Australian Open 2026 Draw Show | Full Breakdown

=== PART 1: WOMEN'S DRAW ===

Alvin Owusu (00:06.617)
And welcome to another edition of the best of three podcast. It is the Australian open draw show 2026 edition. Th the 2026 season is officially officially officially upon us. I'm excited. Are you excited?

Torrey (00:16.104)
Good.

Torrey (00:21.36)
Yeah.

Absolutely Alvin. I feel like it's been too long. feel like it's been just right. know what I mean? feel like they've, you know, just when I was getting a little overwhelmed with a little too much tennis, they took a nice little break, a little sabbatical, and now we're back in the mix. Alvin, I'm always excited for the Australian Open. And this comes at a perfect time of the year, right as my football is...

winding down, feel like my tennis is picking up. So this part of the unofficial tennis commissioner, they got it right. You know what mean?

Alvin Owusu (00:51.359)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (00:58.573)
Yeah, yeah, this is the, I'll show you it feels like a festival to kick off the beginning of the tennis season, even though it feels like we just ended a decent enough break for those of us not having to hit any tennis balls. But yeah, it's currently, I think 27 degrees outside here in Atlanta, Georgia. So looking forward to turning on some contrasting weather for the next few weeks.

Torrey (01:07.569)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (01:17.895)
Yeah.

Torrey (01:23.588)
Right. Right. Right. Right.

Alvin Owusu (01:26.507)
But so we've got our draw here. We'll get right to it. We'll start with the women today. Draws came out a few hours ago. I've looked through it quickly. I think you may be given a note once. We're going to do it live, as they say. Let's start the top half here. Top half of Irina Sabalinka's quarter. She is our number one seed. I'm looking at the draw here. You start to see some names pop out.

Torrey (01:38.436)
Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:55.979)
maybe one in Murata Kano, but I mean, they had a great match at Wimbledon last year. That's gonna be a couple rounds forward if they can both get there, which I imagine they both will. And then if they were to proceed any further than that, you've got a Victoria Volko going from not participating last year, more or less playing junior tennis this time last year, to a potential third round matchup with one Clara Towson.

Torrey (02:18.47)
Sir? Sir?

Torrey (02:23.32)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (02:25.165)
That's, I don't want to look too far ahead. We can probably save that for next week. But the idea of potentially Vicky and Arena playing a little further down here, maybe the beginning half of the second week. I look at that match as a potential matchup as a, a big test, right? We've seen, we saw a lot from Vicky last year in her first, in her first go round on tour, not even a full year on tour.

Torrey (02:28.091)
Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (02:44.346)
Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (02:53.855)
and then the ability to maybe get some reps against a top player, the top player women's tennis. That would be fantastic. Fantastic for us to see where she actually is.

Torrey (03:03.566)
I agree and Alvin, I have to say this because it happens every year. You can't sleep on the qualifiers. You can't sleep on some of the players that are getting in there. Two or three matches in, it's the first slam of the year. Really, if they didn't play Brisbane, was maybe their first event. And obviously the tried and true like Sabalink and others are gonna be, usually gonna be just fine even in the event of a.

player that they play who's on fire. But you always have to watch out for the sleeper. So like you said, let's not look too far ahead. You you recall this same time last year, there was several seeds that went out first round. I mean, it was just an absolute bloodbath. So yeah, I see two or three qualifiers right already, you know what I mean? And obviously a wild card, Jones. I'm just saying let's get through this first round. Pada Povas the sleeper in this little section right here.

Alvin Owusu (03:57.484)
you

Torrey (04:01.797)
I'm not mistaken. She's under the guidance now of Denar, Safina and her camp. You got some people here. I apologize. I always butcher this young ladies there. Thank you. It's always a tough matchup on the hard court. So I'm just saying there's some names in here that I'm just like, don't sleep. This could be a don't sleep tour right here.

Alvin Owusu (04:10.71)
Pavlychenkyba. There you go.

Alvin Owusu (04:21.932)
That's true, and I think at a macro level, I'm with you. But personally, when it comes to Arena Sabalinka, it's like death taxes in Arena Sabalinka, right? This is all like, the qualifiers and the wild cards and Potipova, that's all cute. I mean, you can take my pen or pencil, I don't care, whatever. I have a feeling I know where Arena's gonna be in second week, but...

Torrey (04:32.847)
100%.

Torrey (04:43.971)
Yeah.

Yep. 100 % but still seething from last year's sting. Let's not let's not sleep on that arena. Don't ever forget stuff like that. I'm just saying in general for the rest of them, you know, especially Ronacondo and others. I'm just saying that's that's where these matches come in and you know two or three matches in the qualifiers and play three to get in and so they are they're tested and it's to me.

Alvin Owusu (04:50.365)
That's why they play the matches. I'll stay corrected if I'm wrong.

Torrey (05:16.749)
It's always in that first round, know, where they can catch that non-qualifier, you know, slipping a little bit. They're a little more comfortable with the courts. They got some momentum. You knocked out three matches out, but you're playing contests. I don't care what situation it is. Unless you're dinged up, you've won three matches, buddy. You know everything. You got everything going in the routine, in the groove. I don't mention it in regards to a ring. I think we both understand that. I'm just talking about in the draw in general. wanted to get that out there.

Alvin Owusu (05:21.312)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (05:30.54)
Yep.

Torrey (05:44.357)
The true fans that are watching, know. And Australia is always notorious. I believe it was the notorious B.I.G. with the little Duran Duran remix. You know what I mean? It's always notorious for the upsets this time of year. So we can keep moving though. I wanna see what you're.

Alvin Owusu (06:03.981)
I think that's a good point that you bring up though. Australian Open is very unique in that compared to the other Grand Slams, the warm-up leading up to it is one very abbreviated and sometimes non-existent for some players. I would say most players on the women's side had played either Brisbane or Auckland or the United Cup. Some have it, and some haven't. But I think after the off-season ends, whether it's four...

Torrey (06:26.349)
Right, at all.

Alvin Owusu (06:32.428)
three weeks for some people, six weeks for others, depending on where you finish up your year, you put in that block of work, you might have added things to your game, you might have played a warm-up event, but you don't know, you don't really know until that first match. And I think all 128 players, probably on both sides of the draw, come in with the same level of nervousness and anxiety for this particular slam, and then...

get through it at varying speeds, whether it's through that first match or even the first set, you kind of settle in and go, okay, cool, everything that I thought I was bringing into this year, I've got it now. Compared to like French Open where you have a month and a half of clay court warmup events, right? Or US Open when you've been playing on hard court for about a month straight at that point. So yeah, we'll keep it moving.

Torrey (07:07.617)
Right. Right.

Torrey (07:13.635)
Right. Right.

Torrey (07:23.428)
just wanted to mention it because you and I both know we'll be talking the same time a week or so from now and I would go out on a limb Alvin and say of the 32 seeds I would go out on a limb and say you know they shouldn't all be until what? Round 32? I would go out on a limb and say easy, easy, 50 % you know give or take you know we'll may not be here you know what mean? That's just what historically has happened.

Alvin Owusu (07:47.369)
Okay.

Torrey (07:51.684)
40 % for sure just because of some upstarts of people you hadn't thought you had heard of and you always got those those lingering 33 through 42 that are in there. They're just missed being seeded. They got a worse draw but they got a good draw and the 30s that got a tough draw with somebody who you know there's people in this draw up to the one grand slam. You know I look down there at Marketta Van Juistkveld who's 32 seed. This woman has played some ball and want to slam and she's a

Alvin Owusu (08:02.346)
Hey, it's... mean...

Torrey (08:20.9)
32 seats. I'm just saying there's some sharks in these waters. That's literally and figuratively.

Alvin Owusu (08:27.356)
Absolutely, I mean we can go just I mean right down to the bottom half of a section here which is headlined by Jason Paulini but if you look a few rows down like a matchup of like Putin Seva versus Sadash Maya right that's tricky that is not straightforward both players have been I think have been seated in Grand Slams before and then you get the winner of that match to potentially meet up against Marta Kostiak who's

Torrey (08:35.96)
Right.

Torrey (08:40.899)
Right?

Ricky, that's not the trap, right?

Right.

Alvin Owusu (08:54.828)
played lights out tennis in the last week of May the final of what term did she play? And she played in Brisbane, lost to Savelinka in the finals there, but she beat Pagula, Andreba, and AnnaSmova on the way. Like she's, that's a player coming into the event where you're like, oh yeah, she's sharp, she's ready to roll, hitting that, you would always say that she's a fantastic moomer, hits the piss out of the backhand, forehand can be a little thin at times, but she's hitting that thing big right now.

Torrey (09:02.636)
Yeah. Abelenca, about to say. Yeah.

Yep. Yep.

Torrey (09:24.215)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (09:24.807)
Is it real? Let's find out. think if she gets herself into the third round of the discernment, then I think we're talking about maybe a different version of Marta Costio.

Torrey (09:28.161)
But.

Torrey (09:35.491)
Yep, I agree. I agree. And there's your girl, Evie Elwish right there playing Katie Volonetz right there, a little American love on the wild card, is on the matchup. So one of them will get through. Magdalena Freck. I'm telling you, Alvin, there's some, like I said, there's some, and we can't forget about Alexandra up there at the top, half of this whole section. So I'm telling you, these are those trap sections where,

Alvin Owusu (09:48.705)
Yep.

Torrey (10:02.947)
You know, you can't put it, that's exactly what I was talking about with Haddad Maya, you called it earlier. There's so much depth in this little mini subsection right here that you really just, I don't wanna over speak it, but I'm just saying, I don't wanna overstate it, but just saying these are those kind of matches I'm talking about where Buddy, as in a sense, and again, the number one seed deserves that kind of a draw. It didn't look as it had been full life, qualifiers, sure, but you can't,

There are the non-seeds, three of the non-seeds in this draw, in this section we're looking at right now on your screen, are as tough as some of the seeds and proven, I might add, no offense to Eva and others, and proven. this is not an easy, unfortunately for the draw, two of playing each other. you know what I mean? So just saying, had they been at different spots, right? you know, anyway, we can keep moving.

Alvin Owusu (10:54.206)
Right, right.

Alvin Owusu (11:00.49)
But that's the beauty of Grand Slams, that you get into some events, like we'll just even take Brisbane that just wrapped up. Brisbane's a tight 64 draw, and you get these really, really tough matchups very, very early on. They're a little more spread out here through the first round of a Grand Slam, but they have, the implications I think are magnified. Someone like it, let's even look at Jazmine Paolini, right? You would say this is her, she's the bottom half of this section, this is kind of her.

Torrey (11:03.329)
Right.

Torrey (11:14.816)
Right?

Alvin Owusu (11:30.08)
her space to run through, like, not to disrespect her, but like, she's got the work. Like, after the second round, it's work. She's got big hitters coming. Or the potential upstart, Jovich. Like, this is her opportunity to show what she's really made of. Like, am I gonna be a force on this tour now or later? And I think this is a perfect opportunity to introduce herself to the...

Torrey (11:52.873)
Yep. Bye.

Alvin Owusu (11:59.261)
the rest of the tennis world.

Torrey (12:00.801)
All right, that's right. Great subsection right there.

Alvin Owusu (12:05.354)
Another, let's keep moving down here, top half of Coco Golf's section here. Potential second round matchup with one Venus Williams. Let's, Venus has some work to do. Olga Danilovic, Olga's not a sleeper. Venus is also not, right, exactly.

Torrey (12:10.365)
Woo, buddy.

yeah.

Torrey (12:19.552)
Yeah, for sure.

Right. And Venus is not young. you know, we got to, you know, while she's I would give her every bit of respect due. How many slams? Nine. mean, enough. Right. Every bit of the respect she deserves to get through match one. Mother time is always undefeated. So, you know, got that. And that would be a match of the ages. I think her first I think Coco's first big win was against Venus from some years back. So I you know, that one there.

