know who's going to who's going to end up making hay in the absence of Alcaraz and Sina and Djokovic.

1:03:04And I'm not absolutely convinced it's going to be the ones who should do it. great answer David but I cannot believe you didn't say Dan Evans against Alejandro Davidovich Vakina why should I have said that oh because it's right in the aggro sweet spot isn't it it's petty it's silly someone does have a point Davidovich Vakina ended up winning at 11am which was a great like final act to the to the aggro episode um matt do you want to fill people in in case they're not across this i i really like uh hanver davidovich vikina i thought this was a crazy thing to be complaining about like and and he didn't just put out like a little tweet about it or an instagram post po-faced sort of essay.

1:04:04It was in English and in Spanish. Like he wanted everyone to know his point and his point was that he was the only match scheduled at 11am that day and he was staying an hour away from site so to start at 11am he was going to have to get up really early and I just kind of looked at that and I did think that strikes me as really unremarkable playing at 11am. Like people do that all the time. Someone else had played in that slot the day before. It wasn't like a one-off, total one-off, only him.

1:04:40And then Dan Evans pops up on Instagram a few hours later. I didn't even realise Dan Evans was on Instagram. I think he's got one of those. I thought that Dan Evo official account, it just smacked of not official. That's a management account, mainly I think designed to put the occasional thing up about his results and his sponsors to keep them happy I think I think he must have nicked the login because he got annoyed about somebody complaining about working for a living which always winds him up right and he and I can't remember his exact words it was basically wake up and play like people are going to work at eight o 'clock in the morning nine nine o 'clock in the morning like and it was get a grip wasn't it they've got longer commutes than you and they're earlier like what are you complaining about and I have to say as I said I really like Alaino Davidovich Fikina but I was totally with Evans here I thought like I thought he lost his mind a little bit there Davidovich Fikina like that was does happen I think that yeah I think I think the players have a lot of points when they complain about scheduling and all of that.

1:05:56And we're so often in agreement with what they're saying. But here, I was a bit like, get a grip. Come on. Yeah, well, he ended up winning that match, but lost. Well, no, weird retirement yesterday. I think it just sort of hitting the wall. Like sort of unspecified, nothing left to give reason for retirement against Andre Roblev. The internet seems confused about reasons for retirement as well. Matt, other than Evans against Davidovich Vakina, your story of the week from Toronto and the quarterfinal that you're most looking forward to? I think, well, definitely the match I'm most looking forward to is Shelton de Manor.

1:06:45That's the one that's popping off the screen for me. I was kind of expecting that to be the Washington final, actually, But then Alejandro Davidovic-Vikina played so well to beat a kind of flat Ben Shelton that night, a very erastruten performance from Shelton. And like David said, Shelton has been amazing in the latter stages of matches this week. He's won a couple of deciding set tie breaks, continued his head-to-head dominance over Brandon Nakashima. But I'm not sure he's playing necessarily his best stuff. He's sort of bringing it at the end, but he's been a bit vulnerable. and Dimenor's just had an odd week because he had to rush over from Washington and play a match reasonably early and then the sensation Christopher O 'Connell withdrew and in a week like this where you get days off anyway that meant that he ended up with three days off in the middle of the tournament and he said after his win over Tiafoe he really did find it hard he kind of switched off like it's just not normal to have that amount of time off in the middle of a tournament like this But I thought he really outplayed Tiafoe yesterday for two sets and yet found himself in a third set.

1:07:58So he had to battle through that one. And yeah, it's just I'm excited about the potential for the rallies in that match. They're both such good athletes in kind of different ways as well. You know, Shelton's obviously got that huge serve and he can kind of athletically win points. whereas Dimonor, he is just, I know it's not new, but he is so fast. There was a couple of points right at the end against Tiafo where he's just, no one else I don't think is getting those balls back. Maybe Alcaraz, maybe like peak Monfils, but he's in a group kind of on his own or maybe with one or two others, Dimonor, the way he uses his speed.

1:08:37And I think that could be a great kind of electric max shown against Dimonor. So that's the one that is jumping out for me for sure. Yeah, same. I'm looking forward to that. Karen Hashinov, of course, is popping up because, well, just because, reminding us that he exists. Alex Mickelson is popping up and bringing me some sweet, sweet points. I'm glad I weathered the natural surfaces rough patch with my man Alex because grass and clay were not good to us, but he's coming good again. he was puking against Lorenzo Mazzetti I don't know how he post puke Mickelson on my fantasy team Mazzetti really should have won that match but Mickelson did and then he backed it up by beating Lerner Tien and they're good friends aren't they Tien and Mickelson we learned that earlier in the year and yeah it's very open that match Mickelson-Hachanov I could make a case for either of them really yeah so the winner is Verov and Popper in to face the winner of Mikkelsen-Hashinov and the winner of Shelton-Dominor to face the winner of Fritz and Rublev.

