Ep. 22: Indian Wells Review

Alvin Owusu (00:00.898)
Good people welcome to another episode of the best three podcast. I'm Alvin joined again by Tori Hawkins. Tori how we doing on this fine evening.

diashawk (00:10.887)
Alvin, I'm doing well. doing well. Had a chance to catch up watching some Indian Wells. Unfortunately, a few highlights, caught a good bit of the final of both. I'll be honest, Alvin, we haven't really talked much about pro tennis since Australia, right? But I gotta tell you, Indian Wells is always just a slippery slope, man. Every time you think that you've got a little bit of momentum in the...

Alvin Owusu (00:24.576)
Yeah, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (00:33.057)
Yeah.

diashawk (00:37.951)
The previous slam is kind of showing you who the front runners are. Man, I can remember back in the days working with some top players, even like the one of my favorite, one of the best, I've worked with Brian Vahealy had some of his best wins at Indian Wells, beat Juan Carlos Ferrerro back in the day at Indian Wells. And so one of the things I look back to, think Genevieve had a real good time with that year as well. If he didn't win, I think he got to the final.

Alvin Owusu (00:57.762)
Yeah. Yeah.

diashawk (01:05.128)
And I think Brian got to the semi, if I'm not mistaken. is years ago. Brian was top 50 ATP solid, but perhaps not looked at to get to the semi of Indian Wells, right? And so I say that with full respect to Brian, a phenomenal player and NCAA finalist and a great player, a top national player himself, current USDA president, by the way. What's up, Brian? Shout out to BVD. The point I'm getting at is this tournament has perennially always been tricky.

Alvin Owusu (01:07.266)
Okay, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:15.754)
Right, yeah.

diashawk (01:33.714)
for seeds going in. And I wanted to get your thoughts on it, but my thoughts on it, historically, it's always been tough. And it's upset cities.

Alvin Owusu (01:35.222)
Yeah. Well-

Yeah, think we're looking at a couple. Yeah, we're looking at a couple different things, right? So just kind of to put, know, get our feet grounded, you know, where we are, right? It's mid it's mid March. We are about, you know, six weeks post Australian Open, right? So, you know, at this point in the year, the players are coming. Most of them are coming over from, you know, from the Middle East. A couple of big tournaments there in Dubai and maybe even Abu Dhabi. I can't remember the specific cities.

But then, you know, some of the guys went down to Acapulco and then, you know, came up for some of them played the golden swing. The women are coming directly from Dubai and Doha. you know, it's a weird space that we're in, in that like we're finishing up this like initial kind of hardcore season, right? So we've got, you know, we've got Indian Wells now, quick follow by Miami, and then everybody kind of goes to the dirt for the rest of the, you know, for the next, you know, better part of three months.

diashawk (02:32.346)
I am a yep.

Yeah. Right. Be it South America, it Northern Europe, be it Spain and more Southern Europe. Yeah, you're right.

Alvin Owusu (02:43.513)
Yeah, it's dirt season from essentially from April 1st on out. So, you know, kind of with that being the case, you know, back to your point about Indian Wells, you know, you and I have both been there for various reasons. You've been there for the event. I was there for a site visit once a couple of years back for an event we were going to do back in my flow sports days. And you start you drive out there and it's, know, for the for the listeners and the viewers. What's up? If you're on YouTube, good to see you. If you're driving in your car.

Be safe. It is a, it's a, know, the middle of Coachella Valley. Like there's not really a lot going on out there. And then you get to this huge, you know, this huge venue that looks amazing on television, but it is literally cut out of nowhere. Like you can see from one side of the venue to the other. I mean, you can speak more towards the layout of the facility, but like you feel like you are in a desert and that does impact the tennis.

diashawk (03:33.52)
100 % windy as all get out from time to time you get those rando winds or gusts the wind may only be five eight miles an hour but that case on gusts comes in at about 20 I mean it is it's cooler in the morning burning hot during the day cooler at night I mean like a typical desert can be and when I tell you Alvin and maybe it's changed in later years since I've been there the fencing was short the

Alvin Owusu (03:53.292)
Yeah.

diashawk (04:00.976)
wind blew straight through. It wasn't like it was anything that was normal. It just seemed like it was again, it's built for the tournament, right? And it just, I remember they moved the Easter bowl from a lot of things there at Palm Springs, the resort there at Palm Springs moved a lot of events over to Indian Wells at that center. But I got to tell you, man, that whole place is, it's wide open, ton of space, big courts, right? Very big courts, but man, wide open.

Alvin Owusu (04:08.451)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (04:13.806)
Mm-hmm.

Alvin Owusu (04:24.034)
Yeah. Yep. Yep.

diashawk (04:29.263)
I mean, so if you're not used to playing the wind, if you're a big hitter wanting a little more of a hitting the right ball, this is not your place. And so that's why I saw walking into this, the players that are a little bit more compact of swing, players that are a little more drivers that can kind of feed off the pace a little bit, they can still add a little variation. If you're a little more of a one-way player, you could have your hands full at Indian Wells because a little bit of loft

A little bit of law throws off your ability to penetrate the court. And that to me is what I saw in both finals, to be honest with you. saw a lot of, you know, and again, and who knows when the last time the court's been resurfaced. that now you're adding a little bit of slowness to the play too. I mean, that adds the counterpunisher is one of my terms I like to use. The counterpunisher feeds off of a little bit of a slower court when they can defend that big weapon and then get a chance themselves when they kind of stun.

Alvin Owusu (05:02.56)
Right, yeah, yeah.

diashawk (05:28.652)
the bigger hitter with their return and then that big hitters kind of left flat footed and now the tables turn quite quick.

Alvin Owusu (05:35.384)
So that's a good point, like on the court conditions, right? So, you know, they just, just this year they changed the courts to that Plexipave surface, which is used in Miami, Australia, I think maybe US Open uses it as well. But it's a, so on paper it's supposed to be a bit faster, but I guess the reports the players are saying, the players' reports are kind of all over the place, like, it's faster, some feel like it's slower, some feel like it's exactly the same, and you know, when you change the surface of the court, but.

diashawk (05:45.057)
I like it, in Australia. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (06:04.418)
You know, you can't really change the altitude. You can't change the air. Like it's still thin. You know, it's one of those, it used to be one of those fast through the air ball grabs the court and sits up, which is why, know, Carlitos has done so well in the event in the last few years. mean, to his credit made the semifinals this year. It suits him. But, you know, before we go down that path, let's, you know, heads or tails, you wanna start on the women's side, start on the men's side, I'm gonna flip. You wanna go with the men?

diashawk (06:29.59)
Let's go with the man. Let's go with the man. feel like you just called up Carlos. Just a very, you know, I noted in one of your notes, you know, pre podcast, Carlos has holes. I'd love to know what you thought about that. Tell me what you're going with that.

Alvin Owusu (06:44.81)
Yeah, yes, okay. So, you know, I feel like I'm very aware of, we look at our great champions in the sport and usually we don't appreciate them in the moment. Like I think with the big three we did because the moment was so long, right? That like, you know, and their second and third peaks, we were then able to appreciate the peak that happened prior. But I think we have to, you know.

be very cognizant of where we are with Carlos. Like he is, he's won three Grand Slams, four Grand Slams already, excuse me, at the ripe old age of what, he's 21, something like that. But I think we are starting to see some patterns with him that I feel like cannot be ignored. And I've talked about this player profile that he tends to have trouble with, right? Taller guys who can make the court long against him, right? And my point about him having holes is,

diashawk (07:29.439)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (07:37.962)
When I'm starting to see, and I remember the first time I saw it when he played Medvedev at US Open two years ago, lost to him. And then same thing against Varev two years ago in the Australian Open. And then it came up again, we made one more tournament, but like when he plays these big guys, right, who can reach, you know, kind of the stuff that when he pulls players off the court, especially off the serve, they're there and they can get back in the court and make him play through them.

diashawk (08:06.836)
Sure.

