Hey guys, welcome to What's the Call the podcast where sports
meets side eye. We're here to breakdown the
matches, the meltdowns and the moments that make us pause and
say, what was that call? I'm Theo.
I'm Andrea. And we're glad you're here.
Whether you're sports obsessed or just here for the drama,
there's a seat for you courtside, so let's dive in.
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to What's the Paul.
It is Day 2 of Roland Garros, very exciting.
And we have Tamara Pran of the Daily Mail back with us today.
You're our Slam correspondent, Tamara.
It's starting to feel like more than an honour.
It's my duty to come back towards the call and I'm so
happy to be invited back. Thank you.
Maybe this is the slam where the takes are so off kilter that I
finally get banned, cease and desist from What's the call?
I'm hopeful not, but I'm like, you know, in the conditions that
we have where, you know, Sinner is so dominant and there's not
really that rival me. Suggesting Valentine Basharo as
the one who's going to win the French Open could be the take
that finally kills my ability to come back on this podcast.
But for now, I'm very happy to be.
Here, no. We will always have you back, no
matter what. We love your takes like we love
your takes. Yeah, so.
Yes, Welcome back, everyone. By the time this episode comes
out and you guys are listening, half of what we say could
already be irrelevant, but we're going to focus on the vibes, the
chaos, the drama of the first 48 hours of the tournament.
So yeah, should we jump in? Let's do it.
So should we start with, in true, I guess, British fashion,
talking about the weather because it is so hot?
We're all in London, but it is almost as hot here, I think, as
it is on the clay courts of rolling arrows.
What do you guys think? Oh yeah.
I guess we have similar attitudes towards the heat as
they're having in Paris and other tournaments, like, you
know, Melbourne, the US, they're going to be more prepared for
hot conditions. They're more air conditioning
literate. So I feel like you really
appreciate the heat even across the Channel because you're like,
there's nowhere to hide at the French Open.
Those courts, are they like look like they're on fire because the
clay is already so hot. And to add in the sort of bright
white of the seats, people taking cover in the shade where
they can, but it's so hot. I cannot fathom what playing in
these conditions must be like. And I think for a lot of the
players it must be a challenge too, because maybe they're not
so used to it at this time of the year.
Absolutely. Yeah.
I feel like Andrea, you and I were at Roland Garros.
Like covered in blankets. It's unseasonably warm.
It's. So hot and for May it's
ridiculous. Feel like your body needs some
time to acclimatize to it. And look, I'm putting myself in
the position of the players. I can't even begin to imagine
what they're going through. Brutal, brutal conditions.
It does feel like we have spoken this into existence by, like I
mentioned, Yannick Sinner being that kind of man alone out in
front and there have been so many circular discussions as
people work out how he can possibly be stopped when he is
at his best. There is just no chink in the
armour of his game. He is so comprehensively
talented, it's hard to find a weak spot.
And in the past, the thing that has come under discussion the
most have been how he can sometimes be under pressure in
inclement sort of weather conditions.
And then also with, you know, the duration of his matches.
And if he's taken to five sets, how often that's the kind of fly
in the ointment when he's really pushed past the sort of, you
know, multiple hour mark. And if there was going to be a
place to put that to the test, it's surely here where there is
no Carlos Algaraz to put him to the sword in another like,
amazing final like last year's. That's a shame to miss out on.
But we do now have a kind of new narrative, which is like, what
has he done to improve his physical resilience?
Because that's kind of the final piece in the unstoppable puzzle.
100% I feel like we've seen multiple instances of yeah,
Yannick cramping and vomiting, puking on the court due to like
extreme conditions such as these ones.
So yeah, very curious to see how the heat might affect him given
that history of cramp. I feel like he definitely is
going to be pushing for those night sessions for himself and.
They'll give them that good. Thing good thing, yeah, good
thing he's #1 because if you're world number one, you kind of
get what you want. Like and he's not playing until
Tuesday, so and Tuesday I think it cools down a little so.
I mean, to be fair, I still think it's going to be boiling
for him, but he'll be in the shade.
I saw he's scheduled for a night session tomorrow, so lucky him.
But yeah, do we think that this might this might spice things up
a bit in the drawer because the draw already on the men's side
at least. Like maybe we talk about this
now like it's depleted. Like there's no Carlos, there is
no Rune, there is no Mercetti, no Draper and also, sadly, no
Arthur feasts. He pulled out a couple days ago
as well. So yeah, I feel like, you know,
if those sort of clay quarters aren't in the mix, maybe the
heat will take it, too. I think it's sort of as downbeat
as I've felt looking at a men's side before a Grand Slam kind of
in this new era, if we can call it that over the past few years.
