# Prakash Amritraj Joins! Are Tsitsipas & Rublev Back? Alcaraz Shines at World Cup Final! | EP 197

An episode of [Nothing Major](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1756744318), 20 Jul 2026, 53 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/dbcf7075-b1a5-4f4d-ade0-b4da0135fb2e/7677425a-3e69-4db6-bbc3-b4da01380780/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3b43a2f1-982b-4fe0-ae8e-b4da0135fb3a

On this episode of Nothing Major, John, Stevie, and Sam react to Stefanos Tsitsipas capturing the Gstaad title after firing his father as coach and discuss what the win could mean as the tour shifts to the North American hard courts. They also break down Andrey Rublev’s Bastad title, debate which results matter most heading into the summer, and welcome Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj to the show. Prakash shares his perspective on what separates today’s top players physically and mentally, pulls back the curtain on handling big on-desk interviews, and gives his US Open contenders outside of Djokovic, Zverev, Sinner, and Alcaraz, highlighting Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Learner Tien. Plus, the guys preview their upcoming Memphis exhibition matches! 00:00 Show Teaser 00:23 World Cup Banter 01:29 Meet Prakash 01:59 Breakfast Gains 03:56 Suits And Style 05:03 Gym Monsters Talk 07:48 Desk Interview Nerves 13:13 Broadcast Chemistry 15:46 Gstaad Tsitsipas Win 21:27 Bastad Rublev Title 26:13 Breakfast And Watermelon 27:53 Memphis Match Hype 28:47 Alcaraz World Cup Moment 30:44 Cincy Return And Wrist 32:59 Ferrero Era Nostalgia 34:02 Cobolli Cornrows 37:29 Major Opinions And Stats 42:52 US Open Dark Horses 46:56 Memphis Preview 49:15 Match Strategy And Nerves 51:55 Wrap Up And Next Episode See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Coming up on Nothing Major, we are joined by a very,
[0:03] Speaker 1: very special guest today. It's going to be awesome. We're
[0:06] Speaker 1: also going to go over some of the results from
[0:09] Speaker 1: last week on the dirt, plus a hardcore preview ahead,
[0:13] Speaker 1: of course, of the US Open.
[0:15] Speaker 2: It's all ahead on the show. Let's get it started.
[0:17] Speaker 2: Jack Jones, Stevie and Sam, got close a few times,
[0:21] Speaker 2: never won a slam, Nothing Major. All right, welcome back
[0:24] Speaker 2: to Nothing Major, everyone. John Isner here. Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson,
[0:29] Speaker 2: the team at SIFT Creative.
[0:30] Speaker 1: Before I introduce our special guest, who's here with us
[0:34] Speaker 1: right now, I want to congratulate Spain on the World
[0:38] Speaker 1: Cup win.
[0:39] Speaker 2: I forgot about the wildcard wheel thing we did, guys.
[0:42] Speaker 2: I landed on Spain. Congrats, John.
[0:44] Speaker 1: I feel like that should negate my Wimbledon bracket loss.
[0:48] Speaker 2: No, it shouldn't.
[0:49] Speaker 3: You feel like it should, but it's not going to.
[0:52] Speaker 2: Okay. Spain's such a boring team. I want an Argentine
[0:55] Speaker 2: to win so bad. They were kind of boring. They
[0:57] Speaker 2: just sound defensively. Sound defensively.
[1:00] Speaker 3: The Argentina goalie was electric.
[1:02] Speaker 2: The SGA of the NBA of like soccer. Yeah, no,
[1:06] Speaker 2: he was good.
[1:07] Speaker 1: But speaking of the bracket, to our participants that won,
[1:13] Speaker 1: be on the look, excuse me, for an email from
[1:17] Speaker 1: the suits. It's taken a while because on the men's side,
[1:19] Speaker 1: there was a four-way tie. So we had to Figure
[1:22] Speaker 1: out who won the tiebreaker, but that's coming your way.
[1:24] Speaker 1: Those Tennis Warehouse gift cards are coming your way. Congratulations
[1:28] Speaker 1: to all the winners.
[1:29] Speaker 2: But without further ado, our special guest who's just.
[1:32] Speaker 1: Been chilling with us for the last 10 minutes, none
[1:34] Speaker 1: other than Tennis Channel's own, the legend himself, Prakash Armitraj.
[1:40] Speaker 2: Thank you, dude. Welcome to Nothing Major. Boys!
[1:45] Speaker 4: Boys, cannot tell you how excited I am to be
[1:48] Speaker 4: with you guys. John, we've had a lot of good
[1:52] Speaker 4: breakfasts in Europe. I mean, how good were those breakfasts
[1:56] Speaker 4: in Europe? It was pretty good.
[2:00] Speaker 1: For those who don't know, during Roland Garros, Sam, myself,
[2:04] Speaker 1: and Prakash, we were at the same hotel. I was
[2:06] Speaker 1: having a lot of breakfasts. Gains, we like to call them,
[2:10] Speaker 1: with Prakash. I try to keep up with him. I
[2:12] Speaker 1: like to lift a lot of weights. I'm like one-tenth
[2:15] Speaker 1: of the way where Prakash is. He weighs his food
[2:17] Speaker 1: in the morning. Your breakfasts were legendary, like grilled chicken, potatoes.
[2:25] Speaker 4: John, my call times were like, I think 1030 or 11.
[2:29] Speaker 4: And I usually do like cardio eat and then lift.
[2:32] Speaker 4: So I was like up at 430 each day during
[2:35] Speaker 4: the during Roland Garroth. But we got some good time
[2:37] Speaker 4: in there. Q and I got some good time in
[2:40] Speaker 4: on the tennis court the other day. Stevie J, you're
[2:43] Speaker 4: the only guy not in the Prakash mix. And you're
[2:46] Speaker 4: the only trojan in the group. So I don't know.
[2:49] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[2:49] Speaker 4: I don't know what's going on.
[2:51] Speaker 3: I'm busy at home with the kids, you know? I'm
[2:53] Speaker 3: just busy at home.
[2:55] Speaker 4: You got an army over there.
[2:56] Speaker 2: Respect.
[2:57] Speaker 4: Respect.
[2:58] Speaker 1: I'm a little disappointed you're not doing this podcast shirtless, Prakash.
[3:02] Speaker 2: I want to see those pecs, see those lats.
[3:05] Speaker 4: Let me tell you something. Just outside the office door there,
[3:08] Speaker 4: you'd be proud of the little home gym setup. You'd
[3:11] Speaker 4: be proud.
[3:11] Speaker 2: Dude, I bet it's so dire.
[3:13] Speaker 4: You'd be proud.
[3:15] Speaker 1: If anyone ever sees Prakash around a tennis tournament, a
[3:18] Speaker 1: good thing to do is go up to him and just.
[3:21] Speaker 2: Squeezes quads.
[3:22] Speaker 4: Yeah. We're in the media broadcast center at Wimbledon, all
[3:29] Speaker 4: suited and booted. Forget who I was having some sort
[3:32] Speaker 4: of like a serious conversation with someone. I don't know.
[3:35] Speaker 4: I forget who it was, but I just remember it
[3:37] Speaker 4: was really serious. All of a sudden, some guy comes
[3:39] Speaker 4: up and just squeezes my hammy from behind me and
[3:42] Speaker 4: it's cute. It's great. On his way to the ESPN studio,
[3:46] Speaker 4: just a little squeeze.
[3:48] Speaker 1: It's it's made out of granite isn't it his legs
[3:55] Speaker 1: are so strong well.
[3:57] Speaker 2: Let me ask you that like when i did see
[3:59] Speaker 2: you you're you're one of the most well-dressed guys if
[4:02] Speaker 2: not the most well-dressed person in all of tennis right
[4:06] Speaker 2: now you got a hoodie on how many suits do
[4:09] Speaker 2: you have at the house.
[4:11] Speaker 4: Oh gosh i you know what i couldn't even I
[4:15] Speaker 4: couldn't even tell you. I remember like sections where I
[4:17] Speaker 4: got like maybe 10 here, eight there, three there, but
[4:21] Speaker 4: I like, I rotate them. So I think everyone thinks
[4:24] Speaker 4: I wear like new stuff all the time and I
[4:26] Speaker 4: do add new stuff, but there's a, There's a wide
[4:30] Speaker 4: collection in there, for sure. But also, Q, I don't
[4:34] Speaker 4: wear them. I'm lucky because I only wear them at slams.
[4:36] Speaker 4: So I just kind of wear the polos at the
[4:38] Speaker 4: 1000s where I'm at a lot of the time, which
[4:41] Speaker 4: is way easier to travel with. Otherwise, you're taking like
[4:44] Speaker 4: 10 suits in a suitcase to slams. Isner knows it's
[4:48] Speaker 4: one suitcase of suits, one suitcase of supplements, and then
[4:51] Speaker 4: it's the rest of your stuff.
[4:54] Speaker 2: Oh, dude, the guy is... You're hosting the Tennis Channel guest...
[4:57] Speaker 2: or the Tennis Channel desk all year long, guests constantly
[5:01] Speaker 2: coming to the desk, whose workout regimen of all the
[5:06] Speaker 2: pro tennis players do you respect the most? Is there
[5:09] Speaker 2: a guy off camera that you're talking to like this?
[5:11] Speaker 2: You're like, all right, that guy's an animal in the
[5:13] Speaker 2: gym and I respect it.
[5:16] Speaker 4: Oh, that's a great question. You know, all these guys today,
[5:21] Speaker 4: I don't know that any of the really good guys,
[5:24] Speaker 4: you can get away with like, talent and racket skills.
