Served with Andy Roddick
WIMBLEDON 2024 Mid Tourney: Djokovic’s Dominance and Semi-Final Predictions
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All right, welcome back. We're not welcome back Apparently. That's the jet lag. Hi, welcome to served. I am Andy Roddick. I am jet lagged as fuck, as the kids say, but we're here, we are doing it, as always, my friend Johntheim.
Speaker 2:Is that right? That wasn't as good.
Speaker 1:That wasn't as good as some of the other stuff. Can you believe that post-match presser that we just saw? You didn't know. So let me set the deck Real time. We watched Novak dominate. It's as good as I've seen him this entire year. He's got that chip squarely back on his shoulder. That is his comfortable place to be the competitor that we know to reach his top level is. He needs something to be angsty about. It's his. He's a superhero at doing that, creating a little bit of. You know you don't want to say but like friction, whether it's a crowd, whether it's something else. He is superhuman at using that for jet fuel.
Speaker 1:And so John Wertheim works 87 hours a day, runs to his flat after that match is finished to get here in time after a full day of work to do this show. For you, he didn't see the post-match presser and for those who didn't, you have to go on, whatever your social medium of choice is, and watch it, because it was equal parts hilarious, predictable, it's just on brand and it like I'm thinking he does this and it's. It's like scary. He is feeling it right now and this is a dangerous place for the rest of the field to be when Novak is doing this. So John Wertheim sits down and then you watch the clip and you're laughing. Right now I can see you kind of smiling. What did you think of this clip where Novak went after, like you know, 12 Rune fans who were going Rune? No, he didn't like it. He didn't like it, John Wertheim, he didn't like it. Read the.
Speaker 3:Rune. I'm not sure that's appropriate. Yeah, let's be clear. This wasn't a post-match presser. This was on center court. He has this authoritative win. He's in the second week of a major. The guy came in with all these question marks. And Second week of a major. The guy came in with all these question marks and he's as he tends to do. He's answered every question. The fans want to get behind this guy and what does he do? He has this soliloquy about what 11 rowdy Danish fans on a Monday night.
Speaker 1:We know those Danish people can get out of control sometimes, right Crazy people over there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's as you put it. Well, it is on brand. And I boy, do we really want to start our Wimbledon coverage with a soliloquy? This is, you know, novak is. He's an interesting cat, as you say. This is someone who thrives on friction.
Speaker 3:I do think this whole I mean, let's just be honest. I mean, you know, whatever we love the guy, he can be his own worst enemy. This is not a nefarious figure, but when he says why am I not as well loved as Roger and Rafa, and you see, either of those two guys winning a match on center court in these circumstances and spending a full minute having it out with a couple of Danish hecklers while given the mic on center court of Wimbledon Danish hecklers while giving the mic on center court of Wimbledon On brand is what I would call it. I'm laughing. I'm not angry. This is not moral outrage, this is not pro-clutching, but I do think the flip side is like when his legion of fans say how come you guys don't like him the way you would? Why doesn't he have the popularity of Roger and Rafa?
Speaker 1:Could you ever, in a million years, in what universe wouldn't a dollar fed or do something like that universe? Uh, it doesn't matter what you said after uh, anything that was quasi negative, that's going to be clipped and just let the record show that it's at john wertheim, uh, and not me, because even though you said everything you said with a smile on your face, you are going to get ruined I could do this for days.
Speaker 3:We're just going to do our whole podcast now with uh, you know we're going to get ratioed. Well, that's a stretch, that's a stretch.
Speaker 1:You're better than that. Um, listen, like this, this is now going to overshadow, uh, the fact that this is, I mean, the top story for me on top of, uh, you know, the, the drama and the, the will he play, won't he? The of things, uh, with murray, I, I uh, novak it it's amazing that he is here and this match looked prime Like. It looked prime. Um, his knee looks stable and fine and you know, we were talking about in Monte Carlo, through Roland Garros. We were talking about not injuries but like general fitness levels for Novak, right, like the. He was short of breath in Monte Carlo. Uh, you know, going the distance could he? He kind of had these ins and outs throughout the year. So the way to fix that is to, you know, have a short recovery time, not get in all the fitness you want, have surgery on the knee and then bingo, bingo, all good. Um, it's just impressive.
Speaker 1:And you know I did an episode three weeks ago where a lot of Novak fans didn't like the fact that I said it's a big lift to get back from knee surgery in time for Wimbledon and it is. I also said in that very same episode, which this part they ignore, bet against the greats at your own peril. We'll put a receipt of that being said in the comment section. Wherever you're watching or reading this, it's just, it's phenomenal. I didn't think he was going to play the tournament. I was concerned about the rest of the year. Here he is 60 Grand Slam quarterfinals. Looks great again. Can you believe it?
Speaker 3:60 Grand Slam quarterfinals. I don't have this in front of me. I believe this is number 75. Oh, is it 75? What was the other one? What did I say? You said in front of me? I believe this is number 75. Oh, is it 75?.
Speaker 1:What was the other one? What did I say?
Speaker 2:You said 60.
Speaker 1:I know, but what? No, no, no.
Speaker 3:I'm saying you're right. I'm saying this is 60 out of. I think he's played 75.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry, I was like is it 75?
Speaker 3:So basically 80% of the majors he's entered for his career starting career starting when he was a teenager.
