QUICK SERVED: WIMBLEDON DAY 10 RECAP - MUSETTI UPSETS, RYBAKINA & KREJCIKOVA ADVANCE, and DJOKOVIC CONTINUES

To start off Day 10, Alex De Minaur pulls from his slotted match with Novak Djokovic due to a hip injury he suffered from his last match with Arthur Fils. Elena Rybakina defeats Elina Svitolina while Barbora Krejcikova beats Jelena Ostapenko. Lorenzo Musetti takes advantage of the moment and upsets Taylor Fritz and advances into a semi-final against Novak Djokovic. Jon Wertheim got to spend some time with Novak Djokovic and shares more about his time interviewing the man trying to win his record breaking 26th Grand Slam.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

All right, welcome to Quick Served, presented through Wimbledon by Oslo Sleep Buds. We'll get right to it because we have John Wertheim on a short timeline, because all he does is work, work, work. Hashtag DJ Khaled, JW. What's been going on at Wimbledon today? Obviously, Rabakina rolls. Krichikova again, proves her credentials maybe the most forgotten woman on the WTA Tour until she finds some form. Demon had the default and we'll get to Massetti and Fritz as well. What else is going on around the grounds? How was the day?

Speaker 2: 0:43

Well, it didn't rain. That was uh, that was a plus, that was a first for this tournament. On second wednesday, uh, the matches were. You know, this wasn't necessarily the the best day of tennis. The women's matches were straight sets and the disappointing news with uh novak djokovic on the plus side, he did come by tennis channel and hang out with uh steve weissman and myself and he did an interview, um, but uh, yeah. And then taylor fritz went down in five sets, but uh, yeah, this, this will not go down as one of the great days in wimbledon history, but so it goes and we've got our semi-final set yeah, I, I want to get to that, uh, the the conversation that you had uh with novak, uh for for a ton of reasons, um, but let's run shop on the matches that went down today.

Speaker 1: 1:26

Obviously, rabakina rolling over maybe the sentimental favorite, svit Alina, who had played great the last couple of matches, routing on, jabbour winning one and two, last round, rabakina, three and two, looking pretty convincing the fit for her game on grass. We forget too quickly she won.

Speaker 2: 1:48

Wimbledon two years ago. Yeah, and it's not just the serve. Uh, she moves well on grass 19 and 2. I mean. Remember too there was, uh, you know she won two years ago under slightly awkward circumstances. She didn't get the ranking points reward, um, she had the sort of she was born in Moscow but played under the Kazakhs flag, so she was allowed to play and I think to some people that sort of colored that win. But I think she's really backed it up and she's played very well this year. She's just been sick. It hasn't been a conventional physical injury, it's been ailments and sickness. She's been very healthy here and yeah, I mean she was the favorite in the quarterfinal round and she's done nothing to dispel that here. And yeah, I mean she's.

Speaker 1: 2:26

She was the favorite in the quarterfinal round and she's done nothing to dispel that. Uh, svidalina, obviously a little bit disappointing today, but you know, listen on on merit um from the baseline, both hit flat. Uh, svidalina has become more aggressive, uh post motherhood, taking more shots where she used to be more of a counterpuncher. But that serve Rabakina, arguably the biggest weapon in women's tennis outside of Iga's footwork and mentality day to day when she's hitting all four corners makes it a very tough matchup. And I'm glad you said it because it's not just a serve. And then hope she hits the ball great off the ground. Uh keeps the ball down her forehand, especially to the cross court, uh side cross court inside in. Uh, she can really drill that side of the court and create space open to the back end. Uh, but she's cruising Um, she's gotta be the the the odds on favorite. Uh from here on out.

Speaker 1: 3:18

I think if she plays a you know, assuming everyone plays close to good tennis, I think weokina is a significant favorite. But we have underestimated Barbara Kachikova before. I think we both did a couple of days ago. What were your takeaways from that match? Because Penko had a hot hand coming into that one.

