# Year-End Top 10 Predictions, Sinner 2026 vs. Djokovic 2011 and Most Beautiful Tennis Courts | EP 174

An episode of [Nothing Major](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1756744318), 15 May 2026, 45 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/dbcf7075-b1a5-4f4d-ade0-b4da0135fb2e/37113cad-7960-4e34-827e-b4da013cffdc/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3b43a2f1-982b-4fe0-ae8e-b4da0135fb3a

John, Sam, and Stevie debate their year-end ATP Top 10 predictions… and things immediately get messy. They somehow turn the Race to Turin into an argument, people start calling each other losers, and there’s already concern these picks may age horribly. The guys also hit the Fan Mailbag, including a hypothetical showdown between 2011 Djokovic and 2026 Jannik Sinner, a trip back to Madrid’s old ballgirl era, and a juicy Life Advice involving an aggressively planned family vacation that completely splits the group. Then, we’re joined by Nick Pachelli, author of The Tennis Court, for a hunt through some of the most beautiful courts in the world. From satellite scouting and random door-knocking to hidden gems most tennis fans have never heard of, Nick shares stories from years spent chasing the game’s coolest locations. Plus, Margaret returns for a Major Match update and gives us a “where are they now?” on the chaos... including what happened after the cameras stopped rolling and whether anyone deserves a second chance. 00:00 Intro: We're Back! 01:14 Most Beautiful Courts in the World! 02:01 How The Book Began 04:02 Finding Hidden Courts 06:09 Favorites Courts and Private Courts Access 09:45 Best US Courts 16:24 Where To Buy the Book 18:10 Favorite Not Seen Moments 20:47 Rankings Predictions Begin 22:00 Sam Picks Top 10 23:07 Stevie Makes His List 24:27 Isner's Time! 25:15 Comparing The Picks 27:29 Fan Challenge 28:44 Madrid Ball Crew Talk 31:41 Sinner 2026 Vs Djokovic 2011 34:08 Life Advice: Vacation With Annoying People 38:40 Margaret Match Update 44:28 Wrap Up And Goodbye! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Coming up on Nothing Major, the guys are going to
[0:03] Speaker 1: predict the end of season ATP rankings from number three
[0:06] Speaker 1: to number 10. We also have an awesome interview with
[0:10] Speaker 1: Nick Pacelli, the author of The Tennis Court, A Journey
[0:14] Speaker 1: to Discover the World's Greatest Tennis Courts. Stevie's got the
[0:17] Speaker 1: book with him. It's going to go great with our
[0:20] Speaker 1: future segment we have going on. And we have some
[0:25] Speaker 1: fan questions, uh, mailbag, and also an update from Margaret
[0:30] Speaker 1: from major match. Let's get into the show.
[0:32] Speaker 2: All right.
[0:38] Speaker 1: Welcome back to nothing major. That was a mouthful that,
[0:40] Speaker 1: that intro, um, John is there here, Sam query, Stevie Johnson. Uh,
[0:46] Speaker 1: happy Friday, everyone. Appreciate you. Um, Sticking with us again.
[0:51] Speaker 1: Maybe this will be on Thursdays going forward, but we're
[0:54] Speaker 1: going to start this episode, as mentioned before, with our
[0:57] Speaker 1: great interview with Nick Pacelli, the author of this amazing
[1:01] Speaker 1: tennis book. Stevie, show it. The Tennis Court. It is
[1:04] Speaker 1: absolutely awesome. Mine's downstairs on my coffee table, but hope
[1:09] Speaker 1: you guys enjoy this. It was a lot of fun. Okay, everyone,
[1:14] Speaker 1: welcome back to Nothing Major. And I think as everyone
[1:17] Speaker 1: knows right now that we as a pod are on
[1:20] Speaker 1: the hunt for America's most, excuse me, most beautiful tennis court.
[1:25] Speaker 1: And with that, we have a very special guest, Nick Pacelli.
[1:30] Speaker 1: He is the author of The Tennis Court. We have
[1:34] Speaker 1: it right here. Stevie has had this book for quite
[1:36] Speaker 1: some time. Nick, you've so graciously given Sam and I
[1:40] Speaker 1: a copy of this book.
[1:41] Speaker 3: It is absolutely amazing.
[1:43] Speaker 1: You've just done such amazing work capturing unique and striking
[1:49] Speaker 1: tennis courts around the world. And this book is absolutely awesome.
[1:53] Speaker 1: My first question for you is, what first drew you
[1:56] Speaker 1: to photographing tennis courts as an overall subject?
[2:01] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[2:01] Speaker 4: I'm not actually by trade a photographer. I'm a professional hobbyist,
[2:07] Speaker 4: I would say. I got my chops in journalism. So
[2:11] Speaker 4: I used to write about tennis for the New York
[2:12] Speaker 4: Times and a bunch of other magazines. And When the
[2:17] Speaker 4: New York Times sent me to Cuba to cover tennis,
[2:20] Speaker 4: among other places, like write profiles of Ernesto Escobedo back
[2:25] Speaker 4: in the day, I always wanted to shoot my own pieces.
[2:30] Speaker 4: And I got really trained with the drone over the
[2:34] Speaker 4: years and the opportunity to do a photo book with
[2:39] Speaker 4: essays in it and a ton of writing in it.
[2:42] Speaker 4: presented itself through Four Green Tennis through a friend of
[2:45] Speaker 4: mine there. And originally the book was supposed to just
[2:48] Speaker 4: be 50 courts, like the world's best 50. But then
[2:55] Speaker 4: we contracted it a little differently and I just set
[2:57] Speaker 4: off for two years and we didn't really count at
[3:01] Speaker 4: the end, but probably like 2,500, 3,000 tennis grounds, including stadiums.
[3:07] Speaker 4: I sort of traveled with the tours for two, 2022
[3:11] Speaker 4: and 2023. And so, you know, did the South American
[3:16] Speaker 4: clay swing, you know, did every season did all the
[3:19] Speaker 4: one thousands and from each pro tour stop, I'd branch
[3:24] Speaker 4: out from there and basically road trip train, fly around
[3:28] Speaker 4: and hit like, I just called everyone in every country
[3:32] Speaker 4: with the help of an assistant and said, where are
[3:34] Speaker 4: your coolest courts? I'm just going to go hang and hit. Um,
[3:39] Speaker 4: obviously it helps when you roll up to places, if
[3:41] Speaker 4: you could sort of hold your own on the court.
[3:42] Speaker 4: And that helped in all these places. If I was like,
[3:45] Speaker 4: somebody wants to play a match.
[3:47] Speaker 3: Sure.
[3:47] Speaker 4: Someone, someone's kid wants to hit like, hell yeah, let's,
[3:50] Speaker 4: let's go. Um, and that's how it came together.
[3:54] Speaker 3: So there are, I.
[3:54] Speaker 4: Think 240 places in that book. Um, and, uh, And yeah,
[4:01] Speaker 4: that's the genesis of it.
[4:02] Speaker 2: Did you do, so in the book for people that
[4:05] Speaker 2: are listening, you have all the ATP, WTA venues basically
[4:09] Speaker 2: around the world, but then you've got all these unique
[4:12] Speaker 2: courts that no one's ever seen. You just said when
[4:15] Speaker 2: you were at the tournament, you kind of call around
[4:19] Speaker 2: and do a little research to find these courts. Is
[4:22] Speaker 2: that how you found every court or would you do
[4:23] Speaker 2: some research yourself before you went to an event in
[4:27] Speaker 2: Spain and kind of have, all right, these are, these
[4:30] Speaker 2: are six courts.
[4:30] Speaker 1: I have my eye on that.
[4:32] Speaker 2: I'm going to go and try to play on and photograph.
[4:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, totally.
[4:36] Speaker 3: Some of it was ahead of time.
[4:37] Speaker 4: Some of it was, you know, I'd land at in, uh,
[4:41] Speaker 4: Buenos Aires for the tournament there, uh, which is held
[4:43] Speaker 4: at Buenos Aires lawn tennis club. I don't know if
[4:45] Speaker 4: you guys ever played that.
[4:46] Speaker 1: Um, and, and it was a mistake, but I have played.
[4:51] Speaker 1: Go on.