[5:28] Speaker 4: I think you could do that a little bit more,
[5:30] Speaker 4: you know, 20 years ago, especially 30 years ago. Um,
[5:34] Speaker 4: but today, and if you were a beast, then it
[5:36] Speaker 4: really separated you. Now you kind of, you don't have
[5:39] Speaker 4: a choice. You know, you look at a guy who's
[5:41] Speaker 4: made like huge jumps this year, like Lehechka. I think
[5:44] Speaker 4: he's made like real improvements in certain parts of his game.
[5:47] Speaker 4: These guys just bust their ass outside, outside of the,
[5:52] Speaker 4: of the court. Um, Gosh, let's see. I know the
[5:55] Speaker 4: American guys work really hard. I'm going through some of
[5:58] Speaker 4: the guys right now.
[6:00] Speaker 2: Like specifically when we played, John, you can't remember too,
[6:04] Speaker 2: if Songo was always in the gym throwing around like
[6:06] Speaker 2: heavy weight on bench.
[6:09] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[6:10] Speaker 1: That was like a French Federation thing. It seemed like
[6:13] Speaker 1: the French guys, they love the bench press.
[6:15] Speaker 3: Simone loved that too.
[6:18] Speaker 2: Not Simone. Good point, Stevie.
[6:21] Speaker 4: Not Simone.
[6:21] Speaker 1: But yes, Songo would be repping out like 225 right
[6:25] Speaker 1: before a practice all the time.
[6:28] Speaker 4: You know who's gotten bigger these days? Last I saw
[6:32] Speaker 4: him in person in Europe is Ben's looking like ….
[6:35] Speaker 2: Oh, dude. I was waiting for you to say Ben's name.
[6:39] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[6:40] Speaker 2: He's a unit.
[6:42] Speaker 1: Obviously, he works so hard, but he's got just …
[6:46] Speaker 1: gifts physically like god-given gifts in my mind the way
[6:49] Speaker 1: his body is shaped everything about him proportionally sounds a
[6:52] Speaker 1: little weird but you know what i'm saying like he's
[6:55] Speaker 1: like just he's built perfectly and he in my mind
[6:59] Speaker 1: bins the one guy on the american side that could
[7:01] Speaker 1: have played could have been a professional athlete had he
[7:04] Speaker 1: wanted to play football or baseball whatever it may be
[7:07] Speaker 1: we're just lucky he chose tennis Agree.
[7:10] Speaker 4: I think, you know, it's funny, we don't talk about
[7:13] Speaker 4: physique enough in tennis. When you have the right build,
[7:16] Speaker 4: I think it really translates, athleticism-wise. You talk about Ben here...
[7:20] Speaker 4: You know, Carlos, of course, you know, he's so gifted
[7:24] Speaker 4: as an athlete. On the women's side, we've been talking
[7:26] Speaker 4: about her so much the last few months because she
[7:28] Speaker 4: has been on the craziest tear. I think Kostiuk is
[7:32] Speaker 4: built like perfectly for the sport of tennis because she's,
[7:36] Speaker 4: you know, she's got strong legs. She's able to move well,
[7:39] Speaker 4: but she's still limber enough to be able to get
[7:42] Speaker 4: loose up top with her ground strokes. She's one to
[7:46] Speaker 4: watch out for. God, what a run she's had.
[7:48] Speaker 2: Speaking of costume, she came to our desk at Roland Garros.
[7:51] Speaker 2: We're all doing desk work now in media. Do you
[7:55] Speaker 2: get nervous for certain guests that come to the desk?
[7:58] Speaker 2: Like if Carlos comes to the desk or Coco Gauff,
[8:00] Speaker 2: you're like, all right, big guest, got to step up.
[8:02] Speaker 2: Can you feel your heart rate raise compared to like
[8:05] Speaker 2: them coming to the desk compared to like an Ethan Quinn?
[8:09] Speaker 4: Oh, man, we're going to do Ethan like that?
[8:11] Speaker 1: You're throwing shade at a former podcast?
[8:14] Speaker 3: Golly, Sam.
[8:15] Speaker 2: I had to come up with an example.
[8:17] Speaker 4: Yo, Ethan came on the pod and he was good.
[8:20] Speaker 4: You're going to do him like that on the podcast.
[8:23] Speaker 2: Real quick before you answer, did you see on Ethan
[8:24] Speaker 2: Quinn's Instagram yesterday this? Selling two Olivia Dean concert tickets
[8:31] Speaker 2: in August 22nd in Atlanta. Floor sections. Let me know
[8:33] Speaker 2: if you're interested. What does he need, like the 85 bucks?
[8:36] Speaker 2: He's like slinging Olivia Dean concert tickets.
[8:40] Speaker 4: That's a miss.
[8:41] Speaker 2: Dude. Yeah. He's got a little Ostapinko in him. He
[8:46] Speaker 2: totally does. I missed that.
[8:52] Speaker 3: That's a good catch-ass cue.
[8:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, I caught that yesterday. He's probably made like a
[8:56] Speaker 2: million dollars already in prize money, but he wants the
[8:58] Speaker 2: Olivia Dean.
[9:01] Speaker 1: We've segued into an Ethan Quinn segment here. But before
[9:04] Speaker 1: he started winning a lot of matches, I remember he
[9:06] Speaker 1: put up on his Instagram. He goes– He was like
[9:08] Speaker 1: looking for two roommates and it's like, just out to anyone.
[9:15] Speaker 2: I guess you got to respect the hustle. But anyways, Ethan, Ethan,
[9:19] Speaker 2: you got.
[9:19] Speaker 4: You got one of the biggest forehands I've ever seen. Ethan,
[9:22] Speaker 4: do you, bro? Okay.
[9:23] Speaker 2: You just do you.
[9:24] Speaker 4: All right.
[9:25] Speaker 2: All right.
[9:25] Speaker 4: Sorry.
[9:25] Speaker 2: Did the big guests make you a little nervous when
[9:28] Speaker 2: they pop in to say hi?
[9:30] Speaker 4: You know what? I think what is really fortunate is
[9:32] Speaker 4: if you're, if you're not doing the interviews all that often,
[9:35] Speaker 4: when you get a big name, I remember like back
[9:39] Speaker 4: in 2019, whatever, when I first started, you really want
[9:42] Speaker 4: the interview to be great. It's really fortunate that I'm
[9:46] Speaker 4: there at the desk all year long. So it almost
[9:49] Speaker 4: doesn't feel like a one-off interview that you have to
[9:51] Speaker 4: make great. It's a continuous conversation. And you know how
[9:55] Speaker 4: it is. like some days some days you come off
[9:57] Speaker 4: the court you you know you got low energy some
[10:00] Speaker 4: days you come off the court you feel amazing and
[10:03] Speaker 4: so you kind of pivot with the player a little
[10:05] Speaker 4: bit uh so i i don't get as nervous but
[10:09] Speaker 4: uh but there are some players who you know when
[10:12] Speaker 4: they just yeah they just don't feel like talking, you know, that, that's,
[10:17] Speaker 4: that might be a little bit, a little bit of
[10:19] Speaker 4: a struggle, but the ones you named Q, like the, the,
[10:22] Speaker 4: the Cocos, the Carlos's, I mean, you know, you just,
[10:25] Speaker 4: you just sit there. I mean, they are such stars.
[10:28] Speaker 4: They just, you know, they just, they just go and
[10:30] Speaker 4: they take it to another level.
[10:31] Speaker 2: I get nervous when they're on the desk.
[10:34] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[10:34] Speaker 2: So what you're saying is, is, is sometimes you have to,
[10:37] Speaker 2: you have to read the room.
[10:38] Speaker 1: If you can see that a player's coming on the desk,
[10:41] Speaker 1: with him or her and they're having, you feel like
[10:43] Speaker 1: they have low energy. You're not going to try to
[10:45] Speaker 1: bring your highest energy to, you know, cause you don't
[10:48] Speaker 1: feel like, you know, you're, you're vibing that day.
[10:50] Speaker 4: A hundred percent. So like, as an example, I, I
[10:54] Speaker 4: won't be, I'll, I'll prepare as much as I can
[10:57] Speaker 4: to be completely unprepared. You know, you can, you can
[11:00] Speaker 4: tell you've been there in an interview where someone just
[11:02] Speaker 4: has their questions. They don't care what you're saying. And
[11:05] Speaker 4: they're just reading off the questions on a list. I
[11:07] Speaker 4: have an idea of what you want to talk about,
[11:09] Speaker 4: but let's see where they go with it. They may
[11:12] Speaker 4: want to go left. They go left. You go left
[11:14] Speaker 4: with them. There was an interview in Rome, I think,
[11:17] Speaker 4: earlier this year. I think it was Moutet. And, you know, Moutet,
[11:21] Speaker 4: he's a wild man. You know, the stuff that he
[11:23] Speaker 4: does on the court. And I kind of wanted to
[11:25] Speaker 4: lean into that. And I'm like, yo, let him go wild.
[11:28] Speaker 4: Let's talk about some of the crazy stuff he's done.
[11:31] Speaker 4: But he was starting to have some really good results.
[11:33] Speaker 4: And as we started the interview, I was leaning into
[11:35] Speaker 4: wanting to go there with his behavior and all of this.
[11:38] Speaker 4: And he wanted to focus in on you know, how
[11:41] Speaker 4: focused he's been and how serious he's been. And I'm like,
[11:45] Speaker 4: you know what? This means something else to him. It's
[11:48] Speaker 4: a big moment for him. So then just kind of
[11:50] Speaker 4: shifted and went along there and he was great. But yeah,
[11:55] Speaker 4: so sometimes, you know, you don't know where you're going
[11:57] Speaker 4: to go. Yeah.
[11:59] Speaker 2: Sign of a true professional. Yeah.
[12:01] Speaker 1: I mean, there is a learning curve. As we all know,
[12:05] Speaker 1: you have a lot more experience than all of us, Prakash.