Alvin Owusu (12:36.372)
Enough, yeah.

Torrey (12:52.514)
is they actually play a lot alike, which is kind of funny. Both have great backhands and move well. And obviously Cocoa Billing. That to me is a great match for sentimentality. And quite frankly, let's just give up one quick shout out to Venus still playing and being competitive at this level that what is she? What is she 43 something like that? mean, Right, is she? I've lost track and doesn't even matter. The fact that she's still playing and being able to be competitive at this at this age is a joke of.

Alvin Owusu (13:06.783)
Absolutely.

Maybe four or five.

Torrey (13:21.833)
of just her being in shape, her want to compete and just her how good she is. As I said in a previous podcast with Yalvin, for her to be this good now, you forget how good she was 20 years ago. You know what I mean? And so that to me is every time I see her strike a ball, I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. This girl's took the ball this big. I'm like, it's joke.

about how I mean we always we talk about Serena at length and nauseam and much deserved and we forget big sis was always the first one you know what I mean so anyway look coach there's that match Banjuscova and Haley Baptiste that could be it that's a tough one right there and right behind it you got Christiana and Mohova this is what I'm talking about you get these kind of matches Alicia Parts and Alex E. Allen this is this is what I'm talking about Emma Navarro and Maggie Lynette

Alvin Owusu (13:57.228)
Right, right.

Alvin Owusu (14:18.156)
This is chunky section right here. This is a chunky section right here. It's got a little bit of everything. It's got an ESPN dream match up here with Golfin-Williams in the second round. You've got a... Either Haley Baptiste or Von Der Schilf is getting off to a bad start this year. Let's put it that way. One of them is going to come out of this tournament going, oh, that's not how I want to start the year. And I think Haley is probably right outside the seatings. Yeah, she's probably right around the end

Torrey (14:18.196)
This is... Hello! Yes, sir!

Torrey (14:31.136)
Right?

Torrey (14:38.548)
Right, right, right. 100%. 100%.

Alvin Owusu (14:48.404)
still. Vondi, a former Wimbledon champion, French Open finalist, then yeah, Parks, Iyalla. Like again, this is someone's gonna be a little disappointed with the start of their season here. And that's it is what it is. Grand slams, the draws are big, the chips fall where they may. Outside of the top eight seeds, you don't know where you're going. So this is for us fans.

Torrey (14:52.96)
Yeah. Finalist, right? Right.

Torrey (15:11.817)
I do.

Alvin Owusu (15:18.4)
The beauty is in the depth, right? The beauty is in the depth where a match up between Alicia Parks and Alice Ayala is something that it won't get TV time, but if I were at Melbourne Park, I would find my way out to court, whatever, because this would be an interesting one.

Torrey (15:20.244)
Yup. Yup.

Torrey (15:31.396)
100%. 100%.

Alvin Owusu (15:35.936)
And Ditto with Magdalena Lynette versus Emma Navarro. Quick pause on Emma. We've talked about her a lot in our US Women's Wrap Up. I'm gonna go ahead and put on the, I'm gonna say the warning lights. I'm a little concerned. After the way we finished last year, after the way she finished last year and then has started this year,

Torrey (15:42.099)
Yeah.

Torrey (15:55.645)
Why?

Alvin Owusu (16:03.242)
Lost to Dina Schneider, quarterfinals of think Adelaide, which had been like yesterday or day before, something like that. Also lost in the first round against Miss Jones in Auckland. So.

That's, not, would have liked to see her pop a big result to make me feel a better about that whole like she's somewhere between eight and 15. And Magda's tough. Yeah, I'm gonna leave it there. I'm gonna leave it there, but I got my rock, the rock side eye on that matchup for serious. Okay, bottom half of.

Torrey (16:25.76)
early on to kick off the year. Sure.

Torrey (16:39.443)
Yeah, I'm with you.

Torrey (16:48.159)
I want to add to that. There was an article I saw, you know how I am about players' mindsets, Alvin. It's one of the biggest things. absolutely, to me it's a death knell when I start hearing a little bit of the negativity of certain things. There was an article that came through and I hate how journalists kind of rage bait the.

Alvin Owusu (16:50.155)
Please do.

Alvin Owusu (17:14.699)
Sure.

Torrey (17:15.326)
the athletes themselves. So 100 % she could have been misquoted and taken out of context. The article was basically speaking to the point that she, under whatever circumstances and context said, she had not gotten some of the same support that other American players have.

On one end, Emma Navarro says this, and on one end I'm saying, you know what, there might be some truth to that. On one end, you know, clearly Emma and her family have fairly deep pockets and I'm sure whatever she's needed, she's gotten, you know what mean, on the tennis side of things. This is like Jessica Pagula, right, right. This is like Jessica Pagula saying, you know.

Alvin Owusu (17:36.587)
Okay.

Alvin Owusu (17:53.515)
What support are you looking for, Ms. Navarro?

Torrey (18:00.991)
just didn't get enough court time when I was growing up. like, you probably got more than most, right? It's not a comparison and it certainly isn't about her dad's wealth. This is more about her dad started an academy with her being one of the prime benefactors. She went to one of the best college tennis teams in the country and won his double A's, I wanna say twice, before she went on the tour. She has received as much support as a person can.

rightfully think they deserve and I and more so and she's been a top 10 player I would even say has she Benefited perhaps too much from some things and now she's settling into where she's you mentioned this in the podcast about the end of the year recap and Now she's selling into where she is The only thing I was concerned about Was the attitude and mindset when I hear those kind of comments?

It strikes me as the cup is half empty, not a cup is half full type of perspective. And I get concerned because at that point, I feel like the player, at least subconsciously, is pointing a finger or two at something they haven't been able to get done and they're looking for an excuse as to see why. When I hear a player own up to what they're talking about, own up to, know what, I just gotta work a little harder. This is gonna be great. I'm so happy things have happened. Honestly, kinda went top 10.

a little more than I thought I would be, but hey, so I now know I can do it. You know, I'm making some adjustments in my game. I'm gonna keep going. I think that player's ceiling, right or wrong, is even higher because their mindset is higher. They're thinking about, and quite frankly, owning whatever the unfortunate has been, and they're owning it and they're moving forward. Even if it's a little snarky from time to time. Arena can be a little snarky sometimes with her post-match interviews. And again, but I like it because...

Alvin Owusu (19:53.845)
Sure. Yeah.

Torrey (19:58.383)
She's saying I'm better than that. You can read it as to say you're not better than me and that's fair. But Arena's gonna speak to it like, I'll be back. You know, she wasn't as graceful as Anissa Mova was in her Wimbledon speech, but that's Arena. I said to say I would, and again, love to have been there when the competition was had. So full, full transparency on that one. But I'm with you on that one and I didn't want to bring it up until after the match, but I wanted to say it out there ahead of time, so.

We can at understand. And I'm hoping that Emma changes tack mentally or at least through her comments going forward, I hear something different to know that she was misquoted or taken out of context because I feel when players start talking a lot and I've heard US players for a long time, Alvin, 30 years since Brian the Haley was playing Nationals and going to college, they didn't give me the same love they gave so-and-so. And I get it. It's a very common thread. But.

have the mentality that I'm going to do whatever I am meant to do on me. It ain't about USTA, it ain't about wildcards, it ain't about support, it ain't about none of that. It's about what you get done between those lines when that new cannonball is opened up. So I think that's where I'd like to see not just her results, I'd like to see her talk, her mindset show that. That's what I wanted to add to your two cents. Who we got next?

Alvin Owusu (21:25.451)
Fair enough, no notes there. Next up, bottom half of Coco's quarter here. Another tough one, this is an interesting quarter, or interesting section of this quarter. Another tricky, tricky matchup, Barboa Kachigova and Deanna Schneider. That's...

Torrey (21:30.94)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Torrey (21:48.39)
I was just looking at that one. That's another one that probably should have been seeded. You know what mean? Another Grand Slam.

Alvin Owusu (21:53.366)
But that sucks for both of them. That is a bad draw for both of them. They would both think that they could get a couple rounds in here, but know, Barbara in very recent memory, it was in 2024, hell, it's one Wimbledon. She made round of 16 at the US Open last year, but that's how the chips fall with the ranking points, right? You have to put together a full season.

to keep yourself in seeding contention. you know, even Mitch Snyder has some points coming off here. So she needs to, her raking's falling backwards. That's a tricky, that's a tricky, tricky matchup. That'll be a good match to crafty players, almost like Babs is just a righty, not just, Babs is a right-handed cleaner version of, let me take that back. Dina is a left-handed, less,

Torrey (22:28.443)
Right. Needs a good. Yep.

Torrey (22:48.368)
Version of best. Right, sure. Until Dino wins the slam, right?

Alvin Owusu (22:49.323)
solid version of Babs. Yeah, let's put it that way. Let's definitely put it that way. then... Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, let me get Barbora her props hair. The comparison definitely needs to go in that direction. Let's put it this way. Ishrimp's Garouz. Yeah, Diana is always... She always shows up ready to go in the first round of Grand Slam. She's pulled off some...

Torrey (23:00.293)
Right, right.

Torrey (23:04.987)
Right.

Your Shrimps Gun Roost is another one. That's a bit of a trap, you know?

Alvin Owusu (23:17.803)
pretty big wins early in slams in recent memory. So I feel like she'll be ready. Mary Andrea was playing good ball right now. I think she's in the semifinals of Adelaide currently. Made quarterfinals of Brisbane. Is that right? Yeah, quarterfinals lost to Mardukha Stik. Playing good tennis.

Torrey (23:27.035)
Right?

Torrey (23:39.418)
Right, who's playing some real good ball and Meara's tracking just like she should. I was gonna say that Donna Beckett's may not will be a for that would be a good match. Again, try to true veteran tour player, but Meara's playing some really good ball right now. I think the person I'm most concerned, I don't say concern. This match will be a bit of litmus test me is Maria Sakari. I feel like, you know, seeing her

going down. She's kind of she's outside, you know, top 20 top 30. I she's outside the top 50 now and to see her I she doesn't have a spate of injuries. I'd love to see this match. I'm not too familiar with with Jean Jean here the our French competitor, but I'd love to see her at least get to a match with let's just say Mira and then have that match to make me understand what her shelf life is for 2026.

going forward. Does she compete? she competitive? She's always been that way. So that's a match of a player that was, you know, used to be, you know, used to be a very quiet thing. Right. To see her, you and you and I have seen this before, Alvin, they, know, she's on the other side of that top 10, let's be honest. But, you know, with the chance to, to me, it's all about how competitive that match is with one of those players that's currently in the top 10 or top 20 to see, are you still

Alvin Owusu (24:44.939)
She was top 10 player for a couple years, yeah.

Torrey (25:04.09)
relevant such a harsh word, are you still relevant in these types of competitions?

Alvin Owusu (25:10.283)
I'll leave an ad like for her it's a she had a down year and so it wasn't a down year or are we on the downturn? She's she's 30 she's 30 years old but you would say no one's in better shape than her on the tour. Fantastic movers I think she's got back together with her her previous coach after a brief split but I will say she opened the year at the United Cup played some good ball.

Torrey (25:26.884)
Period.

Alvin Owusu (25:37.908)
Lost to Coco pretty handily, then beat Emma Rodikanu who was a little dinged up, but for sure and then also beat Emma Osaka who was also sick in that event. But she did win some matches against some top 30 players while there every match has its own story. But if you are the one that comes out as the victor in a match, you feel good about yourself as a tennis player. So I don't think she could be coming into this event feeling any better about herself. She probably feels great. She probably feels like

Torrey (26:01.753)
Luckily.

Alvin Owusu (26:07.561)
I'm ready to roll. Greek fans show up in Australia big time, every time. So I'm not saying that's gonna be enough to get her past Emera and but I feel like she's probably put herself in the best position to do so. yeah. All right, let's move down to the bottom half here. This would be the top half of Amanda Anna Simova's quarter. Yeah, top half of Amanda's quarter, the bottom half of the draw.

