Hey everybody, and welcome to the latest episode of The Ball
Boys. We are the tennis podcast that
puts the stud and Stuttgart and flaming and flamenco.
I'm your host Paul Monkle, and bringing you the insights,
outbursts, giggles, and wiggles of the ATP and WTA tours on this
episode of Where's Paul Doe? I'm still subletting my friend
Nick's place in Los Feliz after my ceiling prolapsed earlier
this year. Hey Nick, thanks again.
And also, I found the False bottom in the closet and all I
can say is I'm impressed. And coincidentally, false bottom
in the closet was my first screen name in high school.
And now on to the Tinas. We are deep in clay season and
have the stains to prove it. In the season that feels more
packed than ever, we're having some serious Deja vu from
matches we know we've seen before, to kits that are
blending together, to everyone either pulling out of the draw
or pulling out their phone to take pictures of line calls.
And we have play unexpectedly disrupted in Madrid with a
blackout, just like the Bees from Indian Wells last year.
Plus, in a bit of good news, we also have Novakans ver of losing
early yet again, and we're going to be covering all of this
today. Plus, we have our updated Bay TP
rankings, which in at least one case has us seeing double.
And just FYI, we posted the full Bay TP rankings over at our
Instagram. So if you want to see those,
head on over to at TBB Tennis. Again, that's at TBB Tennis now.
Hey, I guess it all makes sense that we're seeing double and
having Deja Vu. We're in early May 2025 and this
year won't stop zigging when we zag and just all around throwing
us for a loop. Since our last show, our sharp
as a bowling ball Secretary of Defense added more people to
private chats like it's a friends and family plan.
And in more serious news, the Pope passed away just ahead of
the Italian Open where we will see the return of Yannick.
I mean, come on, the Pope dies and a Sinner returns.
Are you kidding me? Feels kind of biblical, or at
the very least biblical. And of course, the number one
movie in the world is sinners. So I mean, come on.
Hey folks, it's all connected. Anyway, we've got a ton to cover
today and helping navigate all of this is a brand spanking new
ball. Boy, I am so excited to have
this guy on the show. He's the China shop to my bowl.
He's the ace to my let cord. He is a multi hyphenate actor,
tennis player, all around Batty. It's John Griffin, but we call
him Griff. Hey Griff, what's going on?
How are you? I'm well, Paul, how are you?
And you see how I said, well, say I'm a classic gay.
I said, well, not good. See that?
Wow, see what I did? That I know we were having tea
on this episode. Yes, we are.
We're spilling the tea, so you know.
How are you? I'm doing well, like I said,
been having Deja vu. I don't know what clay court I'm
looking at. They're all red.
I know I sort of ood and awed about all the courts of Europe
last episode, but now I'm like, wait, where are we?
But I've got my bearings. We just finished Madrid.
We got a lot to cover. And I am, I'm a big fan of
yours. I'm really excited to have you
on the show. You are an accomplished tennis
player, an actor. You have had love scenes with
some queer icons or at least romance storylines.
I want to hear all about it. And so when I have someone new
on the show, we always start off with getting ballsy.
So first just give us a little background about you and tennis.
What makes you a ball boy? I love tennis because I came to
it late. I didn't start until I was 12.
I was terrible at other sports. Just terrible.
They made me play catcher in my Baseball League, which turned
out to be completely not correct as I got older, let me tell you.
But yeah, I hated. If the mint.
Fish hated. Yeah, No, didn't like it.
Still don't. So anyway, yeah, I really fell
in love with tennis. I grew up on Long Island where
it rains or is too cold to play outdoors.
So I worked at my local Tennis Club for $5.00 an hour as the
janitor and for that I got one hour of court time a week and
I'm in Aries. So I set a goal very quickly.
I'm going to be a ranked tennis player.
You know, even though I just picked up a racket and by 18 I
was, I was ranked in the top 50 in the ETA, which back then was
called the Eastern Tennis Association.
I got recruited at William and Mary, which was AD One school,
and that was really exciting. But then I got into Stanford and
I met with the coach there. My ranking was not high enough
to play and I figured if I can't play there, I can't GoPro
anyway. And let's face it, Paul, I'm not
the tallest guy and my second serve is terrible, so I was
never going to be able to go pro.
So I chose the son of California and it was the right decision.
And yeah. You settled for Stanford I.
Get it? Yeah, yeah.
But we would have been curious to see like, what four years of
D1 coaching would have done for me, you know, if I'd gone to
William and Mary. But at 59 and a half, actually,
I'm 510 because I'm an actor. I'm I'm 510, Paul.
Yeah, I know there's no halves, so we round up.
Of course there's no halves. Yes, we round up in my, in my.
Profession. 7 inches, 8 inches, that's all.
Yeah. Exactly.
Always, always subtract too from the grinder account.
It's just, it's gay math, yes. So yeah, when I came down to LA
and I picked it back up in 2000, 8 and have been addicted since.
I'm a very active member of Out Loud Sports here in LA.
And playing out there. Shout out to Out Loud and play
in their masters division and it's it's fun.
I'm addicted to it. And you're also an actor, right?
So so I. Am so I mean, that's boring.
I mean, actors talk about their resumes.
It's so boring. But I mean, I know.
But come on. OK don't you have like a decent
love arc with a gay icon to at least?
Yes, I worked with, yes, I worked with the dear Leslie
Jordan during the last season of a sitcom we were on called Call
Me Cat on Fox, and I played his love interest.
It was a beautiful experience. You know, I I grew up watching
him on television and thinking like, how is he so authentically
himself, you know, through these characters?
Meanwhile, I was so closeted into my mid 30s, which is very
weird because, you know, 27. But yeah, so it doesn't add up.
But game app. It was an honor and and a real
privilege to work with him. He was just the loveliest,
loveliest guy and and so funny and talented.
His first on screen television kiss was with me in what ended
up being his last episode of television, which is just so
sadly, you know, ironic. But he was loving the storyline.
I was loving the storyline. We were having so much fun and
it was, it was incredible. Wow.
Yeah. What does it feel like to have
the kiss that is so deadly? Just kidding.
Not that. Powerful.
I'm you're just the passion. Yeah.
No, I've seen this. I've seen the storyline.
Oh God, no one's ever said that to me.
That's so terribly funny and awful.
But yes, no one doesn't made that joke.
No, God, we had COVID tests before.
We had cough tests for everything.
No, it wasn't me. I.
Swear it wasn't. Well I just thought it was like
just a pitter patter. But anyway, well, OK, so back to
the tennis. Yes, the tennis.
So I also find that a lot of gay guys just sort of have like very
specific tennis idols. And I'm just curious, who is
your tennis idol? Well, my favorite player is Rafa
and I'm wearing his shirt today. I mean, I just worship Rafa.
I had a crush on Rafa. You know, he was incredible.
But my idol that I modeled my game afterwards, which is just
perfect for a gay tennis podcast, is Chris Evert.
You know, I, I, I, yes, she hit the ball very flat.
You know, she was coming to the net more.
And so I, I, I wanted to be sort of an aggressive baseliner, but
still never missed. And so the younger guys in out
loud sports. Yeah, exactly.
They, they call me Wozniacki now because they don't know Chris
Evert, the younger guys. But I, I'm of that style.
But yeah, I copied her grip, the eastern grip.
I copied the Wilson pro staff racket.
I if you go to my TikTok at Griff Blaze ball, you'll see me
do a comparison video of my backhand.
It's a joke video about how I have one of the best backhands
in the world. Griff has a great TikTok.
He's like a tennis comedy content creator.
So when I found out about him, I was like, I either need to kill
him or get him on the show. So I, I went with the the latter
for now. And why do you think gay people
love tennis so much 'cause it really is.
Time and time again, it's like, hey, do you like sports and
whatever and like, hey, do you like tennis?
Oh my God, I fucking love tennis.
So like there's, there's, there's just something that we
connect to. And I've heard a number of
reasons. I'm just curious, what's your
take on that? Well, there's a low hanging
fruit of all the similar expressions like stroking and
bouncing balls and endless and all of those things.
I mean, it can keep going and going and going.
Yeah, fall RIP it all those. Yeah, exactly.
But. So.
