# Europe Defeats Team World! Laver Cup Recap + Alcaraz on Late-Night Finishes | EP 218

An episode of [Nothing Major](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1756744318), 28 Sep 2026, 54 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/dbcf7075-b1a5-4f4d-ade0-b4da0135fb2e/90a8a0a2-7d58-4b5a-9ca6-b4da01365875/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3b43a2f1-982b-4fe0-ae8e-b4da0135fb3a

On this episode of Nothing Major, the guys recap the Laver Cup with Ethan Quinn filling in for Sam, who checks in from London with the full behind-the-scenes rundown. They break down Team Europe’s 13–5 win, Alcaraz saving match points against Fritz, Europe’s doubles sweep, and what makes Alcaraz so tough to play. They also debate third-set super tiebreaks, discuss Team World’s roster and doubles options, and get an update on Ethan’s foot injury, surgery and rehab. Plus, Nadal and Murray’s Mallorca exhibition, late-night US Open scheduling, Arthur Fils’ qualifying drama, when will Sinner play next, and more. Follow Nothing Major on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/NothingMajorShow 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:20 Ethan Injury Update 04:58 Coping and Recovery Mindset 07:46 Sam Laver Cup Recap 15:37 Europe Wins Laver Cup 16:05 Third Set Tiebreak Debate 17:29 Friday Highlights 19:13 Facing Jodar Up Close 23:36 Saturday Momentum Swing 26:19 Alcaraz vs Fritz Thriller 28:08 Sunday Wrap and Doubles Story 29:57 Team World Doubles Fixes 31:42 Future Laver Cup Dreams 34:13 Nadal Murray Exhibition 36:01 US Open Late Nights 41:38 Stat Of The Week 43:02 PlayerZone Entry Explained 45:55 Servebot And Querrey 47:18 Bar Fight Rankings 50:01 Beijing Tokyo Outlook 52:28 Wrap Up And Tease See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: All right, everyone, on today's episode of Nothing Major, we
[0:03] Speaker 1: are going to hit Laver Cup, which just concluded over
[0:05] Speaker 1: the weekend, and we have a very, very special guest.
[0:08] Speaker 1: interchangeable member of the nothing major podcast we can have
[0:12] Speaker 1: we're gonna be joined by Ethan Quinn hey guys how.
[0:15] Speaker 2: You guys doing.
[0:20] Speaker 1: We're good Ethan we are good we're back we are
[0:22] Speaker 1: back we're back I got John I got Ethan Quinn
[0:25] Speaker 1: he is joining us from Fresno so he is up
[0:28] Speaker 1: early at 630 a.m. on the west coast but we're
[0:30] Speaker 1: also joined by Charlie Fox and the team at SIF
[0:33] Speaker 1: so Ethan first of all.
[0:34] Speaker 3: Hold on before you go no Sam query we got
[0:36] Speaker 3: it we got a it's a it's a great time
[0:38] Speaker 3: to do a pod without Sam. We got Ethan.
[0:40] Speaker 4: Yes.
[0:41] Speaker 3: I for one am very happy not to see Sam's
[0:44] Speaker 3: face on the other side of the screen.
[0:46] Speaker 1: Look, we have to give Ethan the opportunity to come.
[0:48] Speaker 1: He has been the punching bag of nothing major for
[0:50] Speaker 1: the better part of like two to three months. So
[0:53] Speaker 1: we figured why not just interchange him and Sam. Give
[0:56] Speaker 1: Ethan a little bit of a chance to come on
[0:58] Speaker 1: and defend himself. Maybe throw a few shots at Sam
[1:01] Speaker 1: because that is Sam's favorite punching bag right now in
[1:03] Speaker 1: American tennis.
[1:05] Speaker 5: Sam loves it. I feel like I've done nothing that's
[1:09] Speaker 5: caused it. He just continuously goes back to it. Man,
[1:13] Speaker 5: I take it like a champ, I guess. You've been
[1:16] Speaker 5: a supporter from day one. I don't get what Sam's
[1:18] Speaker 5: big deal is, but we're here. In kind of unfortunate
[1:22] Speaker 5: circumstances for Ethan, how is the injury, the foot? a
[1:25] Speaker 5: bit of a bummer with the start of the year
[1:28] Speaker 5: that you had, everything was kind of trending in the
[1:29] Speaker 5: right direction. How have you dealt with the foot injury
[1:32] Speaker 5: and how the rehab process coming along?
[1:34] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[1:35] Speaker 5: I mean, when I first found out that, you know,
[1:37] Speaker 5: I'd hurt my foot, I kind of was, you know,
[1:39] Speaker 5: I was still training. I was still playing. You know,
[1:42] Speaker 5: I thought it was just going to be like a
[1:43] Speaker 5: three week, four week process. And I was gonna be
[1:45] Speaker 5: back by us open. I was practicing with Fritz and
[1:49] Speaker 5: Fritz was like, ah, you know, you should just get checked.
[1:50] Speaker 4: Out a little bit.
[1:51] Speaker 5: You know, my team was kind of saying the same thing. Just,
[1:53] Speaker 5: I looked a little bit slow, which, I'm already a
[1:55] Speaker 5: pretty slow guy. Um, so, you know, if I'm now
[1:57] Speaker 5: taking split steps and there's a little bit, you know,
[2:00] Speaker 5: it's a little slower now. Um, you know, let's get
[2:02] Speaker 5: it scanned. Let's get it looked at. Um, so I
[2:04] Speaker 5: went up to New York and got it looked at
[2:06] Speaker 5: and the doc was right away. It was like, ah,
[2:08] Speaker 5: let's get like, we need to do surgery. And I
[2:10] Speaker 5: was like, Oh my goodness. Like, like what? Like, you know,
[2:13] Speaker 5: the first doc I saw in West Palm beach was like,
[2:16] Speaker 5: Oh no, like you're fine in four weeks. You'll be
[2:17] Speaker 5: ready for us open. And then this other doc I
[2:20] Speaker 5: see is like, yeah, we need to do surgery. So
[2:22] Speaker 5: I was like trying to wrap my head around this
[2:23] Speaker 5: whole thing of like, all right, why did one doc
[2:25] Speaker 5: say like, you're good. And the other doc said, Hey,
[2:27] Speaker 5: you need to do surgery. So, you know, I'm like
[2:30] Speaker 5: trying to take this all in, you know, Franco, everyone's
[2:32] Speaker 5: trying to like, Hey, like let's get a surgery scheduled. So,
[2:35] Speaker 5: you know, I did that. I got it scheduled and
[2:37] Speaker 5: I had, you know, Patrick Gibson, actually he, he had
[2:39] Speaker 5: the same injury as me. And so I was talking
[2:41] Speaker 5: with him and got his doctor as well as like, Hey,
[2:44] Speaker 5: like just give me your doctor. I want to send
[2:45] Speaker 5: my scans over to him, get another opinion, make sure
[2:48] Speaker 5: I'm doing everything.
[2:49] Speaker 4: The right way.
[2:50] Speaker 5: And when his doctor kind of told me like, hey,
[2:52] Speaker 5: you need to do surgery on this as well. Then
[2:54] Speaker 5: I was kind of able to get over that process because,
[2:57] Speaker 5: you know, I was training. Franco is still training or
[2:59] Speaker 5: having me train. And I was like, man, what am
[3:01] Speaker 5: I like? What am I training for?
[3:02] Speaker 4: I don't know what I'm.
[3:03] Speaker 5: Me playing next. And I'm doing conditioning on the bike.
[3:07] Speaker 5: And I'm like, what is this for? Like, I just
[3:09] Speaker 5: don't even know what tournament to play next. And like,
[3:12] Speaker 5: am I hurting myself by doing this? Am I not? Like,
[3:14] Speaker 5: what's the whole deal? So once I figured that out, then,
[3:17] Speaker 5: you know, I was able to kind of get over that.
[3:19] Speaker 5: hump of you know accepting what was going on um
[3:23] Speaker 5: and then yeah just did my surgery and you know
[3:25] Speaker 5: now i'm six weeks post-op and so i'm walking again
[3:28] Speaker 5: i was actually on court yesterday like feeding a few
[3:31] Speaker 5: balls so it's kind of nice to get just back
[3:32] Speaker 5: in in that space you know being in in the
[3:35] Speaker 5: court and uh and yeah so now we're slowly slowly
[3:38] Speaker 5: getting back.
[3:39] Speaker 3: Ethan was it one of those things that like in
[3:41] Speaker 3: the back of the back of your mind you knew
[3:42] Speaker 3: something like wasn't quite right with your foot but you
[3:45] Speaker 3: were sort of kind of hoping and wishing it would
[3:47] Speaker 3: just go away because we've all.
[3:49] Speaker 1: Been there right stevie like something you.
[3:50] Speaker 3: Feel something you know but you don't want to like
[3:53] Speaker 3: think the worst was that is that kind of the
[3:55] Speaker 3: case with you.
[3:56] Speaker 5: Ethan 100 i mean i when i first did it
[3:58] Speaker 5: in iorca i i took a just a one step
[4:02] Speaker 5: i mean that's what it was and i looked at
[4:04] Speaker 5: brian and sid in the in the box and i
[4:05] Speaker 5: was like man like something doesn't feel right with my
[4:08] Speaker 5: foot and like can you still play I was like,
[4:11] Speaker 5: I don't know. Let's see. And then I beat the
[4:13] Speaker 5: crap out of Nuno. I mean, I beat him one
[4:15] Speaker 5: and two in the semis. I beat the crap out
[4:18] Speaker 5: of him. So I'm like, okay, surely I can still play.
[4:20] Speaker 5: And then adrenaline goes in the final.
[4:23] Speaker 4: Whatever, play that.
[4:24] Speaker 5: Then go to Wimbledon. I beat Darderi first round. And
[4:27] Speaker 5: I'm like, okay, so surely I can still play. And
[4:30] Speaker 5: then once I finally lost at Wimbledon, the adrenaline must
[4:32] Speaker 5: have been gone. And I kept walking on it. And
[4:35] Speaker 5: I could feel it. Going downstairs, I could feel it barefoot.
[4:38] Speaker 5: I'm like, okay, there's something going on. Let me take
[4:41] Speaker 5: some time. I went on a little vacation after Wimbledon.
[4:44] Speaker 5: I was like, I'll be ready by the time hard
[4:46] Speaker 5: court swing. Ten days off will be fine. Clearly, it
[4:50] Speaker 5: was not fine. I just kept pushing it back. I
[4:55] Speaker 5: didn't think anything happened. Obviously, there was something there.
[4:59] Speaker 1: This is your first prolonged absence from the game. Is
[5:02] Speaker 1: that correct?
[5:02] Speaker 5: Yeah, ever from when I was a kid. The longest
[5:05] Speaker 5: time I ever took off when I was a kid
[5:07] Speaker 5: was one week. going to sixth grade camp. Like that was,
[5:10] Speaker 5: that was the time that I missed.
[5:11] Speaker 4: And that was it.
[5:12] Speaker 1: I mean, where, where are you at mentally? Like, I mean,
[5:14] Speaker 1: how is this process for somebody who's so young, who
[5:16] Speaker 1: knows there's so much like tennis ahead of him? Like,
[5:18] Speaker 1: where are you at mentally knowing you're going to be
[5:19] Speaker 1: out for the rest of the season? You're going to
[5:20] Speaker 1: start back in 2027.