[12:08] Speaker 1: There's a learning curve in trying to you know, ask
[12:11] Speaker 1: the right questions and not totally fumble something. Because it's
[12:14] Speaker 1: not something we're used to. Like as former players, we're
[12:16] Speaker 1: used to being on the desk just answering questions. That's
[12:18] Speaker 1: the easiest thing in the world. Asking a good question
[12:21] Speaker 1: and getting a good answer, it's not that easy.
[12:24] Speaker 3: It's pretty hard.
[12:27] Speaker 4: Thank you. But look, I think you guys are so great.
[12:29] Speaker 4: I enjoy watching all of you because, listen, what you
[12:33] Speaker 4: can't help is when you've been in the shoes of
[12:36] Speaker 4: a player, there's a different type of empathy. You know,
[12:40] Speaker 4: when you know what it is at five on the third,
[12:43] Speaker 4: which which we all do when you're speaking to someone
[12:45] Speaker 4: and they know it and you know it. I think
[12:47] Speaker 4: there's a different different level of trust, even when you
[12:50] Speaker 4: guys say something and you and you have to analyze something,
[12:52] Speaker 4: whether it's positive or negative. It's not coming from a
[12:55] Speaker 4: bad place or it's not coming from a place of
[12:58] Speaker 4: I've never I've never been there and a place of
[13:01] Speaker 4: not knowing. So I think that really helps. And, you know,
[13:04] Speaker 4: that's one of the reasons I love I love watching
[13:06] Speaker 4: you guys, too. And Stevie's Stevie's facial hair. It's all
[13:10] Speaker 4: the things that make a big difference. You never know
[13:11] Speaker 4: what you're going to get.
[13:13] Speaker 2: Do you have, Prakash, when you're on like Tennis Channel,
[13:16] Speaker 2: you know, Stevie and I are working there a lot
[13:18] Speaker 2: with the schedule. You never know who's going to be
[13:20] Speaker 2: on the desk with you what weeks. Are there certain
[13:23] Speaker 2: weeks when you're– when like the schedule comes out and
[13:25] Speaker 2: we don't need names, you're like, oh, like I got
[13:28] Speaker 2: a good crew on the desk with me this week.
[13:29] Speaker 2: I'm pumped. And there are other weeks you're like, all right,
[13:31] Speaker 2: not as strong this week. Because I'm like that sometimes.
[13:35] Speaker 2: I'll be on the desk and it's like, ah, this–
[13:37] Speaker 2: Or with ESPN, when the schedule comes out, all right,
[13:40] Speaker 2: I'm calling a match with Fowler.
[13:42] Speaker 1: When you're on the desk, what he's asking when you're
[13:44] Speaker 1: on the desk at Tennis Channel and the schedule comes
[13:47] Speaker 1: out and Sam Querrey's beside you, are you rolling your eyes?
[13:49] Speaker 2: Yes. I think he.
[13:54] Speaker 4: Is. Actually, you know what?
[13:55] Speaker 2: Are there certain Tennis Channel employees? They're all amazing. Are
[13:59] Speaker 2: there certain few that you're like, yes, I'm pumped. I'm
[14:02] Speaker 2: with Currier all week. doing TC Live.
[14:05] Speaker 4: Well, now that you brought up Jim, I mean, for me,
[14:08] Speaker 4: Jim is just best in class. Because look, we've seen
[14:12] Speaker 4: it over the years where there are a lot of
[14:14] Speaker 4: guys with a massive, massive name. And some people will
[14:19] Speaker 4: cruise off their name. And you know what? You just
[14:22] Speaker 4: want to hear them speak because they're such a massive name.
[14:25] Speaker 4: And then you got people who just absolutely bust their butt.
[14:28] Speaker 4: I think JC's both. JC works so hard at what
[14:33] Speaker 4: he does, and he's as good as it gets in
[14:37] Speaker 4: the history of the game. You combine all that together,
[14:39] Speaker 4: and he's like a really unselfish ball player. He passes
[14:44] Speaker 4: the ball. He shares the ball. He wants the team
[14:47] Speaker 4: to score, and not everyone's like that in the industry.
[14:51] Speaker 4: So he's as good as they come. But Look, at TC,
[14:55] Speaker 4: we're like, we're really fortunate. We have like a really
[14:58] Speaker 4: good family there. And to your point, I think it's just,
[15:01] Speaker 4: it's different chemistry. Like, with certain people, you can play
[15:05] Speaker 4: these kind of jokes and this kind of humor. With
[15:08] Speaker 4: certain people, it's something different. So I'd say it's a
[15:12] Speaker 4: little bit different with different casting, but what I enjoy
[15:16] Speaker 4: the most is when it's a complete free-for-all. Most people
[15:21] Speaker 4: who've played and then come and do the show, you
[15:25] Speaker 4: know what you're talking about, so there's a level of
[15:29] Speaker 4: knowledge for the game, but It's the banter. It's the
[15:33] Speaker 4: inside the NBA vibes, which I always think make a
[15:36] Speaker 4: great show. So the more you can lean into that,
[15:39] Speaker 4: you feel like you're just on a couch having a conversation.
[15:42] Speaker 4: And as an audience member, that's what I like the best.
[15:45] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's perfect.
[15:47] Speaker 1: Prakash, you want to break down some results for us?
[15:51] Speaker 1: With us from last week, Prakash, we're going to go
[15:54] Speaker 1: to Stade. By the way, we always talk about it.
[15:57] Speaker 1: It looks so beautiful there every single year. A tournament
[16:00] Speaker 1: up in the Swiss mountains. Like, how good is that?
[16:03] Speaker 2: Well, anyways, Stefano Sitsipas takes the title over.
[16:07] Speaker 1: Colin Yon, 6-3 in the third. Prakash, I'm going to
[16:12] Speaker 1: ask you the first question. Is this, in your mind,
[16:15] Speaker 1: a harbinger of things to come? For Tsitsipas, came into
[16:19] Speaker 1: the tournament ranked 80-something, he's going to move up. Can
[16:22] Speaker 1: he build off of this confidence?
[16:24] Speaker 4: I think he can. I think when you're a player
[16:26] Speaker 4: who is as good as Steph has been, he's not
[16:28] Speaker 4: just a guy who's gotten to the top 10, made
[16:30] Speaker 4: a bunch of quarters at Grand Slams, which, by the way,
[16:32] Speaker 4: is phenomenal. There's a guy who's been right there. Two
[16:35] Speaker 4: sets to love and a Grand Slam final against Novak.
[16:37] Speaker 4: He made another final in Australia. He was one of
[16:40] Speaker 4: the guys. He's won the year-end championships, for God's sake.
[16:47] Speaker 4: We know it's in there. It's just a matter of
[16:49] Speaker 4: finding that again. The problem is, every year, every year
[16:52] Speaker 4: and a half, the game continues to evolve. It's not
[16:56] Speaker 4: the same as when he had those results in 2019,
[16:58] Speaker 4: the early 2020s. I think for him, a little bit
[17:03] Speaker 4: of his is, and I say this with all the
[17:06] Speaker 4: respect in the world, I think he's a bit stubborn.
[17:09] Speaker 4: You know, when you get to that level, doing a
[17:13] Speaker 4: certain thing, it's so difficult to change because you're like,
[17:16] Speaker 4: you know what? I got to this place doing what
[17:18] Speaker 4: I'm doing. I'm going to continue doing it. But you
[17:21] Speaker 4: have to be able to be a little open and change.
[17:23] Speaker 4: I think he needs to develop a couple more shots
[17:26] Speaker 4: and stick to his strengths. Look, his forehand is massive.
[17:28] Speaker 4: When he's playing that big boy tennis, that first serve,
[17:31] Speaker 4: plus ones, he's doing great. But I think he's got
[17:34] Speaker 4: to be able to develop a little bit of that
[17:36] Speaker 4: backhand slice. You know, I think he's got to be
[17:38] Speaker 4: able to start taking balls a little early. On clay,
[17:41] Speaker 4: he can stay way behind the baseline. He needs time
[17:43] Speaker 4: on his backhand. On a slightly faster court, he really struggles.
[17:47] Speaker 4: He like, he will jam himself up or he'll be
[17:49] Speaker 4: too far back. And I think that hurts him. Especially now,
[17:52] Speaker 4: guys are getting even better with attacking. Guys are like
[17:55] Speaker 4: starting to develop, being able to like finish points at
[17:58] Speaker 4: the net. I think that's becoming the new asset again.
[18:00] Speaker 4: Like all of a sudden things are coming back a
[18:02] Speaker 4: little bit. So I think he's got to, you know,
[18:05] Speaker 4: continue to evolve. Winning is winning. Confidence is confidence. So
[18:09] Speaker 4: getting a title under your belt, hugely important for him.
[18:13] Speaker 4: And I know how close him and his father are,
[18:16] Speaker 4: have been, but I look at this as a good sign.
[18:20] Speaker 4: Being able to take ownership of your own life and
[18:23] Speaker 4: career like that and make such a difficult decision, I
[18:26] Speaker 4: actually think is a really good sign for him moving forward.
[18:29] Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's his first tournament since parting ways with
[18:32] Speaker 1: his father.
[18:33] Speaker 2: You think his dad's like kind of annoyed that he
[18:35] Speaker 2: won it?
[18:36] Speaker 3: Kind of. 100%.
[18:39] Speaker 2: Probably.
[18:41] Speaker 3: Of course he's annoyed.
[18:42] Speaker 4: Sam, have you seen Apostolos on the practice courts feeding
[18:47] Speaker 4: him balls? That guy, he looks annoyed all the time.
[18:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, good point. He's probably annoyed when he won the
[18:53] Speaker 2: year in finals. He probably was annoyed. Exactly.