Speaker 3:80 of them. He's gotten to the quarters. Yeah, it's, it's absurd, that's, that's a joke. And also, I mean, the other thing we were all talking going into, uh, roland garros about, you know, is the end. Finally, here, his father. Time caught up. He hadn't reached a final, much less. What a title all this year. He's suddenly on an eight match win streak at majors and again, well, I mean it's, it's, yeah, I mean we were, I mean we were sort of running out of, we're running out of adjectives, but it's, it's silly time. Why he would choose to let something other than his superior tennis and extraordinary feats of persistence be the story, I don't know. But then again, I have not won, you know, I mean, at some level, this is what makes him who he is. He reveals his character in his winning and he reveals his character in glimpses like this, all part of, I guess, what you sign up for with Novak Djokovic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hate to deal in absolutes, but it's probably somewhere in between. Right, Father Time is gaining on him, it just is. I don't know that he's the 1A, 1B, 1C favorite in every tournament that he enters. Now I think he's probably, you know, in the conversation with Alcaraz and Sinner, but they're probably 1A and 1B just based on health concerns and you know they're just getting more matches, as you do when you're, you know, in your early 20s, as opposed to 37. Too much, Too much. Okay, We'll give it a rest. I won't do it for like three minutes.
Speaker 1:But on grass, you know I've said before, and I've had this conversation a couple of times over the last three or four days is we like to put our big three into silos because it's like easily digestible, right? So Novak's the hardcore guy, Rafa's the clay court guy. Fed's the grass court guy. Novak's one Wimbledon title behind Roger he's probably you know him and Pete, second best grass quarter ever, right now with he's in the conversation for being the best grass court player ever, and it doesn't get talked about enough because we like these silos and because it's an easy storyline and everyone can be the best in their own, their own thing.
Speaker 1:Um, but he just, he just looked dominant. He looked average the first couple of rounds, which is normal when you just had surgery. He just routed. I didn't make it. I didn't make it. It was like 90 seconds Routed a guy. You know how hard it is to beat someone three, four and two or something like on grass on grass, on grass beat anyone on tour that on any surface, but three, four and like on grass On grass, on grass.
Speaker 1:Beat anyone on two or that on any surface, but three, four and two on grass is just insane.
Speaker 2:Can we talk about the grass real quick, Because at the end of that match he took a couple falls and you hold your breath.
Speaker 1:Every time.
Speaker 2:Every time, and everyone seems to be continually falling, continually falling, and John's talked about it a lot this week. Talk to us about the surface and what do you think is going on, especially on this center court.
Speaker 1:Uh, like your front lawn, grass needs air to be dry. Right, go out to your front lawn and after it's rained, it's wet, it's slippery. Uh, if you put, if you had wet grass in, you know, or you just put a dome over it, or even turned an old school barbecue upside down for a while, it would have a weird effect if it wasn't getting air One way or the other. I don't know if this is true. I would suspect that a lot of the falls that we've seen are due to the grass not getting the usual amount of air. It is great that we have a roof on center, and one. They've done an amazing job with it.
Speaker 1:Grass needs air one way or the other. It just hasn't been getting it because of how crappy the weather's been outside and the fact that they've had to have the roof on to have a product to show everyone and to give, you know dummies like us, something to talk about. You know, with uninterrupted um, what's the the? What's the feedback on side? Have you been hearing from any of the players as far as the playing conditions?
Speaker 3:jw you nailed it and you're uh you've done. You've done very well for a guy who's uh done a walk of shame in his t-shirt and heels today and has re-entered uh society after uh flannel oversized getaway um oversized flannel shirt all right, yeah, exactly, you have a sweatshirt and heels that you borrowed.
Speaker 3:I'll give it back to you next time I see you, um no, I totally nailed it, which is uh, grass is grass is slick, indoor grass is like a slip and slide and the combination of the humidity, the fact that you now have this roof so it's not getting oxygen. They're also keep in mind 15 000 people in the building. Note the bad falls. Note some of the really unfortunate we can talk about that later Note some of the really unfortunate uh, retirements and injuries and chart how many of those came when the roof was on and the surface wasn't just grass but it was indoor grass. Um you, you nailed it from afar, well done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it just seems right. I only I only played uh under the roof there one time, and it wasn't at wimbledon, it was during the uh, it was during the olympics. Um, I lost to a guy named novak jokovic like one and two on grass. One and what?
Speaker 1:one and one and two, I feel like I'm doing soldier boy every time. Soldier boy, I'll make it up. Beaten holger, tear it up. Um, yeah, and I didn't like it. I thought the grass played much differently. Uh, the sound is super intense, like it almost has an echo when you hit the ball. Um, it really magnifies contact, which for me, in a ball striking exhibition with novec, didn't exactly make me seem any better.
Speaker 1:Um, I walked off that match and that's the first time I thought about retirement, because I'm like this is this. He's playing video games and I'm trying to play tennis. Um, but I listen, and it's imperfect, right, you can't say I don't like grass court under a roof, but still understand all the reasons behind it and the mechanisms. And you know we're better because we have something to watch cover, et cetera, et cetera. If I was in charge of everything, I would have put the roof on as well. Um, I would use it if it looked like rain was incoming. So there's there's no perfect scenario here, but it does seem relatively obvious that it is causing some of the uh, slipper Magoos Mike could you do something like what they do in golf with like a sub air, like with the greens.
Speaker 2:I mean, is it, is it possible with that surface?
Speaker 1:I'm sure. I just don't know. I don't know the mechanisms with the sub air. You couldn't do it during a match because it's so loud. Like a sub air on a golf course which is basically an under it's an underground kind of ventilation system. It's super, super loud. So I'm guessing when they blow the bubble up at night, they put this big bubble up and it does have a sound underneath it. I'm guessing they have something that blows on the court at night.
