Hey everybody, and welcome to the latest episode of The Ball
Boys. We are the tennis podcast that
puts the Champs in champagne and the Dom in Wimbledon.
I'm your host, Paul Monkle. I'm bringing you the insights,
outbursts, giggles and wiggles of the ATP and WTA tours.
And on today's show, we are recapping Wimbledon and what a
couple of weeks of twists and turns it has been.
It started out real rocky because when it wasn't the heat,
it was the inconsistency with seeds tumbling out faster than
the stock market After that Taco in the White House announces a
new round of tariffs. And then things went from upsets
to downright upsetting with an injury to one of our favorites
while he was up two sets over the world #1 and then on both
the men's and women's side, they got their acts together in time
for the last dance. And we ended up with a
tournament that gave us just enough strawberries and cream.
So today, we'll be popping our corks for the winners and
everyone else who came out on top, Plus talking about some of
the bigger surprises of the tournament.
And we have an immodest proposal for how to finally get these
players some rest. To do it all, we have Colby Gray
back with us. He's the sports writer, tennis
star, Belgian Waffle who Co hosted our Wimbledon preview
show a few weeks ago. Hey Colby, how are you doing?
I'm doing great, just coming off the Wimbledon adrenaline high.
Yeah, I know. Do you have the the stripers and
cream out of your system yet? I think I do it and I'm the
strawberries aren't getting anywhere near the pasta.
Sorry. I mean, look, so that's a
reference to Egos Fiantech's strawberry and pasta dish, and I
made it. You can look at our Instagram at
TBB Tennis for a recap of that. Hey, it wasn't the worst thing
ever. I it's not the thing I would
crave to celebrate a single thing in my life, though.
That's some Polish DNA right there.
Yeah, I used to have an Italian roommate a few months ago and I
think that would have been like genocide if I did that in the
house. So not going to get anywhere
near that. You're like, you didn't take out
the trash, so I'm going to make strawberries and pasta.
And and I'm going to break it and I'm going to break it before
I make it. So before we get in the show,
look, we we played getting ballsy with you last time, loved
getting to know you. You played in tournaments with
Nakashima and Nara and some others and just all around great
tennis aficionado. But one thing we didn't talk
about enough, and you kind of referenced it at one point about
how for you, Rodger Federer, he's an idol.
You still make arguments for him being the GOAT, which I'm I'm
there with you. So I want to hear a little bit
about your fandom, but also you've got a Rodger Federer
tattoo. And part of me was like, should
we play a game? Like let's guess where on Colby
body, Colby's body is the tattoo and let's finally show us.
But for for to keep it PG13, I want to hear about the tattoo
and just just tell me about this fandom.
Oh yeah, definitely the tattoo placement.
Not safe for work, no. Tramp stamp.
No, I so I got it in 2021 when I was living in Denmark and I can
I can show it is safe for work. That's the tattoo.
For anyone who's not going to see this on Instagram, it's
upper bicep gun show. Classic RF, Yeah.
Yeah, so I I got it in 2021 with the hope that I would get some
kind of response. So I posted on Instagram video
with it and you know, I said I'll tag him in the comments,
whatever. But I, I kind of knew that was
lost cause. So what I did was I took a photo
of it and I got a postcard and I put the photo on a postcard and
it was like, I think the background was like a Geneva or
something like that. And I sent it to his manager and
I was like, Hey, I got a tattoo. I'm his biggest fan and I would
love to, I would love to get a signature if if anything.
And I didn't expect much. It was the most expensive
postcard I've ever sent in my life.
It was like, I think I paid like $20.00 for it because I had to
mail it to Switzerland. I mailed it and then put it out
of my mind. And I don't know, 8-9 months
later my mom texted me and and she said yeah.
Roger sent a response back the dream and he said something
along the lines of cool tattoo, thanks for being a follower, and
then he signed it with his signature.
For me that was already enough. Oh my God.
But one day, one day I hope to show him in person that's the
dream and then I can make my argument to him as that's why
he's still the greatest player of all time, which gets harder
and harder every year. But luckily, Wimbledon this year
did not change my argument. No, no, OK.
I love that. I'm I'm glad he didn't send back
like a restraining order, please.
So no, I love it. And look, I I'm right there with
you. I saw him in in the box watching
the matches. I mean, he just looks so
fantastic still. And just like maybe you could
just could he get it, get back out there one more time.
But did you hear the stat? There were two grand SEM finals
that he lost to Novak where he had match points.
And if he had won those, it would be 22/22/22 between him,
Novak and Rafa. It's not like, oh, Novak's got
four more than Rodger, which sounds a gargantuanly large
rift. It's like, no, it's two points,
2 points away from them being fully tied.
I'm there with you. Although I have it's, we'll be
talking about this on the show a little bit.
With Novak starting to really no longer be the the favorite in
any tournament where Yannick and Carlos shows up, I'm getting a
little sad and a little nostalgic for my Novak, who I
love to hate. But I, I, I would be happy to
entertain any arguments about Roger being GOAT.
So if you've got more, you know, if you're like, well, actually
think, please make the argument, Sir.
Yeah. I mean the, the, I think the
primary consideration is that out of the big three debate that
Roger and Rafa are the 2 that are disadvantaged the most just
because both of their surfaces are one where there's only one
major. Novak's best surface is
hardcourt, Rafa's is clay, Rogers is grass automatically.
That's a very heavy disadvantage.
And especially if you look at Masters 1000 skew, if you look
at where most tournaments are played.
And even despite this, you still had Rodger with the most wins of
all time. So putting grand Slams aside, he
still has the most total wins. And usually the argument goes
for Rodger against Rafa with the head to head.
And it is true that that Rafa still is winning the head to
head, but Rodger really dominated the last several
years. And I think the case could be
made that if the grass swing was longer because it's the
shortest, like we talked about on the last podcast, it's the
shortest. And then if there was an equal
amount of tournaments on all surfaces, that the playing field
would actually be skewed a little bit in in Rodger's favor
for the GOAT argument. But it's just it's the way it
played out. And I think if you would have
put Rodger in the Open era when it started, or even before the
Open era when most was played on grass, I think it would have
been a runaway. Yeah, interesting.
OK, I I think that's a solid argument.