Obviously because of the physicality and the amount of
matches on tour, there are always high profile withdrawals.
You're never going to have a completely overstuffed slate.
But I think what all of those players that you've just named,
how in common is they all on their day have a chance of
delivering something just special enough that could see
them making the semi finals, making the finals or even
perhaps in 36° weather, winning the tournament and the Feast 1
took me out. It's really upsetting that he
hasn't been able to enjoy his home slam at the seeding and at
the point in his game where he would really be getting the best
courts, the most adulation and the ability to to really go deep
and so sort of to miss 2 French Opens in a row feels brutally
unfair. And even though, OK, he's he's
still very young, so we can't count him out too quickly.
But it is the sort of thing that perhaps maybe even in his mind,
like Draper, who's also missed a couple of consecutive grand
slams. Can my body perform for me as I
need to consistently throughout hopefully sort of 15 more years
of career? Because these kinds of high
profile consecutive absences are very concerning from a physical
standpoint, but also from a mental standpoint.
Even if he's fit as anything going into next year's
tournament, and hopefully he is, you'd still have in your mind.
The last time I was on Chatrio was three years ago.
I was a different person and and how do I do it now, now that
this is a kind of unfamiliar space for me?
At his age, 3 years is it's a it's a long.
Like it's a very sort of critical time.
Like it's a long. It's a huge chunk of his career.
Yeah, missing out on. Yeah, I mean, Andrea, I know
you're a big Feast fan, so how you?
Feel yeah, I'm so disappointed because he was having otherwise
a really good season. You know, he won Barcelona and
and it's yeah, I had had really high hopes for him in in his
home tournament. So it's it's a massive let down
and you know, I think there are a lot of discussions that we can
have about the men's game right now.
Obviously, you know, they've been plagued by injuries and
that's, I think, you know, there's like a wider discussion
around what, like the length of the tour and the what these
athletes are having to put their bodies through.
But also it's just, I don't know, it just feels boring.
I'm sad. Like I'm not, you know, I I'm
not excited about this tournament like you tomorrow.
Who? I mean, yeah, I just, it's, it's
a sad one. Yeah, it's, it's, it's tough.
And like you say, it is longer conversation.
And I feel like it is a whole big debate and one that does
need to be addressed, like as in how impossible the tourists were
going physically for these guys. Arthur Feast was, however,
present last night at Djokovic's first round match against patchy
Perry Carr. He was in the crowd cheering
Giovanni on. I don't know if you guys saw
that clip, it's quite funny and obviously got called out for
cheering against Djokovic. Just like, no, that's not what
he was doing, but OK. I wonder how painful it must be
to because he he withdrew pretty early on Saturday and you know,
just over 24 hours later you're back.
You want to support like it's a huge event for French tennis.
Why would you stay away? Of course.
But it must be really tough to be like, I'm on this show
called. I'm on the biggest court as a
spectator. I have no hope on sort of
playing on this court and I just have to watch one of my
countrymen unfortunately sort of be kind of taken to school by
Djokovic. I don't know how they do it.
I guess you know, Lacoste is going to want him in the box.
And it's fun to watch tennis and you play tennis, you love
tennis. But I don't know, I think I
might have to lay low and and avoid that side of town, that
side of Paris for a while if I was forced to pull out on the
eve of the tournament. Yeah, I feel like there's, I
think we've spoken about this before, like two kinds of
reactions. One reaction would be like, I
don't want to know about what's going on.
I just need to, you know, completely disconnect or like,
you know, the other, I guess even him being there and be I
can't, I can't believe he was actually there as a spectator on
the court. Like, OK, good for you.
Going to sight is crazy crazy. Like, tuning in on the TVI feel
like most of them probably couldn't stay away because it's
just like, in the DNA and they need to, like, stay abreast of
what's happening. But like, going to the
tournament must be tough. So, yeah, I mean, hopefully he
makes a speedy recovery. He didn't quite get his
countrymen over the line, although he did win one set
against Djokovic, which is obviously never an easy feat.
But how do we think Novak Djokovic looked last night?
I mean, if I was 39 and I was hauling myself out to Paris and
I have played about 5 minutes since the last Grand Slam and I
had to play in sort of 32° dusk, I would maybe also look a little
laboured at points. Fair enough.