If you're into that kind of foot play, code violations, all of
it. Yeah, Yeah, all of it.
But I, I think for me it was just that, you know, growing up
as a gay kid, you know, you're not invited.
You know, you're picked on a lot, you're whatever.
And you're, I hope that's different now for today's youth.
But you're not invited into the team sports.
You know, you sort of don't fit in.
And tennis is an individual sport that you can excel at.
And we do like to focus on balls.
So I think that's why why it's a gay.
It's a win, win, win. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. No, absolutely.
Yeah. No.
Story checks out. OK, We are going to do a speed
round before jumping into the latest action from the tours.
But just real quick and like 5 words or less.
Are you gay TP or WT gay? You know, for my entire
adulthood I've been WT gay, but now I'm gay TP.
The women's tour has gotten pretty predictable and the ATP
was, you know, it was dominated by the top three.
But now, and now it's it's really interesting.
There's a lot of guys going into the French that can win.
Yannick or. Carlos Carlos.
I love Yannick but Carlos 100%. All right, Roger or Rafa, I
already know 'cause your shirt. I mean, Rafa Rafa 100.
Percent Wow. Wow.
OK, so far you're wrong on all these clay or grass.
I will tell you grass, but I have to tell you a quick story.
Why? I studied in England for six
months during college and I played for the Oxford tennis
team and we had a clubhouse and whenever we play in an opposing
team we played on grass courts. We would retire to the
clubhouse, have to put on all white and we'd have our Butler
service like sandwiches. Love it.
And also I got to say, like the campiness of tea service after
tennis is another thing that I think is a gay code that like
that's why I like everything about Wimbledon is so camp that
I just love it so much, so 100%. It's so great, yeah.
The last question what is your favorite court in LA?
I played at a guy's house in the in the final of a lot of
tournament Los Angeles 10 association years ago.
And it's it's a pretty famous court and it's a private court
and it it overlooks like the entire city.
It's this gorgeous hardcourt, he and his husband, and it's like
stunning. Well, my favorite court actually
up in Ojai at the Hermitage Ranch.
So last weekend I was up there, my first time to Ojai.
Never been to Ojai. I actually thought it was in the
desert. And as people might know from
this show, I hate the desert. And I was like, OK, fine.
Ojai is not. It's like over almost at the
ocean and it's beautiful area. And my friend and his business
partner in this endeavor, who is the tennis director at Plummer
Park, they started this thing called Radici Courts.
And that's RADICI. It's Italian.
I think it means roots or I always wanted to be like, don't
be so radici like ridiculous. But it's, I think it's roots and
it's so cool because. We're coming up on Rome.
They're throwing a little.
Italian there, Paul. Perfect.
Come on. Let's go.
The whole weekend I was like, hey, hey, people love it when I
just take their culture and reduce it down to one hand.
Oh yeah, great. They love it, but it was
amazing. So they did this thing where
they like combine mindfulness and meditation and and tennis,
which is kind of like two of my favorite things.
I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm I love to meditate and
it really does impact the game. And we see people, even Jack
Draper today was doing his sort of changeover, eyes closed
visualization, you know, be the ball.
But it was also on this ranch where there were horses and
donkeys. I met 2 donkeys. 1 was named
Rusty cuz he kind of has like orange and kind of brown
highlights. The other one is called Winston
cuz he looks like Winston Churchill and they were like.
Just not cuz he smokes cigarettes.
It's not cuz he. Smokes too, that would have been
better. Yeah, that's a good one.
Just to see like the horse, like smoking a cigarette, that'd be
fantastic. Yeah, I used to smoke and it was
Winston ultralights. They were great.
Oh wow, yeah. Wow, yeah I know I quit smoking
a long time ago, but delicious anyway.
Keep. Going yeah, we're in LA, but
yeah, we also had this one session where the the the two
sort of spiritual leaders open up our chakras.
Hey Max and Katie, do you have a favorite chakra?
Well, of course. I mean, come on, it's the what
is it? It's the orange one, the the
sacral chakra, of course, that's the like, that's the one that
that is the I think it's sexual, but also creativity and all of
that. It's it's like in the abdomen, I
think. So you're so serious.
So my favorite one is Chakra Khan of course.
There you go. God, you're so smart.
Like this is this is what it's, this is what it's like here,
folks. And if you're new, that's
fantastic. Welcome.
Also, I just want to say hi to any Radici folks that are
listening. Sunny, thank you for hosting.
And Fabiano, you're a great tennis pro and also just met
some fun people. Eliza Ratka, Michelle, Ari,
anyone else? And like the whole thing, like
one of the things that I do love about tennis, and you were
talking about it like it is this individual sport.
But what is so great is there's also a community around it, you
know, and especially within like the gay community.
Like the gay community is one thing.
The tennis community is another. The gay tennis community is like
literally where it's at. So I love it.
But Radicchi Court is not gay. I mean, they they accepted me
and there were other gay people. There and we still like them
that's OK we they we can like them too yes or.
It's 2025. I can play tennis with street
people. No.
And they were just, they were awesome.
So if anyone out there is interested, check out
radicicourt.com, RADICI court.com.
OK, so now we're gonna get our episode started the way we
always do with our lobs being. And for anyone who might be new
or needs a reminder, the lobs being is just the thing that
happened in tennis that either made us a little gayer or made
us a little gayer for tennis. And remember, you don't have to
be gay to like this podcast, but you do have to be gay for
tennis. So if you're not gay for tennis,
you should turn this off right now.
So I'll go first because I'm a pushy host, but my lobs be in it
with no surprise whatsoever. No suspense is the Madrid model
ball boys and and ball girls. They're back.
So it's been a few years now, actually many years, and the
Madrid Open only on center court has professional models as the
ball kids, ball boys and girls. They're so crazy.
Ball models. I don't know how you, I don't
know how to refer to them. It used to only be female models
and it would only be when the men were playing.
Like I remember, like I think it was Agassi back in the day.
It was like, it's so distracting 'cause these girls are so
beautiful. Duh, duh, duh.
There's been progress made. There are now ball model boys
and ball model girls and they will, they will service any
gendered court. So it'll be a WTA match.
So no, it's great for the bisexuals.
It's like, hey, whatever, you know, it's like, hey, hot guys,
hot girls. What's the thing?
They are actually excellent at their job.
They don't fuck around. They are like they are running.
They are, they are really regimented.
It's actually a great gig. They, they get a lot of free
airtime on TV cause I mean, look, I know I'm a basic
homosexual, but like when I see something attractive boy or
girl, I'm like, wow, that's an attractive boy or girl.
I gotta say though, like they either need to like ramp it up
or do something new because you're just a really good ball
boy or ball girl who happens to be good looking.
Like why aren't they wearing the latest and greatest?
Like so during the last two weeks, Coco Golf dropped a sort
of collab between Mew Mew and New Balance.
Why aren't they wearing that? Why aren't they like showing off
the latest gear or like do it, you know, do it like, hey,
you're models. You're not just ball boys.
Like, why isn't there? I wish they.
Didn't like, I think it was because two years ago they got
so much shit because the, the girl models were in half like
crop tops, like sleeveless crop tops.
And they were like, they, they, they're 6 packs were showing and
like tiny little dresses. And, and so they, they, the
tournament got a lot of heat, a lot of heat for that.
So it was a little bit more toned down this year, Like, Oh
yeah, the girls actually showed less skin, which is probably
better, you know what I'm saying?
I remember there was a lot of coverage of that or lack of
coverage of that, if you will. But yes, exactly.
So my solution was put the boys in the crop tops too like.
Well, exactly. You have to make it equal.
That's what I'm saying exactly. Well then I also couldn't help
but feel a little bad about anyone who's like a ball kid on
the non main court. It's like hey you ugly son of a
bitch, get to court 3. It's just like, I just feel so
bad for them. Like you average looking schlub
and they're like 4 feet tall and 12 years old and then it's like
a 24 year old 6 foot, you know, glamazon.
There's a volunteer to get close to the players.
You leave with a complex. I mean these poor kids.
Exactly, exactly. I thought I'd work in my
forehand, but it's really my posture.
Exactly. Or my nose.
Or my nose it's. Like these poor kids?
Madrid just overall had like a really like fun sensibility.