It's it's like, yeah, we're like discriminating against grass
court players. Like there's really.
And clay to a certain degree, but mostly grass.
Well, 'cause yeah, I mean, look, the the grass season is now
over. We had one month, one month of
it from the end of the French Open, which is the first week of
June till now. It's like, get it, get your
grass in folks 'cause now we're done.
Well, let's get into the show. And as always, we're going to
start with our Lobsvian, that thing that made us just a little
gayer for tennis or gayer in general since the last show.
And there are, there's a number of them, so we can't cover
everything. And some late breaking news.
Yesterday, Tommy Paul and Paige Lorenz announced their
engagement to be married. Now, I know, I know, there's a
collective sigh out there, and I know a lot of you.
Your first reaction is probably the same as mine, which is what
in the Sister Wives hell is going on here because everyone
knows Tommy, Paul and I are married.
I took his name, he took my name.
We both go by Paul. Paul, look, I don't know what's
going on either, but I'm happy for them.
I'm happy for these two kids. I hope they make it for me,
though. What makes it a Lobsvian, which
is just a little bit of spice, is that they announced it on the
same day as the men's final, just like Kazakina did for
Roland Garros on the women's final.
She announced her engagement. And so I just think game
recognizes game. It's like, oh, I'm going to get
a little bit of spotlight here. So I feel like Paige Lorenz was
probably the mastermind behind that announcement.
But but hey, Congrats, I guess. And everyone out there, look,
we'll start a collective morning circle for that as we need to
get through these hard times. What's your take on Tommy Paul?
Yeah, I'm, I'm hoping the wedding photos are with the
truck. That would be really nice.
It'd be such a nice scenic background.
You know, like a full circle moment.
Well, hopefully. It's not repossessed again.
I mean, maybe that's why maybe maybe he didn't pay his truck
payment so he could get a better.
Ring the wedding. Oh, it's for the wedding.
Oh. That's beautiful.
That really, it really is love like truly does win with the the
announcement of the engagements on the final.
I don't know if it's they're trying to get the Press of the
final to help boost the profile or that they think it's a busy
Newsday so they can slip right in.
I mean, usually they tell us in media that you don't really
announce stuff like that on busy newsdays.
So maybe maybe it's actually the opposite.
Maybe they want more privacy, maybe they want less coverage.
So they announce it on days like that so that it's a little bit
more under the radar. Interesting.
The other Lobstvians, just real quick is that Wimbledon gave us
extreme camp as always. Again, late breaking news.
I forgot about this, but yesterday there was all this
footage of the first dance between the two winners of Eager
Sriansak and Yannick Sinner and just, I mean, just oozing with
chemistry those two. There's like a ball after the
tournament and they danced together and it's just like,
what in the cotillion hell is going on here?
Like what? And then the royal boxes were
full for the weekend. Princess Kate was looking
amazing. William and the kids were there,
and even just stuff like the champagne corks were hitting the
courts during the matches. Like how ridiculous is this
tournament? They have to be timing the
corks. There's no, I mean, it's right
before the sur. It's, I mean, they, I know they
want that reaction out of the umpire.
They're just waiting for them to be called out.
Yeah, it's kind of hilarious though, because I so I went, I
was very lucky enough to go there a couple years ago and
like, yeah, they're popping left and right.
Like I don't know why they don't pop them at point of sale.
Are people sneaking the bottles inside or they really buying
them at Wimble? They must be astronomer way
high. Oh, yeah.
But this is where you, I mean, center court like you're going
to show. I don't think it's, I don't
think they're, they're sneaking in the hooch.
Also there's just a better way to pop champagne.
Like it doesn't have to fly if it if it's flying you've
probably Shuck it up a bit. But like also just the timing is
impeccable. Like it's always it happened
twice and it's 5 seconds before the serve.
And that they're landing on the court, like maybe it's Novak.
Maybe Novak is in the stands aiming for them.
What about you? Did you have a Lobs Vien?
Yeah, Venus Williams is getting a wild card into the city open.
45 years old getting a wild card into city open.
I love it so much. Now, now is do we think this is
going to be like Indian Wells where like no one told her
because earlier this year everyone was freaking out like,
Oh my God, she got a wild card and then she went out and she's
like nobody told me. Then she's like over
embarrassed. Oh, she found out from press.
Well, no, I don't know how she found out, but she was never
directly involved. She was like, I didn't know, so
I hope someone's told her this. Yeah, I'm pumped.
She's in the loop. Because also coming out of
Wimbledon, where she won five Wimbledon titles, and seeing
some old footage of her that popped up just because
everyone's talking about Wimbledon in her prime, she was
just a killer. Like, whoa.
So yeah, I'm pumped. How do you think she's going to
do? I, I mean, I, it's not like I
have high hopes or anything like that.
I'd be happy if she won a round. It's just, it's just honestly
the feet of still participating at her age with chronic illness
as well. Like it, I mean really like
it's, it's a battle that she's absolutely come out on the other
side of. I mean, 45 years old is she's
got to be up there as one of the oldest to get a wild card.
Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm excited to see her.
I hope she's not double bagels, which just happened.
We're going to get into that because it's time for twit,
which is this week in tennis. We're talking about the hits and
misses of the tour, and the only thing we're talking about this
time is Wimbledon because our favorite Grand Slam has come to
a close. It's wild.
You know, now we're in mid-july and three out of the four Grand
Slams are done. And honestly, maybe it couldn't
have come to an end fast enough for some of the players that
there were a lot of people tumbled out real early.
We're going to talk about that. But just as a reminder, we can't
possibly cover every match on this show.
So if you're coming here for scores and complete updates,
you're going to be more disappointed than a bottomless
brunch. That's just me and a frittata.