Speaker 2: 3:37

Penko had dropped the fewest games of any player in the draw and suddenly that total went way up about 20 minutes into this match. Rodriguez is very solid. She's sort of the purest favorite. Again she's won a major, so she knows what it's like to win seven matches. Not a lot of form this year. Get this. She's won 12 matches all year. Nine of them has come in majors. So quarterfinals in Australia, semis here, not a lot in between, not a lot of sandwich filling there. But you know she's a former major champion. She actually is two oh head to head against Rabakina Very good today. Um, I don't think she wins the semi, but uh, my forecasting isn't worth a whole lot.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Yeah, and it's weird. Some people, uh, you know, like I think I. My opinion is that we saw it with Taylor Fritz today, uh, which we'll get to in a second. But some people, I think, blink when they haven't gotten past a certain hurdle in a major before, or when the stakes get ratcheted up. I think it affects them a little bit.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Critique of it. It's almost the inverse. If she's playing a random first round in a place that only 300 people are watching, she's inconsistent, and then she clicks in for the majors, or maybe it's just if she has enough matches or hasn't been injured long enough, because she's certainly battled her fair share of injuries, but it certainly doesn't seem like she's going to be intimidated by the moment. Now she might lose, right, but that's not the same, those aren't one in the same. And we forget. She won the French open right, and she won singles and doubles in the same event. She won seven grand slams with Sini Akiba in doubles and a couple more in mix. Just a pros pro, big swings, right. So when you see someone who has large stroke production, it normally means that it's going to lend itself to inconsistency more often, right? You look at Novak, who doesn't look like a lot can go wrong with his stroke. So therefore, you don't, you don't see the variance, whereas when I was playing there was someone like Fernando Gonzalez who was spectacular, huge windup, right, so that could come and go, but when he got hot he would hit winners nonstop.

Speaker 1: 5:36

It feels like Kachikov, easy for me to say, is in that same mold. And listen, she won't be intimidated by by going into the, uh, the semis, uh, like that. But I still like, uh, rabakina, uh, to move on. I still like Paolini to move on, uh, you know, we'll, maybe we'll get the long and the short of it, uh in the final with Rabakina, paolini, uh, and then the, the, the, the new, the news, uh, early in the day, which wasn't entirely shocking. It was disappointing was we had talked about it two days ago, I had mentioned it yesterday. We didn't like the way those last couple points for the Demon looked in his win over Arthur Feese against Novak. I said I'm actually more concerned about Demon than I am Novak's knee. So that was surprising, but a disappointing press conference from the Demon.

Speaker 2: 6:35

Uh, so that was surprising. But uh, disappointing press conference from the demon, obviously you. You get to a major quarterfinal playing someone who's you know on on the top of the history books. What happened after that match point? You've never seen a less happy, more concerned looking winner and that doesn't look like the kind of injury that oh. I got a little treatment on my off day and now I'm 100 percent. I saw a bunch of the Aussies this morning and they sort of said hey, we'll talk to you after the match if there is a match. So this was clearly a concern. He was very game about it and sort of said you know, the two days ago he said well, you know, I'll get some treatment. I'm a little ginger now but I'm sure we'll get it worked out. Clearly there was a lot of concern and you just hope he's okay for the Olympics.

Speaker 1: 7:14

Yeah, and also we need to let it be said that there's a difference between feelings and, you know, not playing on something. This guy would have taken the court on no legs if there wasn't a risk of further injury. He does have a small tear in his hip, so it's not as if they got the scans yesterday comes back major injury. You don't want to turn a hip injury similar to Yannick Sinner before the French Open. He didn't want to turn an injury that is weeks into an injury that is months, know, weeks into an injury that is months, um, and and so you you always have to factor that in when there is real damage. And also this is matchup dependent too. Like there's just no, there's no way that the demon can beat Novak without his wheels. His weapon, uh, are his legs. He's one of the fastest guys on tour. You take that away. That's like me trying to beat Federer with a second serve. I couldn't beat him with a first serve, right, like. So you take away that thing and it's just not worth the offset of risk. It's not as if he's playing a Wimbledon final against an Isner where he might be able to get away with not moving at all, and maybe there's a hope and a prayer with him against Novak in that matchup. With a tear in his hip, compromised movement, it just wasn't meant to be so we wish him all the health in the world.

Speaker 1: 8:32

And then we get to Fritz and Musetti, which was surprising on a number of levels. I still think if they play tomorrow just based on balls and strikes and what Fritz does well versus what Musetti does well, surface, et cetera, et cetera, I don't know that Fritz lost this match physically. Credit to Musetti. He has figured it out. He is a veteran. He switched directions. He was masterful with the slice. Today it's like Maddox throwing 93 and hitting corners right Like you feel like you should get a hit on it.

