Australian Open 2026 Mens Semis Recap: Djokovic Survives Sinner, Alcaraz Outlasts Zverev

Alvin Owusu (00:02.386)
And welcome to another episode of the best of three podcasts. I'm Alvin that's Tory. This is your men's semi-final, review, slash five, maybe finals preview and a little peek behind the curtain here. We're, we're picking up this recording as no vac is serving out, try attempting to serve out the fifth set. he is currently up at this moment. Five, four in the fifth set 40 30 serving. And with that, being the backdrop of this conversation,

Torrey (00:30.705)
Mmm. Mmm.

Alvin Owusu (00:32.824)
TH, man, mean, kind of like big picture here.

Torrey (00:34.832)
The one thing we can both agree on is it's good morning if you're in Australia or if you're here in the US. So let's understand that one thing. This match, both these matches have gone the distance. I think that's an understatement with the first match. Oh, we're in a deuce. Unbelievable.

Alvin Owusu (00:43.464)
It's, it is definitely not. Yeah, it's

Torrey (00:59.568)
I think this has at least two more games than a breaker in it. I mean, this is, it has been two up and down and cardiac arrest.

Alvin Owusu (01:07.306)
my goodness. I don't know, this feels like unprofessional podcasting, but here we are, here we are. So yeah, this match as it finishes up here, we can talk a little bit about what we've seen so far. Let's just go with this match. First set, center looked like the guy that we've seen all tournament long, Rolling, rolling. And Novak had some,

Torrey (01:35.76)
Like Senna does. Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (01:40.174)
but seemed like he just hadn't caught enough to the pace and intensity that was going to be required today. And that is just a, you know, not fresh, whatever that might be. And then second set, he found it. He found it. He found his balance. His breath almost caught up to the pace of the match. He was then in it, right? In it.

Torrey (02:06.704)
Yup. Yup.

Alvin Owusu (02:09.837)
playing fantastic tennis. And this is really interesting having this conversation right now with no winner being determined. You would think that we would have started with the other match, but we're already here. already here. So match point again. And then the third set, mean, this match is like, let's even maybe talking about the sets and whatnot. I don't even know, Tori. Like at this point, I'm like, I'm just.

Torrey (02:24.067)
Matt's pool again.

Torrey (02:38.355)
I'll jump in. I'll jump in because I think what we've noticed and the world has noticed is Novak Djokovic is not done. Novak Djokovic is still the third best player in the world. And you're seeing the experience, you're seeing his drive, you're seeing a lot of his, just his ability to compete, Alvin, is just on another plane that most mortals can't handle.

And I believe Alvin Novak Djokovic just won the match. here's what I'm saying. And I...

Alvin Owusu (03:10.145)
He did.

Torrey (03:17.999)
I have been guilty of counting the goat out. I have been guilty of putting him out to pasture, perhaps wanting him for his legacy, right? Not for him, the player, for his legacy not to be tarnished, right? And the guy keeps telling all of us, guys, I'm not done yet. I have some good tennis left in me. I want to give it a shot.

And I keep wanting it's him, it's TB12, it's LeBron, right? All of them. keep saying, guys, guys, guys, you're just, you've already done it. Why do you keep doing this? You know, we already think you're great. There's nothing more to prove, you know? And they're like, but I can still win. And so we're like, yeah, yeah, there's that. So here we are now. Go ahead.

Alvin Owusu (03:49.943)
Same, yep, same guys.

Alvin Owusu (04:08.117)
That's an interesting comparison though because I often put those three, Novak, Tom Brady, and LeBron in the same group because of, specifically because of what they've done from a take care of your body off of the playing field so that you can elongate your pride and vis-a-vis your career, right? And keep performing at a higher.

Torrey (04:25.975)
Let me add one more to that. Cristiano Ronaldo is right there in the same exact situation for the same reasons.

Alvin Owusu (04:30.837)
Same. And he's another great example of like the point that I'm gonna get to in that these guys are trying to elongate their physical prime, like to hold on, preserve their bodies to compete at the highest level while their minds are still getting better, right? They're still getting smarter, which makes them better at their particular jobs. The one unique difference between Novak, and then I'll draw a line between Tom Brady,

Torrey (04:49.496)
That's That's right.

Alvin Owusu (04:59.883)
LeBron and Cristiano Ronaldo is that the other, the latter three have to rely on a team. They can say I'm performing at a high level that doesn't necessarily equate to winning championships. Novak is performing at a high level is a direct input to him. Like he is the only one, right? It's the benefit and the, and and the curse of an individual sport, right? I think in this instance, he has been telling us to your point, I just need my legs.

Torrey (05:16.526)
All right. Right, right.

Agree, agree.

Alvin Owusu (05:28.961)
coming into these matches, I can still not only compete and push, I can still beat these guys. So now we're looking at two back to back Australian opens where he took out Carlos last year. He has now taken out Janik this year. I mean, what we gonna say? What are we gonna say?

Torrey (05:46.958)
That's what we're gonna say anything. We're gonna pay homage and we're gonna say Novak. Excuse me, much like that reporter who I think deserves a little bit of credit for kind of pissing Novak off. Told him he was chasing this and chasing that and Novak said, and it's funny they mentioned that in the broadcast, they replayed that question and they replayed Novak's answer and I caught it when it happened live. I was like,

Alvin Owusu (06:00.81)
Right, yeah.

Torrey (06:16.152)
That's the wrong question. You know, that's the wrong way to ask that question to a 24 times Grand Slam champ. You got to have a little bit of respect. It's a small side note. remember the last, had to be World Cup. I think it was in, was it in Saudi Arabia or some of the matches, some of the games. And I remembered some, I think it was Morocco or something. Maybe it was some, some Middle Eastern team had come through and some guy got a, had kind of.