[18:58] Speaker 4: But John, to tag that, it's great for the game
[19:01] Speaker 4: if Stefanos is winning because when you travel around, this
[19:05] Speaker 4: guy is like, he's a massive star. Especially in Europe,
[19:10] Speaker 4: but kind of all over, people love this guy. Women
[19:14] Speaker 4: love this guy. They think he's like a rock star
[19:17] Speaker 4: with the hair, all this. So it's a good thing
[19:19] Speaker 4: for the game when he's doing well.
[19:21] Speaker 2: He is a rock star. And he really does look
[19:24] Speaker 2: like jesus of nazareth.
[19:29] Speaker 1: It's very uh but i think i think at the
[19:31] Speaker 1: very least i think tennis needs him at the very
[19:35] Speaker 1: least to be seated at grand slams and he's far
[19:38] Speaker 1: from that right now.
[19:39] Speaker 4: Yeah he's he's far from that we it was so
[19:42] Speaker 4: weird i think he uh novak played probably his best
[19:45] Speaker 4: match at wimbledon against him but to see him and
[19:47] Speaker 4: Novak play in the second round or whatever it was,
[19:49] Speaker 4: second or third round at Wimbledon, that was odd. We
[19:52] Speaker 4: need him, yeah, you're right, backseated, playing in the later rounds.
[19:55] Speaker 2: He's had another in Madrid this year, Prakash, you were there.
[19:58] Speaker 2: He had match points on Kasper Ruud in the round
[19:59] Speaker 2: of 16. And now this title. He's had like moments
[20:02] Speaker 2: this year where he's like flashed his brilliance. He just
[20:05] Speaker 2: needs to do it more regularly.
[20:07] Speaker 4: So that's funny. That's funny you bring that up. I
[20:09] Speaker 4: forget where he was playing before Madrid, but he had
[20:12] Speaker 4: started to pick up a little.
[20:13] Speaker 2: Probably Rome.
[20:14] Speaker 4: No, before Madrid. No?
[20:16] Speaker 3: Before Madrid.
[20:17] Speaker 2: Oh, before Madrid. My bad, my bad. He tried to get...
[20:21] Speaker 2: Sam thought he had a gotcha moment right there.
[20:26] Speaker 3: The old Uno reverse card right there.
[20:28] Speaker 2: All right, all right.
[20:31] Speaker 4: He had started to pick up a little momentum. I
[20:33] Speaker 4: remember interviewing him after each of his matches in Madrid,
[20:36] Speaker 4: before that Casper match, and you could tell... By the way, John,
[20:41] Speaker 4: you guys will love this. Stevie, it's one of my
[20:44] Speaker 4: favorite things in interviews. You can tell so much just...
[20:48] Speaker 4: with the body language of the player. As they come,
[20:51] Speaker 4: before you even get on camera, how they're actually feeling,
[20:54] Speaker 4: you know, and that says a lot. He was finally
[20:57] Speaker 4: starting to, like, chest was out, shoulders were back. He
[21:00] Speaker 4: was starting to look and walk a little bit like
[21:03] Speaker 4: the old Stefanos when he had all that confidence. I
[21:06] Speaker 4: thought that match against Kasper was such a momentum killer
[21:10] Speaker 4: for him because it was a very high-quality match.
[21:13] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[21:13] Speaker 2: Certainly was. It's good to have him back. Hopefully he can.
[21:17] Speaker 1: Parlay this success to success on the hard courts because
[21:19] Speaker 1: his success, as you mentioned, Prakash, with the time, with
[21:22] Speaker 1: the surface, has been on clay.
[21:24] Speaker 2: See what he can do on the hard courts.
[21:26] Speaker 1: Congrats to him. Let's go on to Bashtad. By the way,
[21:30] Speaker 1: have you ever been to any of these tournaments, Prakash, Shtad, Bashtad?
[21:35] Speaker 4: I couldn't go to Bashtad because I was chasing points
[21:39] Speaker 4: in Newport.
[21:41] Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe.
[21:41] Speaker 4: For sure. Otherwise, apparently, Bostad was apparently like the– Bostad
[21:48] Speaker 4: and Umag were like the party events of the year
[21:53] Speaker 4: for Europe. Just incredible, apparently. Yeah.
[21:57] Speaker 2: I mean, and like night matches. There's no Newport, Rhode Island. Newport,
[22:00] Speaker 2: Rhode Island is a party town, but you're.
[22:02] Speaker 1: A Newport legend with that serving volley with the Prince racket.
[22:05] Speaker 2: But let's talk about Bostad.
[22:09] Speaker 1: Rublev, coming off of his first round Wimbledon loss, remember
[22:12] Speaker 1: he lost 7-6 in the fifth to Safoulin. He takes
[22:17] Speaker 1: the title over Darderi. This is Rublev's, what, like 37th career.
[22:22] Speaker 2: Singles title, actually?
[22:24] Speaker 1: 18th.
[22:25] Speaker 2: 18th is a joke, but he's won a lot of them,
[22:26] Speaker 2: as we know. He's never at the really, really big level.
[22:30] Speaker 1: Rublev, did you see any of this turn of precaution?
[22:34] Speaker 2: What did you think about his level?
[22:36] Speaker 4: I thought his level, you know, it's great. Better than
[22:40] Speaker 4: we've seen in the last couple of months from him.
[22:42] Speaker 4: You know, again, Rublev's one of those guys. I think
[22:45] Speaker 4: he's got to develop something more in order to be
[22:49] Speaker 4: able to challenge, like, the top top. Even in the
[22:52] Speaker 4: last couple of years, guys just have such ridiculous weapons
[22:56] Speaker 4: out there. Rublev hits a massive ball off of both sides.
[22:59] Speaker 4: But as we know, while he was in the top 10,
[23:01] Speaker 4: his second serve was the slowest of anyone else in
[23:04] Speaker 4: the top 10. And that's a killer. That's a killer.
[23:07] Speaker 4: He is serving better. He's trying to get a few
[23:09] Speaker 4: more free points on his serve, which is fantastic. But
[23:12] Speaker 4: Something's got to adjust a little bit in the mind.
[23:15] Speaker 4: I love the Safin partnering, and Safin has gotten in
[23:18] Speaker 4: his head a little bit. We've heard him give quotes like,
[23:22] Speaker 4: you can beat these guys, the sinners and so forth.
[23:24] Speaker 4: You just got to get that through your skull. I
[23:27] Speaker 4: think he needs a little bit more of that. I
[23:28] Speaker 4: like that Murat's trying to drive that into his head.
[23:31] Speaker 4: But where is that little extra coming from? He's made
[23:34] Speaker 4: like a million quarterfinals, right, at slams, which, by the way,
[23:37] Speaker 4: phenomenal results. The guy's had an unbelievable career. But how
[23:41] Speaker 4: do you break through to that sort of next level, semispinals?
[23:45] Speaker 4: I think you need howitzers. And if you don't, you're
[23:48] Speaker 4: going to run into guys who can out sort of
[23:51] Speaker 4: just be heavyweights compared to your middleweights, you know?
[23:55] Speaker 2: Speaking of Rubla, his level is high now, right? He
[23:58] Speaker 2: just won that tournament. Something that we need to talk
[24:01] Speaker 2: about is our hair. Specifically, Stevie, you and I.
[24:05] Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Good segue. Two of the four of us
[24:11] Speaker 3: deal with some issues on this podcast at the moment.
[24:14] Speaker 3: But for most game-changing grooming products, they're just hype. And
[24:17] Speaker 3: what's different about Nutrafol is that it's actually built like
[24:19] Speaker 3: a real game plan, physician formulated and clinically tested.
[24:22] Speaker 2: If that hair is not performing like it used to, Prakash, John,
[24:25] Speaker 2: you don't have this problem, but you got to get
[24:27] Speaker 2: to the root problem of the cause. And Stevie, you
[24:29] Speaker 2: and I are getting there.
[24:30] Speaker 3: We have to get there. I mean, it's tough times
[24:33] Speaker 3: right now. John's taking off the hat. It's kind of mean. Prakash,
[24:35] Speaker 3: I've never seen a piece of hair out of place.
[24:37] Speaker 3: But for Sam and I, we need Nutrafol. It works
[24:40] Speaker 3: from the inside out. It's backed by real credentials. It's
[24:42] Speaker 3: the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand. And
[24:45] Speaker 3: it's used by over one and a half million people.
[24:48] Speaker 3: And we need it.
[24:49] Speaker 2: I've been using it now for a while, mostly because
[24:51] Speaker 2: my wife keeps making fun of me. That's when it
[24:54] Speaker 2: really started to hurt, when she started making the little
[24:56] Speaker 2: digs around the house. So I'm probably six months on
[25:01] Speaker 2: it after my wife making fun of me. And I've
[25:04] Speaker 2: noticed a real change.
[25:06] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[25:06] Speaker 3: What works the best is the Nutrafol in combination with
[25:08] Speaker 3: the shaming at the house. That's huge for us. And
[25:11] Speaker 3: plus they have formulas built for men at different life stages.
[25:13] Speaker 3: Nutrafol men for guys 18 to 49 for us and
[25:16] Speaker 3: the new Nutrafol 50 plus, as I've already mentioned for John.
[25:19] Speaker 3: which is the first product of its kind specifically made
[25:22] Speaker 3: for men over 50. Start Nutrafol today and make that
[25:24] Speaker 3: hat optional. Visit Nutrafol.com and enter promo code NOTHINGMAJOR for
[25:28] Speaker 3: $ 10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping.
[25:30] Speaker 2: Find out why Nutrafol is the best-selling hair growth supplement
[25:33] Speaker 2: brand at Nutrafol.com. That's N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com. Promo code NOTHINGMAJOR. That's Nutrafol.com
[25:41] Speaker 2: slash NOTHINGMAJOR. All right. Thanks to a great partner at Nutrafol. Man.
