Ep. 35: French Open 1st Round Review

Alvin Owusu (00:08.747)
And welcome to another edition of the best of three podcast, the Roland Garros edition. Well, addition, yeah, this is, this is our, this is not the Roland Garros edition, but one of the Roland Garros editions. I'm still Alvin, that's still Tory. And it is, what is today? Today's Tuesday. We just finished up day three of round one of Roland Garros. It's been, it's been a slow start and then got, got pretty good.

Torrey Hawkkins (00:14.28)
I love it.

Alvin Owusu (00:37.747)
Maybe on Monday and then some decent matches today, first and foremost, Mr. Hawkins, how you doing?

Torrey Hawkkins (00:43.544)
I'm good man, I'm good. It's always like drinking from a fire hose the first round of a slam. Everywhere you look, you're like, I mean, it's hard to catch a breath. Very, very.

Alvin Owusu (00:49.012)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (01:02.094)
I'm going to say very good matches. saw a lot of matches and I feel like the clay this year, Alvin, maybe it was just the weather there is playing ultra slow. I mean, some matches, I mean, some matches look like, I mean, when I watched that Novak match, I swear to God, there was probably 38 drop shots. mean, and had to be due to the way the clay was playing. And then I saw a match with, you know,

Alvin Owusu (01:14.869)
yeah well it yeah i think

Alvin Owusu (01:22.676)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (01:31.224)
Fonseca and Huey Hurcats and I saw a match with, you know, who else was bombable, Diallo and Sarandolo. And I'm like, geez, these guys are playing somewhere else.

Alvin Owusu (01:41.896)
Yeah.

And that was the weird thing, especially from first match, early matches on day one on Sunday, the weather was horrible. It was horrible, right? Our girl Peyton Stearns got, just got, she looked like she was in different place, couldn't move the ball, less than ideal environment for her. Yeah, and Navarro as well. So you get players who would prefer to be a little bit of a drier, faster kind of clay, but it's...

Torrey Hawkkins (01:58.669)
100%.

Torrey Hawkkins (02:02.894)
100 % for her and the bar.

up.

Alvin Owusu (02:12.787)
all day Paris in May right now. Like it'll be mid 50s in the morning, get to low 60s and sunny in the middle of afternoon and then as it starts to dip again, we're back in the 50s and everyone's freezing. So definitely has an impact on the tennis.

Torrey Hawkkins (02:28.29)
You're right. Novak had a t-shirt on underneath his lacoste, you know what mean? Just to show you how, Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (02:31.659)
Right. Yeah, a lot of Felix in the long sleeve. We'll get to Felix. But I of want to look at this from a macro. Oh no, we will. We will. Because I've come to a place with him that I wanted to talk to you about today. I guess this was the gotcha that we were talking about before we started recording. You get on and you're like, Alvin, what are you going to surprise me with today? And I like, I don't have any surprises, except I forgot to tell you that I wanted to talk about Felix.

Torrey Hawkkins (02:38.989)
Let's not get to Felix.

Torrey Hawkkins (02:54.093)
I knew it.

Alvin Owusu (03:00.671)
Let me ask you this question. Day one, day two of Grand Slam, and guess now day three when we're getting to the first round, how do you approach it as a spectator? Like you're at home, Memorial Day weekend here in the States. What are you looking at? What matches are you choosing to watch?

Torrey Hawkkins (03:22.637)
I'm looking for matchups more than matches. You know the top seeds, release your hope, are going to probably come into some, let's face it, fairly routine matches. A, they're that good and B, the other guys just aren't there yet and they're have to play them five or six times just to even get close. The whole stage, probable circumstance of it all. So you just kind of know.

Alvin Owusu (03:27.008)
Sure.

Torrey Hawkkins (03:50.637)
I don't really want to see Alcares too much after having watched him up to this point. And while I was mildly impressed with Renderneck and his match entertaining as it was a straight set affair with Yannick. I didn't ever think that Yannick's match was in jeopardy. So those are those kind of matches. How do I approach it through round one and two to be honest with you unless there's somebody in there floating just below the surface.