1:09:49As I said, the finals of both these events are Thursday and we will be back with our Canada Rap Show on Friday. And that show, if you fancy joining us live, will be live on YouTube at 8pm UK time. That's it for part two. Join us in part three, where I will be poking the David bear about the US Open mixed doubles. Welcome back to part three of the Tennis Podcast, where there is just a spot of US Open news. We have the 14 of the 16 mixed doubles teams announced for the US Open, David. Again, announced via an Instagram post, which stated at the top of it, an official Grand Slam tournament, which is making me laugh every single time.

1:10:41The eight doubles teams that are getting direct entry via their combined singles rankings are Emi Navarro and Yannick Sinner, Paola Bedossa and Jack Draper, Iga Shontek and Kasper Rude, Elena Rabakno and Taylor Fritz, Amanda Anisimova and Holger Runa, Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev, Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul and Mira Andreva and Daniel Medvedev. We understand the combined ranking cutoff was something like 19 to get direct entry. Alex de Mino is campaigning on behalf of himself and Katie Bolter because they are not currently on the list because the teams receiving wild cards currently are Emera Adekanu and Carlos Alcaraz, Madison Keyes and Francis Tiafoe, Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic, Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, Venus Williams and Riley Apulka, and Sara Arani and Andrea Vavasori.

1:11:39Now, there are two more wildcards still to be awarded. And, of course, there are going to be withdrawals because this event starts the day after Cincinnati finishes because tennis. But as it stands at the moment, David, as you predicted, they have thrown a bone to the defending champions, Arani and Vavasori. but that is it in terms of doubles players at this doubles tournament. It's a no to Katarina Siniarkova and Marcelo Baravalo who pulled a real rock star move by entering as the two number ones. How do you feel about this, David? The thing is I'm simultaneously excited about seeing what it's like and seeing all these stars together playing mixed doubles but also just really miffed that it could have been so much better and so much more interesting if they'd have been up against some of the best doubles players in the world.

1:12:42I'd love to have seen that. I'd love to have seen Aravalo and Siniakova. They should be on that list. The world, you know, they should be there. And I mean, look, there might still be. There are still two wild cards still to come. Yet I think that there's probably a better chance of it being Serena Williams and somebody than it is to be them. I mean, I have no idea if Serena Williams actually wants to play in this tournament. But if she did, she'd be getting a wild card, 100%. And I mean, look, I'd want to see it. Of course I would. But I still feel no matter who they have the opportunity to give one of these things to, the very best doubles players in the world should be there.

1:13:24I think it is pretty disrespectful that those two are not being given a wild card when all these others are. And I understand reimagined. I understand the point. And look, it will sell out. And it will be amazing TV. And people will love it. And people will rightfully point the finger at me and say, well, were you interested in the mixed doubles before? Probably. No, I wasn't, really. but there's also no there's no need to go to those extremes you don't need to just prove your point to me on people and the doubles players by you can have somewhere in between it's fine and that's what they should have and they and i think it's a real shame that they don't both in terms of the format of scoring and in terms of the field matt anything to add i just can't stop thinking about Belinda Bencic taking a protected ranking to get into this event.

1:14:23To play fast four with Alexander Zverev. I think that's crazy. She's almost lost her place on the backhand list for that. Like, what are you doing? Yeah, Victorian Boko is not doing that, is she? You mentioned Serena there, David. I know this is pointless speculation, but she has been posting training videos on her socials wouldn't surprise me at all. It's suddenly not totally ludicrous to imagine that one of those wild cards is being held back for her, right? To play fast four over two days she could win it. It's not ludicrous at all. Absolutely. What's in it for her? I mean I don't know how much fun life is after tennis when you've been a superstar and everybody's been cheering your name for 20 years.

1:15:20I mean, if you get a chance to do a couple of days of Arthur Ashe Stadium and just be the centre of attention and just be able to compete and be up against players that you probably think, actually, I could still beat this lot. I think there's plenty in it for her if she actually feels like she could do herself justice. I don't think for a second she'd want to play if she didn't think she'd be good. Well, she's just watched her older sister win a singles match. Exactly. And Venus was asked about Serena making a comeback from those Instagram training videos in one of her press conferences in Washington.