Also on center court, there's a live DJ, so they're playing
music on the changeovers. And also I just have to do a
quick shout out to the announcer who would call people onto the
court or and also especially during the trophy ceremonies,
see what like the the, the length that he would draw the Rs
out. It was like.
And like Sabalenka is like watching him, like, are you?
She was like literally waiting. She started.
He was like hitch walk. She was like start to walk, like
do I go up or no? And he's not done yet.
And then he wasn't. Even close to done.
OK, that. Yeah, exactly.
She's literally leaning forward. And then it was.
So funny to watch. What did did you have a lobs be
in? In the interview, Jack Draper's
interview, I think it was after his quarterfinal win, he's
sitting at the Tennis Channel desk and he wasn't wearing his
hat and it was so clear that he had blonde tips.
He's, he's putting highlights in his hair now 'cause he realizes
he's about to be a gazillionaire and like a massive sex symbol,
you know, he's been modeling GQ Britain and all of these things.
Now he's putting, he's putting the highlights individually in
these. And that was like, yes, thank
you. Wow, that's fantastic.
So you're making a little. So that's not natural.
That's not natural. No, no, that is not sun kissed.
No, that is not sun kissed. That is lemon.
No, that is not a lemon. That is clearly He sat in a
chair. Somebody took some foil and did
him right before the tournament. Wow.
Oh yeah, wow. It's 100%.
He's getting highlights and it's fantastic.
I love him. Yeah, I'm sorry, I have to call
you out on one from a few weeks ago.
Oh yeah, yeah, you missed one on previous podcast.
So jeez. During, during Miami, there was
an interview and I, I don't, I'm not a huge Shelton fan because
of his, you know, political likings of posts and things like
that. He and Fonseca were sitting on a
couch together in Miami and they were giving some sort of
interview and they were, it was all over social media.
Their legs were spread so far apart and their knees were
touching. And I can't believe you didn't
not yet. Did you see those pictures?
Oh, I clocked it. No, my friend Evan Ross Katz was
like hosting that event. It was for on.
It is that funny thing where there's this like sort of rymal
heterosexual trade of I need to spread my legs so wide and like
manspread. It's so wide.
But then you cross the line to wait.
My knee is touching the manspreader next to me.
But I like, it's like, I don't know what to do.
Like I can't back down. There's this whole, like, what's
happening, lizard brain going on.
And yeah, yeah, that. Was a big lobs for you a moment
that was missed and I was shocked.
I thought that was going to be like leading the podcast.
I'm sorry to call you out, Paul. No, no, no, that's fair.
That's fair. Even even you a master,
sometimes you need a correction. I'm sorry, but I have to.
Call them. There is an embarrassment of
riches of Lobbian there in tennis these days, you know.
Especially on the gay TP there's.
Only so many things my eyes can take in at once.
But no, I appreciate that. And you also do bring up a good
point. Look, we do objectify guys on
here and a lot of them might not have the political beliefs that
we do. And, you know, it's something
that I struggle with. You know, Jack Draper tumbled
out of the BTP rankings when it turned out that he wound up
lunch with Trump. And I'm still not sure he's he
has a protected ranking and he might come back into the
seating. Look, I don't know if I want to
see the voting record of any of these guys, you know, like, I
don't. Know listen, I don't let's I
don't even want to talk about like I worry.
I wonder about Tommy Paul. No, I wonder.
You know what I mean? I don't want to know.
He's beautiful, that mustache.
I don't need to know anything about he.
Probably doesn't vote, he just fishes, you know?
That's. It's even worse.
Yeah, exactly. So let's jump into what's been
going on with our segment Twit, which is this week in tennis.
So that's Twit. And like I said at the top of
the show, we got to just kind of talk about all the Deja vu that
we're seeing. Not only are the clay courts
kind of all blending together, or maybe I just have something
in my eye kind of just like Novak.
Although I think Novak is finally like he recovers from a
severe leg injury, from knee surgery, from strains so much
faster than a stye. But I think he's fine for his
stye. But yeah, one of the Deja Vu's
was just that, hey, another Masters was disrupted by a
really kind of bizarre kind of natural slash, not disaster, but
weird things. So last year Indian Wells was
disrupted by a swarm of bees. And this year Madrid was stopped
due to a national blackout for that that covered Spain,
Portugal, even a little bit of France.
They don't really know what happened.
My question is, has anyone talked to the bees from Indian
Wells? Remember when killer bees were
going to invade the US like like the year after COVID?
Like I don't. Know it never happened.
Yeah, it never did. Well, so maybe they're out there
taking down power grids. So.
So it's. Just kind of funny.
They're busy little bees. They're oh, they're busy to see
that little dad joke. Busy as a bee?
Dad jokes are always welcome here.
A few days after the blackout, there was just this little
interview on Tennis Channel with Coco Goff.
And it was just really funny. She has this way of talking like
I really respect them. I and I, I love, I love Coco.
And she's like, you know, I really respect people who who
had to live before there was electricity because now I see
how hard it was because she like had to walk home and I could,
you know, I had to get home. I know.
And she talked about she was like, but, you know, I have my
music downloaded. Yeah.
And luckily my dad had, like, a backup charger.
She's like. But like, the fact that people
did this, it's like, wow. I, I was almost imagining she
was thinking like, how did they play like the Madrid open
without electricity? You know, like, I think it's
just like there's a, there was a disconnect going on there.
The, the next Deja Vu, maybe we're going to start calling it
Clayja Vu. But the big boys keep on losing.
So Zverev. Zverev had every chance to
become number one while Sinner was out on his three month
vacation, but he just keeps laying down number twos all over
the court he lost to. Sorundalo.
Quick, he lost to Sorundalo in the round of 16 in Madrid and
he's just he is not in a good place with his game.
I think he is going to tumble out of the top five, maybe even
the top 10 by the end of the year.
I mean, particularly, I mean, if this keeps up like he's, he's
not going to defend any points from last year.
He's following a pattern of like so many of the recent tournament
winners when they win these tournaments, it's like the same
thing happened with like Elena Osta.
Uh oh, you know, in Stuttgart, you know, she comes in and then
she loses her first match in Madrid.
Like the consistency isn't there.
And I think it's because the tour is just, it's so long and
they never get a break That like that's one thing about Draper.
You know, Madrid was only a six tournament this year and he's
really, you know, having his schedule spaced out nicely.
And I think that's why he's doing well.
But yeah, I was, I was thrilled that Zverev lost.
And then. Well, the thing about Zverev
though is like he has had he has had time off because he keeps
losing so. Yeah, that's true.
That's true. He's.
Not making deep runs, Novak also lost early Madrid to Arnaldi,
who was just like the cutie patootie.
He almost. Made the just about to say cutie
patootie. I was just about to say cutie
patootie. He's Italian male.
Oh my God. Arnaldi in that interview was
just so appealing. He was such a nice guy.
He has like the Jasmine Paolini smile.
He just lights up a room. He was.
And he was just plastic. He was just like tickled on the
inside. I don't know if I can say that,
but he was just like he was just having the best time and he made
a run. I mean he got to the quarters
and everything. So he made great great for him
and you know, it was a very competitive Bay TP this week.
I'm just going to tell you guys that we'll get to that later in
the. Show we haven't gotten to the
other Italian. Come on.
I mean, there's, so there's so much.
Yeah, we can spend the whole podcast on Musetti himself.
I know, I know. Well, no, he also didn't make
the Bay TP. I'm just kidding.
I mean, but we got to talk about Novak.
We got to talk about, yeah, I mean, close his laptop.
I got close the computer. Yeah, so Novak has pulled out of
Rome. He hasn't won a tournament since
the. Olympics.
I don't know what the hell his strategy is for how he's now
getting the end of his, you know, I mean, he's probably got
at most a year. I think he's going to retire by
the end of this year or maybe not, but I mean here's a one.
I mean is, does he have it like or is he is age finally caught
up with him And he's kind of I don't think so.
I don't. I don't think he's winning
another tournament. If he wants to like break
Connor's record or whatever, I don't think he'll get to one O
7. He's at 99 right now.
I think he can win another tournament if he drops down to
the two 50s, but I just don't see him doing that.