[25:45] Speaker 2: I love it.
[25:46] Speaker 3: I get so excited to take it. Every day I
[25:47] Speaker 3: wake up, I assume I just have a full head
[25:48] Speaker 3: of hair.
[25:49] Speaker 2: I do too. I take it with breakfast, but yeah.
[25:51] Speaker 2: I'm a night guy.
[25:52] Speaker 3: I'm a dinner guy.
[25:53] Speaker 4: Is it just me or was that just the best
[25:55] Speaker 4: segment of the entire show? It was unbelievable.
[26:00] Speaker 3: Prakash, we've been clamoring for a hair sponsorship for two
[26:03] Speaker 3: years now. That's the only reason we started the pod.
[26:06] Speaker 2: You take it with breakfast.
[26:07] Speaker 1: What are you like sprinkling on your frosted plates?
[26:11] Speaker 4: Hold on, guys. I didn't want to do this, but
[26:15] Speaker 4: now that we brought it up, this is going to
[26:17] Speaker 4: be a two-part question. Sam, I'm just curious. Sam, what
[26:20] Speaker 4: do you have for breakfast? No, I just want to
[26:27] Speaker 4: know because, look, you guys think I'm busy because I have,
[26:31] Speaker 4: you know, the gym, I got other stuff, the tennis chat,
[26:34] Speaker 4: all these things. But I still am able to employ
[26:38] Speaker 4: spies around the grounds to keep an eye on people. Sam,
[26:42] Speaker 4: during Roland Garros, I know you were sneaking pizza with
[26:46] Speaker 4: some chocolate slices on it, some Twix, some M & M' s.
[26:50] Speaker 4: I know what was going down. So I'm just curious.
[26:52] Speaker 4: What is it? What is it? The nutrition look like
[26:55] Speaker 4: at the moment?
[26:56] Speaker 2: Sunday, I had a donut for breakfast. Yesterday, I didn't
[27:00] Speaker 2: have breakfast. But what I'm thinking of doing later this
[27:03] Speaker 2: week or next week. And recording it, documenting it. I
[27:05] Speaker 2: just want to eat straight watermelon for three days just
[27:08] Speaker 2: to like see what happens.
[27:10] Speaker 3: Is there some science backing behind this or is this
[27:12] Speaker 3: just you going rogue?
[27:13] Speaker 2: No, I feel like I want to drop like eight pounds.
[27:15] Speaker 2: I feel a little chunky lately, but I don't want
[27:17] Speaker 2: to like fast. And so.
[27:18] Speaker 4: Okay.
[27:20] Speaker 2: And it's just interesting. Watermelon in the summer sounds good.
[27:23] Speaker 3: You're a weird guy, dude.
[27:24] Speaker 2: You like that idea, Prakash?
[27:25] Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you could probably get some sort of
[27:27] Speaker 4: a flush out of your system by doing that. No, Sam,
[27:31] Speaker 4: you look pretty lean. I don't know. What do you
[27:32] Speaker 4: mean you want to lose weight?
[27:34] Speaker 3: There's no muscle, Prakash.
[27:35] Speaker 4: It's just.
[27:35] Speaker 2: It's no muscle. Exactly. When I was with you on
[27:39] Speaker 2: Friday night, I was sucking in the stomach like the
[27:41] Speaker 2: whole night.
[27:46] Speaker 1: Well, um... Yeah, me, Sam, and Stevie, next week in Memphis,
[27:51] Speaker 1: we're actually playing an exhibition.
[27:52] Speaker 3: We're going to document Sam's eating habits, actually.
[27:54] Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to document that.
[27:56] Speaker 1: And I'm playing Sam in singles in a matchup that
[27:58] Speaker 1: the whole world wants to see.
[27:59] Speaker 2: I'm not losing to you, dude. It's not happening.
[28:04] Speaker 1: I'm going to lose to the guy who eats donuts
[28:06] Speaker 1: and watermelon only.
[28:08] Speaker 4: Stevie, are you in on this?
[28:11] Speaker 3: In on that set?
[28:11] Speaker 4: No.
[28:12] Speaker 2: No, I'm not.
[28:12] Speaker 3: I'm going to sit on the sidelines. But I'm playing
[28:14] Speaker 3: the doubles and a mixed after. Nobody wants to– I
[28:17] Speaker 3: didn't make the Memphis final, so I got to sit
[28:19] Speaker 3: this one out, thankfully.
[28:20] Speaker 4: It's a Memphis Hall of Fame, guys. Okay.
[28:22] Speaker 2: Okay.
[28:23] Speaker 4: This is good.
[28:24] Speaker 2: I'm excited.
[28:24] Speaker 3: I'm out.
[28:25] Speaker 4: All right.
[28:26] Speaker 2: Moving on.
[28:26] Speaker 1: I'm glad you got to see that ad read, Prakash.
[28:28] Speaker 1: That was good stuff, guys. That was actually some of
[28:31] Speaker 1: your best.
[28:31] Speaker 4: I got to step up my games.
[28:33] Speaker 1: And I love the Nutraful ads because I just sit
[28:35] Speaker 1: on the sidelines and do nothing.
[28:37] Speaker 2: It's fantastic. John takes a third of the Nutraful money
[28:39] Speaker 2: and says nothing. But anyways, let's move on.
[28:47] Speaker 1: Speaking again of the World Cup, did you guys, I'm
[28:50] Speaker 1: sure you did see, everyone was watching the final.
[28:53] Speaker 2: Carlos Alcaraz.
[28:55] Speaker 4: How good is this guy?
[28:56] Speaker 2: Escorting the trophy out before the game. How cool was that?
[29:00] Speaker 3: Before Prakash gives his answer, I'll tell you who doesn't
[29:03] Speaker 3: need Nutrafol.
[29:04] Speaker 2: It's Carlos.
[29:05] Speaker 4: That guy. That guy right there.
[29:07] Speaker 2: I'm not a fan of his hair, though.
[29:09] Speaker 1: I prefer shaved head Carlos over this.
[29:12] Speaker 3: I bet we get a shaved head Carlos back at
[29:14] Speaker 3: Cincinnati when he comes back.
[29:16] Speaker 2: He is such a star, though. Like, on the World Cup,
[29:18] Speaker 2: prior to him bringing out the trophy, the World Cup's
[29:21] Speaker 2: on Fox here. They showed him in the crowd, what,
[29:24] Speaker 2: five times?
[29:25] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[29:25] Speaker 2: Like, on the telecast?
[29:27] Speaker 3: One of the biggest stars in the world.
[29:28] Speaker 4: He is one of those absolutely transcendent stars. I mean, look,
[29:33] Speaker 4: the World Cup, let's put this into perspective here. This
[29:37] Speaker 4: is as big a global, forget sports, this is as
[29:41] Speaker 4: big an event as it possibly gets. I mean, we
[29:44] Speaker 4: were at Wimbledon. The whole city was frozen when UK
[29:48] Speaker 4: was playing. Everywhere in the world, it has been this way.
[29:52] Speaker 4: And Carlos is bringing out the trophy? That is absolutely nuts.
[29:57] Speaker 4: I have spoken to tournament directors where when Carlos is
[30:01] Speaker 4: either hurt and pulls out of a tournament, or whether
[30:03] Speaker 4: he's in, or whether he loses early, or he's going
[30:06] Speaker 4: to make the finals, it is such a needle mover.
[30:10] Speaker 4: for the actual ticket sales of the event. I mean,
[30:13] Speaker 4: that's how big this guy is. And look, it's also
[30:17] Speaker 4: his lifestyle. Like when he won in Roland Garros last year,
[30:20] Speaker 4: he's chilling, you know, partying and playing cards with OBJ
[30:24] Speaker 4: that evening. And, you know, he's hanging with all these
[30:28] Speaker 4: stars that adds to the allure of Carlos. And then
[30:31] Speaker 4: he just, he plays into it too, man. I mean,
[30:33] Speaker 4: when he's on the court and he throws out that,
[30:35] Speaker 4: you know, million megawatt smile out there, the whole world
[30:39] Speaker 4: goes crazy.
[30:40] Speaker 2: It's nuts.
[30:41] Speaker 1: Bonafide star, not just tennis. You mentioned it, transcended. Prakash,
[30:45] Speaker 1: he's set to return in Cincinnati. He is pulled out
[30:48] Speaker 1: of Montreal. We know that. Only, obviously, him and his
[30:52] Speaker 1: team really know how he's feeling right But I think
[30:57] Speaker 1: for the U.S.
[30:58] Speaker 2: Open, for his U.S.
[30:59] Speaker 1: Open chances, of course, this is critical that he gets
[31:03] Speaker 1: on the court in Cincinnati.
[31:04] Speaker 2: Is it not, Prakash?
[31:05] Speaker 4: There are a lot of players at different stages in
[31:07] Speaker 4: their careers. You guys will attest to this. I'm sure
[31:10] Speaker 4: you guys had long careers. As you got to the
[31:13] Speaker 4: later stages of your career, you needed different things than
[31:16] Speaker 4: when you did early. Novak is one of those guys, Serena, Rodger.
