# Alexander Blockx Joins! Is He Tennis’ Next Rising Star? + Is Zverev an A-Lister? | EP 225

An episode of [Nothing Major](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1756744318), 22 Oct 2026, 49 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/dbcf7075-b1a5-4f4d-ade0-b4da0135fb2e/0b7db358-47c9-4ae8-bce0-b4eb014c0a92/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3b43a2f1-982b-4fe0-ae8e-b4da0135fb3a

On this episode of Nothing Major, John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Stevie sit down with rising Belgian star Alexander Blockx to talk junior success, winning the 2023 Australian Open junior title, his growth spurt, early pro breakthrough moments like Davis Cup vs. Berrettini, the Madrid Masters run, his love of serve-and-volley in big moments, and why Thiem was a childhood favorite. Blockx also shares how “Block X” became his nickname, his favorite and least favorite tour stops, and a viral celebrity encounter in Estoril. After the interview, the guys debut a tennis celebrity tier list segment featuring Shelton, Tsitsipas, Mannarino, Sinner, Heliövaara, Fritz, Monfils, Alcaraz, Zverev, and Ethan Quinn. Submit your Tennis Horror Story through the Mailbag section - https://keychain.club/NothingMajor 00:00 Show Intro and Teasers 00:33 Halloween Tennis Horror Stories 01:01 USTA Match Update and Banter 01:33 Meet Alexander Blockx 03:34 Junior Rise and Growth Spurt 08:26 How Blockx Got His Nickname 10:16 Davis Cup Welcome Moment 13:25 Madrid Breakthrough and Mindset 14:46 Serve and Volley in Big Moments 15:44 Thiem Inspiration and Hair Talk 19:54 Favorite Tournaments and Travel Life 23:42 US Open Money and Airline Miles 28:59 Belgian Tennis Crew and Locker Room 30:18 Team Vibes and Rivalry 31:01 Celebrity Moment 31:47 Starstruck Match Story 34:17 Viral Photo Aftermath 34:48 Interview Wrap and Reactions 35:33 Celebrity Tier List Rules 36:34 Shelton and Tsitsipas Ratings 39:18 A Listers 40:57 Fritz and Monfils Debate 42:36 Alcaraz and Zverev 44:10 Ethan Quinn 45:36 Signoff See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: All right, everyone, on today's episode of Nothing Major, we're
[0:02] Speaker 1: going to have a great Alexander Blox interview and then
[0:05] Speaker 1: a new segment with a celebrity tier list from some
[0:08] Speaker 1: of the guys on tour, I believe. So with that,
[0:10] Speaker 1: let us get into the show.
[0:11] Speaker 2: Big John, Stevie and Sam, got close a few times,
[0:15] Speaker 2: never won a slam, nothing major.
[0:17] Speaker 1: All right, everyone, we are back. It's John Isner, Sam Querrey, myself,
[0:20] Speaker 1: the suits at SIFT, creative. We're all here. Another Thursday.
[0:23] Speaker 1: At least we only got one week tournaments right now
[0:25] Speaker 1: and with one going on in, oh, In Brussels, we've
[0:29] Speaker 1: got a great Alexander Bloch's interview. But before we get
[0:31] Speaker 1: to that, it's Halloween week. So next week, we want
[0:36] Speaker 1: to hear your tennis horror stories. So please send in
[0:38] Speaker 1: those tennis horror stories in the link in the description.
[0:41] Speaker 1: And we are going to read some of the best
[0:42] Speaker 1: ones on next Thursday's show because it's Halloween. We're going
[0:45] Speaker 1: to get festive.
[0:48] Speaker 2: We heard a horror story from the Oracle.
[0:50] Speaker 1: We did.
[0:51] Speaker 3: Last week, we had him on the show with Basel.
[0:55] Speaker 3: In Pakistan, that's his horror story. We want to hear yours.
[0:58] Speaker 1: We want to hear those tough losses of tough stories
[1:00] Speaker 1: on a tennis court.
[1:01] Speaker 2: I've also got my second USTA match on tomorrow. So
[1:06] Speaker 2: I'll have an update on Monday how the team did.
[1:09] Speaker 2: We're playing a tough club, so this is a big match.
[1:12] Speaker 1: This is going to be a big one. Your level
[1:13] Speaker 1: wasn't great in Santa Fe.
[1:15] Speaker 2: It wasn't.
[1:15] Speaker 1: All right.
[1:16] Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness.
[1:17] Speaker 2: It was bad. I think it was the altitude.
[1:19] Speaker 1: I think it was the altitude.
[1:21] Speaker 2: A lot of things.
[1:22] Speaker 1: But with Brussels going on, let's kick it over to
[1:25] Speaker 1: Alexander Bloch's up and coming star on the tour, absolute
[1:29] Speaker 1: stud in his home country's event. And with that, let's
[1:32] Speaker 1: get into this great interview. All right, everyone, we are
[1:35] Speaker 1: welcomed here by the Belgian number one, Alexander Bloch X.
[1:39] Speaker 1: He's up to number 27 in the live rankings. He
[1:41] Speaker 1: is not a men's major champion quite yet, but he
[1:44] Speaker 1: is a junior slam champion. and a 2026 US Open
[1:49] Speaker 1: quarter finalist. So Alex, thank you and welcome to Nothing Major.
[1:52] Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you for having me in the first place.
[1:55] Speaker 5: It's an honor to be here.
[1:58] Speaker 2: Huge honor.
[1:59] Speaker 1: We don't want to start off with a lie to
[2:01] Speaker 1: the audience, but we're glad you're here. We are glad
[2:04] Speaker 1: you're here.
[2:04] Speaker 5: You guys are all superstars, or like you were superstars,
[2:08] Speaker 5: at least. I was watching you guys on TV, so
[2:10] Speaker 5: I mean, that's already something big, so.
[2:13] Speaker 2: Do you have a match of like one of the
[2:15] Speaker 2: three of us that like sticks out in your head
[2:17] Speaker 2: from when you were little?
[2:17] Speaker 5: Yeah, when you were playing Roger in Wimbledon. That was in, yeah, 2015.
[2:23] Speaker 5: 15 was it, yeah.
[2:27] Speaker 2: But he lost like two, three, and two.
[2:28] Speaker 1: Oh, no.
[2:29] Speaker 2: Yeah, I did.
[2:30] Speaker 4: The tweener lop he played against you.
[2:33] Speaker 5: Like the front tweener.
[2:38] Speaker 4: I watched it live and that's how I remember it. Yeah.
[2:41] Speaker 5: And John, I remember you played against a guy who
[2:47] Speaker 5: is actually my coach right now.
[2:50] Speaker 2: Oh, Ruben.
[2:51] Speaker 4: Yep. In Wimbledon as well. Oh, yes.
[2:54] Speaker 2: I remember the second round.
[2:55] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[2:56] Speaker 4: Ruben was.
[2:57] Speaker 6: Ruben was good, man.
[2:58] Speaker 3: By the way, Alex Zanderbox is coach Ruben Bimmelmans. He
[3:01] Speaker 3: played on tour with Stevie, Sam, and myself for many years.
[3:05] Speaker 3: He's about the same age as us. He's coaching this
[3:08] Speaker 3: young man right now. He was a 7'5 in the fifth.
[3:11] Speaker 2: Look at that.
[3:12] Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, I remember he had two match points, I think.
[3:15] Speaker 2: So, yeah. Probably.
[3:18] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[3:18] Speaker 2: It still checks out.
[3:20] Speaker 4: He spoke about it recently, I remember, so.
[3:24] Speaker 6: Look at me winning 6-1, 6-4 on grass.
[3:27] Speaker 2: I know.
[3:27] Speaker 1: I had to do a double take, but you won
[3:29] Speaker 1: the two sets that didn't go to breakers.
[3:31] Speaker 2: That's tough.
[3:31] Speaker 4: Yeah, I know.
[3:32] Speaker 2: That's tough.
[3:32] Speaker 4: I didn't remember that.
[3:34] Speaker 1: Let's talk. Let's dive into it. Your success has been
[3:38] Speaker 1: pretty steady from the juniors to now. You're still so young,
[3:42] Speaker 1: but as junior world number one, you win the 2023
[3:46] Speaker 1: Australian Open. I believe you beat Lerner. in that final. Yeah, correct.
[3:52] Speaker 1: Take us through some of your junior career, winning that slam.
[3:56] Speaker 1: When did you know that tennis was going to be
[3:59] Speaker 1: a viable option for you going forward?
[4:02] Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, to be honest, it started from a
[4:05] Speaker 5: young age already. I was pretty good from already the beginning.
[4:12] Speaker 5: I used to always compete with guys older than me
[4:15] Speaker 5: because at my age.
[4:18] Speaker 4: it was usually like too easy.