[4:54] Speaker 4: Um, So I would have my research beforehand at the
[4:56] Speaker 4: places I thought I wanted to go. And then I
[4:58] Speaker 4: would basically meet people on tournament staff, especially at the
[5:02] Speaker 4: two fifties where everyone is just more chill than any
[5:05] Speaker 4: of the other tournaments, I would say. Uh, and I
[5:08] Speaker 4: would say, where are your favorite courts? Where do you
[5:11] Speaker 4: go play with your friends? Uh, where are the most
[5:13] Speaker 4: scenic courts? And then a lot of the times they
[5:16] Speaker 4: wanted to take me places. So we went down to
[5:18] Speaker 4: like Mardi Plata south of Buenos Aires and like hit
[5:22] Speaker 4: at the original club of, uh, VS. And so that
[5:25] Speaker 4: was sort of the vibe, like in Spain, I was
[5:27] Speaker 4: at Barcelona and Madrid, you know, the best way is
[5:32] Speaker 4: just to talk to people.
[5:33] Speaker 3: And then they sent me to.
[5:35] Speaker 4: Hundreds of places, uh, down and around Valencia and Southern Spain,
[5:40] Speaker 4: and then even all the way around to Portugal and
[5:41] Speaker 4: Northern Spain. So, um, it's, it was, it was a
[5:45] Speaker 4: lot of phone calls and it was a lot of
[5:47] Speaker 4: like I would just land in Southern Spain and I
[5:49] Speaker 4: would just open up Google maps on satellite view. I'd
[5:52] Speaker 4: be like, Oh, look at that place on the beach.
[5:55] Speaker 1: So cool.
[5:55] Speaker 3: Let's go.
[5:56] Speaker 5: It's a good way to do it.
[5:58] Speaker 3: Um, which is what I recommend to people.
[6:01] Speaker 4: Um, if they find themselves in, uh, Alaska or something
[6:06] Speaker 4: like you could probably find a sick court, um, that
[6:08] Speaker 4: no one's knows about.
[6:09] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[6:10] Speaker 5: I mean, for the, for the three of us, you know,
[6:12] Speaker 5: we've had the privilege obviously to play at, you know,
[6:13] Speaker 5: Wimbledon center court, us open Indian wells, all the, you know, great,
[6:17] Speaker 5: courts like that you have in this book, you know,
[6:19] Speaker 5: for you, did you find yourself enjoying maybe trying to
[6:22] Speaker 5: hit on those courts more or like the off the
[6:24] Speaker 5: beaten path, like somebody's backyard with like an incredible view,
[6:27] Speaker 5: like which way did you kind of navigate for your favorites?
[6:32] Speaker 4: The more pro tournaments I went to, the less I
[6:34] Speaker 4: wanted to hit on those courts, uh, because they all
[6:37] Speaker 4: start to sort of feel the same at a certain point.
[6:39] Speaker 4: I did hit on Laver, Ash, uh, uh, Chatrier and
[6:45] Speaker 4: but not center, I hit on other courts at Wimbledon.
[6:49] Speaker 4: And the historic places like Wimbledon, unforgettable experiences, but a
[6:57] Speaker 4: friend from Wimbledon who works on the ground staff said
[7:00] Speaker 4: I needed to go up to Ilkley where they have
[7:02] Speaker 4: a challenger.
[7:04] Speaker 3: Which is in like Northern England.
[7:08] Speaker 4: And he sent me up there and then that was
[7:12] Speaker 4: in my mind, probably my favorite place in the UK
[7:15] Speaker 4: in England. Um, and so I definitely gravitated towards, uh,
[7:21] Speaker 4: towards off the beaten path places. And there are no,
[7:26] Speaker 4: I will say that there are no courts at people's homes,
[7:29] Speaker 4: private homes in the book that are not accessible in
[7:32] Speaker 4: some way to the public. Um, and so we, I
[7:37] Speaker 4: did not dip into, you know, Goldstein house is not
[7:40] Speaker 4: in there. Um, if it's There are courts at people's homes,
[7:45] Speaker 4: but those homes, those owners let coaches come in and
[7:48] Speaker 4: coach there or do clinics or they host some sort
[7:51] Speaker 4: of events there. That was the bar places had to
[7:55] Speaker 4: meet to be included was that there had to be
[7:56] Speaker 4: a level of access because, you know, tennis courts, private
[8:01] Speaker 4: home tennis courts in this country are like, you know,
[8:05] Speaker 4: fine art, fine works of art and architecture.
[8:08] Speaker 1: Right.
[8:08] Speaker 4: There are there are hidden ones. that are going to
[8:11] Speaker 4: stay hidden forever. And that I've been to some of them,
[8:14] Speaker 4: but they do not want you, you know, taking photos
[8:16] Speaker 4: of them. Like I've never hit at Gordon Euling's house
[8:19] Speaker 4: out in Jersey.
[8:20] Speaker 6: Right.
[8:20] Speaker 4: But to be able to go surface to surface, uh, uh,
[8:25] Speaker 4: is sick and arguably the coolest tennis experience someone could have. Uh,
[8:29] Speaker 4: but you know, that's not a place people could get to.
[8:32] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[8:32] Speaker 5: And, you know, speaking of those private courts, just quickly,
[8:35] Speaker 5: Are you just, so you look at, you know, the
[8:36] Speaker 5: Google satellite view, are you just knocking on the door?
[8:39] Speaker 5: Are you trying to get their information before? And like, Hey,
[8:41] Speaker 5: like I'm here, this is what I'm doing. I'm photographing this.
[8:44] Speaker 5: Can I come for an hour or, you know, what,
[8:46] Speaker 5: what's that process?
[8:47] Speaker 4: When I was doing the book, I did knock on
[8:49] Speaker 4: a few doors for courts that were so ridiculous that
[8:52] Speaker 4: I wanted permission to shoot, especially like in Southern France,
[8:56] Speaker 4: French Riviera, a little bit in, in Sweden as well.
[8:59] Speaker 4: But yeah, yeah, there was a little bit of journalistic
[9:03] Speaker 4: door knocking, so to speak, uh, and just saying like, Hey,
[9:07] Speaker 4: I'm a photographer. I'm doing this book, but I'm not
[9:10] Speaker 4: really a photographer.
[9:11] Speaker 3: I'm a writer.
[9:12] Speaker 4: Can I fly my drone over your house? Um, that
[9:15] Speaker 4: was the, that was the vibe. Um, but then after
[9:18] Speaker 4: the book came out, a lot of people have, have,
[9:22] Speaker 4: I've gotten the invite, so to speak for a lot
[9:24] Speaker 4: of new places. Um, So if there's ever a expanded
[9:28] Speaker 4: anniversary edition, maybe some of those crazy places will be
[9:31] Speaker 4: in there. And yeah, I still go out if I
[9:35] Speaker 4: get invites to crazy, especially indoor courts or very remote courts,
[9:40] Speaker 4: and I'll just go shoot them for fun.
[9:42] Speaker 3: And maybe they'll be on the internet someday.
[9:45] Speaker 1: Okay. You've been all over the world. We know that.
[9:47] Speaker 1: But this next question, two questions actually, is specific to
[9:52] Speaker 1: our great country. How many... tennis courts in America do
[9:56] Speaker 1: you think you've been to and second part can you
[10:00] Speaker 1: give us like, what are some of the courts in
[10:02] Speaker 1: America that have left the best impression on you?
[10:05] Speaker 3: Sure. You know, America is, is interesting.
[10:08] Speaker 4: I grew up in New Mexico, grew up playing Southwest
[10:11] Speaker 4: section tennis, a little bit in California, a little bit
[10:14] Speaker 4: of nukes in Texas tennis Academy. But so I, I
[10:20] Speaker 4: couldn't count how many places in the Southwest.
[10:22] Speaker 3: It's just too many.
[10:22] Speaker 4: You guys know this, like how many places have you
[10:24] Speaker 4: been to in, in California? Uh, and so, but for
[10:29] Speaker 4: tennis communities, I've engaged as part of this process. Um,
[10:34] Speaker 4: and once I had relationships with growing up, probably well
[10:37] Speaker 4: over like 450 tennis grounds around the country. Um, I
[10:41] Speaker 4: did count, we covered, I've covered 38 states pretty substantively. Um,
[10:47] Speaker 4: and I could sort of show up in, Denver or
[10:51] Speaker 4: Seattle and talk to them about, you know, the public
[10:55] Speaker 4: park courts that the grinders show up to play on
[10:58] Speaker 4: or same for Phoenix and Tucson.