Alvin Owusu (04:15.7)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (04:19.53)
that you have to kind of keep an eye on. Obviously, Amant Thies is in that category, who for sentimental reasons and playing in the French is obviously a big deal. Although, very tough with Nadej Gafdillian. The other thing I would look at is players that have some history. know, obviously, I think we're all watching Novak a little bit just to make sure, you know, he's playing better, but just to make sure. And of course, he, you know...

Alvin Owusu (04:27.867)
He pulled out a tough one today, came back. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (04:40.747)
Just to make sure, just to make sure.

Torrey Hawkkins (04:45.42)
24 Grand Slams. think he called on a lot of experience and the clay was as we said earlier a little slow but I'll answer your question very concisely. You watch for matchups more than the actual players. It's still it's still early. It's two weeks. I will counter that question with a question. What?

don't you wanna see?

Alvin Owusu (05:10.027)
Okay, so this is one of the I you know much like you you look at the seeds and you kind of want to especially the high seeds we're talking one through one through fours maybe even one through eights right I Expect to see you in week two So I'm not gonna put a lot of I'm not gonna save a lot of time to watch you play what I'm looking for is for those players Especially on the men's side particularly on the men's side because of the format I'm looking for them not to get caught up in messy matches early like I want to see those guys get through matches and straights

Torrey Hawkkins (05:39.231)
Yup. Right. If they happen to drop an early, rusty, shank and backhands first set and fairly routine going away in the third. I'm like Jack Tray.

Alvin Owusu (05:39.251)
Maybe four sets if they have to. Players like, sure.

Right. Kinda like Jack Draper did today. He drops the first set, he's playing Baluchi, Baluchi comes out, guns blazing, and I say to myself, I think Baluchi won the first set 6-2 or something like that, I say to myself, this is where Jack usually gets himself into a five set match, and he's tired by round three. And he got it together. He looked, he didn't look unnerved or anything, he just kinda put it together, settled in.

Torrey Hawkkins (06:03.028)
right.

Right.

Torrey Hawkkins (06:11.999)
Thank you.

Alvin Owusu (06:14.421)
took care of the next three sets pretty handily. And so that is something that I'll kind of file away as like, that's growth right there. That is something different from Jack Draper.

Torrey Hawkkins (06:16.267)
All right.

Torrey Hawkkins (06:23.337)
No, that he doesn't, hasn't, at least up until this year, has not done. I agree with you.

Alvin Owusu (06:28.787)
Yeah, he gets into some messy ones. Really, I think you could take that over to the women's side. Also, one more thing on the men's side. It's the guys who are in that 20, I'm gonna say 20, 24 to 32 seed, kind of in that space. That's a tough spot to be because they oftentimes end up with someone who's ranked just outside of seeding. Right, yeah, and those are horrible matchups. That's just like, man, that's.

Torrey Hawkkins (06:44.284)
Mm-hmm. Right.

It really is.

Torrey Hawkkins (06:51.306)
33.

Alvin Owusu (06:57.247)
What's the point of being seated if you're gonna get someone who's 10 spots behind you in the ranking? And we've talked about this before, know, outside of the top three players, maybe four players in the world, like between four and 20, that is a toss up. And then between 20 and 80, 80 given Sunday, man.

Torrey Hawkkins (06:59.211)
percent.

Torrey Hawkkins (07:16.107)
more now than ever before if I can add one point. It used to be not the case. 50 was a little bit behind all respect to those 50 and out. 50 used to be, historically used to be, you just weren't there yet. You hadn't been to that level yet. I feel, you made this comment in a previous podcast, it is so much deeper right now. So much deeper. While we may not have

Alvin Owusu (07:18.377)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Torrey Hawkkins (07:43.018)
some, you the big three and the vacuum that they have created and the big shoes. We still have got a much better ATP tour, especially from 30 to about 60, still some really solid players. And as you said, it's a revolving door. Alvin, in my opinion, about 21 and about 40. It's just on the given day. Who's going to play well? Who has...