[31:21] Speaker 4: who can play their way into a tournament, right? I
[31:24] Speaker 4: think Rafa, he's been very open about it. He's like,
[31:26] Speaker 4: I need tournaments. When he won that last Australian Open,
[31:28] Speaker 4: he needed to play that 250 right before it. I
[31:31] Speaker 4: think Carlos, given everything that's happened right now, missing so
[31:34] Speaker 4: much time, all of this stuff, it is imperative, I think,
[31:38] Speaker 4: that he play Cincy. I think he's going to really
[31:41] Speaker 4: hurt his chances if he doesn't get any matches in
[31:43] Speaker 4: going into the U.S. Open. I'm also curious where he's at. Like,
[31:47] Speaker 4: the only video we've really seen is him with that,
[31:50] Speaker 4: you know, the racket, which was missing the strings and
[31:52] Speaker 4: the thing, doing the swinging. We haven't really seen him
[31:55] Speaker 4: hit balls. And the wrist is a very peculiar thing. Look,
[31:59] Speaker 4: I've been in a cast on this wrist and this wrist.
[32:01] Speaker 4: I've had surgeries, injections. It's a delicate thing. So I'm–
[32:06] Speaker 4: especially the way he hits the ball, I'm curious how
[32:10] Speaker 4: healthy he is. But, John, to your point, I'd love
[32:12] Speaker 4: to see him play Cincy. And Stevie, Sam, I mean,
[32:17] Speaker 4: we need him back. We need him in that draw.
[32:20] Speaker 2: Need him. The tournament feels so much bigger when he's
[32:23] Speaker 2: at it.
[32:25] Speaker 1: I think my thing, if he doesn't play Cincy– He's
[32:29] Speaker 1: done for the year. Him and his team, they're smart.
[32:32] Speaker 1: You can't go into the US Open with your wrist
[32:34] Speaker 1: at 95%. It has to be 100%. You don't want
[32:37] Speaker 1: to mess around with a wrist injury. Everyone knows that.
[32:41] Speaker 1: So US Open could be in question. Maybe Winston-Salem's an
[32:47] Speaker 1: opportunity for him, guys.
[32:50] Speaker 2: He's too big for Winston Salem.
[32:52] Speaker 3: And maybe the four of us will all make a
[32:53] Speaker 3: comeback on the same possibility.
[32:55] Speaker 2: I know that. I know that. But like, if he
[32:57] Speaker 2: needs matches, he needs matches.
[32:59] Speaker 4: A little off topic, but since we're on Carlos, each
[33:02] Speaker 4: of you guys just give me your opinion real quick.
[33:04] Speaker 4: Anyone else just emotionally miss the Ferrero Alcaraz? That's a
[33:10] Speaker 4: good one.
[33:11] Speaker 2: No, I never thought about it.
[33:13] Speaker 3: I mean, look, Alvaro's done a great job. So we
[33:16] Speaker 3: can all agree on that.
[33:20] Speaker 1: I do miss it, Prakash. I do, now that you
[33:22] Speaker 1: mention it.
[33:22] Speaker 3: I miss Ferrero.
[33:25] Speaker 2: I remember they still have a great relationship. Of course
[33:30] Speaker 2: they do. They're adults. Yeah, I miss it. It's such
[33:33] Speaker 2: a great story.
[33:36] Speaker 1: I don't know that we're ever going to see it again.
[33:38] Speaker 4: Who knows? Never say never. I don't know. You think
[33:42] Speaker 4: about Carlos and all the stuff they did together. And, yeah,
[33:46] Speaker 4: sometimes just, you know, pops into the mind bank.
[33:49] Speaker 1: Well, we all hope he gets on the court at Cincinnati.
[33:52] Speaker 1: It would be huge for him. It would be huge
[33:54] Speaker 1: for that tournament. It would be huge for our sport.
[33:57] Speaker 1: Let's keep our fingers crossed there. Moving on, we've got
[34:01] Speaker 1: just a few things left here. And real quick, this
[34:03] Speaker 1: is a weird segue, but we talk about Prakash on
[34:06] Speaker 1: this show, especially Sam.
[34:08] Speaker 2: He talks about Kaboli's hair.
[34:12] Speaker 1: Like his haircuts, and he had a bad haircut at
[34:14] Speaker 1: the Dallas ATP, the 500, and he lost first round.
[34:18] Speaker 1: Sam said his hair was better during Roland Garros. He
[34:21] Speaker 1: made the finals. Do you see what he's going with
[34:24] Speaker 1: right now, guys? Tom, put this photo up on the screen.
[34:27] Speaker 3: The cornrows are fire.
[34:30] Speaker 2: You see this, Prakash? He's got cornrows. Capoli has cornrows
[34:34] Speaker 2: right now.
[34:35] Speaker 4: Oh!
[34:37] Speaker 2: Let's hope those are just vacation cornrows. Vacation cornrows. He's
[34:42] Speaker 2: not rocking up to D.C. or wherever he wants to play.
[34:46] Speaker 2: I want those so bad in Cincy.
[34:48] Speaker 4: You know what he's got right now? He's got James
[34:51] Speaker 4: Franco and Spring Breakers going on right now.
[34:53] Speaker 2: That must have taken a long time. Yeah, I would
[34:55] Speaker 2: think so.
[34:55] Speaker 4: Okay, so guys, as we're doing this, I just Googled
[34:59] Speaker 4: it because I wasn't sure if it was going to
[35:00] Speaker 4: pop up here. By the way, these two guys, both
[35:03] Speaker 4: out of the world swag quotient. So none of them
[35:07] Speaker 4: should take it differently. But I think this look looks
[35:11] Speaker 4: better on Arthur Feast than it does on Kubota. I'm
[35:15] Speaker 4: looking at Feast. Feast looks badass with it.
[35:17] Speaker 2: You know what that last photo reminded me of, though?
[35:20] Speaker 2: It also reminds me of how important hydration is during
[35:23] Speaker 2: the summer. Kaboli needs a little more hydration to fix
[35:26] Speaker 2: that hair. We're traveling. We're outside a lot. And that's
[35:29] Speaker 2: why you keep up drip drop. You got to have
[35:31] Speaker 2: it on hand.
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[35:45] Speaker 3: It's easy to take with me and it helps me
[35:46] Speaker 3: stay ahead of dehydration whenever I I need it.
[35:49] Speaker 2: Whether I'm on a plane, maybe I'm at Tennis Channel,
[35:51] Speaker 2: I got drip drop in hand all the time. I
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[36:09] Speaker 1: help support hydration. When water alone, everyone knows water alone
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[36:15] Speaker 3: it's easy to find the one that fits your routine.
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[36:39] Speaker 4: Can I give my feedback here?
[36:40] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[36:41] Speaker 4: First of all, these reads are my favorite segment of
[36:45] Speaker 4: the show.
[36:46] Speaker 3: They're ours as well.
[36:47] Speaker 2: All natural.
[36:48] Speaker 4: Second of all, the first read with Stevie and Sam
[36:53] Speaker 4: felt a bit more like a Judd Apatow movie, right?
[36:56] Speaker 4: When you brought Isner into it, it felt a little
[36:59] Speaker 4: bit more like a Scorsese movie. I was a little
[37:03] Speaker 4: more grounded in the read with Isner bringing his sort
[37:07] Speaker 4: of level of depth to it. The first one, it
[37:10] Speaker 4: was hilarious. I was laughing my ass off. It was fantastic.
[37:13] Speaker 2: It was so good.
[37:14] Speaker 4: Isner brought this different level of depth to it.
[37:16] Speaker 2: You know what?
[37:17] Speaker 4: Both were brilliant. I just enjoyed them both. Both were phenomenal.
[37:20] Speaker 2: We have a third read coming up in a little while.
[37:23] Speaker 2: That's what I do, guys. I bring depth to everything.
[37:25] Speaker 4: Me too.
[37:27] Speaker 2: I'm just a deep guy. I'm just a deep guy.
[37:29] Speaker 1: But Prakash, we're moving on to our next segment, which
[37:33] Speaker 1: we call Major Opinions. And we always start with Stevie.
[37:37] Speaker 2: And he's got a stat for us. He's got a
[37:39] Speaker 2: good nugget for us here.
[37:40] Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you, boys. How many days do
[37:43] Speaker 3: you think there were between Tsitsipas' final in Gstaad and
[37:46] Speaker 3: his last final on clay? How many days in between?
[37:49] Speaker 2: I couldn't even tell you when his last final on
[37:51] Speaker 2: clay was. 683. I would guess... 800. I'll take over 1,000.
[37:59] Speaker 2: All right.
[38:00] Speaker 3: Well, Prakash, that's why he's an expert because it's 818 days.
[38:04] Speaker 2: Wow.
[38:05] Speaker 4: I vaguely remember him, I think, winning or finaling Monte Carlo.
[38:09] Speaker 4: He's won that thing like three times. So I think
[38:11] Speaker 4: I was going back to like 24 Monte Carlo maybe.
[38:15] Speaker 3: It's just good SC education, Prakash. That's all it is.
[38:19] Speaker 4: God, you know, by the kind of SC man, you know,
[38:22] Speaker 4: I was, I was, I was, I was the man.
[38:24] Speaker 4: I was, I was a suntan Superman over at SC
[38:27] Speaker 4: until Stevie Johnson came in and then Stevie took it
[38:32] Speaker 4: to a different level. You know, he just took it
[38:36] Speaker 4: to a different level and it was just, It was
[38:39] Speaker 4: different after that.
[38:39] Speaker 3: We just build upon legacies there, Prakash. We just build upon.
[38:42] Speaker 3: We add two.
[38:43] Speaker 2: All right, moving on. I have my serve bot of
[38:46] Speaker 2: the week. I do this every week, Prakash. Of course,
[38:49] Speaker 2: I do the serve bot of the week.
[38:50] Speaker 1: And we're going to the guy that we spoke about
[38:53] Speaker 1: how he needs to improve his serve, Andre Rublev. In
[38:57] Speaker 1: his round of 16 win, his first match there, he
[39:00] Speaker 1: had 18 aces on the dirt. And he won 80%
[39:02] Speaker 1: of his first round. serve points went. That's very surprising.
[39:07] Speaker 1: That is the part of his game he needs to improve.