Torrey (26:21.038)
that she

Torrey (26:29.53)
at the bottom, right?

Alvin Owusu (26:38.007)
I mean 2018 special between Carolina Pliskama and one qualifier Sloan Stevens. Qualifying... She got in there. She got in there. She's not commentating. She's playing. This is... One more time. Let's run it back. Let's be a Freshman Tennis player. Let's have at it. I...

Torrey (26:38.411)
Mmm, more.

That's right. I saw that.

I got good for Sloan. Good for Sloan.

Torrey (26:58.169)
Yeah.

Torrey (27:02.752)
Ooh, Lara!

Alvin Owusu (27:03.179)
With Sloan, was a little unfair, maybe a little unfair to Sloan last year. She didn't look like she wanted to be a player last year, but having a former Grand Slam champion with a Q next to her name shows me that she's focused. She had to three matches to get into this position. No wild card, no protected ranking, just, okay, I worked in the off season, I showed up down under, I won three matches, I'm in this tournament, let's...

Torrey (27:17.997)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

Alvin Owusu (27:32.171)
Let's get after it. she has a pretty, mean, Carolyn Polisco, I think she's coming back from, I think she had a kid, which is becoming more more typical of a women's tour. yeah, Sloan has had the batter of that matchup over the years. The last few times I played, it's been on clay. But again, last time I played on hard was like probably like 2018, 2019. So throw that out the window. Man, that's interesting. It's interesting.

Torrey (27:33.399)
Right.

Torrey (27:44.067)
Yep.

Torrey (27:57.933)
Yeah.

Torrey (28:01.237)
I always get the two plus covers confused. Is this the right or the left to hear? The right Carolina's right. That's what I was thinking right? Okay. All right. I'm seeing four older players coach then this matchup that I'm like, whoa between Madison Sloan Paula obviously JPEG. There's a lot of you know, there's there's a lot of some plus cover. There's a lot of

Alvin Owusu (28:06.367)
This is the righty? Carolina's the righty?

Torrey (28:30.373)
solid savviness in this part of the draw. I'm seeing some obviously some very notable younger ones. You know, obviously not at least to which is Layla on the side of things this could be and obviously McCartney, keep saying McClain, McClain's her brother. McCartney Kessler, there's a...

There's several. This is kind of a weird and obviously Ashlyn Krueger. You've got a nice mix of older and younger in this little subsection here. you know, I hate I'd like to see the I'd like to see the the elder states women, you know, hold true to form on this one personally just to just to maybe they should maybe they can bow out later. But for this particular tournament, this particular point in time, I'd love to see them.

show that age ain't but a number a little bit here and keep it moving.

Alvin Owusu (29:26.559)
Well, I think I'm with you. would like to see, you know, Jesse and Madison, well, love to see them match up in the fourth round. That would be fantastic. That'd be a great, great, great quarter. I like the serendipity of the way this draw fell. We spoke in our, in the US wrap up about, you know, Allison Krueger and McCartney Kessler. And were they, were they the ones who would then, who would take the positions of

Torrey (29:31.512)
That'd be a great quarter.

Torrey (29:42.721)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (29:56.374)
Pagula and Keys respectively, as they, when they decide to move out of the game. So I think with potential second round matchups for both of them, and even you'll get Madison Keys and also like similar game styles. And that would, that's a match where I would like to see, like with Allison, I would love to see her push Madison, but I would like, and I would also like to see Madison come through that match. Like if it's a...

Torrey (29:57.92)
Right?

Right.

Torrey (30:05.739)
Right.

Torrey (30:21.91)
Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (30:23.189)
tight two sets, maybe split sets and then Madison pull away like 6-2 or 6-3 or the third, something like that. That would be, I feel good for both players coming out of that match. What I would hate to see is, assuming they meet up, I would hate to see Madison beat her like two and two or something like that. I was like, that's not good for the movement.

Torrey (30:32.344)
Right.

Torrey (30:38.23)
RAH!

She's not ready to take the, to pick up the gauntlet and run down the road with it.

Alvin Owusu (30:46.131)
Right, and the same thing with McCarty if she were to play Jessica in the second round. I wanna see her push her. I wanna see her push her. Just for the sake of the future. All right, we'll keep moving down to your bottom. Yeah.

Torrey (30:56.535)
100%. Real quick. Sure. Layla. She's a Grand Slam finalist last time we checked, right? What do we think about the lefty from Canada?

Alvin Owusu (31:05.909)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (31:09.579)
I feel like it less

Torrey (31:10.131)
Is she the sleeper in that draw that could get that, know, we don't look too far. Is she playing that good a ball right now, do you think? And Paula to me is just if she's healthy. I think Paula is the sleeper, but a healthy Paula, right? But for Layla, what do you think?

Alvin Owusu (31:28.735)
You know, that's a really good call out, I would have breezed right past it, because Layla is slowly but surely moving her way through the echelons of tennis. I feel like two years ago she was right around 50. Maybe last year at this event she might have been the 32nd seed, something like that, right around there. But now you got her, she is on no shade.

Torrey (31:49.111)
Right, right, right.

Alvin Owusu (31:55.21)
right there in the cusp of top 20 and that's like, cause she's starting to put together some consistency in her results. She seems to have found the best version of her game style, which is like, she likes to play, she likes to play through the court and play on the rise, but sometimes can do it a little too much to the detriment of her own abilities, right? She's to go a little too big, a little too big for her own bridges, if you will, right? So it seems like she's, she is.

Torrey (32:19.51)
How do you that?

Alvin Owusu (32:22.569)
She has realized that taking a step back sometimes is what she needs to do and trust her ability to play a little higher, be willing to play a little longer to the points. I say that to say, we get a Fernandez versus Keys in the third round, yeah, she could win that match. That is a, if anyone can run around and absorb pace, that's like.

Torrey (32:38.611)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey (32:43.382)
Right.

Torrey (32:49.034)
Right, it's Layla Pappas.

Alvin Owusu (32:51.241)
It could be, that's Layla. Especially, it's be hot out there. Yeah, I think that's a really healthy call out. Yeah, because of the matchup, that's not straightforward.

Torrey (32:59.179)
Yeah.

And if anybody, and that's all I want to say, I feel like we forget sometimes that she was the other half of that in the Rata Kano, you know, kind of dream slam for the younger kids, you know, for the younger types a few years ago. And I feel like she and as much as Emma's done a lot and garnered some headlines, I feel like Layla has just been quietly putting in work, you know what I mean? In the meantime, and

You heard right here. I feel like she's improved more than Emma has over the course of the last three four years since that slam and you know her rules speak for it. You know what mean? So like I said, I just wanted to, she's a very, she's a very sneaky 22 seed. You know what I mean? With a lot of goods and a lot of upsets, you know, in this range. You know what I mean? And this is a unique, this is a unique draw.

Alvin Owusu (33:33.567)
Yep.

Torrey (33:52.574)
subsection right here again age versus the youth in this case this youth here's a grandson finalist and you know clearly not blown away by the big lights she's she's ended putting in work ever since so this would be this would the fundamental

Alvin Owusu (34:05.867)
We've got a we've got a few of them. You got a few of them in this section, right? Like when you mentioned it, I was like, yeah, that's Madison's won a Grand Slam. It's final two. Final one other Sloan won one final one. I Carolina's final one, maybe final two. Laila final one. JPEG final one. Like it's like this is a this is a professional's professional section for sure. For sure. Bounce it down here to the.

Torrey (34:11.732)
Yeah.

Torrey (34:29.174)
That's right. That's right.

Yup.

Alvin Owusu (34:34.824)
bottom half of Enes Mova's quarter. Again, another interesting all-American matchup. Peyton, if you're gonna do it, if you're gonna do it, this is where we need to do it. We can't live in a world where Peyton Stearns is ever gonna be a top 30 tennis player where she's gotta win this match. She has to win this match.

Torrey (34:43.585)
Yep. See you then, Peyton.

Torrey (34:56.201)
Yup. No, I hear you. Hey, no pressure.

Alvin Owusu (35:01.258)
No pressure. I'm pissed. You know what it's... Whatever. I'm pissed. Sophia's probably like, yeah, I'm an adult worker. But I'm a little... Maybe I'm just mad at Jeral. I'm mad at Jeral because I want this painstaking thing to happen and maybe it's just not going to. And like, in all seriousness, that's not actually how you want to open up the tournament. Like Sophia, also one of our Grand Slam finalists... Or champion, pardon me. That's... Yep. Yep. Yep. That's tough.

Torrey (35:15.081)
Right. Right.

Torrey (35:22.055)
Right.

Champion, yeah, this tournament, if I'm not mistaken,

Alvin Owusu (35:31.24)
That's tough. That's Linda Noskama. I hate some praise on her and her... Yeah, yeah. she's playing okay, right? Lost to Mira in Brisbane last week, round of 16. Tough three-set match. think that's a... Forget the round. That's fine. That's fine. With two players who were looking at them as the...

Torrey (35:36.691)
Yeah, that's what my mind was.

Alvin Owusu (35:59.819)
two of the three youngest players in the top 20 in the world right now, matching up, tough match before coming into the off-line open. Kind of a coin toss in that third set, but I like where if Linda's healthy, I mean let us not forget she beat Ega in this tournament two years ago, I believe it was. Yeah, she is definitely one to watch, not just in the tour but in this particular tournament.

a potential third round matchup with Panko, if Panko were to get there. Yeah, this is gonna be fun. And I think a nice runway for Amanda and some of us as well.

Torrey (36:33.128)
Yeah. Good.

Yep, yep. Any concerns with Sinny Akhava? Possible matchup with Anissa Mova.

Alvin Owusu (36:44.516)
No, because I've watched enough of Sinyaka to play singles and like she just has too many, she has too many holes to bother good players, which is why you don't really see her ever winning more than one round in a Grand Slam. She's a fantastic, obviously fantastic, the best doubles player in the world. But that's, speaking of which, her partner did not qualify. Miss Taylor Townsend.

Torrey (37:07.56)
Yeah, I was watching that. I knew you were gonna bring it up. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (37:12.286)
I didn't know when I was gonna bring it on without I actually just forgotten I had forgotten it didn't have it in my notes and then I see some Yakava and I I am reminded that we just talked about this and this is why This is why you gotta get in the event to get these points and it's she's she's taking a long way She's long way

Torrey (37:15.848)
Yeah.

Torrey (37:20.659)
Yep.

Torrey (37:31.964)
Yep, yep, yep. The way that doesn't always get you there. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (37:36.038)
But I digress. Exactly. Yes. It's a long way through the woods and you might not come out on other side. But yeah, I think for Amanda and Isamoga, getting out of the gates here strong is obviously number one. She looked fine last week. When she played in Brisbane, lost to Marta in three sets. Marta played fantastic all week.

Torrey (37:44.98)
Alright.

Alvin Owusu (38:02.603)
I think Amanda's right where she needs to be. She usually doesn't need a lot of tuning coming into these events. She plays one, gets to the Grits Lab, and in history she's been ready to go. So, yeah, this seems like a...

Torrey (38:12.052)
Yep. She's got the... Sorry, what?

Alvin Owusu (38:16.993)
Good. No, no, I mean, she's she's won a bet, ready to roll, shows up, plays her own random toes.

Torrey (38:25.268)
I was gonna say, you're exactly right. I was gonna say, and she's got the Novak Djokovic 4C draw. You're right, she's got it. Of all the draws that we've seen so far, no shade on anybody here. Everybody here is good. They're professional tennis players.

But for her matchup and for the for the significance of some of the numbers and some of the numbers who may or may not be as threatening She certainly got the Novak Djokovic four seed, know, which is like hey I'll pay you an extra hundred grand if you can give me the four seed with this draw, you know what I mean? And that's the draw Not a bad draw if you're trying to come out and have you know, I mean, it's this is a pretty good draw for

Alvin Owusu (38:57.992)
It's not a bad draw.