I don't know about a Grand Slam. I don't necessarily think it's
because of his age. I think it's because there's now
sort of cracks in his armor due to the injuries, due to the
early losses. And a lot of it has to do with
that locker room mentality. Once they feel like they can
win, then, you know, as we know, tennis is very mental sport.
Then they they step on court believing they can win.
If anything. You know, when my idol Everett
retired, she said, you know, when she got to that age and she
retired at 34, she said on a day-to-day basis, point to
point. I just the reason I retired was
because I couldn't focus on every point like I used to.
And that she goes, I didn't want to, I didn't want to not to be
able to do that. And I think that more it's more
mental with Novak was that it's just he's been playing for like
20. Over 20 years, his.
Mind is just yeah, it's it's exhausted.
Yeah, no, what you're saying makes sense because if it was
just his age, it would only be the top players taking him out.
But like Arnold, he takes him out like he's had these losses
to people who are not like top, top, top tier.
So yeah, I mean, it's it's I I think it's mental.
I think he's he's lacking a little focus and, and now he's
starting to just like lack a little match play, you know,
fitness and. That's why I don't understand
him skipping Rome. I don't get it.
Yeah, yeah, he needs. Matches, So, you know, I don't
maybe he's injured and we don't know it.
Maybe he's got that AB thing or what.
I don't know. Maybe that's why he's not
playing Rome. He's not just not talking about
it, but he usually loves to talk about his injuries to get into
people. So I know I, you know, I'd be
shocked if he is injured and not talking about it.
Well, his sty is recovered for the most part, but but I am not
recovered from it. So, hey Chris, do you want to
hear a joke, Paul? Sure, I love jokes.
Please. OK, who is Novak's favorite
pitcher? Is this a baseball reference?
Yeah. Oh God, I am not going to get
this one. Who?
Stuy, Young. Perfect.
So good, yeah. What was Novak Djokovic's
favorite youth, young gay coming out movie?
A coming out movie. Oh, inside out, inside out.
Wasn't that the wasn't inside out that Kevin Klein movie where
he came out? Didn't.
Didn't Kevin Klein?
Wasn't that Joan Cusack and Kevin Klein?
That is inside. Out that.
That that, you know, I'm going to give you some points for
that. That's not bad.
I wouldn't call that like a a
youth coming. So it's love, Steinman.
Oh, beautiful. Yes, thank you.
I miss the youth part of it. I miss the part of the joke.
There you go. All right, last one, Yes.
What is Novak Djokovic's favorite Will Smith movie?
Oh. Ah, sty robot.
Oh, Ding, Ding, Ding. You got it.
Sty robot.
Well played, Sir. Well played.
I just keep it. I I.
What is it? I?
Yeah. OK, very good.
And I will be beating this dead horse until I can't beat it
anymore. Another Clay Javu moment.
And we've kind of been referencing a little bit.
It's just more retirements, more pulling out.
Hulgaruna is is really worrying me.
He's like a Victorian child suffering from cholera and
consumption. He's pulled out of three of the
last six tournaments that he is been meant to play in.
But then when he does stay, I mean, he made the final Indian
Wells, he wins Barcelona. I'm I'm, I'm really happy for
him that he's getting some good results.
But dude, like he's either always got like a tummy ache or
like it's just, it's like he's like really kind of.
And it's never sort of clear. It like it comes out of nowhere.
And he kind of has in a way similar game to Novak.
He's he gets to everything and he hits, he gets with he doesn't
hit completely loopy, can drive through the ball flat like Novak
does and Novak, if you remember early in his career had tons of
problems like this. He couldn't breathe.
He. Was always sick on the court.
Always sick on the court. And he he lost a lot of finals
early. And so Holger's mother, who is
his main coach still, I think that she should get with Novak's
team and like, ask, ask some questions because he does need,
he does need to get that handle. Yeah, Yeah.
Well, and then at the other end of the spectrum, we've got poor
Matteo Baratini, who's just honestly needs to be placed into
bubble wrap. Like what?
Like whenever he moves his body, he somehow hurts himself again.
And so he got injured. I think it was against Draper,
maybe in the quarters or the sixteens.
But yeah, just again, he's out. I don't think he's going to
play. Also, I think Draper tweaked
something during the final today.
My money, he's not playing Rome. I don't think he's going to play
Rome. Yeah, I, I agree with you, and I
don't think he should because he's got a shit ton of points
he's into. He'll be seated top five at
Roland Garros. So I think that he skips, he
practices, he heals. I just want to go back to my
darling Mateo for a second because it's not, it's not his
fault really, if you think about it.
Like his poor body has to carry so much weight on top of those
tiny little legs. And so like, it's like, you
know, when someone like I'm partially deaf in my left ear,
right. So I have a great sense of
smell, other things have to compensate, right?
So like with with yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
The other sense is compensate. I'm like, I'm not deaf and
partially. But like my like with Mateo,
those legs are so tiny. Everything else in his body has
to work so much harder. And also carrying the weight of
those looks must be exhausting. He is so pretty.
I mean, it's got to be exhausting because my God is he
stunning. Every injury timeout where he
has to take his shirt off, all the all the phones come out and
they're just. Like, I know it's hilarious.
Give us more. No, that's fair.
I mean, look, yeah, my forehand is a little inconsistent and I
make up for it by just having like a big fat ass.
But but back to pulling out our favorite topic.
So Carlos also pulled out of Madrid really bad timing for his
Netflix special because there was all this signage for Netflix
and the Carlos documentary because they were thinking and
I, I, I, I feel bad for them. Their marketing team was really
smart. Oh, we're going to premiere the
Carlos Alcarez documentary. We're going to have signage
everywhere. He'll be playing on the court,
you know, corporate synergy, da, da, da, da.
And then he pulls out. I think we're just going to have
to accept that on the men's side because it really doesn't happen
to the women as nearly as much. On the men's side, two to three
top 15 players are going to be out on any given tournament.
It's just like that's just. How it's going to be I I agree.
What did you think of the Carlos documentary?
I had a lot of thoughts about it when it first came out.
I wasn't sure because I did not like break Point that much as a
as a sort of series. And it's also the challenge with
tennis documentaries. I mean, the challenge with even
a tennis podcast is that like, we only care about what's
happening right now. Like, I don't really care what
Carlos was doing in 2024, even though it was only a year ago.
I'm not like, oh, I really want to revisit his time and, you
know, at the Olympics, so I wasn't so sure about it.
He he definitely doesn't suffer from a lack of exposure.
So I didn't know and he puts a lot of pressure on himself.
He talks a lot about being the best player ever and all this
stuff. And so I'm just kind of like, I
don't know if this is like going to be something that that that I
that I want to hear. The production was interesting.
I like some of the dubbing. I like some of the, you know,
the. Oh, did you know?
Because someone you're talking to might have been involved in
the dubbing what a little bit. Well, so when you said dubs
earlier, I thought you meant like double S tennis.
Yeah, but tell me, yes, I did some of the dubbing in that
documentary. Oh my God, who was?
Language. Dubbing Were you the mom?
Yes, yes, I was the mom. Yes.
No, that that's Holger's mom, that you just.
Did yeah. Oh my God, you're terrible.
That's so funny. No, I played like a lot of
ancillary characters. His his coach when he was like
5, a lot of his friends, I don't know if you've seen when they
were jumping off the boat and all that and then have friends
in the restaurant. I did 2 days on it where they
called me and I did a lot of the, you know, other voices.
It's fun. It's really fun work to do,
yeah. Yeah, well, so, so where the
documentary turned around for me, not only with the dubs, was
a that Yonic Sinner was on it 'cause like he didn't have to be
on it. Like it's like, hey, hey, world
number one biggest rival of yours is doing a documentary.
Do you want to come on and talk about how great he is?
And he did like that was cool of Yonic to even be on the on.
The well, they're they're the new, they're the new Roger and
Rafa. Yeah, like, they're good guys.
They like each other. And it makes me excited to have
Sinner back for that. Where the documentary really
turned around for me though, was when he decided to go to Ibiza
after the French Open. And and it was like he was being
there was just footage of him in the back seat of a car talking
about how fucked up he was going to get and how much he was going
to party. And I have never seen that side
of him. And I'm so glad that that side
of him like, oh, you're a human. You're just want to like cut
loose. It was very much like, I don't
know if you watch Below Deck down under, but I don't.