[5:22] Speaker 5: You know, I want to say fine. Now I think
[5:25] Speaker 5: the first two weeks, it was the hardest. Cause you know,
[5:27] Speaker 5: I wasn't able to drive. I wasn't really, I wasn't
[5:29] Speaker 5: able to sweat at all either just to with infection.
[5:33] Speaker 5: So I literally was stuck in my apartment in Florida.
[5:35] Speaker 5: Cause when you go to the grocery store in Florida,
[5:37] Speaker 5: you're going to sweat. So I was stuck at home.
[5:40] Speaker 5: I was Uber eating like my groceries from Whole Foods
[5:43] Speaker 5: over to my house just so I could like at
[5:45] Speaker 5: least like I had my scooter and like my knee scooter.
[5:49] Speaker 5: And so I'm like cooking on my knee scooter. That
[5:51] Speaker 5: way I wasn't like Uber eating every single meal. You know,
[5:55] Speaker 5: my mom actually came to Florida as well. And so
[5:57] Speaker 5: she was able to cook for me as well, which
[5:59] Speaker 5: was it was nice having someone there to to drive
[6:01] Speaker 5: me places. I mean, my girlfriend taking the blunt of
[6:04] Speaker 5: that to be Like literally nurse, driver, chef, everything. It
[6:08] Speaker 5: was like I felt so bad because I was incapable
[6:11] Speaker 5: of everything while she was working. But now, I mean,
[6:14] Speaker 5: it's like I'm taking classes at Georgia. I've been reading
[6:17] Speaker 5: a bunch. Been going, you know, trying to regularly go
[6:20] Speaker 5: to church as well, which is, you know, something that
[6:22] Speaker 5: we don't get to do as players. I mean, we're
[6:24] Speaker 5: constantly in a different place. It's hard to find that
[6:26] Speaker 5: place to be able to go to. So I've been,
[6:29] Speaker 5: you know, getting back into these routines that I felt
[6:31] Speaker 5: like I had when I was a kid or when
[6:32] Speaker 5: I was a kid. and just kind of getting back
[6:34] Speaker 5: to like who, who I was as a kid myself. And,
[6:37] Speaker 5: you know, it's been nice doing that.
[6:39] Speaker 3: Well, I'll just say this. Um, you got the right attitude, Gus,
[6:43] Speaker 3: as Stevie said to have, you know, you're having such
[6:45] Speaker 3: a great year. You're in our minds, you were well
[6:47] Speaker 3: on your way to, I think top 30 in the
[6:50] Speaker 3: world would be, you know, getting to that, that area
[6:53] Speaker 3: in the rankings where you're seated in grand slams, but, um,
[6:56] Speaker 3: you had the right perspective, dude. So, so keep that
[6:58] Speaker 3: up and you never, you never know. These things can
[7:00] Speaker 3: be a blessing in disguise for sure.
[7:02] Speaker 5: So that's how we've kind of approached it, my entire team. And,
[7:05] Speaker 5: you know, I think by the time I get back
[7:07] Speaker 5: on court, there's going to be a different type of hunger.
[7:09] Speaker 5: You know, sometimes you get complacent a little bit with
[7:12] Speaker 5: how much you're on court. You're like, oh, this is
[7:14] Speaker 5: just like a routine of you don't get into it
[7:16] Speaker 5: as much. Now I'm like, oh, I really want to
[7:18] Speaker 5: be on court. And I think I'll be really good
[7:20] Speaker 5: going into next season.
[7:22] Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt, dude. You know, we want you to
[7:24] Speaker 1: be healthy. We miss having that big forehand out on tour. But,
[7:27] Speaker 1: you know, it may look like Sam has joined us today,
[7:30] Speaker 1: but he is going to join us from Laver Cup.
[7:32] Speaker 1: He's got, we're going to link into a video from Sam.
[7:35] Speaker 1: John and I don't know what's coming. We never know
[7:38] Speaker 1: with Sam. He's just got like a six to seven
[7:40] Speaker 1: minute video rant of the Laver Cup. Who knows? So
[7:43] Speaker 1: with that, here goes Sam.
[7:45] Speaker 4: All right.
[7:46] Speaker 2: As Steven John said, I am coming to you guys
[7:48] Speaker 2: from London. I'm filming this right now. The Labor Cup
[7:50] Speaker 2: just ended. It's Sunday night here in London. It's almost
[7:53] Speaker 2: 6 p.m. It just ended an hour ago. I've been
[7:56] Speaker 2: here for the three or four days. I've been on
[7:58] Speaker 2: the broadcast team. Tennis Australia does the broadcast team. So
[8:02] Speaker 2: I was on that. Then Tennis Channel takes that feed.
[8:04] Speaker 2: So that's probably why you guys think it's Tennis Channel,
[8:07] Speaker 2: but it's not. But it's been an amazing four days.
[8:10] Speaker 2: Got here Thursday. So the way this event works, and John,
[8:14] Speaker 2: you've played it before.
[8:14] Speaker 4: You know this. There's a gala. Gala? Gala?
[8:17] Speaker 2: I don't know what people say. The night before the
[8:20] Speaker 2: event starts. It's amazing. I've been to one before in 2017.
[8:24] Speaker 2: It's even better now. So we're at this venue right
[8:27] Speaker 2: next to the O2. It's drinks, cocktails. Then maybe 500
[8:30] Speaker 2: people go into this beautiful gala. And they bring the
[8:34] Speaker 2: players up on stage. John McEnroe spoke on stage. They
[8:38] Speaker 2: did a little Q & A with Patrick McEnroe and
[8:41] Speaker 2: Roger Federer, which was amazing. And then they had a
[8:44] Speaker 2: musical guest come out. We didn't know who it was.
[8:47] Speaker 4: No one knew.
[8:47] Speaker 2: Uh, and seal came out saying five songs, which was awesome.
[8:52] Speaker 2: And credit the seal. Cause I feel like it could
[8:55] Speaker 2: be tough to give like a great performance when there's
[8:57] Speaker 2: like 500 people and it's somewhat of a corporate crowd.
[9:00] Speaker 2: You would have thought he was playing the Oh two,
[9:02] Speaker 2: like a hundred percent effort. I have a, I got
[9:04] Speaker 2: a video. I mean, he was in the crowd on
[9:06] Speaker 2: the table, on.
[9:06] Speaker 4: The chairs singing. It was amazing.
[9:09] Speaker 2: I was there with, um, With my dad, I got
[9:12] Speaker 2: a good table too. Table 17, I was like right
[9:14] Speaker 2: in the heart of things. I was assuming I was
[9:16] Speaker 2: going to get like an outside table, but no, I
[9:18] Speaker 2: got a good table. I was at the table with
[9:20] Speaker 2: Steve Zaks, who is the CEO of this event. John
[9:23] Speaker 2: McEnroe was at my table. It was a good time.
[9:26] Speaker 2: That was Thursday night. And of course the event, Friday, Saturday,
[9:29] Speaker 2: Sunday at the O2. This event's unbelievable. I know some
[9:32] Speaker 2: people are like, oh, it's an exhibition.
[9:35] Speaker 4: It's not.
[9:36] Speaker 2: Like if you come to the event, if you watch it,
[9:38] Speaker 2: You can feel it in the stadium. The players want
[9:41] Speaker 2: to win. There's a stress. There's a prestige to play
[9:44] Speaker 2: this event. And it showed from the get-go. And I
[9:47] Speaker 2: feel like after day one, I think it was a 3-1.
[9:52] Speaker 2: Day one doesn't matter as much, right? Because the points
[9:55] Speaker 2: go one point Friday, two Saturday, three Sunday. But it
[9:58] Speaker 2: matters for momentum. I feel like, and team morale. So
[10:01] Speaker 2: Europe on Friday went up 3-1. Saturday was a big
[10:08] Speaker 2: day for Team World. They won both singles matches out
[10:11] Speaker 2: of the gate to go up 5-3. including the Diminar
[10:15] Speaker 2: match over Zverev.
[10:17] Speaker 4: I was so mad.
[10:17] Speaker 2: Each day I would kind of work three of the
[10:19] Speaker 2: four matches. So on Saturday, I didn't work the Zverev-Diminar match.
[10:24] Speaker 2: So I'm at the stadium still. Zverev up 6-2, 1-0
[10:28] Speaker 2: a break. I leave the stadium. I'm like, I'm just
[10:30] Speaker 2: going to go back to the hotel and chill for
[10:31] Speaker 2: two hours. I'd look at the score like an hour later.
[10:33] Speaker 2: They're at 5-0 on a super buster. I know I
[10:35] Speaker 2: missed this incredible match, which Diminar ended up winning.
[10:38] Speaker 4: He's bleeding. He's diving everywhere. Incredible.
[10:41] Speaker 2: And then Saturday night, Match of the tournament. Carlos Alcaraz
[10:45] Speaker 2: takes out Taylor Fritz. Alcaraz saves two match points. It
[10:49] Speaker 2: had everything this match. Alcaraz is drop shotting all the time.
[10:52] Speaker 4: He's lobbying. He's such a superstar. You can tell a
[10:56] Speaker 4: difference when they introduce both teams, right?
[10:58] Speaker 2: The six guys from Team World, six guys from Team Europe.
[11:01] Speaker 2: When Carlos enters the building, he's walking down the tunnel.
[11:04] Speaker 2: They put it on the Jumbotron. The place goes nuts.
[11:07] Speaker 2: He's such a massive star in this game. So much
[11:12] Speaker 2: more of a star than, than like everyone else. And you,
[11:14] Speaker 2: you can sense that when you're at an event and
[11:16] Speaker 2: he put on a show as did Taylor Saturday night,
[11:20] Speaker 2: if Taylor would have won one, he had Taylor two
[11:22] Speaker 2: match points. If Taylor would have won one of those
[11:26] Speaker 2: match points, uh, team world would have been up seven, three,
[11:31] Speaker 2: and then you never know. Maybe they're still playing right now, but, uh,
[11:34] Speaker 2: Saturday was a big day. And then, and then of course, Sunday,
[11:36] Speaker 2: and I know you guys are going to break these
[11:37] Speaker 2: matches down even more. Today, Team Europe came out, won
[11:41] Speaker 2: the doubles, and then Zverev closed it out over Lernartian.
[11:43] Speaker 2: Big story was Europe won all three doubles. Historically, Team
[11:46] Speaker 2: World has dominated the doubles, but this was Team Europe.
[11:51] Speaker 4: It's a ton of fun.
[11:51] Speaker 2: I did a lot of courtside. I called some matches.
[11:55] Speaker 2: One courtside day, I got tight. As we know, I'm
[11:58] Speaker 2: a little chunky right now, 228.5. I'm going to weigh
[12:00] Speaker 2: myself for the Thursday episode, by the way. I'll bring
[12:03] Speaker 2: the scale into the room. They'll be like, after four games,
[12:07] Speaker 2: you're going to go interview Rafa Hodar. And you kind
[12:09] Speaker 2: of run over. And I'm spacing out four games in.
[12:12] Speaker 4: They're like, go over. I'm like, oh, shoot, I forgot.
[12:15] Speaker 4: I start running over. I kind of stumble.