Speaker 1:But you could not use it during play, just because we've talked about this in the podcast. Before you hear the contact, before you see anything, and you have a quarter of a second to react to whatever you know, your, your, your senses are telling you you take away one of those, um, it becomes pretty tough, um, so I don't think you could use it during play. I got to think they've researched that there's not a lot of stones unturned, uh, at Wimbledon, uh, in the all England club. So I got to think, uh, I got to think they, they've thought of it. I got to think they're doing everything, uh, something like that in theory, but the noise is pretty intense with those. So that might be a reason why, uh, they don't. So, um, we've talked about Novak. Uh, john Wertheim, give me your kind of top three storylines outside of um, outside of Novak, uh, for this week. I know Murray, I'm sure there's a Murray situation, the women's draw opening up.
Speaker 3:What else you got for me, man? You're preempted. Two of my three. I think we need to pause for a moment. With Andy Murray, sometimes you have a clean. This is it, retirement. It's Roger.
Speaker 3:At Labor Cup, serena makes it clear before the open. This was a little bit awkward just because he was not in singles, andy Murray we're talking about. Obviously he was in doubles, he was kind of in mixed. He didn't get to play mixed but he's still going to the Olympics. But I do think they handled it. Overall they handled it quite well. Nice touch bringing back Sue Barker. Andy got a nice send-off and again, I just I'm still hung up on this point that this guy, who was so often obscured by these three mountains, still registered this level of affection and meaning and significance. I think it's a real tribute to Andy Murray. The women's draw blown wide open. We can get to that in a second. I would sort of the the asterisk there is. There also were a lot of really impressive emergencies and all the people you know sort of it's very easy to say, oh, women's tennis is unreliable and the players are soft and the players are weak. I mean I saw a lot of really top shelf tennis.
Speaker 1:I mean, I get the fuck out of here with that stuff. By the way, these are amazing athletes. Anyone who's saying that will complain about their mother's cooking. Shut the fuck up.
Speaker 3:Exactly, yeah, I test, you know what. Go watch Evan Navarro play. Never mind Evan Navarro, who's a top 20 player. Go watch the Lulu Soon play and tell me that this isn't a top-shelf athlete.
Speaker 1:You missed a golden opportunity. Watch who play.
Speaker 3:You will see in the quarterfinals. I was told it's oh, oh, oh, got me. You set me up for that. One Boom, full Gronk spike. I was told it's not Sun, it's Soon. So you get three for the price of one. I don't understand.
Speaker 2:Sorry.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry, Now I get it Lulu, Soon Sorry oh sorry.
Speaker 3:Now I get it Lulu soon. Three for the price of one. She's a very nice player. We're really going to beat this thing into the wet indoor covered grass aren't we?
Speaker 3:Yeah, as far as other storylines you know I'm recency effect, but Taylor Fritz coming back from two sets to love against a top four player is a signature win. And you mentioned Alcaraz and Sinner and leaving apart perhaps some inelegant post-ratch remarks, I mean look at Novak and if he wins this match, I think we need to completely reassess where he is on the rankings of grass court players. So yeah, the fact that it is whatever today is they all blow day eight and we're still talking about Novak Djokovic as a contender. I would say Andy Murray sort of. I was like he hijacked the event the way Andre or Serena did when they called it quit, but you know, it was a nice tribute and a nice send-off for Andy Murray and then the women's draw being blown wide open. But I think that's ultimately a sign of strength and not weakness. Those are my. What do I got? Three, four, what do you got?
Speaker 1:Also, I'm just going to go with you on the first two Listen. We said at the beginning in our Listen we didn't get much right on the women's side with our pick show and Mike is going to hopefully rip us adequately for that coming up here in the next segment. But we did say I said it's wide open, there's 30, 35 women that can win this tournament. I may have undersold it Like I may have undersold it, it Like I may have undersold it. And the thing is, with this tournament and when you have up and coming players we talked about there not being an adequate grass court season you don't have seven weeks of buildup to say favorite, co-favorite in form, not in form, especially listen you can come out your first grass court match of the year. I don't know how many times I won queens after struggling through like a first round and winning like a chintzy, like like seven, five, seven, six and a third, like weird you know match where it's like it could have gone either way. Carlos alcarez did it last year as well. He looked bad and then you kind of find something. If you don't, then all of a sudden you're kind of searching and maybe you find it.
Speaker 1:At Wimbledon it's, it's the toughest thing, cause you have the smallest sample size going in uh to the event. My number three uh thing that uh was amazing about the first week of Wimbledon was the Buffalo that I ate in Italy when I was with my family over there. Oh, my goodness, I could bathe in Buffalo buff, give me Buffalo Mott's, oh yeah, no, not wild wings, no, I'm, I'm over that shit Like I. I want, I want Buffalo mozzarella all the time. I just want to bathe in it. I want to, I want, I wanted to do a medley, just just all of it. That's my number three takeaway.
Speaker 2:Are you seeking a cheese sponsorship? I would take.
Speaker 1:I mean I I'm now well, it's not any cheese, though I don't. I think I would turn down most of them just because, uh, obviously I spent a week in uh Tuscany, so therefore I am a cheese expert now Um bit of a snob, uh. So I don't know. I, I don't know.
Speaker 1:You know, at least I know, I know that you have for sure have, which they so happily provided to us with some Oslo sleep buds. Uh, I'll tell you so. The last time we spoke, I told, I told you about, uh, my problem with uh, problem with uh. Uh, I had no sleep on the way over to, uh, overseas Italy, not a minute of sleep. The way back, I had 99 problems, but you know, sleep wasn't one. I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 1:Right now, I I babbling Brooke, uh, just because it seemed fitting, uh, I was solo, uh couldn't get over, but I oslo'd my ass off on the way home. I absolutely did. It was fantastic. It made me even more upset, uh, that I checked my oslo sleep buds on the way over and completely just, it was. It was listen, failure to prepare is preparing to fail. I deserved every last minute of no sleep on the way over and I Oslo'd my ass off. Fool me once, fool me twice, whatever that saying is, but got some sleep. Thank you, oslo sleep buds. Okay, so let's turn this around Before we look forward. I think, after this quick break, uh, I'm going to. You know what time it is.