Alvin Owusu (07:58.069)
Yeah, yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (08:12.724)
playing, who's been playing well and who surface prefers that matchup. And obviously for a lot of your South American, your French, your others that have a natural proclivity for the clay, they're going to come out on top here.

Alvin Owusu (08:16.861)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (08:26.495)
And I've noticed that being the, that's the kind of, that's the thing that's separating players right now. Like especially I'll use Taylor Fritz as an example, right? Losing to Daniel Altmeier, Fritz the four seed Altmeier is probably somewhere in the 40s, 50s rankings. But he grew up on Clay and he has, he's a big guy. Like you take away, Clay Court is the ultimate neutralizer in the men's game, especially. Like it requires you to do more than just go through the court. You have to do it all.

Torrey Hawkkins (08:50.185)
100%.

Alvin Owusu (08:55.839)
You have to have it all. And I think it's one of those things that really just starts to show some of the deficiencies, even at the top of the game. Someone ranked inside the top five who still is like, know, Taylor's been a little rusty lately, but hasn't had the best year, not really backing up the ranking. And he's a go-through you kind of guy. And so on a surface light clay, a thick red clay like we have in Roland Garros, and then on a dark and kind of wet day, you're gonna need to do other stuff.

Torrey Hawkkins (09:22.471)
Right. That's quicksand. for Taylor Fritz, unfortunately for him, it was quicksand.

Alvin Owusu (09:31.211)
Yeah, yeah. And so that's kind of, yeah, that's kind of what I look for in the first week. Like who can get through easily the top seeds and then for matches I want to watch, I'm gonna pay attention to those kind of closer in rankings. Like someone who is in the late 30s in the rankings through the mid 50s, those make for really good, really good matches on the men's side. But yeah, I wanna kind of go back. Hold on, I'll cut you off. What were you gonna say?

Torrey Hawkkins (09:40.86)
Yep.

Torrey Hawkkins (09:47.11)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey Hawkkins (09:58.237)
No, no, I was gonna say I saw one. GMP playing Bergs. I mean, thought, you know, just to your point, I mean, there's a match. That was a great match. Dare I say the best match, the most complete match I've seen GMP play to date. I was happy for him. It was great to see. And Alvin, he was smiling. You could see he was enjoying himself. And I have to tell you, not just.

Alvin Owusu (10:04.565)
That was a fun match. That was a fun match.

Alvin Owusu (10:15.112)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (10:23.498)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (10:26.749)
was he hitting the one a solid, he was, he played complete album, drop shot gets, feel around the net, came to the net. I mean, had his, had his return inside the court finally on the returns. I'm like, Giovanni, you're playing, getting a lot better. On clay, and I wouldn't expect him to play well on clay.

Alvin Owusu (10:41.675)
He's getting better. What a novel idea.

Alvin Owusu (10:47.915)
This is the thing, I saw him in person when I was in Paris for the Masters event in October, I guess it was. And that was one of my big takeaways. He moves a lot better than you think he does for six, eight, I think he is. The guy moves fairly well. He's not clumsy. He can play. He's not like one of your, I mean, he is a bit of a servbot, but can also move himself around the court a little bit. So yeah, that was.

Torrey Hawkkins (10:59.133)
Right, Yeah, big boy. Yeah. Yeah. He brought a couple of 120s on second service and I was like, oof. He reminded you who he is, who he is. But the one, I was more impressed with the oney, oney on the run, slice down low when when when when when when when the,

Alvin Owusu (11:20.618)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (11:28.68)
Bottom line, I was impressed to your point about one of the guys in the outer because those matches not only more evenly matched, they're truly toss ups. I want to say didn't he, he won that in four sets and I'm gonna tell you Alvin, was, was, it was previously contested, especially for sets two and three. I thought, I thought that was a good match to watch. And quite frankly, I was very, I was very happy that I caught that match with GMP.

