Natalie, you've got some big news to share in the new year.
You want to tell us a little about that?
Yes, breaking back fans, I am newly with fanatics on the
betting and gaming side, working on their loyalty team, working
on the analytic side maintaining to your loyalty, working on
benefit deliveries and really just in my dream sweet spot at
25 years old. Hey everyone, I'm norm and this
is breaking back tennis podcast for fans by fans reviewing all
aspects of the game through an unfiltered mic and I'm joined by
my Co host Peter JB and Natalie breaking down the betting
market. I think I was in my hotel in New
York one time when there was a women in.
Sport This is a kids show. Did I say hotel room in my
hotel? Yeah.
What? Was.
The in the bar at the hotel, there was a huge women in
sports. Oh yeah, meet up and it was like
100 women all like really young and they all work for like ESPN
or MSG or whatever it was. Pretty good, but yeah, it's
called Wise Women in Sports and Entertainment.
I see what they did there. Yeah, invite now that I'll be a
resident of New York. Yeah.
Natalie, be dialed in there. Yeah.
Yeah, she's gonna be central to the program.
They really like make these New York salary is like so awesome
and then you look at the rent on apartments and it's like I I
might as well just not take the game like it's insane you.
Didn't know that you're going to have to get a job bartending
too. Yeah.
Right, come on, I think breaking back in fanatics is plenty for
now, all. Right, all right.
And then now you have to preface everything you say with this is
your opinion and your opinion only type thing do you have to
have like a yeah. When we.
When we like get into now's numbers, I'll just say like
disclaimer, all views on my own just in case I accidentally use
the wrong language. But in terms of like my opinions
about like tennis in general, no, it's just getting into like
the Nisha betting. Norm, we're going to have to
come up with that tool. You know, we're like, you know,
we bled out her face where it kind of like, buzzes out.
And then like change the voice and.
Then not Natalie, Yeah. Not.
Me, Natalie, when do you start? I started December 1st so.
Awesome. So far so good.
I'm like.
So freaking pumped for you. Yeah, it's a great challenge.
Like it's everything I've been looking for.
So I'm working on the loyalty teams.
So we're basically building out like a loyalty program with
Fanatics. I was talking to Declan about
this, but he's loving like the fan cash back or basically if
you place a bet on Fanatics, you get fan cash back that you can
go use to buy a jersey or buy a trading card or things like
that. How does fanatics?
How is it different from Hard Rock bet?
I mean, it's I, I think it's. Like platform, right?
It's so they have like basically three main verticals within the
ecosystem. So Michael Rubin is the CEO of
Fanatics Enterprise. And then you have Fanatics
Commerce, you have Fanatics Live and Collectibles, and then you
have Fanatics Betting and Gaming, and now you have
Fanatics Markets. So there's an individual CEO for
those 4 verticals. So it's astronomically different
from like a Hard Rock, DraftKings or FanDuel because
they're not just a betting and gaming platform, they're a
global sports ecosystem platform that offers anything from like
A-Z if you want to sports, they have that type of offering for
you, right? They've got everybody there,
they've got right there, they've got them all packaged.
Yeah. Full of fanatic studios.
Right. Fanatic studios today?
Yep. Oh really?
What's what's that? Were they actually what?
Shooting. Producing.
Like global entertainment platform, they're partnering
with OBB media who the founder of OBB media was the Co founder
of Rd. who sold to Elf beauty for a billion dollars.
So it's basically going to be like they're hosting live
events, games, partnering with ESPN, Fox Olympics.
Wow, Yeah, what a great place for you to be in, man.
Yeah, that's awesome. It's yeah, it's an exciting time
to be there and it's just like growing like crazy and
surrounded by people that just have these crazy ideas you
wouldn't think are possible and then.
The best thing you can do is be in the room with those people
and just be wowed all the time and also not be like, oh, I I
don't belong in this room. Like, you belong there.
Like, set it up. It's awesome.
Yeah. And what's a trader do?
Like how how describe like the trader's role?
That sounds pretty cool. They have all the Intel.
Yeah, they got all the Intel and I don't know any of it.
And you know, they're dealing with like, customers setting
lines, making sure everyone's in check and that, you know, the
book is set up to be profitable. So.
Well, they'll be knocking on your door soon enough, Natalie
for the 10 minutes of the bags. Well, that's the machine behind
betting, basically. Yes.
OK. Peter, I did go out and get some
frost fest. I hope you saw that.
I did see that. I'm jealous.
How was it? It's, I got it at Hannaford too,
which is our big supermarket chain, one of them up here in
the Northeast, although currently under fire, but that's
a different topic. The frost fest is excellent.
I I saw it on the menu somewhere and it's got like actually has
pine boughs in it, yeah. Spruce tips Spruce tips I want.
To think frosted tips you're looking for that spruce tips.
In a brew. I love repping the Lone Pine.
They are they, I mean, to be part partner with them from the
beginning is pretty cool, given where they're where they're at
now, where they're going. Agreed.
We need to we, we need some lone pine down here.
We need to take some pictures on Delray Beach on a left guard
tower. I'll bring some, I'll bring some
down when I come to. Little photos for them.
Lone Pine out of its normal jurisdiction.
Right Frost Fest on the beach. Yep, absolutely.
This is how we do it in Delray. Lumpens is so popular in Southie
every liquor store was sold out. It's just crazy.
Really awesome, that's. Awesome.
Well guys, welcome to to season 3 first episode for 2026.
First time saying that. Actually, yes.
You know, how many times have we been writing 2025 on everything
that we do? Yeah.
A lot a. Lot more than I thought I was.
I can just kick us off if you'd like, Norm.
Sure. Welcome fans back to Breaking
Back, presented by Portland, ME's Lone Pine Brewing Company
and their winter seasonal IPA, Frost Fest.
Brewed with spruce tips and natural flavors to celebrate the
season. Frost Fest is Lone Pine's
seasonal sipper built to celebrate the cold weather
months. It's crisp, Piney and seriously
festive. Thank you, Lone Pine.
I live for Peter's reading notes, man, I know.
I. Just like, seriously, we can
just hang up the show now. It's Lone Pine's copyright.
It's it's solid Frost fest. Frost Fest?
Hard to say after you've had a few minutes.
Right and merry New Year. So one thing I like about the
new year is it's kind of a chance to be reflective on the
past year. And I like the break from tennis
personally. I mean, I know there's tennis on
like every hour of the day. You can find an ITF in one
corner of the world to watch. But I kind of like after the,
you know, climax of the US Open, even the end of year stuff like,
you know, Davis Cup or the finals just does not do it like
the Slams. So I kind of like not having a
lot of important tennis to watch and it gives me a chance to
reset, recharge, get a little excited about it.