[10:59] Speaker 3: And South Florida, stuff like that.
[11:02] Speaker 4: Um, but my absolute favorite courts, um, if I'm going
[11:09] Speaker 4: straight scenery, uh, people have mentioned this one before, but
[11:13] Speaker 4: enchantment in Arizona, that is the most beautifully set court.
[11:16] Speaker 3: In the country.
[11:17] Speaker 4: Um, if any of you guys sort of need your
[11:20] Speaker 4: like chakras aligned and want to go get your crystals on,
[11:25] Speaker 4: go hit there and then hang out at Enchantment. If
[11:31] Speaker 4: you want the most, arguably also the most beautifully set
[11:34] Speaker 4: courts are at Mauna Kea on the big island of Hawaii.
[11:39] Speaker 3: My pitch to anyone that's willing to listen. What's up?
[11:42] Speaker 5: Step into those. You are not wrong.
[11:44] Speaker 4: Yeah, those are just crazy courts. My pitch to anyone that,
[11:48] Speaker 4: is willing to listen is that the best road trip
[11:51] Speaker 4: in America is a tennis road trip around the Island
[11:54] Speaker 4: of Oahu. Um, cause you get a mix of some
[11:58] Speaker 4: of the most stunning scenery around a tennis court, as
[12:03] Speaker 4: well as like really cool tennis communities and, uh, just
[12:08] Speaker 4: insane tennis spots.
[12:10] Speaker 3: Like you could start on sunset beach on the North shore.
[12:13] Speaker 3: and wind your way down.
[12:14] Speaker 4: Through public courts where there's like the same coach that's
[12:17] Speaker 4: been out there for like 50 years, uh, stop in Waikiki,
[12:21] Speaker 4: which is too congested. So don't bother playing diamond head,
[12:24] Speaker 4: cocoa head, round your way over to Kailua racket club,
[12:27] Speaker 4: which is my favorite place to play tennis in the country. Um,
[12:31] Speaker 4: and you just have the best three days of, of
[12:34] Speaker 4: tennis in life. Um, that's where I, I send my
[12:38] Speaker 4: closest friends to do a true like tennis head road trip. Um,
[12:43] Speaker 4: And then outside of Hawaii and Enchantment, you know, there's
[12:50] Speaker 4: a court inside an Adobe home, one of the most
[12:53] Speaker 4: historic homes in the city in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
[12:56] Speaker 3: John and I have been there.
[12:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. And Steve is going to see
[13:00] Speaker 1: it this week.
[13:00] Speaker 6: No, no, no, no.
[13:01] Speaker 1: We haven't been to the court. Sorry, I did.
[13:03] Speaker 2: You were not there yet. Oh, excuse me. We did
[13:06] Speaker 2: it the night before. And Steve, you'll see it this year, yeah.
[13:09] Speaker 1: Oh, I'm excited.
[13:10] Speaker 2: This year, like in September last year.
[13:12] Speaker 3: Oh, sweet.
[13:15] Speaker 2: There was like a big charity event in New Mexico.
[13:17] Speaker 3: Oh, right, right, right.
[13:18] Speaker 4: You went to the reopening of the new tennis center, yeah.
[13:21] Speaker 1: Yes, exactly.
[13:22] Speaker 6: Nice.
[13:24] Speaker 3: That's a beautiful court. It's a private home. Sometimes they
[13:26] Speaker 3: open it up. And then otherwise, you know, the courts
[13:31] Speaker 3: in Borrego Springs– I was.
[13:32] Speaker 5: Wondering about those. How do those like shake out, like
[13:35] Speaker 5: playing on them? They have the four surfaces all right
[13:37] Speaker 5: next to each other.
[13:38] Speaker 3: They're all hard courts.
[13:39] Speaker 4: They're just painted the surfaces of the colors of, cause like,
[13:43] Speaker 4: I don't think a clay court could survive that summer.
[13:46] Speaker 5: I didn't think so. That's why I was thinking it'd
[13:47] Speaker 5: be a proper work by them.
[13:49] Speaker 4: The coach Yaroslav that's out there all season, which is
[13:53] Speaker 4: winter spring is like the coolest guy in California tennis.
[13:56] Speaker 4: So like Stevie, you and Jen Brady should just go
[14:00] Speaker 4: like chat to him. and like hang out at the
[14:03] Speaker 4: courts and that would be a vibe i'd be in
[14:07] Speaker 4: it's not too far yeah so that's accessible to you
[14:10] Speaker 4: guys otherwise you know there are there are remote places
[14:16] Speaker 4: all over the country you could i you know there's
[14:19] Speaker 4: the palm desert home that's you know brown on brown
[14:23] Speaker 4: desert you could go out to sorrel river ranch and
[14:26] Speaker 4: moab which is also beautiful courts you can go out
[14:28] Speaker 4: to Harmony Meadows in rural Washington, Sand Valley in Wisconsin.
[14:33] Speaker 4: Those are iconically set courts. But if you really want
[14:39] Speaker 4: scenery meets community, I would go to the courts. I
[14:43] Speaker 4: would go to Kailua Racquet Club. And then, of course,
[14:45] Speaker 4: I would go meet Mark in Iowa, the grass court
[14:48] Speaker 4: in Iowa. I'm taking some friends out there next month.
[14:51] Speaker 5: That one in Charles City looks insane. I mean, it
[14:53] Speaker 5: just looks like feel the dream stuff.
[14:55] Speaker 1: It absolutely is filled a dream. That one is that,
[14:57] Speaker 1: that court is, is well documented. Nick, uh, for you,
[15:00] Speaker 1: how surprised will you be if us three dummies right here,
[15:05] Speaker 1: find a court, a super beautiful court that you don't
[15:08] Speaker 1: even know of. Will you be surprised if we're able
[15:10] Speaker 1: to pull that off?
[15:11] Speaker 4: If it's at someone's home, I won't be surprised. Uh,
[15:15] Speaker 4: the U S does private home courts crazy well, and
[15:19] Speaker 4: they also do a great job.
[15:20] Speaker 3: Of keeping them, uh, a secret. Um, Although I will say.
[15:27] Speaker 4: Indoor courts at private homes, I don't think you would
[15:31] Speaker 4: be able to stump me with one of them.
[15:33] Speaker 3: Outdoor courts at private homes.
[15:35] Speaker 4: I knocked on some doors in Vermont that just were
[15:38] Speaker 4: like lakefront, like Northern Michigan style courts that, you know,
[15:45] Speaker 4: this family built their own clay court. People have done
[15:47] Speaker 4: this in Texas too. They pop out their own clay court.
[15:51] Speaker 4: They chopped down a few trees and it's, it's Eden
[15:55] Speaker 4: out there for tennis players. And so every time, like
[15:58] Speaker 4: if I go road trip through Maine and Vermont, there's
[16:00] Speaker 4: a remote public court on a remote Island off of Maine,
[16:05] Speaker 4: you know, that's on my list.
[16:07] Speaker 3: That is amazing. unfathomable. Um, but so, you know, I
[16:12] Speaker 3: surprised myself. I am positive. You guys could find courts
[16:15] Speaker 3: that I would not have heard of.
[16:16] Speaker 2: That could be a game. We like take pictures of courts,
[16:18] Speaker 2: bring you back on. And it's like stump Nick, where
[16:21] Speaker 2: is this court?
[16:21] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
[16:24] Speaker 1: Well, Nick, first of all, thank you so much for
[16:27] Speaker 1: your time. Obviously, we mentioned your amazing book in the beginning.
[16:31] Speaker 1: Where can we find your book and follow your work?
[16:35] Speaker 1: Because we obviously want to encourage all of our listeners
[16:36] Speaker 1: to get this. I mean, this is the perfect coffee
[16:39] Speaker 1: table book. It is just stunning front to back.
[16:43] Speaker 4: I will say Stevie's done what I encourage everyone to do,
[16:46] Speaker 4: which is lose the slip, that blue exterior. This is it.
[16:51] Speaker 3: The slip is great.