[39:10] Speaker 1: He had a good night against Pellegrino, Andrea Pellegrino. God,
[39:14] Speaker 1: how Italian is that name? 18 aces and won 80%
[39:18] Speaker 1: of his first serve points. So Rublev, never thought I'd
[39:21] Speaker 1: find you on the serve bot of the week, but
[39:23] Speaker 1: you have made the list.
[39:24] Speaker 2: Congrats. He can only get on that list in these
[39:27] Speaker 2: random 250 clay weeks. Yeah, that's cool.
[39:29] Speaker 4: True.
[39:30] Speaker 2: Now should I go to my query? You should. Alcaraz
[39:32] Speaker 2: was at the World Cup we saw presenting the trophy.
[39:35] Speaker 2: Do we think FIFA chartered him a plane from España
[39:40] Speaker 2: to New York for that? Or do you think he
[39:43] Speaker 2: went on Iberia?
[39:44] Speaker 4: No.
[39:46] Speaker 3: I think he flew with like a Spanish president.
[39:48] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[39:48] Speaker 2: You think that is people have a plane?
[39:50] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[39:50] Speaker 3: I don't think he was in 32 B.
[39:51] Speaker 2: What do you think Prakash?
[39:53] Speaker 4: By the way, I forget when you guys did this.
[39:55] Speaker 4: You guys did it. I think you guys did Carlos's
[39:57] Speaker 4: travel at some point and we're debating where he flies
[39:59] Speaker 4: private or not.
[40:00] Speaker 3: Last year, pre-US Open.
[40:01] Speaker 4: Loved, loved that segment.
[40:03] Speaker 2: No, it was Cincinnati last year and he chimed in.
[40:06] Speaker 2: He's like, no, I went Madrid, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Cincinnati.
[40:12] Speaker 4: No, dude, FIFA World Cup? Are you kidding me? He
[40:16] Speaker 4: for sure went private. They for sure. They had Tom
[40:20] Speaker 4: Cruise give an inspirational speech before the thing. Of course
[40:23] Speaker 4: they brought Carlos private. That's my guess.
[40:25] Speaker 1: I'm saying he hopped on a plane with like, you know,
[40:29] Speaker 1: some Spanish guys.
[40:30] Speaker 2: Delegates.
[40:31] Speaker 3: Like the whole Spanish football team. Like all those guys
[40:34] Speaker 3: were in their box. Like I think he's with all
[40:35] Speaker 3: those guys.
[40:36] Speaker 4: But that counts, right? If you went with like a
[40:38] Speaker 4: Spanish dignitary.
[40:39] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That counts. Yeah, yeah. That counts. That counts.
[40:41] Speaker 2: That absolutely counts. But not by himself.
[40:43] Speaker 1: What does the Davis Cup call like the high standing people?
[40:46] Speaker 4: What do they say? Dignitaries?
[40:49] Speaker 1: Dignitaries.
[40:49] Speaker 2: That's great. Oh my God. What a pull.
[40:52] Speaker 3: Spanish dignitaries.
[40:54] Speaker 4: That's it. Stevie, Stevie, if he had gone to SC,
[40:57] Speaker 4: he would have pulled that word out, Stevie.
[40:59] Speaker 3: That's, look, Education at its finest, right there.
[41:04] Speaker 2: Speaking of dignitaries, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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[42:31] Speaker 2: but it's not a big deal.
[42:34] Speaker 4: Minimal taxes, minimal fees. Q, that was a better transition
[42:37] Speaker 4: into that than Carlos attacking the net. Well done.
[42:40] Speaker 2: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
[42:42] Speaker 1: Prakash, you've been the best guest ever. Thank you so much.
[42:45] Speaker 1: Brought the energy. We felt like our last episode lacked
[42:48] Speaker 1: a little energy.
[42:49] Speaker 2: Sam was having some technical.
[42:50] Speaker 1: Issues, but you have fixed everything for us. I want
[42:53] Speaker 1: to ask you one thing. Your power rankings, your U.S.
[42:56] Speaker 1: Open power rankings, give us your top three to five
[43:00] Speaker 1: guys to watch outside of the big three, big four.
[43:06] Speaker 1: Let's put Djokovic, Zverev, Sinner, and Alcaraz in that group
[43:10] Speaker 1: for these hardcore events leading up to the U.S.
[43:14] Speaker 2: Open. Done.
[43:15] Speaker 4: It's going to be a little American heavy, and that's
[43:18] Speaker 4: not me being biased. I just think they're all– kind
[43:21] Speaker 4: of ready for a variety of reasons. So let me
[43:24] Speaker 4: just run through the Americans real quick. And then I
[43:26] Speaker 4: got a foreigner or two in there too. Ben has
[43:28] Speaker 4: had a bad Roland Garros and Wimbledon for his standards.
[43:32] Speaker 4: He just like always delivers at the Grand Slams. And
[43:36] Speaker 4: Ben has a real shot to be able to break
[43:38] Speaker 4: through and win a slam sometime, I think, in the
[43:41] Speaker 4: near future. Gotta continue working on a few things. But
[43:44] Speaker 4: I think that's like gonna be digging into him a
[43:46] Speaker 4: little bit. So he could end up coming up with
[43:49] Speaker 4: a big summer. He does have those points to defend
[43:51] Speaker 4: in Montreal, but, you know, Kortz and Cincy are quick.
[43:54] Speaker 4: You know, he lights it up. He can kind of,
[43:56] Speaker 4: he can roll through. So I'm going to go with Ben.
[43:59] Speaker 4: As long as Taylor's knee is okay, you got to
[44:01] Speaker 4: put Taylor up there. I mean, just one of the
[44:04] Speaker 4: top few best competitors on tour. And I think that
[44:07] Speaker 4: time he missed during the clay to heal the knee
[44:09] Speaker 4: was actually really great. He looked amazing at Wimbledon right
[44:12] Speaker 4: up until that knee started bothering him in the first
[44:14] Speaker 4: set of that Zverev match. So I'll put Taylor there.
[44:18] Speaker 4: And I have been saying since the end of last
[44:21] Speaker 4: year that the time he took off and the focus
[44:23] Speaker 4: he put in was going to start paying dividends. Couldn't
[44:26] Speaker 4: believe he lost the two matches he lost at Roland
[44:28] Speaker 4: Garros and Wimbledon. But Francis, I think Francis, he's just
[44:33] Speaker 4: made to shine during this time. So I'm going to
[44:36] Speaker 4: I'm going to go with him also. I'm going to
[44:38] Speaker 4: go with Felix Oje Aliassime also. He said after he
[44:44] Speaker 4: lost that match at Roland Garros when he had a
[44:47] Speaker 4: pretty open draw, he was literally broken. But he bounced
[44:51] Speaker 4: back from that and had a really good Wimbledon. Even
[44:54] Speaker 4: though he lost a tough match to Novak, I actually
[44:56] Speaker 4: think there's more positives he can take away from that.
[44:58] Speaker 4: Like he was right there. And last tag to that,
[45:02] Speaker 4: separating ways with Freddie Fontaine, I think is actually a
[45:06] Speaker 4: good thing because that's a tough relationship to break off.
[45:09] Speaker 4: And it's been so successful for him. So the fact
[45:11] Speaker 4: that he's willing to do that and take that kind
[45:14] Speaker 4: of ownership from him, from probably the nicest guy you'll
[45:18] Speaker 4: ever meet in the universe, I think that says a lot.
[45:22] Speaker 4: That shows a little, you know, fangs in his teeth and,
[45:24] Speaker 4: you know, the willingness to be able to make a
[45:27] Speaker 4: decision like that, which is not easy. So I'll go
[45:30] Speaker 4: with him. Well, I guess it's a tough one because
[45:32] Speaker 4: I can only have one more, but it's a close one.
[45:35] Speaker 4: I'll go with Lerner. I'll go with Lerner Tien. I
[45:38] Speaker 4: was going to go with Medvedev because he's turned a
[45:43] Speaker 4: corner this year. I think he's starting to find a
[45:47] Speaker 4: little bit of better tennis, but then you'll go and
[45:50] Speaker 4: throw in some stinkers of results also. He is really
[45:53] Speaker 4: good on the hard courts, but if I'm choosing between
[45:55] Speaker 4: the two, I think Lerner. Lerner is just trending up
[45:59] Speaker 4: in crazy directions. He's winning great matches on clay and grass,
[46:03] Speaker 4: which I don't even think are his best surfaces. He's
[46:06] Speaker 4: primed for a big summer.
[46:07] Speaker 2: I like it. Prakash, you're the man, dude. Thank you
[46:11] Speaker 2: so much for your time. You're the best.
[46:12] Speaker 4: Gents, I had a blast.
[46:14] Speaker 2: Thank you. What time are you hitting the gym?
[46:16] Speaker 4: I am going to go do my fasted cardio now.
[46:19] Speaker 4: I will have a massive meal, and then I will
[46:21] Speaker 4: hit a big push workout today. But, John, I did
[46:25] Speaker 4: tell Q the condition under which I agreed to do
[46:29] Speaker 4: this podcast is I need a golf foursome with the
[46:33] Speaker 4: Nutching Major crew. So we've got to organize that sometimes.
[46:37] Speaker 2: Maybe in Cincy one morning early.
[46:39] Speaker 4: Great call. I'm doing the late shift, so that is
[46:42] Speaker 4: a great call, Q.
[46:43] Speaker 2: They got the course right next door?
[46:44] Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm in. I'm in.
[46:45] Speaker 1: Look it.
[46:46] Speaker 4: Done.
[46:47] Speaker 2: It'll be a blast. It'll be a blast.
[46:49] Speaker 4: All right.
[46:50] Speaker 2: Appreciate you, dude. Thanks so much, Prakash. You're the man. Yeah. Thanks, Prakash.