1:16:00And she kind of says everything with a little glint in the eye, Venus. But she did say, I've got no news, but I'm sure if Serena's got news, she'll tell you. And I don't know, I did kind of think, maybe, maybe. David, would you rather see Serena or Sini Arcova get the wild card? There's two wild cards. Oh, so you want them both to fill the slots? OK, but if it was... If it were just one... If it were one, who do you want? That's not fair. That's not fair. I've got another question. They had seven wild cards, didn't they? Eight. Yeah, but who are they going to turn down? Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Radicani?

1:16:44Well, there are others, aren't there? It wasn't just them. Go through the list.

1:16:51Venus Williams and Riley Opelka. Well, I mean, I'm delighted to see Venus. Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton. Quite happy with that one. Madison Keyes and Francis Tiafoe. Quite happy with that one. Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic. Yeah, I get your point. And Sauron Rani and Andrea Vavasori, who you've campaigned pretty hard for. Yeah, look, it's difficult. It's difficult. I take your point. Okay, who will in this imaginary scenario where she's playing? One of those plus Serena, one of them have got to go to make room for Cinearchive. Yeah, who is it? I will get rid of

1:17:41Who am I going to get rid of? Do you want to hear your options again? Yes, please. This is like that scene from The Office, isn't it? Always the same. Always the same. Madison Keyes and Francis Tiafoe. Olga Danilovic and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. Emirati Karnou and Carlos Alcaraz. Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, Venus Williams and Riley Opelka, Sara Arani and Andrea Vavasori. And you have to get rid of both players in the partnership, David. Right. You can't just get rid of Riley Opelka. I'll drop Djokovic and Danilovic. I don't think Djokovic is that into this. He's not. He's not bothered.

1:18:24Hang on, if we're dropping people based on how bothered they are about it, I think that's a completely different thought experiment. Okay, final question in this highly speculative section of the pod that I am loving. Who will her partner be? Oh, a Brian. No, that's lame. That's lame. What? What's lame about it? Wouldn't you choose a Brian? I would. No, but the US Open wouldn't choose a Brian for her. I think she could play with anybody. She could play with Matt Roberts. Why would they choose a doubles player? They don't want doubles players. Yeah, but the Bryans aren't just any doubles players.

1:19:04They're American legends. The US Open loves the Bryans. Who would you choose for, Matt? I think if you're convincing Serena to play, you try and convince Federer to play. Would he do it, David? Is he missing? Is his post-retirement career sad enough that he might want a bit of this? Like I say, if he actually thinks he can not embarrass himself, I think he'd absolutely do a two-day thing playing fast four. Why not? One of the quite funny things about this is that they're missing the biggest star of all. Coco Gauff's not playing. Coco Gauff. And she's been consistent about that all year. She said at the start, I'm not going to play that because it's going to affect my preparation going into the actual US Open.

1:20:09I do wonder whether, you know, if she... Well, two questions, actually. If she goes out early in Cincinnati, might she reconsider? You know, she'll have a lot more time. Are they allowed to pick a wild card from a bunch of people who haven't entered. I don't actually know how that works. The thing is... You can do what you like if you can. I think they can, but they have picked people who've entered. Because of the schedule, there's going to be partner swapping, isn't there? Because let's say Emi Navarro reaches the final in Cincinnati and Yannick Sinner loses earlier in Cincinnati. they are not going to let a willing Yannick Sinner not be able to play just because Emma Navarro is unavailable.

1:20:58They are going to find someone for Yannick Sinner to go to the dance with. So there is going to be partner swapping here. So I think kind of, I think you're right, David, I think all bets are off and they'll find a way to make it all work. I mean, what if, David, we ditched Olga Danilovic and we got Serena in with Djokovic? Sure. That could happen, couldn't it? I mean, no offence, Olga. I mean, some offence, but yeah. OK, last bit of very important US Open news, which I simply have to put to David. Have you seen Game Set Matchmaker, David? You know, I did see something about it and then I just instantly thought, this is not for me.

1:21:51I don't want to do that. Oh, it's definitely not for you. Is it for anybody? Who is it for? I think is the real question. Would you like to hear? I'm going to read out details whether you'd like to hear them or not. Introducing Game Set Matchmaker, a bold new US Open YouTube series that follows one tennis savvy bachelorette. the champion, on her quest to find love, one match at a time. Over the course of eight episodes filmed during US Open fan week, will any of her seven matches be destined for a real-life doubles partner? The series will air during the tournament. And the first reply I've got, the first comment I've got showing up on my Instagram feed is Donna Vekic saying, wait, what?