And I don't even play that much tennis.
So I'm wondering what you guys feel about that, if you do you
feel like that kind of seasonal excitement now that we're in
January? Oh.
My God, can I jump in on this? I mean, what what you just said
was so important as to what they're trying to do in the
sport with the calendar. I mean, if you as a fan need the
break, they go what athletes really need.
Yes, they go out and do exhibitions and people say, oh,
they're going to go and play. But look, playing an exhibition
is nothing like playing tour ball.
Let them go out and do that. They spend 10% of the energy be
the longer realistic offseason for fans to really, really good
point that you just made. From my perspective, I would say
as a fan, I feel rusty 0 right? Anytime there's a break in
sports, you know, there's a bye week or whatever, maybe there's
the whole rest versus rust in a conversation.
And I feel rusty as a fan mainly because of all the news, because
of the coaching changes, that some of the rocket changes, the
dynamics, the off the court stuff.
I feel rusty in general. So I'm looking forward to
watching the Australian Open this weekend, laying eyes on all
the respected players and seeing who's confident, who's not, what
the trends are. Obviously we know who some of
the confident players are, but I just feel a little rusty as a
fan. So I'm looking forward to to
laying eyes on the tennis and having some actual things to see
and enjoy. Yeah, I, I got to be with Peter
on this one. I remember last year, Norm, when
you called me back on in the beginning of January, I was like
up until 1:00 AM the night before, sweating, trying to
figure out like what happened in tennis in the last three months
and had a little panic of that over the weekend.
But you know, by December last year, we had we had so much to
say. We can keep this to an hour.
So I think it's tough, but for the players, it's more than
necessary for, you know, how much grit they put out, you
know, 11 months of the year, the longest tour of any sport.
It's yeah. And I noticed like Sinner and
Outkast didn't play anything serious since the final.
Like they're doing none of the warmups I don't believe.
They're learning quickly from their peers, from their elders,
you know, before that longevity. I mean, these guys are already
thinking about that SLAM title for sure.
And they want to be as fresh as they can as long as they can.
They see how injuries happen towards the close of a career.
So if they want any chance to catch these, you know, three
aliens that we just enjoyed for, you know, a decade and a half,
they have to be so smart with their bodies because what
they're doing to each other, I mean, we know what the Tor does
to a body as it is a little over those two do to each other when
they get into a final, I mean, my God.
So, yeah, I think that they're you're you're going to see the
opportunities to see them are going to be fewer and far
between. They're going to be the majors,
obviously the 1000 levels, but I think they're going to be very
smart and prudent about their their calendar.
I don't know if they have to play 9095 matches a year right,
which is what those top players typically are, are burdened with
like close to 100 matches. It's insane.
Well, it's interesting. I remember looking at a
statistic about Federer, about how he played, you know, very
few tournaments. But the thing about it was he
made the semis and finals of every tournament.
So his match count was insane. I mean, the longevity that those
three guys had was just nuts. A lot of flexibility man.
Sabalenka, like said, going to 2026, the schedule has just been
absolutely insane. And you'll see her missing some,
you know, major, not probably major events, but some of the
bigger events on tour. And, you know, she's not, you
know, someone we consider an elder of the sport yet.
So I think you're really seeing like some of these players who
prioritize their mental and physical health over just
numbers and numbers. How many points can you rack up?
How many tournaments can you play in?
Yeah, yeah, strong point. I mean, they're, they're,
they're learning from the people before them for sure.
Well, that's a good segue to segment #1 and that is the
personnel carousel that's going on as we're heading into the
season. The first one I think that's
we're talking about timely, of course, is Craig Tiley, who's
President or CEO of Tennis Australia currently, but has
been positioned as he's denied it.
But it's been a lot of speculation about him taking
over as the CEO for the USTA and JB, since you're probably
closest, I think you even know Craig, but you're closest to
this. What do you think of what's
going on? Oh yeah, we're Bros.
But I mean, we've exchanged a couple emails and that counts.
Done with with the Astro. I know of it.
I mean, what he said with that event is just spectacular.
It is. It is theater on every level,
sporting, music, arts, fashion, food.
It's top notch. But yeah, no, I'm hearing that
that that is probably not realistically going to be moving
forward. I would love to see him here in
the US just from the perspective of taking the US Open to the
next level, which I don't know how it could even go more next
level, but it could actually be, you know, what they've done with
the Australian Open is it's a much more of a earthy event.
It's not as corporate it seems when you're there.
It seems like it. Again, this is me from looking
at ATV. There's the graffiti all over
the place. There are the different
exhibitions of cool and the music and the concerts that are
just, it's just done differently than the US Open.
So maybe it is time for the US Open to kind of change maybe a
little bit of the face, the behavior, the personality of it
a little bit because it is awesome.
But it's been awesome in a certain way for a long time,
which is kind of a bit sterile. Whereas the US Open, the
Australian Open is very just like, let's come, let's party,
come in your shorts and your flops and get crazy during the
day and party the music at night and keep the night going.
It's a little bit of a different scene, but but what I hear from
boots on the ground there is there's the reason that we
haven't heard too much more about that is that it's likely
not going to happen. Yeah, his quote is.
It's speculation. There's a lot of speculation.
I've read the speculation, I've seen the speculation, and I'm
kind of not going to go there. That's pretty definitive.
But he's a free agent Tyler right now.
Is he considering his next move? I think he's free agent.
You think he's? Still doing his.
Game, right, Yeah, because there was talk about whether he would,
if he took the job, if they would let him run the Australian
Open or not, or just make him, you know, handed off to a
deputy. But we'll have to watch and see
what happens there. Certainly, I know the USTA, they
do a good job with the Open, but a lot of people are questioning
handling of junior development, how well that all works.
And that's certainly under the same kind of area of
responsibility if you read the job description that you sent
out, Right. I'm very curious about that in
particular leveraging college tennis a bit more.
I think that might be a good topic to go into deeper another
time regarding players and representation and whatnot.
The the other story that's pretty big in December that kind
of came out and then nobody heard much about afterward is
Djokovic deciding to leave the PTPA, which is the Tour Players
Association, Tennis Players Association, excuse me.
And with the he Co founded with Bostic Papasil back in 2021.
So the fact that he's just kind of stepping away don't agree
with the approach anymore. Chapter is now closed.
That's the language he was using is really interesting.