Alvin Owusu (06:21.037)
Torrey (06:46.228)
walking back through and he made some comment about Messi, you know, why is Messi, why is Messi? And it kind of, kind of went viral, right? This whole kind of, you know, like, where is this guy we all heard about this legend? And I remember telling my son, my son's a big time soccer, soccer fan and soccer player. And I said, ooh, Zayf, I don't like that. And Zayf was like, boy, you got him. He didn't, he didn't show up. like, Zayf, you never, you never poke the bear like that. I said, I don't care who you are.

I said, this was not even the final round. I said, this is group stage. I said, for you to poke the basket, let me tell you what you just done. You just pissed off, Leonel Messi. Several soccer games later, guess what happened, Alvin? I don't have to tell you what happened. Messi said, oh, you wanna know where I am? Here I am. And who was lifting the trophy at the end of the tournament? Now I'm not gonna say, I'm not gonna make some foreboding comment like he's gonna destroy Carlos as a result of this, but I am gonna say that.

reporter's comment, just the way he said it, kind of gave a little bit of a key and peel, even a little smirk. I gave him a little salt. And I think that he came out today with just a little more under the tank and just a little more something to prove. And Alvin, you heard it right here, that second and third step, he started playing some vintage Novak Djokovic ball.

Alvin Owusu (07:55.423)
Right.

Torrey (08:12.268)
And the fact that that whole fourth set got the earlier break in the fourth, you know, I was, I didn't want to text you back because I don't want to jinx it. I was like, he'll lose this break at any time. So I don't want to get out of his hopes up, you know, and buddy, he held onto that thing strong, multiple saved break points later. And I think that's really the tale of this match is how many break points he saved slash how many Yanuk squandered. And I have to say,

Alvin Owusu (08:19.553)
hahahahah

Torrey (08:39.724)
there was probably 80 % saved to the 20 % squad.

Alvin Owusu (08:44.62)
And I think that, we're gonna, in this particular podcast, we're probably gonna go back and forth between the two matches, right? Alcaraz beating Zer, seven, six, four, seven, five in the fifth? What the hell is the score? yeah, seven, five in the fifth. And then Novak winning, yeah. 10 sets of tennis and I've had fewer hours of sleep in the last three days. So it is what it is, but you're getting this thing unfiltered.

Torrey (08:55.092)
I think,

I lost track. were so many 7-6's on me. Which time brick are we talking about?

Torrey (09:08.32)
No doubt. No doubt. Five, five and a fifth, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (09:14.026)
that you only get so many chances, right? You go back to the Zverev Alcaraz match. Zverev had two unique chances, one of which, you know, serving forward at 5-3 in the second, like that's the, not converting the second set is the reason why he had no gas left at the end of the fifth set, right? He should have been there. He should have been there. Like that's, and he was effusive about that in the press conference after the match. You could see it kind of as you got through the, you know,

Torrey (09:24.884)
second.

Torrey (09:32.043)
100 % 100 % 100 %

Alvin Owusu (09:43.905)
both players are just kinda going through it in the fourth set and then in the fifth it's like, yeah, you only get so many chances. And the same thing here with Novak and Center. I don't know what the final tally was but at one point we were at 18 break point chances and we had only converted two of them I believe. But there were also at least three different occasions in which Novak was serving down triple break point. One of which.

inside in forehand slap second serve. Like what are you doing Yannick? Like what are you doing? Like so uncharacteristic of him. And I think we saw a lot of, a lot of that is Novak pushing Yannick into a place where he's not used to being, right? Because it's, you're not gonna get him in a position to be, to make poor decisions unless you're challenging him, right? And only, you know, two people in the tour actually really challenge him.

Torrey (10:18.847)
Yep. Yep. Right.

Torrey (10:32.853)
Bye.

Torrey (10:39.211)
100%.

Alvin Owusu (10:42.474)
like this in best.fi format. But the other side of that coin was in those big points Novak played with conviction and a lot of those times Yannick played a little, I'll say a little safe, right? A little safe. And.

Torrey (10:56.444)
Yup. Yup.

Alvin Owusu (11:00.876)
When you play a four hour, five set match, right, there are gonna be a lot of things. You can't just point out one or two things that made the difference, but I guarantee, you know, with that many break point chances, one of the best returners in the world right now, you gotta think he's gonna convert more than that. Like I think that's gonna probably be the big walk away for him is like, I had so many chances to put him, you know, a microcosm, put him out of this match.

Torrey (11:07.092)
Yup. Yup.

Alvin Owusu (11:27.38)
in a macro, like a macro scale, put him out of his misery.

Torrey (11:29.739)
Yeah. The the tail of the tape to me was going to come down to a huge I'm going to call it a dichotomy because we say he played safe. He had 26 aces Alvin. He had 26 aces. He took to Novak's 12th. Right. So on paper he shouldn't have he shouldn't have gotten broken. think Novak was three of eight for break chances. And of course

Alvin Owusu (11:55.914)
He was very efficient on break chances.