1:22:38Crying laughing emoji. It's just about sums things up. I mean, who is this for? I'm partial to a naff, you know, turn your mind to mush dating show. And I'm also partial to tennis. And this is not for me. This makes me recoil in horror. I've seen what happened when you went to one point slam. It's true. I shouldn't rule out. Can you tell me, Matt, that you would be that surprised if Catherine turned this on just out of a bit of professional curiosity and was into it within about four minutes? Not even very professional curiosity. Just curiosity. Yeah, you're right. It's true, isn't it? No one has gone from zero to 100 harder than Catherine at the one-point slam, so anything is possible.

1:23:35It's true. I wouldn't judge you. I just observe it. I would judge me. I think I would keep it to myself. If internally I was enjoying Game Set Matchmaker, I think I'd keep it to myself. It just feels like, first of all, it feels very like 10 years ago. Like that was the crest of the Love Island, Love is Blind, well, maybe five years ago. But it just feels a bit late to be doing this. And it also just feels like, I don't know, It feels to me like boomers thinking they've nailed what Gen Z want. You know what I mean? Like boomers sitting around a table going, what do Gen Z want, guys? What are they into?

1:24:21Can I tell you what I want? A proper US Open draw. I didn't ask for this mixed singles. I didn't ask for this, whatever it is, matchmaker. just stream the draw and do it properly that is how to improve the fan week of the US Open can't wait for the moment the PDF lands in your inbox Matt and we get this rant all over again who's pumped for the US Open I am this time in two weeks we'll be on a flight or on two separate flights cannot wait folks we have two Two mascots for this episode. I think these are returning mascots. I think I know these guys. We have Snicker and Doodle. Snicker and Doodle owned by Amy Tarr.

1:25:16And they are Maltese Shih Tzu crosses, which apparently is called a Schmaltese, which is a name I'm very much here for. They're both seven years old. They're brother and sister and they live in New York City. They say when And we're not inside watching tennis or sci-fi with our humans. We love to go for walks in Central Park as long as it's not raining. We love watching children go around the carousel or finding a sunny spot high up on the schist rocks to observe all the action in the park. Fellow dogs, squirrels, birds and pedestrians scurrying in all directions. Well, Amy, that's exactly what I hope to be doing in a couple of weeks time, watching the world go by in Central Park for an hour or so.

1:26:00So I very much hope I bump into Snicker and Doodle while I'm doing so because they are incredible. And I really love the name Schmaltese. Love that. So thank you, Snicker and Doodle. And thank you, Amy. You'll be going in our newsletter and on our Instagram. And if you're watching us on YouTube, you're probably looking at their lovely faces. They look like they're friends to me. In a brother and sister kind of way. I'm sure they have their moments, but they look like they're friends to me. And of course, animals being friends is the best thing in the world. Hello to our mascots, of course. Hello, Phoebe.

1:26:37Hello, Maisie. And hello, Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Thank you to The Athletic. We are, of course, proudly part of The Athletic Podcast Network. And Matt, it is over to you for a very special shout out this week. Yes, that's right. um pam shriver got in touch with us uh to tell us about braun levy he was a loyola high school tennis and sports star all set to attend the university of virginia later this year um but in may of this year he was he was tragically killed by a drunk driver and it was just a a devastating loss for the southern california community tennis community and his family and his friends and pam described him to us as an outstanding young man and wrote in her tribute on twitter that he was a pillar and a gem the usta wrote that he was a passionate tennis player a devoted teammate and a loyal friend and born's lasting impact wasn't written only through wins or rankings it was written through the happiness he gave others he had a way of brightening every room he walked into his sportsmanship never wavered and his love for tennis for people and for life was always evident and um yeah since his since his passing a number of efforts have been made to honor his legacy and a scholarship fund has been set up in his name live like brawn to support a Loyola student each year and his family have created a foundation in his honour, the Live Like Braun Foundation.

1:28:27And the reason we wanted to pay tribute to Braun this week was because this Saturday, 9th of August, would have been his 19th birthday and a tournament is being held in his honour and will be held in his honour in future years in the Southern California area on and around his birthday. So, yeah, Braun sounds like a very special person and that event sounds like it's going to be very special this weekend. And, yeah, we just wanted to say that we're thinking of his family, Pam and all those who knew him. Absolutely. And best of luck to everybody involved in that tournament this Saturday. it's a desperately sad story to hear about but incredibly from Braun's family and community to create a legacy and honour him in that way so best of luck to everybody involved on Saturday best of luck to everybody involved on Saturday we will be back on Friday with our next show that show will be live at 8pm on YouTube and look out for the link in our newsletter and across our socials.

1:29:45It'll also be available as a podcast, as usual, as well. Enjoy the rest of the week of tennis in Canada. We'll be doing just that. Thank you for listening, and we'll speak to you on Friday.