[12:17] Speaker 2: And I step on Hodar's foot. Luckily, it wasn't with
[12:19] Speaker 2: all my weight. It was like half my weight. And
[12:20] Speaker 2: then I panicked that I maybe broke his foot. Luckily,
[12:23] Speaker 2: he was fine. He also played great here. But that
[12:26] Speaker 2: was a moment of panic. Another cool thing was today,
[12:30] Speaker 2: who's Roger Federer sitting next to?
[12:32] Speaker 4: Leonardo DiCaprio. Who did I think was maybe.
[12:34] Speaker 2: Going to introduce Federer at the Hall of Fame ceremony
[12:37] Speaker 2: three weeks ago? Leonardo DiCaprio. I don't know what that means,
[12:40] Speaker 2: but it means something. But Leo was there watching. Jon
[12:43] Speaker 2: Bon Jovi was there watching. I interviewed Jeff Goldblum, the actor.
[12:48] Speaker 2: He's in Jurassic Park and the new, what's that movie
[12:53] Speaker 2: where they're singing with Ariana Grande?
[12:55] Speaker 4: Wicked. Nice guy. Odd dude, though.
[12:59] Speaker 2: He was in character the whole time. He was like,
[13:02] Speaker 2: your last name is query. And you're asking me a query.
[13:06] Speaker 2: Has there ever been a better guy to ask a
[13:08] Speaker 2: question than Sam query? Like, I don't know, dude, but
[13:12] Speaker 2: enjoy the tennis. Um, probably had eight celebrities a day
[13:17] Speaker 2: here of the eight, six were like British actors or
[13:21] Speaker 2: people that I didn't know. So, uh, doesn't come close
[13:24] Speaker 2: to the celeb list at the U S open next year, though,
[13:26] Speaker 2: labor cup in Los Angeles. Let's get ready for the
[13:29] Speaker 2: red carpet. That is going to be, that's going to
[13:31] Speaker 2: be huge. Um, anyway, like I said, it's, it's 6
[13:34] Speaker 2: PM right now. I've got a, I've got an early
[13:37] Speaker 2: eight 15 flight back home. So usually when I do these,
[13:40] Speaker 2: these events, right? These, these deals, whether it's like ESPN
[13:44] Speaker 2: or T and D they fly your business class in.
[13:46] Speaker 2: I took a deal here. I was like, if you
[13:48] Speaker 2: give me a little more money, I'll get my own ticket.
[13:50] Speaker 2: I bought a coach ticket. Assuming I was going to
[13:52] Speaker 2: get the upgrade. I put a system wide upgrade in,
[13:54] Speaker 2: as you guys know, I like to talk about flights
[13:56] Speaker 2: as of right now, I don't have an upgrade going
[13:58] Speaker 2: home and I'm in coach. I'm I'm internally panicking a
[14:01] Speaker 2: little bit. There's like one seat left. I don't know
[14:03] Speaker 2: if I'm going to get it again. This is the
[14:05] Speaker 2: Monday app. I'll let you guys know Thursday. I could
[14:09] Speaker 2: be blue collar coach guy home. I know no one
[14:11] Speaker 2: cares about that, but it's a big deal to me.
[14:15] Speaker 2: And I'm not going to do that kind of deal again.
[14:17] Speaker 2: Cause anyway, I don't know if I'm getting it, but that's,
[14:20] Speaker 2: that's the recap from London.
[14:22] Speaker 4: It's been incredible.
[14:23] Speaker 2: Labor cup is as far as like food, hospitality experience goes,
[14:27] Speaker 2: This is not only one of the best tennis events
[14:29] Speaker 2: in the world, it's like one of the best sporting events.
[14:31] Speaker 4: The Rocket Club, by the.
[14:32] Speaker 2: Way, it's where like the fancy people go, you know,
[14:36] Speaker 2: Rod Laver, Rocket, Rocket Club.
[14:38] Speaker 4: The food and.
[14:39] Speaker 2: Beverage in there is as good as it gets. It's
[14:42] Speaker 2: like the Iberico ham. It's like Beef Wellington, like the
[14:46] Speaker 2: best sushi I've ever had. Any drink you want. They
[14:48] Speaker 2: had a drink here.
[14:49] Speaker 4: You know, the U.S.
[14:49] Speaker 2: Open's got the Honey Deuce here. It was called a,
[14:53] Speaker 2: what was it called? A Goosebreaker, you know, great goose bucket,
[14:57] Speaker 2: great group. It was popular, but the rocket club, my
[15:00] Speaker 2: dad was here. He was in the rocket club.
[15:01] Speaker 4: All day long.
[15:01] Speaker 2: This place, uh, it's a scene in the rocket club. Um,
[15:05] Speaker 2: and I'm excited, uh, check it out next year. But anyway, uh,
[15:09] Speaker 2: it's been fun. John Stevie, thanks for checking in with me. Um, and, uh,
[15:14] Speaker 2: I'll look, I'll see everyone on the Thursday episode.
[15:17] Speaker 4: All right.
[15:17] Speaker 1: Thank you, Sam, for that phenomenal video. You just never
[15:20] Speaker 1: know what you're going to get with SQ, John. I mean, there's, there's,
[15:23] Speaker 1: he went to the gala. He went to see the,
[15:27] Speaker 1: what do you, what do you talk about? The hospitality,
[15:28] Speaker 1: the best in the world, who knows with Sam. Um,
[15:31] Speaker 1: but with that, thank you, Sam, you know, thank you
[15:35] Speaker 1: for not joining the show because John was getting sick
[15:37] Speaker 1: of you. So let's actually, let's get into, let's get
[15:40] Speaker 1: into winter circle. We had labor cup over the weekend and,
[15:43] Speaker 1: I think it's going to be great to have Ethan's
[15:45] Speaker 1: perspective on these things because he is playing against all
[15:47] Speaker 1: these guys. But let's kick it off. Team Europe reclaims
[15:52] Speaker 1: Laver Cup at the 0-2 in London. Kind of a
[15:56] Speaker 1: beat down 13-5. I know the score is they didn't
[15:59] Speaker 1: play the last two matches, but Team Europe led by
[16:01] Speaker 1: Yannick Noah. They had some big wins from all their guys.
[16:05] Speaker 1: But let's talk day one on Friday briefly at Kasparud.
[16:09] Speaker 1: Defeated Cerundolo. in the morning session and then Nakashima defeated
[16:14] Speaker 1: Menchik in the morning session as well, both in third
[16:16] Speaker 1: set breakers. I mean, Ethan, you're still on tour, you're playing,
[16:20] Speaker 1: you know, what do you think about like a third
[16:23] Speaker 1: set tiebreaker, you know, side of things? Everyone's talking about
[16:26] Speaker 1: how much, you know, tennis, these matches go too long.
[16:29] Speaker 1: Is there ever a future where you think that third
[16:32] Speaker 1: set breakers come into an everyday tour event?
[16:35] Speaker 5: I just, I can't imagine. I just, I feel like
[16:38] Speaker 5: a lot of it comes down, like, I feel like
[16:40] Speaker 5: from the player perspective, you want to be able to have...
[16:43] Speaker 5: A 10-point breaker is a lot more luck, whereas a
[16:46] Speaker 5: full third set is a lot more based on who
[16:49] Speaker 5: the better player is that day. All the different parts
[16:54] Speaker 5: of the game have to come out where fitness... I
[16:57] Speaker 5: know it's a two-out-of-three set match, but sometimes you're going
[16:59] Speaker 5: to get a hot condition where guys might be cramping.
[17:02] Speaker 5: So you get to at least test someone's fitness if
[17:04] Speaker 5: you're playing a full third. If you're playing just a
[17:06] Speaker 5: 10-point breaker, everyone's going to be perfectly fine. There's no
[17:09] Speaker 5: way there's going to be you know, their conditionings and
[17:11] Speaker 5: they come into a play. So, I mean, I think
[17:13] Speaker 5: it has to stay to a full third set. Maybe
[17:15] Speaker 5: there's different parts that'll come in, but you know, I
[17:18] Speaker 5: think it'll be the scoring that will stay the same.
[17:20] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[17:20] Speaker 1: It's tricky. I mean, it's, you know, I like it.
[17:23] Speaker 1: I mean, it's a fun, exciting format. Obviously they have
[17:24] Speaker 1: four matches. They have two sessions, right? Like, you know,
[17:26] Speaker 1: you get to the nitty gritty of these things and, um,
[17:29] Speaker 1: but you know, we had a couple of, I guess,
[17:32] Speaker 1: what do you call them? Debutants in, uh, on the
[17:35] Speaker 1: Friday night session. And you had Rafa Hodar after, uh,
[17:38] Speaker 1: A tough U.S.
[17:39] Speaker 3: Open.
[17:39] Speaker 1: I mean, the guy had an unbelievable U.S.
[17:41] Speaker 4: Summer.
[17:42] Speaker 1: The guy plays so well. Kind of, lack of better terms,
[17:45] Speaker 1: just kind of just plays poorly. He plays his one
[17:47] Speaker 1: bad match of the year, you felt like, at the U.S. Open,
[17:49] Speaker 1: losing first round. But he comes out, John, takes down
[17:52] Speaker 1: Alexander Bublik. His first match in the Lever Cup as well,
[17:55] Speaker 1: two and three. I mean, that was a straightforward beatdown.
[17:58] Speaker 1: Hodar seems to took a one-match hiatus, and he's back
[18:01] Speaker 1: to firing on all cylinders, John.
[18:04] Speaker 3: Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, if you look at Friday,
[18:07] Speaker 3: I guess just the results as a whole, the final score,
[18:11] Speaker 3: 13-5 kind of seems like a beatdown, but a lot
[18:15] Speaker 3: of the matches were very compelling apart from this Hodar
[18:20] Speaker 3: and Bublik match. That was the one just straightforward match
[18:25] Speaker 3: really throughout the whole event. Yeah, he was awesome. Bublik
[18:29] Speaker 3: was not, but the singles matches apart from that were really,
[18:33] Speaker 3: really good. So yeah, I mean like Friday is not
[18:37] Speaker 3: as important. We know in labor cup with matches worth
[18:40] Speaker 3: one point, I think if you can just avoid getting swept,
[18:44] Speaker 3: which is what team world did, like you're right where
[18:47] Speaker 3: you need to be. And then as you can see
[18:49] Speaker 3: on Saturday, when the matches go to two points, team
[18:52] Speaker 3: world actually takes the lead at, at, at a certain point.
[18:54] Speaker 3: So I think they did their job, not getting swept.
[18:58] Speaker 3: That's really kind of all you can ask for when you,
[18:59] Speaker 3: when you're a decided underdog. I think if you just
[19:02] Speaker 3: look at the rosters, So, yeah, but on that Friday,
[19:07] Speaker 3: Hodar was probably the most impressive player we saw on Friday. Yeah.
[19:13] Speaker 1: I mean, Ethan, kind of speaking on Hodar, you played
[19:16] Speaker 1: him back in Delray. I mean, early, you know, obviously
[19:19] Speaker 1: that's early. He's still outside the top hundred early. You know,
[19:22] Speaker 1: I'm sure you've probably practiced with him a little bit
[19:25] Speaker 1: on tour. Like, what is it like facing him? You know, and,
[19:28] Speaker 1: you know, when you're playing a guy like that, you know, just,
[19:31] Speaker 1: you know, from us as spectators, as commentators, we just,
[19:34] Speaker 1: We feel like he's so solid off both sides. There's
[19:36] Speaker 1: really not that many weaknesses. Where do you feel like
[19:40] Speaker 1: his game was at the beginning of the year to
[19:42] Speaker 1: where it is now where he's made this massive jump?