[16:52] Speaker 4: Like Billie Jean King has her little quote on there, but–
[16:56] Speaker 4: I prefer just like that blue when you shelve it.
[16:59] Speaker 4: People can get the book wherever. Indie bookstores are great.
[17:03] Speaker 4: Greenlight Bookstores gives signed copies away. It's on Amazon. And
[17:08] Speaker 4: then if people want to keep up with me, Instagram
[17:12] Speaker 4: is the best. I'm actually just now starting to post
[17:16] Speaker 4: the B-roll and the archive from all the travel. I'm
[17:20] Speaker 4: working on another book right now. So I have a little...
[17:23] Speaker 4: sort of wrapping up that's coming out next year. So
[17:25] Speaker 4: I have some time and I'm finally opening up the archives.
[17:28] Speaker 4: I just posted something about this remote court in Austria
[17:31] Speaker 4: called Stengelwert.
[17:33] Speaker 3: That's pretty sick.
[17:34] Speaker 4: I will say America is great, but if you want
[17:36] Speaker 4: your mind blown, like let's take a trip through, uh,
[17:40] Speaker 4: like to the Faroe islands or Sweden. Um, and, uh,
[17:45] Speaker 4: you know, not to knock America. We do, we do
[17:47] Speaker 4: great work with courts. But yeah, Instagram is the best place.
[17:50] Speaker 4: I'm also taking to some people on some secret tennis
[17:53] Speaker 4: trips starting this year. Well, it's not a secret anymore,
[17:55] Speaker 4: but I'm taking people to Iowa next month. Just friends
[18:00] Speaker 4: from my local tennis community. That's like my ideal engagement
[18:04] Speaker 4: with the tennis world is, you know, let's grab six
[18:07] Speaker 4: buddies and go to a place.
[18:09] Speaker 3: Just us. I do have one.
[18:11] Speaker 4: Question for you guys that I was curious about before
[18:13] Speaker 4: we did this. what's, if you have one favorite tennis
[18:18] Speaker 4: experience you've had when no one was watching?
[18:21] Speaker 1: That's a really good question. Yeah.
[18:23] Speaker 5: That's a good question.
[18:25] Speaker 1: I have one. This is the one that immediately comes
[18:28] Speaker 1: to mind. And this takes me way back to my
[18:31] Speaker 1: junior days in North Carolina. There was a friend of
[18:35] Speaker 1: mine in town from Georgia, another fellow junior tennis player.
[18:38] Speaker 1: We must've been around 15 or 16 years old. And
[18:43] Speaker 1: you know, you know, it is at 15 or 16,
[18:45] Speaker 1: you're indestructible. Right. So like we had the idea of
[18:48] Speaker 1: going to play a three out of five set match
[18:50] Speaker 1: at my local club. It's all green clay. And we
[18:54] Speaker 1: went out there and we were playing. And of course
[18:56] Speaker 1: no one was watching. We did it late in the
[18:58] Speaker 1: afternoon in the summertime. And so we started at like
[19:01] Speaker 1: five and we're battling and we're deep in the fifth
[19:03] Speaker 1: set and we're having so much fun and we're both
[19:05] Speaker 1: so exhausted. And I popped all my strings. I remember that.
[19:08] Speaker 1: So we weren't able to finish the match, but that's
[19:10] Speaker 1: the one that immediately comes to mind. Like, you know,
[19:13] Speaker 1: Don't want to be cliche. We weren't playing for anything.
[19:14] Speaker 1: We were truly playing for the love of the game.
[19:17] Speaker 1: And that one, because absolutely no one was watching, that
[19:21] Speaker 1: one immediately comes to mind.
[19:22] Speaker 2: Mine's similar, actually. I was at the Ojai at Wild
[19:27] Speaker 2: Tennis Academy junior camp when I was like 13. And
[19:30] Speaker 2: I was going to say, I remember playing. It was
[19:31] Speaker 2: the first time I ever played like a three out
[19:33] Speaker 2: of five match. You know, the kids separated. They're like, Sam,
[19:36] Speaker 2: you and this kid go out to court 14 and
[19:38] Speaker 2: play football. Of three out of five, you're like, this
[19:41] Speaker 2: is so cool. And I still remember that. I was
[19:44] Speaker 2: probably 12 or 13. I just remember that moment. just
[19:47] Speaker 2: i hope like i hope we go five sets and
[19:49] Speaker 2: i hope we'll stay out on this court for four
[19:51] Speaker 2: hours and just play with this kid because it sounds
[19:54] Speaker 2: so fun.
[19:55] Speaker 5: Yeah now mine's just going to the u.s open as
[19:56] Speaker 5: a kid like with my dad was like first time
[19:58] Speaker 5: you just go there you like kind of get your
[20:00] Speaker 5: mind blown you've seen it on tv you know for
[20:02] Speaker 5: a number of years and We had some, was there
[20:06] Speaker 5: with the UCLA women's coaches, like Stella Sampras and Rance Brown.
[20:10] Speaker 5: So we had some pretty good access, obviously, with her
[20:12] Speaker 5: connections to her brother. And it was, yeah, just mind-blowing
[20:17] Speaker 5: seeing that place up close and personal as a kid.
[20:21] Speaker 1: Awesome.
[20:22] Speaker 4: Well, I hope you guys get to have some incredible
[20:24] Speaker 4: experience just the Three of you somewhere.
[20:27] Speaker 5: Well, now we're on the hunt for just the most
[20:29] Speaker 5: beautiful court.
[20:30] Speaker 1: And we brought on the foremost expert in this, Nick Pacelli.
[20:33] Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. Again, everyone, his
[20:36] Speaker 1: book is The Tennis Court, A Journey to Discover the
[20:39] Speaker 1: World's Greatest Tennis Courts. It's absolutely amazing. Nick, thanks again
[20:43] Speaker 1: for your time. Appreciate you coming on.
[20:44] Speaker 3: Thank you, guys. See you later. Thanks, Nick.
[20:46] Speaker 1: Thanks. Thanks so much, Nick, for your time. Uh, we
[20:49] Speaker 1: really enjoy your book. Thank you for sending it to
[20:51] Speaker 1: all of us. Stevie had already had it. He bought
[20:53] Speaker 1: his online. Um, everyone go get his book on Amazon
[20:57] Speaker 1: or wherever you find, find your books and also keep, um,
[21:00] Speaker 1: sending in suggestions for our beautiful tennis court segment. We
[21:04] Speaker 1: are getting down the road with that. Uh, we have
[21:07] Speaker 1: some fun stuff ahead, I think, uh, in, in the
[21:10] Speaker 1: coming months. So appreciate that. But let's start off, um,
[21:15] Speaker 1: The rest of the show with our end of the
[21:17] Speaker 1: year rankings predictions, which I'm sure we are going to
[21:21] Speaker 1: butcher horrendously.
[21:23] Speaker 5: We can all get number one and two right.
[21:25] Speaker 1: We know who number one and two are going to be,
[21:27] Speaker 1: provided Carlos can get back on the court.
[21:30] Speaker 5: He might still be number two if he doesn't play
[21:32] Speaker 5: the rest of the year.
[21:34] Speaker 1: He might still be number two, but we're going to
[21:38] Speaker 1: start at number 10, who we think is going to
[21:40] Speaker 1: finish number 10, and go all the way down to three.
[21:42] Speaker 1: I guess at the end of the year, we'll see how–
[21:44] Speaker 1: Many we got right or how many we got wrong,
[21:48] Speaker 1: which might be all of them. But who wants to start?
[21:52] Speaker 1: Do you want me to go first or do you want?
[21:55] Speaker 1: You want to be Eenie? I'll be Eenie. You go first.
[21:58] Speaker 5: I'm going to write them down.
[21:59] Speaker 6: All right.
[22:00] Speaker 2: Number 10, I have Tommy Paul. Number nine, I have
[22:04] Speaker 2: Flavio Caboli. Number eight, I have Arafa Hodar.
[22:10] Speaker 3: Wow.
[22:10] Speaker 6: Okay.
[22:10] Speaker 3: Okay.
[22:11] Speaker 2: Seven, I've been, seven, he's at like 13 in the
[22:14] Speaker 2: race or something right now already.
[22:15] Speaker 6: 16.
[22:15] Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no. Don't fact check me, Stevie. I will.