Speaker 2:No, what time is it?
Speaker 1:Pop time. Are you thirsty? It's time to pop it. It's time to pop it, and I'm Olly Pa.
Speaker 1:No, no, it didn't work. That's a week. That week back to sender cheers, cheers to refrigerated cans again, one of the few things we get right on the culinary scene. Uh, here in this country after the break. Uh, producer mike, I haven't dared look at, looked at my bracket on what I got. It's so bad, it's so bad. We're the ugliest, we're the worst. I don't know how we have a show. We, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1:All right, we are back with, served, brought to you by Oslo, sleep buds, which are very beneficial on airplanes. Don't check them in your luggage, john. We are about to get smoked, and deservedly so. I have some, I have some. I think I have some defenses for it. But, producer Mike, this is the part where we're there. We're the only show. I'm starting to realize why every other analyst only picks a winner, because you can only be wrong once when you do that, not the full 128 draw First time. You see it. Uh, there's, listen, there's the flipper Magoo. There's a slicey Magoo. This is the fucked up Magoo brought to you by producer Mike. All right time to pay the Piper.
Speaker 2:Uh, let's this is shame us. I mean your fourth round matchups, your fourth round matchups. I think you only got one right. Well, I think you only got one of the full matchups right, you know. But I think your biggest challenge was Sabalenka. You had picked her to win. I think Iga losing early on.
Speaker 1:That doesn't bother me, because everyone probably had the ego somewhere like, listen, when you have to do something, film it on a certain day because you have to edit it to get it out by sunday. I didn't know this giant from france. He lost, like we didn't know where he was going to be placed, like, so there are some stuff that's out of control. The Sabalenka thing listen when you lose your winner before the tournament starts not a good start.
Speaker 3:That's not the one.
Speaker 1:That's not what you need. Anyways, go ahead.
Speaker 2:You had Von Drozevo going all the way to the quarterfinals, didn't make it out of the first round. But I think we'll back our way in because, john, you had ego winning at all or you had sorry, coco winning at all.
Speaker 1:Nailed it.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I'm correct.
Speaker 3:I don't know why I'm rushing to correct you. It's not any better.
Speaker 2:And then, andy, you had Pagula. I did playing Sabalinka in the finals. Uh, you're in your semis. Were Iga Pagula Sabalinka? Coco for Andy. Needless to say, I think we just need to start over pick fresh, because you guys didn't get any of them.
Speaker 1:It was really bad. But also like also all the people that are like ripping us, like listen, none of you fucking had them either. Just so, if we're being, if we're being honest, you didn't have Lulu soon. Vecchia, who I gave props to in that show and said she's great, paolini and Navarro, you didn't have me there, all right. So are we looking forward? Are we going to start with? Are we going to redraw? Did you want to run through the men real quick? We did better there.
Speaker 2:I think I let's finish off the ladies here.
Speaker 1:first let's redraw them, let's redraw them. So we got Ossipenko Krichikova, who looked great over Daniel Collins today. Rabakina Svitolina, who has looked amazing. She played great stuff against Ange Jabbour, Lulu Sun, Donovecic, Paolini and Navarro, John Wertheim. Ossapenko Krichik of a first, let's do better this time. Let's really like, let's, let's concentrate, let's try it. Let's, let's, let's do our best.
Speaker 3:All right, Ostapenko is barely losing games. I don't like to boast, but on tennis channel today I taught her seriously how to shake hands properly.
Speaker 1:She taught her seriously how to shake hands properly.
Speaker 3:She's really cool and in a good headspace.
Speaker 1:What does that mean?
Speaker 3:Nope, I need more she's notorious for these random thumb brush handshakes and I said, listen, here's what she, and to her credit, she was totally game. She's actually been very, very fun and cool. She's in a good headspace. All of which is to say she's in a good headspace. I think she's dropped like 15 games in four matches. She's five and two for her career against Kujikova. I think Astapenko rolls through to the semis.
Speaker 1:I'm with you on that one. Listen, her biggest or toughest opponent is herself a lot of times, and she plays these razor thin margins. Maybe the most aggressive player on either tour, this side of this new kid Perry card maybe, who is, you know? Reckless, abandoned on the second serve, but this surface fits her. More than the slam she won, in my humble opinion, more than more than clay ever would. I like her in the semis Also. She's looked great so far.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that when you listen a lot of players and we saw it, we saw it with novak you get them out of the heat of the moment and they can usually take a joke. Right, and they can normally. I was not the person to uh try to have a conversation with in the first 15 or 20 minutes after I lost, wasn't capable of a rational thought, uh, or even after a win, uh, sometimes, for that matter, so cool that, uh, she was able to take a joke. Cool that she actually knows how to shake someone's hand. Rabakina Svitolina in my opinion, two of the best players in the tournament so far. Maybe Penko in that conversation as well. Who do you like? Rabakina Svitolina?
Speaker 3:This is the ultimate heart overhead, but Svitolina played today, monday, with a black ribbon on her dress in commemoration of this children's hospital bombing. I can't imagine the way she is balancing the abject terror of what's going on in Ukraine, her home country, with the joy of reaching another week two of a major. She's playing really well and I think she's really leaned into giving her country this glimmer of joy amid a lot of misery. I mean, you get her interviews and she's happy to talk about it. She sees this as a real opportunity to sort of spread some good vibes. She realizes it's a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, and all of which is to say is uh, I like her sentimentally. I like her tennis. She's two and two career against Rabakina, who you know she's won this thing two years ago. She has not looked terrific. I, um, I, I. You know we, we never root. This is a rare exception.