[19:45] Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think the thing that was most
[19:47] Speaker 5: impressive about him when I played him was his return.
[19:50] Speaker 5: of serve. He was on every single one of my serves. And,
[19:55] Speaker 5: you know, from the most part, I don't feel like
[19:56] Speaker 5: I'm that predictable of a server. I don't feel like
[19:58] Speaker 5: I have that much of a pattern. You know, I'm
[20:00] Speaker 5: not hitting the same serve every single time. And he
[20:03] Speaker 5: was just nutting every single return. Like, I mean, I couldn't,
[20:06] Speaker 5: I feel like I couldn't get an ace against him,
[20:09] Speaker 5: But also, he was sitting on both sides. I could
[20:12] Speaker 5: serve body and he was still able to get out
[20:13] Speaker 5: of the way and hit a quality return. Second serves,
[20:16] Speaker 5: if you were hitting a lot of second serves a game,
[20:18] Speaker 5: I felt like he was on top of the baseline,
[20:20] Speaker 5: inside the baseline, absolutely cracking every single return. So I
[20:24] Speaker 5: felt like it was really, really tough to get ahead
[20:26] Speaker 5: in those games. And then I actually felt like at
[20:29] Speaker 5: the time, early in the year, his serve was a
[20:31] Speaker 5: little bit more predictable. And now I feel like he's
[20:34] Speaker 5: actually moving it. You can't see it as much off
[20:36] Speaker 5: the toss. You know, he's just continued to get better
[20:39] Speaker 5: in those two parts. His serve and return are just
[20:42] Speaker 5: getting even better and better. And then off the ground,
[20:44] Speaker 5: I mean, everyone's been saying it as well. He's just
[20:46] Speaker 5: so good off both sides. His forehand is absolutely huge.
[20:49] Speaker 5: And I think the most underrated part is that drop
[20:52] Speaker 5: shot as well. He hits his inside out drop shot
[20:55] Speaker 5: like extremely well where he moves forward and you think
[20:59] Speaker 5: he's still going to absolutely crank one. And it's just
[21:01] Speaker 5: like a quick inside out drop shot that disguises it. Well,
[21:04] Speaker 5: something that Carlos does really, really well is, I mean,
[21:07] Speaker 5: both of them Spanish. I wonder if that's something that
[21:08] Speaker 5: they play helps them with or what, but I mean,
[21:12] Speaker 5: they both got just such amazing drop shots and they
[21:14] Speaker 5: disguise it perfectly.
[21:16] Speaker 3: So after playing him in Delray, if I would have
[21:19] Speaker 3: told you that at years in, cause that's in February, um,
[21:22] Speaker 3: At year's end, he was going to finish top 20
[21:25] Speaker 3: in the world. Would you have believed me? Obviously, he
[21:27] Speaker 3: has a chance for top 10, but I'm just saying,
[21:29] Speaker 3: would you have believed top 20?
[21:33] Speaker 5: Maybe not top 20. I probably would have believed top 30,
[21:36] Speaker 5: but top 20 would have been, I feel like it
[21:38] Speaker 5: would have been a stretch. I feel like it would
[21:40] Speaker 5: have been a tough, tough, oh yeah, like that's totally
[21:42] Speaker 5: going to happen. But yeah, I mean, he just rolled
[21:46] Speaker 5: through the entire summer.
[21:47] Speaker 3: It's a joke.
[21:48] Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a joke.
[21:50] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's absolutely crazy. And I think like the one
[21:52] Speaker 1: thing that also set, I mean, kind of after Hodar
[21:54] Speaker 1: now that sets the labor cup apart is you get,
[21:56] Speaker 1: you know, these big names, you got Friday night, you
[21:58] Speaker 1: got Alcaraz playing doubles. I mean, John has been a
[22:00] Speaker 1: part of, it feels like every doubles, you played almost
[22:04] Speaker 1: every doubles match. It felt like big match at labor
[22:06] Speaker 1: cup when you were on the team, like how much
[22:08] Speaker 1: pop is there when a guy like Carlos comes or,
[22:11] Speaker 1: you know, back in the day it was Roger and
[22:12] Speaker 1: Rafa come out, Rafa Novak come out to play doubles.
[22:14] Speaker 1: Like you don't get to see Carlos play doubles too often.
[22:17] Speaker 1: that Friday night crowd was electric to watch him play doubles.
[22:20] Speaker 1: I mean, it's a different atmosphere, is it?
[22:23] Speaker 3: Now, it's a much bigger stage. Obviously, all three of
[22:27] Speaker 3: us are college tennis players. Two of us went to
[22:30] Speaker 3: the right school, the University of Georgia. Ethan, you're a
[22:33] Speaker 3: damn good dog.
[22:33] Speaker 1: And one of us won a lot, but that's fine.
[22:35] Speaker 1: That's okay.
[22:37] Speaker 5: In Athens, won a lot in Athens. You're basically a dog.
[22:41] Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. That's a good point. It's much like Doubles
[22:44] Speaker 3: in college tennis, it's the funner portion of the event
[22:49] Speaker 3: in my mind. And that's how I felt like it
[22:51] Speaker 3: was at Labor Cup. The energy for the doubles, Stevie,
[22:54] Speaker 3: as you mentioned, because you see these stars kind of
[22:56] Speaker 3: join forces, which you never, ever see on the regular tour.
[23:00] Speaker 3: Sam got to play against Rafa and Roger in Prague,
[23:06] Speaker 3: I think, the first year. I got to play against
[23:08] Speaker 3: Roger twice in doubles on a Sunday night. Electric atmosphere.
[23:13] Speaker 3: So that is what separates, in my mind, the Lever
[23:16] Speaker 3: Cup from a lot of other events. You see these
[23:18] Speaker 3: like Hall of Fame players get to team up in doubles.
[23:21] Speaker 3: So much fun to go out there and watch and,
[23:23] Speaker 3: of course, compete against if you're lucky enough to get
[23:24] Speaker 3: that chance.
[23:25] Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, so after Friday, Europe takes
[23:28] Speaker 1: the lead. I mean, we kind of mentioned it's one
[23:30] Speaker 1: point per match. They take the lead 3-1. So, you know.
[23:33] Speaker 1: Friday is usually a bit of a wash as John mentioned.
[23:36] Speaker 1: So we get to Saturday and you got some pretty
[23:38] Speaker 1: darn good singles matches to start out. And this is
[23:41] Speaker 1: where team world really makes their kind of their stand. Almost,
[23:45] Speaker 1: you know, Lerner TN takes down Flavio Caboli 10, seven
[23:48] Speaker 1: and a third set buster. Then Alex Demon hour takes
[23:51] Speaker 1: down as Vera 11, nine and a third set breaker.
[23:55] Speaker 1: So after the day session, then you have team world up,
[24:00] Speaker 1: Let's see, 5-3. So, like, momentum's on their side. But
[24:02] Speaker 1: those were both crazy matches. Ethan, did you watch either
[24:05] Speaker 1: one of those? I was on my flight over here
[24:07] Speaker 1: to Fresno.
[24:09] Speaker 4: I did not. Yeah, yeah.
[24:10] Speaker 1: I mean, both those guys, I mean, they come back.
[24:12] Speaker 1: I mean, this is where the third set breaker gets exciting,
[24:15] Speaker 1: you know? Like, they can't have these, you know, long,
[24:17] Speaker 1: drawn-out matches. The points are huge. Caboli kind of... I mean,
[24:21] Speaker 1: Lerner's just another one of those guys at the beginning
[24:23] Speaker 1: of the year where you would have expected to have
[24:25] Speaker 1: a good start, and he is completely... you know, picked
[24:29] Speaker 1: up right where he left off. I mean, the guy
[24:30] Speaker 1: is so phenomenal, but the big one is Alex D'Amanor
[24:33] Speaker 1: who has had a lackluster summer for his standards as
[24:36] Speaker 1: a guy top 10 in the world. John takes down
[24:39] Speaker 1: the U S open champ, Alexander Sverev in an 11,
[24:42] Speaker 1: nine with some crazy points, you know, the big diving
[24:45] Speaker 1: volley end of that third set breaker. You know, that
[24:47] Speaker 1: was a huge momentum match. I felt like for team
[24:50] Speaker 1: world to kind of continue on, but, um, wasn't the case,
[24:54] Speaker 1: but how do you think Alex played in that match
[24:55] Speaker 1: over Sasha?
[24:58] Speaker 3: Is that me or Ethan? Sorry.
[24:59] Speaker 4: Ethan. Sorry.
[25:00] Speaker 1: It's Johnny.
[25:01] Speaker 4: Sorry.
[25:01] Speaker 3: I'm looking.
[25:02] Speaker 4: My bad.
[25:02] Speaker 3: My bad.
[25:03] Speaker 1: My bad. You said he was on his flight over.
[25:06] Speaker 3: That is true. He did say that.
[25:07] Speaker 4: You're right.
[25:08] Speaker 3: It's a good point. No, I thought that was a
[25:12] Speaker 3: great effort by Alex. I mean, you know what you're
[25:14] Speaker 3: going to get from him. He's going to compete his
[25:15] Speaker 3: tail off. He's got that Leighton Hewitt in him. And
[25:19] Speaker 3: I'm sure Andre appreciated that. But, you know, you see
[25:22] Speaker 3: those first two singles matches go the way of Team World.
[25:25] Speaker 3: in those third set breakers. And then they take the lead.
[25:31] Speaker 3: But Demon was great. He saved a match point or two.
[25:35] Speaker 3: I know he saved one against Zverev. And to do
[25:37] Speaker 3: that against someone who's really just on autopilot right now,
[25:41] Speaker 3: coming off US Open title, of course, also played Davis Cup.
[25:46] Speaker 3: It's incredible what he's doing and how durable he is.
[25:48] Speaker 3: And he's just continuing to play well, even with all
[25:51] Speaker 3: these matches. that he's played, but Demon got.
[25:55] Speaker 4: The better of him.
[25:56] Speaker 3: That was a huge result, and as you mentioned, they
[25:59] Speaker 3: take the lead 5-3, but that was about all Team
[26:02] Speaker 3: World was able to do from after that match.
[26:05] Speaker 1: Yeah, I really feel like Demon can really kind of
[26:08] Speaker 1: kickstart his, you know, back fourth, you know, the back
[26:11] Speaker 1: couple holes of this season, really, after a team event.
[26:13] Speaker 1: He feels like a team guy, right? I mean, he
[26:15] Speaker 1: played Davis Cup, plays Laver Cup. He kind of, you know,
[26:18] Speaker 1: thrives in that format, but The match of Lever Cup
[26:22] Speaker 1: is Saturday night. You got Alcaraz, Fritz. Team World has
[26:26] Speaker 1: won the first two matches of the day session. This
[26:29] Speaker 1: one was an electric match. Alcaraz, Fritz, Saturday night in
[26:34] Speaker 1: the O2. Alcaraz takes it 13-11 in a third set buster,
[26:39] Speaker 1: saves a match point with a crazy drop shot lob combo.