[46:53] Speaker 4: Thank you, Jens. I appreciate you guys.
[46:56] Speaker 2: All right.
[46:56] Speaker 3: A huge thank you to Prakash. We all love Prakash.
[46:58] Speaker 3: We've known him forever. Good to get him on the pod,
[47:00] Speaker 3: get his insights on the game. And more importantly, Sam's
[47:03] Speaker 3: eating habits are always fun to– to digest. And now
[47:06] Speaker 3: we are welcomed by just one of the two gentlemen
[47:09] Speaker 3: that Sam and I will be playing in Memphis. Jay,
[47:12] Speaker 3: welcome to the show. And Duncan is still avoiding us.
[47:15] Speaker 3: We'll see him on Saturday for the big match for
[47:17] Speaker 3: the first time. So here's Jay talking about our big
[47:19] Speaker 3: Memphis match coming up. All right, we are here. Sam
[47:22] Speaker 3: and I, we have another big 4-0, 4-5, 5-0 match.
[47:26] Speaker 3: We're actually not really sure what Jay's level is, but
[47:28] Speaker 3: he is without his partner right now, Duncan. But Jay, welcome.
[47:32] Speaker 3: You got Sam and myself. We play in a week
[47:35] Speaker 3: in Memphis at the WTA event. We've got one set
[47:39] Speaker 3: on the line. Welcome, man. Good to meet you.
[47:42] Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you guys for having me. I'm really looking
[47:45] Speaker 5: forward to it. Grateful for the opportunity.
[47:47] Speaker 3: How did you guys get talked into this? Did you
[47:49] Speaker 3: guys win something or did you guys just throw your
[47:51] Speaker 3: name in a hat?
[47:52] Speaker 5: I got reached out to from one of my good
[47:54] Speaker 5: friends and they had, it was kind of up in
[47:57] Speaker 5: the air what the setup was going to be. So
[47:59] Speaker 5: I was like, yeah, I'll do it. And then I'm
[48:02] Speaker 5: sitting there at camp one day and one of my
[48:03] Speaker 5: campers comes up and is like, hey, so you're playing
[48:06] Speaker 5: against Sam and Stevie? And I'm like, what? And I
[48:10] Speaker 5: see the post and I'm like, I thought maybe it
[48:12] Speaker 5: was us against, you know, bands or we were playing
[48:16] Speaker 5: like mixed. And I was like, I mean, okay, it's
[48:18] Speaker 5: time to, it's time to go hit a couple of
[48:20] Speaker 5: serves though. We got to lock in a little bit.
[48:23] Speaker 2: Um, what is your level or actually before you level,
[48:26] Speaker 2: what's your tennis background? And then Duncan, who's not here,
[48:28] Speaker 2: we've tried to get Duncan on twice. He's got technical
[48:30] Speaker 2: issues already. So he's already coming up with excuses before
[48:34] Speaker 2: he's even played. But Jay, give us a background of your,
[48:37] Speaker 2: like your tennis background and then a little snippet on
[48:39] Speaker 2: Duncan's tennis background.
[48:41] Speaker 1: Yes.
[48:41] Speaker 5: So I'm not too familiar with Duncan's tennis background. I
[48:45] Speaker 5: believe he played at road tier, which is, uh, I
[48:47] Speaker 5: believe the D two school here. Um, uh, So I
[48:51] Speaker 5: would say he is on the highest 4.5 or 5.0,
[48:56] Speaker 5: like to the 5.0 level. And I'm roughly the same old.
[48:59] Speaker 5: So I play USTA 4.5, like started teaching in college
[49:05] Speaker 5: at Indiana, didn't play at Indiana. So probably similar. I
[49:10] Speaker 5: could have played like D2, D3, not quite Division I,
[49:13] Speaker 5: like good 4.5 level.
[49:15] Speaker 3: Do you guys have any strategy? Have you guys watched
[49:16] Speaker 3: the other matches we've done? What is the game plan?
[49:20] Speaker 3: for you guys when you step out there?
[49:22] Speaker 5: I feel like I don't want to give too much away,
[49:24] Speaker 5: you know, but we have watched, I have watched them
[49:27] Speaker 5: and I'm not seeing enough movement at the net from
[49:31] Speaker 5: your opponents you know so i think we need to
[49:33] Speaker 5: kind of turn up the heat a little bit when
[49:35] Speaker 5: you guys are hitting some of those returns don't like
[49:37] Speaker 5: to hear that i'll take one off the forehead if
[49:39] Speaker 5: it means that one of the six goes in you
[49:41] Speaker 5: know we only need six points so you know.
[49:45] Speaker 2: Are you worried about getting nervous at all because you're
[49:47] Speaker 2: going to be playing in front of a massive crowd
[49:50] Speaker 2: in memphis thousands of people will be there.
[49:52] Speaker 5: Yeah uh the nerves are the nerves are going to
[49:55] Speaker 5: be there i'm i'm slightly nervous uh Slightly worried about
[49:58] Speaker 5: fainting maybe before my first serve or maybe throwing up
[50:01] Speaker 5: on the court. I think it'll be okay, but definitely
[50:04] Speaker 5: this will probably be the most nervous I will ever
[50:07] Speaker 5: be on a tennis.
[50:08] Speaker 3: So you and Duncan, like not going to get like
[50:10] Speaker 3: a practice set in this week, just like get some.
[50:12] Speaker 5: I think we are. I think we are. Nothing's planned yet,
[50:15] Speaker 5: but I think that's a good idea. And it was
[50:17] Speaker 5: kind of on the, on the back.
[50:19] Speaker 3: Cause it's one set Sam and I we've lost the
[50:21] Speaker 3: set each time we've played, like it's gotten away from
[50:23] Speaker 3: us quickly. We'd like to.
[50:24] Speaker 5: What was the first set you guys lose to kind
[50:26] Speaker 5: of bad.
[50:26] Speaker 3: Yeah. But the thing is for us, Sam and I
[50:29] Speaker 3: are playing a couple sets prior. So we'll be warm.
[50:32] Speaker 3: Like we'll be pretty warm going into it. I'm not mistaken.
[50:36] Speaker 5: Sam and Isner are probably going to be some baseline
[50:38] Speaker 5: warriors in that single set, huh?
[50:41] Speaker 2: I'm ready for them.
[50:42] Speaker 3: Jay, I haven't seen that for 20 years, so I
[50:44] Speaker 3: don't think it's going to happen now.
[50:45] Speaker 5: I need you guys to grind out some long points.
[50:47] Speaker 5: I know that's not going to feel close.
[50:52] Speaker 2: I've been grinding. I actually hit the other day, and
[50:55] Speaker 2: then I'm hitting this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So
[50:59] Speaker 2: not only will I personally be warm for Jay, you,
[51:01] Speaker 2: and Duncan, but also for Isner as well.
[51:03] Speaker 3: That might be too much tennis, Sam.
[51:05] Speaker 2: No, no, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Don't worry
[51:10] Speaker 2: about it. Hypothetically, you win the coin toss. Are you
[51:12] Speaker 2: returning first because you're just, you're too nervous to serve
[51:15] Speaker 2: out of the gate?
[51:16] Speaker 5: I would want to serve first, but I'm like, I
[51:18] Speaker 5: think we got to go Aussie first because I will
[51:22] Speaker 5: hit Duncan with that first serve on the ad side,
[51:24] Speaker 5: right in the back of the head. And I don't
[51:26] Speaker 5: think I can come back from that if I don't
[51:28] Speaker 5: come in front of everybody. So like, I'm nervous for
[51:31] Speaker 5: the first point, the first service point. I think after that,
[51:34] Speaker 5: it's like, what do I have to lose? You know, it's,
[51:37] Speaker 5: you know, So excited, though.
[51:38] Speaker 2: All right, Jay, thanks for joining us. Duncan, we'll meet
[51:42] Speaker 2: him in a week when we're there. Good luck, but
[51:44] Speaker 2: also not good luck. I hope we beat you guys.
[51:46] Speaker 2: Stevie and I want to keep our undefeated streak alive.
[51:49] Speaker 2: We need a win. And we'll see you in Memphis
[51:51] Speaker 2: this weekend.
[51:52] Speaker 5: We'll see you there. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
[51:54] Speaker 3: Jay, good to see you, buddy. All right, thanks to
[51:56] Speaker 3: Jay for hopping on. We're looking forward to the Nothing
[51:59] Speaker 3: Major exhibition. Sam and I will be taking on Jay
[52:01] Speaker 3: and Duncan Saturday night in the Pros vs. Amateur Challenge.
[52:06] Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure Sam and I are going to go.
[52:08] Speaker 3: We're going to be 3-0 after this weekend. Almost positive.
[52:10] Speaker 3: Almost positive.
[52:11] Speaker 4: All right.
[52:12] Speaker 1: That's it for this Monday edition of Nothing Major.
[52:16] Speaker 2: Thank you, everyone.
[52:16] Speaker 1: That was a fun show. I appreciate it. And we
[52:19] Speaker 1: will see you on Thursday. Remember, on YouTube, hit that
[52:22] Speaker 1: notification bell.
[52:23] Speaker 2: Like, subscribe.
[52:24] Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram. We're close to 100,000 there. We'll
[52:26] Speaker 1: be doing something, giving something away when we get to 100K.
[52:30] Speaker 2: We're close. See everyone on Thursday.
[52:32] Speaker 4: We'll be seeing us for John. The same for Sam.
[52:40] Speaker 2: Stevie J won the bronze.
[52:41] Speaker 4: But none won a slam.
[52:47] Speaker 1: Nothing, nothing made you. Nothing, nothing made you. Nothing, nothing
[53:03] Speaker 1: made you.

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