Alvin Owusu (11:51.113)
Yeah, that was a good one. I'll go back, kind of one thing I wanted to speak about because I think I am probably uniquely qualified to speak about it. is the, no, no, no, is the first year that here in the United States, Roland Garros is being broadcast by Warner Brothers Discovery, big name Warner Brothers Discovery. What that looks like to fans watching on TV is gonna be,

Torrey Hawkkins (12:01.224)
Something lefty.

Torrey Hawkkins (12:10.574)
Uh-uh.

Torrey Hawkkins (12:14.725)
Right. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (12:20.839)
TNT Sports and it's the other subsidiaries like True TV and TBS and then HBO Max. And I've had many people reach out and like, how am supposed to watch this? How am I supposed to watch this? And I often feel like, you know, kind of a peek behind the curtain here in my professional life. have a pretty long, relatively extensive history in sports media and technology and have spent time working for Warner Brothers Discovery.

on both the right side and the technical side of delivering streaming sports to users, to fans. And so I often sympathize with people when they're having a tough time just trying to find the thing that they want to watch on television. Yeah, exactly, I've been there. I've been there. So the easy part is, know, pay the $20, get Max.

Torrey Hawkkins (13:13.202)
Yeah. Right.

Alvin Owusu (13:15.335)
and stream it on Max because Max has everything. Shout out, I sent a text to my buddy Trevor, he's the art director for Max, HBO Max, and the imagery throughout the experience looks fantastic. They've done a really, really good job of making it visually appealing from the kind of the hero images in the scorecards all the way down to the score bug on the, within the broadcast, like it looks good. know, my buddy Chris Brown is in charge of the production on that side, so.

Torrey Hawkkins (13:35.237)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (13:44.543)
Kudos to a lot of my former colleagues who were doing a really good job on that product. Now, let's get to the part that still ticks me off. A year ago, I gave my input when I was with Warner Brothers Discovery to some of the brass, like, we got the French Open, this is great. Here's how you don't mess it up. And I presented, I put together a deck, I presented to them, this is how we could do better than others.

Torrey Hawkkins (14:11.708)
Mmm.

Alvin Owusu (14:13.769)
have done. If you want to do better, this is how you could do better. And I will say there's one thing that no one does a good job of. Please show me the score when I'm looking for matches. It's my biggest pet peeve is that I want to know what match to watch and that is generally based upon what is the damn score in the match. I have to pull out my phone to look up the score and then decide

Torrey Hawkkins (14:27.028)
Torrey Hawkkins (14:37.894)
100%.

Because ESPN does a better job than every other tennis thing out there. I could not agree with you more.

Alvin Owusu (14:44.51)
It's

Alvin Owusu (14:49.355)
It's my biggest pet peeve and I understand that it's difficult and I understand why it's not there, but as a fan, as a paying customer, it's inexcusable. I've said it before. You'll see it whenever the league or the event is.

Torrey Hawkkins (15:03.558)
At today's day and age especially.

Alvin Owusu (15:16.457)
the app you're watching it through. That's usually the easy, like they will have it there for you, because that's all they build. If you talk about as a rights holder, pumping your, selling your rights to let's say ESPN or Warner Brothers Discovery, right, you are now just essentially pumping your stream into their system and their system's not built to show running scores all the time. That's effectively how it comes out. It's a lot of work to show scores, but I think the work is worth it, because I'm salty and I know other people.

Torrey Hawkkins (15:20.9)
Right. Right.

Torrey Hawkkins (15:42.481)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (15:45.707)
are salty as well. Off Soapbox.

Torrey Hawkkins (15:50.771)
That was more of a gripe than a, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (15:51.243)
I'm done, I'm done. I just, had to get that off my chest. It's personal with me, because I know how it works, I have a feeling, I own a tennis player. I feel like they listen to my presentation, they're like, okay, that's good idea, and then they just put in the trash cans, and we're gonna do exactly what we always do. And I was like, all right, you're gonna F it up, and well, whatever, what are we gonna do?