Speaker 1:We don't what.
Speaker 3:We don't root. I'm supposed to be neutral. No, you don't know.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:We don't root Nailed it. I like Svitolina, all of which is to say I like Svitolina.
Speaker 1:I want Svitolina for all the reasons that you said. Can you give us just a sidetrack here? Can you give us 30 seconds on her funding Ukrainian tennis right now? So, above her being a voice for her country, which has obviously been under attack in the grossest way for a couple of years now, can you talk about? She doesn't just talk the talk right. She doesn't give you the sound bites you want. It is backed up with action. Tell us about what she's doing for Ukrainian tennis.
Speaker 3:This is. It's fairly hush hush. She doesn't brag about this, she doesn't trumpet this, but she is basically. She is basically the Ukrainian tennis federation right now. Remember the male players that you played against, that most people know they're military men.
Speaker 1:Right now there are no.
Speaker 3:Ukrainian players going to the Olympics. For example, on the men's side, there are four on the women's side. They're not on the men's side. Why is that? Oh right, most of the eligible players are fighting in a war. As for the women Alina Svitolina with you know, god knows what's happening to the Ukrainian Federation these days. She is essentially funding things like Olympic travel, billie Jean Cup travel. I've heard she's sort of personally sponsored some promising players so they can keep playing tennis. Some of them have left the country and she has continued to sponsor them. She has not talked about this, but this is real heroism and, apart from everything she's doing on court, she is sort of back channeling, propping up Ukrainian tennis right now and paying for things like travel to the Billie Jean King Cup.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really is heroic. One of the things I've been proudest of to just be in the orbit of with tennis for a long time is acts like this. Listen, we can not like someone's post-match on-court press conference. The chips are down. I put tennis up against any other sport as far as purity of heart and doing the right thing and understanding different cultures, understanding things that are going on in the world, because, listen, it's not one country playing, it's the entire globe.
Speaker 1:So props to Alina Svitolina, someone I will unabashedly be cheering for because I think it lifts up an entire country that needs something that is pure, not consequential as far as geopolitics go, and something to cheer for. So I hope she wins. That being said, I like Rabakina in that matchup just because of her ability to hold serve and, by the way, also on a lighter note and, by the way, also on a lighter note, rabakhina wearing a Red Bull cap in all of the press conferences. Is there ever been a more mismatched product market fit than Red Bull and the lady who gives us no energy when she wins Wimbledon.
Speaker 3:Maybe it's curative, maybe it's a prescription. I would say that Yulia Putintseva, wearing a sponsor patch from the Economist, yulia Putintseva, a lot to like, I'm not sure she's necessarily cozying up with, you know, angus Deaton's latest. Well anyway, point taken, yes.
Speaker 1:Strange sponsorship. I was hoping we were going to get to. Angus Deaton. All right, soon Vekic taking. Uh yeah, strange sponsorship, hoping we were going to get to angus deaton.
Speaker 3:Um, all right soon, vekich, who do you like? Um, I guess I gotta go with donna vekich that's the right over a qualifier.
Speaker 3:But boy, soon is a a real baller. And also weirdly. I mean she played number three for the University of Texas a few years ago. I mean this is not someone who is necessarily destined for the round of eight at Wimbledon. Her game is very much tailored to grass and she takes these lefty slaps. She had more than 50 winners against Emma Ratakanu. She doesn't seem phased by the moment. She's already played center court. I mean there's a lot of reasons to back soon. But I just think a veteran like Donna Vekic against someone who has had to qualify to get in, I think you've got to play the percentages there, no.
Speaker 1:And I think was down a match point in second round of qualifying. So you tell me confidence isn't king or queen, and I'll tell you that you're as wrong as uh. Our picks in the draw show uh paolini navarro. This one I am.
Speaker 3:Uh, I'm very curious about uh who you're taking I'm all in on emma navarro and, uh, I don't know how you pick against her, but we're we're talking a lot about this Coco match and how organized and put together she was. She was good tactically, she managed the occasion we forget. She tuned and I mean this, this was like under an hour tuned Naomi Osaka on center court a few days earlier. I'm all in on Emma Navarro.
Speaker 1:I think she's got a real chance at this title. I'm going Paolini For the simple fact that I can deal with choosing against Navarro once and being wrong. I can't get past choosing against Paolini for the entirety of Roland Garros and the entirety of Wimbledon. I can't bet against her 10 times in a row and be proven wrong. I can deal with misdiagnosing the matchup and missing on Navarro once. I just I just think it's a different matchup. I mean Coco, you say tactically great, it's. It's as obvious a game plan against Coco as there has been against a great player. Right, I mean it's you, you, you, you just run trucks through the forehand side over and over again, Historically Like yes.
Speaker 3:You mean like yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean historically, like you, just everything right there as hard as you can you mix it up. If you go to the back and it's to open up that shot to the forehand, uh, again, um, osaka, movement on grass. Emma Navarro has become like she's been putting on a masterclass and guile mixing up spins. Uh, not letting someone get the ball in the same spot a couple of times unless it's by her design. Um, paolini is is quick. Nimble can create a lot of speed on that forehand side. That's not, you know, and not the type of speed that Osaka does, where it's like blunt force trauma. You know it's coming, like it's different. When you know it's coming and you're kind of you, you, you you go into like this anticipatory mode. Paolini will will put you to sleep a little bit and then it comes on you quick.