[26:42] Speaker 1: Only he tries that. Ethan, did you catch that one?
[26:46] Speaker 1: I mean, did Fritz kind of let that one slip
[26:48] Speaker 1: away or did Carlos just be Carlos?
[26:51] Speaker 5: I think it was Carlos being Carlos. And, you know,
[26:54] Speaker 5: I was just thinking, as you were saying this, I'm like,
[26:55] Speaker 5: I wonder if Fritz's, you know, ball preparation before labor
[26:59] Speaker 5: cup came into, uh, into play at all here. I
[27:02] Speaker 5: wonder if he, how he feels about the balls at
[27:05] Speaker 5: labor cup. Um, you know, I know prior to the event,
[27:08] Speaker 5: he was, he was on a rant. Um, I mean,
[27:11] Speaker 5: when I was, when I was hitting with him before
[27:12] Speaker 5: the start of the, the hardcore swing in the States.
[27:15] Speaker 5: And he was kind of on that rant to start
[27:17] Speaker 5: is we had three different cans of balls and it
[27:19] Speaker 5: was the same thing. And so it kind of started there.
[27:22] Speaker 5: I feel like, I mean, he's been feeling that way
[27:23] Speaker 5: for years. I can imagine even before I got on
[27:25] Speaker 5: tour with you guys. So, you know, I wonder if
[27:27] Speaker 5: that played a role, wasn't feeling the ball too well,
[27:29] Speaker 5: but yeah, I mean, I think it was just Carlos
[27:32] Speaker 5: being Carlos. I mean, he's just, he's so talented with
[27:34] Speaker 5: everything he does. And I mean, I feel like almost,
[27:37] Speaker 5: he doesn't know what he's going to do when he
[27:39] Speaker 5: leads up to a point like that and then he
[27:40] Speaker 5: just feels it and it executes it perfectly each time. So, um,
[27:44] Speaker 5: it was a good watch. I always enjoy watching Carlos. Yeah.
[27:47] Speaker 1: It's, I mean, it's crazy. I mean, that was just
[27:49] Speaker 1: like the big match, right? I mean, it gets them
[27:51] Speaker 1: back to five all, then they.
[27:52] Speaker 3: Go on to the turning point.
[27:53] Speaker 1: That was the turning point. You know, I mean, if
[27:55] Speaker 1: Fritz wins that nine, three, you know, you just never
[27:57] Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. But then in the doubles
[27:59] Speaker 1: that night, you have Sasha Zverev and Casper Rude take
[28:02] Speaker 1: down Nakashima and Bublik. Overall, a tough week, a weekend
[28:06] Speaker 1: for Bublik. We'll get to that in a minute. But,
[28:09] Speaker 1: you know, then we get to Sunday. Still three points
[28:11] Speaker 1: for match, right? Anybody can win. And, you know, they
[28:14] Speaker 1: start with the doubles. Kaboli and Menchik take down Diemenauer
[28:17] Speaker 1: and Fritz. Pretty straightforward in that one. And then Sasha
[28:22] Speaker 1: takes down Lerner Thien in the singles. But it was, overall,
[28:26] Speaker 1: I mean, an incredible event. I mean, Sunday, you wish
[28:29] Speaker 1: there was more tennis. I mean, at least I did
[28:30] Speaker 1: as a spectator. I mean, John, you've been part of
[28:32] Speaker 1: the teams. Ethan, have you ever been part of Labor Cup?
[28:35] Speaker 5: I haven't.
[28:36] Speaker 4: I was the.
[28:37] Speaker 5: Second last year, so I didn't go.
[28:39] Speaker 4: Okay.
[28:39] Speaker 1: I mean, you know, John, like Sundays, like when the
[28:42] Speaker 1: matches kind of end early, I mean, you guys were always,
[28:44] Speaker 1: I felt like the years that you played, it always
[28:46] Speaker 1: went to at least like the third or fourth match.
[28:48] Speaker 1: Am I wrong on that?
[28:50] Speaker 3: It was every year except for one. I think I
[28:52] Speaker 3: played it four times. We got destroyed in Boston. But
[28:56] Speaker 3: I mean, what did in Team World was the doubles.
[28:59] Speaker 3: I think throughout the history of this tournament, Team World
[29:02] Speaker 3: has been, has had the upper hand in doubles, and
[29:05] Speaker 3: that's what's kept going. Us, we. I'll say we since
[29:09] Speaker 3: I've played it before. That's what's kept Team World in it,
[29:13] Speaker 3: especially on Sunday. That doubles match is first, and it's
[29:15] Speaker 3: worth three points. I played that match a lot with Jack,
[29:21] Speaker 3: and I think we were 3-0, right? So that automatically
[29:24] Speaker 3: brings you closer, but they got swept in the doubles twice.
[29:27] Speaker 3: This year, in years past, Team World has swept the
[29:30] Speaker 3: doubles and still lost, but that was kind of the
[29:32] Speaker 3: only reason we were able to keep the matches closed
[29:35] Speaker 3: because we were so overmatched in singles, but we did
[29:38] Speaker 3: have the better doubles team. Not the case this year
[29:42] Speaker 3: with Team World.
[29:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you mentioned it. I mean, that, I think,
[29:46] Speaker 1: was the biggest part. I feel like you guys were
[29:48] Speaker 1: locked in. Team World was always good for at least
[29:51] Speaker 1: two doubles wins and one for sure on a Sunday.
[29:54] Speaker 3: Yeah, that's where I think.
[29:57] Speaker 1: But who do you bring, John? Like who do you bring?
[29:59] Speaker 3: I think, Ethan, I want to hear your opinion on this.
[30:02] Speaker 3: I think Alex Mickelson is a very elite doubles player.
[30:05] Speaker 3: His ability to move and know how to move at
[30:09] Speaker 3: the net with the angles, he does it like he
[30:11] Speaker 3: plays doubles all the time, sort of like Jack Sock.
[30:13] Speaker 3: So I do think Team World could have benefited from
[30:17] Speaker 3: Mickelson playing. take it on that Jack Sock role where
[30:20] Speaker 3: you can play doubles every single day. That's what we
[30:24] Speaker 3: did forever with, with Jack on the team. What do
[30:25] Speaker 3: you think about that, Ethan?
[30:27] Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean, I think Mickelson's like one of the
[30:28] Speaker 5: best doubles players in the world. I mean, he'll, he'll
[30:30] Speaker 5: tell you himself too. If you ask him about it,
[30:32] Speaker 5: he's got this.
[30:34] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[30:34] Speaker 1: No short on confidence.
[30:35] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[30:36] Speaker 3: You know, he doesn't have like a huge serve, but
[30:37] Speaker 3: he knows the angle so well and he can get
[30:39] Speaker 3: this close.
[30:40] Speaker 5: His hands, his hands are absolutely unbelievable. I mean, he he'll,
[30:45] Speaker 5: he'll play half volleys from, you know, behind the service
[30:47] Speaker 5: box with a guy moving. He'll, go right behind him
[30:49] Speaker 5: for a winner. I mean, we can't, Fritz is a,
[30:52] Speaker 5: is a bronze medalist in doubles though. So we can't
[30:54] Speaker 5: say that he wasn't, you know, he's not a, I mean,
[30:57] Speaker 5: obviously Fritz isn't the best doubles player. I think we
[30:59] Speaker 5: can say that the three of us, but I mean,
[31:02] Speaker 5: he is a bronze medalist. They put him in a
[31:05] Speaker 5: spot where he can win.
[31:06] Speaker 4: So, yeah.
[31:07] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[31:07] Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of my, my thought actually, I mean,
[31:09] Speaker 1: looking at the teams and look who didn't come, it was,
[31:12] Speaker 1: you know, I feel like Tommy's a good doubles player.
[31:14] Speaker 1: Didn't make it. Shelton, good doubles player. Just with his
[31:17] Speaker 1: serve alone and the confidence that he's playing. I felt
[31:20] Speaker 1: like those guys were a big loss on the double side.
[31:24] Speaker 1: I mean, that's what it felt like. But Labor Cup,
[31:27] Speaker 1: Team World takes the loss, but they get a chance
[31:30] Speaker 1: in 20, what year am I? 2027 in LA, my
[31:34] Speaker 1: backyard here at the Intuit Dome, if I'm not mistaken.
[31:36] Speaker 1: So that's going to be a fun one. Hopefully we'll
[31:39] Speaker 1: see Ethan there. I may be able to just drive down.
[31:41] Speaker 3: That's what I was going to say. Ethan, you made
[31:43] Speaker 3: your Davis Cup debut. I think get over this injury,
[31:46] Speaker 3: get you on the Labor Cup team.
[31:48] Speaker 1: We'd love to see that.
[31:49] Speaker 3: It's a lot of fun. Obviously, Ethan, as a current player,
[31:53] Speaker 3: top player in the world who hasn't played Labor Cup,
[31:55] Speaker 3: is this one event that you'd be absolutely honored to
[31:59] Speaker 3: get the call to be able to play?
[32:01] Speaker 5: 100%. Especially knowing Tony as well. Nico's one of my
[32:06] Speaker 5: best friends. Getting that call from Tony would be really,
[32:09] Speaker 5: really special.
[32:11] Speaker 3: I think we'll see you there. Overall, I think Successful
[32:14] Speaker 3: event in London. Anytime you have Roger and Rod Laver
[32:18] Speaker 3: hanging around, I.
[32:18] Speaker 1: Think it's going to.
[32:20] Speaker 3: Be pretty damn cool. But I think all the guys
[32:23] Speaker 3: over there, Laver Cup, they probably had all their gear
[32:26] Speaker 3: and their rackets and their equipment dialed in. Do you
[32:28] Speaker 3: know who else can get you dialed in with that, Stevie?
[32:31] Speaker 3: It's Tennis Warehouse. So as summer winds down, you want
[32:34] Speaker 3: to keep your game going. Tennis Warehouse has everything you
[32:37] Speaker 3: need to stay on court. and keep you ready for what, for, uh,
[32:40] Speaker 3: what's next.
[32:40] Speaker 5: Excuse me.
[32:41] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[32:41] Speaker 1: Whether you're looking for a new racket, shoes, strings, apparel,
[32:44] Speaker 1: you name it. Tennis warehouse has anything you need tennis related.
[32:47] Speaker 1: So get over to tennis warehouse and get your stuff.
[32:50] Speaker 3: And we're all like free agents in terms of, uh,
[32:54] Speaker 3: equipment now.
[32:55] Speaker 1: So tennis warehouse right now.
[32:57] Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, two of the three of us, excuse me.
[32:59] Speaker 5: Ethan's got his sponsors.
[33:00] Speaker 3: He's got his very lucrative sponsors. We do not, we
[33:03] Speaker 3: do a podcast and try to break even on a podcast, but, um,
[33:09] Speaker 3: So we're free agents in terms of rackets and gear.
[33:12] Speaker 3: So I got my eyes on the new shoes and
[33:15] Speaker 3: the new sticks. We've tried them. We've done those reviews.
[33:17] Speaker 3: They got everything you can ask for.
[33:19] Speaker 1: And if you're not sure what's right for your game,
[33:21] Speaker 1: the people at Tennis Warehouse, their customer service is bar none.