Torrey Hawkkins (16:02.234)
Yeah. And your attendance play. And most of them are not. And I think that counts for something.

Torrey Hawkkins (16:14.605)
Exactly.

Alvin Owusu (16:21.823)
So yeah, that's kind of my gripe there. I said we were gonna talk about Felix.

I've had a long, I had a good long look at Felix today. And when I watched Felix play tennis, Felix does, Felix is the kind of guy who would excel at playing the wave. Like he can do everything. He just runs around. He has, he has every shot. There are no true deficiencies technically in his game. He can do everything. I was watching today and I was like, I'll talk to her about this. I feel like he, Felix plays tennis.

Torrey Hawkkins (16:50.637)
Yeah, agreed.

Alvin Owusu (16:59.529)
Like he has no idea what shot is coming next. Like ever, ever. His feel for the game is lacking. I think that's what it is. Like I'm watching him play Matteo Arnaldi and it's like, Arnaldi is relaxed. He's playing the game. Felix is really good at hitting balls.

Torrey Hawkkins (17:02.797)
Mmm. Mmm.

Torrey Hawkkins (17:11.492)
Hmm.

Alvin Owusu (17:23.477)
Thoughts?

Torrey Hawkkins (17:24.261)
I want you to clarify you made a I'm gonna say, a misleading statement. You said, I understood you to say.

He has no idea what's coming, which I equate to reads. And then you said feel for the game. And I think Felix has too much feel. think he has, if anything, he has, again, we're talking about a characteristic, you're talking about a construct. Help me understand specifically your point so I can know where you come from.

Alvin Owusu (17:42.634)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (17:54.645)
Sure, yes, Felix, it feels like Felix will hit a ball and then, generally, okay, you hit a, righty hits a forehand, cross-court, he's gonna cross-court, cross-court rally, you're gonna continue to shade over a little bit, right? And you know that if your ball quality drops, you need to probably return closer to the middle to cover your down the line now, right? That is reading, reading your shot, reading your opponent's court position.

Torrey Hawkkins (18:12.485)
Check. Check.

Alvin Owusu (18:20.843)
Right, that type of reading is what I'm talking about. It oftentimes feels like shots come to him and he is surprised that they were hit there. And I'm watching and I'm like, how can you be that surprised? Where else did you think he was gonna hit that ball? When I say that's what I mean by feel for the game, not his feel with his hands. I think he, yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (18:29.432)
Okay.

Torrey Hawkkins (18:42.062)
Sure, sure, sure. I'm with you. I took exception to the term, but I knew what you meant. I wanted you to qualify.

Alvin Owusu (18:48.157)
Okay, yeah, that's where I currently sit with Felix and I feel like there are just a lot of players, especially here on clay, who are going to expose that. It's all about feel, like feeling your way through the point, through the match, around the court. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (19:08.26)
Let's make sure we put past tense on Felix because he has field his way out of the tournament. But is officially now. early, early days, TH went through the what used to be called the US PTA. And they got a book, man, thicker than what's the big.

Alvin Owusu (19:15.465)
Yeah, his clay core season's over. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (19:34.537)
Encyclopedia Britannica.

Torrey Hawkkins (19:35.825)
The esoteric is a great one. It's not that big, I'm, you know, I'm mentioning it for, for a common effect. There was a whole chapter on the three Rs. Ready, read and react. I thought I had not up until that point in time understood it to be in such an acronym, so to speak. And it was there. And I said,

we of course shorten it to reads, right? But what we're really talking about is the judging, the quick analysis of the impact or effect of your ball on someone or lack thereof. And of course, how that now allows you to build, defend, or obviously, you know, neutralize said ball in return. Now, I hear you. I feel.

Alvin Owusu (20:15.083)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkkins (20:33.271)
that Ali Asim is and has been for some time under hitting and too conservative. So he's always second guessing himself. I don't like him for that reason. And I always felt like he has all the firepower, but won't use it as much. And I feel like someone up to whatever point has been in his ear constantly about point play, managing points.