[22:21] Speaker 2: Seven, Ben Shelton. Eight, Yuri, no, eight, I'm going back, six,
[22:26] Speaker 2: Yuri Lehechka at six.
[22:29] Speaker 4: Okay.
[22:30] Speaker 1: It's not crazy. No, it's not crazy.
[22:32] Speaker 2: Five, I have Medvedev. Four, I have Arthur Fies. And three,
[22:37] Speaker 2: I have Zverev.
[22:38] Speaker 5: Wait, so no Novak.
[22:40] Speaker 1: No Novak in my top 10.
[22:42] Speaker 2: I don't think there's a chance he plays.
[22:45] Speaker 1: Roland Garros and loses early.
[22:48] Speaker 5: When he semis Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open,
[22:51] Speaker 5: he's going to finish top 10.
[22:52] Speaker 1: Dude, that's not happening. Okay.
[22:55] Speaker 5: No Fritz.
[22:56] Speaker 1: He's been injured. He hasn't played.
[22:58] Speaker 2: Okay, okay. You're coming at me like my list is nuts.
[23:00] Speaker 1: No, I'm just asking.
[23:01] Speaker 5: Just asking questions here.
[23:02] Speaker 1: Give us your list.
[23:03] Speaker 5: You have no good answers, so I'm going to keep
[23:05] Speaker 5: asking questions.
[23:06] Speaker 1: I just had answers.
[23:07] Speaker 5: At 10, I have Alex Deetmanuer. He's going to figure
[23:10] Speaker 5: it out. Clay's not his surface. Disregard the last month
[23:13] Speaker 5: and a half of his year. I've got Fritz at nine.
[23:17] Speaker 5: He has way too much gumption to just go out
[23:21] Speaker 5: like this on the season. He's going to come back
[23:22] Speaker 5: with a vengeance and play the next 27 straight weeks.
[23:25] Speaker 5: So he's going to get to number nine. I got
[23:28] Speaker 5: Felix Auger-Aliassime at eight because there's still an indoor season
[23:32] Speaker 5: to be played and no one is better indoors than him.
[23:35] Speaker 5: Medvedev at seven.
[23:36] Speaker 1: I don't know.
[23:38] Speaker 5: He's just crazy. He'll figure it out, I think. I
[23:41] Speaker 5: got Shelton at six. He's just, you know, US is coming.
[23:44] Speaker 5: He's going to figure it out. Novak at five, but
[23:46] Speaker 5: only playing like four more tournaments. I got Feese at
[23:50] Speaker 5: four and Zverev at three.
[23:52] Speaker 1: Okay.
[23:52] Speaker 6: All right.
[23:54] Speaker 2: We're not crazy off there with the Zverev, Feese, Shelton, Medvedev.
[23:59] Speaker 5: You know, I just don't think Hodar is going to
[24:01] Speaker 5: have the staying power to get top 10, but I
[24:04] Speaker 5: could be wrong.
[24:05] Speaker 2: I trust Hodar more than I trust Felix in Demon
[24:08] Speaker 2: Hour and Fritz right now.
[24:09] Speaker 5: Have you not looked at Felix's record indoors the last decade?
[24:12] Speaker 1: I've looked at it. I've looked at it.
[24:14] Speaker 5: He's never lost. It's not one single loss on there
[24:17] Speaker 5: in October indoors.
[24:19] Speaker 2: Well, that's a long way from now. And Hodar will
[24:22] Speaker 2: have a big enough point lead.
[24:23] Speaker 5: All right.
[24:26] Speaker 3: All right.
[24:26] Speaker 1: Here we go. I'm going to go number 10. I'm
[24:28] Speaker 1: going to go Musetti. Hadn't had the best year, but
[24:31] Speaker 1: I feel like a good Roland Garros could be ahead
[24:34] Speaker 1: of him. catapult him back into that conversation. So number 10.
[24:38] Speaker 1: And then number 9, I'm going to go with Lehetschka.
[24:41] Speaker 1: That's my boy. I'm kind of mad you used him, Sam. Yeah, sorry.
[24:45] Speaker 1: I've been pumping him up forever. 8, I'll go with Rublev.
[24:48] Speaker 1: I feel like he's kind of lost his– I don't know.
[24:51] Speaker 1: People don't talk about him that much anymore.
[24:53] Speaker 2: Because he never has that big– he never has that big–
[24:56] Speaker 2: I know, but like he's– He's really good, obviously.
[24:58] Speaker 1: Good enough for number 8. Shelton at number 7. Arthur
[25:02] Speaker 1: Feese at number 6. Djokovic at five with Stevie there.
[25:10] Speaker 1: Medvedev at four and Alexander Zverev at three. So basically
[25:15] Speaker 1: the thing, well, we all agree on Zverev at three.
[25:19] Speaker 2: We all agree on Zverev. The guys that we agree
[25:23] Speaker 2: on to finish top ten are Zverev, Fies, Medvedev, Shelton. Yeah.
[25:30] Speaker 1: Those are the only four that we all agree on.
[25:33] Speaker 1: The other ones, you know. I like this.
[25:34] Speaker 5: I can't wait. Come November to see where we're at here.
[25:37] Speaker 1: Rublev, Musetti. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, that's why we
[25:42] Speaker 1: play the game. I don't think we're.
[25:45] Speaker 2: Nothing's that crazy, honestly, in my opinion.
[25:48] Speaker 4: No. No.
[25:49] Speaker 1: I mean, like I had someone like if you look
[25:51] Speaker 1: at the race, like the year to date, I had
[25:53] Speaker 1: like Mussetti who's cause of his injury. Like he'd be
[25:57] Speaker 1: coming from a little bit further behind than everyone else
[26:00] Speaker 1: that was mentioned, I think. So no, you had nothing.
[26:05] Speaker 2: Dude, Hodar is 12 in the race, Stevie.
[26:07] Speaker 1: You said 16. He's 12. I don't believe you.
[26:10] Speaker 2: I'm going to fact check you back.
[26:12] Speaker 5: You didn't even get it right.
[26:13] Speaker 1: What do you mean? What do you mean?
[26:14] Speaker 5: You said 13.
[26:15] Speaker 2: I said I think he's like 13, and then you're like, no,
[26:19] Speaker 2: he's 16.
[26:19] Speaker 5: Don't fact check me if you're not even correct. I
[26:21] Speaker 5: thought I looked last night. I'm telling you. I'm going
[26:23] Speaker 5: to look again.
[26:24] Speaker 6: Look again.
[26:25] Speaker 1: What are the odds that one of our fans can
[26:27] Speaker 1: get 10 through 3 exactly correct? It's got to be
[26:30] Speaker 1: one in a million, right?
[26:31] Speaker 5: Dude, the race to Turin, he's 16.
[26:33] Speaker 2: I'm literally on the ATP app.
[26:36] Speaker 1: He's 12 in the race, Stevie. He's 12 in the race.
[26:38] Speaker 5: I'm looking at the race, dude, right here on ATP website.
[26:42] Speaker 2: I'm looking at the race on the app.
[26:43] Speaker 6: Okay, fine.
[26:44] Speaker 5: Then somebody needs to figure it out on the back
[26:45] Speaker 5: end of this because I'm on the ATP race to Turin.
[26:48] Speaker 5: He is 16 right here. I'm looking at it. I
[26:50] Speaker 5: just refreshed it.
[26:50] Speaker 1: I think that one's not live. I don't think that
[26:52] Speaker 1: one includes Rome. Exactly. It doesn't include Rome. Good point, Sam. Oh, man.
[26:58] Speaker 5: Okay, well, Rome's not over yet. He's going to be higher,
[27:00] Speaker 5: but right now it says he's 16.
[27:02] Speaker 1: No, the live race.
[27:04] Speaker 6: Move on.
[27:05] Speaker 5: You guys are losers.
[27:06] Speaker 1: No, you're wrong. Don't get all offended because you're wrong.
[27:09] Speaker 5: I'm looking at the site that's being refreshed right now.
[27:12] Speaker 1: Oftentimes you're right. Just admit you're wrong right here. Sam's
[27:15] Speaker 1: been wrong a lot. He's right in this case. Stand
[27:17] Speaker 1: your ground, Sam. I am. I know. Stevie just– just
[27:22] Speaker 1: an abrupt end.