Yeah, I mean, I'm going to chime in here because I've spoken to
PTA for PTPA for a bit and I was actually interested in working
with them early on, was quite shocked when it didn't work out,
but that's how it goes. But also thankful now because
it's been kind of awkward. It seems like they've been kind
of like searching for their place in the game, kind of
coming up with ways to be relevant versus actually being
relevant conceptually. They have a really good
opportunity to solidify player thoughts and coalesce on what
they're looking for and be that speaking arm.
But it seems like the players really haven't gravitated to it.
So there is really no strength in it and players haven't
gravitated to it because they've never, ever tennis players have
to be so self focused and so self-centered.
They just do. So to think about, OK, now I've
got to be part of a union or association, I've got to be
listening to minutes and by lines or whatever.
But like, I forget this, I got to go train.
So it's a tough sell, you know, unless it's, it's part of the,
the, the, the player group from the beginning, like other
sports. So it's, yeah, obviously they
can't unionize because they're independent contractors.
So there's all sorts of things going on, but it's like, here's
this independent group fighting for the rights of the players,
but the players really kidding. Like what are they going to be a
part of? Right.
Yeah, It seems like, and Peter, you probably know this better
than anybody. Like this idea of having one
league and a commissioner and one contract with a union that
represents all the players might be the only way that this works
out. I don't know.
Yeah, I think that's going to be the case for college football,
which is another conversation. And, you know, there's rumors,
Nick, same and, you know, sort of being this overarching GM,
you know, handling NIL and all that sort of thing.
But no, I, I agree wholeheartedly.
I think in other sports are dealing with it, you know, in
real time. Is is that actually on the table
for college football? I think it is behind the scenes,
yeah. It's it's so out of control.
It's again another, another podcast for another day.
But I mean. I'm sorry, I need professional
college football. Right, yeah.
I mean, these players don't want to leave the college ranks.
They're a lot of these quarterbacks are getting paid
more in in college than they would as a rookie in the NFL.
So it's a little bit of the they they sort of overcorrected, gone
from not paying the college athletes at all, which there
should have been something for all the athletes to now than
making, you know, millions of dollars.
I mean, it's crazy actually, but.
It's interesting that Saban's been so outspoken against NIL
and and sports in general. They're probably saying, hey, if
you're going to complain so much, we'll put you in charge of
it. Yeah, I think he would be the
guy for the job. But 100%?
Yeah, we'll see what happens. You know, and that's
interesting. You may you make the comparison
because that's somebody that everybody could get behind just
because obviously he's had success.
You know how the game works. He knows how the game works, but
then you've got somebody like Djokovic who knows how the game
works and then he departs the unified effort.
Kind of a kind of strange, like how much was he really involved
in it in the beginning? You know, obviously him being
involved was of great interest. It made for great media.
So that was helpful. But maybe when they went and
they, you know, they pulled this, this whole court case and
these legal proceedings, he probably said, oh, a little much
for me. But hard to think that they
would have at least consulted him on this.
I'm sure he had to be involved somehow.
Yeah. It's.
Interesting. He's actually kind of pulled
back from Serbia too. He moved, I think his primary
residence is now Greece. Good point.
And he's distanced himself from the government over some
political issues the other ongoing in the country, which is
really strange, right? Because he's always been like,
you know, the guy. There's a lot of backlash.
Yeah, yeah, a ton of that. Maybe he just wants to focus on
getting that one more slam and that and nothing else.
No distractions to A to your point earlier.
Oh, good, good, good tangent to an over under.
Yes. Will will a joke forget that
when they when they went in a major?
Will he? How many semis will he get to?
I mean he got to 4 semis last year, that's crazy.
I know. Was the over under 1 1/2?
Yeah, yeah. I said that means.
I said 1 1/2. That was my.
I don't know what Natalie thinks about that, but yeah, I mean,
I'm. Going to be a stats boss, What
are we thinking? What?
I'm taking the over easily. You're taking the over on 1 1/2
semis. Yeah.
OK, how about? Like when you think about it,
you have 4 players in the semis and do we really think there's
more than three players that are capable of compete of beating
Djokovic outside of Senator and Alcaraz?
Yeah, in A5 set match, right? Like he he might be, you know,
slowing down against those guys, but he really isn't showing
signs of, you know, consistently.
Like, he's had moments where he slowed up down against other
players, but he hasn't shown any consistency.
And, you know, to Norma's point, like it seems like he's moving
into an even better mental space, you know, than he was
last year coming in being like, you know what, I'm going to take
Andy Murray as my coach and see how this goes.
And now he's like really focusing on, you know, what is
going to make me the best holistic player.
So I think I think we might see him have a great year, honestly.
Presumingly, his body. Of that.
Yeah, who's I take the, I take the over as well.
I, I, people underestimate him and yeah, his mental game is
unmatched. I I take the over, I'd say he's
going to get to to two semis. Here's the better over under how
many tournaments does he play? 4 majors, how many of the 1000
levels? And I think it cans everything
else. Yeah, what I mean, I I don't
know how it works with his ranking and like getting, you
know, seated and whatnot, but maybe he doesn't care in the
smaller in the one thousands, but yeah.
Yeah, I think there's some sort of a rule, I don't know what it
is. I can look it up, but what do
you have that sort of a seniority and there you you have
a different set of rules than other players right now.
Yeah, Also ranking points wise, like if he's confident he's
going to get to quarters or semis in every 1000 and every
major, he doesn't need to waste time doing two 50s.
And because you guys need more points in those tournaments like
why doesn't? Care about any 1000 titles, He's
won them all. The only thing he cares about is
that major. That is it.
He gave 20. Points.
He doesn't care about points. He played in 13 ATP events in
2025 and a couple of the two 50s I think were just literally like
he jumped in to warm up before a.
Tournament. Well, he played because he moved
there, right? And that's where the Belgrade
tournament moved to. That's right.
And there was another one before
the French. He played a clay court event.
But anyway, yeah, I would bet he would play under that number.
Under under 13, yeah. Absolutely 9.
Nine yeah, 9 tournaments OK we need to is that noted?
We need to OK, so we. Need.
To go back to these predictions. OK, we'll know we're.
Going to talk about doing some some, Oh my gosh, we're going to
need a longer shot. We're going to need a Part B of
this. We are for 2026 prediction.
Well, you know what's interesting?
I looked up aces for some reason, so I saw there was a
comparison on Twitter of Alkaraz's serve and how he was
emulating Djokovic to serve. And I was like, well, why would
he do that? But lo and behold, he Djokovic
was #5 on the tour last year for total aces and an aces per
match, which is a more fair metric.
He was see 1-2, tied for four or no.
He was fourth. O Palka had 15 aces of match
which is insane. Taylor Fritz and Svair of I'm
sorry Huby Herkash 9.6, Svair of 8.3 and then Djokovic 8.2.