Alvin Owusu (08:07.02)
I think that's where he struggles. His greatest gift is his ability to improvise and make things happen, of like seemingly out of nowhere. But what these players are forcing him to do is be very disciplined. It's like, this is kind of what you have to do. You're going to have to take control of each point very early, move through the court, and finish. And it's almost like a drill. Do it over and over and over and over. And not to kind of go on and on, but Carlos has this...

diashawk (08:29.609)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (08:36.414)
insane record in fifth set matches, right? I think part of it is because his talent will like over the course of five sets is going to, it's going to do him just fine and he's gonna, and his fitness, yes. But then the flip side of that coin is like he kinda, he can kinda lose focus to where he gets into those fifth sets when he probably shouldn't. And I think this is where it kinda bites him in a two out of three set match.

diashawk (08:47.279)
and his fitness.

diashawk (09:02.225)
in a two out of three set match for sure. I'm going to play devil's advocate. I'm going to, I think you're making a great point and I agree with you and I love your term, the profile, the players that he struggles against. All of us do right? Club player, college player, junior player. We all struggle with that profile. We just have more of them, right? So, so let's, let's, all understand that. I'm going to present to you Alvin a very, a very different perspective. Could Carlos,

Alvin Owusu (09:04.116)
Right comes out a little flat against jack and then gets himself into a tussle. Yeah, go ahead

Alvin Owusu (09:15.734)
Absolutely, absolutely.

Alvin Owusu (09:20.215)
Right?

Alvin Owusu (09:29.954)
Give it to me, I'm ready.

diashawk (09:31.74)
have peaked too early in this tournament. You're talking about a tournament like the slams that are two weeks long, like the slams that are pretty packed with talent, let's be honest. I'm going to read off to you Alvin, and this is just going to give you just where I'm coming from. You tell me how you think about it. Carlos Alcáez.

Alvin Owusu (09:34.84)
Huh.

Alvin Owusu (09:51.949)
Okay.

diashawk (09:57.243)
beat Halas four and two, round two. Okay, with me so far. Carlos Alcaraz in the third round beat Denis Shapovlov, who just came off the one off Dallas and is playing some great tennis right now, right? Two and four, big, hit and big sloppy lefty, right? So you can't say he has problems with lefties, although he does run around more balls than most. Now here's the one I want you to focus on, Carlos Alcaraz beats Dimitrov, who's playing some good tennis right now, one and one.

Alvin Owusu (10:09.25)
Yep. Playing good tennis. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (10:14.423)
Yep.

diashawk (10:27.686)
You see what I'm going with this?

Alvin Owusu (10:27.83)
Okay, well I see where you're going with it. have some pushbacks on it.

diashawk (10:32.507)
Now he plays Serendullo. I didn't catch that match. He had some good wins and beat some people all the way. Three and six. Here's where I noticed, how do you beat a Demetrov one and one? And then you have a three and six against Serendullo. Now here's my point. Now Alvin, that was a quarters. Don't forget, he did bangle your boy in the second. Which tells me that he is coming down off of his peak. Now Alvin, as a lot of coaches, I have a theory on how

Alvin Owusu (10:46.883)
Yep.

diashawk (11:01.734)
we play into and play out of tournaments. I once saw Andy Roddick and I thought he was at the time was one of the best players in the world. Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2004. So, forgive me, 2003. He plays, now check this, he plays in 2004. I watched Andy play. When I tell you Andy was balling in the first week of 2004, it was ridiculous how good he was playing.

Alvin Owusu (11:12.856)
He did. Yep.

diashawk (11:31.398)
Andy Roddick went out in a rando match, like around a 16, maybe quarters, to a guy named Gilles Muller. You remember Gilles, lefty tall. He goes out to Gilles Muller. And when I tell you it was a weird kind of a match, Gilles just kind of hung in there, Andy lost it more than Gilles won it. No offense to Gilles, Andy was playing ball. When I tell you Andy was cracking the ball. 140 to 150, 160 miles an hour. I mean, just hammering forehands, backing was clean. Come to that, he was playing the ball he should have played in the last week.

Alvin Owusu (11:37.804)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

diashawk (12:01.975)
in the first week. You don't necessarily have a lot of control over how well you're playing. And I know that may sound weird. I'm talking about the pros though. They just at that time may have peaked a bit early. Now here's where I'm going with this with Carlos. And I don't know if this was enough. I think Carlos played his best ball five to six days ago. And by this point, he's coming down against a peaking.

Alvin Owusu (12:16.462)
Okay, yeah, give it to me.

Alvin Owusu (12:24.055)
Yeah.

diashawk (12:29.206)
Jack Draper and now Jack is playing some good tennis right when he needed to. That's my point I submit to you.

Alvin Owusu (12:36.11)
Jack was, yeah, okay, so I'll give you this. Let's take a step back, okay? Second round against Dennis, right? I watched that match. That was more about Dennis and less about Carlos. Dennis was terrible, he terrible. Okay, he gets, yeah, Dennis is double fault and he's double fault in left and right. He was thrown into doubles a game. It was bad news bears, okay? So, okay, but I'll look past that.

diashawk (12:50.455)
That's fair. The conditions, slow chords, outdoors, horrible for depths. Let's say that.

diashawk (13:03.768)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (13:05.646)
The match against Dimitrov, right? And Dimitrov has been, has played Carlos well before he's beaten him in a couple, a couple of big matches and some, uh, in a 1000 Miami last year and another indoor tournament. doesn't matter. Dimitrov's prior match was a seven, six and the third drag out against Monfils, right? Those boys are those boys, those men, those states, elder statesmen of the tour are putting on playing the hits against each other. And then Dimitrov comes out with nothing left in the tank, right?

diashawk (13:30.381)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

Alvin Owusu (13:34.202)
So there's your one and one, right? So, but the Sarundolo match was, that's when it started to get a little loose. was, it, Sarundolo was, know, Carlos wins that match, you know, nine and a half times out of 10. It was just not as convincing as you would like. Carlos let him play. He played with him. When that's the kind of match you want to see Carlos reassert himself in the tournament and say, okay, boom, foot down. I'm trying to win this thing again.

diashawk (14:01.442)
Put his foot on his neck.

Alvin Owusu (14:03.244)
Yes, exactly. But then you go back and by contrast, look at Jack's kind of path and Jack Draper, know, yes, semifinals US Open last year by hook or by crook. did it defaults where they be, but he did it. And now he believes that he's that guy and he's carrying himself like that guy. He is just like steadily just making improvements, like expecting things out of himself, climbing the rankings, very workman. And so, you know, I have some Jack Draper thoughts, but

the match itself was just a little like Jack just kind of did the thing that like Medvedev did and like Zverev did like big guy moves well enough.

diashawk (14:43.669)
Yep. Yep. Reminds me a lot of Cam Norrie about two years ago when Cam made a push to top 20. Just surprised a lot of people with the backhand holding up, surprised people at the serve, had the ability to come, little bit different game. Jack didn't come in quite as much as he used to and Cam came in a little bit more, but really kept it pretty standard with the cross court backhand looking for the inside for him. I mean, let's just be honest. Now that's his game, but was very, was probably better off the return than you thought, better off the backhand. I'm talking about Cam.

Alvin Owusu (14:49.196)
Yeah!

diashawk (15:13.632)
But I'm saying Jack has a bigger backhand in my opinion and I don't care, I'm taking it on the rise. Jack's backhand, quiet as a kept, Jack's backhand is the best shot. mean.

Alvin Owusu (15:22.68)
So I have in my notes, I have in my notes that Jack Draper is one of those not lefty lefties. Like watch him play and it's like, he doesn't do lefty stuff and I'm left handed, right? know, lefties, all like to do, we like to work things, work the spin, work the spin. And you often see a lefty with a pretty solid backhand because we come up playing against righties and we bang cross courts and that's a thing. And then after the match was over, guess what I saw Jack do? Taking off his wristbands, throw him in the crowd. He throws him right handed.

diashawk (15:33.77)
Yep. Yep.

diashawk (15:50.719)
Right here. There you go. I saw it.