Speaker 1: 9:06

But he never let Taylor Fritz get set for more than two balls in a row was mixing up height, that forehand line, then he would chip low. Just never let Fritz get to his comfortable spot which is just pounding balls, uh, from from the middle of the court with reckless abandon. He turned the match into an ugly one with Taylor Fritch, which is what he needed to do, and I just felt like Fritz knew he was the overwhelming favorite. You could feel that kind of tension, that energy the entire time he was dumping balls that he normally doesn't. This was, I have to imagine. I'm sure Taylor would tell you. This is probably as disappointing a loss as far as opportunities squandered that Fritz has had in his career so far. Am I wrong on that, jw?

Speaker 2: 9:48

Well, yeah, I mean, one addition is that we say he held up OK physically, but on the second to last point, taylor took a tumble on the grass and very, very gamely played out match point and sort of didn't, didn't retire when he could have. But I, you know we're talking 10 minutes after the match ended, so who knows. But I would be a little concerned about the way Taylor went down and was holding his knee two points from losing.

Speaker 1: 10:13

Yeah, let me interrupt real quick. He was down two breaks. The result was pretty much big at that point. So I'm giving more credit to the three hours and 40 minutes before, not the actual injury. But injury aside, I don't think he doesn't win that match.

Speaker 2: 10:28

No, I agree, and I think you're right on. I think these guys play, you know, 20 times on grass and Taylor probably wins 15 of them, but not today. Mussetti, he reminds me sort of Richard Gasquet. He has that one-handed backhand, that slice that stays low. I mean the other thing about this guy he's not known as one of the great closers. He's lost two five-setters to Novak Djokovic at the French Open in the last four years and today he lost that fourth set to Taylor and he sort of said, ok, we're regressing to the mean and the higher rank player, the player more accomplished, the older player is going to win. And Mussetti just came out and took that. He was a five love in the fifth set.

Speaker 2: 11:05

I think very flat final set from from Taylor Fritz. He's going to be disappointed and you know this is the balance players have right. On the one hand he beats Varev and what may have been the one of the biggest wins of his career came back two sets to love it's, he's on a high, and then he leaves with a really bitter taste in his mouth. Had never beaten Novak Djokovic and Musetti. It's only beaten him once either. So you know, at some level, uh, this was a especially big match for both of them. But um yeah, taylor just didn't have it. He seemed flat. I mean, you're right, it wasn't yesterday with center, there was an obvious physical compromise. We did not have that today. But this is one that I suspect Taylor Fritz is going to be very disappointed about, and again we'll see where this, this, this knee, is, because that that did not look good for the last 90 seconds of that match.

Speaker 1: 11:52

Yeah, I guess most importantly we hope health for for Taylor and the fact that he didn't do real damage. With a busy summer coming up, obviously we can criticize someone with the way they went about a match. That doesn't mean we don't hope for health for every single player or wrong with our concern. We would love nothing more than for Taylor Fritz to be healthy, knee injury aside. This is going to be a tough look in the mirror for a couple of weeks. This opportunity, if you tell Taylor Fritz at the beginning of the tournament, you're going to have no disrespect to him. Who said I couldn't be more impressed with the way he's getting through matches and breaking serve. By the way, against Perry Card took his serve apart, dismantled Taylor Fritz's serve, took his server part, dismantled Taylor Fritz's serve. I mean Fritz losing serve that many times. Uh, I would have lost our house, uh, betting on that. Um, so credit where credit is due. And also, if you tell Fritz that he has Musetti in the quarters of Wimbledon on grass, um, I guess if you're at Wimbledon you're on grass, but on grass in a major, um, he, he, he takes that all day, every day and twice on Sunday. So an unfortunate result that probably will leave some mental scar tissue. But also I just always find it fascinating the different mental sets, right, the mental pressure with taking out Azverev, who is established, who is ranked above you, who has been to the tail end of majors playing free. The fifth set there Taylor was letting it rip Tater Chip and then gets into this one and he just looked angsty from the beginning. Even though he wins that first set, the second set gets up a break. You're going okay. This might be one way. It was setting a break straight out of the shooter and then it's like he found a way to let Musetti into it, unfortunately. But credit to Musetti.

Speaker 1: 13:38

As we look forward to Musetti and Novak, I don't know. I like Novak in straights. I'm happy to be wrong. It'd be great if it was competitive. I just don't see, on a matchup basis, how Novak doesn't put 80% of his returns in play. He's not going to be extended and he is not going to be bothered by the switch of directions with that slice. With Musetti he's going to be able to take that ball and Novak's superpower forever has been his ability to switch directions. So I don't know that Musetti is going to be able to out-Novak Novak. So I like Novak moving forward. I'm assuming that you're not going to shock earth and choose Musetti over Novak in that matchup.