[27:23] Speaker 3: You guys are idiots. Bye. I'm out of here.
[27:26] Speaker 5: I'm sitting right here.
[27:27] Speaker 1: We're not standing for that. But anyways, yeah, let's see
[27:31] Speaker 1: if our fans can get in on this with us.
[27:34] Speaker 1: Send us your end of the year predictions.
[27:36] Speaker 2: I feel like maybe if someone sends a correct one,
[27:38] Speaker 2: we fly them to the major of their choice.
[27:42] Speaker 1: Yeah we can give him a hat too three hats.
[27:46] Speaker 2: Well fly you to the major of your choice put
[27:48] Speaker 2: you up for a week or give you a hat
[27:50] Speaker 2: whichever is less if.
[27:51] Speaker 5: You can get three to ten right at the end
[27:53] Speaker 5: of the year that would be insane yeah.
[27:55] Speaker 7: That's impossible uh it's not that impossible though i mean
[27:59] Speaker 7: i feel like it's not impossible because the race is
[28:03] Speaker 7: already out it's still like in There's only 14 guys
[28:08] Speaker 7: that can kind.
[28:09] Speaker 2: Of do it.
[28:10] Speaker 1: You'd have to get them all in the exact order.
[28:12] Speaker 1: I just don't think it's crazy.
[28:14] Speaker 6: It is.
[28:15] Speaker 1: It's one in five million or something.
[28:18] Speaker 3: It's nuts.
[28:18] Speaker 2: Yeah, but most likely, no shot it's like that crazy odds.
[28:22] Speaker 1: I think it is, dude. To get them all correct
[28:26] Speaker 1: in order. Yeah.
[28:28] Speaker 5: John's probably giving it better odds than it should be
[28:30] Speaker 5: at five million.
[28:32] Speaker 2: This isn't the NCAA basketball tournament.
[28:33] Speaker 1: It's still pretty hard. Like Zverev is going to be
[28:36] Speaker 1: three probably. Okay.
[28:37] Speaker 5: So you get one, right?
[28:38] Speaker 1: All right.
[28:40] Speaker 2: Just let's move on.
[28:43] Speaker 1: All right. That was fun. But let's move on to
[28:45] Speaker 1: fan questions and life advice. Let's start with fan questions here.
[28:50] Speaker 1: We have Nathaniel from Toronto. Hey, guys. Been enjoying watching
[28:57] Speaker 1: the podcast now as part of my weekly routine as
[29:00] Speaker 1: one does. As the millions do. Yes, exactly. For a
[29:03] Speaker 1: couple months now, I'm currently watching the Madrid semifinals and
[29:06] Speaker 1: simultaneously doing some digging into the history of the ball
[29:10] Speaker 1: girls at this event. Notably, the degree of attractiveness, the outfits, etc. Apparently,
[29:16] Speaker 1: in 2004, they hired models and Agassi noted it was
[29:20] Speaker 1: hard to focus. Can you dig into this or comment
[29:23] Speaker 1: on this? It would be an interesting segment on the pod.
[29:27] Speaker 1: Keep it up. Thank you.
[29:28] Speaker 3: All right.
[29:29] Speaker 1: Appreciate that, Nathaniel. Great question. They started this initiative, if
[29:35] Speaker 1: you may, when it was an indoor event, right?
[29:40] Speaker 2: I don't know when they started.
[29:41] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I mean, if it was before, then yes. Yeah,
[29:43] Speaker 1: so exactly. They started, none of us played that indoor event, right?
[29:47] Speaker 1: Sammy never played it. Correct.
[29:48] Speaker 5: I was a freshman in high school. Wasn't quite there yet.
[29:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the Madrid doesn't do it. Let's call
[29:54] Speaker 1: a spade a spade. I think they do a good
[29:55] Speaker 1: job with the ball people.
[29:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think they're still models. I think it
[29:59] Speaker 2: was an actual modeling agency from like 2004 to 2010,
[30:03] Speaker 2: let's call it. And they were only model like models
[30:08] Speaker 2: on like the center court and like the side to
[30:10] Speaker 2: the next two biggest courts. The outside courts didn't have
[30:13] Speaker 2: the models. Like if you go back and look. So
[30:15] Speaker 2: like they were a little slug, not sluggish. but just
[30:20] Speaker 2: not on their game like the normal ball kids with speed, agility,
[30:24] Speaker 2: tennis awareness.
[30:26] Speaker 5: They weren't out there to be professional ball people.
[30:27] Speaker 1: No.
[30:28] Speaker 2: They're still pretty attractive. It's like they've either gone to
[30:31] Speaker 2: maybe a lower-grade modeling agency now or– Sorry. They also
[30:43] Speaker 2: have good-looking guys ball-boying too.
[30:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Like everyone's pretty good looking. It's just good
[30:49] Speaker 1: looking people. I mean, look, you want the product to
[30:52] Speaker 1: be good on TV. Yeah. Right?
[30:55] Speaker 3: So.
[30:55] Speaker 1: That's what it is. Good looking guys and gals.
[30:58] Speaker 5: There's that, that like, I feel like there's that, that
[31:00] Speaker 5: clip that always goes viral with like Rafa sitting on
[31:02] Speaker 5: the bench with like, I think it was an Acapulco.
[31:05] Speaker 5: Is that Acapulco or is that like Rio or?
[31:07] Speaker 1: Oh, Rio.
[31:08] Speaker 5: And it's like, you know, he's like laser focused and
[31:10] Speaker 5: it's like, you know, the girl's like standing behind him
[31:12] Speaker 5: and people are always like, you know, whatever. But there's
[31:14] Speaker 5: that clip always kind of recirculates. I feel like every
[31:16] Speaker 5: few months.
[31:17] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[31:18] Speaker 2: I don't think anyone has an issue with it.
[31:20] Speaker 1: I didn't notice it.
[31:21] Speaker 2: When I was playing, though, on the court, I didn't
[31:23] Speaker 2: notice the ball bounce.
[31:25] Speaker 5: You don't notice it.
[31:26] Speaker 1: It's such a thing you don't notice.
[31:28] Speaker 5: If you're noticing that, you're probably not focused on the match.
[31:32] Speaker 1: Yeah. Your job.
[31:33] Speaker 2: But it's still kind of a thing. It's still kind
[31:35] Speaker 2: of a thing in Madrid.
[31:37] Speaker 1: Lower level models. No. Okay. Let's move on. We also
[31:42] Speaker 1: have a question from another person from Toronto.
[31:44] Speaker 3: Toronto.
[31:45] Speaker 1: And this is Taylor from Toronto. We love our Canadian fans.
[31:49] Speaker 1: This one's straightforward and simple. Who would win in this
[31:52] Speaker 1: hypothetical match, 2026 Sinner or 2011 Djokovic? That's the year
[31:58] Speaker 1: Novak started off like 30-something and 0, right? Won Aussie,
[32:02] Speaker 1: won everything up until or through Rome or something like that, right?
[32:06] Speaker 2: Something like that, probably, yeah. These hypotheticals are so tough.
[32:10] Speaker 3: They are tough.
[32:11] Speaker 2: He run everything up and through Roland Garros, lost to Federer.
[32:13] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, but 2026 Djokovic beat 2026 Sinner already
[32:20] Speaker 1: this year. Wait, what? You just missed that out.
[32:22] Speaker 5: 2026 Djokovic beat 2026 Sinner. They have played this year.
[32:24] Speaker 6: So valid.
[32:25] Speaker 3: It's hard to say.
[32:25] Speaker 1: It would just be a war. I mean, 2011 Djokovic
[32:26] Speaker 1: is up there with 2006, 2007 Federer. 2011 Novak.
[32:39] Speaker 5: He was 41-match winning streak. First loss was to Roger
[32:42] Speaker 5: in the semis of the French. He went 70-6, and
[32:47] Speaker 5: he was 10-1 against Rafa and Roger that year.
[32:50] Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going Novak because of that, because he was.
[32:54] Speaker 7: Beating the guys that were a little tougher.
[32:57] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, going 10-1 in
[33:01] Speaker 1: the calendar year versus Rafa and Roger combined. It's a joke. Yeah,
[33:07] Speaker 1: so he gets his Novak. Yeah, I think we agreed.