Alvin Owusu (15:52.866)
He throws him right handed. He throws him right handed. The things you learn. Off topic, Russell Westbrook, I saw him signing autographs the other day, he's left handed. What do we do?

diashawk (15:57.415)
Yep.

diashawk (16:01.215)
Right handed, left handed, yeah. Rafa, Rafa's right handed, you know what I mean? There's that, I've always, and this is a weird thing, and I get this, even with club players, ladies in my alpha teams, and even juniors, there are righties, there are ambies, and there are lefties. And depending on, and I know what the stats say, 13 % population, blah, blah, blah, I think that's.

I think it's actually less that are actual lefty. And I think there are 15, 20 % of population that are ambi for whatever reason. We don't need to go down the rabbit hole of ambis and the stats. But there are that select few that have that unbelievable talent of both sides that I think have found a way to trick the brain to understand the left and right side that just have the ability to do both. That's why Rafa Serb was never that big because he's darn, he's right-handed.

You know what mean? You just can't train the right arm. You you can't train the left arm to be what the dominant arm would have been and vice versa. But 22 Grand Slams later, said, okay, I'm just saying Jack right-handed, you mentioned the other players. There are so many guys like that that I've seen. So many two-handed forehand, sorry, both forehand, double forehand type players that I've seen. These guys are just, in my opinion, are just special. Back to Jack, as most righties are, right?

Alvin Owusu (16:59.255)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (17:09.079)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (17:18.956)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

diashawk (17:28.944)
that he has a left-handed, he has a right-handed forehand with help on that backhand side. He just has to throw, it's all, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (17:35.43)
Yeah, know, Moratorgalu is always preaching this left eye versus right eye dominant thing. The dominant eye, yeah. And so, you know, when it turns into a timing issue, like it's one of those like Jack just maybe, you know, outside of the fact that he does throw right-handed, just feels better, sees it better on that side. Yeah, yeah, and I'm kind of in the same boat. Like I hit the backhand a lot more compact than my forehand.

diashawk (17:42.96)
Yup, you're dominant eye.

diashawk (17:55.91)
feels that that left time to be his best time. I mean, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (18:04.686)
On my right side and even when I messed around with baseball like I'd always want to bat on the right side when I play golf I golf on the right side I use scissors with the right hand like it's it's it's one of those Okay

diashawk (18:13.852)
My father is also left-handed. He is such a dominant lefty that he golfs right-handed and just putts left-handed, right? For the same reason. As you wish you can appreciate. Right? So I say it to say I've seen this before. My brother is one of those Andes. He could do it either way. Always could. Can hit left or right. You know what mean? Was actually stronger on the left side.

Alvin Owusu (18:23.158)
Okay, maybe I'd putt better.

diashawk (18:37.084)
have more control on the right side. Just one of those kind of things. And he played a lot of golf and scratch golf back in the day. anyway, my point is I've seen this in my own family. I'm on and getting back to Jack Draper, the biggest beast I see with Jack. I went back and watched some previous matches with him and Holger. I was trying to figure out why on paper has Holger, why did he have that much trouble, right? I went back to, I think it was Western Southern. It was a Cincinnati, I think last year when Jack.

Alvin Owusu (18:39.447)
Right, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (19:01.602)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (19:06.821)
played Holger and I'm not sure what round it was. It may could have been the semi could have been Holger had his way with them all day long. I mean it was an absolute clinic and it was funny to me how in looking at the two matches the court position was completely different for both matches in this match right in this final Jax ironically and you would think it's kind of intuitive you would think the guy holding baseline

Alvin Owusu (19:25.518)
Hmm.

diashawk (19:37.312)
is the guy that's winning the match. It's the guy that was giving ground that was winning the match. It was so, what I would call, counterintuitive. the previous, I mean, when I tell you Jack is hugging the baseline, taking the balls early in the Cincinnati match, looking classic clean, and everyone swung, and hitting big, by the way, but everyone swung that loop beforehand, just got up there, and when Holger had a chance to

Alvin Owusu (19:39.181)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's an interesting thing with Jack, like...

diashawk (20:06.721)
reset, get the ball deep, Jack had problems. In this match, Holger was on top of the baseline, Alvin. Holger could not have played a more tactical match. But at some point, Holger's power is not his strongest suit, and it almost got him to playing a style of play that for me is a little bit at the red line of his engine. He's not a power goes through you kind of player.

Alvin Owusu (20:14.358)
Right.

diashawk (20:34.019)
But the more you play on top of the baseline and play on the rise tennis, you better have a step forward and some volley skills that are just gonna continue to go through the court or it's a bit of luck. And Jack will make you do it over and over again. Thank you. He did almost the same type thing. So I'm where Carlos has that go through you ball, right? I don't know if Holger has that same type of ball person. To your point, the profile, I don't know if he had any. We know he didn't have the huge serve, but 30 plus.

Alvin Owusu (20:43.342)
and Jack will make you do it over and over and over. Which is what he did to Carlos. It was almost the same thing, yeah.

diashawk (21:03.51)
consistently. Now, I'm saying when Holger goes back and reviews the tape and his team and they go back and review the tape, what did I do well against Jack when I beat him before? I reset more. I rolled a little more. I didn't drive as often because I think what he ended up giving, he actually ended up giving Jack pace to work with. I don't think Jack's a go-through you type of player. He likes pace. He's not a pace creator, right? So I feel Jack

Alvin Owusu (21:26.05)
Right, so, yeah.

diashawk (21:30.941)
actually benefited from Holger's court position and time. That's what I Yup.

Alvin Owusu (21:35.278)
So let's turn that back, let's turn that back in maybe the other direction, Less of a, okay, so there was a time where Jack was working with Wayne Ferreira, right? After Wayne and Francis split, Wayne goes to Jack's camp for a little bit and is very adamant about Jack playing bigger, right? So I think that might have been about that same time. And it was a very short-lived relationship because Jack, by nature, like he doesn't even,

He's not that kind of guy. And I think he needs more, he needs more time to even produce that stroke. doesn't like to, like he is a big dude who doesn't play big dude game. Very much to like, almost like Zverev, like a lefty, a lefty Zverev if you will. He's more comfortable with more space back there. Exactly.

diashawk (22:09.143)
100%.

diashawk (22:14.071)
100%.

Yep. Very similar. Especially off the forehand side. If anything, he drives off the backhand like Zverev does, rolls the forehand, needs time to set it up. As you said in the previous episode, his forehand technique does not allow him to hit a bigger ball. think you mentioned the rock. Well, to my point, we'll give crowd a rock.

Alvin Owusu (22:28.044)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (22:35.596)
Yeah, and I stole that from Andy Roddick too, don't let's not get it twisted. He said it. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, so I think that's kind of the, when we look back at the tournament, it's like the Carlos thing is the Carlos thing, but I feel like for him, his remit is not so much winning Indian Wells. He'll be judged by the amount of grand slams that he puts up. And I think even with his sometimes up and downs within matches,

he's still good enough over five sets that it will probably, it generally works out in his favor until he runs into this almost like old school drill where we're like, okay, this is the drill. The drill is first serve, first strike, and it's not like strike and go, it's maybe strike, strike, strike, and then go finish. And you have to do that over and over. I saw him hit so many overheads. It was like an old school, just like half court approach shot pass drill. We're just gonna do this. We're gonna do this for three hours. Can you?

diashawk (23:24.766)
Right. Yep.

diashawk (23:29.49)
Yup, yup, yup.

Alvin Owusu (23:32.61)
Can you do it the entire time? And that's a tough ask. It's a tough ask, especially with a guy who wants to create that spin profile and get you backing up and get you off the side of the court. It's just a different kind of.

diashawk (23:32.788)
Yep. 100%.

diashawk (23:46.802)
Which is what I was kind of surprised that Holger didn't change it up enough to make that part happen. And that was my point. Holger over the course of his short career has always rolled balls and driven balls. He's, if anything, gotten deep in the court and ripped bigger and rolled more when he was stepping forward. And I feel like he's starting to drive the ball better. It's more what you think would be correct, but I also feel like it's getting a little bit out of his...