[4:20] Speaker 5: I mean, not to be cocky or anything, but I
[4:23] Speaker 5: would win matches like barely losing games in the tournament.
[4:27] Speaker 5: And then, yeah, under 12, I think I played like
[4:32] Speaker 5: 46 matches in 2017 and won like 44 of them.
[4:37] Speaker 4: So I was literally winning like almost everything.
[4:41] Speaker 1: Is this all in Vietnam or is this like all
[4:42] Speaker 1: over Europe?
[4:43] Speaker 5: No, that was Europe. That was the Tennis Europe Tour.
[4:47] Speaker 4: So then.
[4:48] Speaker 5: yeah, I was ranked like I've, I've always been like
[4:51] Speaker 5: top three, uh, under 12, under 14 as well. And
[4:55] Speaker 5: then under 14, you know, I was, I wasn't that tall.
[5:00] Speaker 5: I wasn't like built. I was just small and chubby.
[5:03] Speaker 1: Um, and it's hard to imagine.
[5:06] Speaker 4: I know.
[5:07] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[5:07] Speaker 5: I'll show, I'll show a picture someday. Um, and then, yeah,
[5:11] Speaker 5: the other guys, they started, yeah, to grow a bit
[5:15] Speaker 5: earlier than me. And then, I was a bit struggling
[5:18] Speaker 5: with that, like mentally, uh, mostly like they would start serving, uh,
[5:24] Speaker 5: like 180, uh, kilometers an hour already while I was
[5:27] Speaker 5: serving like 140. So that was a big difference. And yeah,
[5:31] Speaker 5: also just the power in general. And then, um, when
[5:36] Speaker 5: I was 15, like right when COVID started, uh, I
[5:40] Speaker 5: had my growth spurt. Like, um, I grew, I think
[5:43] Speaker 5: 16 centimeters in a year.
[5:45] Speaker 4: I don't know.
[5:46] Speaker 2: We have a lot of American fans. We have no idea.
[5:49] Speaker 4: How tall that is. Yeah. Yeah. You guys should like,
[5:54] Speaker 4: I don't know to compare it. Um, but yeah, that's
[5:58] Speaker 4: quite a lot. I would say.
[5:59] Speaker 3: That's like half a foot or something like 16.
[6:00] Speaker 2: A little over six inches. Yeah.
[6:03] Speaker 4: Yeah. And then, Out of nowhere, Australia. I won it.
[6:09] Speaker 5: I would say I was a bit of a favorite,
[6:12] Speaker 5: but I would say most of the good guys weren't
[6:16] Speaker 5: playing anymore. Who was it? Like Mensik, for example. He
[6:22] Speaker 5: wasn't playing. You had Landa Luce. He was better than
[6:28] Speaker 5: everyone else. He wasn't playing. So it was basically... yeah,
[6:33] Speaker 5: I would say Lerner. Yeah, because I played him in
[6:35] Speaker 5: the finals. Fonseca was there as well, like a few
[6:39] Speaker 5: other guys. But yeah, if you like, would have said
[6:44] Speaker 5: all those guys would be where they at right now.
[6:48] Speaker 4: Yeah, it's or at least that quick.
[6:52] Speaker 5: That would have been a surprise back then because we
[6:54] Speaker 5: were all like pretty good, but nothing spectacular again. So
[7:00] Speaker 5: And then, yeah, once I went there, I really like,
[7:04] Speaker 5: I don't know, got a boost of a confidence. And
[7:09] Speaker 5: then I really started to believe that it was possible
[7:12] Speaker 5: to have something like on the tour. And I immediately
[7:16] Speaker 5: started playing futures and I mean, I didn't hang in
[7:22] Speaker 5: there for too long. I've played, I don't know, maybe
[7:25] Speaker 5: like 13 Futures in my career, so.
[7:29] Speaker 4: Not too many, thankfully.
[7:31] Speaker 2: No need.
[7:32] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
[7:33] Speaker 5: And also, I mean, I was lucky to have those
[7:36] Speaker 5: Challenger exams as well from the juniors.
[7:42] Speaker 4: Yeah, as a high-ranked junior. Yeah, exactly.
[7:44] Speaker 5: I got like eight Challengers main draw, like those cards,
[7:49] Speaker 5: which helped a lot. And then I kind of, yeah,
[7:53] Speaker 5: I wouldn't say launched, but I had like a solid
[7:56] Speaker 5: base where I could enter all the tournaments with my
[8:00] Speaker 5: ranking afterwards. And yeah, I mean, I had some injuries
[8:04] Speaker 5: here and there. But yeah, I would say like a
[8:08] Speaker 5: big surprise was especially this year, like how fast it went.
[8:11] Speaker 5: Up until this year, I was always like going forward,
[8:16] Speaker 5: but nothing like, yeah. unbelievable that happened until Madrid and
[8:22] Speaker 5: all this stuff. So that's a bit how it went.
[8:26] Speaker 2: I want to ask you about your last name, Blocks.
[8:28] Speaker 2: We call you Block X. Zizou calls you Block X.
[8:31] Speaker 2: Coming up as a junior, was the name Block X
[8:35] Speaker 2: already like a bit of a nickname or did that
[8:37] Speaker 2: not really hit until you kind of joined the Pro Tour?
[8:41] Speaker 2: Or is this the first you're ever hearing of it?
[8:43] Speaker 4: You know.
[8:47] Speaker 5: You know how it actually started? Your colleague, you guys
[8:52] Speaker 5: probably know him, Dennis Kudla.
[8:55] Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. That sounds about right. We were in Australia.
[9:01] Speaker 5: So if you win the juniors title, you get a
[9:05] Speaker 5: wildcard the year afterwards.
[9:07] Speaker 4: In Australia? In Australia and Wimbledon. Those two, I think.
[9:12] Speaker 4: Like in Kualis.
[9:13] Speaker 2: In Kualis.
[9:15] Speaker 7: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah okay.
[9:20] Speaker 5: And so i was there i was ranked like 350
[9:23] Speaker 5: uh no one knew me like i no one wanted
[9:27] Speaker 5: to practice with me i was just a 19 19
[9:31] Speaker 5: year old um and then i don't know we were
[9:35] Speaker 5: it was it was with ruben as well actually it
[9:38] Speaker 5: wasn't my coach back then but we were.
[9:41] Speaker 4: I wasn't even there.
[9:44] Speaker 5: He told me afterwards, he was like, yeah, who is
[9:47] Speaker 5: this young Belgian kid Block X?
[9:50] Speaker 4: That's how it started back then. And then it was
[9:52] Speaker 4: so nice that we just kept on... yeah saying it's.
[10:00] Speaker 7: A cool name yeah it has something and then yeah
[10:04] Speaker 7: it just kept on forward from that from that moment
[10:08] Speaker 7: basically so all credit to him like i i thanked
[10:12] Speaker 7: him in new york as well for starting it so yeah.
[10:16] Speaker 1: Yeah i mean you know so even though your career
[10:18] Speaker 1: is so young like you know has there been a moment,
[10:20] Speaker 1: you know, this year in the past where it's like, I've,
[10:23] Speaker 1: you know, my welcome to the tour moment, or I've
[10:25] Speaker 1: made it, or I got to practice here. I played
[10:28] Speaker 1: on this stadium or something that kind of like took
[10:30] Speaker 1: your breath away.
[10:31] Speaker 5: I mean, my first real, like really special moment was, um,
[10:36] Speaker 5: playing Davis cup in Italy against Italy. Like I was,
[10:40] Speaker 5: I was in 24. Um, I was ranked around two 60,
[10:45] Speaker 5: I think. And, um, I could play Berrettini like in
[10:49] Speaker 5: the packed stadium. 19 year old guy, you know, or no,
[10:54] Speaker 5: I just turned 20.
[10:56] Speaker 4: No, wait, what am I saying? No, I was still 19.
[10:58] Speaker 4: I was 19.
[10:59] Speaker 5: And yeah, like, you know, I think in front of
[11:03] Speaker 5: 15,000 fans, all cheering, screaming against me.
[11:08] Speaker 4: And that was like the first time I really felt like, wow.
[11:13] Speaker 2: How'd you do in that match?
[11:15] Speaker 4: I lost 7-5 in the third, unfortunately. Pretty good.
[11:18] Speaker 5: Yeah, it was good. It was actually a really good match.
[11:22] Speaker 5: I think he was really tight from the beginning. I
[11:26] Speaker 5: think he even cried after the match. He was that tight.
[11:31] Speaker 3: Was a result like that, with you going 5-3 with
[11:35] Speaker 3: him as just 19 years old, was.
[11:37] Speaker 2: That a little bit of a surprise to you?
[11:39] Speaker 3: Or you knew going into that match that you had
[11:41] Speaker 3: a legitimate shot to beat someone like that in a
[11:45] Speaker 3: stadium like that.