Torrey (39:06.227)
you know, as, as limited as what solid, obviously all of them are solid. Uh, but as far as things going through, you know what I mean? That's, this is not a bad, there are worse draws, you know what I mean? There are worse draws to be had for sure.

Alvin Owusu (39:18.452)
There are worst draws.

And Amanda has developed a profile of players that... There's a profile of player that can trouble her and that player does not exist until potentially the fourth round against Noscava and I don't even think Noscava is quite in that tier just yet. You gotta go big all match to trouble Amanda and...

Torrey (39:42.109)
Agree.

Alvin Owusu (39:48.253)
I just don't see the necessary, like the required firepower in this section to really bother her. So I would expect her to get off to a great start in this event. All right, let's slide on down here. Top half of, this would be Ega's, top half of Ega's section here with Miss Elena Rabakina as the top seed here. Yeah, let's...

Torrey (40:01.479)
Here's your girl.

Torrey (40:09.704)
Yep.

Torrey (40:13.104)
I see the same thing here. I see the same thing here.

Alvin Owusu (40:17.68)
Which, what's the, as far as the kind draw?

Torrey (40:21.245)
Kind draw. If the bigger seed left in your draw is Belinda and Maya Joint and others, I'm like, know, again, Mertens is never a slouch, but I'm looking at some older players here as well with Belinda and Elise that are pushing the older side of things. And perhaps some of their better matches are behind them. You got Kazakina, who's a very solid

non-C but she'll have to run into Katie Bolter slash Belinda Bencic, you know, match up there. I don't know. just, I'm looking at, Rebecca and a two and I'm kind of glad we're back in it and Amanda on, on the other side of things. So while they may match up at some point there, they're going to go in different directions and that saves, you know, that, makes the quarter slash semi down the road look very, very rough. But, this is another of, of if I'm,

If I'm Atlanta, we're back in there, I'm like, I can work with that. You know what mean? I can work with that all day. And some good tennis, don't get me wrong, there'll be some good tennis played. this is one of those, I'm looking at this draw and I'm just thinking to myself, not too many of them have the firepower, the game to rattle her. Now, Rebecca can be rattled, she can be self-deed from time to time, mentally, but as far as on the tennis court,

Alvin Owusu (41:24.585)
Yeah.

Torrey (41:48.028)
There's not a lot of people that can take the racket out of her hand and the few that can are not in this subsection. So this would be a good match for her to follow up the tour final from the end of last year.

Alvin Owusu (41:55.647)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (42:02.591)
Yeah, I'm gonna kinda say the same thing. Yep, the profile of player that Rebecca struggles with is just not even, I mean, even if she were to get all the way and play, you know, Belinda Bincic in the fourth round, still not the type of player she generally struggles with. I'm gonna take a step back though, because there are kind of two things that I said at the end of last year that I wanna make sure I don't ignore.

One being Elena Rebacchiner, right? I think we were both very full-throated about our belief in her being an upper top echelon player on the women's tour, potential number one player on the women's tour, based off of effectively her results at the WTA finals. Like, let's not back off it. If she's going to do it, she needs to follow that up with a top four finish here in this event. She needs to come out and bust heads.

Torrey (42:41.019)
That's 100%.

Torrey (42:53.019)
Clouds.

Alvin Owusu (42:58.09)
through the first week of this tournament and come into the quarterfinals, like head held high, biceps flexing, like let's go. And then the other one is I need to refine my position on Belinda Vincit right now. Belinda, when she came back after like post-Kid and it almost felt like a feel good story.

Torrey (43:05.431)
Yup. Yup.

Torrey (43:14.276)
Okay.

Alvin Owusu (43:24.426)
I personally forgot how good she was before she left. Like, she was a perennial 8 through 11 player for about four years, had a child, more or less, in her prime, and is now back. She's a lot younger than I gave, than I really gave credence to. She's only 28, which tells me she's actually probably got about three years left playing at a very high level. And she has...

Torrey (43:33.615)
Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (43:52.085)
Like she looked fantastic at the United Cups. She broke, she beat everybody down. Like she beat everybody. Everybody, I'm not gonna lie, she beat everyone. And I think coming into this tournament, like remember she made it all the way to round 16 in this event last year, effectively off of no tennis. Yeah, I feel like 10 is about right for her and she might hold that all year plus some.

Yeah, all year plus some. She could be a top 10 player, maybe even pushing to her finals by the end of this year if she stays healthy. The tennis I've seen her produce in the last, let's just say the last 12 months, it's like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, she's still good. She's still really good. So I didn't wanna get out of here without publicly giving her her props before she makes everyone else look stupid, me included. All right, let's,

Torrey (44:44.401)
Perhaps. Yeah.

Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (44:51.348)
Progress here, last section. This is one Iga Swiatek section.

Alvin Owusu (45:01.13)
Interesting matchups potentially Osaka versus able lease potential second on matchup. That'll be fun. That's good for the people good for the sport To to personalities if you will meeting up early before we get to the fireworks and the last later rounds of this tournament Yeah, yes, so yeah, so I don't maybe like I whatever I don't care about it. I believe something and then like she gets she gets maker 33 like it definitely happened other feisty players Laura Sigmund here

Torrey (45:12.785)
So was search there.

Torrey (45:19.375)
The run is always 50.

Torrey (45:30.167)
Yeah, yeah, I guess I'm fond of a rye.

Alvin Owusu (45:30.538)
Given Ludmila just a horrible first round matchup. God, Lee, that's tough. That's tough. I feel like they've played before. feel like Laura actually gets the better of this matchup over time. I don't have her written down in front of me, but I feel like she's got a pretty, it might be two and two career with Sigma taking the last two potentially. And then towards the bottom half here of this very small section.

Kalinskaya potentially to meet Iga in the third round. Iga, rough United Cup, lost to Belinda, lost to Cocoa, potentially a little banged up coming out of that event as well, didn't play any of the other events in between it. She's gonna get a pretty good start here. Bouskava or Zarzula would be sharpening for sure.

Torrey (46:28.313)
Yeah, sure. Don't forget about you, girl.

Alvin Owusu (46:30.462)
The Cal- Calis guy brings enough

Which one?

Torrey (46:35.152)
was gonna say, your girl, Coach Iaretto, didn't she knock out, what seed did she knock out in Wembee? And to kind of announce her presence. She's part of that whole Italian wave. wanna say, she had to be, she was, was it Coco? She beat somebody pretty good and knocked out the first round, first, second round of Wembee. I'm gonna look it up real quick. She was very, but my point is,

very solid off the ground, a big ball, not too tall, this young lady, but I'm telling you, and very, I mean, one of those names, I remember her name because of that match. I'm like, my God, this girl's good. know, and she came, J-Pet, that's what it I was gonna say, it somebody solid, somebody very solid. I forgot who it was, but I thought it was American. And man, Alvin, I'm telling you, that's the kind of player on a hard court who likes on the rise that if I'm a Collins-Gaia,

Alvin Owusu (47:17.311)
she beat Bagula in the first round to Wimbledon.

See you at JPEG.

Torrey (47:34.145)
I'm not feeling great about, you know, this kind of player kind of thrives on the upsets. I'm just saying, can't look past that matchup. She's got her work through in the first round as well. But just those type players to me tend to have difficulties with other counter punchers, right? But when they have a good hard hitter or a good player that likes to kind of come through and dictate play, they are right at home, Briar Rabbit in the Briar Patch. that's just, you know, this this'll, again, because

Iga's in a nice situation. I would love to see a fourth round matchup with Naomi. I'd love to Naomi start this term like she finished up the open and other tournaments last year. Obviously, I know she's had some injuries as well. this is one of those a little more quietly of a trap subsection, but it's still, know, some son of a Collins guy, you know, Osaka. You've got, Iga, you've got some tough sledding in here with a lot of players. It can be some tough matchups. Certainly,

not the easiest draw for the difference in the one subsection and the two seat subsection is pretty significant. So just just say it.

Alvin Owusu (48:42.762)
Yeah, all right, think with that we can progress over to the men's draw. That felt good. I feel like we covered all the good stuff. So hopefully if you're on site or you're watching at home, you've got plenty of matches to pick from in the opening days, kind of Sunday through Tuesday, I guess both local and Eastern.

Torrey (48:49.538)
Yup. Yup.

Torrey (48:59.906)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (49:08.518)
I don't it's hard to it's in my head I know I know Australia's 14 hours ahead of us But like doing the math of like what day anything's happening there is always very tricky for me That's just my those are my own problems my problems. All right

Torrey (49:20.098)
Right, right. And then with three days for the first round, can also be tough, right?

Alvin Owusu (49:25.962)
Right, exactly. Okay, all right, moving forward here. Top half of Carlos Alcaraz's quarter. mean, for him, I think it's a pretty straightforward, straightforward out of the gates, too tricky, three out of five set matches. you don't really, people not name Yannick Sinter don't tend to bother him. There's actually, one that tends to usually bother Carlos Alcaraz is anywhere present on this screen right now. So.

Torrey (49:28.684)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (49:55.786)
We can we can leave it there we can leave it there, but there are some really interesting matchups here One Michael Zhang versus Sebastian Korda

Torrey (50:05.976)
Yep, saw that. And Tommy Paul and Klobac.

Alvin Owusu (50:09.034)
Do you know much about... Yeah, we've got some good, interesting US matchups here. Do you know anything about Michael Zhang?

Torrey (50:19.031)
Very little.

Alvin Owusu (50:21.82)
Okay, okay. I know he's a very young player. I think he's currently in college, plays at Columbia University, qualified in Sebastian quarter. That'll be an interesting matchup. Actually, you know what? I forgot. We generally take a break between men's and women's. So before we actually dig into the men's draw, let's take a quick break and then we will come back and handle the rest of the men's draw.

Torrey (50:30.55)
Okay.

Torrey (50:36.45)
Yeah.

Torrey (50:41.185)
Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (50:46.22)
Yeah.



=== PART 2: MEN'S DRAW ===

Alvin Owusu (00:18.774)
And we're back. Okay, so we just finished up the top half of the Alcares quarter. We're now moving down to the bottom half of that quarter, which is a little... This one's got some fun first round matchups, TH. Really fun. I see there's two in particular that I'm looking at. One at the top and one at the bottom here. At the top, you've got Bublik versus Brooksby. And at the bottom of this section, you've got Baratini versus DiMannor.

Torrey (00:34.398)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (00:41.265)
Yep, yep, agree.

Alvin Owusu (00:48.812)
Those are both fun matches in their own right for two different reasons. I'm actually gonna start with the bottom matchup. Baratini versus D-Minor. That is tasty because Baratini actually owns the lead in that head-to-head. think three matches to two. And these aren't old matches. They split the matches last year one-one. So this is no, I think for the hometown sensation.

Torrey (01:11.613)
Wow.

Alvin Owusu (01:17.25)
kind of hometown sensation. Alex D. Menorah, this quite frankly sucks. This is the worst, this is the worst first round matchup you can get.

Torrey (01:22.269)
Yeah, right. It's certainly not a great draw for him. This Berettini is one of those just outside the top 32 types that's, you know, that you could make an argument for, probably should have been seated. You know, he's Italy's, you know, number, well, excluding Yannick, number two, you know, and he's number three. I forget about Kabali, who's, by the way, up there in a... No, no, Mousseris, I'm saying past.

Alvin Owusu (01:46.986)
And you forget about my main Mammie

Torrey (01:53.919)
past Yannick, Musetti's, I mean, and Yannick didn't play Davis Cup, I'm saying. I'm saying you got Musetti as technically one if you're talking Davis Cup. And obviously then you've got, you know, Caboldi. And then of course, Bertini. I'm saying he's not far off the depth chart of the Italian players, you know, who last I checked it pretty well Davis Cup this past year, you know what I'm talking about. So I say that to say this is a tough.