Speaker 1:I remember having this conversation with Agassi back in the day where his 124 serve always felt massive when it got to you because he had been Maddoxing you for the entire match, where he hit a 107 kicker and then threw 99 into your thing. So then he goes 124, and it feels bigger. I feel like Paolini has that a little bit On the forehand side. Tough to see Maddie keys go down the the the way she did. She obviously doesn't. No one deserves it. But you know I have a soft spot for for Maddie keys. But I like Paolini going through Penco, so you have Penco Svitolina. Who do you have in your final?
Speaker 3:Is this? Is it bananas to say that I have an Eminem bar? We've got to stop? Part of this is like yes, we should both be wearing a bloody butcher's smock for how bad we were, but some of this is just the comedy.
Speaker 1:You were worse than me. I didn't even have my player in the tournament. At least I have an excuse. You just fucked everything up.
Speaker 3:I've got, yeah, but like you like, go ahead, raise your hand. Raise your hand.
Speaker 1:If you had lulu, sun and uh and donna veckage, like let me, let me see your draw um, to be fair when we to be fair when we did our draw show, lulu soon wasn't in the draw right, so that would have been a tough one that would have been a tough one to pick. I don't know that I've ever picked anyone out of qualities to make the semis.
Speaker 3:We did. For the record, we did mention our guy Perry Card, and he was a lucky loser who had lost in qualifying. But anyway, I'm picking. I can't believe I'm saying that. I mean, this is a major. I'm picking Ostapenko and Emanuvaro in the final of Wimbledon. That, and Emma Navarro in the final of Wimbledon. That's not a line I thought myself I'd be uttering. And who wins that final in your world? Geez, I don't. No one knows shit about shit on this women's draft. Can we just establish that baseline right now?
Speaker 1:Great, so let's continue with that. Who do you?
Speaker 3:like, I think, emma Navarro. If Emma Navarro's level, put it this way if Emma Navarro's level does not drop off, I think she wins this time, the old, the old, the old, qualified prediction.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, when we say predictions, we're guessing. We're guessing based on this weird formula of form magic, who knows? Especially when, like the most reliable players in the game, are no longer in the tournament. Like it's, you know my strategy of who you want to bet against the least. I have no idea. Uh, I am going Rabakina to win the title. Um yeah, paolini makes her second straight grand slam final. I'm having a lot of scar tissue from Paolini proving me wrong. Like the last month of my life, half the days of the last month of my life has been Paolini saying don't underestimate me, you suck in in her country no less than a road game.
Speaker 1:I was eating Buffalo in her country being proven wrong every day last week, every day. And, by the way, for those who, well, I would say just tuning in, like we're a live show, everyone's been listening from the beginning, right? Anyways, my number three Wimbledon story was buffalo is great and buffalo mozzarella is great in Italy. This show, fucking hell.
Speaker 2:It's been a really Italian-centric show since we launched.
Speaker 1:This is an interesting one.
Speaker 3:Italians taking over tennis man. That is true, Something good is going to happen for them.
Speaker 1:They're going to have like two out of eight in the quarters.
Speaker 2:What's the wager? John has Navarro, you have Rabacna. What are we wagering here?
Speaker 3:I think a pound of Burrata. I think a pound of Buffer. No losers there. I think a pound of burrata. I think a pound of no losers there.
Speaker 1:Actually, this would be okay. So let's do this. Let's do. We're doing. We're doing some served live shows coming I will get we'll get more details on that, but we're going to take this tragic show on the road. Let's do, let's do a team dinner after one of our live shows and whoever loses has to pick up the tap for whatever serve team is there.
Speaker 2:We'll do Jeff Rubies in Cincinnati. How about that?
Speaker 1:Jeff Rubies in Cincinnati, or we have some New York live shows. If we're talking about Buffalo, just saying maybe it should be Buffalo centric, let's do that. Okay, we'll do New York dinner, maybe a little Campagnolo action sometime after a live show. That's what we're betting is dinner for the team which everyone gets Buffalo. I don't see any losers really, and mixed maybe some lollipop. All right, let's get to the men's side. Sinner Medvedev, this is like an interesting. It's like we talk about matchups, but I don't know that there's like a clearer thing of when someone, uh, confidence, uh, and all of a sudden they figure something out in a given matchup. Medi starts off six no against center, uh, in this matchup and center has won the last five. Uh, who do you like in this one, john?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you said it. Uh, Medvedev has not cracked this riddle. I don't think he does it on grass. I also don't love it when a guy he played eight games he didn't get a full quarterfinal match in. I'd like to see data on that. We always say, oh, he's going to come in fresh.
Speaker 2:It never works out that way.
Speaker 3:The rhythm is off For a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1:I like center yeah, I like center just because he's uh been the best player on earth. I think he's better on this surface and he's won the last five there. I don't think there's any reason to over complicate this. Um, I'm as confident as I can be, uh, with center in this match specifically. Um, while understanding that the guy on the other side of the net is one of my favorite players ever as far as problem solving, uh has been number one in the world, has won a slam um bet against the greats at your own peril, I like center going in this one. What about chucky alcaraz and tommy paul? This is interesting to me. Who do you got JW?
Speaker 3:I think Tommy Paul has a real chance. Alcaraz has not been great for the past few rounds. They're 2-2. I mean Tommy Paul's beaten him multiple times and Masters 1000 tournaments too.
Speaker 1:He beat him in Canada twice.
Speaker 3:That's not like a yeah, exactly, it's not like.
Speaker 1:Alcaraz was 17 and he played him in the Bologna. I just Buffalo Two and two you like. So does that mean you're going to pick?
Speaker 3:Tommy Bologna. I'm gun shy, I'm going to, I'm copping, I'm coward though I'm still going Alcaraz, but I could see this being yeah, I'll say Alcaraz, but I think this is like a 55-45 match.
