Aus Open Media Day - Alcaraz faces Ferrero questioning

0:00As a small business owner, you're the CEO, the marketing team, and the customer service rep all at once. I was recently talking to a shop owner who told me their worst nightmare isn't a slow day, it's the vanishing act. It's that moment you're inches away from a deadline and the Wi-Fi just disappears. We've all felt that pit in our stomach when the connection flares up right when it matters most. Your business is only as strong as your connection. AT &T Business is the reliable provider built for that exact brand of hustle. so you can stay focused on the work that builds your legacy. Powered by AT &T Business.

0:34Built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com.

0:42Matt Roberts: AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com.

1:26Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to Melbourne Park and Australian Open Media Day, the day when the world's top tennis players are brought through the media conveyor belt of TV interviews, social media funnies, press conferences, one-on-one interviews and huddles. more on those later it is a slightly chaotic day at any Grand Slam, for Matt it's a bit of a come down day because it always follows the day after the draw Matt, are you bouncing back?

2:02Catherine Whitaker: I am you know there usually is only one way to go after draw day but today has been great and I've had sort of happy slam vibes today. I started my day with tennis spoke to Jasmine Paolini she's always a good vibe and yeah had a fun moment in the middle of the day as well which I'm sure we'll talk about

2:28Matt Roberts: Excellent tease Matt excellent stuff. David has been asked to join Team Medvedev as a hype man so no David on today's show don't worry he'll be back tomorrow for our Australian Open hype show today we have the company of the man who claims to have the cure for jet lag it's matt futterman thanks for having me and uh yeah i think i think i'm a jet lag black belt at this point i really like it's there's like two things i can do in life and one is conquer jet lag and the other is parallel park i think you probably need to share with the class your what you think are the jet lag is because i think the cure for jet lag is drugs well drug i do use drugs and maybe maybe that eliminates me from the jet lag olympics like i would i would fail the doping test if drugs were not allowed then i would yeah then i i can't compete um same but let's assume that drugs are allowed uh in and you know Look, the whole key is you've got to get on the time of the place you're going as soon as the wheels lift off the ground.

3:45And, like, let's do whatever you can do to sleep on a long flight during the night of the place where you're going. And once you get there, if you get there in the morning, you've got to get out in the light and go do some exercise. and it's all about just like giving your body lots of hints but i'm pretty sure people did not tune into this show to find out about jet lag i don't know you know maybe they were interested in tennis perhaps people love the bonus content matt i have sent matt's jet lag advice to many

4:20Catherine Whitaker: people over the years yeah keying off the natural light getting on the right time zone like these

4:26Matt Roberts: are these are things i try to do see my tip is just don't arrive in the morning arrive at night take drugs sleep through boom sit see arriving at night doesn't do great things for me because like i arrive at night and because i've done the new york to london flight where you leave really early in the morning and you get there at night and like it's a bit of a mess i'm much better off getting there in the morning going through my home morning routine which is go for a run and like your brain is like okay got to do it it's morning now I'm keyed in and you like power through the rest of the day and like that sleep that night after you power through a full day like that is far and away like the best sleep I have all year I don't doubt it I'm sure it's a brilliant method unfortunately you did lose me at go for a run so we'll have we'll have to we'll have to agree on on different but equally perfect methods uh pretty much everybody has uh been through the media center today we have a few stragglers for tomorrow of course novak jokovic he never comes on main media day does he always it's the main character energy of novak jokovic

5:44Catherine Whitaker: isn't he makes us wait and he's quite late tomorrow as well yeah yeah he's uh he's he's

5:50Matt Roberts: And he won't be at the advertised time. No, absolutely not. But we accept it.

5:55Catherine Whitaker: It's Novak Djokovic.

5:56Matt Roberts: We'll be here at 7pm cursing Novak Djokovic and then I'm sure we'll give a brilliant press conference and all will be forgiven. But we did have, you know, we had big headliners today and no bombshell story, but I feel like a lot of good press conferences, a lot of good lines. Matt, I know you, Matt F, I'm going to have to be clear on this show. It's going to sound formal, but for the sake of clarity, you shall be Matt F and you shall just be Matt. Thank you. For the tape, I am pointing. Yeah, we had Sinner, we had Alcaraz, we had Svantec, Gough, Sabalenka, Anisimova, Keyes, Asaka, Fritz, Medvedev, Matt F.

6:37Matt Roberts: You've done a bunch of one-on-ones as well. Yes, I had a few one-on-ones. Our friend Amanda Anisimova, friend of the podcast, as we may or may not know at this point. Had a one-on-one with her, Alexandra Iala, and a few others. It's good to speak with Maria Zachary, who is optimistic about life and tennis, seemingly, after a couple good wins in the United Cup. And, you know, the good thing about the Australian Open Media Day is I compare it very much to the NFL draft, which I realize that's a reference that might not land so well with my immediate company here. But it's kind of the happiest place on earth because nothing has really happened yet.

7:28The NFL career is very cruel, but on draft day, none of those terrible things have happened. Nobody's blown out their ACL. Nobody's completely failed as the top quarterback in the draft. Everyone is destined for the Hall of Fame. And that's kind of how it is right before the Australian Open starts. There's no baggage yet. Everybody's played maybe a match or two, unless you're Yannick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, and you just come in cold and you're totally confident and fine anyway. And it's kind of a happy day, and I'm good with that.

8:05Matt Roberts: Yeah, Iga Shiontek pretty much said that, didn't she, packaged within an answer about jet lag, a question she was asked by Jonathan Giorecco from BBC Sport. She said she finds jet lag worst on her trips to China, far worse than Australia, because she said, well, it's the start of the year, it's grey and black, it's grey and cold back home, it's sunny here, like I adapt pretty quickly she said China's tough because we're just so tired of life by then like tired of the grind by that by that stage of the season so yeah like it is I agree it is one of the joys the fact that everything feels just ahead of us um yeah we're just on the on the cusp of everything that's about to unfold Yannick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz came in back to back as is fitting with their with their bromance vibe um we had sinner first we had alcaraz second um who should we start with matt who who did we learn more from today yannick sinner or carlos

9:17Catherine Whitaker: alcaraz i think probably carlos alcaraz i felt like his was probably the press conference coming into the day I was most interested in because it had the most obvious news line to it I suppose with his off season and obviously the the split from Juan Carlos Ferreiro and it was our first chance to hear Alcaraz in his own words talk about that and that was quite striking actually maybe not what he said but maybe the way he said it about Juan Carlos Ferreiro and it was a typical Alcaraz press conference in lots of ways with some real upbeat moments and a lovely exchange with you Catherine which we can talk about but there were a couple of answers where he was suddenly quite a lot more guarded and the body language changed and he was kind of a bit more corporate and sticking to a sort of message about Juan Carlos Ferreira.