But again, I think if you are Djokovic, this is just an
opportunity for you to feast on on the draw because you are
missing one of the nailed on contenders for the final.
There has already been established quite recently that
there is a chasm between the rest of the tour and what you
are able to do to the kind of the new big two.
You're thinking I'm going to ring this tournament dry.
That's maybe a sweat metaphor too far.
But you are, you know, I think the he he obviously is a
competitor who and, you know, I think as he has got older, as
those opportunities have decreased, he he is even more
willing to put his body on the line in pursuit of 25.
And I think there are sensibly no other players on the tour who
would go into a Grand Slam as sort of undercooked.
I mean like as pretty as much fitness.
I mean, except possibly Radicano is the only other one.
I know who has. Potentially played less than
Djokovic. And I do think that it will be
Wimbledon where he's like, this is as good as it's going to get,
obviously with the sad Alcaraz news.
But where's the fun in thinking I'll just, I don't know, go to,
you know, go to Stuttgart and get really hot on grass.
It's like, no, you want to chase that 25 now.
And so, OK, it wasn't vintage, but I am still quite shaken by
what he was able to show at the Australian Open.
Yeah, where he took Sinner out as well, so.
This is, this is the thing. It's like 1.
One is certainly, I mean kind of enjoys the flames of hell and
torment and crowd aggravation and difficult conditions versus
another player who is much more sensitive to atmosphere
interpretation. Sure.
And right, you know that maybe undersell Sinner a bit, but it's
a slightly different type of contrast to Alcaraz and Sinner,
but it is a contrast nonetheless.
That would make it really interesting if he was to reach
the final, but we're quite far away from that.
We are and we're going to make predictions at the end, so let's
see if they make your cut. But Andrea, are you liking his
chances? What do you think?
I mean, I I came to never count him out.
I still don't love his chances. I would love for him to make it
far and be competitive and make it to the final.
I hope it's Sinner Jock, which final?
That's the best case scenario for me.
But I don't have a lot of belief.
Maybe it's sad because, I mean, he played well and obviously not
like what you're saying about, you know, not having any sort of
match fitness, but he kind of looked his age.
He did and but like equally, he looked like he was enjoying
himself out there. He was kind of like I'm the man.
I don't know if you guys saw his like post match victory dance.
If you're like, yeah, I mean he literally does not give a fuck.
Like he's just like. Interesting.
Yeah. Like, deeply cares.
You know, he clearly, like, deeply cares about being liked
and also about breaking records and continuing to win.
And it's this weird thing where he's still going even though, I
mean, will he continue once he gets to the point where where
he, like, you know, can't compete just because he's still
enjoying himself? I I don't know.
But he does look like he's enjoying himself.
Also he I'd like, I don't know, he just has this new level of
swagger. Like he came onto the court with
his like weird ass windbreaker. I don't know if you guys saw it,
but like if this gets clipped, we'll put a picture up.
If not, look it up. It's like sort of, I mean,
windbreakers are all the rage right now.
I wear them myself. But this one's like looks like
it's like a bin bag hanging out the back.
It's just really ill fitting. And then he has like, I thought
it was just like messy clay on the back because it's the same
colour, like that rust colour. But then I look, took a closer
look and it's actually like the shadow of a wolf.
And apparently the wolf, he said in press afterwards.
The wolf is his spirit animal. I did do a quick wolf deep dive
because I was like, I was like, OK, I was like Novak politics
wolves, grey wolves. And then I was like, oh, I think
it could be quite literal. Apparently highest concentration
of grey wolves in Europe, in Serbia.
So we are on our conservatist bent.
Perhaps there is some sort of conservation message that he has
for us. And I could see him being Wolf,
you know, he, he. Does give wolf energy.
Shaggy grey lone wolf forced to hunt on his own after his two
former hunting companions were tired.
That is a good take, I like that.
But I think he was also the lone wolf in that in like the big
three as well. You know, he felt like kind of
always like the outsider in that relationship.
Exactly. I think we might be about to
cosign the jacket. So I think starting off with
your sort of seemingly negative tone, we are now 100%.
It. Just needs to be tailored a bit
better. Like, I know the bottom just
looked bad, but I'm sure he doesn't care.
So you know what Novak, keep doing.
You enjoy having that wolf imprinted on your back, and
let's see if the lone wolf can take everyone else down.