So we're going to start off with top tier, which is where we're
going to cover the winners starting kind of around the
semifinals, around in the finals for both the men and the women,
Starting off with the men. You know, even with all the
funny business at the start of the tournament, with just
everyone losing in the first and second round, we kind of end up
with the semi final that we were could have expected from the
jump. And yeah, I'm including Taylor
Fritz in this, who won two grass tournaments leading up to the
Wimbledon. I kind of jokingly talked about
how he didn't deserve to be the fourth seed over for the French
Open. But hey, on grass like he is, he
is up there. So I was really happy to see
him. So first semi final, we've got
Carlos and Taylor. Pretty straightforward win for
Carlos in four sets. It was super hot, which I think
this year and again, we're going to have to at some point address
global warming because if the weather patterns are changing
and it's super hot or super cold and a tournament that used to be
more pleasant to play in, they're going to have to
eventually shift things around. I mean, earlier in the clay
season, everyone was in parkas like in Germany and all around
anyway. But it was super hot in
Wimbledon. Taylor had a chance in the
fourth set. He was up in the tie break,
Could have, could have made it go 5, but he didn't.
But but I really have been digging Taylor's mindset lately.
You can tell he's got belief. He, he's not like a shrinking
Violet. He's not like, oh, I, I'm, I, I,
there's no way I could possibly beat these.
But like he believes that he can be up there, which I'm kind of
into. And I'm into that now because
look, he's got about two years left to win a Grand Slam and
then it's the doors going to close.
What's your take on Taylor? One of my favorite things about
him is his work life balance. I don't know if you've seen the
interviews where he's asked about his daily life when he's
training for tournament, when like just leading up to it or
for the grand slams. You know, he's on court all the
time. He's training, he's working.
But when he's done, he's done. I mean, he he'll say, Oh yeah,
I'll just go and play video games for seven hours after
that. Like I'm just, I'm dead, I'm
couching, I'm crashing. And I think, I honestly think
there's something to that as the recipe for success.
Because when I was playing in the juniors, all of the kids who
were, I mean, work to death by their parents, the ones that
trained every day for 8 hours, the ones that were burning
themselves out, they all peaked at 18.
And as soon, as soon as they got any ounce of freedom or
independence, they quit tennis. And I think you see it in the
professionals as well. Some of the really early studs,
they burn out from the schedule. And so he just, it's clear that
he enjoys it and he's really able to tune out when he's not
there. And I think there's something to
that that really benefits him. He's he's really, he's not going
to overdo it. So I I liked him on grass.
I think he was one of my predictions to go quite far for
Wimbledon. And to me that was the semi
finals. Honestly, anything less than the
semis would have been actually a let down from Fritz just given
his lead up to the grass season. So if you would have showed me
the infographic of the four players that we're going to be
in the Wimbledon semi finals, I would have told you this was the
most standard, predictable tournament you could have had
and it was nothing like that. Right.
Oh yeah. We ended up with the people that
we thought we were going to end up with.
And I really like that point about Taylor's work life balance
because I feel like Tommy Paul could could take a page from his
book, not Paige Lorenz. So I thought Taylor was kind of
burning himself out a little bit with his playing three
tournaments leading up to Wimbledon, whereas Tommy Paul,
his his tune up was mowing the grass home in Florida and then
going and playing one match. So one would think, oh, Tommy's
got this work life balance, but actually, no, you got to lock in
and then lock out and, and I think Taylor really did that
well, It's a great point. It's.
Yeah, it's being there for the important moments, like picking
your battles. Yeah, then the other semi final
was a a rematch, a repeat of the Roland Garros semi final in
every way. It was a decisive 3 set victory
for Yannick Sinner over Novak Djokovic.
And again, I don't know what's going on with me.
I feel bad for Novak. Look, he might have been
injured. He injured himself on match
point the previous round against Kaboli, who is another great
story from Wimbledon. But there was just no real doubt
in this match Yannick was going to win from the get go.
He's clearly better than Novak now.
It's funny, during the match, I was like texting with Tim Chow,
another ball boy, about Novak and how it's just like, I don't
know why, but I'm like, sad that this is it for Novak and he's
going away. But then he he went up in the
third set and I was like, never mind.
I'm mad again. So like, I, you know, I've got
complex feelings about Novak. And the question now is, is
Novak coming back next year? I don't know.
It was, it was straightforward. Novak wasn't.
He wasn't chasing after balls. There was a mental defeat from
Novak first. I think going into that match
that he, it seemed like he lost the belief that he could win.
And now it just seems like what he's doing is just extra credit.
Maybe it was you who mentioned this, but I think after the
Olympics there was this feeling of like, what?
What left is there for me to achieve?
Yeah, yeah. Because then it's just, well,
there is no, there is no finish line.
It's just how hungry are you? Because you can just keep going
and going and going, I guess. But maybe you're full, maybe
maybe 24 is enough. But but I do think, I do think
just to get his head and shoulders above, you know,
Margaret Court, who has 24 like like to become like the
undisputed king of the hill maybe is a thing.
But I, I think he would love it if that could happen.
I think he's realizing how how much harder that's going to be
for the rest of his career. So then we end up with the final
of Yannick Sinner versus Carlos Alcaraz Part 2.
It's the sequel, it's the remake.
We just had them meet for the first time at Roland Garros in a
Grand Slam final. As far as sequels go, it was
good. It wasn't quite as exciting as
this new Superman, which I saw this weekend.
Everybody out there, Superman is so fucking good.
I'm going to go see it again. I laughed, I literally cried.
I was moved. But it was definitely a lot
better than some piece of garbage like Jurassic World
Rebirth. But it wasn't like like Roland
Garros. I still think.
And just going with the movie theme, I would still go see the
final of Roland Garros in an IMAX theater or even a regular
theater. This match was good.
It felt more mental. There was a lot on the line
emotionally, especially for Sinner.
If he lost Wimbledon to Alcaraz, I think, I think that would be
real tough to get over. I, I, I think he had to win So.
But there also were some amazing points.
I maybe we'll post this on Instagram, but the two set
points for set one and set 2. Incredible.
Holy shit, like that was just like wow, what a way to like
finish a set. What's your take?
How did you feel about the final?
Yeah, I think, well, if you look at Alcaraz's matches in
Wimbledon, he is he is infamously a slow starter.
This is somebody who thrives in those long winded matches and
that's because he he drops quite a bit in the beginning and then
really can catapult at the end because Spanish never die, you
know, and this one those. Goonies never die, nevermind.