Alvin Owusu (01:57.742)
Right. This is Masetti, Cavalli.

Alvin Owusu (02:14.935)
Right, right.

Torrey (02:16.955)
matchup for a that's played a lot this past year and done well. I agree with you, Alvin, this is a very tough first round for Demonor. When I first saw the seeds, I said, wow, they're giving them a little home cooking, you know what I mean? And I know six, seven, eight could be a stone store from each other. And I said to myself, said, that's a little tough going over higher seed than Fritz Orbin. And I'm like, well, whatever, he's Australian, whatever. And now I'm kind of like, hmm.

Did you do him a favor though?

Alvin Owusu (02:49.089)
Well, mean, let's level set though, because the seedings are reflections of rankings. Alex did pass both Felix and Fritz in the rankings right before the tournament, right before the draw was, or guess the rankings were frozen for for seeding. it's like, it's, yeah, it's, I was thinking about this the other day, though, like at some point we should probably do an episode on what we consider our

Torrey (02:59.399)
Felix, sorry. Right.

Torrey (03:07.122)
I wasn't calling state, I was merely calling it out.

Alvin Owusu (03:17.773)
power rankings to be because rankings are a reflection of a composite results over the last 52 weeks, right? But when you and I look at two players playing against each other in a match that has nothing to do with your seedings or rankings, right? You can't say that if Baratini's ranked 40 in the world right now, or let's say 42 for easy math, he's not.

Demonor is not seven times better than him, right? It's like, we have to look at these things through a lens of like, we watch tennis and I think, regardless of rankings, I think this guy, when he plays this guy, that he's probably, I would actually pick this guy to beat this guy, even though the rankings would say that that shouldn't happen. And that's not how tennis is played over the course of 12 months, but when two players walk onto the court, that's exactly how it's played. The rankings don't matter anymore at that point, right?

Torrey (03:48.645)
Right.

Torrey (04:03.431)
for sure.

Alvin Owusu (04:15.533)
It's game styles and and where they with their with their level is right now

Torrey (04:20.144)
matchups. Isn't there still a part in the power ranking for how the player did the previous year? Is that not how they're still doing it or is that that?

Alvin Owusu (04:28.254)
For for seedings purposes no, no, they they stop they stopped doing that a few years ago. So it's like

Torrey (04:33.606)
Well, that's my point. I was curious as to why Madison got, mind you, eight, was a very generous eight compared to the rest of her year, but as defending champ. I was only mentioning that to say, because I thought that was a bit low for her if it was the Australian. So I'm glad you caught me up on that. But that's what I was going to say was I felt, and that was the other thing, I thought maybe he got the bump because of last year's Australian. That's why I was thinking, I didn't realize numerically he bumped them out.

Alvin Owusu (04:49.675)
Right. Right.

Alvin Owusu (05:01.132)
Yeah.

Torrey (05:01.905)
as far as rankings. Hey, makes sense and I appreciate you catching me up to speed on that. A few other good matches in this whole, this good tennis all the way around. mean, that's a very, and Kacimanovich, mean, you've got, know, Cabold is always fun to watch. Francis is, you know, having a, he's gonna have a resurgent year or so he would hope. You know, obviously the two you mentioned are very solid. Patrick Kipson, wild card here from the Southern section over here from North Carolina. Plays Come Asunder. There's just a lot of good.

some good matches in here, but to your point that Brooks public match could be tough. Baratini, you gotta factor in Alex, the demon will be playing with the home crowd every match. mean, even when he takes one court, he'll draw a crowd. that could be, but Baratini always loves controversy and he loves the challenge. He might play better, Alvin with the crowd against him, right?

Alvin Owusu (05:53.742)
And his fans travel. He has fans all over the place. The people, ladies love Matteo Baratini. But the public Brooksby match, I don't wanna gloss over it. This goes back to what we talked about in one of our year in reviews for US tennis. If Jensen Brooksby is gonna be more than a wild card kind of player, this is actually the best.

Torrey (06:00.661)
Yeah, Matteo.

Torrey (06:16.133)
Right, right.

Alvin Owusu (06:21.549)
top seeded player for him to play because Bublik, I think we're all still a little unsure how real this Bublik thing is. And Brooksby is almost the perfect example of something that could kick out the bottom of this deck of cards or this house of cards. Bublik could beat him 3-3 and three if he's really, if a number 10 seed should beat Brooksby 3-3 and three or maybe.

Torrey (06:23.621)
Right. Right.

Alvin Owusu (06:49.887)
maybe a tight set in there somewhere, but I don't know. I don't know. It's gonna be a mess. That match is gonna be a mess.

Torrey (06:55.355)
Yeah.

Torrey (06:59.633)
Martin Fuscovich wouldn't mind, I'll tell you that.

Alvin Owusu (07:02.721)
Seriously, seriously, he's doing bicep curls on the sideline just waiting. Yeah, whatever you guys wanna do, let me know. Let me know, let me know. All right, let's keep moving forward here. Top half of the Zverev quarter here. Again, as tennis fans, we're lucky. We're extremely lucky. This is also a very fun, fun section in that the seeds,

Three of these seeds here got no favors done to them. Zverev versus Diallo is, that's a shootout. Like, big man's gonna be throwing heat, and I mean Gabe in this instance. And so you can, I mean you saw how we matched up well with Fritz at Wimbledon on Taylor's best surface. If he's serving well, this is kind of, and especially the courts are pretty fast in Australia, it's hot. This is anyone's, this is honestly anyone's match. I'm not, it,

Torrey (07:37.678)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (07:48.762)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (07:59.374)
What color, what color is his hair that's gonna be this week? That's if he throws it on Australian Open Blue, I got him. I got him for, I got him for beating Zverev and you know, and maybe even going around it too fast. I like this kid. I've always liked him. He's a little flashy, but, and I've been very underwhelmed by Alex and I love, he's just, I'm just so, it's, he's.

Alvin Owusu (08:02.272)
Who knows? Who knows?

Torrey (08:27.662)
He's like meatloaf. I roll my eyes when I see him, I'm meatloaf. It's always tasty if done right, but man, you're like, really? Again, it's like, don't know. I just don't know. And I felt like his best slam last year was this one, right? And he got the gift in that one from Novak. So, love the kid. Known of him since he was little. I mean, I just can't say enough good things about him, but dude, it's time.

The match I'm very curious about is this Bonzi-Cam-Nori match. Is that the third one you were talking about? Because that one is like, I'm like, dude, if anybody can match up well to Cam and Cam, especially given his Bumblebee performance last year, Cam had a pretty decent year for a resurgent year. And to play Bonzi, man, that's another tough one right there. There's some tough matches in this whole.

Alvin Owusu (09:02.059)
Yeah, yeah, that's the third one I talking about.

Alvin Owusu (09:15.254)
He did. He did.

Torrey (09:24.387)
in this whole little subsection here. know, I'm just, Popper to Mueller is not a bad one either. I mean, but that, but that Bonzi-Nori match is going to be like, woo. It can go the distance. I mean, it really could.

Alvin Owusu (09:26.772)
Especially, especially. yeah, that one too. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (09:36.261)
And Bonzi last year beat Medvedev twice in Grand Slams, right? He beat him in the first round of Wimbledon, beat him in the first round of the US Open. Both of those matches went four sets, pardon me, the US Open match went five sets. So when you start talking about Bonzi as a guy that can match up, has proven he can match up well with players who want to play extended rallies from the baseline, and that is.

That is Cam Norrie just on the left-handed side, right? And also wants to slide that backhand through the court. I think, obviously you're talking about a lefty and a righty, but you're also talking about that trade-off there with the handedness, but Medvedev has a higher top-in than Cam Norrie does. He has won Grand Slams. He's been the number one in the world. I say that because I feel like Benjamin Bonzi is going to be ready for this.

Torrey (10:07.416)
but

Torrey (10:22.019)
Right? Right?

Alvin Owusu (10:29.548)
Like he's gonna he's gonna be ready for it. That's a again, that's a that's an unfortunate first round match for a seeded player, but that's what Grand Slams give us. And then the third match down there, Rublev versus Arnaldi. I think that'll just be fun to watch. I actually think I've seen Arnaldi play in person and he's got all the skills. He's fun to watch. He's just a little bit underpowered. And I think

Torrey (10:29.58)
Right, I agree.

Torrey (10:35.406)
It really is. It really is.

Torrey (10:55.362)
Yeah, right.

Alvin Owusu (10:58.41)
I feel like that is just enough of reason to just go ahead and give Rublev the, give him the edge in that match. I say that they are, he is fast.

Torrey (11:04.846)
Yeah, but he is fast. Yeah, he and he he counterpunches well. So that those are matchups where on paper you're right looking at the two of them head to head. You're right. Rubalev will strike. We know that that's that's his that that's his that's as sure as anything. However, that matchup to me is a tough one. And I think that's a Rubalev has not had the crazy amount of success. Mind you, he did well.

last year, 13 seed, clearly he's doing well. I just wonder if he has had enough success to feel like he owns players like this in these kinds of matchups. He's better off beating, going up against a higher seed, in my opinion, mentally outside of Yanuk and Carlos, than he is playing a seed just a little bit below him.

And especially with 30 and out because that's where I feel like the expectations kind of creep back in and That's where he is as a little it could be a little volatile. This is gonna be a tough this could this could be I don't know this could be a tough match for For Andre and I just hope that the the good Andre shows up, know And the mentally stable because he's so fun to watch deep in a tournament, you know, he just has to he's one of those players He needs to get through that first round, you know and and feel feel good about it

Alvin Owusu (12:26.092)
Yeah. And they've reached the matchups, right? So they're actually head to head over their career. It's two and two, but in the last three matchups over the last two years, Arnoldi actually has the edge, right? He beat him at French Open in 24, he beat him at Indian Wells last year. So it's, you know.

Torrey (12:44.184)
See the Indian Wells one to me is important. In France, know, it's an all-clay fair. and to my, because Arnoldi's fast and he moves well. To me, hardcore, that to me is a different, that's, that's troubling. I'm telling you, I don't like that matchup for Andre. And as you know, Alvin, I'm a huge Andre fan.

Alvin Owusu (12:50.773)
Right, right.

Alvin Owusu (13:01.74)
That'll be a fun one. Yep. That'll be a fun one. I think that'll be worth if it's little bit, if it's infringing on your sleep schedule, I think it would be one worth sacrificing a little bit of sleep for because it will be entertaining and I think the result will be of consequence. All right, let's move on down here. Bottom half of Zarev's quarter, which is headlined by Felix and Mehdi. I think the, again,

Torrey (13:15.117)
100%. 100%.

Alvin Owusu (13:31.248)
Felix that's a tough first round matchup against Nuno Borges. That is no joke That is no joke for someone who's trying to live up to the way, you know start the year the way he finished last year Could I could I ask for a better first round match? That's gonna be not only a tough one But again very similar to that Rublev versus El Norte match it will be entertaining and it will be of consequence because Nuno Borges could definitely beat Felix and I think both of them know that going into that match

Torrey (13:33.998)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Torrey (13:59.149)
Yep, yep, Portuguese finest right there. Lerner and Jerome. There's a few of these as you look through the draw. American, we talked about a little bit before we kicked off the countdown. And I wanna give that one to Jess before I talk about Serendelo and Jordan Thompson, which is another very, very zesty match.

Alvin Owusu (14:07.564)
Oof.

Yeah.

Torrey (14:26.871)
Clearly Lerner's played well. He won the next gen situation this past and Metta. Jetta? Jetta. I just, I don't know. I don't know. I just don't, I think if anybody has a shot against him, especially with a hard court and again can attack that serve, is Marcus Jerome. And I want to know your thoughts.