Speaker 1:I agree. It's just I have a hard time betting against the defending Wimbledon champion who likes the service, who's just won Roland Garros. I love the way Tommy Paul is playing, beating Bublik 3-3-2 or whatever the hell. He beat him. He has been rolling, he's playing and this gets said too much when someone gets in a row he's playing the best tennis of his career right now. The fit with his game, him being intentional with moving forward when to pull line, his movement on grass. I like all things about it. It's just hard for me to bet against the Chuckster here, especially in an extended format in three out of five sets. I'll start with this one. One of my lone bright spots in the draw show was picking Taylor Fritz to get to the semis, and now it looks like Taylor Fritz is going to be in the semis. Are you going to choose Taylor Fritz over Musetti?
Speaker 3:I am. I think I had Musetti in the quarters though, who's been a very nice player. I think he's won double-digit matches on grass Mussetti.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 3:So I like Taylor Fritz in the semis, though this five-set win against Zverev, I think, really showed us something. I think he's the higher-ranked player, he's more experienced. I don't think there's any reason to pick Mussetti. Honestly, I like Taylor Fritz.
Speaker 1:Yeah, same. And there's a couple of things Musetti has been a master of. He's chipping his first serve, return, getting in play, actually similar to what we saw Wawrinka midway through his career make that shift where he would chip and then he would open up the shoulders on the next one and he had enough speed for that to work. Musetti's been doing that brilliantly completely chopped Paracard down, making that first return and then getting it in play, the difference being Musetti doesn't extend the returner on his serve. He's not like an unreal spot server, right. So Taylor Fritz is. If he, if Taylor's in his pocket, he is an elite ball striker and pacemaker, right. He can create speed and create that heavy flat ball If he's not getting extended, which means he's going to get looks at return.
Speaker 1:I just really, really like this matchup for Taylor Fritz and oh, by the way, don't worry about him physically. You never talk about him laboring. Maybe there's a build-up of fatigue, but in a given match you know he's proven, he can go the distance he plays like every single week he's kind of like the iron man of tennis, like he doesn't take weeks off ever. I like Taylor Fritz and and well deserved, after turning around that match against Varev. I'm going to start with the next one, with Demon and Joker. So did you see match point for the Demon? Okay, what was your? Now you explain it in your way, because it was very concerning to me.
Speaker 3:I mean, he sort of dismissed it. He's in this four-set match with Arthur Feast, a big, I think, a this four-set match with Arthur Feast on, you know, big, I think, a pretty high-quality match. I don't know if we ever really found out what happened, but Alex Diminor knocks off this volley and you think he's going to be all triumphant and this is a great win. And he's in the quarterfinals. And what does he do? He has this grimace on his face. He looks to his camp, who immediately looks as though he lost the set and didn't win the match and sort of. I think the word he keeps using is gingerly, um, he shakes hands, he does an interview. Something clearly is bothering him and concerning him. I'm not sure he ever quite said it looked like a lower back issue maybe, but something looked very off and he, he sort of won the match. But this was not much of a celebration, because he looked more concerned than he did, uh, exalted, I don't know. What did you, what did I miss?
Speaker 1:So the same exact thing. Uh, stretch volley hit a great volley, but then there was no celebration. It was almost like he was scared to like raise his arms or react it like almost felt like a, like a spasm or a slight pull of some sort. And this is just me projecting. I've obviously proven over the last month that I am no doctor. Um, but it was. It was concerning, and so, weirdly, the Novak demon matchup. I'm more concerned with demons, physical injury, I think, after seeing that, that I am with Novak, which is, hey, I mean, I guess the 2024 Wimbledon is like up is down, down is up. Um, you know what the hell is going on? Uh, I like Novak uh moving through. Uh, in that, in that one. Um, let's go back up top. This is, this is the interesting one, center and Chuckster, it's come to it. What are you going to choose?
Speaker 3:I think part of this is just it would be cowardly to uh, you know, cowardly to change my vote. This is the semi that we both predicted and I think I've got to go with the guy that won their last match and is the defending champion. Uh, this is a great rivalry. I think sinners probably looked a little better here Doesn't have the sort of the wow factor and the box office appeal. It's much more of a steady progression. So I'm talking myself out of this as I speak, but I think I got to dance with you, brunga. You know what we did enough. We did more reseeding than the groundskeeper. I feel like this is one of the few picks I got to stick with since we blew the others. I'll stick with the Chuckster, but not by much.
Speaker 1:I like Sinner. I watched the Sinner-Berrettini match. I thought it was as high a level of grass court tennis as I'd seen, just with the nuance and the slice and center. Uh, he, just he's turned into someone who you felt like was going to dump a ball three years ago at four all, and a breaker to someone who you don't think is going to dump balls at at big moments. Um, I like the way he's holding um. I think the chuckster needs to serve better. Um, he's going through long stretches against Umber where he was having a hard time holding Harvey, a hard time winning first serve points. If he in this matchup, I just think he's been the best player in the tournament. I think he's the most reliable bat that we have in this tournament so far.
Speaker 3:Is this the final?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:Does the winner of this match win the tournament?
Speaker 1:I think so, but I don't. It's not as if I'm going to say that and discount the person who's won more majors than any human ever.
Speaker 3:I didn't mean to insist, but do we think the person who wins the tournament is the winner of this match?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I hate it when people say is this the final? I can't handle that shit. I just think Sinner is the best player on Earth, specifically on the surface. He pushed him on clay to where it looked like he was going to win that match, and Alcaraz is way more native to clay than Sinner is. I think Sinner has turned into a great grass court player from last year to this year. I really do. I like the way the serve he can bleed you out wide on that deuce side. I don't know what you'd do if you were hitting that return, because you know that he can create pace to the other side. So I don't know how you really defend it.