That's and then like the next closest.
Was a good drop from there but that's pretty impressive.
But he's just so efficient. Well, he's beat that up like
he's, he's found ways, like he knows what's going to bring him
to the next level or keep him competitive.
Yeah, narrow it down. OK, well next topic and and the
personnel carousel category coaching.
I mean give me a comp in another sport where the two best teams,
dominant teams like far and away, you know, Chelsea and
Arsenal or not Chelsea. Sorry, Man City and Arsenal
fired their coach after winning. Like.
For Alcaraz and and Sinner to jettison their their coach and
manager effectively in December right before the start of the
new year. Certainly we knew we knew, you
know, killer Cahill was stepping away, right?
They talked about it all season. Obviously a lot of issues there
in their camp, but man, Alcaraz firing JC Wonky, I guess that's
I found that's his nickname. Wonky Ferrero, the 2025 coach of
the year. Just tossing the curb.
I mean, I mean, do we really know that it was that way?
Was it Carlos saying, you know what, I think it's time to move
on, we've done well, or is it the other way around?
From what I've read, the articles I read that there was a
financial gap in the contract renewal and I think it kind of
it came down to Ferrero's camp against Alcaraz's family.
Like I heard like, you know, Carlos Senior was kind of like
no bueno. They did, you know, like they,
they, they hired the they promoted the assistant coach
that they brought on last year. And I think they're going to
save a bunch of money. Like, you know, these guys get
paid as a percentage of the winnings.
I think Ferrero had a good healthy percentage at the
beginning, But you think that would be a sliding scale like a
sales Rep, right? Like you don't get like the same
Commission 10 years in, right? I.
Hate seeing that about just dollars and cents.
I didn't know that. Yeah, I mean, it's not
confirmed. Of course they're not going to
say that. But this is what there was an
interview with him that I read his first interview in like I
think it was called Clay Magazine, which I love.
And he he basically said he was like heartbroken and he was not
happy about it. He was heartbroken.
JC yeah. And he's he's going to, it's
going to take him time before he can heal and go coach somebody
else. And yeah, he's he's definitely
not happy. So is he in centers camp now?
That was the question is like, would you go?
Would you go, you know, coach, center.
And he said it's too soon to tell.
I heard a totally different perspective that I'll offer.
I don't know if you guys have listened to Monday match
analysis, but they brought on Jose Marone, who's a Spanish
journalist and you know, his his two cents was it had nothing to
do with them really prize money and financials.
It had to do with like, it was a rivalry between Alcaraz's
family. Senior wanted him out and that,
you know, Alcaraz is basically kind of put in the middle of
like a messy situation. And he may have had nothing to
do with the decision. It was, you know, everything
went over his head. He removed himself and said
like, I'm not going to choose family or Ferrero.
Stuff about like family didn't like the way that Ferrero was
controlling his image, like his player image.
So the way they were portraying him on the Netflix documentary
and like his extracurricular activities.
So more of the drama side of the story one will say but.
The Bravo side. Yeah, the Bravo side, but sounds
like Alcaraz from his perspective wasn't, you know,
but it sounds. Like junior tennis, but like on
a bigger scale. Yeah.
Right parents and coaches. Oh.
Yeah, seriously. Disaster.
Stay out of it. Right.
Interesting. And then Medvedev seems reborn,
doesn't he, with his new coach, Jimmy?
Yeah, I mean, I think he's on fire.
He is. Of late, so I think he's been
somewhat reborn. I'm going to miss Is it Jill
Servara? How do you pronounce his old
coach's name? Is it Jill?
Yeah, I'm going. To miss, I'm going to miss
Jill's NHL hats he always wore like you'd be watching him at
Wimbledon. And by the way, is there a coach
that gets more FaceTime or did get more FaceTime than Jill?
But he always. Wore a Florida Panthers hat at
Wimbledon or a New York Rangers hat at at the US Open.
So I'm definitely going to miss his garb and his hat game.
But look out from evident here in the Australian Open.
I think he's got a little wind in his sails.
He's. He he actually went from Jill
Servara is still there like in a management position, but the
coach is Jill Simone. The.
Crafty Frenchman who just retired a couple years ago.
Yeah, you want to talk about a guy who did the absolute maximum
with his game? Holy God that guy was great.
He was just so consistent and clean and he.
Was like the French Brad Gilbert.
Yeah. Dog baller, No baller.
Totally, Yeah. Take your pace and feed it right
back to you. He was.
His hands were amazing. He was good fun to watch.
Well, he and he shaved. Medvedev has shaved his beard,
got the little boy haircut. He looks, he looks in top shape.
My question on him is if he loses the 4th AO finals he's
going to collapse for the rest of the year and cry himself
every night because. Very likely.
Pretty bad. But.
He's a ticking time bomb. Oh yeah.
Lately, you bring up like the whole like, I call these guys
like the Lost Boys era, Medvedev, City Pass, Dmitrov,
like they got caught up in that thing, like where they were just
too close on the heels of Federer or the big three.
And then you got these other freaks coming after.
Like, you got to be kidding me. Like what is going to happen
with the Lost Boys? I mean, it's going to be bound.
I hope so. He's great for tennis.
Medvedev is, you know, you just like a train wreck waiting at
any second. I mean, people love to tune in
for that. Timing is.
Everything going to stay healthy?
Yeah, Ron, that's just retired. He just announced his retirement
like a couple days ago. I think he fits in that
category, Milo. So I don't know if you guys done
any digging around. I love the Australian Open and
we talked about this in the past, but part of it is new
year, fresh gear, brand new clothing lines, colors, rackets,
all of it. And I've seen a little bit in
these, you know, Brisbane and Auckland in the lead up, lots of
solids, lots of bright colors I've noticed.
But you guys picking up anything or anything in particular
exciting you heading into to Melbourne?
Let's go, Peter. Let's see what you got, you
fashionista. Well, there's not as much out
there on the interwebs as I would have thought.
That little I'd piece together. So unless has two new players, I
think and Alejandro Tabilo, I think it is Oh, and Donna
Vikich. So they have some neat new gear.
LS it has some new some new threads, which is supposed to be
cooled. Nike has some very bright, fun
new gear that's very surf. I think based or inspired to
know Sabalenka has been promoting or Nike has been
promoting Sabalenka's new outfit online.
There's another one that's a different color scheme.
That's a Nike dress for women that looks pretty cool.
It's it looks very much has Mardi Gras vibes with like a
purple and green sort of theme to it, which is kind of cool.