[33:23] Speaker 1: It's the absolute best. They know everything tennis related, on court,
[33:26] Speaker 1: off court, whatever you need, Tennis Warehouse has got it.
[33:30] Speaker 3: And you get free shipping with anything over $ 50. Unless
[33:33] Speaker 3: you're ordering three grips... chances are your order's going to
[33:38] Speaker 3: be over $ 50. And if that's the case, it's free
[33:40] Speaker 3: shipping and very easy returns.
[33:42] Speaker 1: So before your next match, league night, or tournament, head
[33:44] Speaker 1: over to tenniswarehouse.com and get ready to make the most
[33:46] Speaker 1: of your summer swing. Thank you to our partners at
[33:49] Speaker 1: Tennis Warehouse. I always love when we have a guest
[33:52] Speaker 1: on and their eyes kind of.
[33:53] Speaker 3: Glaze over and we start doing a– Yeah, it's pretty
[33:54] Speaker 3: awkward because he didn't know that was even coming.
[33:57] Speaker 4: Yeah, you did it.
[33:58] Speaker 5: I was seamless from you, John. I wasn't expecting it.
[34:00] Speaker 3: Okay. We work on that. We try to transition well.
[34:04] Speaker 5: I'm a big Tennis Warehouse fan though because San Luis
[34:06] Speaker 5: Obispo is right here. We would drive up there all
[34:09] Speaker 5: the time. I was a huge fan of Tennis Warehouse.
[34:12] Speaker 5: I love that.
[34:13] Speaker 1: All right, well, let's jump into major news. We have
[34:16] Speaker 1: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are reuniting for a star-studded
[34:19] Speaker 1: exhibition on October 3rd in about a week in Mallorca.
[34:24] Speaker 1: It's at the Rafa Nadal Academy. It's organized to celebrate
[34:28] Speaker 1: the 10th anniversary of Rafa's Academy, and they're going to get...
[34:33] Speaker 1: Let's see, we got Team Rafa and Team Murray. You
[34:35] Speaker 1: have Rafas joined by Gasquet, and Murray is joined by
[34:38] Speaker 1: Safin and Dominic Thiem. This is going to be exciting.
[34:42] Speaker 1: I would assume, I mean, is, you know, we're obviously
[34:45] Speaker 1: not going to see the Rafa and Murray of, of old,
[34:47] Speaker 1: but it's fun to get those guys back on court. Ethan,
[34:50] Speaker 1: as somebody who's like, obviously, you know, in the thick
[34:53] Speaker 1: of things, like, do you get excited when these old
[34:54] Speaker 1: guys get back and you watch them and you can't
[34:56] Speaker 1: really move anymore and they're not quite the same, or
[34:58] Speaker 1: is it still exciting to watch Rafa play?
[35:01] Speaker 5: You know, I think, I think if you had asked
[35:03] Speaker 5: me that question before I watched it up, the documentary,
[35:05] Speaker 5: I'd have been like, ah, you know, not as, not
[35:07] Speaker 5: as interested, but since watching the Rafa documentary and seeing
[35:10] Speaker 5: like everything that happened with his foot, Now seeing him
[35:12] Speaker 5: back on court still, you know, playing and having to
[35:16] Speaker 5: deal with his foot still probably. I think it's even
[35:18] Speaker 5: I'm like, wow, this guy's an absolute animal, such a workhorse.
[35:22] Speaker 5: The fact that he's still able to go out there
[35:23] Speaker 5: and get on that foot. So, I mean, I get excited.
[35:26] Speaker 5: I like to watch a little bit. Maybe I'm not
[35:28] Speaker 5: going to watch the whole thing just knowing I've got
[35:30] Speaker 5: other other things going on. But, you know, I definitely
[35:34] Speaker 5: would tune in.
[35:34] Speaker 3: Would you get excited watching Stevie and myself play a
[35:37] Speaker 3: big two out of three set match right now?
[35:39] Speaker 5: Oh yeah. I'd get so pumped up. Are you kidding me?
[35:43] Speaker 1: We might put it in a few weeks in Jacksonville.
[35:45] Speaker 1: We might put it in.
[35:46] Speaker 5: Athens and I'm there. Geez.
[35:48] Speaker 4: That would be electric.
[35:48] Speaker 3: He's going to beat me in Athens. I can't.
[35:50] Speaker 1: Yeah, we wouldn't know. I wouldn't make, I'd make sure
[35:53] Speaker 1: I lost on that one. Big fella, but it's good.
[35:56] Speaker 1: At least we get the legends of the game to
[35:58] Speaker 1: come back because at least they have some star power
[36:00] Speaker 1: and some recognition, but, Um, you know, one other thing here,
[36:03] Speaker 1: Carlos kind of had a few statements in a press
[36:06] Speaker 1: conference that, you know, the matches us open, obviously it
[36:08] Speaker 1: was a lot talked about with the late night finishes.
[36:10] Speaker 1: He says, I think it's too much. The last match
[36:12] Speaker 1: stayed on, but if that match was played earlier, the
[36:14] Speaker 1: court could have been packed. You'd like to change the schedule,
[36:17] Speaker 1: you know, all these things we've talked about it. I mean,
[36:21] Speaker 1: we've played those late night matches, maybe not three 30
[36:23] Speaker 1: in the morning, but Ethan, there's really nothing you can
[36:25] Speaker 1: do with a schedule at the U S open. It
[36:27] Speaker 1: was just a tough day. And it was one of
[36:29] Speaker 1: those ones where it happens once, maybe twice a year
[36:32] Speaker 1: out of the 14 nights that it happens. Like it
[36:34] Speaker 1: gets talked about a lot, but there's no good answer
[36:37] Speaker 1: or what is the sentiment in the locker room with
[36:39] Speaker 1: these late night matches?
[36:41] Speaker 5: You know, it's, it's a hard position because I've only
[36:44] Speaker 5: ever played like first on. And so at US Open,
[36:48] Speaker 5: I've always been a day session. I've always, I've also
[36:50] Speaker 5: always lost at the US Open. So I haven't really
[36:52] Speaker 5: gotten to experience these. I haven't been there too long when,
[36:57] Speaker 5: when the tournament's going on, but I mean, I know
[36:59] Speaker 5: a lot of guys. I know Tommy, for example. I
[37:02] Speaker 5: think it was last year when he was dealing with
[37:04] Speaker 5: his injury. I mean, he was four nights in a row,
[37:06] Speaker 5: second night match. I mean, he played Nuno until, like,
[37:09] Speaker 5: I mean, the crack of dawn. He played Bublik to
[37:11] Speaker 5: the crack of dawn. So I definitely know for guys,
[37:14] Speaker 5: they're like, well, man, how am I going to have
[37:15] Speaker 5: a chance of winning the event, winning the tournament if I'm,
[37:18] Speaker 5: you know, out into the middle of the night every
[37:20] Speaker 5: single night that I'm playing? And it's, I mean, you
[37:23] Speaker 5: guys know how far it is for the players getting to,
[37:26] Speaker 5: getting to this site. I mean, they're getting there super
[37:28] Speaker 5: early because, all right, if you leave late, then traffic's
[37:30] Speaker 5: going to get you. I mean, the event just keeps
[37:33] Speaker 5: getting more and more popular. That exit to get to
[37:35] Speaker 5: the event is such a nightmare trying to get off
[37:38] Speaker 5: the freeway. So, you know, these guys, they keep kind
[37:41] Speaker 5: of suffering a little bit as they continue to play
[37:43] Speaker 5: more and more night matches. So, but like you're saying,
[37:45] Speaker 5: I mean, there's nothing that you can really change about it.
[37:46] Speaker 5: I mean, there's four matches on that day and all
[37:50] Speaker 5: four of them went to, you know, as long as
[37:52] Speaker 5: they possibly could. I mean, Mickelson, Goes to five sets, seven, six,
[37:55] Speaker 5: and the fifth. Same with the women's matches, both of them.
[37:57] Speaker 5: Goes seven, six, and the third, I believe. So, I mean,
[38:00] Speaker 5: it's just one of those days that you can't really
[38:02] Speaker 5: adjust that scheduling. Maybe you can throw one of them
[38:04] Speaker 5: on Louis, but, you know, these are all– was that
[38:07] Speaker 5: all quarterfinals? I think it was all quarterfinals.
[38:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's all paid tickets. You know, it's hard to just– Exactly.
[38:11] Speaker 5: How are you going to throw one of those matches
[38:13] Speaker 5: on Louis?
[38:14] Speaker 3: It seems like the sensible– yeah. That day was crazy.
[38:20] Speaker 1: It's just a bad luck.
[38:21] Speaker 3: I think going forward, the night session should start at 6. Yeah.
[38:25] Speaker 3: And I know the crowd's going to be late arriving.
[38:28] Speaker 3: It's New York City. Everyone's leaving the office. I think
[38:31] Speaker 3: for the players, I think whoever's second on will appreciate
[38:34] Speaker 3: being second on after 6. As opposed to second on
[38:37] Speaker 3: after 7, which really isn't 7.
[38:38] Speaker 1: 7-15. Let's start at 6.30 then, right? So then their
[38:41] Speaker 1: first ball's at 6.48.
[38:45] Speaker 3: First ball at six, you walk on the court at
[38:48] Speaker 3: five 50 and your first ball is at six. And
[38:51] Speaker 3: I think that prevents these late matches and you have
[38:53] Speaker 3: that atmosphere. Even, even if it's 11, 1130, you still
[38:58] Speaker 3: have a packed house out there because Shelton's playing Alcaraz seven,
[39:03] Speaker 3: six and the fifth and it's half full, right? Cause
[39:07] Speaker 3: it's three in the morning and it's understandable.
[39:09] Speaker 5: Stevie, were you watching here in California? Absolutely not.
[39:12] Speaker 1: I was in New York.
[39:13] Speaker 5: Um, Oh, that's right.
[39:14] Speaker 3: That's right.
[39:14] Speaker 1: But it's one of those things like even if they,
[39:17] Speaker 1: I mean, they moved up Ash this year to start
[39:19] Speaker 1: at 1130, not 12. I think the issue is, which
[39:22] Speaker 1: there's no good answer we talked about, is getting, you know,
[39:24] Speaker 1: there's like an 80 minute window from day to night session, right?
[39:27] Speaker 1: Like it's tricky. Then there's 20 to 30 minutes in between.
[39:30] Speaker 3: Matches.
[39:30] Speaker 1: I get it. It's tricky. I just don't think there's
[39:34] Speaker 1: a good answer other than starting it earlier. Like John mentioned, which.
[39:37] Speaker 3: If the players protest enough, you have someone like Carlos say, look,
[39:40] Speaker 3: it's too much. I think, I mean, look at what
[39:42] Speaker 3: he said. Yeah. They're going to have to do something.
[39:44] Speaker 1: There's no way you can be like, all right, Carlos,
[39:46] Speaker 1: if it's 10, 15, you know, and they're not done,
[39:49] Speaker 1: you're going to go on Armstrong. It's like, that's crazy.
[39:52] Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
[39:52] Speaker 1: So like you can't, once it's scheduled on that court,
[39:55] Speaker 1: there's really nothing they can do. But look, these guys,
[39:59] Speaker 1: they're battling. Everyone's battling late at night. They're getting hungry.