Speaker 2: 14:19

No, the, the, the variable, the 37 year old man four weeks removed from knee surgery is something that we don't even talk about. It's crazy. But no, I mean no, novak looks so good in his last. I mean, that may have been the best match he played all year against a whole Garuna just absolutely dismantled them. I don't think, you know, with other players you might be worried about the sort of change in rhythm that comes with not having to take the court for the quarterfinals. You don't worry about that with Novak. He has a superior head-to-head. You know why are we talking about this. If Novak beat Lusetti, he will be three sets away from the all-time major lead, male and female, and eight Wimbledons, exactly. But you know, for years and years and years, we're obsessed with the GOAT. For years and years and years, we're obsessed with who's going to have the most majors. Novak Djokovic is already the top male, of course, but he will also eclipse Margaret Court and will have 25 majors.

Speaker 1: 15:17

He's six steps away from that. I haven't heard that mentioned once. But to your question, I don't see Musetta getting it. I have a feeling we're going to hear it a lot more. John actually had some time with Novak to talk during his sudden off day found himself, and so I want to hear more about that. We're going to go to break real quick. This is presented by Oslo Sleep Buds. We'll be back in a quick second.

Speaker 3: 15:34

Andy question for you Heading into the semis of a major. You know how important is rest and recovery. You know in the tight turnaround your body's weak. You've played a ton of matches and how much would something like Oslo sleep buds been like a cheat code well, it doesn't have to be the semis, mike, I mean it can be.

Speaker 1: 15:51

You know you get nervous for random reasons. Sleep, uh, becomes a precious commodity real quick when you're watching the hand tick and you're worried about what you have to do the next day. And it's not just tennis, that's like life, right. I remember one time I think it was the round of 16 and 05. I was playing a guy named Guillermo Correa the next round, who was a great player but not like the best grass court player, heavy favorite, couldn't sleep Eventually, couldn't sleep Eventually, fell asleep at like six in the morning, slept for two and a half hours, skipped my warmup the next day, went out and played. Could he use the Oslo sleep buds that night?

Speaker 1: 16:24

I, uh, I promise you that the other time they would have come in real handy is night sessions at the U S open right. Sometimes you finish those matches two or three in the morning. You're off of your sleep timing, you're off of your sleep cadence. You can't sleep through it. Uh, I would have loved, uh, some assistance and something to just kind of reset, get me into my comfortable place. I've been going with babbling Brooke just because I can't get over the joke of it Cause my wife is broken. Uh, she's been wondering why I've just randomly been calling her babbling Brooke over the last two weeks. Hasn't been good for me. I should buy a helmet. What are the settings that you like, mike?

Speaker 3: 16:56

I'm a big fan of a rhythmic ocean.

Speaker 1: 16:59

Are you?

Speaker 3: 16:59

Yeah, I'm a big ocean guy, you know I like the ocean, it's nice and being here in Charlotte you don't, you don't get that anymore. I get it, you know. Altitude's pretty good too. It's just like a nice hollow, like just drums you out, drums you right to sleep, quiets my brain, Like you were just talking about, and much like a professional athlete, you know, preparing for these shows.

Speaker 1: 17:17

I, you know my brain is always running If you if you had ever seen, if you had ever seen like performance. That's funnier to me, cause if you had ever seen, uh, mike at a golf ball and then you would have heard him say that in front of other people, you would be dying. Uh, listen, I'll take the noise canceling feature anytime the challenge becomes a lot of. My voices were the ones inside my head when I couldn't sleep, so hopefully there's a setting for that at some place.

Speaker 3: 17:45

But you know what's cool? In a future upcoming update, they're going to be able to track when you fall asleep. They're going to be able to track your body analysis and environment, so they'll actually be able to know if it's just the noise inside your head, or if it's actually your environment.

Speaker 1: 17:58

And also you'll be able to create a data set of listen. It's not a coincidence that every time I put on Babbling Brook, I sleep a little bit better because I have a little chuckle and a little smile on my face. All that stuff matters. Definitely. Check out Oslo Sleep Buds. They have been a great sponsor for served and you can save up to $120. If they pre-order them now through our website, oslo sleepcom, we will be right back with some more Novak conversation, which on Wertheim now and we're back. Welcome back to served and we're back. Serve, presented by Oslo sleep buds. Jw, quickly, before we let you go, you had some time with Novak today. Give us a rundown. Where does he see himself? Is he happy to have the day off? Would he have rather played? There's been a lot of controversy this week. Did you guys get to that? What was the wrap session like with Novak?