Torrey (11:57.447)
and Yannick was two of 18. Now, 26 aces. I too thought he played a little safe here and there. And I thought he was, as I say, there was a couple of break points he definitely squandered, but let's face it, Alvin, Novak earned those breaks back and perhaps played a little bit loose and was conserving energy. When he got behind the point a bunch of times, he just let some of those points go. He pulled the old Pete Zampras, I'm gonna save my legs for the next serve, do what I gotta do, right? And served big and saved great. What?

felt was the difference was there were some long points where I thought at the at the end of the at the end of the second I thought Yannick started to pick it up a notch and I felt if he kept hitting the body blows off the ground he was going and and keep Novak in the point longer he was gonna run the legs out of him out from under him but he didn't I felt like almost by by playing him

Alvin Owusu (12:52.97)
He didn't. Yeah.

Torrey (12:55.668)
quick points either way win or lose it helped Novak because he's like hey that's great for me nice shot you know there was one crucial drop shot that he hit that I thought took the legs completely out of him and I'm surprised he didn't do it more in the fourth and obviously in the fifth I don't think I'm gonna drop shot in the fifth I mean and just took the legs completely out of him and and and not enough and when he did you could almost tell Novak was doing the drop shot as a bailout he hit a couple like I don't

Alvin Owusu (13:15.094)
I, yeah, there was just, not enough.

Torrey (13:25.534)
have the trust and the gas to go through you on some of these next on this next big four and this next big backhand. I'd rather you lose it on the drop shot get and a couple of times he got burned for it. And I felt like he hit that huge inside in forehand on a game point that he almost roared before he even finished the forehand and it was just big time shot. I said to myself, he made a point not to hit the dropper.

Alvin Owusu (13:47.573)
Yeah.

Torrey (13:54.63)
on that play. I have to finish him off. I can't keep trying to run him and going rope a dope and going hope he misses. I have to finish him and that's where the experience of 24 slams and untold how many matches one proved him and Alvin I got to give credit or credit is due. The goat show today why he's the goat and as they say if you gonna come at the if you gonna come at the king you best not miss. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (14:19.34)
Bed not miss. Yeah, it was a, I feel like we, I saw flashes of a lot of different things and as I'm watching this match, right, it's not just about the tennis being played, but like you have to look at this thing as a, I don't know, it feels like it's Australian Open of years past kinda came into light. I started thinking about all kinds of things and this is not an Australian Open example, but I think it was like 08 or 09 US Open.

Torrey (14:38.909)
Right, right, right, right, Right.

Alvin Owusu (14:48.304)
Somewhere in there Novak versus Roger Roger serving for the match at 40 15 Novak just goes F it's slap forehand return right Down the line clean as a whistle changes the entire changes the entire direction of the match He ends up getting that break coming back winning that match. I think he was in five I caught a glimpse of that when Novak was serving 40 15 up a break in the I'm say in the fourth set and Yannick goes inside

Torrey (14:55.539)
Yep. Remember that. Yep. Down the line. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (15:17.996)
out backhand winner off the return. And I was like, oh, that could be, that could be something. And then, and then also wins the next point at 40 at that Novak serving 40 30. And we're at Deuce and I go, okay, if I'm thinking about it, I know Novak's thinking about it, but Novak is now 15, almost 20 years older now. He's seen so much. He's done so much. I'm like, I wonder if he just studies the ship here. And of course he did. He studied the ship.

Torrey (15:24.328)
That be it. Yup.

Torrey (15:34.332)
Yeah. Sure. Sure.

Alvin Owusu (15:47.616)
He got, think it was maybe he got down, maybe lost one game point there, but got it back and ended up winning that game, serving it out. Got himself through it. And I think he played this match with the intention of, especially after the second set of like, I'm going to take this match from you. And it felt like Janik the whole time was kind of playing at the same level. It's like, I can do this. I can outlast you. You will fall apart. And it's that minor difference in mindset of,

Torrey (15:54.14)
Yup. got through it.

Torrey (16:12.007)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (16:17.589)
how I'm gonna be, how I plan to be doing the on-court interview with Jim Carrey at the end of this thing, is it gonna be because the other guy fell apart or because I took it from him? And I think, the.

Torrey (16:25.608)
That belief was huge and I think that's a great segue back to Carlos' match. He just believed that he was gonna beat him. As he said in the post-match interview, I just believed. I didn't think I was ever gonna win this match and I wasn't gonna pull out. I wasn't gonna quit and I thought I had him. And while it was much closer in the score, felt like the Carlos, no disrespect to either player, there was just so many missed first serves. The tennis quality.

may not have been quite as high as the score indicates. Clearly very high. We're talking 99.75 of a quality level where I felt this match here was at a 99.9. just that the points are just so fiercely contested per se and the serve quality was much higher on both players. You know, can say that Novik only had 12 aces, but dude, he had one second serve ace that I can remember at least one, maybe two and had some.

served his best tennis when he was down. So both matches were very, very high quality. I felt the belief to your point played a huge role in both Novak and in Carlos being the last man standing in these two big time matches. And how about the Australian Open, man? We've been talking, you yourself, stakes and wanted to matter. I think, I mean, you got a double, you got a double present today.

Alvin Owusu (17:46.015)
Who? Me? What? Huh?

Torrey (17:53.356)
as far as the matches meaning something, pushing the champs to their absolute nth degree. I mean, this was just for the fans. Man, I mean, this is everything you could have wanted and more. Five sets of tennis, seeds one through four, right? I mean, everything being ideal as it can be. And man, I mean, I-

If you didn't get entertained watching these two matches, buddy, you're not a tennis player. You're not a tennis fan.