Again, both surf inspired and then I hate to and I guess a
little bit underwhelming is Adidas again, you know, I was
interested, I'm interested to see what Adidas comes out with
after that Y-3 Japanese artist sort of collab for the US Open,
which I'm not sure how that was accepted or not.
But what little I've seen from, you know, Adidas is fairly bland
or play just, you know, monotone or just one solid color.
So we'll see what happens there with like Vera and FAA.
I have some questions on Nike, not just like in tennis, but
overall in sports. So I mean, I was looking at, you
know, what they're doing. I saw subbling because dress,
but look. So Tiafoe left Nike for Lulu.
Mousetti left Nike for a six. Radicano is rumored to be
leaving Nike for Uniqlo this year.
Dimitrov switched from Nike to Adidas.
And like, I just feel like for the longest time I've been
saying like Nike is falling off. It's the dying apparel brand.
And when you look at like some of these big movers in the
industry, like you have Viore where Draper is a sponsor, golf
is a sponsor, and then there's a college tennis player at
Stanford, Tristan Boyer, I don't know if you've heard of him.
He's got a sponsorship with Viori.
And you see Lululemon with Tiafo and Hamilton.
You just see like fashion and sports is moving towards
individual sponsorships because that's what people care about.
And Nikes just historically been like a big team sponsor.
And so even like when I'm scrolling on Instagram, I feel
like I see all these ads for Viori now, A New Balance and
Nikes just not advertising. So my question is like, what's
what's happening with Nike? Why are all?
These is it a shift you're saying?
Is it a shift from Nike? It's a shift from Nike, but I
think it's a part of a greater shift, like you're not only
seeing it in tennis, but you're seeing it in the NFL with people
like golf and Joe Burrow who are signing individual sponsorships
with these apparel companies. Taylor Townsend hired a creative
director of fashion for herself. Her name is DOMA Wells, who's a
big mover in the industry. So I'm just curious on like
where fashion stands in sports going forward and the impact of
Nike and tennis right now is clearly shifting away from it.
So that's not. Really kind of stand to what
Nike's priorities are right now, right?
Because they had some trouble with the CEO or they just got
rid of the CEO, or they really went through some troubling
times trying to kind of refocus a bit.
The stock has suffered. They did hire a new CEO, I think
towards the end of last year, middle of last year or third
quarter or something like that. They're not focused on on
tennis, I don't think. I mean, obviously Center and
Alcaraz are the breadwinners for them and they kind of riff on
their their outfits seem to kind of are, you know, under score
the rivalry, if you will, like they're.
Different in in in Sabalenka they have.
In Sabalenka. And she's just a marketing gem.
Her social is like, I'm not a social media person at all.
I'm never on, but I catch her socials.
She's phenomenal, what she does. My quick take, Natalie, is that
Nike has definitely shifted their priorities in the last six
months. This is a World Cup soccer year,
obviously. So a big coup for them is they
they got the German, Germany national soccer team from
Adidas, which Adidas is a German company and and Adidas and
Germany, the German national team are sort of synonymous and
have been. And that was a huge cue for Nike
to sort of steal a German national team during a a World
Cup year. And I think in return for
payback, the rumors are Adidas will be taking over the
Brazilian national team. So there's a little bit of a
pissing contest there. Nike also, or excuse me, Adidas
also just stole Liverpool from a date from Nike.
And so there's a little bit of a battle in in soccer or football,
as they would say internationally.
They've also Nike even focusing on American football.
It's it's ironic that this year you're going to have an all
Adidas college football championship game in Indiana
versus Miami. A lot of stuff about that.
But my gut is that they've been focusing on bigger, you know,
bigger sports and, and unfortunately less on tennis.
Well. They're probably like in a bit
of a rebuild, right? Huh.
Peter, I think so, yeah. Strategically.
Well, I, I got to put a plug in there for the Demon Deacons
because I don't know if you saw Natalie, but the German national
team Peter is training at Wake Forest University, also a Nike
brand branded university. So that's kind of cool.
They're staying at our beautiful Conference Center across the
street from campus and using our beautiful facilities.
So I guess they're automatically my second favorite team now.
And they should be. We'll put a put a plug in for
Hard Rock Stadium with the most expensive tickets and for a
college championship in my lifetime, so go Hard Rock
Stadium. That's right, $4000 average
ticket. Is that right?
Yeah, it's in Miami. It's the first time ever, right?
One of the two teams are playing in their home stadium.
So I think all the the Hurricane fans in Southern Florida or
nationally are driving up ticket prices.
But Natalie, to your point, I think fashion is is getting all
these individual players have their own respective brands and
they're hiring creative directors and they're promoting
their respective brand, just like Saba Lanka to J BS point
who her socials are unbelievable, highly
entertaining and very organic in my opinion.
But yeah, I think you know, some of the bigger getting bigger.
So some of the bigger that Nikes and the Adidas of the world, you
know, are focusing on, you know, these these behemoth type teams
and leagues and it's making room for the veorities of the world,
I think to come in and find strategic partnerships with
individuals. It's so great for tennis too,
because I mean, I remember like, we had a conversation in the
past about, you know, in every other sport, like each player
has a story and everyone knows everything about them.
And in tennis, you know, that lacks depth, like, you know, the
top three on the men's and women's side.
But I think these, you know, apparel brands that are really
like driving the future of apparel and sports sponsorships,
like we'll give these new players like Fonseca and others,
Draper, like opportunities to say like, hey, I stand with
Viori. And that's how they're being
discovered. So I think it's a really
positive thing for players, for the businesses.
We'll see. And it's also, it's like it's,
it's actually kind of similar to the way it is the way it goes
when a, when a top player might take a couple losses or a couple
of hits, all of a sudden he seems like, oh, maybe he's just
not. Maybe he is attainable, maybe he
is beatable. Now these other smaller brands
are coming into the market. Nike isn't there other brands,
these smaller brands, these independents are kind of coming
in and getting on players now kind of becomes more of an open
playing field. New brands aren't as afraid to
try to enter the market because athletes are rolling with them.
So it becomes more of an opportunity for these rising
brands. I love it.
Well, moving to the actual tournament and the competition
on court, what say you to going around the horn and you have to
name who's in the finals for the men and the women, Who's your
champion for each? But who are you rooting for the
most? And I'll, I'll go, I'll go
first. So on the men's side, you know,
shocker, it's going to be sooner now, Perez, I just got to
believe that. I think center wins, he's
working really hard. He's been doing things
specifically to to counter Alcaraz in the offseason and
kind of broaden his stroke capability and shot capability.