10:21Catherine Whitaker: And he was very unemotional in his answers talking about Juan Carlos Ferreira.

10:24Matt Roberts: And it was the same in Spanish? Absolutely.

10:26Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it was. It was a much shorter section of the Spanish press conference. But again, he gave, just, he sort of battered it away talking about internal issues. And he just didn't really get into it at all. And he does have a way of navigating any potential difficult subjects in press conferences. but he often does it with his sort of smile and his joy and you almost don't want to ask him the difficult questions because it's such a good vibe always. But obviously these questions had to be asked and yeah, it was just kind of a bit sombre I found in those moments and his body language did change and not in a shocking way.

11:09Catherine Whitaker: I wasn't like massively surprised it was like that but it was notable and I think particularly being in the room versus reading it on the transcript.

11:19Matt Roberts: Yeah, it felt like he was suddenly using his cap as a shield. His eyes were glancing downwards. He wasn't looking out to the room. It was just head down, get through this bit. I knew this was coming. Deliver the lines that I've agreed on, presumably, with my team about what's happened and move on. That's what it felt like to me, just get through this. Yeah, I was a little late. I didn't actually catch that part of the press conference. I was doing another interview. I think at the time of day I was with Marta Kostiuk. But, I mean, what I've been thinking about with Alcaraz and the Juan Carlos thing is I'm just sort of curious, like, you know, if you could sort of give him true serum and be in a locked room.

12:06I would be curious, like, does he feel abandoned in any way? I mean, this is a guy who was kind of a father figure for him. I realize his father is a very big part of his life, but this guy was his tennis father. And I do think at some level, even if it was like a disagreement on financial terms, which seems to be what the general consensus here, or no matter what the details of it are. I mean, the idea that at the end of the day, this guy said, I can live without you. You're not that important to me. I feel like, I don't know. He's just, the one thing we really do know about Carlos Alcruz, and we know a fair bit about him, but one thing we definitely know about him is that he's sensitive.

12:59That like, he feels things. And I do think at some level, no matter how much of a business relationship it is or it was, that's got to be a little hard to accept because, you know, you don't necessarily hug someone who you're in business with in the way that those two hugged each other.

13:28Catherine Whitaker: yeah and like the message that alcaraz had clearly talked about with his team and wanted to get out in the press conference was not much has changed you know he kept saying the team's the same except

13:39Matt Roberts: for one guy who's missing yeah it was he was trying to picture it as like as if his omelette

13:44Catherine Whitaker: chef had left the team yeah like the sort of unspoken word was yeah but a pretty important guy has has left um but you know i do think from a from a tennis perspective samu lopez has been a really good coach for him and a nice addition to the team and that kind of links into maybe what you asked matt about the serve like i think samu lopez is a guy who i think is comfortable doing those technical changes in that team and those are still happening it's still business as usual in that sense and yeah so like I think maybe maybe it is hard for our quest to know what ultimately the effect will be down the line of Ferrero not being there like he like we talked about this yesterday he's so far ahead of so many people on the tour is it only when you get to Yannick Sinner in the in the final that you actually really notice the difference like maybe he doesn't maybe doesn't really even know yet and maybe we'll find out as the season goes but yeah it is it is kind of fascinating to to see whether it does have an effect as we go matt matt f sorry yes this is like first grade when there were two mats in the class and you're both sitting in front

14:57Matt Roberts: of me as well like i'm the teacher i feel very powerful um you asked him about his serve which he continues to tweak. And there was a, I can't tell if it was a really revealing thing he said about Djokovic or a really weird thing or a thing that I didn't quite understand. But it was certainly a sort of double, a real double take moment. Yes, he immediately said, you know, I guess sort of what I was thinking and I think what everyone's thinking, which is that it almost looks like when he serves now is that he's doing like a Djokovic impression of himself almost. He said, you're going to ask me if I'm imitating Novak Djokovic or you're going to ask me if my serve is trying to be like Novak.

15:46Matt Roberts: Is that what the streets are saying? Because I hadn't clocked that myself.

15:51Catherine Whitaker: Yes, there's been some footage going around of side by side of Al Karaz's new serve and Novak Djokovic's serve.

16:01Matt Roberts: So he's presumably seen that and was okay. Yes, and he lives on social media. We also know that about Carlos Sackles. This is because Matt and I haven't watched The Traitors yet, so we've had a social media blackout all day to avoid spoilers.

16:15Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, exactly.

16:16Matt Roberts: It's affecting my journalism, Matt.

16:18Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, the number of times I've clicked Twitter as just a reflex, and then, oh, God, no, I can't go on there. Yeah, we've missed stuff, Matt. But could you seriously imagine, I mean, just getting back on a more serious note, away from the double take. Could you imagine serving the way he served at the U.S. Open and saying, yeah, I'm going to change that. I mean, it's kind of like Tiger Woods, like when he kept changing his swing and he was like winning every golf tournament, essentially. and it's just, I mean, it's amazing to me that I guess first of all that you could possibly think that you could get better and also just sort of having that sort of open mind and the confidence.

17:06I mean, all I would ever want to do if I ever hit one serve the way he hits a million serves is to be like, okay, how do I do that exact same thing for the rest of my life? And like, here he is.

17:19Matt Roberts: tinkering and and there was such a parallel between between that and an answer that sinner gave in his press conference as well which was a which was about um the the line he gave after his u.s open final defeat about wanting to add more variety to his game um and he said off season work we worked on coming into the net more transitioning into the net tweaked a couple of things on the serve like there were real there were such similarities in those two answers about sort of of course like I'm always tweaking like you have to be that's what sets them apart yeah and that's

18:01Catherine Whitaker: the beauty of the rivalry you know they're having to tweak mostly for one another look Sinner Sinner played that down didn't he in the in his answer he said it is for for everyone that he's incorporating this variety but you know I think it was pretty revealing the way he talked about it after the US Open final and how much he was thinking about Carlos Alcaraz in that. I would say the one slight difference, I thought, in their answers was that Sinner was very much talking about extremely intentional change and working on variety and the serve, like you say, and transitioning to the net. Alcaraz was laying it out as, yes, he always wants to be keeping an open mind, as you say, and tinkering and making little adjustments, but he was almost talking about it in terms of its sort of technical drift and it's not something that he's absolutely like setting out, I'm going to make my serve look like this.