Alvin Owusu (18:25.363)
Yeah, a lot of things there, like a lot of things. I am a child of the big three era, right? And I don't say child, I came up in the big three era. would say I'm close, I'm older than Novak, right? And a little younger than Roger, so it's, whatever. I came up as a fan of that era and I was a Fed guy. I started off as a Fed guy, which is ironic.

being left-handed playing with a Babylonic Pure Arrow like that I would not be a Rafa guy out of the gate, but I was a Fed guy. And it got to a certain point when I watched these Grand Slams through the prism of the race, the Grand Slam, like total Grand Slam championships race, right? And so anytime, especially when Novak started to come up, I just wanted Novak to beat Rafa so that Rafa wouldn't win another Grand Slam.

Torrey (18:56.58)
No.

Alvin Owusu (19:23.371)
It was always through that, just what can we do to have Rafa not win a Grand Slam and Fed not have to beat him in the final? After seeing so many of their battles, I didn't want him anymore because Fed was losing them. And I just wanted Rafa not to catch up. And this is the point when Fed had kind of gotten out ahead. And then once Rafa started catching up, I started pulling for Joker. And I was like, I want Joker to slow him down. I want him to slow him down. And then once it became inevitable that Novak was gonna be the thing that...

Torrey (19:23.632)
Bye.

Torrey (19:27.214)
Right, right, right, right. Right, right, right.

Right, yep, yep.

Torrey (19:52.548)
Yeah, the heir apparent. Right? Yeah, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (19:53.035)
the person that blew all this up and it like, it was like, fine, whatever, like whatever. So as we, as we go back through this again, I look at it. I sometimes find myself going, well, what do I, what does the story need to be here? What does the story need to be here? And never did I, I don't feel that. And I've talked about it a lot on this podcast, like that there needs to be a third. And ideally when I, when I say it, it needs to be a third that is a contemporary and someone to challenge them.

Torrey (20:16.198)
Right, right.

Alvin Owusu (20:21.374)
you know, who is the Novak or who is the Andy Murray, who was in their cohort that is going to push them in perpetuity. But maybe it's gonna be by like, like one of those like by committee type situations like Zverev Zverev pushed Carlos. Yeah, hey, come on guys, let's get together here. Team team, the band of three through eight, let's talk about this. It's got to be one of us. Someone's got to do it. And in this, you know, in this, on this particular day,

Torrey (20:25.798)
Right.

Torrey (20:33.51)
You gotta get him today.

I'm ready.

Torrey (20:49.028)
Svear of, it's you today.

Alvin Owusu (20:51.218)
Yeah, well on this particular day both Zverev and Novak pushed and then Novak was able to push Jannik over. So as we get towards the finals and start thinking about like, yeah, I'm really happy we're not doing this again, to be honest with you. Like that French Open Final was so amazing. The Wimbledon and US Open Finals were exhibitions of almost perfection by each player, right? Let's.

Torrey (21:07.429)
So, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (21:19.122)
Let's keep it special by not having it every Grand Slam, like every single time. Right? You can't have dessert every day. So let's space it out. This is good. Exactly. Just another course in the meal. Like we're going to play this Grand Slam and it doesn't really matter because at the end we're going to get Alcraz and Senna. It's like, well, this time we're not. And Novak, it would have been maybe more fair if, okay, this match goes five.

Torrey (21:27.653)
Yeah, it stops being dessert, right. Right.

Torrey (21:37.594)
Yeah. Right. Right.

Alvin Owusu (21:48.029)
and center wins it so both Carlos and Yannick come in with the same amount of tennis in their legs if you will, right? But they're also the same age and so it's a little fair. Here Novak coming in with on the whole less tennis in his legs than Carlos but he's gonna have a tough time recovering from this than Carlos is. I think that's fair. But he will figure it out.

Torrey (21:55.213)
Right. Tennis reps. Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (22:04.644)
Right. Yeah, for sure, for sure. But he's got a day off. He'll figure it out. I want to stay in the moment. I'm going to stay in the moment right now. I know you are too. Let's just savor what we just experienced. I just feel like Novak rose to the moment today as only he can. I felt, and I have to give props to

Sasha Zverev could not have served bigger, could not have played at a high level for that much. I haven't seen him push these guys to that extent in a major like he did today. I was opining about this earlier in our whole pre-tournament, I think in our draw ceremony episode. And I was just talking about, just needed to see something

It was long overdue to see some more aggressive play from Sasha Sverov and album we saw that. And I feel like it really put a real good feeling in me to know that Sasha still has it. His serve was huge today. I felt like if anything, he could have gotten that a bit more. It was, I think the fact that he had it and let it slip is very important, not so much that Carlos stole it from him. And I think that's an important

distinction to make going forward for him for the rest of this year. We all know his medical history and what he's the quiet fight. He's always fighting on the side with his diabetes. We all know some of the unfortunates, right? The French Open and I think was it a 24, the US Open and 20. know, there's all the finals that he's been right there. He had the opportunity and didn't and perhaps didn't pick the door down. It was ironic that

He had the same situation in the breaker, similar moments in that breaker, in that second set where he's up on Lerner 10 and that man and Lerner stole it from him in the end. And then same like, I felt like Carlos kind of snuck out with one there as well in that, in that second set. And I feel like in the hole felt like he competed. He went the distance. He went five sets. It was seven, five and the third while he ran out of gas for sure. He also had chances to, to serve it out multiple times on his racket.