[11:46] Speaker 4: I mean, I definitely felt like a big underdog, but
[11:49] Speaker 4: I wouldn't say like I... I was third in the selection,
[11:53] Speaker 4: so it was Sisu and then Rafael. They were one
[11:57] Speaker 4: and two.
[11:58] Speaker 5: But because we won in our first matchup against the Netherlands,
[12:03] Speaker 5: that was like the second.
[12:07] Speaker 5: Match in the pool like the old format of Davis
[12:11] Speaker 5: Cup we were like with four countries and then competing
[12:15] Speaker 5: for the finals and then we were like yeah maybe
[12:18] Speaker 5: it's better to let Raph rest against Italy because the
[12:22] Speaker 5: odds of us beating Italy it's yeah it's quite small
[12:26] Speaker 5: so we we were just preparing for the for a
[12:28] Speaker 5: tie against Brazil to have like yeah a bigger shot
[12:33] Speaker 5: to win in a way and then the team was like, yeah,
[12:37] Speaker 5: let's just give Alex a chance. And I mean, yeah,
[12:42] Speaker 5: I was definitely not going into the match thinking I
[12:46] Speaker 5: would win the match, but just to, I guess, enjoy
[12:49] Speaker 5: as much as I could. And I definitely did. But
[12:54] Speaker 5: in a way, also after the match, I felt like
[12:56] Speaker 5: I could have done better. Like I played well, of course,
[13:00] Speaker 5: but I felt like there were still I don't know,
[13:04] Speaker 5: a lot of improvements, which was really positive as well.
[13:07] Speaker 5: So considering, yeah, playing 7-5 in the third against a
[13:11] Speaker 5: guy who was, I think he was ranked 40 at
[13:14] Speaker 5: 19 years old and still feeling like I wasn't playing
[13:18] Speaker 5: at my very best, which I think, yeah, I mean,
[13:21] Speaker 5: good for myself.
[13:21] Speaker 1: It's an environment to play in, for sure.
[13:23] Speaker 4: Yeah, also, also, yeah.
[13:25] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and I think like, For everybody here,
[13:28] Speaker 1: we've seen your rise through the rankings this season, but
[13:31] Speaker 1: I feel like it all kind of came together in
[13:33] Speaker 1: Madrid this year for you. You make the semis, first
[13:36] Speaker 1: time in a master series. You beat Felix, you beat Kasper,
[13:41] Speaker 1: two incredible tennis players. I actually was calling a lot
[13:44] Speaker 1: of those matches that week for Tennis Channel, but for you,
[13:46] Speaker 1: you look so comfortable in those big moments on a
[13:49] Speaker 1: big stage. Is that just pure confidence from you? Or
[13:52] Speaker 1: is that just the belief that you can walk out
[13:54] Speaker 1: there and beat those guys?
[13:55] Speaker 5: When you're not on that court and you watch from
[13:58] Speaker 5: the sides, it looks like, I don't know, a big environment,
[14:04] Speaker 5: like a big deal.
[14:04] Speaker 4: But I feel like once I.
[14:06] Speaker 5: Step onto the court, it doesn't matter how many people
[14:11] Speaker 5: there are, how many.
[14:14] Speaker 4: What kind of tournament.
[14:16] Speaker 5: It's just, I see it as every other match as
[14:18] Speaker 5: I was playing before, even smaller matches. Of course, I
[14:21] Speaker 5: would say the Davis Cup ties are different. But when
[14:25] Speaker 5: I play for myself, it doesn't matter too much. I mean,
[14:28] Speaker 5: at least not anymore because I'm also a bit more
[14:31] Speaker 5: used to it. And it's not like before Madrid, I
[14:34] Speaker 5: never played on a big stadium. So I mean, so
[14:37] Speaker 5: I was kind of in a way, yeah, composed and
[14:41] Speaker 5: it didn't feel like new to me. So I think
[14:44] Speaker 5: that definitely helped in those big moments, yeah.
[14:47] Speaker 2: When it comes to your style of play, you serve
[14:49] Speaker 2: and volley as much as anyone on the tour, kind of.
[14:52] Speaker 2: And you do it in big moments. When you were
[14:54] Speaker 2: in the juniors, did you serve and volley a little bit?
[14:57] Speaker 2: Or why are you serve and volleying occasionally? Because you
[15:00] Speaker 2: don't see any guys do it.
[15:02] Speaker 5: I serve and volleyed against Lerner at 10-9 in the
[15:05] Speaker 5: third set tiebreaker of the finals.
[15:08] Speaker 2: Did it work?
[15:09] Speaker 4: Yeah, I hit an ace, unfortunately.
[15:11] Speaker 2: Oh, that's not Servant Evolving?
[15:13] Speaker 4: Get out of here. I rushed to the net. I
[15:17] Speaker 4: rushed to the net, so.
[15:19] Speaker 5: No, but I just like the adrenaline. Like, when I'm
[15:23] Speaker 5: breakpointing down... I just love to go.
[15:27] Speaker 4: To the net.
[15:27] Speaker 2: I don't know why.
[15:28] Speaker 4: I just have a.
[15:29] Speaker 2: I like that.
[15:29] Speaker 4: I like it.
[15:31] Speaker 5: Yeah, like a fired up feeling in a way. Like,
[15:33] Speaker 5: I don't like to do it like the first point
[15:35] Speaker 5: of the game or when it's 50-0.
[15:37] Speaker 2: It's boring.
[15:38] Speaker 4: Like, you need to go big in big moments, you know?
[15:41] Speaker 2: Yeah, good mentality.
[15:42] Speaker 4: That's my strategy, yeah.
[15:44] Speaker 3: A bit of cursory research on our part reveals that
[15:48] Speaker 3: Dominic Thiem.
[15:50] Speaker 6: was a favorite of yours growing up. He sort of famously.
[15:53] Speaker 3: Always rocked a headband on the court, as do you.
[15:56] Speaker 3: Is that something that you kind of do in honor
[15:59] Speaker 3: of him because you grew up, you know, a big
[16:02] Speaker 3: fan of his?
[16:02] Speaker 4: Yeah, I was... I used to wear one. Like, not
[16:06] Speaker 4: really a headband, but like a.
[16:08] Speaker 1: Yeah, like a little soccer one.
[16:10] Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was.
[16:14] Speaker 5: Maybe because of him, I would say, yeah, somewhere. No,
[16:18] Speaker 5: but I just really liked his... I don't know, everything.
[16:23] Speaker 5: His intensity, the power that came off his racket was
[16:28] Speaker 5: really impressive. Yeah, his forehand, I think, was at some
[16:32] Speaker 5: point one of the biggest in the sport, I would say.
[16:36] Speaker 4: And just, yeah, I think he's very likable in general. Like, he...
[16:40] Speaker 4: He's really nice to everyone.
[16:43] Speaker 5: I mean, I personally never got to talk to him,
[16:48] Speaker 5: but we crossed each other a few times and he
[16:50] Speaker 5: was always very, very nice, very, very kind.
[16:53] Speaker 4: So yeah, I think he's just tough, tough not to
[16:57] Speaker 4: like in a way. Yeah.
[17:00] Speaker 1: I was just going to ask, I mean, so you
[17:01] Speaker 1: never got a chance to hit with him because his
[17:02] Speaker 1: career was kind of cut short, you know, by injury
[17:05] Speaker 1: a bit and just didn't quite cross over. So never,
[17:07] Speaker 1: no time on the practice court, just kind of, Which
[17:10] Speaker 1: is a bummer, I would assume.
[17:11] Speaker 5: I was so close to playing him. It was, I think,
[17:14] Speaker 5: one of my most heartbroken losses of my career. So
[17:20] Speaker 5: I got the wild... No, I didn't even... Yeah, I
[17:22] Speaker 5: got the wild card for Qualis in Antwerp in 23.
[17:26] Speaker 4: I was ranked, I don't know, 800.
[17:27] Speaker 5: I qualify and I'm playing Yannick Hansman first round.
[17:33] Speaker 4: And I see if I win, I might play Thiem, potentially.
[17:38] Speaker 4: I was like, holy fuck, like... is no way i'm still.
[17:41] Speaker 5: Gonna play team and then i lose that match and
[17:45] Speaker 5: team won his first round and then yannick got to
[17:49] Speaker 5: play against dominican i was like this was a once
[17:53] Speaker 5: in a lifetime opportunity and i missed it and i
[17:56] Speaker 5: was pissed for days i that was like one of
[17:59] Speaker 5: the one of the only times I think in the last,
[18:04] Speaker 5: I don't know, many years that I dropped a tier
[18:07] Speaker 5: after a match. I'm not emotional at all, I would say,
[18:13] Speaker 5: but that one really hurt.