18:59Catherine Whitaker: I think he's such a sort of feel player that he's experiencing and thinking, oh, maybe it could even be a little bit better if I do it like this. And he's just playing with it and he's ended up with this service motion And he sort of talked about how by the end of the year, he might have a bit of a different service motion again. Like he's just got that open mind that Matt F has been talking about. And yeah, he also used the words calm and peaceful rhythm that he feels on serve now. Just like you, right? You have a calm and peaceful rhythm when you're served. That's how you feel as the ball goes into the air.

19:33Calm and peaceful, right? Oh, all the time, calm and peaceful.

19:37Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. If only.

19:40Matt Roberts: Matt played very well this morning in the wind no less I'm sure he did calmly and peacefully no doubt Sinner I mean Sinner was just he's so spectacularly I mean he's like life's good isn't it he's he's so completely at ease and confident like I don't know he just filled me with confidence in every regard today

20:09Catherine Whitaker: yeah he does that thing sinner of ending a lot of answers with let's see what's coming and i just feel like it's every time it's like a threat to everyone else like he says it so so calmly but like you know what's coming and it's like a sinner onslaught on these on these tournaments and yeah he spoke about the difference he was feeling sitting there this year compared to last year when obviously he had the the case still hanging over him and not knowing whether he was going to be banned and yeah he talked about how tough that was and how that that whole experience has he said felt like it made him more mature and yeah he he had a twinkle in his eye talking about the one point slam and he sort of he sort of jokingly talked about that with the same look on his face as when he talked about partnering emma navarro at the us open mixed doubles like this is all kind of a joke nonsense i'm in on it i'm happy to go with it he said look he's had the

21:06Matt Roberts: same one point slam trajectory that i've had he said not a big fan in the beginning but it was great we've all been there yannick i think we need to think of we need to figure out like what's the next thing that could like get them out of their comfort zones in a funny way like could they all could they have to play something like with their opposite hand or something like i just think like Who would win? Who, off the top of your head, who do we think would win that? Alcaraz? I bet it would be some. There's a number of players who are playing with their wrong hand. Yes, so Nadal famously. Yes, like Nadal.

21:50Matt Roberts: And Carlos Moyer as well. I'm not saying he would win this thing, but Alex Mikkelsen is actually a lefty, strangely. and so he's probably a pretty good left-handed tennis player I mean I think pretty much every tennis player you know could win a golden set against me playing with their opposite hand Maria Sharapova used to occasionally do that switching the racket to her left hand when she was dragged dragged out wide on the backhand side didn't she that was always fun

22:23Catherine Whitaker: I'm going to give a shout to Thomas Mahatch of course I've seen him I've seen him hit good left-handed forehands in the middle of points. Of course, that is something that he would do. There's also a number of players who sign the camera afterwards with their left hand. I think off the top of my head, Bonaciric is one of those. I want to say potentially also Tommy Paul. I'm not certain about that. But yeah, I think Matt F is right. I don't really need to say Matt F, really, do I? It's obvious when I'm saying Matt.

22:57Matt Roberts: it feels validating for me but it feels like you're backing me up so I appreciate it

23:01Catherine Whitaker: but I'm quite in on that on the playing with the wrong hand David always wants a wooden racket tournament as well doesn't he test the skills

23:10Matt Roberts: I agree with you, seeing them out of their comfort zones that's the USP or certainly one of the USPs that's the magic sauce and it's much better than the sort of hit and giggle two set thing where they're trying to be funny and play tennis at the same time. I don't know. There's something to these sort of quick, slightly gimmicky things before the real shit comes that I think has a bit of magic to it. You saw it with the US Open Mixed Doubles and the Fast Fours, And yes, there was a big trophy for that. But still, it was different. And it was different. And it was fast. And it was quick. And it was just sort of like a quick good meal that you get.

24:08And yeah, why not do a couple of things different? Because we know that it's a pretty long Grand Slam tournament. We're going to get a lot of matches, a lot of long matches. and, yeah, these first weeks, I don't know what we should call them anymore.

24:28Matt Roberts: Well, each Grand Slam brand there is a bit different, don't they? This is opening week. This is opening week. In New York, it's fan week. And in Roland Garros, it's, I don't know, chic week. I don't know. And I have my big idea that, but this gets into the whole wildcard debate, which is get rid of all main draw wild cards. You only have wild cards for qualifying, and then it becomes wild card week. Don't you want a ticket to wild card week? I've signed that off. There it is. I approved. Matt F., you and I asked a twin set of questions to Alcaraz and Shiontek. Me to Alcaraz, you to Shiontek. the big career slam question because they're in the same boat at this tournament.

25:21Matt Roberts: Okay, not identical boats. How far can I take the boat metaphor here? Will I make my dad proud? Because obviously Alcaraz has the chance to set a record in being the youngest man ever to achieve the career slam, whereas Shontek would be merely just adding her name to the list of incredible players that have achieved the career slam. I went first with Al Karaz and I had the sort of leg up of him already having done that interview at the end of last year where he said if you offered me two other slams in 2026 or one Australian Open I would take one Australian Open so I very directly pitched him the offer of all three other slams or the Australian Open and

26:12Catherine Whitaker: He's still thinking

26:13Matt Roberts: he's still thinking about it he thought about it long and hard i felt one it's it's i sensed at one point he was about to say australian open and then he went but three is three and he said i need to think about it and i i said i i'll ask you again later in the tournament um unless you lose to adam walton round one was obviously the unsaid i can't believe he needs to think about that. Just because he's so young, he'll get the career slam. But he won't necessarily, I think he wants to be the youngest. He, youngest man. He referenced that in the name. He referenced it himself. Okay. He wants that, I think.

26:54Matt Roberts: I understand why it's a dilemma for him and I like that it's a dilemma for him. I like how much he wants this now. And I'm sorry, is this his last chance to be the youngest man? We think he has one more. I think he's got one more shot at it. Okay, so if I'm Carlos Akuras and I'm not Carlos Akuras, I'm taking three this year, and then when it's my last chance, then I'll do it. And then he's won four in a row as well. Right, yeah.

27:27Catherine Whitaker: Then he's got a Serena slam. Right, exactly. You can pitch that to him at the next press conference, Catherine.