Alvin Owusu (14:49.162)
Yeah, it's interesting. mean, first you look at, you look at learner's kind of progression in the last 12 months, right? He qualified into this event last year, takes down Medi in the second round, makes a run to the round of 16, and now finds himself in the top 30 and he's seated in this event, right? So, I mean, hats off to him first and foremost for coming out of the gates like a bat out of hell. Love to see it. Marcus is, Marcus is obviously on the, kind of on the

Torrey (14:59.724)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (15:08.022)
Sure.

Alvin Owusu (15:18.38)
I'd say the back end of his career, like he's 32 years old. So I think he's been ranked a little bit higher, but has been in that kind of 40 to 60 range, maybe 50 to 70 range his whole career for the most part.

This is one of those matchups where these dudes both live in Southern California. I'm sure they've played together, trained together many times. Yeah, mean, Lerner's probably a little bit more closely tied to the USTA still than Marcus, but at this point they're both a few years on tour living in Southern California. Marcus beat him last year. It was on clay in Madrid. Again, it's the best of three as opposed to the best of five.

Torrey (15:41.651)
They know what shows came.

Alvin Owusu (16:04.287)
It's a toss up. It's honestly a toss up. Like I feel like Marcus, his experience, like Lerner's never been the hunted before as a professional tennis player. And Marcus probably goes into this match feeling like, yeah, I know I can beat him. I can't, I can beat him. He probably has beaten him plenty of times in practice sets. So I, even if Marcus wins this match, I don't consider this a step backwards for Lerner in any way, or form.

Torrey (16:06.089)
Yeah, I just feel like... Go ahead.

Torrey (16:31.884)
Right, right. Still young. Just a bad matchup. Yeah. And to your point, before I don't want to ever not give these players their props. All these guys are phenomenal. I want to keep repeating that. It's easy to easy to sound critical when we're comparing them, but we're literally comparing, you know, we're comparing in some cases, you know, some of the best of all time against the current best of all time. so it's and that in this case, we're talking about some really, really good players.

Alvin Owusu (16:32.179)
Or do I really consider it an upset? just, yeah, it's just, it would just be, just is, yeah. Bad drill.

Torrey (17:01.483)
top in the world. So you mentioned he kicked off the year last year in the great tournament. He finished the year album with the the next gen final winning the next gen tournament. And you heard it right here. I don't think he was the favorite to win it. I mean, I was I was a huge fan of I call them block X because I think the way the font works, the X always looks like it's a little stranded from block. But my main man block X played some

Alvin Owusu (17:25.053)
Hehehehe

Torrey (17:30.986)
phenomenal tennis. were some really good players there in that tournament, Jodar, who I know played at UVA. There's just a lot of good ballers right now coming up. And I was hoping that Block X would have made the draw. he lost in the last round of qualies. But again, he'll be there. But I say that to say, you can't sleep on learner's year. I mean, he had a phenomenal year. And so he deserves to be.

Everything he's got and he deserves to be, he's working hard, he and his team. I'm pretty sure Chang is still his main coach, at least one of his coaches on the team. He's got a great, great team behind him and this kid's gonna go far. Should he, and let's face it, he's learner always does, he always puts up a great fight. So if Marcus is not ready to go five, I wanna tip my hat to Lerner actually in this situation. I was just saying this is kind of a tough matchup for him.

And again, we'll see what happens, but it could be a really fun match to see as it goes down. I want to talk briefly about, off to Mr. Yemmer, the Black Swede, and who's been out there trying for a long time, trying, he and his brother. But I do want to speak to Serundolo and Jordan Thompson. What's your thoughts on that match there? And this is the other Serundolo, right? This is Serundolo's brother.

Alvin Owusu (18:52.063)
have, this is the other Sarundalo, the less good Sarundalo. And I think even the, the other, this is the other yimmer as well. Like there's two yimmers.

Torrey (19:00.777)
Michael is the older one. Michael is the older brother.

Alvin Owusu (19:04.651)
Um, Jordan Thompson. So this is like Jordan Thompson's back, right? He's back. Uh, he got the wild card. Um, he was, I think he had an elbow injury last year and was he, was he the Australian with the elbow injury or the Australian that got suspended? Which one, which one is he? I don't remember. Um, I think he, I think, I think elbow injury, but he's back now. Wild card. Okay. That's fine.

Torrey (19:09.831)
Right.

Torrey (19:24.074)
I don't remember either.

Alvin Owusu (19:34.539)
I hadn't thought about this match at all, to be honest with you.

Torrey (19:36.904)
Yeah. I only mention because he's Australian. He's good. He knows the way around the net. Obviously, he's a good doubles player. just feel like that's a... Anytime you see the Australian flag there, you got to be on the lookout. And when it's guy like Jordan Thompson that's pushed some top players and beaten many top players, that's no walkover. And then again, that matchup, should he get through Sarandolo, which is a good chance, he would then again face...

Mr. Seven Seed, who's gonna have to really play again, play against the crowd, play with some of these right after a tough New York Borges match. So I'm just saying those are, I mentioned it in terms of his way through will be a tough one only to possibly reach Lerner. And so, I mean, Felix will have his work cut out for him. If Felix wants to kick the door down and truly be respected as a top five-ish player, this is the way to do it. You know, gotta, you know, as they say to...

to establish yourself as one of the top players, you gotta plow through some players and make your case. So this will be good term for him with this draw to prove just that.

Alvin Owusu (20:46.123)
Yeah, I think Jordan Thompson, seems like right now his level is gonna be the thing that keeps him from moving forward as opposed to the Australian crowd moving him forward. It's really good opening round matchup for him, right? His rankings kinda slipped a little bit. He's been playing kinda challenger since the latter part of last year. He's in Sioux Falls in October, so like.

Torrey (20:58.834)
Right, fair.

Alvin Owusu (21:15.155)
I don't know where his game is right now. But if he's, let's assume the best and that he's healthy and playing his brand of tennis, he's gonna bring a lot of pressure. I like someone bringing pressure against a South American, technically. that I can see where that's a, you wanna give the wild card by name, the edge there. But really, Jordan has won a lot of matches on tour over the last five years.

Torrey (21:44.041)
Yep, just saying, and to your point, I'm not sure how far back it was, but he did be, I'm looking at a chapeau win in a tight three setter, 10, eight and a third. I'm looking at a few other matches where he's just gone through some decent players. You know what I mean? I'm seeing some other matches where he's done okay. I like the body of work and if he's healthy, again, we won't wax too much further on him, but I think it's a good-

Alvin Owusu (21:44.275)
Yeah, that's it. That's it.

Torrey (22:13.064)
Again, gotta watch, there's only, there's only a handful of them, but you gotta watch those Australian players in Australia. You just do, it's, it is what it is. Who you got in this one here, right? This side of the draw. Got some, got some sleepers in here.

Alvin Owusu (22:18.153)
That's true, that's true. It is what it is. So we're moving into the, yeah, we're moving into the bottom half. This is the top portion of the Novak Djokovic quarter, which, ugh, okay. All right, we're gonna take this one apart a little bit. One interesting first round match between Dimitrov and Mahatch, right? That'll be fun.

Torrey (22:35.954)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (22:47.467)
I can't call it, but I would imagine that's a Demetrov win. If he's healthy, I just don't trust Thomas Mahatch to win any match of consequence. And so I just assume Grigor doesn't pull another pack or something and he's fine, he's good to go and he gets through that match. And then it starts to get a little, there's a lot of question marks here, right? Grigor's health.

Torrey (23:12.311)
A lot of questions.

Alvin Owusu (23:14.087)
Sits a pass, had a good win last week against Taylor Fritz. Was that real? Is Taylor okay? Like he seems to have lot of knee problems. They're starting to linger here and pop up more frequently. So is he gonna be able to hold his seed? I would imagine if Lahetchka and he make it to the third round, that's gonna be a hell of a match that he's gonna have to expend a lot of effort there. What does he have, like physically, what does he have right now? I think anyone's questioning is.

his game or his game is, but like if you can't hold up, then you know, what do we have? What do we have left? So I would honestly, if I had to, if someone forced me to put money down on who's coming out of this quarter, I probably just, or out of this section, I'm probably just gonna take Musetti. He's safe.

Torrey (23:56.645)
Right, and just take the S &P average over any individual.

Alvin Owusu (24:02.704)
Yeah, mean, he's had a career high, he's a top five player, TH. He's number five in the world.

Torrey (24:07.88)
Don't rub it in, Alvin. I have given him as much credit as I will give him. He is a heck of a player. I saw him in person. I said that. I've come out and said it on multiple occasions, Alvin. You heard it right here. He's a darn good tennis player. I mean, phenomenal. I am not giving him any more than that. That's all you're gonna get out of me today. Got that right. Got that right.

Alvin Owusu (24:28.458)
I mean, at some point you're gonna give him what he's owed because he's number five in the world. mean, the conversation is pretty consistent with what we've been saying over the last few months, I would say. If you take Novak out, because you don't know how much he's gonna play, three through eight, three through 10 in the world is wide open. It fluctuates a lot. so, you, like,

Torrey (24:49.575)
I agree with that.

I agree with that.

Alvin Owusu (24:54.74)
Taylor Fritz I think had this spot last year. At some point he was four, now he's nine. Is he any different on player? No, it's just like those guys kinda grouped together there are so close in output and ability that this is what we get. And does it matter? No, as fans we get some good tennis to watch, but it does matter in terms of how it impacts seedings and then where you get to hide in the draw a little bit. I mean I'm sure Taylor would like to be four.

Torrey (24:57.627)
Yeah.

Torrey (25:20.454)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (25:24.316)
and not nine, right? Even though points-wise, eight that far apart. So that's the kicker.

Torrey (25:26.011)
Got that right.

Sure, I'm with you, I'm with you. I'm gonna reserve all my comments. Good luck, Lorenzo, if you're a friend of the pod. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm trying, I'm trying. Work with me here, work with me, Alvin.

Alvin Owusu (25:42.26)
Bye.

Okay, that's a step up. That's a step up.

That's a step up. I don't want to overshadow his countrymen though. Lorenzo Sonigo. Yeah, that.

Torrey (25:55.151)
I was gonna say that's gonna be a tough matchup. Sonigo gonna be a tough one. That's gonna be a barn burner. That is the question mark of those two. To me, I don't know the Collegnon or whatever. Not sure I even seen him play before, but Sonigo in that match could be tough. This whole section has a bunch of questions. Vavrinka's down there still trying to make something happen. Titsipas is a question mark in general. You've got...

As you mentioned, you got Demetrov's health. What is Mahatch doing? mean, is he moving? Is he going? We don't know yet. And I think both these, you know there's gonna be some ball striking going on between these two, but that's about it. Lahatch could be able to pick up some slack. Shroof is always a good play, Max like this, and he certainly would love to have the two. think that he might have the edge against Capriva and then going into it, maybe a dinged up Taylor.

Who knows? just saying that's the whole draw. This whole section, subsection is just one big question mark after another to your point. Musetti is the favorite and the higher seed. So fair enough, but there's just a lot. There's question marks, not just about this tournament, about this subsection of the draw, but about their rest of their 2026 that I think that, you know, would at least kind of, that would come to bear with the results of this tournament.

Alvin Owusu (27:21.074)
Yeah, and one thing about Lahetchka, if a lot of people are high on Yuri Lahetchka, he's he has shown all the kind of signals of a soon to be top 10 player. I would actually like to see him make a move here. Like if he's going to do it. Yes, yes. And get to a point where like, OK, maybe he if he matches up with the Taylor Fritz in the round in the third round like he if Taylor's not at his 100 %

Torrey (27:34.597)
push button.

Right, to do that, to stay this case. Right, to stay this case, 100%.

Alvin Owusu (27:50.955)
then a player like Lahatchika should be able to dismiss him. 100 % to 100%, I take Taylor, but if Taylor's a little off and Yuri is fit and ready to go, that's a match that he should win if top 10 is in his future. Yeah, okay, let's keep bouncing here and yeah, very, very similar conversation.