He's losing a little bit in my opinion. Again, the final of Indy Wells is no small feat. He seems to be getting a little bit away from what's working for him and the change of pace and the ability to drive and the ability to counterpunish. You have to roll balls to counterpunish. You can't be driving everything to counterpunish. You will end up becoming an aggressive baseliner by default. And this is a very tricky area, Alvin, because if you don't have the ability to come forward comfortably and finish,

Alvin Owusu (24:34.143)
Yeah, I think best.

Alvin Owusu (24:38.818)
Right.

diashawk (24:45.425)
and you're not taking first strike and coming in, it's a very difficult thing. Tommy Paul has had this happen to a few times. He has played so much on the rise that he ends up kind of almost by the de facto aggressive baseline when he's actually very good countering you. And if he doesn't have the power, the absolute ball speed to go through you, while it's a good tactic, you need to be able to know when to dial it back a little bit.

and let the guy run you enough and take advantage of your speed. What made some of the great fast players so good back in the day is they allowed you to run them and they hurt you on the run. The counterpunisher needs to run a little bit. When you're playing on the rise, you're not running, you're striking. Striking is not a bad suit. The guy's top five or whatever Holger is in the world is a darn good player, phenomenal player.

Alvin Owusu (25:27.694)
Hmm.

Alvin Owusu (25:33.4)
Right.

diashawk (25:41.734)
He just, in my opinion, got himself in this match where he was going forward so much that he almost had only two targets. And if Jack found the way to get around that ball and took that inside in, his angle of attack could not handle the inside in for him. It just couldn't. So anyway, it's too tight. Your angle of approach, think of a V. You know, you got the center point, you got a compass. You got an old school pencil and pinpoint.

Alvin Owusu (25:57.398)
Right, yeah. Yeah, he's too tight. He's too tight to the court. Yeah, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (26:10.06)
You want to be cutting it off. You don't want to be like with a little bit of forward pressure. Yeah.

diashawk (26:12.145)
You gotta be cutting it off. That's right. You're not built to do a 90 degree angle going to the left. So I just say it to say, I think Holgers played them better before in times past. I would also say, as we are in this evolving pro tour, that what the rock, paper, scissors is evolving constantly. mean, you have players that are on the rise is a style in itself.

But against certain players, it may or may not be as effective that day. Put slow courts, little bit of wind in your wells. Woo, buddy. That actually may work against you because you're not going to go through the court on these guys.

Alvin Owusu (26:53.007)
You're not gonna be able to take offense with it as much as you're accustomed to.

diashawk (26:55.427)
Right? And let's say you did do it and you had an and erotic level serve that's given you two service winners slash aces of math, a service game. Well, then you can do it because you got insurance and a couple of big ones to save you the energy in the longterm. I don't know. When I look at that score, with two and two, come on, come on. Two and two, come on.

Alvin Owusu (27:11.192)
Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's it's it's like it's almost not about either one of them because it's I think the big takeaway is not Jack Draper won his first Masters 1000 right and then it's not that it's not really about Holger Runer not showing up in that final. It's I think it's more about you know we by the second round of this tournament there's due to not entry there's no Yannick Center due to whatever's going on.

diashawk (27:18.414)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (27:40.014)
probably just for all their time, there's no Novak Djokovic due to Alexander's route number one seed out. like, I think this is more of a peek into the future of the men's side of the men's tour. just like, you're gonna get some finals and big tournaments that look like this. Like Alcara isn't like, he's not the machine that like, let's say your Sampras and your Federer's were, right? Where he can just like come, he's not old enough yet to be that laser focused.

diashawk (27:45.295)
All right. Out.

diashawk (28:03.778)
Bye.

Yeah, and I don't know if he'll ever be. You know what, Alvin, and I'm gonna stop you right there. You, we, hold up. We keep talking about the GOATs and you cannot give these youngsters the GOAT credit yet. They're just not there and that's nothing against them. I'm looking at a player, I got three players in my brain right now. Francis Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, and Ben Schell.

Alvin Owusu (28:15.298)
Hold up.

Yeah, yeah.

diashawk (28:35.413)
Okay, those are three I'm always watching when we're going to tournaments like this, right? These are some great players, man. These guys are doing some great things. They're not yet in that kind of conversation. They don't have the Grand Slam pedigree just yet. The problem is, it's not them. It's us as fans who are expecting them to be Andre, Pete, Jim.

Alvin Owusu (28:35.512)
Okay. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (28:57.155)
Sure.

Alvin Owusu (29:01.847)
Yeah.

diashawk (29:01.899)
Right? And others who were that good, who came before them. They were just the best of the era and turned out to be the best of their era for all time. Now, we go a further step to the actual goats. And we talk about Roger, Rafa, and Novak. It's very difficult to go through. It's like if you were comparing the next music group to the Beatles, you know?

or Led Zeppelin or some of these, Michael Jackson, you just cannot, they're phenomenal in their own right, but you just can't compare.

Alvin Owusu (29:39.928)
think I'm there with you. I'm there with you though. I think we're saying the same thing. I think I agree with you. feel like this is, we're resetting to the norm here. Like I feel like this is going to be, this is going to be normal.

diashawk (29:43.18)
Yeah, reason I'm saying this, we're resetting to the norm. Now we're talking. Yes. Now, I also want to throw a slight dig into the Shelton's, Fritz's, and Tiago's because these are tournaments for me for them to make their headway against the top five to get inside that top five. And I felt like, I mean, think Fritz, didn't Fritz lose to Jack? So that's a tournament where I'm like, that's a match where I'm like, you know what?

Alvin Owusu (30:03.246)
Sure.

Alvin Owusu (30:09.25)
He did, yeah.

diashawk (30:12.715)
That was your match. You didn't have such a good Australian that you, you know, that this is a match for you to, not that he ever wants to lose. We know, we understand that Taylor's a great player. I'm just saying you let another player kind of get a little bit ahead of you. You look at the year, right? The pros, if I'm not mistaken, I think it still goes off this goes off about a 16 week year that establishes their rankings and their points. So you don't do well this year, Alvin, no big deal. You got next week, Miami, for an example. And it's very easy to have a good week.

next week because you had a bad week before. Multiple reasons, different conditions. Didn't play as much, you're still fresh. And make no mistake, it's almost guaranteed that Draper will not have a good Miami because he had such a good New Wells. Conditions different, he's tired, he's dinged up, he played seven matches, right? You get the idea. My point is to say, in that 16 week year, so to speak, you have, you just have to have 16 good results.

Alvin Owusu (30:44.846)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (31:05.898)
out of the 30 give or take 32 35 weeks of term of tennis you play. So it's not the end of the world right and that's how tennis players have to think. You have to have a very short memory go out there and gunsling and do your thing have seven weeks bad in a row start to panic a little bit. You have 10 weeks in a row do change coach change rackets you know tits and paws do something right because this is something something right have one bad week bro bad.

Alvin Owusu (31:24.397)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (31:33.784)
Yeah, I wouldn't even say it's a bad. I mean, we're still we're still feeling it out. Like I know it's a role. It's a rolling 52 week ranking system. So it all it kind of always is happening. But it's the beginning of the year. There is a mental reset in December.

diashawk (31:43.049)
always rolls. Right. But point is, to your point, it rolls but you're still going off a handful of results is what I'm saying. And so I'm saying in that 52 weeks what you worry about is when that last big turn falls off, right? When it rolls off 52 weeks later. That's really what you're concerned with.

Alvin Owusu (31:50.454)
Sure, yay.

Alvin Owusu (32:00.93)
Right. So before we go over to the women's side, there's, do wanna, you mentioned Ben Shelton. I like to do, I think we are Ben Shelton fans here on the Best of Three podcast. We like Ben Shelton for a lot of reasons, for some personal connections, but also like we just, know, we like what he's doing, we like what he stands for, we like what he brings to the tour. Let's just do a quick Ben Shelton check-in. I feel like Ben is making incremental improvements in his game.

diashawk (32:11.433)
1000 %

diashawk (32:16.681)
100%.