[18:16] Speaker 1: Was that your first ATP main draw match?
[18:20] Speaker 4: Yeah, it was as well.
[18:25] Speaker 5: Of course, it was still a good result, but imagine
[18:29] Speaker 5: playing a team at home It couldn't have been better
[18:34] Speaker 5: than that.
[18:36] Speaker 2: Speaking of team and the headband, you have phenomenal hair.
[18:39] Speaker 2: We talk about hair a lot on this podcast. Do
[18:41] Speaker 2: you gel your hair before every match? Do you travel
[18:44] Speaker 2: with gel? Does it just stay like that naturally?
[18:47] Speaker 4: Nothing. I just water my hand a bit. I do this.
[18:53] Speaker 2: It stays throughout a whole match?
[18:55] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[18:55] Speaker 2: It's a bit like Djokovic, right?
[18:56] Speaker 6: His hair kind of just stays there.
[18:58] Speaker 2: That's crazy.
[18:58] Speaker 3: Exactly.
[18:59] Speaker 5: Yeah, but once it gets longer, then it falls everywhere.
[19:05] Speaker 1: The longer hair, then you go with the headband.
[19:07] Speaker 3: So two of the guys on the podcast are, let's say,
[19:10] Speaker 3: follicly challenged.
[19:12] Speaker 6: So they're a bit jealous of the hair.
[19:15] Speaker 2: Wouldn't you say, Sam and Stevie?
[19:16] Speaker 1: We're balding.
[19:16] Speaker 2: It's tough.
[19:17] Speaker 1: That's why I wear hats, you know?
[19:18] Speaker 2: Balding? Yeah, it's a little thin. That's getting thinner, Sam.
[19:22] Speaker 2: It's not thin, dude. It's not thin.
[19:24] Speaker 1: It's thin. you're like the anti Carlos and Alex right now.
[19:28] Speaker 5: Yeah, no, but, um, I actually, I cut my hair
[19:32] Speaker 5: before Madrid. So maybe that was the, the, the switch,
[19:36] Speaker 5: the switch that made the difference. So yeah, I used
[19:40] Speaker 5: to have longer hair for like, I don't know, a
[19:43] Speaker 5: couple of years, I would say two years or something.
[19:45] Speaker 5: And then I was like, I'm just going to cut
[19:48] Speaker 5: everything off. And then, yeah, it launched from then on.
[19:54] Speaker 2: Speaking of Madrid, I mean, you haven't been on a
[19:57] Speaker 2: tour that long. Do you have a few tournaments that
[19:59] Speaker 2: are like your favorite spots to go to already?
[20:02] Speaker 4: Yeah, I know the first one might sound weird, but
[20:05] Speaker 4: I love Miami.
[20:07] Speaker 5: Thank you.
[20:08] Speaker 2: It's weird.
[20:09] Speaker 5: It's, it's weird, but I, I, I love, I don't, because, because.
[20:13] Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the South American slam, you know?
[20:16] Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, no, I don't know.
[20:19] Speaker 4: It was my first like really big tournament.
[20:22] Speaker 5: I had a, a wildcard a few times for qualities from, uh, like, uh,
[20:27] Speaker 5: through IMG.
[20:28] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[20:28] Speaker 5: So that was, I think my first time was in
[20:33] Speaker 5: 23 as well earlier in the year. Um, I was,
[20:37] Speaker 5: I barely had points. I was like 1,200 and I
[20:40] Speaker 5: got to play a master's 1000. I was like, I
[20:42] Speaker 5: don't belong here. Like not yet. And then I think
[20:46] Speaker 5: just because it was my like real, my, my first
[20:50] Speaker 5: real tournament, it, it always, yeah.
[20:53] Speaker 4: Stuck with me.
[20:54] Speaker 5: And I, I just liked the city a lot and yeah,
[20:58] Speaker 5: just in general, I like, I like the tournaments.
[21:01] Speaker 1: That's my personal least favorite.
[21:04] Speaker 2: Least favorite.
[21:05] Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be tournament, just like city that
[21:06] Speaker 1: doesn't stick out to you or.
[21:08] Speaker 2: You also don't have to answer it because what if
[21:10] Speaker 2: the tournament offers you like a big appearance fee? Yeah,
[21:12] Speaker 2: you don't have to answer that.
[21:13] Speaker 4: He's too young, yeah, it's a good point. Masters 1000,
[21:16] Speaker 4: they don't give appearance fees, so I can... Yeah, that's true. No,
[21:20] Speaker 4: I would say just... Yeah.
[21:24] Speaker 5: I mean, not that I didn't like it, but I
[21:27] Speaker 5: feel like in Shanghai, I just, I don't know.
[21:31] Speaker 4: It's so different.
[21:32] Speaker 2: Is the food still really good at the tournament in Shanghai?
[21:35] Speaker 2: You can get like whatever you want.
[21:36] Speaker 5: It's really good. And the hotel is really good. And
[21:39] Speaker 5: the tournament is really good. But just, I don't know.
[21:41] Speaker 6: It's tough being over there.
[21:44] Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of people have that same sentiment.
[21:45] Speaker 1: The tournament itself is great. It's, you know.
[21:48] Speaker 2: I'll say this though.
[21:49] Speaker 3: You'll, as you get older, you'll, I think you'll start
[21:51] Speaker 3: to enjoy it a lot more and like you know
[21:55] Speaker 3: get more comfortable with playing that was the biggest adjustment
[21:58] Speaker 3: I think for all of us like playing over in
[22:01] Speaker 3: Asia for the first time like that so it's a
[22:03] Speaker 3: big adjustment.
[22:03] Speaker 4: For anyone yeah it was my first time in China
[22:06] Speaker 4: as well so yeah exactly I mean but even Tokyo
[22:09] Speaker 4: like yeah it's beautiful and the food is unreal again
[22:14] Speaker 4: the club the organization but just yeah I don't know
[22:17] Speaker 4: the environment I'm just not used to that lifestyle a
[22:22] Speaker 4: bit and it doesn't feel like, like home in a way.
[22:27] Speaker 4: I don't know.
[22:27] Speaker 5: Just it's tougher. It's, it's tougher to communicate to people.
[22:31] Speaker 5: Like most of them barely know any English. Um, you just, yeah,
[22:36] Speaker 5: it's very, very limited, like, uh, socially socializing. So I
[22:42] Speaker 5: don't know. That's just my personal opinion. Uh, but apart
[22:45] Speaker 5: from that, uh, uh, you mean like just on the
[22:49] Speaker 5: ATP tour or like in general, like challengers or, No,
[22:53] Speaker 5: you answered him.
[22:53] Speaker 2: You answered him.
[22:55] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[22:56] Speaker 2: I mean, yeah.
[22:57] Speaker 4: And again, it's not that I don't like them. It's
[23:00] Speaker 4: just like if I have to choose one, of course.
[23:02] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[23:03] Speaker 1: We've all got our favorites, you know?
[23:04] Speaker 2: It's just the way it is.
[23:05] Speaker 4: What are your guys' favorite tournaments?
[23:08] Speaker 1: Indian Wells for me.
[23:09] Speaker 4: Indian Wells.
[23:11] Speaker 2: I like Cincinnati now.
[23:13] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[23:13] Speaker 4: I mean, to be honest, Cincinnati, I think like organization-wise
[23:17] Speaker 4: is the best. Facilities and everything is incredible.
[23:21] Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it could, in my opinion, it could
[23:24] Speaker 5: definitely be like a fifth slam.
[23:27] Speaker 4: Like with, I mean, probably... It will never be, but
[23:31] Speaker 4: it's good. It's good.
[23:32] Speaker 3: It used to be before you– we always really enjoyed it,
[23:36] Speaker 3: but when you put $ 260 million to work, you can
[23:38] Speaker 3: make something really.
[23:39] Speaker 2: Really nice. That's what they did.
[23:43] Speaker 3: Back to your game, US Open this year, obviously big breakthrough,
[23:47] Speaker 3: making the quarterfinals, and we'll talk about that run.
[23:50] Speaker 2: But I think what I don't want to.
[23:52] Speaker 3: Say was surprised by, I guess was impressed by in
[23:56] Speaker 3: your run there is just because you're a big guy.
[23:58] Speaker 2: You're 6'5, about.
[24:00] Speaker 6: Is how well you move.
[24:03] Speaker 2: He doesn't know six, five. That's like 400 centimeters.
[24:06] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[24:06] Speaker 2: You know, he knows six, five. He knows six foot five. No, seriously.
[24:10] Speaker 2: It's how well you move.
[24:12] Speaker 3: Is that something that like, I know you said it
[24:14] Speaker 3: took you a while to develop as a junior, but
[24:16] Speaker 3: it's like your level of movement and your level of athleticism.