Alvin Owusu (21:02.699)
Hmm.

Torrey Hawkkins (21:03.524)
Hugging the baseline, making sure he goes for the right shot. And Alvin, the brother's got to be about 6'3", 6'4", if not, and with a huge serve. And I'm watching for years now, almost 10 years, I gotta think about watching Felix. The brother hits a good eight years, 10 is too far, eight years, seven, eight years, a considerable amount of time.

Alvin Owusu (21:15.936)
Yeah?

Alvin Owusu (21:27.915)
Yeah, I think he hit the scene in like 2020, 19, 2020, somewhere in there. So yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (21:33.627)
I was going to say, yeah, I was going to say it had to be even maybe even further back than that because I remember when you first came out, I was still at Wimert at the time and that was easy 20, that was easy a year or two for pre pandemic. So let's just say seven years. Okay. I think that's a safe bet.

What you used to see as potential, you now see as a liability. I don't think he's ever, he's the V8 that has been kept at the speed limit. He is the Porsche that has never been, that has never drifted a little bit on the, know, and caught a little bit of the outside of lane. He just has never opened it up fully. I see it as.

lack of confidence and lack of identity. Now, you call it, Reid, because that's the effect. But I think his identity of his game has always been murky. And that's why in big matches, he's always endured them, gotten through them, and quite frankly, managed them. And when you got big game, big game needs to show up in big matches. When loser draw, you got to hit the ball. And that should be what you default to at a third point, assuming you're not five foot.

Alvin Owusu (22:23.359)
The identity one is big.

Alvin Owusu (22:46.123)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkkins (22:49.173)
six and run every every ball down and you know he's not built like Hogaruna you know he he needs to hit the ball and that should be what he defaults to he's got to your point he's got volleys he's got back he's got got got it all why hasn't he used it more to his advantage that's that's what i see lack of i think for sure

Alvin Owusu (23:02.603)
He's got it all. He's got it all.

Alvin Owusu (23:08.799)
He does, I think that's a good point. He does live between gears. Like it's like he's not a, he is not a, he is a counter-punisher inside of an aggressive baseliners, like an aggressive all court player's body in games and like ability. Like that's the, his like his nature is not to be aggressive, which it shows up in his game. He.

Torrey Hawkkins (23:29.666)
Exactly.

He went to the Porsche dealership and got an automatic. And said, and I want it in light gray. Anyway, I feel bad for him because I feel like his window's closing and I feel like that's where he's at.

Alvin Owusu (23:37.451)
It's sensible. It's sensible. Felix is a sensible guy.

It's just an easy, non-offensive gray.

Alvin Owusu (23:55.101)
Yeah, I mean, at this point he is who he is. Speaking of windows closing, Grigor, still top 20. Fun fact, Grigor in the last four Grand Slams has withdrawn or retired from all of them dating back to Wimbledon last year. Isn't that wild? Isn't that wild?

Torrey Hawkkins (24:00.204)
Hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (24:11.083)
Wow.

Wow, that is wild. I thought you were gonna leave with Daniel Medvedevil in that one, but you went to Demetrov. Okay, yeah, hey, he falls into that father time is undefeated role. I hear it, I hear it all day and that's unfortunate. That's absolutely unfortunate.

Alvin Owusu (24:19.333)
No, I got... Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (24:29.801)
And he's still a top 20 by rankings player. Just like this three out of five format is just, the soft tissue injuries, man, they're tricky. I think he pulled a hamstring today. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (24:40.481)
Yeah, and look like he was in control by looking at the scores and then probably pulled it and it was done after that. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (24:45.611)
Yeah, he pulled it in the second set and then like it was, I think it was up a break and then went ahead and won the set. Like he won another three games in that set to win the set. And then that was, that was kind of it. And you, you feel for him because he had a, what was that run he made last year at the U S open, I believe, and got to maybe the quarters, and then had to pull out.