Speaker 2: 18:52

we could, and perhaps at some point should, do a whole podcast on the complexity of this guy.

Speaker 1: 18:58

So last we saw Novak, I'd have to, I'd have to go into witness protection.

Speaker 2: 19:02

So you know, it's barely whatever less than 48 hours ago. He's just this controversial figure. He wins the match. We, we all had a good, you know, we all had fun with a good night. I don't know if he's on this BBC interview. Um, and everyone and everyone, you know he's playing the heel. It's Novak embracing his villain. It's a thousand columns and hot takes on social media Today. He wins by. You know, he wins by retirement.

Speaker 2: 19:26

Didn't even have to show up on the grounds, came here and was happy to come to Tennis Channel and talk with Steve Weissman and me and was delightful. It was daddy day, so he had both kids in tow and brought them out and this was a father at take your kids to work day. He was thoughtful, he was funny, he was intelligent, he had no, no time pressure. I mean I don't know how long this interview was, but it wasn't like he was looking at his watch and they were saying wrap it up. I he is such a complicated guy, I mean just sidebar I thought maybe I missed something. So I asked the officials from Wimbledon. I said, hey, listen, in that match against Holger Rune, did security ever get called or was there any concern with the chair umpire. Was anyone complaining about booing fans? First we ever heard of it. Remember a few years ago how he used to. He said he heard Novak, novak when they were really cheering Rafa, rafa. I think it was reminding me of that. He heard booze when they were just saying rune, but that's what motivated that was sort of this catalytic event. But anyway, here he is. He's got his kids in tow. He could not have been more outgoing. This was nothing mandatory whatsoever. Uh came by the studio. We, we brought his kids up on uh, up up into the chairs and they were part of the interview. His daughter we said who's going to win Wimbledon? His daughter said you know Novak, your daddy is. And his son said well, you know, I mean Novak's a favorite, but you never know, it's sports. Anyone could win. Step on it. It's a very immediate trade.

Speaker 2: 20:52

You would have thought this guy was. You know you would vote for him. I mean it was a lovely, relaxed father on his off day. You would never know, a that this guy was two matches away from winning for the eighth time. B that he had any stress in his life whatsoever. It was like the camp counselor and you definitely wouldn't have known that less than 48 hours ago he was this lightning rod for controversy. This is the complexity of Novak Djokovic. It was I just you know. Again, we will roll this out at some later date, but it was a delightful. You probably see the interview on Tennis Channel. I hope they put it on the socials. It was just sort of a free flowing, sometimes earnest, sometimes funny. This is dad and the two kids and mom's home and it's his 10th anniversary and what should I get her? And I mean, you would never know this. Was it all a controversial figure? It's all part of the uh, the many layers of novak djokovic it's.

Speaker 1: 21:47

It's unreal because you see the footage from the days he plays and I I'm gonna relate to this because and I hope I know that when we cut and paste this segment, this part won't be in it I was a nightmare to be around on days that I had to play Like an unequivocal, stressed out, anxious nightmare, didn't want to talk to anybody, was short with everyone. I mean, you probably saw this from where you were, john. I needed time after matches to think I was emotional, I was reactionary, I had regret about stuff that I said or the way I dealt with people. No problem, so I fully understand that thing. But like his on days versus his off days is like I'm going to take on the entire center court crowd. Right, I'm going to, you know, single out 11 angry Danish people saying Runa, you know whatever it is. And then an hour later I'm going to redirect three questions on center court back to the thing that I want to talk about, that I'm pissed about after this win. And then an hour later, I'm going to walk out of an interview when someone asks me about the thing that I kind of did and created. I redirected four questions back to this thing on court, but then we're not allowed to talk about it once I decide it's over.

Speaker 1: 23:09

It's a confusing place to be when you're asking the questions and then on the off days, it's like MVP mode, like he's rolling up the tarps. He's like MVP mode, like he's he's rolling up the tarps. He's with his children. You see this personal side of him. Um, I, I can totally relate to it because I was a different human. Uh, you know, the last day I played tennis and the first day of the rest of my life, uh, people say that I wasn't the same human. So I, I, I fully understand it. It is complex, uh't always make sense when we're in the moment. I certainly said and did things that I wouldn't even think about doing if I wasn't in the heat of the moment and fully, kind of on one or full of adrenaline. But listen, he'll keep us guessing. You know, the next time we're positive he's going to do or say something will be the first time. But listen, the one thing that you cannot get past is we're allowed to disagree with people. We're allowed to question anything. That's kind of what we do. I was questioned many times. Sometimes I was right. A lot of times I was wrong. Numbers don't lie. And he wins this tournament. He will be tied with Roger Federer for the most men's singles titles of all time. He literally will be chasing ghosts men's tour, women's tour. He wins this. There's nothing in front of him. Let that settle in. You can have your opinions. You can not like certain things. You can question certain things. You might like someone else more. You have to pay attention to the numbers and respect game which he has over and over and over and over.