Alvin Owusu (32:30.614)
I'm like the one the biggest change I've seen in the last 12 months is his ability to he has tightened up his errors from the baseline specific on the backhand side. Backhands pretty much it's solid now. he did he's not he's not hitting a lot of winners there but he's not making errors either. I feel like he's that's his shield right as to borrow one from Craig O'Shawn is he like that's the shield right and it's it's it's it's it's doing what it's supposed to do. The forehand I

diashawk (32:43.485)
Very something.

Alvin Owusu (32:59.946)
He's getting there. He's getting there. I'm not really sure what to make of it quite yet. because I personally don't understand what the best version of Ben Shelton is. So I'm gonna pose this to you.

diashawk (33:11.119)
I don't think he does yet either. I think he's got such a live arm that he has about three different finishes and between the buggy and the rip, think he's very instinctive, which I like about him. I still don't think he's dialed into the one he wants the most. I think he's got a phenomenal first strike and like a lot of big weapons, he is very vulnerable off of the forehand side. His back into me is the steady side. You mentioned shield. I don't feel like he is, I don't,

feel like his forehand is bulletproof from the standpoint that he takes too many risks in general. would also tell you, here's a small subtle thing. I saw this last year at the Atlanta Open when he played a young player, and I might be incorrect on the name, Nishioka, who was also a lefty. I think Ben struggles against other lefties. He lost to Jack in this tournament. I would submit to you, because he can't just go,

Alvin Owusu (34:04.748)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see it.

diashawk (34:08.74)
He just can't go back into backhand. Jack's backhand is better than Ben's. Let's say that. And so now what does that do to the bigger hitting Ben Shelton? He falls into a bit of the trap to over hit, to go for more instead of out steady. I think Jack has very underrated returns. He's got very good returns. He doesn't miss many of them. His backhand to me is people sleep on it. That's his best shot. Period.

Alvin Owusu (34:12.92)
Yes. Yes.

Alvin Owusu (34:35.598)
It's special. Yeah, yeah.

diashawk (34:37.784)
And now if I'm a lefty matching up on the lefty side on the deuce side, where you gonna go? You're not gonna go, you're not gonna go line.

Alvin Owusu (34:42.03)
Where are you gonna go? Right. Jack, Jack, I mean it's all about Jack it seems like, but Jack's safe. Like Jack is safe. Jack could save his way to steady top, know, somewhere between seven and 10 in the world, like for the next seven years if he stays healthy. Like he's just, he's safe. His game is, it's safe. It's complete if you will.

diashawk (35:03.588)
I would say it's, I like the word complete. would like, I would even give a different word. I would say it is stable. I wouldn't say to me it's a little weird. I'm gonna tell you, Ben has the profile to beat anybody in the top five on a given day. Jack has the profile to beat almost everyone 100 to 10, about eight times out of 10.

Alvin Owusu (35:11.788)
That's the word I'm looking for. is.

Alvin Owusu (35:27.246)
Right.

Right.

diashawk (35:31.508)
That is where he's at now and you heard it right here Going further if you told me the scores were four and five just a break each each set, right? Unfortunate from not to get a set because that third set could have done something for for for Ben if you gave me those conditions and You put runa against Ben. I Put Ben winning his first 1000 if you gave me what was it? was it? What was the semi was that?

Alvin Owusu (35:54.851)
Hmm.

diashawk (36:00.995)
Who did he play? Alcaraz in both conditions? I could see Ben Shelton beating Alcaraz in those conditions. I could. Here's why I say it. Because of the serve. And because of the wind. And because of that first strike. Just saying. And also I still feel Alcaraz peaked. This is taking nothing away from Jack. I'm merely saying, had the matchup been, had he played anybody else that wasn't a lefty that wasn't

Alvin Owusu (36:02.989)
Ocaraz.

Alvin Owusu (36:09.23)
Ehhhh...

diashawk (36:30.294)
Jack Draper, I could see Ben getting farther in this particular tournament. And I also would submit to you, with the exception of Alcaraz, that was one of his closest scores. So it ain't like it was a walk in the park for Jack, make no mistake.

Alvin Owusu (36:42.307)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (36:47.054)
I mean, that's good. mean, this is kind of like the best thing about like the way that our tour kind of the tours unfold over the course of the years, right? Obviously, the Grand Slams are the big prizes, but we have these larger events where all the best players are there and we can do a little check in. I like the Sunshine Double as a nice place to check in to see where everyone is before they disappear to where most American fans are not paying attention to the European red clay.

diashawk (37:09.078)
Bye. Bye.

diashawk (37:14.732)
Correct.

Alvin Owusu (37:16.334)
and then pop up on your TV in Paris in a couple of months. So switching, let's go ahead and switch gears over to the women's side. And once our podcast gets all big and grown and stuff, this is where we would throw in a little advertiser break right here and then move on to the next segment. I'm let you, this is still free game for you people out there. Yeah, the women's side, think my takeaway is the Mira and Drava.

diashawk (37:20.514)
Ha ha ha.

Yeah, I know you want to talk about Mira.

diashawk (37:32.822)
Yep. Look forward to it.

Alvin Owusu (37:44.642)
the myriad drama experience is happening before your eyes. Like, don't blink, it is happening. I'm not saying that she's going to rack up 10 grand slams, I don't think that happens on the women's side anymore. There tends to be about what I consider a three year peak for each one of these champions that get there, it's three years of getting somewhere between three to five grand slams and then someone else pops up, right?

diashawk (38:11.198)
I would tell you that I'm glad that it's extended to three years because back five to eight years ago, it was a tournament and then over. Let's be honest.

Alvin Owusu (38:19.95)
Right, yeah, I mean, now we're getting to the point where like, nobodies don't show up and win Grand Slams on the women's side. You're like, well, okay, maybe the US opened occasionally, okay, all right. Okay, sorry, so sorry. Yeah, we've covered that. We're not going back. 2019, 2020, 2021, I mean, we had a couple years of some, anyways, Mira Andreeva. Okay, so Mira.

diashawk (38:29.088)
Don't go there, we already know about that one. We're not going back. We're not going back. So what was that? Was that 2019? What was it?

Alvin Owusu (38:46.794)
has had a fantastic run over the last few weeks, right? She's in, she's in Dubai, rips through that draw, takes down Iga, takes down her back in a right takes out Klaura Towson in the finals, comes over here, does it again, takes down Iga takes down cyber Lanka.

diashawk (39:03.504)
That Eager match to me was the match. Beating Eager in that match to me, that match solidified to me. That was the one. That to me was the one to put over the top.

Alvin Owusu (39:09.292)
That was the one. That was the one.

But like, let's talk about her as a player though, right? So like, regardless of the results, I saw something this tournament. maybe it happened in the Middle East, it was apparent in the Middle East as well, but I feel like that, you you can go back to our WTA outlook from January. Like, I was like, the one hole that Mira has is her firepower, but she is young. She will fill into her frame, I think.

diashawk (39:31.944)
Sure.

Alvin Owusu (39:41.964)
that will come and then when that comes, everyone else is trouble. And when I see her walking now, it's like, Mir has been at the gym. And now her legs can withstand the torture and she is serving big. She's serving big. She's not the biggest hitter, but when she gets the ball now on the forehand side that she can work with, she's going in line. That's what she's doing to She's just ripping line before Iga does. Like, I'm gonna beat you there.

diashawk (39:53.874)
the torture and the punish that our match will show. Yep. Yep.

diashawk (40:08.371)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (40:09.734)
And you know, the last thing and I'll, I'll let you go is that the thing that I'm most impressed with, we'd always, we've been talking, we've talked about this. Some of our guests who have played at the highest level talked about this, like the thing that separates the best at any level from the rest is that special skill. And I believe Mira has some of, if not the best continental skill on the women's tour right now. She defends with the continental.

diashawk (40:21.182)
sure.

diashawk (40:27.538)
Yep.

diashawk (40:39.483)
Sure. I would agree with that. I think her defending is actually very good. Great field. I would submit to you, Mahova has some of the best continental skills going forward. I would certainly agree that. Going east-west, I think you're absolutely right. Mira is right there. Let me tell you what I saw about Mira from this tournament, which I don't often see, and I'm really liking that I'm seeing it. Mira is starting to get the

Alvin Owusu (40:39.554)
better than anybody to the point that it's a skill.