[33:09] Speaker 1: No shade on Sinner.
[33:10] Speaker 2: Sinner's incredible.
[33:12] Speaker 5: We're splitting hairs here.
[33:15] Speaker 2: If Sinner keeps up this run and he wins Roland
[33:17] Speaker 2: Garros and then he wins Wimbledon and Cincy in Toronto,
[33:20] Speaker 2: we could have this discussion again in August and be.
[33:23] Speaker 1: Like, I don't know, maybe Sinner.
[33:25] Speaker 5: He better have less than four losses. John makes a
[33:28] Speaker 5: good point. 2026 Novak beat 2026 Sinner. So I would
[33:29] Speaker 5: like 2011 Novak over 2026 Sinner.
[33:37] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we agree on that. Good question, though.
[33:43] Speaker 1: I like those hypotheticals. They're impossible to answer, and it's
[33:46] Speaker 1: kind of cheap clickbait.
[33:48] Speaker 2: How about 2026 Sinner versus 1962 Roy Emerson? 1962 Roy Emerson.
[33:59] Speaker 3: That's so good.
[34:02] Speaker 5: Bill Tilden. Get out there battling.
[34:04] Speaker 1: Big, big Bill Tilden. All right, thanks for those fan questions.
[34:08] Speaker 1: We got something on the life advice segment. So this
[34:11] Speaker 1: is Craig from Tampa.
[34:13] Speaker 3: Is that CB?
[34:14] Speaker 1: Is that CB?
[34:15] Speaker 2: CB is in Craig Boynton. Our former coach had him
[34:20] Speaker 2: on the pod.
[34:21] Speaker 1: We're not sure. This actually is kind of suspicious. But anyways.
[34:25] Speaker 5: There's only one Craig in Tampa that I know.
[34:27] Speaker 1: Here goes. If you're going on a joint family vacation
[34:30] Speaker 1: and your wife is best friends with the other wife,
[34:32] Speaker 1: But the other dad thinks you're also basically best friends,
[34:35] Speaker 1: even though he is really annoying and obnoxious. What do
[34:39] Speaker 1: you even do? He is the type of guy who
[34:42] Speaker 1: wakes up everyone on vacation with a full plan for
[34:45] Speaker 1: the day that nobody asked for. Talks about everything like
[34:47] Speaker 1: he's doing a documentary voiceover and even turning getting snacks
[34:52] Speaker 1: into a group mission. He also plays guitar and insists
[34:55] Speaker 1: on doing a sing-along stuff in the evening, which I
[34:58] Speaker 1: honestly cannot deal with at all. And one of his
[35:01] Speaker 1: kids is just pure chaos, like no rules, just running
[35:04] Speaker 1: around being an absolute demon. This is already booked, already paid.
[35:07] Speaker 1: I'm trying to support my wife, but at the same time,
[35:10] Speaker 1: I'm dreading this.
[35:11] Speaker 3: Wow.
[35:12] Speaker 1: Craig, I don't think this is CB actually, but wow. Wow.
[35:16] Speaker 3: Oh, man. I feel for Craig.
[35:18] Speaker 1: Just suck it up, Buttercup. Yeah, just suck it up.
[35:20] Speaker 1: The guitar is obnoxious. I'll give you that.
[35:22] Speaker 2: The guitar sing-along is obnoxious. Everything else, just suck it up.
[35:26] Speaker 2: You're going on vacation for, what, five days? Just be
[35:28] Speaker 2: a team player and then get back to your life.
[35:30] Speaker 6: No, dude.
[35:31] Speaker 1: That's brutal.
[35:33] Speaker 5: Find a way to bail. I don't know. Go stand
[35:35] Speaker 5: on a street corner and have a bike run over
[35:37] Speaker 5: you or something.
[35:38] Speaker 2: Break your ankle or something. No, that's poor life advice.
[35:42] Speaker 5: Fake an injury.
[35:43] Speaker 1: Do anything.
[35:44] Speaker 5: Nobody wants to go on vacation with a full plan
[35:46] Speaker 5: day guy. That's ridiculous.
[35:49] Speaker 1: So fake an injury and kind of ruin it for
[35:51] Speaker 1: your wife? Yeah. And like what?
[35:53] Speaker 2: Like have her get pissed and like get a divorce
[35:55] Speaker 2: and then like go live in a one bedroom apartment
[35:57] Speaker 2: and see your kids like every other weekend?
[35:59] Speaker 5: Yeah, that's obviously the next step there is you miss
[36:02] Speaker 5: one family vacation, you get a divorce. You got to
[36:04] Speaker 5: find a way to get out of it, dude.
[36:06] Speaker 2: You can't just suck, John.
[36:07] Speaker 1: You just suck it up. Yeah, you got to suck
[36:09] Speaker 1: it up. You got to suck it up. I mean, like,
[36:11] Speaker 1: it's fine. You know, he might grow to like the guy.
[36:13] Speaker 1: He might grow to like the daily plans. I feel
[36:17] Speaker 1: like he's overthinking it a little bit. I'd be worried.
[36:20] Speaker 1: I'd be most worried about the kid that's just pure chaos.
[36:22] Speaker 5: Well, that's, yeah.
[36:23] Speaker 1: Truthfully.
[36:25] Speaker 5: I would assume they also have kids then, potentially, if
[36:27] Speaker 5: they're bringing a kid on a trip.
[36:29] Speaker 2: Yeah they have kids i think yeah so it's like
[36:31] Speaker 2: you suck it up and then like after the vacation
[36:33] Speaker 2: you tell your wife like it was fun like next
[36:35] Speaker 2: time we got to go sold like just.
[36:36] Speaker 5: Us that was no next time you got to be
[36:40] Speaker 5: honest and be like that was brutal like if you
[36:41] Speaker 5: want to go on a girl's trip with her go
[36:43] Speaker 5: for it i shan't be doing that with the other gentlemen.
[36:46] Speaker 2: Again but people gotta suck it like i can't say
[36:48] Speaker 2: when you see those stories like oh i don't like
[36:50] Speaker 2: my mother-in-law so i'd never talk to them ever cut
[36:52] Speaker 2: off all contact i hate that yeah exactly like that's
[36:55] Speaker 2: the worst thing ever like you can't just like You
[36:58] Speaker 2: could be around people you don't like sometimes and put
[37:01] Speaker 2: on a happy face and be okay.
[37:04] Speaker 5: I do it every week with you guys. That's fine.
[37:06] Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
[37:08] Speaker 3: Exactly.
[37:09] Speaker 1: See, that's our point. Yeah. If you do it every
[37:11] Speaker 1: week with us, you can do it for five days,
[37:12] Speaker 1: just one five-day period. And you're on vacation. You've got
[37:16] Speaker 1: to be somewhere. There's got to be some enjoyment there. Yeah, exactly.
[37:19] Speaker 6: All right.
[37:20] Speaker 1: Well, look.
[37:20] Speaker 5: These guys are going on a family trip and you
[37:23] Speaker 5: know what can help out with that? It's Monarch. Because
[37:25] Speaker 5: summer is almost here and how do you want to
[37:27] Speaker 5: plan your vacation and actually maybe like the people you're
[37:30] Speaker 5: going with? But don't worry about the finances because Monarch
[37:33] Speaker 5: can connect you to organizing your finances so you can
[37:36] Speaker 5: enjoy that summer vacation even though you might not like
[37:38] Speaker 5: the people on it.
[37:39] Speaker 2: Monarch is a personal finance app that tracks everything. Your investments,
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[37:54] Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't know too much about Monarch, but my
[37:57] Speaker 1: family and I were going on a big summer trip,
[37:59] Speaker 1: and Monarch helped me identify where I needed to save
[38:02] Speaker 1: and helped me hit our savings targets, something that I've
[38:06] Speaker 1: never done before. Worked like a charm.
[38:08] Speaker 2: With Monarch's AI advisor, everything's AI right now.
[38:11] Speaker 1: We're AI.
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[38:17] Speaker 2: Ask it anything, and the Monarch AI assistant is there
[38:20] Speaker 2: to help you.
[38:20] Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know, for us, you got to use
[38:22] Speaker 5: code NOTHINGMAJOR at Monarch.com to get your first year half off,
[38:25] Speaker 5: and that is just $ 50. That's 50% off your first
[38:28] Speaker 5: year at Monarch.com with our code NOTHINGMAJOR.