Torrey (24:31.585)
He lost, but he lost in a more aggressive fashion than he's lost in previous matches. Other matches, even at the ATP final, I felt like he got beat. He just was, he was almost a punching dummy. Maybe he was dinged down, maybe he hurt, you never know. But I felt like he just stood there and took punches. felt, in last year's ATP final, this tournament, this year, I felt like he was dictating play, serving big, coming forward, hitting his forehead, which he doesn't do as often.

and he was a force to be reckoned with. He fully, to me played better than last year as far as I'm concerned, regardless of he not getting one more round deep, I thought he played very, very well. And I look forward to the rest of this year album because of what he showed me. And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how much I'm looking forward to this final coming up with the GOAT himself playing against, you know,

Carlos, has been one heck of a tournament already, and I'm really really looking forward to the two final matches with Rebecca and Sabalenka and with Novak, Opsy and Carlos. This is gonna be one heck of a final, period.

Alvin Owusu (25:43.787)
Yeah, I guess we're all gonna sleep on Monday at some point. Yeah, even though I have a 530 a.m. court time on Monday. So it's like, you know what, we're gonna sleep on Tuesday. I'll push back on one thing with Sasha though. know, at five, know, serving for the second set up a break. Okay, he didn't get it, that's fine. But the way he didn't get it, he didn't even have, is that like Carlos like fought off like a game point or anything like?

Torrey (25:47.02)
Yeah. Exactly.

Alvin Owusu (26:12.074)
I think in that instance, he might've gotten down love 30 or 1530. Like I feel like as a big server who, you know, I called this out in the beginning of the, you know, in the beginning of the, I think maybe our last podcast that Sasha has been serving above 70 % first serves and winning above 70 % of first serve points or points when first serves are made. And he did the same thing today on the aggregate. He served fantastic. He served as well as you expect him to serve. And this is almost like a

Torrey (26:40.694)
You

Alvin Owusu (26:41.618)
a testament. is the Sasha Zarev experience. On the aggregate, it's all great. It's three in the world. Like it's all good when you zoom back out. you can make the argument. It doesn't do anything. Man, three in the world. He's pushed the greats to their peak. He's made Grand Slam finals. You could say if he changes anything, he could be going backwards. Okay, so maybe don't change anything. But when you zoom in with someone who has the ability to serve that big,

that consistently, I need you to step up to the line when you're serving for a set and get the job done. And that's the big difference, I think, between those who do and those who do not. Novak got up an early break in the fourth set and stared down every single service game. That's hard to do, right? It's hard to break early and then fight off the pressure the entire set hold every single time. Because you know what happens when you don't.

Torrey (27:28.756)
Yeah. And then holds, right? Yeah. It's almost harder up a break, right? Almost harder to break, up early break, because you know that it's not a break until you hold and then you gotta do it five or six more times. So you're absolutely right.

Alvin Owusu (27:39.538)
Yeah, that early, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (27:49.15)
Yeah. And so that, you know, that happened in the second set. It happened again in the, in the fifth set when he's serving five, four for the match. Like he got down love 30 quickly. and that's like, I mean, yeah, Carlos hits a winner on that first point and then there makes an error on that second point. But like, we, we just, I think that's where it becomes paramount. And maybe that's just who he is. Right. You know, at this point he's 28, 29 years old. Like it is what it is, but it also is what it is. And that's.

Torrey (28:18.853)
You don't know if you like that. I get it. get it. No, not enough.

Alvin Owusu (28:19.913)
Just not enough. Yeah, I'm grasping a little bit. I'm wanting a little bit. I mean, we got a five and a half hour, five set match. Like, I don't know what more can I, are you not entertained? Like, what else could you want? But it wasn't the cleanest match. There was the cramp, the, oh, that's gonna be a thing. was, never is there no drama, but.

Torrey (28:26.177)
Yeah, you're wanting. I get that.

Torrey (28:32.85)
Yeah, exactly.

Alvin Owusu (28:47.751)
that cramp situation was probably, it was handled quite poorly and I'm just gonna choose to look the other way. whatever, that, yeah, getting through that kind of three, fourth set where Carlos doesn't have it all, Sasha did well enough to win those two sets. He would like to think he could get a break and make it a little easier on himself, but Carlos served well. He was going for broke. He was saving up his energy.

Torrey (28:47.769)
Hahaha

Torrey (28:54.465)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (29:12.679)
doing what champions do by managing themselves through five set, like understanding how to get through the best of five set format so that you can be where you need to be at the end as far as converting. And when it push came to shove down the stretch and you saw it emphasized on match point, like Carlos was bringing it in the fifth set. He had gotten his powers back together, let the pickle juice run through the veins. And then when it was show time, guess you just say he just took it from.

Torrey (29:34.635)
Yup.

Alvin Owusu (29:42.075)
Alex at the end.

Torrey (29:43.425)
He said as an ad doctor, you're not buying the ad doctor? You think it was cramps?

Alvin Owusu (29:49.418)
That was a cramp. Let's call it space. That was a cramp. Adductor, my ad-ass. That was a cramp, bro. Say what you need to say. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Umpire's gotta get a hold of that thing. Tournament director's gotta get a hold of that thing. Don't hold.

Torrey (29:50.689)
No good.

Torrey (30:04.289)
Well, hey, don't get me, please don't get me started on my main man, Fragile himself. This is, I think all of it. mean, Novak took a tire, change of a tire break, all these little ways of gamesmanship these players do. The heat rule in Novak and the Spazeri match, don't get me started. They've got to clamp down on it and make it be consistent. It's my whole issue with even with all the

the issue with the attic and the first place with the whole stairway issue, whatever it is, just make it consistent. You can't give one player a two year ban and give one player three month. Don't give one player a set break and close the roof because it's getting this point here and there. And another player who wants to the roof open, you know, we're gonna close the roof. You know, we gotta start making these things be more consistent. There has to be, it has to be well documented and the players need to understand what it is and what it isn't.