I think he wins. I really want Ben Shelton to be
able to have a breakthrough that that's who I'm going to be
pulling for. And and, you know, he, he's
like, I think we can get into this with in Natalie's segment,
but they like +4000 or something more.
Maybe even I got to check to win.
So that's my thought on the men, on the women's side, I think
it's Sabalenka. And, you know, give me Coco
golf. I think Sabalenka wins.
But I really want to see Andreyva kind of, you know,
continue her push. OK, those are definitely solid.
I mean, OK, who's who's going to go against?
OK, let me ask you this. Who here thinks on the men's
side it's going to be something different than Alcaraz and
Sitter? No, yeah, it's them against the
field, right? Yeah.
We have center at slight favorite plus 120F5, Alcaraz
plus 275, Djokovic plus 550 and then everyone else is 1000 plus
plus. Yeah.
So Shelton's ranked #8 now, I mean, is the best chance for
somebody to beat these two freaks early in the year or late
in the year when they're tired. We have public entering the top
10. Now you have a.
Good question. You have Medvedev, who just won
his 22nd title, none of which are the same.
Yeah, he had a great tweet. He was like, I need more cities
to play and. I'm getting all right.
Yeah, right. I would argue, JB, that the rest
versus rest conversation, like it's going to be earlier in the
year, it's going to be at the show Open is where you would get
these guys some like a Medvedev, you never know.
Yeah, I I want to see that the up and coming players, you know,
the Fonseca's of the world and the Runas and the men 6 and the
the learners dravas of the world take that next step and and see
some of these, the youngblood, the next generation start to
creep up the rankings and get into the the quarters and the
centimes. So that's sort of what I have my
eye on. I mean, I we we know the usual
suspects, who they are. I mean, you can't not go against
Alcaraz or center, but it's almost like other than them, who
do you like? Who'd you like to see?
And the same thing with the women.
I think Sabalanka is unbeatable right now.
And so I have a really hard time thinking who's going to beat
Sabalanka on the women's side. Is it eager?
Is it Coco? Most likely is does Madison.
Kinova and Nissimova, I mean, is she going to, is she going to,
is she going to do it? I mean Rabakina can beat anybody
on a day. And this, I think, is very
Rabakina esque. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, Big flat balls off both sides.
Yeah, she's actually going back to the ace conversation.
Her ace totals were 6.9 per match, and the next closest was
5.5 for Klara Tolson. Like, great, she's a serve bot.
But Naomi Osaka was 5.1 but nobody else even close to
Rebecca, so huge huge advantage for her.
Yeah, I think Rebecca and Isimova are the are the two and
and Calco has beaten Sabalinka on a big stage, so yeah, a
couple times. Sabalinka hates losing though,
and she's coming back from losing an AO finals, which she
just might like. RIP everyone to shreds.
Yeah, he's talked about how she loves coming from.
She played so well down there. Yeah, she she does.
With that, I mean, so I mean back to the men's side.
I mean you've got a literally outside the top two.
I mean you've got Sparev, Djokovic, Musetti, Dimineauer,
at least See and Shelter. I mean, Shelton and Fritz are
the only two that might cause a problem for a set or two, but
over three sets that. I have a weird feeling that
Alkarez is not going to come out of the gate well.
And like, if someone has to break the Sinner Alkarez, I'll
stay. I think we could see Sinner
Djokovic. Yeah, it just there's.
No big. Sitner, when I look at Sinner
and Akras, like Sinner has showed so much more consistency.
Nacras has showed moments of like just weird matches where he
collapses and like, it seems like he could be a little shaken
up by the headspace the coaching changes versus like Sinner had a
full year to prepare. He knew his coach was retiring
so. Yeah, good point.
If Alcroz is breaking down this year, I'm I'm going to pick now
and I'll go Djokovic center. That's like not chalk to have
Joker center. It's crazy to.
Me, right? I know, I know.
Oh man, that would be AI. Don't know, that could be either
battle or over quickly. Hoping that we see history.
That would be sick. The biggest thing is, is these
prediction markets. I mean, now you can bet or
gamble or wage on anything, including, you know, mentions
and who's going to say what is Trump going to say?
You know, drill, baby drill during his next speech type of
thing. So you literally the prediction
markets are, are, are getting a little crazy.
I have a lot of friends who are spending a lot of time, you
know, wagering pennies on who's going to say what or not say
what during the Golden Globes awards show, during a Monday
Night Football game, etcetera, etcetera.
So with, and there's things that you can bet on anything from
politics to sports to culture to the climate.
You know what's going to be the high temperature in Miami, FL
tomorrow, The things it's, it's just nuts what you can sort of
wage on. And that's why we have our good
friend Natalie Cutter here to fill us in and educate us all on
all these crazy trends in the gambling world and in the sports
world. Natalie, you've got some big
news to share in the new year. You want to tell us a little
about that? Yes, breaking back fans, I am
newly with Fanatics on the betting and gaming side working
on their loyalty team. So essentially Fanatics has the
way they operate, they issue fan cash for anything spent across
commerce, collectibles or betting and gaming and newly
prediction markets. And you can redeem that fan cash
across other verticals. And so I'm working on the
analytic side, maintaining to your loyalty, working on benefit
deliveries and really just in my dream sweet spot at 25 years
old. So to be here but.
That's awesome. Congratulations Natalie.
They got a good one in you and we're really excited, us old
guys to sit and watch your career.
Remember us when Natalie, when you're on the sidelines of some
events or something and and you can get us tickets.
But anyway, that's awesome. We're looking forward to to
hearing more about that. It's.
An exciting time to be in this industry, especially with
markets launching. You know, you've seen all the
major sports books to it, Fanatics, Pandal and DraftKings
have all launched some version of their own markets and think
like the conversation to what Peter said this year is, you
know, what is that? What does that mean for sports
betting? And where are are people placing
their dollars? Is it on markets?
Is it on sports books? And what are the pros and cons
to each? So, I mean, I'll give you, you
know, a couple fun stats as Peter mentioned, you can wager
on anything. You know, is the president of
Venezuela going to be kidnapped by Trump tomorrow?
Like who knows? But you can wager on any topic.
And so some sports that's for you on the prediction market.
So if you look at NFL dollars wagered, these are polymarket
stats by the ways, $2.4 billion wagered on polymarket in the
NFL. In tennis, you have $270 million
and then 4.7 million of that is on the AO finals this year.
So I mean, you can go to any segment, it's, it's larger, it's
smaller. But I think seeing how this
unfolds in tennis will be very interesting.
We got a hand from John. So who creates the market?