It's one of my only like, reality show escapes after a
charter guest checks out. They always go out for the night
and it's always them wasted in the back of a minivan.
And it was very much that just being like silly, stupid and
like these players, you know, I think a reason why they've
burned out mentally is that that they don't show any weakness.
They don't show any sort of like softness.
And like here he's just like, no, I need 4 days at a foam
party. And I hope when you come wake me
up in the morning that I'm not with somebody.
He literally said that I was like fuck yes, get it.
Divas get it, Carlos? Yes, yes.
He said recently in an interview where he's just really trying to
have more fun on court. You know, he just want, he just
wants to have fun. And that that also gives me
pause about these types of documentaries where it's like he
was saying in an interview in early to mid 2024 that he wants
to be the best player in the world.
I wonder if right now he would say that because I think he
realized how much pressure he was putting on himself.
And so it's like, OK, they just launched it on Netflix.
So it feels like new. But no, that's not what he's
thinking now 'cause yeah, he is trying to get a little bit more
chill about and his being the greatest ever.
He's been #1 already, he's been #1 so he's achieved that.
He'll be #1 again. Of course he will.
But I think that for him, he wants those titles.
He wants the history. And if he can win the
Australian, you know, before I think he's 24, I think he
becomes the youngest to ever compete the complete the career
Grand Slam like that would be, that's a great record, you know.
I think those are the two more years.
To do it, yeah, I think he wants that more than #1.
Yeah, there were just some other interesting things that have
been happening. Like we don't need to like get
into this one too much, but I'm just going to call this one Love
Wins. So there was just this weird
thing that kept happening on the WTA side where players would
lose the first set 6 Love and then win the match.
So that happened with Yogeshvantak against Madison
Keys. She loses the first set 6 Love,
comes back and wins. Coco Goth against Yastremska
loses 6 Love and then comes back and wins.
Granted, I think just sounds good got injured sometime in the
second set, but it's just sort of like the the women's matches,
they were kind of like these weird streaky things where it's
like, well, I'm going to destroy you this set.
Well, now I'm going to destroy you the next set.
And it's like it's just kind of weird.
Like you don't see a lot of like Bagel first sets that then that
person ends up winning. So that was just sort of another
like, wait, that keeps happening.
Another, another Clay Javelu is just that Sabolinka is a fixture
in the finals. Like holy shit.
She like you talked about consistency earlier in day in
and day out. And like, for someone who can be
so streaky, she's not a lock to win the tournament, but she's
kind of a lock to make the finals of.
Everything. That she's been in like, wow.
I think the only people that the only people that can beat her
and you know, are the people that can hit her off the court
like a like a Yelena hasta uh oh.
And and I say Yelena hasta uh oh because you just never know what
you're going to get. She's like with oh, wow, like
what's coming today, You know, like, I love you, lady.
You have a love hate relationship with her.
But you know, like, so, you know, in Stuttgart, Yelena blew
her off the court. You know, one in Oh my God, it
was crazy and it was great tennis for, for Yelena.
But yeah, if she doesn't come up against a heavy hitter.
I don't. I was shocked.
That's always on her. Final.
Yeah, exactly. I was shocked going into the
final at at Madrid that I didn't know that Coco had a 54.
I was. Surprised, she.
She does, yeah. She normally doesn't lose to
players like Coco because you know there's there's a weakness
there on the forehand side on the second serve and she can tee
off. Well, and it is interesting, a
couple years ago, Sabalenka really had the yips on her serve
where I think that's when Coco got a couple of those wins.
Like she used to be beatable because like there were times
where she could not get a serve in.
She was like Dementieva from back in the day.
It's just like, the hell is that?
So Yeah, last, last Cleja Vu. I mean, there's there's several
more, but the last one we're going to cover today is just
everyone is really serving looks in lilac except for a few
notable outliers. They're all wearing like these
beautiful lilacs and soft tones. It looks so good on the European
red clay, like, I mean, our boy Tommy Paul, I mean.
But listen, I got, I have to jump in here for a second
because I agree with you. It's a great color.
They're all copying Rafa from when he won the the the French
Open a few years ago in the lilac.
That, I think was his last win in the Lilac.
You were riding hard for. Rafa Wow.
Yeah, I was such a Rafa die hard.
Tommy pulled it off beautifully because it's almost like a steel
grey lilac. It was like kind of both and it
looked so good on him. But on the flip side of that
though, like, you know, that lilac sort of grey, like a
little cotton blend, You're seeing the pit pies.
It's not attractive, you know what I mean?
Give him like, give him something like a little pattern
to distract, you know, like, I don't know, like Coco is such a
massive superstar. She made a huge, huge deal about
her kit at the Australian Open like that she designed.
It was so cool, right? And then New Balance puts her in
like a grey shirt and a grey skirt with little stripe on it
and white sneakers. Like what's happening?
She's a massive superstar. Like Global, give her a cool
kit, you know? Well, OK, yes, but I first of
all, OK, I think she looked great.
But here's the thing. Come on, kind of buy that kit
from Australia because you can't even take, you can't even take a
dump in it. You cannot go to the bathroom.
But here in Madrid, she's wearing something that like
anyone can see themselves in. But I got to say my numero Uno
was someone who was not wearing lilac.
So this is where it was, not maybe because of all the Cleja
Vu, but Marta Kostic. She and her Wilson kit looked
drop dead gorgeous like this is. It was the perfect tennis dress.
There was a slit on the side that has been done before, but I
don't think it's generally placed where it was.
It was a glamorous like they finally achieved A glamour look
in a women's tennis kit that wasn't like a fucking Tutu.
She looked outstanding. Yeah, she looked like, she
looked like a Madrid ball girl on center court from two years
ago. Yeah, yeah.
It looks like a model, you know. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, she looked,
she looked great. And that was an amazing match
that she lost to Sabalanka. I think it was 7676.
But like, that was an amazing match.
But the other slit I was. Bummed she didn't pull that out.
Yes. I mean, I was bummed.
It's I, I agree. I she's Ukrainian, the
Ukrainians, yeah. And she's playing a Belarussian
and I like Sabalenka. I don't blame her.
I do like her. One of the reasons she's doing
well is because she is having fun off court with her team, you
know, is good for the game. She's she's great to the other
women on tour, the other women like her, but I just wish she
wasn't from Belarussian but. But but also let me just add to
that real quick. So Kostiak had to beat 2
Russians and then plays on the women's side.
On the men's side, it's all these cute countries.
It's like, I'm from Norway, I'm from Italy.
We're just gonna play. And on the women's side, this is
Belarus versus Ukraine versus Russia, always China.
It's like, it's crazy. There's like undertones.
Yeah. The slit that you haven't talked
about, which, and I cannot believe we haven't gotten to him
yet, but Lorenzo Mousetti was wearing running shorts from the
1980s. That kid was so sexy.
And he had the slits on the side like little running short slits
like from the 80s. And then you combine that which,
which is essentially it wasn't a crop top, but it was because
every time he served, you're seeing, you know, his stomach
and those beautiful biceps with the cut.
I mean, it was just perfect draping and like he and it's
just a plain white outfit, but he stole, he stole it.
It's not lilac. He stole the entire tournament
for me in that outfit. Not since Rafa with his Capri
pants back in the early 2000s has someone gotten so much
attention. I agree.
Like he he absolutely like stood out from everybody.
It's this APC collaboration. Like he said, yeah, they're
running shorts. So they like billowed they.
Were very They billowed beautifully.
Like, you know, is, yeah, yes, it was, it was quite the scene
and he got a lot of points for that on the bait, yes.
He did for and you know, it's it's.
And where did those biceps come from?
I know those. Biceps weren't there to.
Go I always tell like what looks are really hitting by like the
best photography and the best photography from Madrid were
photos of him sort of mid flight with his like billowing
everything. He was kind of like the Flying
Nun, Like it was just like, and again, you know, and I can't
wait. Yes.
Oh, there you go. And I can't wait for Wimbledon
because we're going to see that it has to be oh, white.
He's going to wear the same outfit at Wimbledon.