I'm sure there's some sort of fable about foxes and wolves.
We'll have to make sure that the Roland Garros social media team
are correctly briefed if they do meet in the final, because that
would just be a wasted opportunity from a social media
standpoint, I'm sure. Absolutely.
Well, you heard it here first. OK, so honestly, for me, the
biggest story on day one was Arthur Gaya's unfortunate
diarrhoea situation on court. Like it's only day one and we
have another like stomach saga at the Slams.
We had Kabali in Australia and now we have Arthur Gaya at
Roland Garros. So for context, he was his first
round match against Karen Hachinov and at a certain point
he got the runs in the middle of the match, to which he goes to
the umpire. He goes, do you speak French?
I've got the shits. I need to go to the bathroom.
I can't move anymore. I'm going to shit on the fucking
court dying, honestly. Then there was there's this
whole thing like, is it an illness?
Can we call the physio? He's like, I want the doctor now
where's the doctor? Like I can't hold it in.
So he goes on to like continue the game and then like literally
on game point, he actually wins the game at like 4-2 and he's
just like mid like stroke. He wins the game.
He's like running into the like corridor to go to the bathroom.
I still his racket in his hand. Relieves himself, comes back and
like, yeah, I mean, he wins the game, but he obviously lost free
love, I think. I think being able to finish the
game under those conditions is incredibly impressive.
So impressive, So impressive. The whole thing is just
hilarious and Barstool reposted it and it's gone viral so poor
guy. It's a hard way.
I think it's his debut. Is it?
I think it's potentially his his debut because he's a French wild
card, I think. But for someone who is, you
know, lower ranked and maybe hasn't had a lot of experience
playing their home Grand Slam, that is a punishing way to
become memorable, I think. Yeah, because undoubtedly this
will be what he's remembered for in this slam, at least.
Yeah, it is. There's no way of sugar coating
it. I think the most positive thing
I can say is that the I think if you are a tennis fan, you have
become so much more aware of the various gastrointestinal issues
that players are forced to compete and contend with on a
regular basis. I feel like over the past year
we've had Sinner casually throwing out that he had a sort
of a little diarrhoea, but then ultimately he was completely
fine, Went on to make the US Open final Kabali, Madrid, where
I think a virus kind of ripped through most of the pack.
There was some suspicious shrimp at Acapulco, OR.
That was Madrid. That was Madrid, but Acapulco
also shrimp. Tacos.
There is Acapulco. There's always, always.
It's in the, it's in the water. In the water in Mexico.
I. I think, I think I must have.
I must have read an article by someone who had been carefully
briefed by the tournament. The shrimp tacos had disappeared
from that. Oh no, it definitely wasn't the
third. Yeah.
That's good. For them, I knew.
Shrimp was in in the mind and so you know, this is becoming part
and parcel, but perhaps the sort of butterfly flapping its wings
was Sinner throwing up in the bin that then opened the door
for Jack Draper mopping up his own sick at the back of the
court with a towel. 2024. I sound like a historian of
bodily fluids. This is extremely unappealing
for me, but let's just say it, it's the right sport.
For it to have happened to Arthur Herron, it could have
been much worse. I know, but poor guy honestly.
Obviously horrible speedy recovery and like, I mean, but
also like creds that he was just out there absolutely like
shouting about it, like every mic picked it up.
Yeah, I'm going to shoot on the fucking.
Floor. He's never forgetting Imodium
ever again. He's he's learning from this.
Hold it in, it's coming out. Oh God.
Oh my God. We talk about this too much on
this podcast. I mean, I clearly it's, it's
what's happening. It's a thing, it's a thing, it's
a thing. It is what's happening.
It's it's a tennis trend at this point and it's important to stay
on top of the news and that was a important line idea.
OK, so more chaos. We want to talk about Arena
Sabalinka's, like, fashion crises, plural of the week
because she seems to have many at the moment.
So First off, she's getting in trouble for walking on court
with a Gucci bag. This was in Rome.
But still, it's like a life story hadn't been resolved.
Apparently she walked on court with one of the latest Gucci
bags, which is as far as I understand not allowed because
players should technically only bring quote UN quote sports
equipment onto court. I really remember when Gucci
gave Sinner his bag to carry on court because I seem to remember
a lot of sort of PR fuss about this Is groundbreaking, the
first sort of high fashion bag on a tennis court.