Go ahead this match. Well, first of all, he was
clearly the favorite, not only because of his grass record,
which was I think around 90% win record, but simply because
Sinner showed some real vulnerability before Wimbledon,
but also the Grigor match. Like if you, if you would have
changed the outcome of that one, if you would have had Grigor
winning against Sinner, I think you would have had a Djokovic
Alkaraz final because Dmitrov has a horrible record against
Djokovic. I think he's got maybe a win or
two or something like that. Dimitrov's a streaky guy and
he's also, he's now he's struggling with injuries as the
5th retirement for him in a Slam.
And it's, it's heartbreaking. But it would have completely
changed the dynamic of the final because you would have had a
Djokovic Alcoraz match and that would have been a lot easier for
Alcoraz. That's no doubt.
But with that win over Grigor, I think Yannick, really he skate,
he would just came out of it like very aware that he could be
out of this tournament. And from that, he flipped a
switch. Yeah, he wouldn't even call it a
win over Grigor, which I thought was really cool.
He's like, I didn't win this match it.
Was just like he's always, he's always a class act.
He is, yeah, which is really not easy to do if we look over to
our friends on the WTA in Sabalanka.
Who could take a face? Who could take a face from
Senator? And Alka, yeah, let's get some
grace. Yeah, No, it's true.
Like Grigor. Who knows, maybe Grigor would
have gotten tight. Maybe Jana could have come back
and had his first sort of Big 5 set comeback story that he's
ever had. I mean, Jana also injured
himself during that match, falling on his elbow.
And look, I was, I thought for a second he and or Novak could
have pulled out of that semi final because they were both
battling injuries and all that. But then yes, Sinner, Sinner
locked in mentally. And I was predicting from the
start like Alf Gross is going to win, even though it felt weird
to be like he's going to win 3 Wimbledon's in a row.
He's going to win two Roland Garros Wimbledon combos in a
row. I'm excited, though, because
Carlos needs this rivalry. When Yannick was out for those
three months, Carlos lost his focus and he really didn't win
very many tournaments until the specter of Sinner started coming
back. Then he like, really started
turning it up. So I think going into the hard
court season now that we're going to have I, I, I think it's
going to be very back and forth. The clashes coming up are going
to be really interesting to see. Yeah, quick shout out.
Congrats to Eric from my tennis pool who predicted exactly the
number of sets that it would be. And I'm going to give a piece to
Nathan Frizzell who also was messaging me about how Yannick
Center was going to take it, but I thought he was just describing
some fan fiction. But yes Yannick took it and we
are though in an error though it's just a 2 horse race.
The two horse race is really reminiscent of the Rodger Rapha
rivalry and it reminds me of when the two were asked about,
you know, if they saw their existence being as a
disadvantage to their rivalry. They were like, actually, no.
It's elevated us to both new heights and it's allowed us to
pull away from the pack kind of a little bit.
I think you're going to see the same with Sinner and Alcaras a
really stark pulling away from the pack and this this was the
tournament that showed the rest of the seeds are just they're
grasping for straws. It's like.
Seedless. Yeah, it's yeah, Yeah.
Well, and it's interesting though, 'cause I was also
thinking about it just mathematically, like the Big
Three had to divvy up all the majors between three people.
If Yannick and Carlos are giving them up just between two people.
And let's say that they've got the longevity of a Rodger or
Rafa. I mean, this is barring injury
or just, you know, kind of mental burnout, like we're
looking at 30 grand slams apiece.
What the hell? Like, it's like, you know, Pete
Sampras did the unthinkable in the 90s and now suddenly, like,
that was thinkable and then some with the Big Three.
It's just crazy, the potential between those two.
The match itself, I wasn't in love with the match.
I mean, there were some great points, but it was a sequel.
It was not an original right? It lacked the drama of the
French Open. There was no point where you
thought either could win it. But I like the I like the game
style a lot more. I like the type of points.
And I would also say that I think the clear benefit for
grass between Sinner and Alcaraz is that theoretically they're
the most level match on grass out of any of the surfaces.
I say that because Alcaraz should have the the clear
advantage on clay. His game style is longer, he
grinds more. He's I think he's got more
endurance as well. Sinner hits the ball hard, and
that's not really beneficial on clay, which is why the French
Open was surprising that Sinner had that many opportunities,
actually. But on grass, you have Sinner's
game style, which I think is matched the best for the
surface. And I mean, you have Alcaraz's
record, which is just insane. So theoretically, I think the
matchup is better. It's just, yeah, the score this
year for the French versus Wimbledon didn't reflect that.
I love all of the imagery of of center court from say, the 90s
versus today, where in the 90s before the service line where
you be volleying area is worn down brown now.
Like it's lush green grass up there.
There's rabbits popping around like no one's up there.
So it's just like perfect green grass.
And yeah, the game's changed. The only time they're up there
is when they're getting a drop shot exactly the the drop shot
both both players have really brought about a revival of the
drop shot. I mean, this was a this was a
shot that I don't think, I don't think Rodger Novak or Rafa ever
utilized. I think probably you had most of
the net play brought about by drop shots.
So. I feel like the drop shot used
to be kind of looked down on like a cheap play like.
Oh, come on. It was the underhand serve of
shock. Yeah, which I I mean, maybe this
is a segue into the women's final, but fair is fair.
I mean, you, whatever it takes, this is this, Andy Roddick said.
This is sport. This is not charity.
Like you. You play whatever wins, and that
includes underhand serving. If it's legal, by all means.
Well, and also because the game has changed and because no one's
coming forward and people are actually back further than ever,
like the Daniel Medvedev's who would prefer it if there were 30
feet behind the baseline. Hey, a drop shot is suddenly
smart, not just a bitch move. Well, let's get let's get into
the women as as they say. So just like with the men, we
had a totally stacked semi final.
It's going to be really exciting and hey, half the match is
delivered. So we had the first one of
Amanda Anasimova taking out Sabalenka in three, which was
just a great, great win for Amanda.
I was really worried because there was this one point in the
second set where Amanda was up and she was serving and
Sabalenka just iced her. I saw it happening and I was
like what is going on? To go back a little bit.
Sabalenka played Laura Segusmond in the quarterfinals and
everyone is like, Laura plays dirty, she's slow.
She did, and she would stop things and fix her hair and put
it back up in a loose bun. And I think Sabalinka took a
note from that because then she did that totally iced Amanda in
the second set. From that point on one that set,
and I was like, Oh no, Sablinka is going to win because the
other person is going to lose versus somebody winning the
match. But Amanda stayed in.