Speaker 1: 24:42

I didn't have him in this tennis tournament. I didn't think he was going to be able to recover from knee surgery at 37 years old in time to play Wimbledon, much less not have it be a drag on the rest of the year. I'll start. I was wrong, right. The year I'll start. I was wrong, right. I also don't think you can create an entire thing on center court and then get mad when someone asks you about the entire thing that you created. So I was wrong on that one. Maybe he was wrong in that one. What am I missing, john? You?

Speaker 2: 25:08

want a hot take.

Speaker 2: 25:10

Always, your two big rivals that have been pushing you and elevating you for almost 20 years are not on the scene. You've been chasing numbers, but the numbers have kind of lost their edge now that you're atop them. As, what is going to be this catalyzing, what is going to motivate you? Well, two things. One is this new rivalry, new rivalry you have with time. You think you can take my knee. You know what I'm going to be back there in a major semifinal five years later, five weeks later. That'll show you. The other thing that you can use to motivate yourself is you can concoct and confect your own controversy.

Speaker 2: 25:41

So not a single person in that stadium heard booing. There wasn't a single security complaint. The chair umpire never said please quiet down. This was completely in his head. But it was in his head and that's what motivated him. And I mean the bottom line is like look, if this is what's going to keep this guy playing tennis and out here, come up with any motivation you want. But I think he has really elegantly taken the, the motivation of roger and rafa, and transition that to the motivation of this rivalry with time and this rivalry with sort of these controversies that he creates himself listen, if I was losing to someone I should have been losing to and I had to get into a fight with an umpire.

Speaker 1: 26:20

Create some sort of thing, as long as it's within the rules, I would do it. I have done it. Not to the level of I didn't thrive under friction the way that Novak does. I often wasn't proud of it after I did it, but survive, advance, hopefully, find form, do it again.

Speaker 1: 26:40

Anyone who says that he is not capable of creating friction and that he doesn't play well with those circumstances and now maybe he has to create it because his two rivals are gone is just watching something else. Right, and he is setting himself in. Listen. When he did that thing with Runa the other day, I'm like uh-oh, uh-oh, here he goes and this is going to be, we're going to see it. And now he's in the semis and you're saying I mean, is he the favorite?

Speaker 1: 27:11

I haven't thought he was a favorite at any point in this tournament. And now I don't know, honestly, like when he starts doing this trouble, trouble, the, the, the weirdest thing I've ever seen in the history of Novak's career and playing against him and everything else was when he was going for the calendar year slam right Every person in that stadium at the U S open when he lost to Medvedev. Every person in that stadium went to that stadium wanting to see history. That day he walks out of the tunnel, 95% of the crowd is going crazy for him and it was almost as if he didn't have that friction to respond to and was mentally it was off. It was jarring.

Speaker 1: 27:51

Yeah, it wasn't the same. He didn't have that friction mechanism of which he thrives under. Some people like it free and easy, they thrive that way. Some people like it more complicated, they thrive that way. Some people don't want to think about tennis on off days, some people only want to think about tennis all the time. We all tick differently. Do not argue with him creating friction, because at this point we know that that is what he does. He has a chip on his shoulder and he's the best we've ever seen at that.

Speaker 1: 28:18

Mcenroe is a comp. He would blow it up if he needed to to create some sort of friction, to really get into that mental space where it's him, you know, against the rest of the crowd, against his opponent, against the world, whatever it is. Uh, it just, we just all tick differently. You can't argue with the results. You might not like the way he gets there, but you can't argue that that's. The best version of him is when he has some sort of angst, friction with something else, and then you know he takes, uh, he takes the day off of friction, apparently on off days, I don't know. But uh, listen, you can't. You can't argue with the results of it. Uh, jw, get out of here. We know you have a million things to do. Uh, thanks for checking in. This has been Served, brought to you by Oslo Sleep Buds. We'll catch you tomorrow.