And there needs to be, remember back in the day before they had the coaching on court, if a player chose to take a bathroom break, then you could go get coaching, right? The other player could go get coaching, right? I felt like that was a nice trade off because, yeah, you're gonna get this break in momentum, but they get to go talk to their coach. Well, now they've kind of had coaching all around because obviously we know the Spaniards were, or the South Americans were pretty much coaching regardless from wherever they were. You just didn't know exactly what they were saying, but it was pretty much.

full on deal like the let rule in college. It got so out of hand, they almost had to incorporate it. feel like, you know what I'm saying, it's giving us less. At some point now here we are in this situation here where I feel like, hey, the old football mantra, right? If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. They're gonna find a way to hit whatever the loopholes are. I feel like the line calls have been completely, at the very least, minimized. I'm not gonna say it's been solved. I'm gonna say,

Alvin Owusu (31:36.253)
Get rid of let's.

Torrey (31:59.132)
It's universal on both sides. The machine's not going to favor you or not you. And they've taken the human element of error out of the play. So now you simply have to deal with the call. Keep it moving, right? Keep it moving. But here's the point. Now we have the same, you're going to keep seeing these top players keep finding holes in ways. So what do you do with the set breaks? How many are you allowed? When can you use them or not? You get five a tournament. Do you get, you know, or does it depend on the day?

Alvin Owusu (32:12.745)
Keep it moving.

Torrey (32:28.574)
you like like timeouts and something. I just feel like it has to be decided and there has to be a way for them to neutralize some of these advantages. And if it's there to be taken and it's documented and there's a little you got three dots next to your name like we used to have with the old challenge rule, right? Hey, I got three challenges, right? And if I and I burn them, you know, I get an extra one in tire breaks and what have you, right? That again, there's some rule there. There isn't a rule on these set brakes. There that rule with the close in the roof.

and getting the 10 minute break. No, no, no, no, no. You gotta fix that because that gives the player who's lagging behind an unforeadvantaged.

Alvin Owusu (33:06.953)
There are those that make the rules and there are those who have to abide by the rules. And both parties are, they're not necessarily working towards the same thing. The players are doing what it takes to win tennis matches. And so they are incentivized to find whatever advantage it is that they can't find. And I have no problem with that.

Like this is this is almost like criminals in law investigate like law enforcement, right? Like the criminals find the loopholes and the law enforcement supposed to like shore them up But the criminals are always one step ahead of them and then law enforcement has to catch up, right? This is how it goes. So I don't really have a problem with players trying to find like the idea of players trying to find a way to to gain an advantage because they're Everyone has the same opportunity to try to find and take advantage of the advantage if you will

Torrey (33:39.945)
Bye.

Alvin Owusu (34:00.977)
Like I guess, so I got no issue with that. the rules are the rules are the rules. Like, yeah, the tournament organizers and the, and the federations and the organizations can do a better job of making those rules. I think more consistent. That's something that has come up a lot, like, and that just has a lot to do with the fragmentation of our sport, right? Like the fact that there are different rules for grand slams and there are four tour events, right? Especially with this whole whoop thing that has come up in the last, last week or so it's like,

Torrey (34:27.378)
Yep. Right.

Alvin Owusu (34:29.841)
It's a lot, it's allowed on the tour, the official tours like ATP and WTA events, but then not at Grand slams, which are technically not part of the tour. It's all very, it's right. It's all very silly because it's the same players playing it and it whatever, but whatever. and what kind of want to go back to, you remember back in the day when the Australian open and this, this kind of hit like.

Torrey (34:40.744)
Right, not under the tour umbrella. murky. Yeah, yep.

Alvin Owusu (34:57.193)
2009, I think it was 2009, one very good memory I have when Verdasco had this battle with Nadal in the, in the semifinals and it, went four and a half, five hours, whatever it was. And then the next day Federer played, I can't remember who Federer beat in the semifinals of that particular match, but then, or maybe it was vice versa. but they used to play the semifinals on two different days. So one guy ended up with, with extra rest.

Torrey (35:26.13)
day off early and a day off right. Yep, yep, yep, yep.

Alvin Owusu (35:27.345)
more rest than the other person. Yeah. So I think, I think Nadal played the match, played the second semi-final. and again, being the fed guy that I was, was like, well fed's got more rest. Rafa played a five set or like yesterday. This is, this is great. What did he do? He also went five sets and he beat, he beat Roger in the final anyways. So as I'm, as I'm looking to towards this final.

Torrey (35:48.231)
Be prepared then next time. Yup, yup, yup.

Alvin Owusu (35:55.057)
Part of me watching this match Novak and Center was thinking the outcome of this match almost doesn't matter to Novak. and it sounds like a silly statement. Obviously he wants to win the match, but I think for Novak, the value is proving to everyone that on any given day, I can push these guys. I can still do it.

I could still do it. Yeah. And so he gets through the match and it's fantastic, right? It's a very special moment. You can see it on his face when he's walking off the court. As we go into the final, has Novak already won? does he need, is 25 more important than winning that match?

Torrey (36:48.552)
That's a great point. If you're Novak Djokovic, 25 is always important. And if you're this far, why not go the distance? Do I think us as tennis fans, do I think it matters as much as us as tennis fans? The purists of us all, I think all realize that he has had this level within him. And we've also seen in past matches that the other two, Carlos and Yanik,

play superbly well against them save for one or two matches over the last three years. I think this was his not quite as sharp as Carlos was. Wasn't it last year that he went Novak beat Carlos or was it it last year? So you're in these moments where if you don't play your best. The goat is going to show he's going to show that up and I feel like we took the straight sets beat downs so to speak as yep, he's he didn't have any more.