Fascinating to me like so you're the markets are being created on
anything and everything, but who creates it and who fulfills the
monetary side of it? So unlike sports books where
it's players versus the house, you have the house setting the
lines and players are betting against the house.
Prediction markets are me versus you.
So the lines are set by. So if we're saying like who is
going to win the Australian Open center Alcaraz and we have 60
people say yes and 40 people say no, the price there is $0.60 for
yes and $0.40 for no. But if all of a sudden
everything shifts to the no, that side becomes more
expensive. So the way that you know in
sports books you have regulator setting prices, the the prices
are set completely by the market.
So you know there's more information inherently available
in a price on a prediction market because you know, if
something is priced at yes, that means more people think that
event is more likely to have certain call.
She and Polly market are federally regulated, whereas
sports betting is state regulated.
You definitely have, if you have prediction markets that are not,
you know, legally author authorized, I think, you know,
in terms of the whole legalities, we could probably
produce like an hour podcast every day to try to understand
them and explain them. But the general thing to know is
that there's a lot less regulation at the prediction
market level for a customer who wants to go bet on a sports
book. You have to do KYC, which is
know your customer and put in all your credentials and be a
verified human. Whereas like any of us could go
on, call she right now and say who's going to win AO when you
don't have to put in all your information.
So the money is guaranteed, though if you're betting in
here, you know it's because. It must be held in escrow,
right? Like they're kind of like a
acting like an escrow and, you know, site or platform that just
handles the action. It's so fascinating to me
because it's kind of like the, the, the prediction market is
disrupting, you know, research and betting the way blockchain
is disrupted in finance and technology.
And for me, the kind of the, the bellwether is when you watch
CNBC, which I think is just a brilliant show with like
brilliant minds from business every morning.
And they're talking about, you know, for the longest time they,
they laughed about crypto. Right now, it's like a ticker
that you see the price for like every 90 seconds.
And now you see Andrew Sorkin talking about prediction markets
almost every telecast. So it's it's obviously something
that they're they're leveraging to make bets on, on, on Wall
Street and investments. It's also, I think like a great,
I would say educational like way to learn about random topics,
you know, you're not reading articles about.
But if you're curious on who's going to win, you know, XYZ
Golden Globes, like the public opinion is, you know, an
educated opinion from whatever news sources they're reading.
So it's like a quick gut check of, you know, is this going to
happen and. Yeah, you're crowd sourcing
knowledge and information and putting money behind it.
And it's really it's it's just a pure data play, right?
It takes all of that kind of the subjectivity out of it's like,
all right, I'm putting money down.
I think this is going to happen. It's fascinating stuff.
But Natalie, I wanted to ask because I know that so many
people TuneIn to get tips from you and how to make money.
But now that you're in this new role, you got to tell us what
the guardrails are because we want to make sure, you know,
we're, we're doing things right by fanatics.
Yes, so you know, we'll we'll make a little disclaimer here,
but all, all opinions are my personal Natalie Cutter from
Boston, MA, my personal opinions that are said here.
Nothing that is said is as a Fanatics employee and you can't
take my betting advice anymore, but I know Norm is betting on
the side so he can offer some of his picks.
I will give as much education and guardrails as I can on what
the markets are saying, but all views of my own are personal and
unfortunately, or maybe fortunately I I no longer
participate in sports betting anymore.
Oh, that's sad. I.
Know. Is it so the bank account might
look a little better I. Mean that's really that's tough.
You have you got to give that up.
Yeah, I didn't think about that. Yeah.
Called no betting, no fixing or no tipping BFT in sports.
What can you tell us about the Australian Open?
What do you want? Are you looking for your picks
or? Betting Insights.
Yes. What are the markets saying all?
Right. So I would say like on the men's
side, it's pretty straightforward game.
There's not much to ride on about.
As I said, like the top three, Cinderella, Kraz, Djokovic and
everyone else is a pretty far long shot.
I think like if you look at the woman's side, there's a lot of
depth there right now. Top three Subalancas Biotech in
golfer plus 200 + 400 + 500. But following pretty closely
behind is Keys in Ravankana plus 800 and plus 900.
So I think you'll find a lot of value on the woman's side
looking outside of the top 2, especially in those quarters and
semis Look, So I, I would say like if you're looking to bet on
the Australian Open, you're going to find more value on the
woman's side versus the men's side is just very heavily, you
know, Al Gross and center versus the field.
Jump in here. Did you guys see that that Craig
Boynton is with Riley Apalca? No, did not see that.
Breaking news. Yeah, that's just it now.
Oh, yeah. Look at this.
It was as of today. That's fantastic.
We all love some Craig Boynton. He actually lives over in Tampa
State. Pete.
Oh. He does OK.
Really, really good dude. Obviously long time with Hebe
Herkage was with isn't there for a long time Courier, Yeah, he's
one of the good guys in the game.
Oh. That's awesome.
I would expect a Goodyear from Opalka.
He's energized, man. He is.
I just hope that he reactivates his Twitter if if he hasn't
already. That used to be what a what an
entertaining feed that was. I don't even see him on on my
I'm granted I'm looking at DraftKings.
Sorry Natalie, I'm looking. I don't even see Opalka on here.
For me the value is is Shelton is 60 + 6500 and Djokovic right
now. To your point, it may change,
but it's plus 1400. Wow, you got to throw a buck on
that? Yeah.
You do. Absolutely, as we're all making
our notes. And Taylor Fritz plus 3500.
I don't I. You know, he he's got, he's got
into a final before it's Vera plus 2500.
It's going to take somebody like a Shelton that can do something
dynamic, right? To blow him up.
He's got so much out of his game, which is amazing, but
beating those guys in five. So Natalie, what what are your
thoughts on the the women's side?
I know you gave us it's still, it's kind of like the usual
suspects I guess, right? Yeah, I, I think, I mean back to
the men's side just for a quick second.
I think if I think, you know, markets are clearly showing that
there is a lot to sprinkle on the semis and the quarters,
there's probably not to sprinkle and win back on the finals
because it's a very highly dominant field over there.
On the women's side, I think, you know, I would say Ravankana
and a Samoa are probably hidden gems to look at for the semis in
the quarterfinals. They had great years last year.
Bakana has one major title, I believe Wimbledon 2022 and Anna
Samova is still chasing hers. But we know she came close last
year and will probably come in guns a blazing.
So I would say looking outside your Sablanco Spion tech, I
would look at those and I think you know, not taking winners,
but taking semis and quarterfinals is where you might
have a better chance. It's so funny during when you
talk to Emily, it's like the one time, especially something like
this, where all three of us just shut up and you see us taking
notes. What did you say?
Rewind that. Hey, you know we.