It took her out in three sets. I'm so happy for Amanda.
I think more tennis players are going to start taking breaks
like she did because hey, if you're like top tier, you can
come back. You can take 3 months off, you
can take 6 months off, you can take 8 months off.
And then we had the other semi final of Ego Shriantec versus
Belinda Bench and the bench had a broken toenail.
So she was struggling. Her toenail is broken, her serve
was broken. Total route she loses 6 to 6
Love really just like an unremarkable semi final.
So I don't really care about that.
But what did you think about the semi final between Amanda and
Arena? Yeah, I mean, a great tournament
for Amanda. I mean, this is really like a
potential breakout. The match certainly had more
juice to it than any of the ego matches have had.
So there was maybe a little more entertainment.
It's so hard to pin down any successful women because you
kind of have like the it's, it's hard to pin down any of the
successful women in this, in this era of women's tennis
because of the streakiness. It's like the Dimitrov effect,
and ever since Serena has dropped off, we've just had a an
era of streakiness on the women's side.
But then Eaga comes into the final and just utterly
demolishes Amanda and a Simova 6 love 6 love First double bagel
in a grand SIM final since 1988. Fun fact, she actually won her
last 20 games if you go back to the first set of the semi final
against Benchich. And then when's the second set 6
love? So obviously Ego was much
fresher than Amanda and and but it showed.
I mean Amanda just didn't show up for this even in the coin
toss. Like Ego is doing her kind of
shenanigans, which I kind of hate when she's like shadow
hitting. It's like Rafa esque but like
like like shitty at the same time.
Yeah, but but Rafa did it contained Rafa's was was very
much it was like it was so promising.
It was it was very much internal and it wasn't for anybody else.
And you have to wonder with ego, who was it for?
Is it really for her or is it is it to bring?
Is it for her to elevate her level or to bring somebody
else's level down? And I would say it was probably
to get in Amanda's head, but Amanda on the other side of the
net was just looking kind of like she was there to play a
round of live ball. Like she was just like, not.
There was no need to get in Amanda's head because Amanda's
head wasn't really there in the 1st place.
What I I have to say is Eager should have dominated this match
and winning a Max six O 6 O is is part of tennis.
They don't owe anything to the fans.
They don't owe anything to the organization to prolong the
matches. If you're going to pumble the
shit out of somebody, pumble the shit out of somebody.
Let it happen. Yeah, back to Andy Roddick.
Like whatever it takes, this is war.
This is not it's not Wimbledon's best friend race so.
Entertaining is a bonus. I mean, if you're going to be,
if you're going to be a guy like Medvedev or Bublik and you're
going to have some entertainment or Monfis, you know, by all
means, that's part of your character.
But yeah, you're not paying for that.
It's survival the fittest. Yeah, and also I was like, look,
6 love, 6 love. It's not that different from
6162. So like, let's just get it over
with sooner. It was so not competitive that
it wouldn't have mattered if she won a game or two.
I got to say though, I I am back on the the ego Shiantek
bandwagon. Are you?
I Yeah, she grew on me this tournament just with a few of
her pressers. I mean, of course, the
strawberries and pasta, just how unhinged she is with her snacks.
But after the final, she's getting interviewed and and
she's being asked like, oh, So what do you have any message for
like the press? Because like the Polish press
has been dogging and she's like, she's like, yeah, just let me do
what I'm going to do and I'm going to win.
She's she's kind of coming back into herself.
I agree with you. I think it's cool that she
bagels people like, hey, like, like she, she's not going to
give you a game. Sorry, no.
And she shouldn't. When I, when I played in in high
school and I had a match where one of the coaches from the
opposing team said, hey, can you, can you please let one of
our players have a game when we're playing?
It's really demoralizing what you're doing on the court.
And I was like, I'm sorry you've signed up for the wrong sport if
you think that we just give out games like that.
Like no, because. Colby Gray, you heartless.
Wow, now. You I and I'm this player was
clearly newer to tennis and I I had those experiences when I was
looking the tennis bitch I was yeah, I was I was the I was the
big fish in the small pond. But then I went to in Los
Angeles, I went to play the sectionals and I went to play
the bigger tournaments and I got bageled all the time.
And that was inspiration for me. I saw something above me.
It felt not when I was young, but now when I find a player who
just beats the crap out of me, I kind of, I get a kick out of it.
I'm like, wow, man, I suck. Like I'm, I just was humbled and
I have something now to build up to.
But you have to see something above that.
And ego was was providing that I guess.
I, I thought you're going to say it kind of turned you on when
you get beaten up, but OK. Yeah.
No, Exactly. Exactly.
And look, there is a world where if ego is is back and Sabalenka,
you know, doesn't lose her fucking mind.
Contrasting styles, different personalities.
They've never really been peeking at the same time.
Like that could be a great rivalry.
I think we'll get to the point where you have the two women
that really stand out that kind of elevate each other's level.
And maybe and maybe then I think two things happens to the pack.
Either they break off from the pack or the pack raises their
level to try to try to keep up. And that's that's really what
you have to do. There's less sort of distance
between them and the pack and Yannick and Carlos in the pack.
So the Cocos, the Andrevas. I want to say Anna Simovas, but
I'm going to give her a minute to process that drubbing.
But you know they can catch up. So have you reconciliated your
feelings with Sabalenka? I dislike her more than ever
more than ever, and I'll tell you why.
So it was that press conference after her semi final loss where
everyone, everyone was posting like all, you know, all the,
the, the, the mainstream media was posting her first line in
the press conference, which is like, if you're expecting the
same thing as Roland Garros, you'll be disappointed.
Do, do, do. So everyone's like, oh, she's
learned her lesson. But then the next thing she does
is she just kind of pauses. And I, I posted this to the
story on her Instagram just looks off camera.
And then she just looks out and she's like, she played a better
match. But then like a three second
pause, then bursts out laughing like she doesn't believe that.
She didn't believe that at all. Some people are very forgiving.
For some people, a TikTok dance with Cuoco was enough.
It wasn't enough for me. And I think that Sabalenka, she
is not as good as she thinks she is.