[40:02] Speaker 1: And that's why our sponsors at IQ bar had got
[40:05] Speaker 1: them dialed in. Look, I was watching labor cup on
[40:07] Speaker 1: the weekend and my go-to snack was IQ bar. They're
[40:10] Speaker 1: clean plant protein bars, packed with fiber and brain boosting
[40:13] Speaker 1: nutrients with zero added sugar.
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[40:18] Speaker 3: So whether that's like by choice or you have an allergy,
[40:22] Speaker 3: whatever it is, they're free from gluten, dairy, soy, definitely
[40:25] Speaker 3: free from GMOs. You do not want that. And no
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[40:37] Speaker 1: and the mushroom coffees.
[40:39] Speaker 3: Yeah, mushroom coffees are, it sounds weird, but they're really good.
[40:42] Speaker 3: You gotta give them a try.
[40:43] Speaker 5: Yeah, I was like, whoa. Yeah, totally.
[40:47] Speaker 3: Mushroom coffees, we like it. But they have this ultimate
[40:49] Speaker 3: sampler pack. It has all the different flavors of bars.
[40:53] Speaker 3: My favorite was the chocolate sea salt, which is kind
[40:56] Speaker 3: of like standard fare. Like you get a chocolate, that's
[40:58] Speaker 3: what you're going to go for. Very, very good.
[41:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, and right now IQ Bar is offering our special
[41:02] Speaker 1: podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products plus free shipping.
[41:06] Speaker 1: That'll save you right there.
[41:07] Speaker 3: Yeah. So to get your 20% off, text, this is
[41:10] Speaker 3: a mouthful, I'm sorry, but text MAJOR to 64000. Text
[41:14] Speaker 3: MAJOR to 64000. That's MAJOR to 64000. Message and data
[41:19] Speaker 3: rates may apply. See the terms for details. 64000. EQ,
[41:24] Speaker 3: we can get you a discount, buddy.
[41:26] Speaker 4: Hell yeah.
[41:27] Speaker 5: And free shipping. Don't forget free shipping, dude.
[41:30] Speaker 3: EQ times IQ.
[41:31] Speaker 5: I like it.
[41:33] Speaker 1: You know what?
[41:33] Speaker 3: Let's get that going.
[41:34] Speaker 1: Talk to his representation and get on that.
[41:36] Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
[41:38] Speaker 1: All right, well, let's jump down. We got major opinions here.
[41:41] Speaker 1: We're going to start with my stat of the week. And,
[41:44] Speaker 1: you know, since we're in Tokyo and somebody forgot to
[41:46] Speaker 1: sign in, Arthur Feese became the highest ranked player in
[41:49] Speaker 1: the last 20 years to enter qualifying. But which two
[41:53] Speaker 1: Americans did Feese take that record from who also entered
[41:56] Speaker 1: qualifying while.
[41:57] Speaker 5: Inside the top 15?
[41:58] Speaker 1: It was in the year 2018 and 2023. Which two Americans?
[42:01] Speaker 1: Tommy Paul, Queens, Bang. Ethan, correct. Wow.
[42:10] Speaker 4: I'm on it. All over that one.
[42:13] Speaker 1: Another grass event in 2018.
[42:16] Speaker 5: Was it faux?
[42:18] Speaker 3: Sam Querrey? No.
[42:23] Speaker 1: Getting close.
[42:24] Speaker 3: Jack Sock.
[42:25] Speaker 5: Yep.
[42:26] Speaker 1: Jack in 2018 in Eastbourne.
[42:29] Speaker 3: He played Q's as top 15 in the world. Yep.
[42:32] Speaker 1: So pretty crazy event. Feast won the tournament two years ago.
[42:36] Speaker 1: He said he's got an administrative error, which just means, dude,
[42:39] Speaker 1: you just forgot to sign up.
[42:40] Speaker 3: You know? Yeah.
[42:41] Speaker 1: Just own it.
[42:41] Speaker 5: Is he blaming reps on that one? Is he blaming
[42:43] Speaker 5: his representation?
[42:44] Speaker 3: Probably.
[42:45] Speaker 5: He should, though.
[42:47] Speaker 3: Ethan, do you enter yourself?
[42:48] Speaker 4: I enter my own events.
[42:49] Speaker 5: Okay.
[42:50] Speaker 3: I never did.
[42:51] Speaker 5: And I fumbled. I fumbled in Barcelona. I didn't enter myself,
[42:54] Speaker 5: and I had to play Q's. And I played Bachelashvili
[42:57] Speaker 5: and Morita and Qualies. Like, what a Qualies.
[43:00] Speaker 4: That's a. Terrible qualities draw.
[43:02] Speaker 3: That's brutal. That's a tough draw. EQ, just real quick,
[43:04] Speaker 3: can you give a one-minute overview for how the entries go,
[43:07] Speaker 3: how it works as a player to enter? I truly
[43:10] Speaker 3: don't know how to do it. But for our listeners,
[43:12] Speaker 3: I think this is informative.
[43:15] Speaker 5: That is very crazy that you don't know how to
[43:18] Speaker 5: do that. Essentially, there's a drop-down menu of every single
[43:22] Speaker 5: week on the calendar. And, you know, there is ATP
[43:25] Speaker 5: events and challenger events.
[43:28] Speaker 3: This is on your PlayerZone account?
[43:30] Speaker 5: On PlayerZone, yes, on the PlayerZone app. And so it says, like,
[43:33] Speaker 5: let's say, what is coming up? Week of September 28th.
[43:37] Speaker 5: And so it'll have all the events that are week
[43:40] Speaker 5: of September 28th, ATP and challenger events. And from there,
[43:45] Speaker 5: then you just, you select your event, you select priority
[43:47] Speaker 5: if it's one or two, or I mean, or three
[43:50] Speaker 5: or four if you need to do that. Um, but
[43:52] Speaker 5: like for Tokyo, Beijing, you enter, all right, Tokyo priority one,
[43:57] Speaker 5: and then, uh, up to how many out. So it's
[44:00] Speaker 5: like that. I mean, I guess, but Stevie, would you
[44:03] Speaker 5: say that? I mean, it's like how far you are
[44:05] Speaker 5: out of the list. You'll stay in it.
[44:07] Speaker 1: So like, let's say you're, you put like, I would
[44:09] Speaker 1: put Tokyo one, John, if the cut was 30 and
[44:11] Speaker 1: I was going to be the third alternate and I
[44:13] Speaker 1: had my list up to three, I would stay in
[44:15] Speaker 1: the Tokyo list or.
[44:16] Speaker 5: I would go to Beijing. Right.
[44:17] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[44:17] Speaker 5: And then Beijing would be priority two. And if you
[44:19] Speaker 5: get into Beijing direct, but you're out of three, then
[44:23] Speaker 5: you'd be put into Beijing.
[44:25] Speaker 4: Okay.
[44:26] Speaker 3: So Tokyo, so this upcoming week's a good example.
[44:28] Speaker 1: For how to like Vienna and Basel, same thing.
[44:31] Speaker 5: Yeah. Barcelona, Munich, those, the 500 weeks are typically the
[44:35] Speaker 5: weeks where it's the, the entry list is very, very
[44:37] Speaker 5: important because there are a lot of those, you know,
[44:41] Speaker 5: priority one, priority twos. Especially like with where I was
[44:45] Speaker 5: at the start of the year, like those those like
[44:47] Speaker 5: where you're 45 50 for the 500s like you're playing
[44:50] Speaker 5: the the name like the the numbers game very tight
[44:53] Speaker 5: let me tell you i know that one well buddy
[44:55] Speaker 5: god it was we flew two years ago we flew
[44:57] Speaker 5: to we flew to munich and i was number one
[44:59] Speaker 5: out of munich and then i got into barcelona so
[45:02] Speaker 5: i had to fly all the way to barcelona at
[45:04] Speaker 5: you know 2 a.m i land in barcelona to play
[45:07] Speaker 5: moutette because my i wasn't in i wasn't in in
[45:11] Speaker 5: munich when i initially got into barcelona So I get there,
[45:15] Speaker 5: and then I would have gotten into Munich if I
[45:16] Speaker 5: had stayed. But, I mean, how do you know? You
[45:19] Speaker 5: just have to play the game of getting to where
[45:21] Speaker 5: you want it. So it worked out best.
[45:24] Speaker 3: Good for you.
[45:24] Speaker 1: John didn't have to realize that. He was top 20
[45:27] Speaker 1: for 13 to 20 years.
[45:29] Speaker 3: I never entered myself.
[45:31] Speaker 1: So it's kind of pathetic.
[45:34] Speaker 3: I don't know how to do it.
[45:35] Speaker 1: Why don't you take us through your serve bot of
[45:37] Speaker 1: the week since that's what got you to never worry
[45:39] Speaker 1: about entry?
[45:40] Speaker 4: Sure.
[45:40] Speaker 5: John, surely you know about how to do whereabouts too, no?
[45:42] Speaker 3: Nope. Nope. No.
[45:45] Speaker 1: John has no idea how to do anything.
[45:47] Speaker 3: No, that's not true. That's not true. I'm actually very
[45:49] Speaker 3: handy with a lot of things, but not when it
[45:52] Speaker 3: came to that.
[45:52] Speaker 1: When it comes to your career. Okay, Serve Bot of
[45:56] Speaker 1: the Week.
[45:56] Speaker 4: We apologize.
[45:57] Speaker 3: Serve Bot of the Week. Here we go. We're going
[45:59] Speaker 3: to Hwang Zhao and Danil Medvedev. I think he was
[46:04] Speaker 3: the top seed there. 34 aces through his first two matches.
[46:08] Speaker 3: Dominated on serve. Won about 82% of his first serve points. Won.
[46:13] Speaker 3: And he's now in the finals of that event, as
[46:16] Speaker 3: he just won, to move into the finals. So Medvedev
[46:21] Speaker 3: over an Asia. Those courts are usually pretty fast. So
[46:25] Speaker 3: what is this?
[46:25] Speaker 1: Hold on. You're done with your serve bottle of the week?
[46:28] Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm done.
[46:29] Speaker 1: All right, we're done. So we have Query's query. He
[46:32] Speaker 1: pre-recorded a video. And we have no idea what's coming.
[46:35] Speaker 1: I'm sure he's going to take a shot. If I
[46:37] Speaker 1: just had to guess.
[46:39] Speaker 4: But here we go.
[46:39] Speaker 1: We have Query's query.
[46:40] Speaker 4: For the week. All right. Hey, John. Hey, Stevie. Hey, Ethan.
[46:44] Speaker 4: I love that you're joining the pod, our personal punching bag.
[46:47] Speaker 3: All right.
[46:48] Speaker 2: My query for the week is, Ethan, a few months ago,
[46:51] Speaker 2: we did an episode where which guys on tour do
[46:53] Speaker 2: you definitely do not want on your team in a
[46:56] Speaker 2: bar fight? Of course, you were my number two pick.
[46:58] Speaker 2: I think you'd be horrible in a bar fight. But
[47:00] Speaker 2: I want to know, Ethan, I want you to answer this,
[47:03] Speaker 2: but John and Stevie, you can as well. What guys
[47:05] Speaker 2: on tour, Ethan, in the top 100, do you think
[47:07] Speaker 2: you could take in a bar fight, if any?
[47:11] Speaker 3: If any.