Those guys played well in those matches, Alvin. I mean, played very well. I mean, that French Open match with Yannick and Novak last year was a clinic. I mean, I hadn't seen Novak up until that point. Hadn't seen Yannick play that sharp, period. And he played better against him, I felt, than he even did in that unbelievable final with Carlos. I he just was surgical in that match. So I say that to say, and even the match in Wembley with Carlos and Novak.

Alvin Owusu (37:57.181)
Great match.

Torrey (38:15.581)
He destroyed him. I was like, wow, he's playing some good ball. So I said to say, now you get them playing good, not great, but good. And then you see the 38 year old still showing you, yeah, yeah, I knew I was still that good. I just had to prove it to you, but I always knew. So do I think that the purest us needed to be reminded? Not necessarily, but it's really good to get one more iteration. Do I think that?

average fan, the average stat keeping fan needed this match to prove it? Yes, I do because they're kind of looking at bottom lines and that's the type that just watches highlights and just kind of wants to check the box. And for that point, Carlos will need to beat him for that reason on Sunday because I think if Novak wins that match only then will the majority of the naysayers

finally give him the credit that he deserves. I am already in the pro Novak camp of all. said at of the podcast, beginning of the year, I said, no Novak can still do it. And I'm validated by his result today, but deep down, I kind of already knew he just, he's just been too relevant, too long to count them out. And I think that's what this whole tournament has proved is that the guy can still play, God can still play. And ironically, Alvin, he's doing it in ways he never did it before. He did it with a serve today.

But the serve, when have we ever said how huge is Novak's serve? Novak's down the tee serve might be the best slice tee on the ATP tour right now. And there's some go-bins out there. I mean, his slice tee on the ad is, Alvin is, kidding me, I mean, that thing is breaking six to seven feet left off of the tee on the ad. And he didn't even start, you know, the service tick, I mean, he's like three or four feet over. I mean, that thing is a fricking boomerang. You know what I mean?

I'm just telling you, Alvin, I know the answer you're getting at, and I want to come back to it and reiterate it. The purest always new.

Torrey (40:25.776)
the borderline fans and the SPN highlight, da da da, da da da, five fans, they needed this for them to fully believe. That's my answer.

Alvin Owusu (40:38.364)
Well, I don't know if it's, when you say fully believe, I think I'm gonna assume and extrapolate here is fully believe that he still can. I think when a man has won 24 Grand Slams, I don't think there's anyone that can misread that number and say that there isn't something, that the ability is not there. Does he still have the ability to bring it in Grand Slam format?

Torrey (40:52.06)
100%. 100%.

Torrey (40:58.46)
No, no, no, still. That's the effort of work.

Alvin Owusu (41:05.864)
In this particular match though, when you talk about serving, if you just were to look at the stats of the match, Yannick versus Novak, the vast majority of the numbers lean in center's favor. Aces 26 to 12. Center served 75 % first serves. Won 80 % of those points. 72 winners to 46. Dead even on unforced errors.

Like there's, there's nothing there that screams, that Yannick shouldn't have won that match, except when you get to those break points one, right? The conversion on break points is just, we got three, three, three, four, eight, two of 18. Like there's your, that's that, that, that's kind of it. I that's your match. That's your match. And the way that we went about that.

Torrey (41:41.751)
except for two of 18.

Torrey (41:48.763)
There's your match. There's your match. And how big did you have to serve to defend? Right.

Alvin Owusu (41:58.024)
Right. Then the way that the way that they went about that, it's, it's not necessarily going to show up in the numbers, but the way that Novak served down break point, like he came up with the goods and it wasn't always in the form of an ace. was in the form of a four 1540 slice out wide, uh, return cross court forehand down the line, right? Like the big one sliced down T on the outside backhand up the line, backhand cross. Like it was a masterclass of execution.

Torrey (42:23.867)
How about that clutch volley? Yeah, how about that clutch volley that he had two or three times with just unboiled? mean, dude, I was serving volleying myself growing up, Alvin. He hit that serving volley like he done in his whole life. You I'm like, you know how hard that is to do? Are you kidding me? I mean, the inside out feather volley going left off the ad, and he hit one short and he hit one deep. Both of them just, you don't just have both those at will and dial them up when you need them to.

Alvin Owusu (42:45.627)
Yeah.

Torrey (42:53.633)
if you haven't hit that ball a thousand times and he, know, Mr. Baseline never came to net and Mr. No Serve, and I remember when he first came on the tour, Alvin, as I said, this is back in 2004, go play doubles at Novak. This brother had no serve or a forehand. You know what I mean? So I've seen this man continue to develop and get better. I mean, to the point where his serve is a bona fide weapon, his volleys are incredible. I mean, you're right. no center on every other category except the W.

had the edge and statistically this match shouldn't have happened. He shouldn't have lost, but there again, that's the Novak side of things.

Alvin Owusu (43:33.86)
It was an efficient men's match. There was one break of serve per set. Like that's it. Like that was three, three breaks for Novak, two breaks for Jotic. There's your three sets of two right there. So like from an execution standpoint, like that's like, that's, that's, that is men's center. So I look at the, I'm a, I am a story guy, right? I feel like when I look back at, when I talk about like ends of seasons or ends of grand slams, like when you look, when the book is written on this thing,

Torrey (43:42.082)
Oof, for Santa. There's your match. Yeah.

Torrey (43:53.346)
Okay, yep, yep, what's the story?