Alvin Owusu (40:50.83)
Going forward, going forward, sure, sure. Yeah,

diashawk (41:07.524)
and I'm going to use Yannick Center as a good example, the two-way speed. She can counter you with pace, and then she's going to step off of you being the pace hitters off pace ball. Let me explain that. I am, and I love Arena. She's one of my favorite players of all time. She's seen to me as the Bella Russian Serena. I've always loved Serena's game. So I'm naturally, you know, loving the bigger hitters game.

Alvin Owusu (41:20.072)
Okay, yep.

diashawk (41:34.876)
Obviously it's something that is just a profile that I like in the game. Sabalanka will hit a ball, Madison Keys as well. They hit a ball that is so big and so through you that it is, let's just use numbers. Let's just say it's a 90 mile an hour fast ball. Okay.

Alvin Owusu (41:43.085)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (41:58.852)
You're an Andriva. You have the ability not to hit a 95 mile an hour ball, but you have the ability to handle 90.

Alvin Owusu (42:07.384)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (42:09.134)
The one fallacy in the 90 mile or 95 mile an hour forehand player is they know intuitively that ball rarely comes back. And then they get hurt, bumped, surprised that the ball came back. By nature, they're not very good at defending. They've rarely had to do it. So on a ball that they're neutralizing or rolling or bumping, it just got caught.

Alvin Owusu (42:20.398)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (42:40.281)
Mira has the ability to now hit a step up off of their gotcha ball. Her range is in between 75 and 89. Here's the problem. The 95 mile an hour hitters have to throw in a slice from time to time. Have to throw in a roll from time to time to get back because the ball is so big. They don't have much time for anything else. In that

first game or so, Alvin, I saw Mira throw in against Arena a drop shot in the very first game in the final. And I'm like, ooh, that tells me comfortability. That didn't tell me that she's worried about anything. She's like, Arena, got you. And you know what? You're not looking to come forward. I'm not going to out hit you. But I'm not worried about your ball speed either. Now, I would here to tell you, she won that match against

Alvin Owusu (43:15.074)
Yeah, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (43:24.738)
Which is-

diashawk (43:38.181)
Rina played a pretty good second. I was really impressed. I was really impressed that Mira stayed the course. But you heard her right here, She is not fazed by the bigger hitters at all.

Alvin Owusu (43:50.702)
Which is weird, which is weird because coming into this match she had a one and four record against Savalinka, right? Savalinka beat the brakes off her the last time they played, right? Earlier this year. you know, it's... Yeah, I'll show you. But she's like, you know, she has struggled with Irina before, but I think it's just the, know, Conchita, know, Conchita's doing the thing with her.

diashawk (44:01.378)
Yeah, it was a bad match for her. She did not play like, Australia, she did not play like she'd.

Alvin Owusu (44:18.946)
that is like really rounding out some of these like not often explored avenues of trying to break down a player. know, Kachina's got the mind for it and she has a player who also has the mind and the skill for it. So it's like, we're just gonna solve this puzzle in a different way and we're just not gonna let Arena get comfortable. And then, know, like once the heat comes off the match a little bit, then you can play. And you know, even to her, to Mira's credit, like, you know, she got

diashawk (44:34.721)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (44:48.258)
She did not play a very good first set in that final, gets dumped, comes back out, and then just like right back to it, right back to work.

diashawk (44:56.311)
I felt like that was, I felt like, and I said it backwards, I felt like the first few games were high class tennis. I mean, there was some quality tennis in the first few games. I felt like Irina got a break and kind of steamrolled, but I felt like early on, Mira was not fazed. Sloppy had a game that she lost her way.

Alvin Owusu (45:10.946)
Yeah, yeah.

diashawk (45:25.589)
But I'm telling you, when she held on to win that third, I'm telling you Alvin, I felt like it was Irina who was trying to find ways to win in that third set. I felt like Irina was trying to say, I keep going for this step up. She knows I'm going for the step up and she's waiting for it. And what do do? I don't not hit a step up, right? I don't not hit the inside hit. I don't not hit the big down line.

Alvin Owusu (45:34.444)
Yeah.

diashawk (45:52.094)
But when I do, almost felt Irina was almost rolling a wide sweep backhand to try to run Mira to the corner, taking pace off the ball a little bit, which is already compromising what she wants to do because she knows Mira's pretty good on the rise. So I almost felt even that match, I felt like that was kind of something that Irina was already throwing in a wrinkle or her camp was already trying to throw in a way to get her to, she's gonna counter me if I go big. Let me roll her wide. It wasn't as good of an angle as it could have been.

Alvin Owusu (46:16.994)
Right.

diashawk (46:20.296)
But it was a different ball that she normally hits. And I felt like that was a feather in the cap to Mira and her speed and her core coverage.

Alvin Owusu (46:23.169)
It's it.

Alvin Owusu (46:28.34)
Yeah, you know, yeah, also we got to a point in the match where you don't see arena get to this point often where

It's a hard fought three set match and we're in the back end, know, coming around the bend on the third set. I did see her at one point. just, it was so nice the way that they use that low camera angle off the back of the baseline there. She was going towards her right kind of on not really on defense, but she was moving from the ad court off the back angle and over her forehand. And I saw her, I just have this picture on my brain. I was like, right before she hits it, I'm like, she's a little too high to hit that ball. She's just too high.

And I think it might have been like three, two, Andrea was up a break in the third, something like that. Maybe four, three, and I was like, yeah, she's just too high. I think she's tired. And she sailed that forehand long, and then I kept an eye on it. The next few points that she lost were all the same. like, oh, she's tired. She's got her. She got into her legs. it's like, most players can't hang with Arena long enough to get her there.

diashawk (47:19.848)
Same. Yep, yep, yep, yep.

diashawk (47:29.395)
Right. George Foreman. Yeah. George Foreman, Muhammad Ali. You know, he knew, he knew Foreman would punch himself out. You know what I mean? And so big hitters, that's, that's the fallacy of the big hitter. You know, there takes a lot of octane, you know, to, to be a big hitter. know, hats off to, hats off to Mira is all I'm saying. I do have to ask you what happened to Madison and Sableika in the semi?

Alvin Owusu (47:31.67)
Even playing against Madison, even playing against Madison, like is a different kind of match. is, is three sets. Right.

Alvin Owusu (47:47.286)
It does? Yeah. Yeah. And so like...

Alvin Owusu (47:54.347)
Ask me.

Alvin Owusu (47:57.884)
man, okay, so I watched that match because that's what I do. You know, I'm team Madison over here and That match was right after There was a match on right before that one. That was really good I think it might have been the EGA EGA versus The match we were just talking about EGA versus Andreva right great match So the stadium itself kind of felt a little like the air been let out of it

diashawk (47:59.474)
.

diashawk (48:19.46)
Andrea, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (48:27.448)
some people left, this match comes on, both ladies, mean, because that match was kind of like, know, it looked like it was gonna end early and it didn't. So they both came out a little like, okay, Madison looked like, I've had a really good year so far. Won the warmup to Australia, wins Australia, got kicked out of the Austin event on some weirdness, because she, yeah, I'm too good for this apparently.

diashawk (48:42.705)
Right.

diashawk (48:48.658)
Right, because she had too high a ranking. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (48:53.698)
did well enough to get to the semifinals of, you know, a Masters and just like, it was one of those slow start matches where she couldn't find the range and then never found the range. just, just, she just couldn't, she made more, she made more unforced errors in the match than she won points. Not more than winners, more than total points. It was like, she was playing a level and a half below her normal level sharpness wise and, and Arena was just on it.

diashawk (49:05.435)
Never.

diashawk (49:11.032)
Right. Right. Wow.

diashawk (49:19.504)
Sure. Sure.

Alvin Owusu (49:23.788)
like on it, when she did leave one in the court, Arena just tagged the other direction.

diashawk (49:26.798)
Right, feeling it, still feeling the sting of that Australian tournament. Here's again.