27:33Matt Roberts: it was a it was he was so like Pete Carlos Alcaraz doing the answer to that question wasn't he like huge grin his mouth couldn't have gone wider and he really thought about it he was totally sort of in the moment and really engaging with me and then the next question was about Juan Carlos Ferreira so you had this this whiplash of you know head down um body language change but But yeah, Schvantec, in very much typical Schvantec style, didn't want to engage with the career slam hoo-ha. You know, she thinks that's a big deal in our minds and isn't in her mind. Well, she doesn't even want to know who she'll play in the second round.

28:22like forget about the idea of thinking about if i win the tournament then i've won the career slam and i mean i bet you can't name the last person to win the crash slam probably like but that

28:38Matt Roberts: doesn't mean that she doesn't want to don't you think she wants it more than she let on in that answer no she said by the end of the answer she said like it's a dream come it would be it would It could be a dream. Like, yeah, of course. I just can't be in the mindset of thinking about it all the time. Yeah, that's not sort of the way. Yeah, I need to shut this down now so that I'm not persistently reminded of it at every turn. Yeah, I think she's learned at this point. I mean, she's had a lot of practice doing it. That, like, she is at her best when she's just, you know, when she's channeling Rafa.

29:14And, you know, next ball. next ball, next point, next game why would I worry about anything else, everything else is so far off into the future and she sort of trained herself to do that as much as possible but at the same time she did say yeah I really want to do this, it'd be great can you imagine, I get to win all four Grand Slams I still think she's slightly amazed that she's even won one Grand Slam because you know no one from poland had ever done it before so i mean i think i mean she said i remember very clearly she said like it was hard for me even to like dream about doing that because it was just seemed so out of the realm of possibility so um i i think you know a career slam like that would be wild.

30:08She can't quite believe still, and I don't know if she'll ever really believe this life that she lives.

30:16Matt Roberts: Generally, I thought she was on great form, Shontek.

30:20Catherine Whitaker: I did too, and I think the most obvious way that that came across was that, as Matt has mentioned, she doesn't like knowing the draw, and the first question she got asked in the room was about players who are in her draw. Like, Asaka was named and Rabatkinner was named. And I feel like I've been in Ego Chiantic press conferences before where that would sort of derail the whole thing. And, you know, she said, I don't like to know the draw. She quite funnily and sort of sassily said, oh, so thanks for the heads up. But then she stayed in a really, really good mood, I thought, during the press conference.

31:02Catherine Whitaker: and gave some real insight, Catherine, I thought, to your question about something we've been talking about a lot, which is the win for set idea versus the Witkarowski idea of what her game should be and how caught in between she is at the moment.

31:24Matt Roberts: Yeah, I really didn't know how she was going to take that question and she gave the most fantastic analysis of her game. Okay, it might not have told us anything that we didn't sort of suspect from looking at the outside, but the fact that she saw it the same way as we see it from the outside and was prepared to say that, I found interesting in itself. She wasn't at all defensive about it. She can take things personally, as we all can, or, yeah, get a bit defensive occasionally. occasionally but I didn't feel like there was any of that today even at the start when the very first question was extremely awkward because it just revealed all of the big names in her section of the draw which look we as people that follow the sport all the time know is something you don't do with Igor Shvantech and I do think generally you should be careful with that as a tennis journalist however I'm also aware that like you can't expect everybody to know that that's a That's a total no-no with Shontek.

32:32What I was really impressed with with Shontek was the way she broke down Wicked, like with the seriousness as if she was breaking down It was incredible analysis.

32:49Matt Roberts: We were talking about Cynthia Erivo's vocal tone and how it blends with other cast members. It was like, I mean, she was going deep. She wasn't laughing and giggly. She was serious. It was as if she was on a film review podcast. And this was all after. It was really... It was kind of cool. It was. It was awesome. It was a great eager chance at press conference. But this was all after the first question, which had gone so badly wrong. And she said, please don't... I don't like to know my draw. Please don't say that again. And that could have set the tone for the press conference and it could have been quite tense at that point.

33:29Matt Roberts: So the fact that we ended up with a deep dive on Wicked for Good was amazing. It made me feel pretty good about Yggisville. Yeah.

33:40Catherine Whitaker: And like I had absolutely no idea. And this was a question that Tomáine Carial put to her kind of at the end of the press conference. Like I didn't know how she was going to feel coming out of the United Cup because it was this weird thing where Poland had won and yet on a personal level she had underperformed. She's not really been in that setting before. She'd been in the opposite quite a lot where she'd won her matches and Poland hadn't won. But actually I think she did really lean into the team aspect of the United Cup. She sort of said that and enjoyed that. And yeah, she was on really good form and it was really nice to see.

34:20Catherine Whitaker: And in terms of the answer about her game, like she said something that was like music to my ears she was like i can be an attacking player and a defensive player like that is such a great understanding of her game and her attributes and you know she said the problem is when things are going badly and you know she's she still falls back into her patterns that that are so embedded in her in her game because she doesn't

34:47Matt Roberts: have time the schedule doesn't allow her time to ingrain new patterns basically she said if i had six months i could i could sort of re-imprint my dna as a tennis player like she knows she has the technical skill set to do it it's just her you know her dna has been written in a in a certain way with that partnership with thomas wikorowski she said like i just you only get a couple of weeks here and there even the off season is you know kind of three weeks and it's just not enough time to to fully embed it in the muscle memory so that when things start to go wrong you don't revert back to to old patterns at some point i do think she's gonna go to school on arena arena and start skipping some tournaments i mean she's maybe it'll take maybe she'll do it this season or maybe it'll take one more season of San Blanco finishing the year as world number one while skipping Canada, while skipping a couple of other things.

35:58She skipped one of the China tournaments, correct? Yeah. And she basically sort of mails it into the Middle East. And I think at that point, I mean, EGLE will start sort of dialing back a little bit and being like, huh, maybe there is something to this. Maybe I don't. Maybe the whole, like, playing every single tournament really doesn't matter all that much when you're at my level. Because there is no reason to. There's no WTA bonus pool. She's not going to lose money out of it the way the ATP players do. She just gets zero points that week. But, you know, if you're making the final four of pretty much every Grand Slam, like, you can skip a couple of the thousands.

36:47Matt Roberts: Yep. Hear, hear. Or, you know, tennis could shorten its calendar and none of that would be necessary. Yeah. Okay, that's it for part one. We will be back in part two to talk about, well, Irina Sabalenka, Coco Gough, maybe even Amanda Anisimova.