She thinks she's GOAT level. And it's like, girl, you got
beat fair and square by Anna Simova, but you're going to sit
there giggling and acting like, like, I know that she thought
she should have won that match. And I know that she's pissed
about it. And, and I bet she was watching
that final with gusto. But also like, furious because
she was probably like, I could have taken ICA.
So I think that she I think, I think, yeah.
My take is Sabalenka thinks she's way better than she
actually is. Sorry.
OK I have I have two thoughts. One on the comment about the
TikTok. I've been thinking it's so funny
that a lot of other sports, but also just TV in general is
always trying to bring about drama.
That's what reality TV is built on.
That's what a lot of the leagues like they, they thrive on.
They look for tennis steers away from it.
They want people to get along. They want to reconciliate it.
They I don't think they like characters like curious that
much because for them it's not really about necessarily
ratings. I think it's, it's about some
kind of culture. And so the WTA doing that TikTok
was very, it was very scripted, as we said, and it seemed very
manufactured. And I, I don't like it.
I think it has to be natural. You have two extremes where you
have, you know, the reality TV and that where you're putting
people in manufactured settings and you're trying to bring about
it. You're maybe getting them drunk
or something like that. And then you have Dennis on the
other hand, who is trying to act very goody 2 shoes.
It's like everything is perfect. Don't worry, everything is fine.
And it should play. It should just play along with
the natural drama of it. It doesn't have to create it.
It's there and it it can cover it.
With Savalenka's interview, post interview.
I, I don't know if I agree. I think she may have been
laughing because the press were expecting the response.
They were expecting something more and she felt like she was
letting them down. But I don't, I don't know if
she, I don't know if she was commenting on the performance so
much as maybe she was laughing. Laughing because of it was like
uncomfortable moment in the press room where they were like
on their on their toes waiting for more.
And it's like the press was like, come on, you, don't you
have more thoughts, Don't you? Yeah, I could see that.
The whole thing felt like an interview done under duress,
like it was like a a prisoner of war.
There was just something about the way she was looking out.
I don't, I, I still think that she definitely thinks that she
should have won. And I think that she definitely
thinks that she's better than she is.
I'm just kind of over it. And I'm over there.
I'm over her grunt. Like the grunt.
It's just like it's. Turned into a growl.
Yeah, I'm over it. Over it and all honestly, like I
don't know if he caught much of the see Guzman match, but like I
loved that match and like I kind of wanted her to lose that one.
All right, so how are we going to sum up Wimbledon?
Well, we're going to do it with our new rating system called
serve that's going to help us decide how many balls to give
Wimbledon and particularly this edition of Wimbledon.
This 148th sequel to Wimbledon 1 and serve stands for sexiness.
Did it turn us on excitement or their new and interesting
players? The results are we happy with
the winners overall, the vibes, the aura, the energy of the
tournament and the endurance. Will this go down in history?
Are we going to be thinking about, talking about wondering
about Wimbledon 2025 in the coming years?
For each of these, we have a scale of 1 to 3 balls, just like
a tennis can. So how many balls do we give for
each of these? Colby, for you sexiness, how
many balls do you give it? Did it turn us on?
I think I give it 2 balls. I think, well, Wimbledon,
Wimbledon always turns me on I The baseline.
Yeah, the baseline's high, but I think so.
I think you had the elegance as always.
You had the outfits so that everything about the fuzz on the
ball went went on without a hitch.
I think, as always, Wimbledon really solidifies itself as the
tournament that is more than just about the tennis.
It's more than just about the matches.
You know, I want to agree with you, but I'm, I'm giving it one
ball, which is, which is my lowest rating for sexiness.
I think, 'cause I have a high bar for sexiness and we have
just come off of like maybe clay is just a tramp of the season
where we had so many looks and so many sexy moments.
You know, like everyone going crazy about Moussetti's kit
leading up to Wimbledon with sleevelessness and, and, and,
you know, our short, short brigade, they all went out so
early. But even like Holger Rune
doesn't wear short shorts anywhere.
I didn't have a sexy moment where like I like and I don't, I
don't recall anyone being like, Oh my God, did you see that?
So for me, the sexiness, it's a one.
But were we not swooning over Grigor when he was sitting there
on the court injured? We knew he was out and all of us
were like with this new profound appreciation for him.
Swooning. No.
I was worried. I thought he was having a
stroke. The way he went down was so
concerning. It was so.
Dramatic, and I loved it. Oh my God, that was where it
went from a tournament of upsets to just upsetting.
He was up two sets to love over Sinner.
Who knows if he would have won or not, but he tears his PEC,
you know, his tit breaks and he goes off court, comes back out
crying. And that moment was just, I was
touched, but not in a sexy way. I was just like, oh.
If I looked that way, if I looked like Grigor, I would also
be crying about tearing my tit. Yeah, well, in his photo from
his hospital bed, that's. What I that's what I mean.
That's why I need to your level. The ball level needs to get to 2
because the hospital photo was worth a ball at least.
But that's that, that that's no longer Wimbledon.
That's just that's. Convalescality.
Yeah, no, I'm stick. I'm sticking with one.
Well, excitement, there was a
lot of new and interesting players.
I think it was nearly half of or more than half of the seeds on
both the men's and women's side. So we can no longer just make
fun of one or the other. We get to make fun of both
because they just half the seeds were gone after two rounds for
both the men and the women. You'd wake up and you'd be like,
Oh my God, who lost today? So for excitement, I'm giving it
2 balls like hey, solid. And we like quick shout out to
us, our predictions, our who's going to lose the first round.
Hey, nailed it, Zverev said. Although we could have kind of
said a lot of names, I guess, because so many went out.
Yeah, yeah. Like I said, I think of the
predictions should have just been half of the top seeds in
terms of excitement. I don't, I don't know, maybe
maybe if you split it between first half and second-half that
the second-half was like 1 ball. But I mean the, the first half
was 3 balls. I mean there's no question about
that. You you really had the feeling
that anybody could go, anybody was any was vulnerable.
No one was safe. Yes.
No, no, nobody was safe. Which means we ended up with a
lot of new names and players like Sonay Cartel.
She was a Brit. She makes it to the fourth
round. And by the way, quick shout out
to Adidas. So she was wearing Adidas the
whole time. Adidas killed it for Wimbledon.