[38:32] Speaker 3: All right.
[38:32] Speaker 1: Thank you to our friends at Monarch.
[38:35] Speaker 3: Another live ad rate.
[38:36] Speaker 1: Really, really good product, by the way.
[38:38] Speaker 3: Incredible.
[38:38] Speaker 1: Great product.
[38:38] Speaker 6: Yeah, it is.
[38:39] Speaker 1: Very good.
[38:40] Speaker 5: Well, I think this is what people want to hear now.
[38:41] Speaker 5: We finally have some updates from Margaret, Samuel.
[38:46] Speaker 1: We do. It's been a while.
[38:48] Speaker 5: You know who was just asking me about this, quite frankly? Who?
[38:51] Speaker 5: My mom. She wanted an update on Margaret's life advice.
[38:55] Speaker 5: She asked me about it yesterday, and I said, I
[38:57] Speaker 5: thought we did it, but here we go. She's going
[39:00] Speaker 5: to get it right now.
[39:01] Speaker 2: I chatted with her a couple days ago. Here's an
[39:03] Speaker 2: update from our girl Margaret on how things are going.
[39:06] Speaker 1: All right, everyone.
[39:07] Speaker 2: Welcome back. We have a special guest. We have Margaret
[39:11] Speaker 2: from Major Match. It's been about a month. You know
[39:15] Speaker 2: how in like House Hunters or any dating show, you
[39:17] Speaker 2: get the where are they now? That's kind of what
[39:19] Speaker 2: we're doing here. So Margaret, welcome back on. Thank you
[39:23] Speaker 2: for coming on and give us an update. Before we
[39:26] Speaker 2: get like an update, I want to know how you
[39:29] Speaker 2: found the experience of coming on the show going on
[39:31] Speaker 2: the mini dates we appreciate it i know it was
[39:34] Speaker 2: it was tedious it was awkward but how did you like.
[39:37] Speaker 6: It no i thought i thought it was awesome you
[39:39] Speaker 6: know i've never i've never been like the most outgoing
[39:42] Speaker 6: person so this was definitely something out of my comfort
[39:45] Speaker 6: zone so it was really fun experience and you know
[39:48] Speaker 6: my team really had a fun time with it i
[39:50] Speaker 6: had a fun time with it i just thought it
[39:52] Speaker 6: was really just an awesome experience.
[39:54] Speaker 2: Did you watch the episode like with your team no.
[39:58] Speaker 6: We we watched we watched the first two that i
[40:03] Speaker 6: was i was in all together and then with the
[40:06] Speaker 6: craziness of season we eventually just started watching them on
[40:09] Speaker 6: our own and then we would like show certain clips
[40:11] Speaker 6: like in the bus rides or something but yeah it
[40:13] Speaker 6: was it was it was really fun Just them getting
[40:18] Speaker 6: so hyped up seeing me on the TV. I hate
[40:20] Speaker 6: watching myself on videos going back, hearing my voice. So
[40:24] Speaker 6: it was really weird seeing that, my face, with all
[40:28] Speaker 6: of y'all. But yeah, it was really fun.
[40:31] Speaker 1: That's what I was going to ask you.
[40:32] Speaker 2: Some people can't go back and watch themselves for whatever reason.
[40:36] Speaker 2: You're always your harshest judge.
[40:37] Speaker 1: Oh, for sure, for sure.
[40:39] Speaker 6: My friends were sending me videos of them watching me.
[40:42] Speaker 6: So like I was watching my friends watch me and
[40:44] Speaker 6: it was, it was really weird.
[40:46] Speaker 2: Um, so speaking of the winner, Phillip, what has happened
[40:52] Speaker 2: with you and Phillip since major match about, I don't know, five,
[40:56] Speaker 2: six weeks ago?
[40:57] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[40:58] Speaker 6: Um, so great guy, you know, lovely person, really fun, very,
[41:02] Speaker 6: you know, very interesting person. You know, we had a
[41:05] Speaker 6: lot of common things. Um, and I think, you know,
[41:09] Speaker 6: made a really good friend, but, um, But, yeah, he's
[41:11] Speaker 6: just a really good guy, and we talked a little bit. But, yeah,
[41:15] Speaker 6: I think I've made a really good friend.
[41:17] Speaker 2: Okay, that's good. It's tough when you guys don't live
[41:19] Speaker 2: in the same place, too. That's also like a big hurdle.
[41:22] Speaker 2: Do you regret not giving my guy Trevor more of
[41:24] Speaker 2: a chance?
[41:25] Speaker 1: That was my pick. His date was so bad, though.
[41:29] Speaker 2: I've never seen anything like it. When I talked to
[41:31] Speaker 2: him one-on-one, he was like smooth and cool, and then
[41:33] Speaker 2: watching him chat with you, I was like, what is
[41:36] Speaker 2: going on here?
[41:37] Speaker 6: No, I do 100%. He was so sweet, and I
[41:42] Speaker 6: could tell he was nervous. I will say I didn't
[41:48] Speaker 6: pick him because I wanted to see the other guys'
[41:50] Speaker 6: questions because he was just very out there and very interesting,
[41:55] Speaker 6: and so I wanted to see what his questions were like.
[41:57] Speaker 6: But yes, I do regret not giving Trevor a second chance.
[42:02] Speaker 2: Speaking of crazy questions, Patrick– Had like crazy, not crazy crazy,
[42:07] Speaker 2: but like random questions.
[42:08] Speaker 3: Yeah, they were there out there.
[42:10] Speaker 2: Did you like that or was it like too weird
[42:12] Speaker 2: for you?
[42:13] Speaker 4: It was a.
[42:14] Speaker 6: Little too weird. I mean like very interesting, very funny,
[42:20] Speaker 6: but I was definitely caught off guard.
[42:24] Speaker 1: Yeah, as were we.
[42:25] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[42:25] Speaker 1: All right.
[42:26] Speaker 2: Well, thank you for the– The update, I'm glad you
[42:30] Speaker 2: made a friend in Philip.
[42:31] Speaker 1: That was a fun segment to film. We appreciate it.
[42:34] Speaker 2: And good luck with the season next season.
[42:36] Speaker 1: I know your season's over, so good luck next season.
[42:39] Speaker 1: And we'll talk to you soon.
[42:40] Speaker 3: All right.
[42:40] Speaker 6: Thank you so much.
[42:42] Speaker 2: All right.
[42:42] Speaker 1: There you have it. There's Margaret.
[42:44] Speaker 2: Things seem to slow down after the segment.
[42:51] Speaker 1: She did not find love. Did she shit it? She
[42:56] Speaker 1: should have gone with my boy from Ohio.
[42:58] Speaker 6: Come on.
[42:58] Speaker 1: I know.
[43:00] Speaker 3: I know.
[43:00] Speaker 2: What we really need for this segment to pop, we
[43:03] Speaker 2: need Fritzy, and we got to do a Bachelor. He's
[43:05] Speaker 2: not going to do that, but we need Fritzy.
[43:08] Speaker 5: We can ask. It never hurts to ask.
[43:10] Speaker 4: All right.
[43:10] Speaker 2: Thanks again to Margaret. We actually hope Margaret does fine love.
[43:13] Speaker 2: We also hope Margaret has great gut health, and the
[43:16] Speaker 2: three of us here in the major– We use Momentous Fiber.
[43:23] Speaker 2: It's a complete three-in-one formula with soluble fiber, insoluble fiber,
[43:27] Speaker 2: and prebiotic-resistant starch. The combination is designed to support gut health.
[43:32] Speaker 2: Gut health's important, guys. It's like a trend now, the
[43:34] Speaker 2: gut health. You got to be on your gut health,
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[43:40] Speaker 1: I feel like your gut health hasn't always been the best, Sam.
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[44:28] Speaker 1: All right. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. We will catch
[44:31] Speaker 1: you next week on Monday. Appreciate it. Stevie J won
[44:42] Speaker 1: the bronze, but none won a slam.
[44:48] Speaker 2: Nothing, nothing made you.
[44:55] Speaker 1: Nothing, nothing made you.
[45:02] Speaker 5: Nothing, nothing made you.

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