Alvin Owusu (44:02.279)
What is the story supposed to say? so as we are, now two days or day and a half before this men's final, it will be against Carlos Ocaraz and Novak Djokovic. Novak Djokovic is, I guess both Carlos and Center now over the last two years have gotten Novak'd at the Australian Open, right? And my logic brain says I've seen

You can go all the way back to the 2021 U S open. So we're to go back five years now on four and a half years. Now, no, that goes wall to wall in the semi-finals against Varev. And then it comes out against me. This is when he was going for the, for the calendar grand slam, right? It goes, what goes five and a half hours against Varev comes back two days later. He's got nothing against Matty loses like four, four and four. Right. And it was a valiant effort, but.

Torrey (44:54.477)
Yep, remember that.

Alvin Owusu (44:57.191)
He walked into that match and he had no chance, right? Dead legs, highly, highly performing competitor on the other side. It wasn't gonna happen. Fine. Okay. Fast forward almost five years. We are almost in an identical situation except for it ain't that that I've never said that it's freaking Carlos Alcaraz and Novak's now five years older. I have no reason to believe that the next match is going to be pretty.

But, but I started off by telling you I believe in the story.

Torrey (45:31.021)
No.

Alvin Owusu (45:34.854)
This also kind of feels like 02 US Open, Sampras, like just like, yeah, but, but Sampras comes in the 2002 US Open, no one, everyone's counted him out. Why haven't you retired yet? And he ends up taking Agassi down in the final in a classic like Sampras, Agassi, and then rides off into the sunset. No one has won more Grand Slams at the Australian Open than then Novak Djokovic.

Torrey (45:36.898)
I like this caveat.

Torrey (45:42.826)
I like that caveat strong.

Alvin Owusu (46:05.147)
This might as well be Novak Djokovic Arena. Okay. Could I be convinced that...

Torrey (46:09.377)
and it might be at some point or his court. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (46:13.767)
Could I be convinced that Novak can pull a sempras, take this last one? I'm not gonna say right off into the sunset because I say that enough and he doesn't wanna go anywhere. Obviously he doesn't need to. Does he have a chance? What do you feel like is more likely? Novak shows up ready for the fight or Novak shows up looking like 2020 Novak in the US Open and it's just like, that's not enough time for me to recover from what I just went through.

Torrey (46:25.517)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Torrey (46:44.825)
I've learned my lesson of counting this guy out. I've learned my lesson of pushing on to pasture before his time. I said that before. I'm not going to repeat. I'm going to learn from my mistake and make the adjustment as a tennis player should and just enjoy the moment. If anybody can master the moment, it's Novak. One thing I will say, Carlos better be ready because he didn't play a sharp today.

And he's played some sharp matches. I don't think he played his sharpest as he did a few other tournaments. He played some of the sharper matches early. And whenever I see that, think to myself, is he, is he kind of on the way down a little bit? You know, you've got two weeks, you know, it's, it's easy to play your best match in the first week and kind of come down a little bit as, as cyclical rhythm and tennis goes. Arlos had better be ready. That's what I'll put the focus more on him than the other way around. Novak will be ready.

He is playing for history. He's playing for his legacy. playing. He knows special is to be in these situations and he is on the other side and he knows I mean, I get many finals left and I think he's to a point he quit thinking about 25 and just kept working on his body, kept working on training and working on schedule things he could control. And guess what? He's back on the final. So I feel like he's never he needs to do. He will continue to whatever he needs to do. This match will come down to Carlos. Will Carlos be ready? Will Carlos be mentally prepared?

to beat the brakes off of him and not give him any oxygen whatsoever. Because in the words of my boy Jim Carrey and Dumb and Dumber, so you're saying there's a chance? Trust me, if there's a chance Novak will pull this match out. And if Carlos ain't ready, Carlos is remotely sloppy. This match will go the distance and this match will go toward one Novak Djokovic because he's the go.

Alvin Owusu (48:37.827)
Yeah, I hear everything you're saying, Tori. I do. I hear everything you're saying, ears and eyes wide open. And what you're saying makes sense. I look into the future and I go, okay, if Carlos is holding the trophy at the end of this match, it will likely need to be quickly. He'll have to, he will have to dispatch Novak kind of in the same way he dispatched him at the US Open. Like, get your foot on his throat.

Torrey (49:05.387)
percent and don't let up. Got that right.

Alvin Owusu (49:07.141)
and keep it there and do not let him breathe.

Don't let up. If we get into a situation where Novak steals, like gets one of the first two sets, oy, oy, we're gonna be in for one. We could be in for one. But you know what? That's why they play the matches, Tori. I don't have a ton left to cover. I think we talked enough about the women's final in our last episode. We are, as tennis fans, blessed.

Torrey (49:17.209)
Mmm. Mmm.

Torrey (49:23.895)
Yep, yep.

Alvin Owusu (49:40.325)
We are blessed. We've got two finals to look forward to on both the wins and women's sides. We've got Grand Slam champions all around us, prior Slam champions. We've got a couple of arenas won the, I'll show you it up in a few times. Novak's won it a billion times. Carlos is trying to get his first. Going for the career, Grand Slam, youngest person to ever do it. Rebekah is trying to, trying to like firmly get her foot in the, I'm coming for the top conversation. I'm the one who's got the tools to take it to arena. Like.

There's so much here. We're not sleeping. No sleep till Melbourne, as they would say. I think we will try our best to jump on first thing Saturday morning after the women's final and then again on Sunday morning after the men's final. I think we're good though. I think we're good till then. So let's put a pin in it. I'm Alvin, that's Tory. Best of three. Enjoy your finals. We are out.