37:05Catherine Whitaker: Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard. To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute. Capturing value in fixed income isn't easy. Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real, lots of firms throw a couple of flashy funds your way and call it a day, but not Vanguard. Vanguard bonds are institutional quality. Institutional quality isn't a tagline, it's a commitment to your clients. It means top-grade products across the board. Vanguard's been in the game a long time, and their scale gives them a serious edge. They're able to invest across all kinds of sectors, maturities and geographies, which means they can spot and act on opportunities that others might miss.

37:49Catherine Whitaker: So if you're looking to give your clients consistent results year in and year out, go see the record for yourself at Vanguard.com forward slash audio. That's Vanguard.com forward slash audio. All investing is subject to risk. Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor.

38:31You can explore global player rankings across Europe's top five leagues, filter by nationality, position, age, and more, and quickly get up to speed before the World Cup takes over sports discourse this summer. And what's really cool is that Gradient FC's player grades are not just surface-level numbers. They evaluate the context behind over 2 ,000 actions per match with analysis from real expert graders, including former players, coaches, and analysts. so you're getting a much deeper understanding of how players actually impact games with the data that is trusted by scouting departments across Europe.

39:05And if you love sports debates, the comparison tools are kind of addictive. You can go head-to-head between players across more than 100 different grades and metrics to actually back up your takes. So whether you're brand new to soccer or already locked in for the World Cup, Gradient FC is the app for you this summer. Discover and compare players at gradientfc.com or download the Gradient FC app from any app store.

39:31Matt Roberts: Ready to experience something new? AllTrails helps you find your next hike. Whether you're looking for something nearby or planning a trip, read reviews from real people like you to choose your trail and know what to expect. You can also download the map in case service gets spotty. Plan and experience your next hike with AllTrails, the app for exploring the outdoors. Download it today and find your outside.

40:03Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast. I feel like we should talk about Irina Sabalenka, even though I don't have that many takes at all, potentially no takes from Irina Sabalenka's press conference other than I feel exactly the same way as I did on yesterday's show about she's my favourite for the Australian Open, which is obviously not a mic drop thing to say. But, you know, Irina Sabalenka was Irina Sabalenka and is incredibly happy and comfortable in Australia and backs herself to win this tournament, I think.

40:40Catherine Whitaker: Yes. I mean, I have Sabalenka's name written down on my notes page and no notes after it. There really wasn't much to come from this press conference at all. I was thinking about her record in Australia, and she mentioned how well Keyes played in that final last year. And then the other loss she's taken in Australia over the past couple of years was Rabakina beating her in Brisbane. And that's probably the best match I've ever seen Rabakina play. And it just got me thinking, Sabalenka so often starts the season well, all throughout her career. She clearly loves the conditions and playing in Australia and it has taken two great performances from big hitters who can take the racket out of your hand to beat her over the last few years.

41:33Catherine Whitaker: Otherwise, it's just a perfect record. And yeah, she is the bar and someone is going to have to go some to beat her here, I think.

41:44Matt Roberts: And yet Coco Goff is in her half of the draw and we know what those matches can look like on the biggest stages and in the highest stress situations. And Coco Goff seemed on brilliant form impressed today. Yeah, she seemed pretty good mentally. And obviously if I was coming off a win over Iga Svantec, I'd probably feel pretty good too. That being said, she is a beguiling player at a beguiling point in her career. Do you know for a fact that she's going to come out and play really solid in round one? I would be surprised if she lost in round one or round two. Would I be completely shocked? No, because I wouldn't be shocked if she double faulted.

42:43Matt Roberts: 15 or 18 times especially if it's windy like it is today she could do with that dying down couldn't she yeah i mean so i i think it's completely fascinating to have someone who's 21 years old who's won two grand slams uh who's the best athlete in the game probably um you know her or Iga I would guess I think that's what she would say um and yet you kind of don't know from day to day what Coco Gauff is going to show up in the way that like you kind of know what Jessica Pagula is going to show up um you just don't know what you're going to get out of her so i i don't know it's hard it's it's hard to predict at this point uh whether it's especially because like so recently we saw her you know play that match against buzis monero which as she said was like one of the worst matches of her career

43:49Catherine Whitaker: yeah that was my question to her like how are you processing the fact that in a week you can play the Buthas-Monero match and then the same tournament a few days later you can play the Igor Svantec match you know and how much of a goal is it for you to get more consistent was you know was kind of what I wanted to to know and she talked about the fact that she thinks that young players are inconsistent and we forget that Koko Goff is still a young player and how like she thinks that when she gets to her mid-20s rather than early 20s she really thinks that that might have improved a lot and ultimately it comes down to the serve like the inconsistent days are the root cause of them is the serve and I think you know she's clearly on that she's working hard to make the serve more consistent, but she's just not there yet.

44:56And like Matt said,

44:59Catherine Whitaker: I have no idea how Coco Goff is going to play round one, which makes her probably the most compelling player in the draw because she's also someone who can win the tournament. And this is, for us as viewers and observers of the sport, it makes it really interesting. every match. You know, you can't just, you know, there are some players in the draw who you can just leave to live scores and you're like, okay, I kind of know what's going on there. They're going to be fine. I'll get eyes on it if something dramatic happens. You have to have eyes on Coco Gauff because you don't know what's going to happen from any given match.

45:37Catherine Whitaker: And I think that is frustrating for her at this stage. But she's working hard to overcome it. But maybe she's going to need to get older.

45:49Matt Roberts: I, in a less extreme way, I feel quite similarly about Madison Keys, this tournament, in terms of really having no idea what to expect from her. Because I think her form is, like her preparation has been fine. It hasn't been what it has been last year. I don't get the feeling she loves defending titles and points, generally speaking. but then that might be old Madison Keys like the way she was talking today in press it brought back all the memories of how she was talking here last year it was all incredibly healthy she said everyone keeps asking me how my life has changed since winning the title here and she was like nothing much has changed and that's the whole point right I was watching Cool Runnings the other night which side note I do think is a perfect movie absolutely perfect movie Matt F is smiling at me like that's a bad take it's just been a long time since I've watched Cool Runnings I don't know that I'm qualified to comment on it Channel 9 was showing it on primetime the other night and I loved it and anyway the moment building up to the big climax the moment that allows the big climax to be what it is, is John Candy speaking to one of the members of the Jamaican bobsleigh team.