They, they had really smart, almost unisex looking outfits.
So both the men and the women were kind of wearing the same
design, same patterns. And in a tournament where
everyone has to wear white, they somehow stood out.
Also shout out to Nakashima. Yeah, he.
Went decently far and he's got, if you look at his record, he's
got some of those losses against top players, but they always go
to four or five sets. I mean, every single match he's
in a tie break. So I think he's he's somebody to
look at for the future 'cause he's, well, I grew up with him.
So I would guess he's probably 23 or something like that.
Yeah, I like him and I like Fonseca as well.
I think he's suited for grass. He's got a really good chance of
sticking around. Yeah, You know, Nakashima looked
great. He had some great wins.
He beat Opelka on grass, which is like not easy to do.
And yeah, Fonseca too. I mean, he lost to Jerry,
Nicholas, Jerry. So they had like a South
American clash in round three. I was so happy to see Nicholas
Jerry back. He's got some really.
He got some crazy condition, like a neurological condition
that leads to Vertigo and blurriness.
Like a year ago he was in the top 20 and then he comes down
with this. And so that's why he fell off.
It wasn't just like a form thing.
And so like just like that, he came back like that.
Like the grand slams, like stories emerge, stories come
out. So yeah, I'm excited for for a
lot of these players. So the excitement, 2 balls
solid. Then we got the results.
So just the winners, people who won.
So we got Sinner, we got Shiantec.
I think that they were both contenders going in.
So it wasn't super surprising, but it wasn't the picks that we
had. Like I was like sure that
Sabalenka was going to win because Sabalenka without a
Grand Slam just feels weird. But hey, she's my pick for U.S.
Open. But but yeah, I mean, for for
results, I'm going to give it again, 2 balls very solid.
How do you feel? 2 balls as well.
I think I'm happier with the losers than I am with actually
who won. I think 3 balls would have been
it would have been a Grigor Slam.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, just like you had the
feeling that that almost could have been like the retirement
slam for him, that this could have been the one that he went
out on and it would have been phenomenal.
It would have been his Flavia Panetta moment.
It would have been like, OK, I win a Grand Slam way.
Of putting it yeah, my. My Mario Bottoli, like like, OK,
I win a Grand Slam. Nothing wrong with that.
It would have been amazing. Yeah, exactly.
He's not out there being a Grand Slam piggy like Novak.
He doesn't need more than one. But like that one.
I know and and honestly, OK. Is Grigor coming back like a
Peck injury? That's tough.
That's a lot of rehab. He's already been broken body
wise. Is is he coming back physically?
Yes, probably. Will he continue playing?
I I bet. But I don't know if we'll ever
reach the same level. It it seems like maybe this
could be the fading moment, but it saddens me to say it.
Yeah, yeah, maybe he'll come back from a match or two like
like Patrick Kvedeva, shout out to her.
She retired after this Wimbledon, two time Wimbledon
champion and she actually bageled somebody in the final of
Wimbledon against Eugenie Bouchard.
She came back after maternity leave, but she only played like
four or five events. She won one match in her return
and she's just like, Nah, I don't know, baby fed, baby fed
might be baby full. OK, so 2 balls for for results,
for vibes. So the overall energy and the
vibes of the tournament, it was weird.
That first week was very weird and disconcerting, kind of
disorienting, like who's going to lose next?
And it was super hot there. But then Wimbledon, just
Wimbledon like it's going to do. And, and by the end I was like,
yes, this was this was the right vibe the entire time from the
Royals to the pomp and circumstance to that campiness.
I don't know. How were the vibes for you?
Yeah, this is this is what you expect from Wimbledon.
So the vibes were definitely matched with the expectations.
I I mean, I'm not expecting something over the top and and
grand in terms of drama from the tournament.
Yeah, I think it's another solid 2, you know, 2 balls for vibes
and then endurance. Are we going to be talking about
this in the years to come? And at first I was thinking, no,
like, OK, it was just like a standard tournament.
But because of that double bagel in the final, people are always
going to be like, oh, when was the last time that happened?
So this this has some endurance, but it doesn't have the 1
shining moment highlight reel maybe that that other
tournaments and other Wimbledons have had.
So again, for me, it's a 2. And I think overall it's a 2
Wimbledon this year, 2 balls, 2 balls out of three.
It ain't bad. I'll take it, I'll take another.
Yeah, I think I think we could be talking about it because this
could be the tournament where really the the rest fall back
and the two pull away from the the pack.
This could be like, you know, in the 2000's, the era of Roddick
and Ferrero and and all of those guys who really struggled to
stay up at the top. And then there was just this
catapult where you had really nobody challenging them.
So in that way, we could be talking about it the final, of
course. But yeah, I would agree too as
well. Yeah, yeah.
All right, so Wimbledon, you got 2 balls and and we will see you
next year. Just a few more things to cover
on the show. I do want to talk real quick who
had the worst Wimbledon between Daniel Medvedev, Sasha Svera of
Lorenzo Moussetti and Stefano Sitsipas?
And my vote is for Stefanos because he had a retirement with
a back problem. I don't know if he picked up a
back problem from Paula Bedosa, but then his his luck didn't
stop there. His coach, Gorn Ivanisovich,
takes shots at him publicly about his.
Fitness. Whoa.
Like what the hell. Like you, I mean.
No, that's, that's, that's off. No, that's off limits.
I mean, I, I don't understand what he was thinking when he was
doing that. You it, first of all, it says
something about your coaching if your player isn't fit.
So really, it was a diss in himself.
Yeah, yeah, no. Well, exactly.
And it's like, is this your way of ending the relationship?
How are you going to show up on Monday and Coach Sitsi pass
after? It's just so cringy and
uncomfortable and OK, your player got injured, you're going
to kick him when he's down. But then it doesn't end because
then he and Bedosa split up. I'm so hopeful.
I mean, look, we talked them up so much last episode.
I don't know if it's because we were hyping them up, but how
much we love Paula and Stefanos together and how gay they are
for each other. But I think there's also just
like this overall exhaustion going on on tour and I think
enough is enough. And I want to just propose real
quick a change to make. I've got an idea instead of
just, OK, we've got a year long tour, come and enter everything
you want to. What if there was a maximum
number of points you're allowed to compete for per year?