And it had to be really heavily cleared with Wimbledon, which
doesn't surprise me massively because of all the grandstands
to choose, it's of course the one with the most stringent
rules. But I think at the time, even
though it wasn't a racket bag, they clearly successfully made
the argument that it was a sports bag.
Well, yeah, and a lot of players carry a second bag, they carry
their racket bag and then like a second bag with like kit or
whatever in it. And so, you know, it was
probably a polite but fairly standard conversation about the
logos and whether that would be an issue that his sponsors would
be giving him a bag. And they're not a traditional
sort of sportswear company. Whereas Sabalanka, that was just
a that's. Just a nice post.
That's exactly, that's like a nice bag that could be anything
to anyone, like shopping bag, nappy bag, sports bag, whatever.
You're taking it out to lunch. And I think there is a
potentially a, a more specific argument maybe needed to be made
with the organisers at the tournament that it wasn't just
fashion, it was a, it was daring, which is probably why
Gucci chose Arena Sabalenka in the 1st place.
If you had to say without knowing who the story was about
a player brought a designer bag on a court, it would be her
Sabalenka. Girl loves her fashion and she's
also an incredible, uncomplaining spokeswoman.
So God, if you give her a contract, she will take the bag
on court. But I I do think she was perhaps
poorly advised. And once again, you know, this
is a joke, but you know, Sina managed to play by the rules and
do something illegal. But Sabalenka has been caught by
the powers that be. And is that Italian buyers for
Sina? Absolutely.
I mean, I'm sorry, as Sooner's bag is a weekend duffel, like
what's the date, right? You know, I think it's so silly.
It's a silly rule. And I also think, yeah, I mean,
you can argue for whatever, like Saba like his bag maybe being
more of a purse, but still it just it's bad optics.
First of all, because you can directly compare the two be
like, OK, clearly you know, the rules are more in favor or like,
yeah, there's like bias for Sinner.
But yeah, it's, it's silly, I think.
I agree with you. And I think because what perhaps
the rule is in place for is to ensure that it doesn't become
open season for sponsors to let you to walk on court to, to
allow you to go on to court with anything, you know, bag charms
or extra pieces of clothing. But you have seen Muzetti come
on in a Bottega Veneta, you know, leather bomber, you're not
going to be playing tennis. And that all manner of players
will push the boundaries with fashion that they then remove
and do not allow to kind of get in the way of of their game.
And I don't understand why there would be a specific reason why
Sabalanka can't make the case. I want to bring my T-shirts, my
water bottles in a smaller bag where I have my racket bag.
I don't want to, you know, put too much weight in that or carry
another duffel. Why couldn't bring in a smaller
bag? Yes, yeah.
Well, so apparently her team like responded to outreach that
they received saying that they got special permission.
But I also heard that she might be fined so.
They should have Gucci pay the fine and then work out some
creative way to give her something else for her next
tournament. Absolutely.
Well she clearly doesn't care that much because she's also
already posted about she has not yet taken to the court at Roland
gals but she's already posted about the insane jewelry stack
that she has Co designed with I think some Miami like jeweler.
This time it will be matching her red and black outfit.
It is rubies and diamonds galore.
I don't know if you guys have seen it but it's insane.
I love this. Necklace.
It's actually 3 necklaces. So I, I was running around on
Saturday, you know, not a work day, trying to find the details
about this necklace when she first posted because I needed to
know more and we wanted to do a piece on it, which we now have
done. And I managed to successfully
rouse the PR development for material good.
And they very kindly sent over details about what the necklaces
are. And it's it's three separate
necklaces. She's playing in two at the
moment. Who knows?
If temperatures drop and she thinks, no, no, give me another
one. Or perhaps she'll obviously wear
all three for press for on court interview.
It's going to be snapped on like lightning.
You don't want that rattling around in a tennis bag.
You want to put that in a tiny Gucci bag?
Exactly. It's.
Making more and more sense here. And yeah, it is the most
stunning piece. I think it's 200 carats of
garnets and it's worth 120,000 as born in the three together
and it's unbelievable. It goes very nicely with her,
her kit. I think I prefer it to because
she first kind of debuted the partnership at the Australian
Open where she wore these amazing chandelier earrings and
then a big diamond necklace that had a big pendant like an evil
eye, which, you know, kind of mixed fortunes didn't entirely
protect her. But this one I think is really
nice and really wearable. So if you have if you have
£120,000 material good will be able to to sort you out.
There you go. And you know what?
I might blind a few opponents in the process.