Torrey (28:08.294)
his countrymen in the next part of the draw. You see what I'm saying? Who beat Taylor last I called, right, who beat Taylor at Miami, you know what I mean? So this is, know, Jakub has a, he wasn't done any favors with Corina Busta, you know what I mean? Who I know was an elder statesman, but it's a tough match and you know, it's first round, so you're gonna get, is it Pablo? Is that his first name? You're gonna get him as fresh as he's gonna be, you know what I mean? So this could be a tough one for him.

Alvin Owusu (28:16.915)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (28:34.665)
Yeah.

Torrey (28:36.741)
For the for the for the young upstart. What's Yocum? 1920 give or take? Yeah, you know I'm saying my point is that's that's a tough that's a tough one there and and the and there's my main man Yodhar I was talking about quality then I think he played a year or two at UVA before before going pro, but I know he was good player this this draw here has some this draw here has some I saw him a little bit in that next year and also lot of lot of

Alvin Owusu (28:41.37)
He might be 20 by now. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (28:55.976)
Okay, okay.

Torrey (29:03.717)
A lot of beef in this draw here, Alvin, a of beef, a lot of smacking of the ball in this one. I mean, from Ethan Quinn, Grigsberg, got, know, Hurcats. There's some ball strikers in this. Van Der Schlapp, I'm gonna call him because of his game style. Van, your boy, Van Der Schloop. Say his name for me again, Alvin. You do it, you love saying his name. That's him, that's him. It's just something that each.

Alvin Owusu (29:27.722)
Botic vendors and schlups.

Torrey (29:33.378)
There's for everything that was question marks in the previous subsection, this one here, I don't know how they got all these big strikers in this one here. This is a lot of, they're gonna need extra extra balls on with this subsection right here.

Alvin Owusu (29:47.496)
Well, let's even focus in on, you talk about big hitters. Hubie Hurcatch, right? Gets hurt, takes some time off, he's back, first event back, United Cup, and he comes out just guns blazing, takes out Greek Sport, takes out Zverev, takes out Fritz, takes out Warrinka, loses a close one to D-Minor. Like, okay, all right, we forget Hubie was like, Hubie sent.

sent old fed into retirement, right? That was his last match. he's he's a like a legitimate big guy with big weapons and has won a lot of matches on tour over the last, I'd say five years. Another guy who's back who adds another wrinkle to things. And then he's, he's matching up against, who's he got here? Zizou Berg's. Zizou's playing some great, great tennis right now. Also putting up great results in the last,

Torrey (30:16.13)
Yep, match.

Torrey (30:37.966)
Zer. Yeah, Berks.

Alvin Owusu (30:43.483)
in the last few months. Not just in the United Cup where he took out Jakub Mincep and Felix Ojea-Alesine, but even going back in the last year finished the year really strong. So we're while we talk about like the top two center and Alcares really just kind of carrying all the lights right now and Mince-Hennis slowly but surely we're getting more and more backstories, more and more depth, more and more. I mean, just from a fan standpoint, like just matches worth

Torrey (30:50.094)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (31:03.489)
Yeah

Alvin Owusu (31:13.321)
watching like competitive Matches worth watching I think like burgs versus her catch is just like again this is another one put it out on course 16 and and Let the small fire grow like there's gonna be a lot of it's a lot of reason to not be on You know one of the big courts for these early rounds and be out there watching a match like this you could say the same thing for Ethan Quinn versus Greek sport or Nakashima versus versus venison slip, right? It's I mean back to back to back. There's three really really good matches

Torrey (31:36.996)
Nope. Nope.

Torrey (31:40.996)
Yeah, yep. No, exactly. Let me know if you're excited.

Alvin Owusu (31:43.891)
I'm excited. Can you tell I'm excited? I'm pumped.

Alvin Owusu (31:49.702)
I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so scared.

Torrey (31:51.491)
This is, I'll tell you, this one here. And Albert, I've turned over new leaf in 2026. I am 100 % gonna be behind Novak Djokovic. I am not gonna be waiting around for the retirement news. I am not gonna be pushing this man into his wheelchair. This brother has played and continues to play and defy odds. I am getting behind him.

I want him to win number 25 and it could not come at a better place than the Australian Open where he's won, how many, 10? I give or take. So I'm just saying this is his, Rafa's, you know, Philip Chatrier, you know what I'm saying? Rod Laver, Vodafone, whatever the main court is, is his house. And Alvin, I said it.

I'm sad with my chest. No vac for 2026.

Alvin Owusu (32:52.041)
You, oh, wow, oh, wow, you went all the way. I was, I thought you were gonna just hedge there just a little bit, but you went ahead and said that Novak Djokovic is gonna win the Australian Open in the year of our Lord 2026. Let me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna push back. Oh, sure. Let let me, let me push back just a little bit. Yes, this is the, this is Rod Laverina is Novak's house, but it's like, it's like.

Torrey (33:05.892)
He can do it, Alvin. He can do it. Push back. He can do it, Alvin.

Alvin Owusu (33:19.675)
a house in a really nice neighborhood, but the house has been there for a while. like they're actually, they're actually going to knock it down and build a bigger house on the same lot. And, this is now, this is not Yannick center slot. I'm just saying he's won the centers, won the last two. This is his lot now. Thank you. Thank you for taking care of it. This neighborhood, the value of this neighborhood has gone up because you've been here, but I'm, this is my lot now. And, and, and Novak is also on centers half of the draw. That's a

Torrey (33:23.136)
It's been there.

Torrey (33:31.255)
But, but until they do. But until they do.

Alvin Owusu (33:49.351)
That's not where you want to be. That's not where you want to be. God, I just gave you so many outs and you didn't take a single one.

Torrey (33:50.563)
All the better. Alvin, I'm standing behind my man. I'm still standing behind him. I'm not taking me out, Alvin. I'm going with him and I'm tired of rooting against him. I'm tired of, he continues to show that he is the, you heard it right here, third best player in the world. And to me, know, period, even at his age.

Alvin Owusu (34:16.541)
Yeah, yeah.

Torrey (34:19.74)
And so the only out I will take is something unforeseen happened with his health, which is unfortunately likely at this stage of the game happened last year. I have a tournament, but I'm saying happened at this tournament last year. I'm saying we couldn't, I'm just saying that's the only out I'm taking. I just feel on a matchup, right? And I look forward to the matchup with center slash Al Carraz. I gotta tell you Alvin, at the end of the day,

Alvin Owusu (34:29.416)
Every tournament, yep.

Fair.

Torrey (34:48.404)
I think he's the only one that can beat him. And that's my little fine friend. And aside from each other. And that's why I'm taking him up. It's more on that than anything else.

Alvin Owusu (34:57.585)
Right, right, right, right.

Alvin Owusu (35:02.865)
Yeah, I'm with you in parts of that, I'm with you. He is the best chance of anyone. is, considering his age, that's, yeah, can think, considering his age, think that's, yes, it's concerning and it's also all-inducing, right? Like, of all the players, the one that can actually push these guys the most is the eldest of the bunch.

Torrey (35:09.538)
He's the best of the rest, period, period. So that's all. And that's why I'm going all in. It's concerning is what it is. It's concerning. Let's say that first. for sure.

Torrey (35:31.799)
Thank you. And we know that, thank you, statistically, it probably ain't going to happen. But I'm, I got to back him because I feel like if anybody can, it's him. And more importantly, if it were to happen, I would love to see the elder statesman go out the way he wants to go out and keep it moving. But, this is, this is as good a chance as any, you know, fresh, healthy to make it happen. And that's why I'm hedging the bet. And that's what I'm going with it. It's

Alvin Owusu (35:32.969)
It just shows age is just a number to a certain extent.

Torrey (36:00.61)
I'm not delusional that he's going to beat anybody in straight sets. He's going to be lucky to get through the tournament they didn't get through last year. I am 100 % realist just saying he has as good a shot as anybody and perhaps better to beat Sinner and Alcáez. And as far as I'm concerned, you know, I just, wish I had a better feeling about everybody else. The other 121 players in the, 125 players in the draw.

Alvin Owusu (36:27.689)
25 players. Well, so the thing is though, what you're saying about Novak, I agree and I, we've seen this path a few times in the last year, right? So if you go all the way back to Australian Open of last year, right? Novak beats Carlos in the corners, right? Expends every, it takes, but what did it cost him? It cost me everything, right? And then could not.

Torrey (36:53.686)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (36:55.859)
finish the match against Zverev and then Zverev goes on to lose against Sinner. Okay, go to the French Open. so and Novak continued to say like, I just gotta not play these guys. My better chance is if I play them later, right? Okay, so in the French Open, he gets Zverev in the quarters, handles him pretty easily, loses to Sinner in the semis, couldn't get by him. Straight sets, just got beat. No injury, no nothing, just got beat. Okay, Wimbledon, Wimbledon, same thing, comes in, tournament beats him up.

Torrey (37:05.835)
Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (37:16.309)
Yup. Yup. Yup. 100%. It's got beat down for sure.

Alvin Owusu (37:26.419)
plays center in the semis, center walks him, right? All the way to the US Open, okay, he gets Carlos in the semis, Carlos walks him. So it's like, yeah, he can get there. He can get to one of them, but then what? Besides beating Carlos 12 months ago, Who's moving up and who's moving down? Please.

Torrey (37:38.635)
drugged. Yep.

Torrey (37:46.401)
early in the year.

Torrey (37:51.457)
Two caveats. Two caveats. Okay? Two caveats for one ionic center.

Had they have enforced the time rule, he would have lost to Caspar, not Caspar Roone, Holger Roone. Roona, Roone, I'll quit. Second, down two sets to love, a miraculous change of fate hands him the match in Wimbledon against Grigor Dimitrov, getting his butt kicked. Now, I only say because those are the two grand slams your boy etched last year.

So you can't tell me with a few caveats, if, if and if, that Yanuk is Mr. Triathlon himself. And I'm only mentioning this to say, I hear you, it's also 51-49. This is the first slam of the season and I give him Novak, he has his best chance right now due to health.

due to being fresh, due to the grind of the tour of the year, having not set in yet, and he's won it 10 times. So I gotta think he's comfortable there, right? He knows his favorite sushi spot. Well, you know what I'm saying, but he's more comfortable here. This was his first one. This was his, I'm pretty sure it's 10, of the 25. That's a lot, Alvin, that's a lot. And I'm only mentioning you to say, that's all I'm saying.

Alvin Owusu (39:09.68)
He's comfortable everywhere. He's want all these want all of them. He's want all of them

Alvin Owusu (39:24.264)
blessed.

Torrey (39:26.72)
And I'm just putting it out there because as we know the elements, I'm not worried about it getting hot, but no that. I'm worried about that with Yannick. I'm not worried about anything else except for a hammy pole, a little stiffness in the back, and a little sciatica. That's all I'm worried about. I'm worried about, we got to have them for that. Hey, we got to have them for that. No question. No, no question. I'm just saying.

Alvin Owusu (39:43.452)
that's it. That's it. That's it. Those are equally as equally as likely as Yandex getting burned down by the by the heat.

Torrey (39:55.136)
And the fact that he plays Janik first, I'm just saying if it's possible, it's best chances happening now. I'm not walking it back. My only out is physically related, which I think we both understand is could happen at any time between now and two weeks from now. I'm just saying rest of the tour needs to step up because once he does retire, you guys, there better be somebody ready to take the lot for real because that big house is.

Alvin Owusu (40:21.703)
Well...

Torrey (40:22.217)
propped up the values of a lot of homes in this neighborhood.

Alvin Owusu (40:26.344)
That's fair. That's fair. And I think, well, you brought up a couple of interesting cases. I'm less, okay, the time thing in the I'll Show It Up in last year against Holger. I mean, he still beat Holger three sets to one, right? It wasn't like it was a thing with five or anything. The Wimbledon thing was real. Yeah, yeah, but the Wimbledon thing was real. And I think that goes against the whole, like, that just showed that Novak.

Torrey (40:39.775)
It was a 20 minute timeout Alvin, 20 minutes.