I mean, come on. It is interesting.
It like it's like, what is next? Because I don't think he can
keep wearing that tournament in and tournament out.
Like I think he's got a like maybe it comes in another color.
Yeah. See it like maybe in an all red?
That'd be kind of hot. Or all black if.
He wore that in. The devil.
Oh, come on. No, I I think red is a good
idea. I'm.
I'm here for that. Yeah, I'd like to see.
It in red. Yeah.
Well, the last bit of kit deja vu though was the quarter final
between Mensic and Surrendolo. They come out and they wear the
exact same. I think it was Adidas outfit.
Black T-shirt, neon green shorts, neon green backwards
hat, both backwards hat. Like not not even like 1 is
going to do it front. Luckily they're not exactly
twins so you could tell them apart, but it was like that
spider man meme where they're just all kind of pointing at
each other and it makes me wonder also like OK, is there
never a backup outfit? The sponsors love it because
they're getting hit. Like this is there.
But it's weird though, like there's no consistency because
like, clearly Lilac Steele Grey was kind of the color of this
season. But then in the final, you know,
like you have an arena in Lilac, she's with Nike, right?
But then you have Draper in like a blue, like 1980s stripe, you
know, white. Men in the blue stripe garbage.
Today, But like, yeah, like what?
So, you know, there's no consistency across the brand.
And then even with Adidas, Adidas for a lot of the women
were in Lilac, right? And then you have this neon and
it was just kind of all over the place.
So there's no consistency of brand.
And that surprised me. So that's twit for this week in
tennis. Lots of clay javel.
We didn't even get to some of the stuff.
Like just real quick, there is a new Rafael Nadal.
His name is Rafael Nadal. He's a 16 year old tennis player
in Argentina and his dream is to win the French Open.
So I like look, 3-4 years from now we might have another Rafa.
So you, Sir, can keep wearing your Rafa shirt and yes, still
mean the same thing. And when we come back, we are
going to have balls on the ground where we're going to do a
recap of the tournaments that have been going on across
Europe. All right, so we are back for
balls on the ground. And since the last show, we've
had Barcelona for the men, Stuttgart for the women, and
Munich for Zverev. Well, of course we can cover
everything. And remember, if you're coming
to us for all the scores, you're going to be as disappointed as I
was in that Drag Race lip sync finale.
Talk about on your nerves. But some highlights that are
worth talking about. So just real quick.
Two sentences per tournament. Look, Barcelona Hulgaroon wins.
Like we were saying earlier, when he's not fighting off
consumption, he can certainly contend for for the tournament.
So that was great. Love everything about the trophy
ceremony there. They literally had like a
wedding band like this diva. She was like a 50 year old
lounge singer. She just comes on a clay court
in heels and is singing Macho Man.
It was amazing. And then I love at the end of
the Barcelona tournament, the winner just jumps into the pool
with all the ball kids. Like it's just adorable.
Yeah, it's. Fun.
That is fun. Lovely little things.
Yeah, yeah. And then Stuttgart.
Shout out to your girl Elena. Elena asked.
Whoa. But I'll tell you, I think the
reason she won is because that's one of the few tournaments that
still uses real line judges. And so because when she when she
plays with the automatic line calling, she's constantly
arguing with the machine. So she had no distraction with
the machine. She doesn't trust the machine.
She's the only player. Like he literally argues all the
time. So she's.
Yeah, but she. She's like a modern day Sarah
Connor. She's like the only one fighting
against the machines I love. It yeah, she's so she when she
doesn't have that distraction and talk about bad kits, she's
got the she always has the worst kit.
Always. It's like her own signature
brand. It's, it's so bad.
It's horrendous. It's like a 5 year old's color
blocking. It's terrible.
It's just so it's. So bad there.
It's a pattern from Michaels. It is sewn at home.
I absolutely love everything she wears everything.
She's hilarious. She really?
No one else can do it. I Yeah.
No, I enjoy her. I enjoy watching her play and
she has one game bam bam, bam. And if when she's on, she's
unbeatable. She can beat anything.
She's always surprised when she loses and her handshakes when
she loses, she's like, yeah, see you later.
She's just like, get me off the court, which I you got to
respect in a way. She beats Eaga for the sixth
time in a row. She's 6th love against.
Six and eight. It's incredible.
Against Eaga and then yeah, it really routes Sabalinka in the
final one and four. So yeah, I mean, when she's on,
she's on. I just, I wish she was on a
little more because it's hard. Here's my thing with people like
her, I can't root for her because she really strings it
together once every five tournaments.
The other 4 tournaments she wins maybe one, maybe two matches and
then it's like man, she doesn't care.
I do see her winning another Slam though, before she retires.
That's that's my sort of like dark horse call.
I could see her stringing together like on, I don't see it
at Wimbledon, but on a hard court, probably not Australia
because it's too hot, but like at the US Open or at the French
Open on clay, I could see her because, Oh yeah, she just hits
the ball so hard. And also she hits it differently
than any of the other women do. She hits it flat as hell.
But she she's competitive. She still wants to win.
Yeah, she wants to win. I don't know if she wants to
train. Exactly, exactly.
Yeah. But I I still think depending on
if a draw opens up or something like that, I could see her
winning another slam. 100% yeah. Yeah.
But the main tournament that we're here to talk about is
Madrid. So that just wrapped up today
and it is the 4th Masters 1000 for the men and I lost count for
the women cuz they have a few in the Middle East.
So I think if it's the 5th for for the women, the the altitude
in Madrid is high. So it kind of makes it faster,
makes it, you know, a little more.
Doesn't really play like hard courts, but it's not like the
soft balls of the traditional clay.
The stadium is much more brutalist.
So that main stadium it is. I go back and forth on it
sometimes. Most of the time I hate.
It very cold and they have that weird piping.
It looks like you're you're in an air conditioning vent, like
popping out of the side a little bit like it's a little weird.
It feels like you're about to watch like, you know, a UFC
match or something. But it it I'm with you.
I can't decide. Yeah, but I gotta say this year
I liked it more than most years I think, cuz there were just
like a lot of cool narratives. My sort of highlight on the
women's side was definitely Svitolina.
You know, another Ukrainian makes of the semis had some
chances against Sabalinka, but again, it's always on
Sabalinka's racket. But she had a great win over
Rabacana. She's hard not to cheer for, you
know, she, she really, she takes a lot of Ukraine on her
shoulders and, and, and she's even even when she loses or wins
against the Bela Russian or a Russian, she will nod to them.
You know what I mean? And I, I want her to win a slam
really bad. Like I, I like, I know I want
her to really want it. I it would just, it would be.
Awesome, I really want that for her.
I I and also like, look, I'm I'm famous for my predictions on the
show. We call him the reverse Creamer,
where when I say one thing, the other happens.
You know, just like last night I posted about rude.
I was like, are we worried about him?
Is he going to get bageled and he wins?
So I'm going to say though, with some confidence, I don't think
she's going to get a slam, which maybe she's going to get one,
but no. Hopefully.
I mean, she's sort of the perennial semi finalist, you
know. Yeah, I just, I she doesn't have
the game to really breakthrough against.
Like Sabalenka would have to have an off day.
Eagle would have to have an off day to win.
Just not both, you know, not one in the semis and one in the
finals, like. Not the draw's going to have to
open up. Yeah, exactly.
But she had a good Madrid, you know, made it to the semis,
which is, which is good. The what?
What stuck out to me was Coco's 6161 drubbing.
Oh my God. Shiatek Eega's, I feel like
she's sort of she's like in hiding.
She's not having fun. Like even at night she's wearing
that hat, you know, like she, she, I think she feels very
uncomfortable on the world stage.
And I think she's got to like release a little bit like Maddie
talked about, she released the need to win a slam.
She didn't need it anymore. And then the success came.
And I think if Eager just releases that iron grip a little
bit and just is it's OK if you lose.
Like she gets so up, she's now like crying during matches when
she's losing. It means almost too much.
I was gonna pile on the Oh my God, she's a mess, but I was
reading up about and I couldn't find confirmation of this, but
at least a number of places mentioned this, that her
grandfather died right before the Madrid Open and she was at
his funeral like 2 days before, so I think.