[24:19] Speaker 3: Is that like a little surprising to you now that you're,
[24:21] Speaker 3: you know, fully grown and you're starting to grow into
[24:23] Speaker 3: your body as opposed to growing up, you're starting to
[24:26] Speaker 3: grow out and get, get stronger.
[24:27] Speaker 5: Yeah. I, I don't know. Yeah, again, when I was little,
[24:34] Speaker 5: before I grew a lot, I was always really quick.
[24:40] Speaker 5: I think I have a good feeling, like I have
[24:43] Speaker 5: a good vision for the ball, so I always anticipated
[24:46] Speaker 5: a bit more than others probably do. And then, yeah,
[24:52] Speaker 5: I kind of struggled a couple of years with that.
[24:56] Speaker 4: During the grow, and then... Yeah, I don't know.
[24:59] Speaker 5: I guess practice also. I do a lot of fitness
[25:05] Speaker 5: for that. The first step, acceleration. Of course, a bit
[25:15] Speaker 5: of natural plays a part in that as well. I
[25:20] Speaker 5: think you have to be a bit lucky on that part,
[25:24] Speaker 5: but it's also just.
[25:26] Speaker 4: a lot of practice, a lot of repetition. And yeah,
[25:31] Speaker 4: I don't know.
[25:32] Speaker 5: I don't see myself as the best mover. I think
[25:37] Speaker 5: I'm just quick on the court. I think I can
[25:39] Speaker 5: still improve a lot, especially on the first steps. But yeah,
[25:45] Speaker 5: if I have to get a drop shot or something
[25:48] Speaker 5: like that, I would say I'm pretty quick.
[25:49] Speaker 4: But yeah, I think it's mostly practice.
[25:53] Speaker 2: Speaking of the US Open... quarterfinals you picked up 780
[25:56] Speaker 2: 000 i know we used to do this when you
[25:59] Speaker 2: get a nice big check like that are you checking
[26:02] Speaker 2: the is there had to leave by.
[26:03] Speaker 1: The way yeah john john had no goodbye from.
[26:05] Speaker 2: Him oh um do you ever do you check the
[26:09] Speaker 2: bank account like a few days after and see like
[26:11] Speaker 2: when the money hits we used to do that oh
[26:13] Speaker 2: yeah yeah of.
[26:14] Speaker 5: Course it's so good isn't it of course yeah it's
[26:17] Speaker 5: so satisfying like you wait you wait and then someday
[26:20] Speaker 5: you just open it and it's like oh yeah it's
[26:24] Speaker 5: the best feeling yeah it's so it's so good i
[26:27] Speaker 5: agree do.
[26:28] Speaker 2: You my other question is you're from belgium there's not
[26:31] Speaker 2: like a like a belgian airline that like travels everywhere
[26:35] Speaker 2: do you stick to an airline and are you anal
[26:39] Speaker 2: about hoarding all the frequent flyer miles no.
[26:42] Speaker 4: I really don't care i couldn't care less.
[26:45] Speaker 2: Oh no that angers me so much So you're just
[26:51] Speaker 2: going on whatever airline gets you there and whatever time
[26:53] Speaker 2: you want. You have no freaking flyer numbers.
[26:55] Speaker 4: You're just winging it. The cheaper the flight, the better.
[26:57] Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, no, my friend.
[27:00] Speaker 1: We've got so much to teach you.
[27:01] Speaker 2: You've got to stick to one airline, board the miles,
[27:04] Speaker 2: go out of your way to stay on the airline.
[27:06] Speaker 5: No, I used to. I've tried it before, but then...
[27:11] Speaker 5: I would arrive at the airport at the check-in. I
[27:13] Speaker 5: would ask the lady, like, yeah, can you scan my
[27:18] Speaker 5: card for the miles? She'd be like, yeah, but this
[27:20] Speaker 5: isn't the right, like, airline, and it doesn't work.
[27:24] Speaker 4: And I was like, yeah, like.
[27:27] Speaker 4: I won't bother. Yeah. And then I never really did it.
[27:31] Speaker 1: We've got to start a class.
[27:32] Speaker 2: That's the worst answer.
[27:33] Speaker 5: Come on. No, I was like, okay, if you don't
[27:37] Speaker 5: want to scan my card, I don't care.
[27:38] Speaker 2: Well, she's not going to scan your card. If she
[27:40] Speaker 2: works for Lufthansa and you're flying on like China Eastern,
[27:43] Speaker 2: of course she's not going to like scan your card.
[27:45] Speaker 4: I was like 16.
[27:46] Speaker 2: I couldn't care.
[27:46] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[27:50] Speaker 2: You're still young. So you're just checking in with the
[27:55] Speaker 2: common folk and not in the priority lines.
[27:57] Speaker 1: I feel like he's a business guy.
[27:59] Speaker 4: For the longer flights, of course, I would take business.
[28:02] Speaker 5: But in general, I have this priority pass where I
[28:07] Speaker 5: can enter the lounge.
[28:09] Speaker 2: The priority pass lounges are awful.
[28:12] Speaker 4: Yeah yeah they're not great the.
[28:14] Speaker 2: Worst lounge i've ever i wouldn't even go in the
[28:17] Speaker 2: priority i'd rather just hang out by the airport gate
[28:20] Speaker 2: than go in the priority.
[28:21] Speaker 5: Like go sit in a starbucks or something yeah i
[28:24] Speaker 5: mean it depends like you have really good like lounges
[28:28] Speaker 5: in brussels for example it's really it's one of the
[28:31] Speaker 5: best ones i feel um and yeah like the big
[28:34] Speaker 5: airports like qatar and uh dubai and stuff are also
[28:38] Speaker 5: really good but yeah and smaller ones are Yeah, they're
[28:43] Speaker 5: not great.
[28:44] Speaker 1: I know. Look, we're going to have to let Sam
[28:46] Speaker 1: cool off for a second.
[28:48] Speaker 4: I can work on it. Okay, thank you.
[28:50] Speaker 2: Maybe we could sit down in Australia and I can
[28:52] Speaker 2: give you like an hour tutorial on we can pick
[28:54] Speaker 2: an airline, what you should be doing.
[28:56] Speaker 1: That's not a bad idea.
[28:58] Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, sure.
[28:59] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
[29:00] Speaker 1: You seem too overly enthused about it. But, you know, yeah,
[29:03] Speaker 1: I mean, for you, like, I mean, for Belgium, obviously
[29:06] Speaker 1: for kind of a small country, I mean, you guys
[29:08] Speaker 1: have some phenomenal tennis players right now. Colin Yon, Rafael
[29:11] Speaker 1: Colin Yon, who you mentioned, Zizou Bergs. You know, are
[29:14] Speaker 1: you guys all pretty close? Do you practice with one another?
[29:17] Speaker 1: What's that, like, locker room vibe like for you guys
[29:20] Speaker 1: when you guys travel to tournaments?
[29:21] Speaker 5: I wouldn't say we're best friends who hang out every
[29:25] Speaker 5: day or go to dinner every day together, but we're
[29:28] Speaker 5: definitely close. I think if we have the opportunity to
[29:34] Speaker 5: go eat something together, we definitely would.
[29:37] Speaker 4: We get along well.
[29:40] Speaker 5: We spend quite a lot of time together. I mean,
[29:43] Speaker 5: I think a bit more with Zizou because we're from
[29:47] Speaker 5: the Flemish part. Rafi's from the Wallonian part where they
[29:51] Speaker 5: only speak French.
[29:53] Speaker 4: So yeah, we.
[29:54] Speaker 5: don't see him that often at home. I would say
[29:57] Speaker 5: during pre-season he would come to us or we could
[30:01] Speaker 5: go to his place to practice. And on tournaments, yeah,
[30:07] Speaker 5: locker room, yeah, we talk. For example, Raf now, I
[30:12] Speaker 5: think he struggled a bit with an injury, so He's
[30:17] Speaker 5: off for a while, but we still have contact. During
[30:22] Speaker 5: the Davis Cup, it's also always really fun. I think
[30:26] Speaker 5: the vibe is really good within the team. I don't
[30:31] Speaker 5: feel like there's any... I mean, of course, we're really
[30:34] Speaker 5: close to each other, we push each other, but I
[30:36] Speaker 5: feel like it's in a healthy way. We're always happy
[30:40] Speaker 5: for each other. When we're doing well, it's not like
[30:44] Speaker 5: a bad jealousy, but yeah, healthy jealousy when someone is
[30:47] Speaker 5: doing good. So yeah, I think it's going well between us.
[30:53] Speaker 2: All right, man. I think we're good. Good luck next week.
[30:57] Speaker 2: We appreciate you joining us. We got one more.
[30:59] Speaker 1: Hold on. I got one more.
[31:00] Speaker 4: I forgot.