Alvin Owusu (49:30.578)
Yeah, and it's one of those matches where it's like it falls apart you're like, okay, whatever like an o in one match like it could have been no no that was I mean, yeah Madison was serving down six five and held

diashawk (49:41.304)
Right, Yeah, the pride game. Here's all I will say. The match before with Bencic was one and one. Bencic of course took out Coco. Now, one and one, Alvin, one and one. Now, and she had a match the previous day against Beckich. You know, again, Beckich is a tour veteran, savvy. Three and a third, seven, six. She won seven, six and three and a third, lost four sets, six, four. You gotta think at some point,

The tour is starting to take its toll on some of these players. Well, it's early in the year. We're what? Seven, eight tournaments, maybe nine tournaments deep, post Australia, you know what mean? So in as many weeks, right? So we're starting to kind of get into the throes, so to speak, of the tour and all the, know, the, hate to say it, the person that got hurt almost is better energized for the next event. And if you are not,

Alvin Owusu (50:35.475)
Right. Yeah.

diashawk (50:38.177)
If you're not dinged up, you want to win now so you can bank the points. I only say it to say, and I go back to Carlos, when I see these crazy one-on-one, 0-0, 0-1 type matches, it's very difficult for me to think that player's not peaking a bit early, especially in these longer events. Because to me, and I see her win that kind of match, you're bound to be flat. You're bound to be a little off in a match after you've already played really well. And that's all I would say. And that's no excuse. It's not. It's what it is. It's just.

Alvin Owusu (50:41.855)
Right.

diashawk (51:08.106)
my playing level at a certain point. The thing I want to point out to that Alvin is this. When I win a seven match tournament, there is no way that I play great all seven matches. That's the thing that people have to understand. I don't play my game. I don't play great tennis all seven matches. You know, I use the term I told you guys when you guys were players and I think it's just the way it is. You have a day one horrible tennis, day seven

Alvin Owusu (51:20.974)
Sure, sure, yeah.

diashawk (51:37.986)
Phenomenal you can't play any better. You might be lucky to play the level again, but you're never as bad as your Worst day and you're never as good as your best day. You're always somewhere between right? One of the things that I got that from an old from an old coach and former Babylon exec back in the day I thought was one of the best things that he told me I get at Miami ironically at the tournament back in the day And I've always used that because it made sense to me

Alvin Owusu (51:47.414)
Right. Yeah.

diashawk (52:04.108)
You hope you don't have a day two and a day two is just a bad day. More errors than total points. And that's the day that Madison had. But you know when those days happen Alvin? They happen after day sixes. They happen after a couple of days. You had a four, you had a five, you had a six, you had a five and a half. Bam! Back to a day two. It's like your body resets. You're back to the beginning of the week. It's like, hey, hey, you can't do this for all. What you doing?

Alvin Owusu (52:29.206)
You can't do this forever.

diashawk (52:32.037)
You know, I just gave you four days in a row now. That's more than I should have given you. I gave you five in Australia. You're welcome. Don't sleep. It's back to day two. That day's still in there. And you train to get that day out of your system or to raise the level that day so well that you'd never have to really do it. But that's what I mean when I say a player peeking early, that whole cycle tends to reset a little bit. But that's why you see these really lopsided scores from time to time from players that really are put...

Alvin Owusu (52:42.35)
You know.

Alvin Owusu (52:56.014)
Yeah.

diashawk (53:01.571)
are playing the ball. And that's something that I think our listeners and viewers should really understand that I don't care how many times you play this person. You don't know what day you played them on. It could have been your six and their three. It could have been your three and their three. It could have been your three and their six. You just don't know. And the bottom line of it is, is you have to play the player on that day and not to mention conditions. That situation is very

fluid. You don't know from one day to the next how you're playing and trust me that seed that seed is very vulnerable on certain days. First match of the tournament, vulnerable. You know what mean? After a couple big wins, after a couple big tournaments, after a couple big matches, vulnerable. Not as vulnerable going in. If they're warming up, heating up, tight three, big nice two, steamroll too buddy. That player's on fire right now.

Alvin Owusu (53:59.638)
Yeah, and with these with these firepower like big firepower hard hitting women like this happens sometimes like this is just one of those like, you know, you look at a you look at a standardized curve and like, you know, sometimes there's these tight matches that go seven four or seven five seven six and third and sometimes there's just like what the hell was that and let's say we're back in a did the same thing to Sabalinka last year right before we got showed up and beat her in the final thing Auckland like and one just

diashawk (54:26.899)
Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (54:27.022)
Beat the piss out of her it was the same kind of thing. It was like sabalink was just a little bit off Rebecca and I was playing a little like it's like Rebecca and I found her nine and sabalink I found her four and then tapping on the same day in the same hour and it gets bad

diashawk (54:31.976)
Yeah!

diashawk (54:36.841)
Yeah, 100%, Paul Badoza beat Coco that way in Australia. You have these matches where you're like, wow. And again, you can't get too worked up over it.

Alvin Owusu (54:50.158)
And Madison, even before the bintch match though, she played Mertens and she was up a set and a break against Mertens and had her and then it got nasty and then they went three, right? So you go three sets against Mertens who was no musician, tough out, and then three sets against Bintch, who's playing as well as anybody. Sorry, Might've been, might've been, somewhere there, yeah. But like, yeah, it's, you know, if she shows up a little, maybe she's just a little, she'd be a little tired. She just could be a little tired.

diashawk (55:07.411)
Backage, Backage.

diashawk (55:18.865)
Right? Keys had a four with Mertens. She had a four and a third with Mertens. had a three and a third with Vakic. Then she played Bincic and beat Bincic one on one. That's what I'm saying. So that's me. And that's the peak. I'm trying to tell you, Alvin, that's the peak. That was Dimitrov losing to Carlito. Come on now. One on one? Come on. And so after that, I'm telling you, the day recessed. It just does.

Alvin Owusu (55:20.078)
You know what, okay, so third term.

Alvin Owusu (55:28.374)
Okay. that's right. Okay. Okay. So that's weird then. That is weird.

Alvin Owusu (55:42.647)
Right, let me.

Alvin Owusu (55:47.558)
Yeah, know, the couple weeks ago I was playing with a buddy and he's, he's, remember the first time we ever played an imagine a league, he beat me. wasn't, I was not moving very well that day, whatever, whatever he beat me. And we live close by. So we hit together every once in a while. I don't think he's beat me in a set ever since, but, but we get out there and we're playing on this court. This court was it's a, the listeners in Atlanta, it's a Lake, Lake clear has this new court that's like been resurfaced. And it's like, they put one court where two courts should be. there's like,

a lot of space around, right? You feel like you're like, well, I'm out here. Yeah, you feel, I felt it. I was getting upset with how well I was playing on a day that it didn't matter. We played two sets. I beat him one and one. He's like, let's play another one. I'm up four one and we had to call it. And she's like, I'm like, I was pissed because I'm like, I'm never going to play this well again. I'm playing so well. Cause you know, you're going to come falling out of that tree eventually. Right? Maybe hopefully you had every branch on the way down, but

diashawk (56:16.046)
Yeah, ATP style. Yeah.

diashawk (56:27.588)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (56:44.506)
bright.

Alvin Owusu (56:44.588)
You just can't, you can't stay in the zone forever. You can't stay in the zone for two weeks. It's a, yeah.

diashawk (56:48.71)
Beautiful place. It's a beautiful place that day. And you train to get back to it and you train to make your worst day better. I would never forget, we were at a challenger one time, Sco and I, and there was a good player, Ryan Rowe. I'll forget it. I'll never forget, were, don't know, Ryan Rowe? was going, yep, tall, big tall kid, big lefty, you remember Ryan? I think it was TCU, big, big tall lefty, huge serve, big tall kid. When I tell you Ryan was

Alvin Owusu (56:56.631)
Right, exactly.