Yeah, exactly when if the sun hits.
She was practicing with Zhengshan Wen and she said I had
to ask her about the necklace. I really wanted to ask her if it
was heavy playing in it, but I felt embarrassed like and asked
her and I was like God, if I was in that there is in press room,
that's basically the first thing I would be asking her is. 100%.
What kind of neck strength, it's like, I don't know.
It's like Formula One drivers and Arena Sambanker are the ones
putting their necks through the most amount of stress when they
when they compete. Literally too good.
Well, also on the red and black. Obviously her match kit, so Nike
accidentally sabotaged her because they had her teaser like
a week ago or she's like a TikTok like outfit reveal for
Roland Gauss. So they really stitched her up.
So they basically put the outfit on sale like you can buy it on
the Nike website before she even stepped out in it.
And so Oksana Select Select Metaphor clearly just went and
bought herself the outfit because she stepped out in it in
her first round match against Marta Kostyuk, which she lost
yesterday, and fully just took Irina's moment away from her.
Wait, Andre. Oh my God.
Is she sponsored by Nike? No, she's just.
No, she doesn't have a sponsor. She doesn't have a sponsor, so
she can wear whatever she wants. But Nike put the outfit on sale,
so it's fair game, right? Yeah.
Anyone can go and buy it it. Yep.
It is a It's a crisis of marketing.
Nike do not have the most creative and individual sort of
track record of late for their sort of star players.
Osaka is the notable exception who has this a great deal, but
Sabalanka will have to wait another year before she has
custom kits, which is quite upsetting for her.
Like we said, she is someone who is interested in standing out,
in wearing something individual and fabulous.
But at the very least, if they could get that live when she
steps onto court, I mean. She wants to show it off before
because she's meant to wear an exclusive colorway, right?
The rest of them are in pink, which actually looks super cool.
Like a lot of them are in pink and she's meant to be in the red
and black. And then she obviously had the
material good necklace made to go with it.
And it's the whole thing, right? But yeah, Oksana said see you
later. Thank you very much.
And went and bought herself the outfit and walked out in it only
to lose like an hour later. So.
Nike needs to do better by their tennis.
They do. They really do.
Big time Nike, if you hear us, just do it, OK?
So well, we have a member of the media on with us and let's say
the biggest story around the slam has been the media boycott.
So I'm going to hand over to you tomorrow.
What are your thoughts? How are we feeling about it now?
Couple days. First of all, ladies, thank you
so much for giving me more than 10 minutes.
Although maybe this counts as video as well, so maybe the full
15 minutes I'm. Very exactly.
Yes, we're giving you more. That sort of commitment to to
traditional print media is is shrinking.
But I was really interested that they decided to take action and
I was quite impressed by the build up by kind of planting the
seed at Rome and getting it in people's minds.
I do think the conceit of the protest 15 minutes, limiting
yourself to 15 minutes to represent the 15% of revenue
that they currently get from. Roland Garros.
So for context, just quickly, sorry, I'm just going to give
context to all this. I'm sure they will know, but
players basically are protesting the percentage of total revenue
the tournament makes that goes towards them and their prize
money. And so in protest, they said,
OK, we're only going to be speaking to members of the media
for 15 minutes in their pre tournament press conferences,
which it's not long, but it's also not that short.
And like, I feel like most player press conferences don't
go longer than 15 minutes, at least not the English section.
So yeah. But back to your point, you were
making the 15 minutes was symbolic, right?
It was symbolic and it was clever in that way, but like you
say, it's certainly quite rare that a pre tournament press
conference would be longer than 10 minutes.
They divided it 10 minutes for the sort of print media and then
5 minutes allocated to rights holders.
This is much more significant for rights holders because they
are, of course, the ones paying lots of money to put on the
tournament. And so if they only get 5
minutes and subdivide it between, you know, languages,
then that does become a bit pinchier.
So a little bit more significant of a protest there.
However, I do think that it was certainly the most tentative
first step. It would be really exciting if
the top ten players are serious about pushing forward their
agenda, which they have been, you know, in dialogue with the
slams and have let the slams know that they're unhappy with
how the revenue shares are distributed to players for some
time. But if they're, you know, super
passionate about, as they say, making sure particularly lower
ranked players competing in grand slams take home bigger
portions of prize money, then if this is, I think, not
particularly radical and something that really interested
me was in no way were any sort of, from my eyes, social media
commitments particularly curtailed.