[31:01] Speaker 1: I think it was in Estoril this year. You got
[31:04] Speaker 1: a little red in the face, a little blush with
[31:06] Speaker 1: a celebrity getting the trophy. Is that– No, no, no.
[31:11] Speaker 4: That was not the trophy.
[31:13] Speaker 1: That wasn't you? I'm trying to pronounce her name. Margarita Corchero?
[31:18] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[31:18] Speaker 2: Who's that?
[31:19] Speaker 1: She was a celebrity. I felt like Alex just wanted
[31:24] Speaker 1: more than the tennis event there.
[31:25] Speaker 4: That's an interesting topic.
[31:28] Speaker 2: No, but.
[31:28] Speaker 4: Oh, yeah. LAUGHTER But that was just in the moment.
[31:34] Speaker 4: That was in the moment. Like, I was just rubbing
[31:36] Speaker 4: on my teeth.
[31:37] Speaker 2: Wait, holy smoke. What is she, an actress or a singer?
[31:40] Speaker 4: Yeah, she's like an actress slash model. She's like.
[31:45] Speaker 5: We can tell. Yeah, yeah. So, no, if you want
[31:50] Speaker 5: to hear the story. So, I was playing against Puruchaga Quarters.
[31:57] Speaker 5: And during the match, you know, like, I like to
[32:00] Speaker 5: look around a bit and then... Yeah, that's normal. You
[32:03] Speaker 5: guys probably did that as well.
[32:06] Speaker 4: So, yeah. And then I saw two ladies. I was like, damn,
[32:12] Speaker 4: what are they doing here?
[32:17] Speaker 5: And it appeared to be her with her, I don't know,
[32:22] Speaker 5: friends or anything. But I didn't know at the moment. Like,
[32:25] Speaker 5: I knew who she was, but I, like... During the match,
[32:30] Speaker 5: it was quite far as well. So I was like, okay.
[32:33] Speaker 5: And then after the match... Wait, did you win the match?
[32:36] Speaker 1: Yeah, how much better did you play after?
[32:38] Speaker 5: That was like third set. But yeah, again, I didn't
[32:43] Speaker 5: know it was her. So I was playing. I didn't
[32:46] Speaker 5: care eventually. And then after the match, my agent, he
[32:51] Speaker 5: comes up to me and he's like, yo, did you
[32:54] Speaker 5: see who was sitting there? Like the lady, I was like, yeah,
[32:58] Speaker 5: I mean, they obviously look good. He was like, no,
[33:01] Speaker 5: but do you know who that actually is? And then
[33:04] Speaker 5: he shows me the profile. And I was like, I
[33:07] Speaker 5: was freaking out. I was like, no way. Like I
[33:09] Speaker 5: used to see her on my feet, like on my
[33:12] Speaker 5: For You page all the time, like for years, years.
[33:16] Speaker 5: So I, yeah, I was a bit like starstruck. And
[33:19] Speaker 5: then he was like, yeah, I can set up a
[33:23] Speaker 5: meet and greet, like a quick meet and greet. And
[33:27] Speaker 5: I was, yeah, like, starting to get nervous.
[33:31] Speaker 4: I can see why. Yeah.
[33:38] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[33:39] Speaker 4: So, no.
[33:40] Speaker 5: And then, yeah, we spoke a little bit, chatted. Then
[33:46] Speaker 5: I had to go shower, do my recovery and stuff.
[33:51] Speaker 4: So, yeah. Yeah, I mean.
[33:53] Speaker 2: Hypothetically, if she was like, hey, let's go get dinner,
[33:55] Speaker 2: but you can't shower, no recovery, we got to go
[33:58] Speaker 2: right now, would you have been like, yeah?
[33:59] Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
[34:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, good man.
[34:03] Speaker 4: Definitely. But yeah, I mean... So good. I think she
[34:08] Speaker 4: watched like one more match in the semis. She was
[34:13] Speaker 4: there again and yeah.
[34:15] Speaker 2: All right.
[34:15] Speaker 1: Something to keep an eye on, you know?
[34:17] Speaker 5: I feel like it went a bit too viral for
[34:20] Speaker 5: no reason because there was literally nothing. Like the tournament
[34:23] Speaker 5: just took a pic, they posted it. And then the
[34:26] Speaker 5: next morning I had like 50 DMs from my friends texting.
[34:29] Speaker 4: Me like, dude, like no way. I was like, chill,
[34:33] Speaker 4: there is nothing. Like we just took a picture.
[34:36] Speaker 1: That's so good.
[34:37] Speaker 2: All right, dude.
[34:38] Speaker 1: Well, we appreciate you hopping on, man. I hope you
[34:41] Speaker 1: have a great event at home. Good luck the rest
[34:43] Speaker 1: of the year and we will catch up soon. Thank you.
[34:45] Speaker 2: Yeah. Thanks.
[34:46] Speaker 4: Thank you, guys. Thank you.
[34:48] Speaker 2: All right.
[34:48] Speaker 1: Thank you to Alexander Blocks. A phenomenal interview. Great, great
[34:51] Speaker 1: young kid. I mean, this guy is just similar to
[34:54] Speaker 1: some of the other young superstars. He's risen up the
[34:56] Speaker 1: ranks this season and somebody you expect to get the
[34:59] Speaker 1: job done week in and week out. It's pretty impressive
[35:01] Speaker 1: to watch. Sam, what did you think of that interview?
[35:04] Speaker 2: I love Blocks. I like the story at the end
[35:06] Speaker 2: with who's that European, like the hot girl that was
[35:10] Speaker 2: watching this match in Portugal. Yeah, yeah. That was a
[35:13] Speaker 2: good little story. That was a good story. I mean,
[35:14] Speaker 2: I was a Block X fan before this. I'm a
[35:16] Speaker 2: bigger Block X fan now.
[35:18] Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a good personality, good kid to have on tour.
[35:21] Speaker 1: So we hope him nothing but the best, and hopefully
[35:24] Speaker 1: he can just keep going up the ranks because I enjoy–
[35:26] Speaker 1: I've called a lot of his matches for some reason.
[35:28] Speaker 1: He's just one of those guys that you slot into
[35:30] Speaker 1: a tennis channel for some reason, and I enjoy every match.
[35:34] Speaker 1: But with that, we've got another little segment here, a
[35:37] Speaker 1: new one, A tennis celebrity tier list. We're going to
[35:41] Speaker 1: have some pictures. We don't know who's coming up on
[35:42] Speaker 1: the screen and we are going to go through their
[35:45] Speaker 1: celebrity status. I do believe since the tour, since we're
[35:48] Speaker 1: all in Europe, it's going to be strictly in Europe.
[35:50] Speaker 1: Like where is their celebrity status in Europe? Because this
[35:53] Speaker 1: could change for everyone, you know, parts of the world.
[35:56] Speaker 1: So since... Since we're in Europe, let's get some of
[35:59] Speaker 1: those photos. Let's check out where these guys land on
[36:01] Speaker 1: the celebrity list.
[36:02] Speaker 2: And just so we know, you're an A-tier celebrity, B-tier celebrity, C-tier, D-tier,
[36:07] Speaker 2: or Z-tier.
[36:08] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[36:09] Speaker 1: There's a big drop-off from D to Z.
[36:11] Speaker 2: I hope Ethan Quinn doesn't make this.
[36:13] Speaker 1: I hope he does.
[36:14] Speaker 2: You know, Brad Pitt in America is an A-lister.
[36:17] Speaker 1: Where's Brad Pitt in Europe?
[36:18] Speaker 2: He's also an A-lister. I was going over like an
[36:22] Speaker 2: A-lister compared to like a C-lister would be Pauly Shore
[36:26] Speaker 2: or something. He's a D-lister actually. Yeah.
[36:31] Speaker 4: All right.
[36:31] Speaker 1: That's good for Pauly Shore to be a C-lister.
[36:33] Speaker 5: All right.
[36:33] Speaker 2: All right. Let's do it.
[36:34] Speaker 1: Ooh, Ben Shelton.
[36:36] Speaker 2: Ben Shelton.
[36:38] Speaker 1: Can I ask one more question? Is this like at
[36:40] Speaker 1: the tennis event specifically or just cruising the streets.
[36:43] Speaker 2: Of– No, no, no.
[36:44] Speaker 1: You know, cruising the streets of Basel.
[36:46] Speaker 4: All right.
[36:47] Speaker 2: This is on the streets. This is on the streets.
[36:50] Speaker 2: This is tough.
[36:52] Speaker 6: He's a B-list– B-tier.
[36:54] Speaker 1: He's a B-tier. Yeah, I think in Europe.
[36:56] Speaker 2: Definitely B-tier.
[36:57] Speaker 4: Like– Yeah. Yeah.