47:20Matt Roberts: And he said that he says the the thing about the gold medal is it's really nice. But if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it. There you go. John Candy knew things. John Candy speaks the truth. Right. And like it was that same Madison Keyes today. So one part of me thinks, oof, I think she could struggle with the pressure of defending here and never having been in this position before and the inevitable nerves. another part of me thinks she's coming into this with the same mindset she had last year and like we shouldn't if we've learned anything it's that we shouldn't be underestimating Madison Keys and definitely not not here um yeah like I'm not predicting Madison Keys to win this tournament but I am pretty intrigued by how she she's going to get on at this tournament yeah I think she definitely sort of ended last year and especially at the U.S.

48:26Open in a place where I think she didn't really expect herself to be. I think she expected herself to I don't want to use the word care so when I say not care as much I don't mean that she didn't care about winning but what she wasn't doing was she wasn't you know she i think she expected herself to be at a point where she wasn't equating results with self-worth identity value all of those things and as she said when she lost at the u.s open that's kind of where she got to and uh And she ended up where she ended up, I think because of it. And so, look, she really didn't play a lot of tennis since then.

49:22Yeah, she's another one. She could lose in the first round. We wouldn't be shocked. She could win several matches and be a big part of the second week. And we'd be like, yeah, sure. That's what Madison Keys does these days.

49:36Catherine Whitaker: I feel like I remember Madison Keyes having an analysis of why the US Open is typically sort of seen as the more open slam and she articulated it well in terms of like when it is the final slam of the season when everyone is tired like a lot of the sort of coping mechanisms that you have have fallen by the wayside by that point

49:58Matt Roberts: and it's like what Shantek was saying about her game exactly like it's one thing doing US Open media day

50:04Catherine Whitaker: not the happiest place on earth.

50:06Matt Roberts: I can tell you that much.

50:09Catherine Whitaker: Right. And like she started the season out last year, being able to separate her results from her self-worth. But by the time, you know, nine months of tennis has happened, like it's a lot harder to do that.

50:25Matt Roberts: Yeah, I get it. Absolutely. Should we talk about Mandarin and Samova? Always. On this podcast, we should always be talking about a man, Anissa Mova. I mean, you just tell me who gets to do the big reveal. I feel like, Catherine, it should be you. I don't want it to be me. It can't be me. Well, I mean, a couple of headlines. She follows Matt Roberts on Instagram. No, she follows the podcast. Matt Roberts stubbornly refuses to have his own private Instagram, despite the clamors of the people. But it was directed, I mean, what happened, for those of you who weren't riveted in watching the press conferences, Matt got called on and Amanda Nismova's face immediately lit up and she said, I follow you on Instagram or I follow the podcast on Instagram and I love it.

51:31and it was just sort of like, okay, I think we can all go home now. This is it.

51:37Catherine Whitaker: It was my Federer winking at David moment.

51:41Matt Roberts: Yeah, what's going to happen to me tomorrow?

51:43Catherine Whitaker: I know, like you're going to... I was thinking like get to pet Yahtzee or something.

51:49Matt Roberts: Oh, yeah, that would be huge. I think I've missed the Denis Shapovalov press conference and I don't think Yahtzee was present. But anyway, yeah, that would be good. yet you regrouped from that you know you you you picked yourself up and proceed did a good impression of a professional journalist in in the aftermath i was in the middle of asking a hair

52:12Catherine Whitaker: question like my my personal reputation is somewhat professional was in in tatters but uh No, it was a lovely moment.

52:23Matt Roberts: And the hair question in question and its response?

52:28Catherine Whitaker: Well, why have you gone back to blonde was the question. And the answer was basically like she was sick of the maintenance.

52:38Matt Roberts: Yeah. I mean, we've all been there. She was getting roots.

52:43Catherine Whitaker: And also like she said she's someone who, you know, well actually in our Instagram comment she said to someone who has a lot of crises about her hair and constantly wants to change and she said she could be dark again by the end of the year

52:58Matt Roberts: Keeping us on our toes Amanda She was on great form wasn't she?

53:02Catherine Whitaker: Oh she really was

53:03Matt Roberts: Sometimes she does I think she kind of decides maybe it's not a conscious decision but like there's a big difference between a great Amanda and a Samova press conference where she's really engaging with everything and flirting with Matt Roberts and Anna, you know, one where she's just not quite in the mood to chat to us and reveal her secrets. Yeah, it is amazing seeing, like, the difference in basically everything about her from the Amanda Nisimova that I was with in early November in Saudi Arabia, who played some pretty good tennis, but at the same time, like, it was taking everything out of her to just sort of like stand upright and you know it turns out that having a good couple of months of not touring around and playing tennis is pretty good for you and so yeah I sort of anticipate that she could play really well at this tournament what is what does play really well mean yeah I mean get down to the get to the business end she can win the tournament sure like um yeah i mean if she's well let's put it to the floor if uh she's facing iga sviontek in is that a quarter or a semi that would be a semi right yeah um she's number four uh so if she's facing iga in the semi who's the favorite

54:37Catherine Whitaker: it well with the caveat that we always give that like let's see how they're playing through the tournament because i think between them it's pretty it's pretty even i think that would come into my analysis but right right now i actually think i actually think i'm over yeah i mean if you're in a semi-final like you've had a great tournament you're playing well i mean you've Right, but you might also have had five three-set matches in your legs and Igor Svantec's cruise through. And, you know, like these things do come into it. But, yeah, like all things being equal, Anissa Mova in her last two matches against Svantec has shown that she can handle that game on the surface.

55:20Yeah, I think it's a 50-50. I mean, I would put it at a... I mean, let's assume they both haven't been in five three-set matches. I would put it at about a 50-50 on a hard court. Like, given that, and I mean, I'm partly colored by, I think I should be partly colored by what I saw at the US Open and then what I also saw in Saudi Arabia. Like, Anissa Mova is probably not going to have a Wimbledon situation if she plays Fiontech in the semifinal.

55:57Matt Roberts: That's it, isn't it? I'm not remotely worried about Amanda Enesimo having a Wimbledon situation again. No, no. And so, like, I mean, she's definitely someone like you would not be surprised at all if she's winning the tournament. The words you're looking for. Oh, in the mix. Right. Yes, absolutely. I guess I can say she is in the mix. There we go. Madison Keyes, I would be surprised. I would too. Yeah. Me too. The mix on the women's side is what? Sabalenka, Shontek, Goff, Anisimova.

56:38Catherine Whitaker: Could maybe throw Rabatkinner in.