Speaker 1:Fritz Novak, the matchup has been brutal for Taylor Fritz Like. I remember watching them in Cincinnati last year and wondering if he was going to win games and he ended up, you know, down a set and a break and then he kind of put some holds together. But you just can't go through, novak, and Taylor Fritz's sewer superpower is going through people right, the depth, the flat ball, the pace. It's just you, you, you do all of this stuff for very little reward. It's like treading water for four hours. You just don't feel like you can actually get anywhere. I assume you're taking Novak, and if you're not, I would love to hear why.
Speaker 3:I cannot take Novak, but I'd like to be contrarian here. I'd like to tell you that for one reason, a 37-year-old man off a knee surgery, who is complaining sometimes about his movement, would give me grounds. But I can't. What did we used to say about Serena too? You better get her early, because once she gets her teeth into a tournament, it's not dissimilar. Here, I think, the 37-year-old with the contraption on his knee, who went under the knife barely four weeks ago, I think, makes it to the final.
Speaker 1:You think Novak's going to do. Anyways, I can't, it's just too good. I love that. I'm going to watch that clip. I think it was so good. The good night line was great. That was a great line. What was the other one? I don't that clip.
Speaker 3:I think it was so good, like the good night line was great. That was a great line. You know, this is the other one. You know I don't have in front of me, but you know, I've, I've, I've faced hospital crowds. You're not going to get to me, yeah you can't get to me even though he's like acknowledging that.
Speaker 1:Okay, anyways, okay, center and Novak, or you have Alcaraz and Novak. Do you like the Chuckster over Novak again?
Speaker 3:I do. I mean, some of this is just you know. I mean I don't know what goes into this. Some of this is intuition and some of this is you sort of look at what other variables come into play. Some of this is just probability. Eventually, the 37-year-old guy has got to slow down, but I think we get a rematch of last year's final and I think we get a rematch of the. I think we get the same results.
Speaker 1:I am going to take Sinner to win this tournament. Took him two slams in a row, didn't work out. Hopefully this one is a little bit better. But I like Sinner in this. I just think he's the best player. I think he's the most reliable entity that we have left on the men's or women's side in this tournament. He's. He beat Novak in the semis and his home court in Australia.
Speaker 1:I, you know I could try to go on and on and on about center, but also just there was going to be we're. We're two matches further in on that knee wear and tear. You know, you just don't know. So half you you talked about some of this is just hedging your bet. I hedged with center against Alcaraz because Alcaraz has to play Tommy Paul, kind of the same thing with center, like a. I don't want to give up the winner, winner, winner, centered in. Okay, this show is just a mess. It's just a mess. I'll get better. I took a week off, sorry. I'll get better. I'll get better. I'm going to be. I'm going to be hitting my stride. I'm going to be like no back.
Speaker 3:I'm going to came in.
Speaker 1:It was a little needed to get get some Mike fitness back. Anyways, I like center over Novak. Not because anything in the matchup suggests that it's not fine for Novak. He's the best player we've ever had. I just think center, health-wise, tennis-wise, has been more reliable and I think he wins his first Wimbledon title. Mike, who do you like?
Speaker 2:I'm going to go with center also. I just think it's a no-brainer.
Speaker 1:Techie Sean Tommy Paul.
Speaker 2:Tommy Paul from the top rope.
Speaker 1:Tommy Paul I mean Sean was saying If that works, if you fucking call that, it's going to be served with Techie Sean.
Speaker 2:Sean was saying his dream finals would be Fritz and Tommy Paul.
Speaker 1:So it could be the social media. Can you imagine?
Speaker 2:The influencer final.
Speaker 1:I might have to fly back for that.
Speaker 2:I mean that would be ridiculous.
Speaker 1:I might have to that might be our first live event. Dude, I would.
Speaker 3:The All-American final Sean. You say this, Sean coming in from the top rope.
Speaker 2:Yeah, from.
Speaker 1:The top rope. I would be so happy to no longer be the question on Jeopardy. That would be fantastic. I would love it. That would be fantastic. I would love to see that. I think I would have to see it in person. I think I'd have to. That would be amazing.
Speaker 3:Wait, wait. Do we get that?
Speaker 2:Are we what? Just if that's the final, you're going to head out.
Speaker 1:I think I'd have to jump on a plane. I think all.
Speaker 3:American final you fly in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but not to be, like you know, thirsty, magoo, I feel like I'd fly over there and watch in a pub or something, just to be like on site. And then I wanted, I want to have drinks with whoever the victor is, that'd be fun. Um, anyways, that's, that's our show. Uh, producer mike, what else? What else we got?
Speaker 2:uh be sure to follow us on all social media channels, be sure to like and subscribe, and uh, leave your comments let us know. We read really almost all of them, laugh at most of them cry, cry it, it's um cry.
Speaker 1:Oh, we love the great fans. We love the psychopaths. It is what it is. We appreciate all of you. I can't believe we're still on the air, or whatever this is.
Speaker 2:Well, they can't kick us off.
Speaker 1:That's true. That is true. That's great, this is great. Yeah, this is great. We can just butcher a preview show and it's fine. Everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine. It's also fine when you use your Oslo sleep buds, who are the presenting sponsor. Throughout the rest of Wimbledon, john Wertheim has been doing the great work giving you the daily served updates. For week one I'm going to take over those duties. Week two I can't. I said duty. I'm going to take over those duties. Week two I can't, I said duty. This show is fucking God. I just I didn't know it could get worse. This is maybe the worst show we've ever done. Thank you for listening. Presented by Oslo sleep buds. I'll be checking in daily or thereabouts for the rest of the tournament. Jw, thanks for covering for me while I was eating cheese uh, in Italy. Thank you for listening. This has been served. Presented by Oslo sleep Boo. Good night, good night.