Alvin Owusu (40:52.26)
and Carlos are not the only ones that have the ability to beat Yannick. I mean, Grigor was right there. Grigor had him dead to rights. So that gives us more hope if you're looking for a little more variability in the, like these guys. If you don't want to see the two players split the slams every year, I think there's still some hope that we get a third person or a different person or not one of them.

Torrey (40:54.697)
Thank you.

Torrey (40:59.869)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (41:22.146)
yeah, yeah, it's, there's hope. Hope's not a strategy, but there is hope.

Torrey (41:24.733)
Yeah. We can move on. I feel like we've spoke to it enough, but I had to mention that because I feel like we don't often give, I don't, you, not you per se. I don't always give the current GOAT his fair, his due. And I'm gonna give Blorenzo his, but I'm gonna darn sure give Novak his, you know, who's more than deserved it.

Alvin Owusu (41:49.287)
Okay, fair. All right, we're rounding third here. This is the top half of the center quarter, headlined by one Ben Shelton. Not a bad looking draw for Ben. Not a bad looking draw for Ben at all. I believe he's had some battles with Hugo Umber. I feel like lefty match up, Hugo is the lefty, right? Hugo's the lefty. Yeah, yeah.

Torrey (41:53.629)
Yep.

Torrey (41:59.454)
Come come on Ben. Nope.

Torrey (42:10.75)
He does not do well with lefty matchups. I was just gonna say, big time lefty. Serve plays very, very similar to him. I don't like two other lefties in this, Maderino, nor Dennis. So I'm just saying there's a lot of lefties in this one that can, that are known to give some people some fits. I might be missing one more. this, this matchup to your point, you're right. I like a lot of the things that are going on here. but this matchup, I do not like.

the um, bear matchup for him as an ideal situation. Um, I just feel like he also serves big comes in bringing the heat big time and this will be, this will be a serve. This will be a shootout with the serves. I mean, a hundred percent. Um, I just feel like Ben's a little more tested, but that's a, they play. If you had to, if you had to pick his carbon copy across the water, I mean, isn't his name would start with a U, you know I mean? Just saying.

Alvin Owusu (42:53.512)
That is a tough

Alvin Owusu (43:04.584)
That's close, yeah, it's close. It's close. It's definitely close. Yeah, that's a sneaky one. And Ugo's ranked 36 right now in the world, so he's just outside of the seeding. that's your, there's your worst case scenario of just picking up a seeded caliber player who's been seeded in other Grand Slams before ranking moves either way, four or five spots, plus or minus, and you seed it at French Open, not seeded, I'll show you, and there you go, right there.

Torrey (43:07.877)
So that's all I'm saying.

Torrey (43:14.535)
Just outside of seating.

Torrey (43:28.081)
Right. Boom, Yep.

Alvin Owusu (43:33.159)
Yeah, you don't want that, but that's what happens sometimes. you know, Valentine, yeah, all the money and chill. before that was Valentine, Valentine Vashro. we, we talked about him a little bit at the back end of last year after he, he made that run in, was it Beijing? He went to Beijing or I forget which, no, no, the one he won, the one he won, the 1000 that he actually won. it anyways,

Torrey (43:35.165)
It is what it is. Altmeyer and Chillich, I saw. So go ahead.

My main man.

Torrey (43:51.803)
He made two runs, was it Beijing and the other one? He made two back to back, I thought.

Alvin Owusu (44:02.824)
He, I talk about him a lot from the standpoint of what one good week can do for you. And in comparing and contrasting his run at that 1,000 to let's say Chris Eubanks' run at Wimbledon in 20, think that was 24 maybe, or maybe it was 23, I can't remember exactly which year. It was Shanghai, sorry, Shanghai. Vashra, he won Shanghai.

Torrey (44:32.647)
saying hi. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (44:32.712)
beating everyone, including Nobac on the way there. having such a high value result, right? Getting all 1000 of those points and then moving forward into the next year with nothing to defend. Like he won't have to defend anything until September of next year, of this year, pardon me now. He, it's just like, he's like, he can go into every single tournament, which he seems like he's been doing so far. Like he went into Paris,

Torrey (44:47.985)
Right.

Torrey (44:52.38)
Right, right, the US Open, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (45:02.536)
picked up three wins, right? So it's Paris Masters. And then I think opening this year, he lost his first round match against Sebastian in Brisbane. But if he can just have a normal professional's year, he is now a mainstay in the tour. He doesn't have to like prove that he can win 1000s. He just has to win a match here, win two matches here, just be a pro.

Torrey (45:05.03)
Yup. Yup.

Torrey (45:20.508)
That's right.

Alvin Owusu (45:30.12)
Two here, week here, travel here, pick up one here, like bust around the 16 somewhere. And like now he's just a professional tennis player. He's no longer in the challenger circuit. He's on the pro tour and he did it and like got himself there and showed that it was almost carrying the torch for all the guys who were in the challengers. Like saying there are players here who can ball and you just need to, you just need to be given an opportunity or create an opportunity to take advantage of opportunity. And when you do bring it one.

Torrey (45:31.804)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (45:49.222)
Right? That's right.

Torrey (45:55.462)
Right? Yeah, yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I'm happy that he's happy seated. He's got a, know, Martin Dam is always a good player. This would be a good matchup for him though. I feel like, you know, Vashro can run the tables on this side of things. And again, he's the big serves, the big serves don't bother him. The tough players don't bother him. You know, if things go to to, you know, to fruition, I mean, you know, he could be a tough matchup for Benny Shelton. I'm telling you right now, I mean,

Alvin Owusu (45:58.792)
I would say one week made a career.

Torrey (46:25.553)
This could be a very, that's not an afterthought that match against with Bashiro because of his year and because of who he's beaten and the belief he has. that's a match that I'm looking at again, not to mention who's in his way. This will be a tough test right here. And then we can't forget about obviously Chilich and Altmeier and you got Jaime Menard down there and you got Baluchi playing Casper who's back from injury. there's a lot of-

There's a lot of meeting this one in this subsection too, Alvin. This is a very, I'm not going to say it's a bad section for Ben because I like Ben's chances with all of them with this game. He tends to be on his racket, which you like. But there's some players here that could, there's always players in this specific matchup. There's a couple of lefties and there's a few other top players that have had good success counter punishing big servers. Not the least of which is Caspar Root.

I just, is not a, each match is gonna be a little bit of white knuckling and not for me and you, but in theory, this could be some white knuckling going on right here. You know what I mean?

Alvin Owusu (47:32.359)
Yeah

Alvin Owusu (47:36.904)
And poor Ben, not poor Ben, but he could potentially get three Frenchmen in a row. He's got potentially Monfils in the second round if he can get past Umber. Monfils in his, this will be his final. This will be his final is Australian Open. So, and yeah, it's gonna be work, but that's what it is. Grand Slam's the crown jewel of our sport. So if you want the glory, you gotta work.

Torrey (47:47.046)
I was seeing that, yeah.

Torrey (47:51.365)
Yeah.

Torrey (47:59.131)
Right, that's what you signed up for, you know what I mean? That's why there's such big tournaments and they're so emotionally captivating and draining both. Like each match you feel like, oh God, that match. And every time I see the prize money and the points, I'm like, God, that's a lot of money. But I'm also like, yeah, it was a great tournament though. You know what I mean? The tournament was just, ugh.

Alvin Owusu (48:03.015)
Exactly.

Alvin Owusu (48:22.765)
Yeah, and then Ben played Gale last year, last year in this event, like round of 16 after Gale beat, I think it was Taylor the round before, round of 32 I believe, and then ran out of gas at the end of retiring in the fourth set, something like that. But that'll be the kicker, right? Can Gale get through this match against Sweeney efficiently? Then I think he's right there. He's right there.

Torrey (48:44.347)
Sweeney, Right, officially, good work.

I agree.

Alvin Owusu (48:50.523)
He's always right there, he's a true professional. All right, T.S., let's bring this home. We're down here in the bottom half of Yannick's center's quarter. Rematch, they played last year. They played last year in this event. That was the coming out party for Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen took him out in round 32, this year's event, or last year's event, pardon me. I think Mikkelsen, yeah, beat.

Torrey (48:55.941)
Yep, here we go. Catching off in Mickelson.

Torrey (49:02.639)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (49:18.331)
First he beat Syspass, then he beat Kachanov. So can Alex conjure up the magic again? I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. Probably not twice. But maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Fonseca.

Torrey (49:27.279)
Yeah. Be tough. Be tough. Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (49:37.102)
Okay?

Alvin Owusu (49:38.531)
Little a little banged up right now. He's pulled out of two consecutive events backs been acting up He's had some kind of chronic back problems ever since juniors apparently and it's kind of He's had some flare-ups lately. I don't I don't even know if he's going to play under the draws out I guess he would have pulled out beforehand So we shall see but Yeah, yeah

Torrey (49:40.591)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (49:59.128)
Yeah, if you could. Right. Right.

I know what you're

Alvin Owusu (50:06.855)
Yeah, this is an interesting little section as well. think we've been, the draw on the whole, I think is balanced. It's got some good matches all the way through. There's no killer sections. They're just, I think we've got a pretty balanced draw on first pass here. I don't see any issues for popping up for Janik. mean.

Torrey (50:18.874)
I

Torrey (50:25.306)
I

Alvin Owusu (50:34.233)
Even if Fonseca is 100 % healthy and ready to roll and they meet in the third round, I feel like that's a...

Torrey (50:38.577)
That's a match up that favors Yannick all day. Yeah, yeah, you're right. No, no, and I'm more worried about, and as you say, I'm more worried about Fonseca being healthy, period, and let alone for the rest of the year and his career. I'm more worried about the topper section of that with Nishech Basavaredi and Okama could be a tough one, playing the winner of that catching off Mickelson match. And then you've got Dardari.

Alvin Owusu (50:42.905)
Yeah, yeah, I don't think he's quite ready for that yet.

Torrey (51:06.618)
you know, just hanging, hanging in the back and waiting in the wings. And to me, that's, that's a matchup that you don't, you know, ever want to, you know, you, got these Wiley Italians hanging out there that that's just a tough matchup. The whole, it's a whole wave, guys and girls, you know what I mean? So hats off to, hats off to the whole Italian captain. I was talking to a, a coach at the intense event about two, three weeks ago and he was Italian and

Alvin Owusu (51:19.665)
So many of them, God bless.

Torrey (51:36.377)
Shout out to Pistolese, who was one of the old school Italian players from back in the day. He was telling me how just not even 15 years ago, how they were really starting to finally get a lot of Italian players out of Italy to start playing more. He was giving me the whole story about Gianni, gave me the whole story about all of them, Nardi to Darderi to Mazzetti. He gave me the rundown of all of them when they were kids, when they were growing up. He gave me the whole thing.

And I had a new found respect for what the country can do to really give these kids a real start and really put some money, support and some wild cards and travel behind them. so anyway, what he's saying now is that some of the talent has always been there. They just never went anywhere. And so now they're getting out and starting to, it's just really fun to see for those players to be a part of this wave. We talked about Coach Iretta earlier, obviously with Jasmine leading the charge with those, with the Italian girls has a lot of, I think

We all know about the Ronnie and others that have been balling for a while now, right? So, and you can't forget about the world number one slash number two in Yannick Center. So the Italians are doing something right. And it's more than just coffee and fast cars, if you know what I'm saying.

Alvin Owusu (52:52.775)
Absolutely, absolutely. think we're at a place now where we can rest. I think we've done it justice. I feel like we can move into just getting excited about the tennis ahead of us. maybe we'll come back, I'd say probably after the second round, do a little recap of what we've seen so far, unless something very, very, very weird happens in the first round.

Torrey (53:09.197)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (53:22.403)
I think that's probably the best time for you guys to hear from us again. So let's go ahead and put a pin in it. Best of three, we are out. Enjoy the Australia Open, guys.