And obviously now the big businesses is content.
It's clippable, cute, fun. Maybe it's a sketch, or maybe
they bring puppies, or maybe they do a fun quiz with the
tournament organisers. Yeah, and that's what the fans
are going to miss. And so those are the things that
further their personal brand. Like those are more stark if
they're not there. Like we said earlier, talking to
the media is kind of nobody's idea of an incredibly fun thing
to do for some reason. I couldn't imagine why, but it's
it's not a it doesn't represent a particular sacrifice for them
and it doesn't, it doesn't, it's not even a huge denial of an
opportunity for fans. It's one media day.
It's not, you know, we're going to black out for the first one
of the many rounds and only do on court interviews.
It it was quite limited in its scope.
But what I also thought was striking is how many players
outside of the protest, which was basically the top ten
players from both tours, save for Djokovic who pointedly was
not part of it. There was at some points almost
a bit of an attitude towards the protest and those taking part in
the protest, like I said, have been quite clear to make their
message much more kind of about opportunities for the lower
ranked players. Because obviously it's really
hard to hear. I want more money from someone
like a Sabalenka or Asana. Absolutely command the most
incredible sums from their sponsors and from prize money
and that's fine, they've earned it.
But by appearing to be kind of standing up from the little guy,
you would kind of want a little bit more respect from different
places. Elsewhere in the standings, and
so Anastasia Potipova was among those to kind of be a almost a
little have a little bit of an edge when talking about it, you
know, a couple of players, Radicano as well were, you know,
why wouldn't we want to talk to the media?
You know, we love you guys, which is, I don't know, I've had
more believable. Things I also feel like some
some didn't even know about it like I feel like it could have
been organized like a lot better and like more efficiently and
had a greater effect. Although players have reportedly
said that one day achieved more than a year of like behind
closed door talks and apparently like the FFT so French Tennis
Federation have agreed to meet so.
It does. It does sound really positive.
And again, I think the most likely agitators in driving that
forward were possibly the rights holders because certainly I'm
sure the French Tennis Federation knows their way
around a strike. Nothing, nothing could have
greater national resonance. So it's pressure has clearly
come from somewhere, but I think this is where you really miss in
the sport a kind of unified support for something like a
player association. Obviously you have the PTPA
going on and you know, but I think because they have specific
fight, a specific but different fight with the slams and with
the tours, there is kind of limited crossover between these
two issues. But you can understand that the
players involved in this protest have organised themselves well
amongst themselves. But that is kind of a, a limited
amount of people. And how do you kind of get rid
of the, I don't know, the, the hierarchy and the tensions
between, it's almost like class struggle.
How do you get rid of, of perhaps a natural or innate
opposition to or whatever they're doing?
They're out for themselves. I have to be out for myself.
And I I thought sort of the most poignant part of this protest
was Fran Jones, who it was just before she had an amazing win
against Beatrice Hadas Meyer. And she basically just drew
attention to the fact that if you are not inside the top 75,
you are really struggling to make a living and be on tour in
the same way as those top 75 are.
And to an even greater extent, those top 25 are and top 10.
So I think if they can marry their ability to force change
because they are the biggest stars with like an increased
understanding in the tennis world about the massive gap paid
disparities and how even taking part in qualifying or the first
round of the Grand Slam can really set a lower ranked player
up for a year, Then you might have something going towards
like a cultural change. But for now, I'm like, you need
to hit them where it hurts in in Instagram and TikTok.
Totally. Yeah.
So I'm curious to see how that progresses and plays out and
what, if any, effects this. I don't know if we should call
it a boycott, but protest we'll have.
OK, so before we make a final call, let's give our predictions
for this tournament. Guys, what are we thinking?
So I'm going to ask you both for winners and finalists on both
sides, singles, both single sides.
So men's and women's tomorrow, you are the guest, you go first.
Just before we started speaking, I had a hell of a scag because I
had Switilina. Oh my God, I know.
And I was like, holy shit. And I had I had the same thing
yesterday with Haley Baptiste where I because I, I think she
could make a deep run. And again, she was a sat down.
I was like I'm the kiss of death to the WTA.
They need to remove me as fast as possible.
I would be really interested to see how fast Vitalina can go
because she is in incredible form.
I think that the type of win she just had against.
Oh, I think it's going to propel her all.
The way that is like that really fills the lungs like that is the
type of win that you want to have, particularly against an
opponent that has given you a rough ride in the past.