Alvin Owusu (57:04.834)
yeah, he's an Austin guy. we cross paths in Austin back in the day. TCU, you got TCU I think? Yep. Yep. Yep.

diashawk (57:18.469)
ball in one night. in the boom pretty well in this in this future. I don't if he won it or got or got to the final that week. Ryan Rowe was beating the piss out of Sco that night and at one point he's kind I remember telling Sco man he's playing well right now. was like man I'm saying this is like the night before he's playing great he's up a good week. I said I don't know Sco and he's like what do mean? I'm like he's playing a little too well and I remember saying he's almost playing a little too well. Ryan's putting his stuff in his bag

Alvin Owusu (57:42.862)
Too well. Too well.

diashawk (57:48.356)
shoving us up his back like, well, hey man, you everything good? I'm pissed right now. We're like, dude, you're playing great. I know. That's the problem. I'm playing well tonight. I'm playing great. I play tomorrow. I got the, I got the, I play on Sunday. I it was Friday night. I'm like, And we all just hugged it out. Like, I got you, bro. Like, you, bro.

Alvin Owusu (57:55.879)
That's the problem.

It's Wednesday.

Alvin Owusu (58:14.647)
Yeah.

diashawk (58:16.292)
And sure enough, he went out for second round. I say it to say, had he been playing that tennis a week later, he wouldn't turn. You know what mean? So I've been going through this thing for a while, Alvin, this whole day, theory stuff. There's no exact science to it because you don't know necessarily how you're to play, how you feel. There's so many factors to it. But what I will say is I think it has a lot of merit. It has merit from the sense that each player has their own range, right?

Alvin Owusu (58:23.704)
Right.

diashawk (58:42.084)
You'd like to think I'm going to play my 1 through 7, right? You take out the 1s and 7s. I'm pretty much between the 2 through 6. And that means a median of 4. I'm at a 4, hopefully, every day. Most people, and I would say most juniors, think that their median is a 5. They love to think of themselves as their 5 day.

Alvin Owusu (59:00.206)
They think of themselves as the best version of themselves. Yeah.

diashawk (59:02.755)
Correct. And they love to play a six. But they really are... Their four is really what they should be measuring. But they think of themselves as a five. And they remember the six. They never remember the three and the two. Oh, that was just a bad match. I played terrible. I don't talk about it. Sure. I find most seasoned players know that they're a three-four combination. And they know how to play better on their five day and the six days of bonus. They never plan on playing as a six.

You can't because that's one day out of a week at best one match. You hope that your six shows up on a day the other guy's playing a six and then you got your chances. The point of getting that is and I would tell this for any club player, out to lady, men's player, T2 guy, junior tournament player, especially in the southern section. The national kids should figure this out by now. If you're playing level twos, level ones, level threes, getting into deep into the tournament, you should know this by now.

You have to play three tennis on a three day. You cannot play six, day six tennis on a three day. You gotta grind more, bigger margins. You gotta make sure that you don't play when you don't have those skills that day. This is your coach's corner, Alvin. One of the problems we find is you're still trying to play like a six.

You're still going for down the T serves when you haven't made a first serve all game. Hit the darn slice body. You can hit a flat, but go flat body. Don't even tip yourself with these targets that you don't have that day. You will know in the warmup how well you're playing. Listen to yourself. Your body's trying to tell you how clean you are or aren't on that day. Don't. Go ahead.

Alvin Owusu (01:00:52.334)
And also give yourself some time to get there. Like don't, you play your sixth tennis in the round before, you pop up the next day and you're like from the warmup, I'm that player I was yesterday. Let yourself get to that. You know what your high can be. Fine, let's let ourselves get to that high.

diashawk (01:01:13.438)
I tell you, would follow up with that. Your day three, it is rarely gonna be a four.

Alvin Owusu (01:01:20.322)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

diashawk (01:01:22.099)
Your girl Madison was not gonna get to a point where she was gonna start off sudden balling that day against a few days ago against Arena. It was a bad day. She had played so well before. Now here's my point. And you got to make sure you just let it go. It's just that day. Now.

Alvin Owusu (01:01:30.784)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:01:39.264)
Yeah, you don't even to wrap it up. I don't feel like I feel like I feel like she saw it too. And she didn't seem she didn't seem upset about it. She's like, you know what? Me like there's no other option when you're playing against arena like you. She has to play. Madison has to play four or five tennis. And she doesn't have this. She doesn't have the full package to do all the other stuff to like kind of like nip and tuck her way through it either. She's going to have there is one way that Madison Keys beats Arena Sablega and it's.

diashawk (01:01:44.148)
I do too.

diashawk (01:01:48.224)
Method 100 % Oh you you gotta be four or five you gotta play six to beat her in straights you gotta play five tennis

diashawk (01:02:04.938)
Check.

Alvin Owusu (01:02:08.866)
that way and if that way is blocked then we're not going. We're not going.

diashawk (01:02:09.47)
It's that way. Through. Yep. That's right. That's right. You're in traffic. You're in traffic in a Provost Motorhome. You ain't coming through side streets.

Alvin Owusu (01:02:20.994)
We're gonna come to the ice race and you know, I think we're gonna we're gonna leave the people without them there coach What's what's what's what's next on tap for us? I think where we're finishing up Indian Wells We got a get some cool. We've had some cool guests come on recently and spend some time with us We got these these episodes to be coming out soon I think you guys are in for a real treat and then we'll we'll probably tap back in after Indian Wells and I'm part of me after Miami and And do another do another whether I'm going to Miami. I'll be down there

diashawk (01:02:26.528)
You

diashawk (01:02:35.047)
Great game.

diashawk (01:02:50.129)
Good for you.

Alvin Owusu (01:02:50.882)
I'll be down there for a day, think maybe around the 16th, something like that. Yeah, around the 16th, I believe. A little one day trip. It's an annual tradition that my buddy and I and his wife, we go, they live down there. So if you guys see me out there, say hello. Yeah, I'll be there and then we'll talk about it.

diashawk (01:02:56.795)
Nice.

diashawk (01:03:10.245)
I love it. It's a great tournament. have to come down and get down there with you down this time. The Mrs. has a work trip down that area. may have to take a strong detour from the best of three on the road. You know what I mean? That may not be a bad little situation. Come down there, check a few things out. Hopefully it'll work out. But it's a great tournament. I miss it. It's there for when I was on the tour with some players. I felt like I was there.

Alvin Owusu (01:03:15.694)
That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.

Alvin Owusu (01:03:22.594)
That's it there on the road. All right.

Alvin Owusu (01:03:27.904)
Alright.

diashawk (01:03:39.709)
three or four or five years in a row and then I've had a lot of hudlows in between. I Miami Opens, know, and I go back to the lifting in the days and it was lifting a NASDAQ, you know what I mean? I go, give a game. Give a game, yes sir, yes sir.

Alvin Owusu (01:03:45.998)
Hehehehehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehhehheh

Yeah, over in Key Biscayne. No, it was in Key Biscayne before. Yeah, yeah, now they're in Miami Gardens. It's a very different vibe from what I've heard. I never went to Key Biscayne, but I've been to the Miami Gardens location at the Hard Rock Stadium a few times. Yeah, I like how the tournaments all have their feel. Dallas has a, Dallas, I talked about it with Dasif in one of our episodes, Dallas has a feel, it's very Dallas.

diashawk (01:04:00.571)
Yeah.

diashawk (01:04:08.038)
Yeah.

diashawk (01:04:11.642)
Right.

diashawk (01:04:17.721)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:04:17.752)
The Atlanta Open is like, very, it was very much so representative of Atlanta. Like you see a lot of, you see a lot of brothers and sisters out there, which is not something you see at tennis events anywhere else in this world. And Miami is, it's got that Latin flair to it. I love it. It's, it has character. But anyways, yep. So, all right. So best of three on the road. We're going to sign off. I'm Alvin, that's Tori. Do the things you're supposed to do. Follow us, like us, subscribe, all that good stuff. And we'll catch you guys at the next one.

diashawk (01:04:23.067)
sure.

diashawk (01:04:28.047)
right?

diashawk (01:04:32.911)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:04:47.426)
Peace.