And and she had dedicated her Australian Open performance to
him earlier in the year. Like she was very close to him.
So yeah, I'm gonna give her a little bit of benefit of the
doubt that like that was just too much for her with all the
all the other stuff you just mentioned going on as well.
Yeah, she just put. So much pressure on herself.
She's such a perfectionist and so.
But you never. See her lose 6161.
Yeah, that was. Crazy that that was.
I think Coco was even like in disbelief.
Like what? Like this is this.
Is kind of weird, you know? And give credit where credit's
due, Coco played great. Her forehand was like that day.
That day Coco's forehand was in, she was ripping winners from 8
feet behind the baseline on her forehand.
Like that doesn't happen normally.
And she's not with her forehand, Yeah.
No, so you know, so she, she played an incredible match in
that match. Yeah, for sure.
And so then we have Goff Sabalenka in the final.
Like you said, their their head to head was 5 four in Goff's
favor, but Sabalenka ends up winning in straight sets.
It was interesting because again, it was kind of another
streaky match where Coco was up, you know, in.
Coco should have won the. Second set, yeah, and But in the
first set, at one point, Sabalenka won 17 points in a
row. 17 I know that was sane. You can't do that.
And then I started thinking like, I don't know if the if the
semi final match helped Coco that much because it was so easy
and it was such a weird match. You know what I mean?
Like Sabalenka had to play tough matches against Kostiuk in the
quarters and then Svitolina in the semis.
Really like she came in like rounding into form and Coco was
like, I just played someone crying on court.
It was just a weird match, sort of in the final you.
Know you see Coco's mind it, it's such like it's a double
edged sword when she was being coached by Brad Gilbert, Brad
Gilbert was like, her forehand's fine.
She's the number three player in the world.
It's fine. And like he didn't obsess on it
and she won the US Open, you know, but everyone talks about
her forehand and listen, it is a weakness.
That grip is really, really hard to hit with.
So she's the only player that when she's receiving serve the
same side of the strings, hits, hits the back end and the
forehand. That's how extreme that grip is.
So it's kind of cool to watch actually, when you if you really
study the face of the racket, whether it's it's the same side
of the string. So like it's listen, it's it's
it's a weakness. When she was up five, three and
it started to Arena started to come back all of a sudden, like
she'll just throw in like a second serve for a first.
You can see her mind weakening. Oh, yeah.
And but listen, she's also really young and she's one of
the top five players in the world, so she's doing great.
Honestly, I'm getting a little frustrated with her stat lines
where it's so many unforced errors and so many double
faults. It's like, yeah, she's #3 in the
world. But like, that's that.
That's even more frustrating that it's just littered with
errors. When she gets that cleaned up,
she's #3 in the world right now and she has a lot of, a lot of
errors. If she can get those two things
fixed, not even fixing forehand, just cutting down on the number
of errors. I'm a big Coco fan still.
She'll she's going to win a lot more slams.
I'm confident in that, yeah. She's she's got a a huge upside,
but I don't I don't know if she's going to end up being like
one of the all time greats. I.
I I agree with you. I think she'll probably win like
6. No, I think she's going to
maximum 3. Really.
Maximum. She's only 21.
Yeah, but I mean, I think that
she's plateaued. I don't know why she broke up
with Brad Gilbert. I forget exactly what the fuck
happened, but like, she hasn't gotten any better since that
time. When she's on, she's on.
When she's not, she's not. And it's just like I don't.
Know. Yeah, we'll see.
We'll see. We'll see.
Yeah.
Well OK, so we have to continue doing this podcast for the next
20 years. When she retires we will then do
a recap of how many grand slams did she win and it will be 3.
OK, perfect. Perfect.
Yeah, I'll be. I'll be 37 by that point, so
I'll still have to have you. And I'll be legal.
I can drink then because I'm one.
On the men's side, we had some pretty interesting semi finals.
Unlike the women, where three out of four of the top 4 seeds
were in the semis, for the men, no top 4 seeds made it to the
semis. But still really solid, great
players. We had Casper Rude and Francisco
Cerundolo in one semi final and then we had the man, the myth
Musetti versus Draper in the other semi final, So Rude versus
Cerundolo. Look, Cerundolo was my pick to
win it all and he is still my pick to be like if I had to pick
a dark horse, although I don't even know.
For the French. Dark Horse, yeah.
Yeah, me too. Yeah, I agree.
He hit he. Hit such a hard, hard ball.
But my, my worry is he can kind of just like shit the bed during
a match. Like he was up both sets against
Rood. He really should have taken it.
He was up a break in each set, but then he just kind of lost
focus. He wasn't injured, wasn't
anything. He just, I, I don't know what
happened. I was surprised that that Rood
pulled that out and then the other side real quick.
We just had Draper going into beast mode against Mousetti.
I don't know if if if there was too much drag on the non
aerodynamic outfit of Mousetti, but he just wasn't getting to
the balls. He had some chances, but it was
it was very much like Sabalenka versus Fidelina.
The match was on Draper's racket.
Like when he goes into beast mode, you cannot return.
And, and he's a listen. He's a big boy.
He's 65. He made Mousetti look short.
Mousetti's 6/1. He's not a, he's not a short guy
and like Draper is just a really imposing figure on the court.
So and that that match was hard to watch because they're both so
pretty. It was like, get off my
television. Come on.
It was too much like them playing.
Were you jealous or like I wanted to be, I wanted to be one
of the Madrid model ball boys on the court because I was like
these two on the same court. This is just too much to handle.
It's just too much to look at. I wanted to be one of the tennis
balls. So yeah, I, I, I identify.
Yeah, yeah. But then we ended up with the
with the finals of Draper versus Rude.
And like I said before, I was convinced that Rude was going to
get completely drubbed. And of course it comes out and
wins. And I'm really happy for him.
He's opened up recently about his mental health and talking
about how he like, didn't have the fire earlier in the year.
Like he was kind of burnt out. And I, I, I love when these
players are open and honest. So it's like, it's great that he
had some fire. And it was actually kind of
cool. Like after the match, I don't
know if they did this on purpose, but the interview was
talking to Casper and he's like, yeah, so you were talking about
how you've got like your fire back and the fucking DJ who was
spinning on site was playing Prodigy Firestarter.
It is like, I'm the Firestarter. I'm no, no, no.
It was like, so cool. This is a big deal for Casper
because he's never won a Master. All of his titles are two 50s
except for the 1500. So this is his first, you know,
Masters win. And, you know, Speaking of
mental health, shout out to Naomi Osaka, who's been very
open about that. She just won a challenger today.
I know she won. A-125 in.
Yeah, In Saint Malos. I I really like Casper.
He's a good guy. You know, he's an understated
guy, Yeah. But he's a really.
Good guy. Yeah.
And I and I was very happy that he won that match also because
in the early on in that match, I didn't like when Draper lost
that first set. He had shades of Zverev, which
really knocked him down in my bait TP rankings because you
know, he, you know, the way he was going to his family and and
his mom is sitting in that box, you know, and he's cursing at
them. And then we sits down on the
bench and after he lost the first set and he's like having
this curse filled monologue melt himself meltdown and he knows
he's on TV. Like that's the thing.
It's like, come on, there's kids watching.
Definitely like, yeah, I did not love that.
Although Speaking of Rube Lab, I think another reason why I like,
I love this breakthrough for Casper, just like when Rube Lev
finally won 1000 level tournament, like it was just
sort of like always knocking at the door, never quite getting
there. I'm glad that Casper just at
least got that achievement where he can always be like, look, I
want a masters 1000 level tournament.
And, and the cool thing is, is like, it's not that Draper lost
it, it's that rude 1. You know that meme going around
of like who would win a fight between one gorilla and 100 men?
Have you seen that? It's like all over TikTok?
There's this like these like passionate debates.
In this scenario, Jack Draper is the gorilla and Rude is 100 men.
And The thing is like, a gorilla is going to take you out at like
the first fifty men pretty, you know, easily.
But he's going to start getting tired.
And so like, what Rude was able to do is he's able to withstand
the gorilla. Draper started to get tired by
the third set. And he didn't have the same pop.
He didn't have the same, you know, force and like, like rude
really. He won by playing his game.