And she has the added benefit of massive crowd support here
because she is French by marriage.
And I'm sure that she will milk that for all it's worth.
Because if you have Sabalenka claiming Brazilian heritage,
then you are going to have Mrs. Monfice, you know, making as big
a deal of that as she rightly should.
I do think Sabalenka is going to be, if not the winner, a
finalist. It's hard.
I Goff is in her section. I know.
OK. But winner and finalist winner,
you have to do it. You have to do it OK.
I I think final is going to be Savolenko, Switelina and
Savolenko is going to win. OK, cool men's.
Men's I think, I think, I think Sinner and Djokovic and I think.
The Sinner is going to win. OK, Andrea.
OK, I just to go in a slightly different direction.
I'm going to go for golf. That's my final but.
We can have the same. And for the men's, I, I mean, I,
I can't do the same. So I'm going to do Hodara
Sinner. Hodara Sinner and Sinner's going
to win. Sinner's going to.
Win. Yeah.
OK, cool. OK, what about you?
Well, yeah, you took it out of my mouth.
I was going I was going like the women's side is going to be very
interesting, but I was going to say golf to win against
Svitolina. Like after Svitolina's
performance this afternoon, like, yeah, like you tomorrow is
like she was on the ropes there for a second.
But I was like, please, no, like just everything.
Also with like Murphys retiring, like he goes out tonight on
Chadry. Like, you know, it's going to be
a lot like double French filling.
Like, I mean, yeah, love him. Yeah.
We wish him a happy retirement. Obviously loved watching Kyle
and friends the other night. But yeah, I really hope so
Delina can make a run. And I really, I am going to say
that, you know, I'll change it up, Andrea.
I'll do golfs with Alina and I'll say Switelina wins so that
yeah, OK, we'll do that. And then men, I mean, it's
really boring, but one and two, Sinner, Zverev, I don't think
that Djokovic has it in him to go to the final and then Sinner
to win. I what else?
Unless like the elements take him out.
I just, yeah. He is playing a lot of French
people. I'm like the combined forces of
heat stroke and the Marseille's are basically the only things
that can take out. I'm like I did a bracket with
the the served they have like a. Oh fucking.
OK thing that you can play, which is really fun and really
embarrassing at the same time. And I had him being knocked out
by Brenda Ganesh because I was like the vibes, the vibe, the
Southern French vibes are going to be really strong and he's
going to push him, push him past the three hour mark.
And. Hope for the best.
I mean, the French crowd are insane and like it's such.
There are so many French players in the draw.
I feel like, particularly on the men's side, I'm like everywhere
I look like every Chatrier match has a French person at the
moment in the first round, but as they should.
But interesting. Interesting.
So yeah, well, let's see how our predictions age.
OK, so to wrap the episode, let's make a final call.
And we put the call to you or the question to you and you guys
say what you think. So what matters more at this
Roland Garros physical durability or actual tennis
level physical durability? Yeah, I think that's what's
going to decide it. I was going to say I was when I
was watching Fritz Preserati yesterday, I with the like sun
and the clay, I was like this looks like a trench.
This looks like war and I think. It's war.
It's war that is so it's so, so true.
OK, so we're we're going physical durability and I
couldn't agree more. There's no two ways about it.
Like it's whoever can like, yeah, tough it out wins.
So yeah, thanks guys for joining.
Thanks, Tamara, for coming on. We love having you and your like
incredible anecdotes and takes. We love, love hearing them.
Thank you so much as always. Thank you so much for having me.
Please invite me back again. Of course, we'll have you back
at during Wimbledon very, very shortly.
Yeah, grass season. It's just around the corner, so
it won't be long. Also reminder everyone, tune
into Rafa's Netflix doc. It's coming out Friday, so
tomorrow by the time this airs, we can't wait to watch it and
I'm sure everyone else will enjoy too.
And we will be back next week, the halfway point of the
tournament and no doubt more chaos, maybe more diarrhea.
We'll see what, where, where, where the tournament takes us.
But yeah, super excited to be back in the midst of a slam and
have a great week tomorrow. Goodbye and thank you again.
Thank you so much. Bye.
See you next. Week bye.
Thanks for listening. That's it from us this week.
If you enjoyed the episode, make the call, follow rate and share
it with someone who loves the drama as much as the sports.
Send us your voice notes, hot takes, and soft launch sightings
at What's the Call Pod. Until next time, what's the
call?