Torrey Hawkkins (24:52.479)
Right. Right. That was it.

Torrey Hawkkins (25:01.333)
Yeah.

quarters and was right there in the semis of Miami. mean, arguably, Novak's best match to date in the last, I'm gonna say last six months, but all things considered, I hear you, I'm a Dimitrov fan. I love the backhand. I I saw him here in Atlanta many years ago. Sco actually played in that event over at the Gwinnett Convention Center up here, not too far from where I stay. I thought that was a, I've seen him, I've seen him in person, I've seen him and knew.

Alvin Owusu (25:18.975)
Same.

Alvin Owusu (25:29.141)
Okay, yep.

Torrey Hawkkins (25:34.133)
that he was going to be at that or so we thought at the time, you know, the the second coming of Sir Roger Federer himself. I mean, and just, you know, but first of all, hope he, you know, as you as you often say, he's watching the podcast. So hope he hope he gets better soon. We are we are not we are not throwing any clay, proverbial clay on that casket anytime soon. Like no back, he can be done whenever he wants to be done. But it is sad to see him.

Alvin Owusu (25:40.671)
Yeah?

Alvin Owusu (25:50.507)
That's my guy. Yep, that's my guy.

Torrey Hawkkins (26:01.515)
to see him exit the tournament, especially in that fashion. He was playing some pretty good tennis. I want to talk about Danil Medvedev and what is really what.

Alvin Owusu (26:13.695)
see, I had that one written down and I was going to casually just kind of glance past it because. Okay, so he listens to Cam Norrie today, right? Was that in, was that in three or four sets? was, it was five. Okay. So he did, he did kind of get back into it. I don't know. Camp, camp's tough. Like, and he's playing better as of late. Like that's in, Meddy's not a natural clay quarter. Yeah. So was, Hey, so it was Meddy's. So it was Meddy's.

Torrey Hawkkins (26:25.419)
Bye. Bye.

Torrey Hawkkins (26:36.106)
Cam's peak was two years ago. Cam's from England and Cam loves the hard court and the grass. This is Clay, we're Daniel's from Russia, come on.

Alvin Owusu (26:45.259)
Yeah, I still, his game, okay, if they're all, if all things are equal and they both prefer hard courts, right, I would say that Cam adjusts better to Clay than DeNeil does. And I already told you, I don't expect anything out of DeNeil Medvedev these days. Like, I think he got the most, he maximized his potential and he had a really solid four year run.

Torrey Hawkkins (27:03.072)
God.

Alvin Owusu (27:16.319)
I mean, I don't, you're not listening to me. You hear me, you're not listening to me.

Torrey Hawkkins (27:17.729)
hear everything you're saying but you're talking about but you're talking about am nori if you told me he went out to a feast up-and-comer if he went out to a sarundalo yeah way better move on the clay you told me he went out to I'm gonna give you another good one Caspar rude I'd be like Alvin you're 100 % right you're talking about the guy against a lesser guy who's the same

Alvin Owusu (27:44.555)
I'm talking about a guy who also lost to Lerner Tien in Australia in the second round. What are we talking about? What do you expect from him? And I got roasted on my Lerner Tien prediction over Zverev. think everyone jumped on that one. I was wrong. I I was wrong.

Torrey Hawkkins (27:53.149)
You

Torrey Hawkkins (28:02.132)
Well, as they should have. But I'm gonna tell you, I wasn't feeling good about it when your boy was already complaining about this one wasn't his fault. Now his excuse was his plane gets hit by lightning. And I'm like, good God, Sasha, just shh. Don't say nothing. Grind through the tournament, keep your mouth shut and just show up in the semis beating your chest. know, Kevin Hart's.

Alvin Owusu (28:19.604)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (28:31.389)
dad style, say it with your chest. know what mean? So I'm gonna move on because we don't need to waste any time on the Neil or Cam Norton.

Alvin Owusu (28:34.283)
Stay with your chest.