56:40Matt Roberts: I think people would have their own opinion on that. You'd have to go pretty far, I think, to find people putting more than those five in. Yes, you would. But then again, the women's tennis does throw up some really good, you know, surprising champions. But that's the thing. They're surprising. And they are surprising and you wouldn't pencil them into a final at this point. Right. Not like you might with Daniel Medvedev, say, if you were David Law. Medvedev came to press today, room two for Medvedev. He seems happy, doesn't he?

57:30Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I was having to catch myself and not read too much into a pre-tournament press conference. Because I was thinking, you know, while I was in there, I was thinking, oh my God, you're back. David's called it. And maybe he has. But yeah, he was relaxed. He was funny. He was self-deprecating. all of the good Medvedev traits were present in room too.

57:55Matt Roberts: Sounds motivated, doesn't he? Fresh, motivated, no pressure on him, nothing to defend. Some great analysis of his rivalry with Lerner Tien. Quote, neither of us can hit a winner, so that's fun. And he said his goal for the year, I'm actually a bit disappointed about this. He said, I've only set myself one goal for the year and that's to win a title somewhere that I've already won a title.

58:22Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, keep the iconic record, Daniel. Just go for...

58:25Matt Roberts: It's the most fun stat in tennis. Yeah. And you are fun. But it would also be a fun moment if he broke that duck. But, yeah. I think that, I mean, what I have my eye on and Medvedev comes to mind when I think about this is right now the forecast for the middle part of this tournament is outrageously hot, and it's going to become, like, really, really hard for a few men who are slotted, like, in the afternoon. If this forecast holds up, like, next, I think it's Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Yeah, it's when Matt's parents are due to come. Yeah, it's supposed to be ungodly hot. And I'm just thinking about like Daniil Medvedev on the court, you know, in the middle of the day because of like where his seating is.

59:30He probably won't get a night match because everybody's going to want the night match at that point. And he's going to, you know, just be an ungodly mess out there.

59:41Matt Roberts: But he plays some of his best tennis when he's an ungodly mess. He does. And that's, I mean, those few days have the potential to like, you know, I think Sinner and Alcaraz will be just fine because they can be efficient. They can switch into that mode. They're going to play on Rod Laver. Who knows? They may end up even like closing the roof on Rod Laver, you know, to make it more amenable. but there's going to be that middle section of seeds who are not going to be that slot, and they are going to have to go through hell. Taylor Fritz as well, probably in that category. Yeah, I mean, him, I think it's just like, how long is his knee going to hold up?

1:00:25Matt Roberts: He was trying to be a bit more upbeat about the knee today, I thought. I mean, an overall bad picture, but certainly more upbeat than those quotes that came out after his Sebastian Baier's defeat to open the season, which were alarming. Yeah, I mean, I think what will, you know, the words that I'm, like, never going to forget that I've heard this week are what Roger Federer said yesterday when he was asked about, you know, one thing that he, like, doesn't miss. I don't know exactly what the question is, but what he referenced was, you know, he said something like, well, I don't want to use the word lying, But like, you know, you sit up here behind these microphones and people ask how you're feeling and you say and you're always saying, oh, I feel great.

1:01:11And actually, you know, you don't feel great. You feel terrible. This hurts and that hurts. And so, you know, you now I now take like everything with a grain of salt when Taylor Fritz is being upbeat about like knee tendinitis. Like, I've had knee tendinitis and, you know, it's hard to walk to the bathroom, like, let alone play a five-set tennis match on a hard court against, you know, whoever he's got in the first round.

1:01:41Matt Roberts: Yeah, that's fair. It was an incredible line from Federer, wasn't it? Oh, it was a great line. Yeah, really well delivered. OK, that's it for part two of today's tennis podcast. Join us in part three for some tidbits from Matt F's one-on-ones on Media Day. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most.

1:02:25Matt Roberts: Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com.

1:02:33This episode is brought to you by Gradient FC, the go-to soccer app for player discovery and analysis. If you're somebody who doesn't follow soccer year-round, but suddenly gets pulled into the World Cup conversation every four years like the rest of us? This app is made for you. Gradient FC makes it really easy to figure out who matters, why they matter, and what exactly makes certain players elite. You can explore global player rankings across Europe's top five leagues, filter by nationality, position, age, and more, and quickly get up to speed before the World Cup takes over sports discourse this summer.

1:03:06And what's really cool is that Gradient FC's player grades are not just surface-level numbers. They evaluate the context behind over 2 ,000 actions per match with analysis from real expert graders, including former players, coaches, and analysts. So you're getting a much deeper understanding of how players actually impact games with the data that is trusted by scouting departments across Europe. And if you love sports debates, the comparison tools are kind of addictive. You can go head-to-head between players across more than 100 different grades and metrics to actually back up your takes. So whether you're brand new to soccer or already locked in for the World Cup, Gradient FC is the app for you this summer.

1:03:46Discover and compare players at gradientfc.com or download the Gradient FC app from any app store.

1:03:57Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast. I teased it before the break, Matt. Your tidbits from your one-on-one. You spoke to Maria Sakharie, Marta Kostiuk, Alexandra Ayala, how was she? Alexandra Ayala's great Yeah? Yeah, she's like, you want to pick me up? Go spend a few minutes chatting with Alexandra Ayala who is young and bright and eyes wide open and realistic and enjoying herself and you mentioned that match at the US Open with that huge crowd and she says, oh, that was amazing, wasn't it? Which is like what she should say. She's not like just sort of take it in stride and really looking forward to playing here at an event that markets itself as sort of the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific region.

1:05:00There's a big Filipino community here. They should be out in full force supporting her and yeah, Yeah, I mean, wouldn't an Alexandra Iala run at the Australian Open be good news for this tournament?

1:05:15Matt Roberts: She's in a fun section of the draw, isn't she? I feel like a fun third or fourth round. I mean, I'm not assuming she'll get there, but there's potential for some Iala fun, I think.

1:05:25Catherine Whitaker: I think it's Mukova.

1:05:27Matt Roberts: Oh, yes, please.

1:05:29Catherine Whitaker: I think it might even be as early as round two.