Rude took it. Out hit him, yeah.
No, and, and Rude in that last game, especially, you know, what
Maddie said in the Australian Open final was she just never
wanted to regret not going for it.
And so in that last game in the Australian, she went, rude went
for it in that last game, you know, he was clocking that
forehand. He was going for four hands down
the line. You know, he and those were some
incredible rallies and he he went for his winners.
You're right, he took it. He didn't.
Draper didn't lose it. He he took it.
Yeah, which was great. It was great.
I don't, I, I'm not, I'm not very bullish on him for Rome or
Roland Garris or whatever. But but also, hey, it's cool
that he's back in the top ten. It's cool that he's like,
there's a lot of narratives on the men's side and we never know
what narrative we're gonna get. But before we get to Rome, what
the hell does all of this mean? What the hell does all this mean
that we've been talking about all episode?
Well, for that, we're going to turn to the Bay TP rankings
where we rank the men. As a reminder, the Bay TP
rankings is the ball boys rankings.
It takes into account what happens on and off the court.
So if you win a tournament, hey, that's Bay TP points.
Are you debuting an amazing new mustache?
That also is some serious Bay TP points did.
You. I wonder who that is?
And I can't put my finger on it, but I will.
Yeah. Or, you know, did you beat
Zverev? That's extra ATP points.
Yeah. And so we have posted that to
our Instagram at TDB Tennis. But just a few highlights to
give you a little a little amuse bouche, a little amuse deuce.
Fancy. It's no surprise you're so
fancy. Thank you.
That's what people come to the
ball boys for. Is that high brow humor?
Yes, it is no surprise that Lorenzo Mousetti tops the charts
for the first time. He's been creeping up the Bay TP
Bay TP for a while now, but his kit reveal had everyone talking.
It was part sexy ghost, part papal fitness attire.
He's he's showing that he's he's fashion forward.
He's showing off his guns. Like those biceps, I don't know
where he bought them. And at the same time he, he
makes the, the final of Monte Carlo and he makes the semi
final of Madrid really good, good results.
Like look, the Bay TP isn't just about how hot you are.
It's about how hot and talented you are.
And now he's in the top 10 for the first time.
I think he's, he's landed at #9 cuz Casper just jumped over him,
which I saw in the locker room. But yeah, he, he's so he, he, he
is, he is our number one. A few other highlights.
I'm not going to withdraw all of them.
We had Tommy Paul based almost solely on his El Matador
mustache alone. Cuz look, I heard the collective
inhale when we all saw that mustache.
I am not sure what end that inhale came out of, but we all
had that inhale. We're all like.
And finally, finally making his debut on the bait TP is Casper
Rude. He's always had the hair, the
smile. He looks like a Prince.
He's like literally like a Disney character.
But you know, you did not always, not always bring in the
riz. I need a little boob lick in my
man. I need a little like dirty.
I need. A little bit, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think I think he's
starting to kind of show that a little bit.
He wins his first Masters in 1000.
So that major basic points talk about mental health and just
sort of being a little more human again, all hot, hot, hot
things to do. So, so those are just a few of
the highlights. I'll be posting all of them, all
eight. There are so many that didn't
make the cut this week that really I like Arnaldi
Bornachorich who just won a challenger.
Yeah, he just won a challenger. Yeah, he's back to the buzz cut.
That's why you know the buzz cut.
Is 100% and honestly like that picture of him holding the
trophy like y'all I'm I'm going to put that on my stories
because his legs just. Yeah, they how did the ATP Tour
just because it's all models. It's all models.
So that's the BATP. And now we're going to just look
ahead briefly and with our final segment called coming up and the
entire tennis conclave is going to be heading to Rome next week.
Tennis action starts on the 6th. The Catholic conclave starts on
the 7th. Do you think we're going to have
a new Pope before the end of the Rome Open?
What do you think? I think, I think the conclave is
going to go on quite a while for the Pope, actually.
There's a big, big riff there amongst the Cardinals.
So I, I, I don't know, I don't think that White Smoke's going
to be rising anytime soon. I think it's going to be a
longer conclave. Interesting.
Yeah, I just, I'm like, I'm like, oh, are they going to do
it? Like during the final, Like
suddenly everyone's going to be like, look at the chimney Ding.
The bells are going like this. Yeah, I don't know.
But yeah, I'm looking forward to Rome.
I I think it's going to be a really wide open tournament.
I'm so curious to see Centers return and to see where he's at
and to see how the other players respond to him, because I think
what happened him was bullshit. I mean, I really do.
We'll see, We'll see. It's going to be an interesting
tournament. Well and the footage of Sinner
and his practice sessions is terrifying.
I would be clenching my asshole if I had to play him next cuz
like he is beating the fuck out of these balls and I think he is
ready to reassert himself. He hasn't always had great clay
results, but I think he's ready. And listen, he's three months is
like it's a forced vacation, but like they need that.
He's going to come back fresh. He's not going to have any
injuries, especially the way he plays.
That guy has so much torque. He hits with more torque than
anyone. I've been saying it all along.
He was punished by being told to take a three month vacation
that, you know, when there's like political scandals and
everything, it's like, well, so I've chosen to step down or
whatever and it's like that's not punishment.
I feel like make him the ball boy.
Make him like, you know, be the ball kid on at Madrid, make him
go play like futures tournaments where he sleeps in like a shitty
bed in India. Like I don't know, like it's
weird that you're rewarded. These guys are all so exhausted.
I would dope just to be told that I had to take three months
off like that Sounds like I don't know, like it's just a
little crazy to me, Barring Sinner just absolutely
destroying everyone, it feels pretty open on the men's side.
I I'm afraid to make a prediction, but I will.
So we've had some random winners at Rome the last few years,
Verve, Medvedev. Medvedev.
I mean, that's crazy. I'm going to go with Sitsy Pass
because he's been looking better this year.
He keeps running into Musetti and Musetti for some reason has
his number. He's beating him at Monte Carlo
and at Madrid. But what you know, he's got his
new racket. He's done with his dad.
I think he and Bedosa are engaged.
I mean, he's got a lot going on, but I, I, I think he's going to
have a good run. I think it's going to be
somebody that you would not expect at all.
Like not that Sarundalo would be somebody you wouldn't expect at
all, but you know, I, I could see it being Sarundalo.
This could be a breakout tournament for Fonseca.
I mean, I don't, I don't know. I just have a feeling it's such
a especially that beautiful court that's so tiny with the
statues around it, like it's the the, and the Italian fans really
get into it. Maybe Mousetti will win, because
I don't think anyone's picking Mousetti to win Rome, you know,
I, so I, we'll, we'll see. It's all lies in Sinner.
So the the pressure's off everybody else, because
everybody's going to be staring at Sinner.
Yeah, I I agree. Yeah, I think you're talking
about Nikola Pietranzelli court. And yeah, anyone out there like
take a look at it. You're playing in a sunken court
with 18 statues around you. It's it's so like Roman.
It's just, it's absolutely stunning.
Yeah, I so OK. And on the women's side, I think
Ego is done shitting the bed. I think Ego is going to take it.
I think she's. Pissed.
Yeah, I see. I, I agree.
I think, I think ego will win. It's, you know, it's it's
regular altitude. The ball is heavier.
She's really tough to beat in those conditions.
So I, I, I agree with you. I, I see.
I don't know if she can take the French again.
I don't know if she can win Rome and then take the French.
But I do see her winning. That's a lot, yeah, yeah.
But I see her winning Rome. All right, so these are our
pics, everybody, and hold our feet to the flames just like the
witch trials and see what happens.
Coming up. Rome is literally starting in
two days and that is our show. Griff, thank you so, so much.
I hope you have fun. I hope you grew.
Spiritually, I hope you continue having deja vu, I hope you
continue having deja vu, and I hope you continue having deja
vu. I think I'm having deja vu.
Will you come back and do this again real soon?
Of course I would love to thank you so much for.
Having me, yes. And folks will be rounding out
the clay season in a couple of weeks, previewing Roland Garros
and unpacking whatever the hell is in store for us at Rome.
And there might just be a Mother's Day surprise coming up
real soon. So stay turned on, tuned in, and
we'll be in touch real soon. Thanks.
Bye y'all.