[47:11] Speaker 1: Wow.
[47:11] Speaker 5: That's crazy.
[47:16] Speaker 1: If any.
[47:18] Speaker 5: Wow.
[47:19] Speaker 4: Oh, man.
[47:20] Speaker 1: Strictly, Ethan, how many you can take down?
[47:23] Speaker 3: By the way, I backed you. I see some dog
[47:26] Speaker 3: in you.
[47:26] Speaker 5: I mean, that's crazy.
[47:27] Speaker 3: I was like, you had a full year of going
[47:30] Speaker 3: to the bars in Athens, Georgia.
[47:32] Speaker 4: You know what?
[47:32] Speaker 5: Actually, if we're going to do a quick story, my
[47:35] Speaker 5: first night out in Athens, I actually got thrown out
[47:38] Speaker 5: of a bar. So thank you. So I'm able to
[47:42] Speaker 5: defend myself now. This is my chance. And yeah, I got,
[47:45] Speaker 5: I got thrown out of a bar in Athens. I mean,
[47:47] Speaker 5: it was national championship night. So, I mean, they were
[47:49] Speaker 5: throwing everyone out just for reason for random things. So, um,
[47:53] Speaker 5: but yeah, I did get thrown out. Um, I'm trying
[47:55] Speaker 5: to think how many would I, I feel like, okay,
[47:59] Speaker 5: you know, me and Mikkel also had another one that
[48:01] Speaker 5: we were doing where we were doing like the top hundred,
[48:04] Speaker 5: like on who guys we think we could take out
[48:06] Speaker 5: in like a hundred meter race. And this was me
[48:08] Speaker 5: and Mikkel because Mikkel put me at 99.
[48:10] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[48:11] Speaker 5: That's crazy. A crazy work. I thought, I mean, I
[48:15] Speaker 5: felt like I was at least in the top 95.
[48:18] Speaker 4: Come on, man.
[48:19] Speaker 5: I was thinking 80 somewhere.
[48:21] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[48:21] Speaker 5: Like I'm not putting myself like 50 or 60. I'm
[48:23] Speaker 5: saying like 82, 83.
[48:24] Speaker 3: And, but yeah, Mikkel, anyway.
[48:28] Speaker 5: Um, for, I think I could take out like 10.
[48:30] Speaker 5: I think I could.
[48:32] Speaker 4: Okay.
[48:33] Speaker 3: I want to ask you this question. Could you take
[48:34] Speaker 3: Sam query in a bar fight?
[48:36] Speaker 5: Uh, yeah, I think I'm taking out Sam for sure.
[48:38] Speaker 3: Beautiful.
[48:39] Speaker 5: Yeah. I think I'm taking out Sam.
[48:41] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[48:41] Speaker 5: I think, I think I'm putting myself like nineties or so. Like,
[48:44] Speaker 5: I don't like, like inside nine, like about 10 guys.
[48:47] Speaker 5: I think I could take out top 50 guy. You're
[48:49] Speaker 5: top 50 guy.
[48:50] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[48:51] Speaker 1: I just think there's like some soft Europeans that are.
[48:53] Speaker 3: Like, yeah, that's true.
[48:54] Speaker 5: That's like, let me like, I'm trying to see who's
[48:57] Speaker 5: in here.
[48:58] Speaker 1: Um, There's some guys that I definitely don't have you against.
[49:01] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, for sure.
[49:02] Speaker 5: I mean, I don't think I'm taking out Marcos Giron.
[49:06] Speaker 5: What are we talking about?
[49:07] Speaker 1: He's going to get you to the ground.
[49:09] Speaker 5: He's going to jiu-jitsu you down.
[49:10] Speaker 3: You're definitely not taking out ….
[49:16] Speaker 5: Like Duckworth? I'm not taking out Duckworth.
[49:18] Speaker 1: The big serbian guy hamad medjidovic.
[49:20] Speaker 5: Oh yes yeah yeah he's like yeah.
[49:22] Speaker 1: You're not taking out hamad or greeksport like greeksport are
[49:25] Speaker 1: you kidding me no no you're you're you're cooked yeah
[49:28] Speaker 1: do you think you could take out you could take
[49:30] Speaker 1: out my hotch or do.
[49:30] Speaker 5: You think i can take out my hotch i think
[49:32] Speaker 5: i can get maybe yeah i think you guys are
[49:33] Speaker 5: right maybe around 50 I think you're like middle of
[49:36] Speaker 5: the pack. I mean, I like Nuno. I love Nuno,
[49:39] Speaker 5: but maybe I think I could get Nuno in a
[49:40] Speaker 5: bar fight.
[49:41] Speaker 1: I think so as well.
[49:42] Speaker 5: I think I could get him.
[49:44] Speaker 3: Man. Yeah. No, you're right, guys.
[49:46] Speaker 1: I mean, I think you're top 50. I mean, you're
[49:48] Speaker 1: around 50. Yeah.
[49:50] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[49:50] Speaker 5: Looking at the list.
[49:51] Speaker 3: Geez.
[49:52] Speaker 5: Sam's the biggest hater. Now that I'm looking at the list.
[49:54] Speaker 3: It's crazy.
[49:54] Speaker 1: It's crazy.
[49:55] Speaker 3: Having you on your team that he doesn't, it's crazy.
[49:58] Speaker 1: You're jealous.
[49:59] Speaker 4: Jealousy.
[49:59] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[50:00] Speaker 5: That is jealousy.
[50:01] Speaker 4: Geez.
[50:02] Speaker 1: Well, Well, let's move on quickly. We'll touch on Beijing
[50:04] Speaker 1: and Tokyo. I think the really, the only story here is,
[50:07] Speaker 1: you know, we have guys, a lot of guys making
[50:09] Speaker 1: a push. There's like a huge, you know, there's a
[50:12] Speaker 1: huge race for guys like six to 18, really that
[50:15] Speaker 1: can kind of make the year end finals. But we
[50:17] Speaker 1: have no idea what's going to happen until these guys
[50:19] Speaker 1: start playing. But the big news is center is out
[50:21] Speaker 1: of Beijing. Both you guys, we'll go to Ethan first.
[50:25] Speaker 1: Does center play in Shanghai or is he done for
[50:27] Speaker 1: the year?
[50:28] Speaker 5: I think he's, I think he's done until maybe Paris indoors.
[50:32] Speaker 5: I think he'll play Paris indoors and then play year-end final.
[50:36] Speaker 5: I mean, when I saw that he pulled out of
[50:38] Speaker 5: the U.S. Open, I was like, he's definitely not going
[50:40] Speaker 5: to go play Asia. I mean, we saw it last
[50:42] Speaker 5: year at Carlos. He won Tokyo and then just was like, nah,
[50:46] Speaker 5: I'm all right.
[50:47] Speaker 3: I forgot about that.
[50:48] Speaker 5: I mean, I feel like there's going to be a lot.
[50:50] Speaker 5: I mean, you see it now with the same with
[50:52] Speaker 5: Toronto and Montreal. It's like there's certain 1,000s that Carlos
[50:57] Speaker 5: and Yannick are just not going to play it. because
[51:00] Speaker 5: it just doesn't entice, like they don't need to. I mean,
[51:02] Speaker 5: why are they going to go travel that far to
[51:06] Speaker 5: somewhere they don't really want to play at? So, yeah,
[51:08] Speaker 5: I don't think they will.
[51:10] Speaker 1: Johnny, what are your thoughts on center?
[51:12] Speaker 3: Ah, it's weird. I mean, I thought we'd, it just,
[51:15] Speaker 3: there was no, does anyone know what happened? What exactly
[51:19] Speaker 3: he's dealing with? I mean, he doesn't have to disclose that, right?
[51:22] Speaker 3: He's not on a team, but it's like he hurt
[51:25] Speaker 3: himself in training because he won Wimbledon. Yeah.
[51:27] Speaker 4: Looked pretty good, but great.
[51:29] Speaker 3: Yeah. We haven't seen him since. So you just wonder
[51:32] Speaker 3: what happened on the court, what exactly he's dealing with,
[51:35] Speaker 3: with his knee to keep him out for many months at,
[51:37] Speaker 3: at this point. So.
[51:39] Speaker 1: Same thing as Carlos. I would think when he's on
[51:41] Speaker 1: court though, like he's going to be a hundred percent.
[51:43] Speaker 1: He's not coming back a day before he's ready to compete. Um, so,
[51:47] Speaker 1: you know, if it's next year is next year, if it's,
[51:51] Speaker 1: that's good for, uh, if it's next year, that's great
[51:53] Speaker 1: for Sasha. You can get to year end number one, but, um, Yeah.
[51:56] Speaker 4: It's very good.
[51:57] Speaker 3: Sasha is a beneficiary of this. Cause he's, he's forging on, he's,
[52:00] Speaker 3: he's playing, he's playing Shanghai. He's never been a world.
[52:04] Speaker 3: Number one. So good for him.
[52:06] Speaker 1: Just in the Beijing tires out, you know, Beijing draw,
[52:10] Speaker 1: you got Novak and him in the same quarter, which
[52:11] Speaker 1: is kind of weird to see.
[52:12] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[52:14] Speaker 3: You know, Beijing's if Beijing would know, actually we talked
[52:16] Speaker 3: about this last week. He's a different animal in Beijing.
[52:20] Speaker 3: Now look, he's 39. Now he's not, But his record
[52:24] Speaker 3: in Beijing is absurd, so we'll see if he can
[52:26] Speaker 3: keep that up.
[52:27] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[52:27] Speaker 3: All right.
[52:28] Speaker 1: Well, that's a wrap. Ethan, thank you, dude.
[52:31] Speaker 5: Thank you.
[52:31] Speaker 1: We appreciate you hopping on 6.30 a.m. on the West Coast.
[52:34] Speaker 3: You're the man, Ethan. Thank you, dude.
[52:36] Speaker 1: I thought you'd be in Florida. This was going to
[52:38] Speaker 1: be an easy ask, but, man, good effort.
[52:40] Speaker 3: Good luck.
[52:41] Speaker 1: Thank you for hopping on. We're going to kick Santa
[52:42] Speaker 1: out more often. It was much more enjoyable having him on.
[52:45] Speaker 4: It was.
[52:46] Speaker 1: It was great.
[52:47] Speaker 3: Yeah. He can pop in for a one-minute question. That's fine. Yeah.
[52:50] Speaker 1: 100% good. Well, don't forget about the seven-minute recap of
[52:54] Speaker 1: Labor Cup. Don't forget about that. It's popping in a lot.
[52:57] Speaker 1: We will see everyone on Thursday. We've got a great
[53:00] Speaker 1: interview with Stephen Armitage on all things World Team Tennis,
[53:04] Speaker 1: the rejuvenated World Team Tennis that is coming back in December.
[53:08] Speaker 1: We are going to talk about some of the big stars.
[53:11] Speaker 1: So we will see you guys Thursday. Thanks to everyone.
[53:13] Speaker 1: And Ethan, you're the man. Get healthy, buddy. We'll see
[53:15] Speaker 1: you soon.
[53:20] Speaker 3: The same folks saying Stevie J won the bronze But
[53:27] Speaker 3: none won a slam Nothing.
[53:33] Speaker 5: Nothing made you
[53:37] Speaker 3: Nothing, nothing made you Nothing, nothing made you

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