1:05:32Matt Roberts: Okay. I mean, Mukova is in my fantasy team, so that'll assign my allegiances, but I want that much to happen. Kostiuk, she's a bit of a woman of the moment. Yeah, she had a good week last week. It took her totally by surprise. She really wasn't expecting it. She's like, I don't really start off that well in Australia usually, and there I was in the final. it's just so interesting when you talk to Marta Kostek because you're sort of talking about like regular stuff and what you do over how you spend your off season oh well you know I went to Ukraine I was in Kiev and Lviv and you have the same family it was really great it was really inspiring we had to do blackouts and there were drones and it wasn't a bad bombing night but you know so you sort of all of a sudden you're just like get hit with this like reality that these players from ukraine live with um and you just sort of like marvel that this is just the regular everyday part of their life and they're still you know almost four years later waking up and checking telegram to see where the bombs fell blimey that puts things in perspective maria zachary yeah maria zachary who is hopeful um you know sort of like i think cautiously optimistic uh that she's finding some form and she obviously felt really good about a couple of her matches at uh in the united cup and i think she felt pretty good about about 25 minutes uh of the of the match against coco goff when she He had a bit of a purple batch.

1:07:27And, yeah, she loves playing here. Obviously a huge Greek community. And she's like, I really hope one day I have a really good run here because I would love to do it in front of this crowd.

1:07:41Matt Roberts: It sounds a real contrast to Stephanos Sitsipas, whose press conference I watched on the screen. and he just, you know, whereas everybody else is so full of the joys of spring or, you know, January and the freshness of that, as we've talked about, it looks like he's picked up where he left off last year to me, like in terms of jadedness. And obviously a huge part of it is his ongoing back injury that he's managing. But I think that's just exhausting him. Yeah, I was at that press conference. I think it is tiring and you just don't know. I mean, he did get pretty expansive about sort of how much of his disappointments of last year was mental and how much it was physical and he was like improv class, yes and.

1:08:41He said, you know, it's both and you can't disconnect them And if you're feeling bad physically, you're going to feel bad mentally. And if you feel bad mentally, it's probably going to make you feel worse physically. And it's just, you know, I think he's at the point in his career is if he could just have a run of good health, that would make him really, really happy at this point. And he said as much. So he did sort of go very deep into the problems with the Masters 1000s without much prompting. And he was very clear that he had been, he had done videos for the ATP tour, you know, doing interviews with Gadenzi a few years back, you know, pushing for this vision.

1:09:32And he said, I was wrong. I was totally mistaken all I had to do was get a taste of what it was and I realized I was wrong and I would not say that today it needs to be changed wow yeah good on him right

1:09:51Matt Roberts: yeah absolutely good on him okay I think that is it for our media day roundup we have stragglers tomorrow Novak Djokovic, Emirati Karnou I think a few others but it's been a it's been a good Caspar Rood Caspar Rood moved Caspar Rood was a late cancellation today Matt Caspar Rood lost to Roger Federer today

1:10:16Matt Roberts: he's not in the mix put it that way I don't think so no okay but we'll let you know what he has to say tomorrow Matt you're a dog guy now definitely a dog guy would you like to see Gus our Australian Open mascot Scott. I would love to see guys. This is Gus in her winter wear. She's wearing a pink, a bright pink, waterproof sort of harness with hood. And it's really great stuff. Renee says, to commiserate with those in the UK and anywhere else where it's been wet and miserable, here is Gus in rain gear. And we love that. Thank you, Gus. Thank you, Bodie, Maisie and Roger, our mascots, of course.

1:11:00Matt Roberts: hello to Greg, Chris and Jeff, our executive producers. No shout outs today because what is a shout out with David Law and his 90s Mind Palace. They'll be back tomorrow as will David. We, of course, are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Thank you, Matt F. Thanks for having me. For being on today's show. Care to tease anything that's coming up in the Athletic? Have a good feature coming out. I was able to spend some time with and watch a practice match between Lerner Tien and Alex Mickelson on a random court in Orange County in mid-December, which was really good fun. sort of classic classic American moment where they're playing on one court and there's a pickleball game going on on the next court and people are completely oblivious about the fact that these two pretty good tennis players are playing next to them and so I have a nice feature about them and the next generation of American players that's really kind of pushing that Tiafoe Paul Fritz generation.

1:12:11Matt Roberts: Something that Taylor Fritz claimed to be unbothered by today, but... Yes, somewhat unbothered. But as established, we don't believe anything that tennis players say. Exactly. Right. Matt, thanks for your time. Thanks so much for having me. We love to talk tennis with you. We always, we were watching the one point slam the other day thinking, I'm so curious what Matt Futterman is going to think about this. Like we just didn't know. Yeah, I think I would have loved it and I was sad to have missed it. We'll get you to the next one. Folks thank you for listening. We'll be back tomorrow with our pre-Australian Open hype show.

1:12:49Matt Roberts: It has to be good doesn't it if you call it a hype show so we'll do our best Matt to make sure it's good.

1:12:56Catherine Whitaker: Yeah and the return of David for hype.

1:12:58Matt Roberts: Yeah exactly. Thanks for listening folks. We'll speak to you then.

1:13:07As a small business owner, you're the CEO, the marketing team, and the customer service rep all at once. I was recently talking to a shop owner who told me their worst nightmare isn't a slow day, it's the vanishing act. It's that moment you're inches away from a deadline and the Wi-Fi just disappears. We've all felt that pit in our stomach when the connection flares up right when it matters most. Your business is only as strong as your connection. AT &T Business is the reliable provider built for that exact brand of hustle. so you can stay focused on the work that builds your legacy. Powered by AT &T Business.

1:13:42Built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. This episode is brought to you by Gradient FC, the go-to soccer app for player discovery and analysis. If you're somebody who doesn't follow soccer year-round, but suddenly gets pulled into the World Cup conversation every four years like the rest of us, this app is made for you. Gradient FC makes it really easy to figure out who matters, why they matter, and what exactly makes certain players elite. You can explore global player rankings across Europe's top five leagues, filter by nationality, position, age, and more, and quickly get up to speed before the World Cup takes over sports discourse this summer.

1:14:20And what's really cool is that Gradient FC's player grades are not just surface-level numbers. They evaluate the context behind over 2 ,000 actions per match with analysis from real expert graders, including former players, coaches, and analysts. so you're getting a much deeper understanding of how players actually impact games with the data that is trusted by scouting departments across Europe. And if you love sports debates, the comparison tools are kind of addictive. You can go head-to-head between players across more than 100 different grades and metrics to actually back up your takes. So whether you're brand new to soccer or already locked in for the World Cup, Gradient FC is the app for you this summer.

1:15:01Discover and compare players at gradientfc.com or download the Gradient FC app from any app store.