[36:59] Speaker 2: Pushing for a tier you think he's a b-list celeb
[37:02] Speaker 2: walking the streets of basel i'm going c tier okay.
[37:07] Speaker 3: I guess we're talking like we're comparing him to actors
[37:11] Speaker 3: as well it's not just athletes right yeah or not
[37:14] Speaker 3: just tennis players to everyone to everyone.
[37:17] Speaker 1: Maybe see everyone maybe see one c in europe yeah.
[37:21] Speaker 6: And then he's a c if we're comparing him.
[37:23] Speaker 1: To Yeah, he's a C.
[37:26] Speaker 3: He's competing against like Mbappé out there.
[37:29] Speaker 2: Yeah. I will say for Shelton, Trinity Rodman walked the
[37:35] Speaker 2: Victoria's Secret fashion show four days ago. That's a big deal.
[37:38] Speaker 1: My wife informed me of that, you know, so it's good.
[37:41] Speaker 4: Goodness.
[37:41] Speaker 2: I watched with my wife. You turned on.
[37:45] Speaker 6: The TV to watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show?
[37:49] Speaker 2: Yeah. You say that like it's a weird thing?
[37:51] Speaker 4: It was pretty weird.
[37:53] Speaker 2: No, it's not. Like laying in bed at night, 8 o'clock,
[37:56] Speaker 2: trying on the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Who doesn't want
[37:58] Speaker 2: to watch that? As opposed to Sunday Night Football? Yeah,
[38:01] Speaker 2: the game was over already. Okay. The Packers were up
[38:05] Speaker 2: by like 20.
[38:07] Speaker 6: And so you're like, oh, honey, let's now watch the
[38:09] Speaker 6: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. I know that it's on.
[38:11] Speaker 2: Yeah. That's exactly how it went down.
[38:16] Speaker 4: That's weird.
[38:17] Speaker 2: But anyways... Sorry. All right. Steve, help me out here.
[38:20] Speaker 4: Okay.
[38:21] Speaker 2: You don't want to watch a bunch of like smoke
[38:22] Speaker 2: shows walking down the runway with some good music.
[38:24] Speaker 6: I just didn't know that. How would you even know
[38:26] Speaker 6: that it was on?
[38:27] Speaker 2: I have the internet in front of me, like a
[38:30] Speaker 2: phone or something. It's like every, like was everywhere.
[38:32] Speaker 1: I'm with John. I didn't know it was happening.
[38:34] Speaker 2: Thank you. I wouldn't, to be fair. My wife told
[38:37] Speaker 2: me it was that night. I didn't know it was
[38:38] Speaker 2: going to be on. There you go. She told me.
[38:39] Speaker 2: That's what I'm getting at.
[38:40] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[38:40] Speaker 2: All right.
[38:42] Speaker 4: Fair.
[38:42] Speaker 2: Here we go.
[38:43] Speaker 4: Let's move on.
[38:44] Speaker 1: It's just like a D-lister. Stefano's sitzy past.
[38:48] Speaker 5: No.
[38:48] Speaker 2: No, he's also a C-lister. He's on the same level
[38:51] Speaker 2: as Shelton because of the hair.
[38:53] Speaker 4: In Europe. In Europe.
[38:55] Speaker 2: Oh, right. Sorry.
[38:56] Speaker 1: Sorry.
[38:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. Tsitsipas is a C-lister.
[39:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, in Europe for sure. You guys are right.
[39:02] Speaker 2: C-lister. He looks like a star. He has the look
[39:04] Speaker 2: and he's tall with the hair where if he walks
[39:06] Speaker 2: into a restaurant, you naturally would look over and be like, ooh.
[39:08] Speaker 1: But you don't know who it is, but you see
[39:09] Speaker 1: he's somebody.
[39:10] Speaker 2: Yeah, that guy is someone.
[39:11] Speaker 1: You don't know who he is, but you know he's someone.
[39:14] Speaker 4: Exactly. Okay.
[39:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. You're right. You're right. You're right. All right.
[39:17] Speaker 2: Next one. Manorino. Jeez Louise.
[39:20] Speaker 4: That's good.
[39:21] Speaker 1: Back to my previous point on Monday's show. This guy
[39:23] Speaker 1: doesn't even play in Europe, so he's somewhere between a
[39:26] Speaker 1: D and a Z. Somewhere in there.
[39:28] Speaker 2: He's a Z. A I like Man Arena, but he
[39:32] Speaker 2: also just looks like he's an accountant at KPMG, you
[39:35] Speaker 2: know what I mean?
[39:36] Speaker 6: He would put himself as a Z.
[39:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, he doesn't want to be any.
[39:40] Speaker 3: That guy has played 35 tournaments a year for the
[39:43] Speaker 3: last 20 years and has never missed a single one.
[39:45] Speaker 3: It's incredible.
[39:46] Speaker 2: He's legitimately played 4,000 tournaments. Yeah, it's crazy. That's low.
[39:50] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[39:50] Speaker 1: All right. While you guys pull up the next one,
[39:52] Speaker 1: I'm going to look. A.
[39:53] Speaker 2: A-lister.
[39:54] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[39:55] Speaker 6: Sinners and A-lister.
[39:57] Speaker 2: Oh, A-lister. Are Sinner and Alcaraz the only two, like,
[40:00] Speaker 2: bona fide A-listers? Current players?
[40:03] Speaker 1: No. Novak, dude. What are you guys talking about?
[40:07] Speaker 2: Oh, Novak. You're right. You're right. Sorry.
[40:09] Speaker 1: I mean, sorry. Just to go backwards.
[40:11] Speaker 4: Yes.
[40:11] Speaker 1: Stupid, stupid statements, though. He's played close to 390 ATP events.
[40:16] Speaker 2: It doesn't sound as cool when you say that.
[40:18] Speaker 1: He's got 384 losses and five titles. That's crazy.
[40:21] Speaker 5: Wow.
[40:22] Speaker 2: All right, moving on. Keep going.
[40:24] Speaker 1: There's not a list.
[40:25] Speaker 2: I'm not 100% sure who that is. Oh, Helio Navarra. Oh,
[40:28] Speaker 2: Harry Helio Navarra.
[40:30] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[40:30] Speaker 1: In Finland, he's like a B-lister, but everywhere else he's
[40:33] Speaker 1: a below the alphabet.
[40:34] Speaker 2: Is he a B in Finland?
[40:35] Speaker 1: He won athlete of the year or sportsman of the
[40:37] Speaker 1: year in Finland like last year.
[40:37] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[40:38] Speaker 2: Really?
[40:39] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[40:40] Speaker 6: Over Sebastian Aho and Alexander Barkov?
[40:43] Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah. Huh?
[40:45] Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. Okay. He's a Z-lister.
[40:50] Speaker 1: Below Z.
[40:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, everywhere else. Z. Probably a great guy.
[40:54] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[40:54] Speaker 2: I don't know him, but Z.
[40:56] Speaker 3: Yeah, Z.
[40:58] Speaker 4: Fritzy.
[41:00] Speaker 5: Man.
[41:00] Speaker 4: Fritzy. Fritzy.
[41:02] Speaker 2: Fritzy. D. Oh, I know.
[41:04] Speaker 3: He's a D-lister, huh?
[41:05] Speaker 1: Hey, you're a D.
[41:07] Speaker 4: Sorry, Fritzy.
[41:10] Speaker 2: You didn't want to say it, did you? No, I
[41:13] Speaker 2: didn't want Fritzie to make the list. In Europe, remember.
[41:16] Speaker 2: In Europe. Specific to Europe. What's he in America? C?
[41:19] Speaker 2: C plus. C plus, yeah. Yeah. Depending on the crowd.
[41:23] Speaker 2: He teeters. He teeters. Yeah, D and– Not a great– No, no, no.
[41:28] Speaker 6: He might push for B in America.
[41:30] Speaker 1: I will say he does like when he's in LA,
[41:32] Speaker 1: he does hang out with like the influential social media people. Yeah,
[41:35] Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying.
[41:36] Speaker 2: He's dialed in.
[41:37] Speaker 1: He's like with like that world like in LA. I'll
[41:39] Speaker 1: see it pop up. I'm like, jeez, like that guy
[41:41] Speaker 1: has got 10 million followers.
[41:42] Speaker 2: It's market-based. It's hard to go broad like all the
[41:44] Speaker 2: US because there are different markets. He'll go from a
[41:47] Speaker 2: B-lister to a D-lister. It is market-based.
[41:48] Speaker 1: Somebody under like 30, he's like pretty well-known.
[41:51] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[41:51] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
[41:53] Speaker 1: Who is next? Gael Monfils. In Europe, he's a.
[42:02] Speaker 2: B, B.
[42:03] Speaker 1: I'm going to go B.
[42:05] Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll go B. I'll go B too.