Because then that also levels the the playing field because if
you enter every tournament, of course you're going to be up for
more points than someone who enters 8 tournaments or five
tournaments. So maybe you can compete for a
maximum of 15,000 points. So 4 grand Slams is 8000.
Maybe you only enter 5 Masters 1000.
So that's another 5000. A few 5 hundreds, a few two 50s,
maybe a team tournament. And that all adds up to you've
got a cap, there's a point cap you can enter.
So you could, you could front load your season, you could back
load it. Players will get rest, new
narratives will emerge. Because I am worried if it's
just Yannick and Carlos for the next 10 years, people are going
to get real bored real fast. So like, oh, come on.
Like so new players can win, fans will be entertained.
You can draft players by different tournaments.
It can be really fun. I don't know, just throwing it
out there. We because we got to do
something. These players are exhausted.
Yep, I love it. I love it.
I think the cap, and I've always been saying to that I, I don't
know how this is possible, requires a major restructuring
of just the geographical layout of the, of the ATP and the WCA.
But that you create swings of locations like we do in the US
during the summer season in the hard courts where you have
specific swings or you, you go to Australia and you're in
Australia and then you're going to, you're going to France, but
you're staying there, you're staying there.
You're not going to go back to France.
So really I think to make it more level where you just you
have tournaments that are scheduled all around the same
time where you players don't have to go to the US four times
in a season like they do right now.
We've got to, we've got to draw the line where we've got to look
after the players more and they're.
Just. Absolutely.
They're mentally fried. And also get rid of the
penalties for players not participating in tournaments.
No, that's that's ridiculous. You have players who are playing
knowing they're going to lose, but who have to play sometimes
who are straining themselves over exerting themselves.
No, it doesn't make sense. You you play within your limit.
Yeah, yeah. So Novak, Coco, let's talk.
We're going to put in a cap, let's make this happen and and
we'll go from there. We're going to finish today's
episode with a game. It's called MASH match.
And with Novak just running out of time to win one more Grand
Slam. We're going to play this game
just like that game that we played as a kid that would tell
you like, oh, am I going to live in a mansion, an apartment, a
shack, a house? How many kids am I going to
have? What career am I going to have?
Yadda, yadda, yadda. We've done the same with how can
Novak win a 25th Grand Slam with four different categories, a
coaching change on court changes, dietary restrictions,
miscellaneous, so just different things.
So Colby, give me a number between 3:00 and 8:00 and we're
going to start eliminating these. 5. 5 Perfect.
OK SO12345 S He is not going to get a gigantic racket that can't
be passed, so that is that is not happening. 12345 He is not
going to do daily perennial sunning, unfortunately. 12345 He
is not going to distract Ionic Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz by
making TikTok trends and challenges together.
Thank God. Works for for for Coco. 12345 He
is not going to hire Yannick Center and Carlos Alcaraz to
coach him, but you know, hey, like that's one way to get
inside their heads. 12345 He will not be using moon juice
rituals with crystals charged by moonlight.
That one was perfect for him. Which I could see, I mean,
'cause he used to have that weird thing on his chest where
it was like powering him, whatever crystal that was.
I I thought this gesture was him regaining energy from the moon
and sun. You know, he was like giving it
back after his matches 'cause he borrowed it.
Oh yeah, remember that? Like that cringey.
He would like salute to the four corners or the four stadium
sides. Like, oh, I'm so glad that's
over. Just so manufactured like just
man that yeah, no, that the moon, I think the moon juice
really could have gotten into the 20, could have gotten there.
But there's more. OK, SO12345 he is not going to
hire Darren Cahill and Juan Carlos Ferrero, but just make
them stay at home. 12345 He is not on court going to wear a
Cape like Superman but it worked for Superman.
I mean y'all go see that Superman it was so good. 12345
Sadly everyone he is not going to come out of the closet but
just for the US Open. But if he did I think he would
have been a contender. 12345 And he is not going to live at high
elevation all summer for oxygen deprivation training. 2345 He is
not going to use ChatGPT as a coach for every single .12345 He
is not going to just leave the kids at home, which honestly, I
mean, that might help. 12345 He is not going to enter double S,
but as a singles player. So OK, this is how he's going to
win our mash. For coaching changes.
He's going to hire both Rodger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have
them in the box, which, hey, I think actually could work on
court. He's going to introduce a new
grunt where he's going to make the sound of a brain goat every
time that he hits. So it's going to be like Bah,
Bah. Oh, I can't, I can't get him on
board with using any grunt of a goat cause oh, he's 'cause he's
not the. Goat.
He's not the goat. OK, maybe it'll be like, so OK,
different animal, but a new grunt, like maybe a like a, a
charging bore, like a pig, like something, something like that.
Yeah. Yeah.
In terms of dietary or health restrictions, he's going to play
barefoot to ground himself on the earth.
He's going to do a lot of earth grounding.
So no more sneakers, no more sneaker sponsorship.
And then finally, he's going to set up his hotel room in Arthur
Ashe Stadium. He's never going to leave the
grounds. He's going to be like the ghost
of Arthur Ashe Stadium. And with those four changes, I
think he's got a shot at winning his 25th at the US Open.
So we will be looking forward to that.
That was MASH match and that's our show.
Like folks, we've got some other stuff going on over at
Instagram. We've got the new Bay TP
rankings that are out. Check it out.
You can see that at TBB Tennis. Again, that's at TBB Tennis.
Colby, thank you again. I love doing this with you,
despite the time zone changes, despite you being all the way
over in Belgium, which I don't even know where Belgium is on a
map, but you know, we'll figure that out.
Hey, you're not. You're not the only American who
sold me that. Yeah, exactly.
Oh, Amsterdam. I love Amsterdam.
Yeah, don't worry. When I told my mother I was
leaving, she was like, but you don't, you don't speak Belgian.
So that's that's about the level of familiarity that Americans
have with Belgium. But you are you are my favorite
Colby and all of Drag Race and I can't wait to have you back on
sometime soon. So gentlemen, start your
engines. But in the meantime, we will be
back in a few weeks dipping our toes into the hot, hot summer
season of the hard courts. So come on back and we will see
you all real soon. Thanks everybody.