Can't take my batting advice, John.
Amanda and a Samoa Fun fact, I did a little research on who was
the naughtiest in 2025, meaning who got fined the most and and
like the serving I did on a per match basis.
On the men, no shocker at all, it's Nick Curios got fined an
average of $2000 a match. But on the women's side, Amanda
and a Samoa What an average of $1000 per match, the highest
fine density on the WTA in 2025. But.
She must have had a couple big ones.
Again, this is shocking. Does it list what they are?
I didn't get that detail, but number 2 is your your favorite
John Yelena Ostapenko. She's.
My girl, that's. A fun that's a fun stat we
should keep track. Kirios is playing double S is he
not at the AO? He's playing double.
S Until he's not. I mean, is he playing with
Thanos again or? Probably.
What a Jackass. I'm sorry.
Like, you know, the, the, the fact that he had to like, come
out and say, I'm just not in shape for the Australian Open.
Like, well, what else you've been doing?
He's not good singles these days.
Like you're going to get back into it.
Oh no, he. Played that stupid double
specialist and played the Champions tour.
He did that terrible battle of the sexes with Sabalenka.
Did you guys? See anybody watch that?
I actually did It was terrible. It was just awful, like bad
tennis from Curious, but it was enough to beat her like 3 and
three I. Think like was he just
throttling it back or just like playing terribly?
His court was like reduced by 10% or some amount.
Right. More.
Yeah. Her court was smaller.
She he had to cover more. Correct, but I mean.
And his. Serve had one serve.
Yeah, but his second serve is almost unreturnable, right?
The delta between the two was was so obvious.
But what a dumb event, I thought for tennis.
Yeah, that was obviously it really gained our interest.
I got one more over under for Nats numbers here.
So, you know, pretty untraditional I'd say, but over
under number of inappropriate comments the Australian Oprah
interviewers are going to make this year.
So last year I can name, I can name 5 S to list them.
Interviewer said to Lerner TN after he beat Mehvedev. 19 year
olds aren't meant to be that good.
And he was like, I don't know what to say to that.
Another one he said Mom Fee is old enough to be your dad.
We have, of course, the very controversial reporter who
mocked Djokovic. And then last one I have was
Shelton was told he would have no crowd support when he was
playing Damon Hour because he was American and Damon Hour was
is Australian. So this is.
Yeah, their their encore team is just brutal.
Yeah. Brutal.
I think we're all big Blair Henley fans.
She's she's amazing at the US Open in the different
tournaments and I remember texting her during some of those
interviews. First match going, what in the
heck is going on? You need to go save this.
Yeah, I, I mean, I have mad respect for Ben Shelton.
He, you know, outspokenly said something about it in one of his
press conferences. Especially because like, AO is
regarded as like the players tournament.
It's the happy It's a sunshine tournament like.
Not last year, no. All in good fun.
Or are they taking it too far? Who knows?
When a lot of the reporters post match also refer to that the
players by someone else's name. So some of them were confused or
nervous Coco. Coco was called something else
and it happened a couple times and the players are still
they're so savvy and they don't necessarily correct a lot of the
announcers and reporters, which is good to see.
We had, I was so embarrassing. One year we had in Delray Beach.
Our encore guy confused Nakashima and Nishikori.
You know, it's just like, oh. Yeah, tough one.
You're fired. You're.
Fired. There are a couple other
blenders like that that we'll have to talk about off air that
had just been cringing. That's a good over under though,
Natalie, because I remember that distinctly last year, especially
the comments with Djokovic or the mocking of Djokovic.
Yeah. Yeah.
And that reported that reported that got in trouble I think.
That was the reporter, right? That was.
A a news reporter, Yeah, well off the court news last year at
the AO. Tournament was the one where the
guy, the camera guy got in trouble.
That was later in the year. Right.
That was U.S. Open.
Yeah, yeah, running on the. Court.
Yeah, yeah. You got like exiled from the
lead, right? Yeah.
Peter Begin so weird. He's in a He's in a a barrel in
the bottom of the Hudson. This beer is really good.
I'm looking at you have that beer.
I'm done with my whiskey here in my car.
I'm looking thirsty, really. Good, I'm going to have to go.
Peter, what are you drinking in in your glass?
Nothing. It's a It's a Diet Mountain Dew.
It's been a long day. I can count on one hand how many
pops or sodas I have, and today's one of them.
It's going on. OK, so it's.
Never had one you're. Going, you're going to be able
to go to sleep after that. Well, I'll go, I'll go home and
have a long time myself. Have a frost fest.
A nice, crispy, tiny festive frost fest.
It is crispy. Yes.
And then lastly, it's worth mentioning that this is the the
swan song season for Malfeese and Bob Rinka.
I mean 2 just. Yeah.
Absolute studs. I mean especially Stan.
Stan might be. I think Djokovic called him the
most underrated player of all timer of our era or his era.
Big fan, yeah. Glad that you brought that up
too. Very, very, very good to
recognize this, too. I mean, yeah.
I mean, what what GAIL is as far as an athlete, the enjoyment he
brought to the game. I mean, that kid never played a
match that he he didn't just love entertaining.
I remember watching his final match as a junior center court
U.S. Open, and it was just like a
rubber band bouncing around the court.
It's just was so unique the way that he played his flair.
Everything about it was just joy and.
His dancing, his incredible dance.
Yeah, he's like the most likable player.
What a good and did you see his wife won this week and
interestingly he won that same tournament, the ATP side last
year. Oh, Auckland, Yeah, yeah.
So he won 25, she won 26, he carried her trophy off the
court. It was a really cool scene.
Yeah. I think she's up the 12th spit
of Lena now. Yeah.
Amazing. Yeah.
Solid. Amazing, would love to see him
both have like a really strong healthy healthy year.
And Stan, I mean Stan won two Grand Slams, Australian Open and
U.S. Open.
Right. Yeah.
U.S. Open.
Yeah. Nobody wanted to see him in the
final. The big guys, No.
And Venus? Williams is is going to be in
the AO right as a wild card at 45 years young.
Oh, I I do think. Speaking of Swan Sound by.
Text I think Serena, right, She came out she was on the list for
drug testing and everyone's like, why would she be on the
list for drug testing unless she's going to come back and she
was denying it, denying it. But I I suspect my big
prediction. Maybe it's not so edgy, but
she'll play the the Wimbledon double S with with her sister.
Oh, that makes sense. I guess that's that's really
cool. Let's get it.
Let's get it on the prediction market.
Yeah, I'm going to bet that. Natalie.
I am too. Thanks for listening and don't
forget to subscribe to Breaking Back on your favorite podcast
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