[42:07] Speaker 4: I'll go B too.
[42:08] Speaker 2: Yeah. He's had 20 years of entertaining people. Very, yeah.
[42:17] Speaker 6: Very noticeable, has something about him. They were like, you
[42:20] Speaker 6: can kind of like, you know, Walks, kind of like Tsitsipas, right?
[42:25] Speaker 2: He commands a room when he walks in. There you go.
[42:28] Speaker 1: Everybody knows him.
[42:29] Speaker 2: That's what I was looking for.
[42:30] Speaker 6: He does command a room, yep.
[42:31] Speaker 2: So go B for sure.
[42:32] Speaker 4: Who's next?
[42:37] Speaker 1: Carlitos. Look at the mustache and hair. Every city in
[42:42] Speaker 1: the world.
[42:44] Speaker 6: That hair and that picture, it looks like AI.
[42:48] Speaker 1: Get that one framed for the wall.
[42:50] Speaker 2: I really might. Like, look at that thing.
[42:51] Speaker 6: That would be extremely weird.
[42:54] Speaker 2: I mean, you could pop him into the most remote
[42:56] Speaker 2: African village, A-lister. This guy has everything. Yeah. He's an
[43:01] Speaker 2: A-lister wherever he walks.
[43:02] Speaker 1: First person you see, I mentioned already, at the World Cup,
[43:05] Speaker 1: the biggest sporting event in the world. He's the first
[43:07] Speaker 1: athlete you see walk out there. Biggest star in the world.
[43:09] Speaker 2: He's bigger than Yannick, right?
[43:11] Speaker 1: Yeah, way bigger.
[43:12] Speaker 2: Way bigger. Way bigger.
[43:13] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[43:14] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[43:14] Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. Zverev. Alexander Zverev.
[43:19] Speaker 6: I'm going.
[43:20] Speaker 2: Guys, I'm going A-lister.
[43:22] Speaker 1: I'm going A. With 2026 firmly supplanted with two slams,
[43:26] Speaker 1: world number one, he's an A-lister.
[43:28] Speaker 2: For sure. If I say B, it's getting back to
[43:30] Speaker 2: him and he's going to bring it up to me.
[43:32] Speaker 2: That's very true. I know. That's where I struggle with
[43:35] Speaker 2: this one.
[43:36] Speaker 1: Speak your mind, Sam.
[43:37] Speaker 2: Speak my mind. B-lister.
[43:39] Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness.
[43:43] Speaker 2: That's so good.
[43:45] Speaker 1: Sammy, Sammy, Sammy.
[43:48] Speaker 2: Number one in the world, two slams.
[43:50] Speaker 4: B-lister?
[43:51] Speaker 2: B-lister. Yeah.
[43:55] Speaker 1: Is this a bit? Or are we just, you think
[43:56] Speaker 1: it's a B-lister?
[43:57] Speaker 2: Doesn't Kuznetsova have like two slams? Yeah, but right now.
[44:01] Speaker 1: Right now, dude.
[44:03] Speaker 4: Right now.
[44:03] Speaker 2: Right now. God, B-plus. B-plus lister.
[44:05] Speaker 4: Okay, B-plus lister.
[44:07] Speaker 2: Jesus.
[44:08] Speaker 5: Okay.
[44:08] Speaker 4: Moving on.
[44:11] Speaker 6: Oh, I knew it.
[44:11] Speaker 4: I knew it.
[44:12] Speaker 2: I knew it.
[44:13] Speaker 1: Poor Ethan.
[44:14] Speaker 2: I didn't see. Oh, it's Ethan? Yeah, it's Ethan Quinn. Yeah.
[44:18] Speaker 1: Ethan Quinn.
[44:20] Speaker 3: He's got a great look. The injury's not doing him
[44:24] Speaker 3: any favors right now.
[44:25] Speaker 1: He's a wholesome American boy. In Europe, he's a Z-lister.
[44:28] Speaker 2: He's a Z-lister.
[44:29] Speaker 1: Yeah, I hate to. Yeah, but in America, that could change.
[44:32] Speaker 2: Who is more recognizable in Europe? It's not a knock
[44:34] Speaker 2: on him.
[44:35] Speaker 6: It's not like any of us were ever a D-lister.
[44:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. Who is more recognizable in Europe walking around?
[44:42] Speaker 2: Ethan Quinn, Adrian Manorino. Wow. Good one. Probably Manorino.
[44:52] Speaker 1: I'm going to say Manorino. Just years of service.
[44:55] Speaker 2: Years of service. Yeah.
[44:57] Speaker 4: Manorino. Dang.
[45:01] Speaker 2: Another tough one for Ethan Quinn.
[45:03] Speaker 1: Just catching strays. But in America, you might change your mind.
[45:09] Speaker 2: Maybe.
[45:10] Speaker 5: No.
[45:11] Speaker 2: D-lister.
[45:11] Speaker 1: In Fresno?
[45:12] Speaker 4: In Fresno.
[45:13] Speaker 2: Okay, that's a good one. Specifically Fresno. In Fresno, where
[45:15] Speaker 2: he's from, he's probably a legitimate D-lister. People in Fresno
[45:23] Speaker 2: don't watch tennis. Fresno is full of farmers.
[45:28] Speaker 1: Big tennis town there.
[45:30] Speaker 2: I've never been to Fresno. There's no reason to go
[45:33] Speaker 2: to Fresno. That's it. I got one for Sam. We'll
[45:37] Speaker 2: go back to the spelling bee. Spell Segway. I just
[45:39] Speaker 2: thought of this. Segway.
[45:41] Speaker 6: That's a good Segway into the next segment.
[45:44] Speaker 2: So it's obviously not S-E-G-W-A-Y. It's not. Don't look it up, Stevie.
[45:52] Speaker 2: I'm not. Yes, you are.
[45:55] Speaker 4: Segway.
[45:56] Speaker 2: It's like there's a U and an E and an
[45:58] Speaker 2: A and a G and a U and an E
[46:00] Speaker 2: in there, something kind of thing, right?
[46:01] Speaker 6: I lost you there.
[46:03] Speaker 2: What? You said you're tracking. Yeah, yeah, I'm tracking. S-E-G-U-E-A.
[46:13] Speaker 2: You had it right.
[46:15] Speaker 4: S-E-G-U-E.
[46:16] Speaker 1: Just leave it there.
[46:18] Speaker 2: Wait, you went U-E-A? I didn't think that was right,
[46:22] Speaker 2: but I just thought there was a little sprinkle on
[46:24] Speaker 2: the end. I'm actually pretty happy with how close I was. Yeah,
[46:27] Speaker 2: that's pretty good. I'm impressed.
[46:29] Speaker 1: That's a win right there. I'm impressed.
[46:32] Speaker 2: I also want to bring back Random Tennis Player of
[46:34] Speaker 2: the Week. You guys? Remember when you did that a
[46:38] Speaker 2: year and a half ago?
[46:38] Speaker 1: That was a big hit.
[46:40] Speaker 2: That was a hit. Let's do it maybe next week.
[46:44] Speaker 2: We're bringing back Random Tennis Player of the Week.
[46:48] Speaker 1: Of the week. We'll do it on Thursday's show next
[46:51] Speaker 1: week on the Halloween episode?
[46:52] Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, John goes next week, then Steve, then me.
[46:55] Speaker 2: All right, I love that.
[46:56] Speaker 1: All right, well, with that, great interview from Alexander Blocks.
[46:59] Speaker 2: They're in Europe.
[47:00] Speaker 1: We have two more weeks left to get a tour.
[47:02] Speaker 1: So with that, we will see everybody on Monday's show
[47:05] Speaker 1: to break down these 250s and what a week. What
[47:08] Speaker 1: another week. Boys on tour. So we'll see everybody on Monday.
[47:11] Speaker 1: We're going to segue out of this because Sam can't spell.
[47:14] Speaker 5: With the Sam Asford John.
[47:19] Speaker 4: The same for Sam.
[47:22] Speaker 2: Stevie J won the bronze.
[47:24] Speaker 4: But none won a slam.
[47:29] Speaker 2: Nothing, nothing made you. Nothing, nothing made you. Nothing, nothing
[47:46] Speaker 2: made you.
[47:58] Speaker 1: Ooh, all right, Ben Shelton. Where is he at on
[48:00] Speaker 1: the European celebrity list?
[48:02] Speaker 2: Ooh, Tsitsipas.
[48:04] Speaker 4: That's a good one. Ooh.
[48:12] Speaker 2: What is that? All right.
[48:18] Speaker 4: Ooh.
[48:19] Speaker 5: Ooh. All right.
[48:24] Speaker 2: Oh, Tsitsipas. All right, this is a good one. Ooh.
[48:27] Speaker 5: Yeah.

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