No, we don't. Thank you, thank you. Before we get to, before we take a quick look forward to the second round matchups that we're interested in, I do wanna speak on, talk about saying it with your chest. Fonseca, did you see what he brought this afternoon?

Torrey Hawkkins (28:54.249)
Gotta say it.

Torrey Hawkkins (28:58.353)
I saw a great match. saw, there was one point where he hit about two or three lasers on the dead run and then hit this out wide stretch angle volley. And I said, wow, I knew the forehand was big. I've seen that before. I knew the backhand return was we tennis style. You know, he can literally yank it whenever he wants. I didn't realize he was that good around the net. And I saw a kid who was composed. I saw a kid who,

is gonna be around for a long time. The only thing is I wonder, he play a little too well today and what that means for the next three or four matches. I'm hoping that this wasn't, I'm hoping this was him settling in. A lot of guys play really well and then play not as well on round two, round three. Good news is it's a three day first round, two or three day second round. He's got some days to cycle through. This were a normal 500 and he's playing again.

Alvin Owusu (29:40.03)
Yeah

Torrey Hawkkins (29:57.822)
know, playing the end of the day or so, I'd be like, I'd be a little worried because he looked so sharp today.

Alvin Owusu (30:03.379)
Yeah, yeah he did, he did. and, Hubie looked tired. He looked old. He's not that old. He looked confused. Yeah, like bamboozled. Just, like it was all happening to him. And I remember watching, so Hubie lost to Novak in the finals of Geneva on Sunday. guess it had been Sunday. And I remember watching that. No, sorry, Saturday. Saturday.

Torrey Hawkkins (30:13.31)
You look mad for that.

Yeah, but yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (30:25.426)
Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (30:31.283)
And I watched that match and the draw had already come out. So we knew he was playing Fonseca at that point. And I was like, okay, well, he was playing well, then like, no vac versus like playing against Novak versus playing against Fonseca. Those are two different problems. No vac is gonna, he's gonna outthink you. He's not gonna out hit you. And yeah, not anymore. And the way that the way that he was moving against Novak, like normal lumbering, he'll be, but he just kind of looked a little.

Torrey Hawkkins (30:46.815)
100%.

Torrey Hawkkins (30:50.76)
Correct, not anymore.

Torrey Hawkkins (31:00.766)
Yeah. Look a little worse, we're 100 %

Alvin Owusu (31:01.375)
I was like, that's, yeah, I'm like, that's not gonna work. Like, Fonseca hits the ball much harder than Novak and just runs around like a bat out of hell. Like, this is, I remember Andy said on his podcast that he thought Hubie was gonna win that match because, you know, Fonseca's like questionable return strategy, so on and so off. There's some things that Hubie, he's a pro about that Fonseca would need to really show some maturity to get through a tough first round like that and he just blitzed him.

Torrey Hawkkins (31:12.894)
It really does.

Torrey Hawkkins (31:27.762)
Right. He showed it.

Alvin Owusu (31:30.985)
Like just blitz them. was like, no, you deal with me. I'm not dealing with you. You deal with this.

Torrey Hawkkins (31:36.222)
I will also say his, he managed his first serve very well, hit a ton, his good little hard slice and hard slice body. He got ran behind him so many times from Hurcats and got the ball back with the money slice. I mean, was mid court, he was even with the center line extended, hit the brakes, went back for an open stance backhand slice, came back to the court.

Alvin Owusu (31:51.069)
Right. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (32:04.335)
and ran down two more forehands on the right side on this side of the court. I was like, oof, he moves very well on the clay. Not good, very, very good. And I was impressed. I was impressed with his movement. And I expected being from Brazil, but even still I was impressed. let's, I would love to see the young man put a couple of matches together. That was a great match for Yao. Looking forward to seeing more of it. There's just one more match I have to put my highlight personally on.

Alvin Owusu (32:11.06)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (32:33.151)
Yeah, give it to me.

Torrey Hawkkins (32:34.853)
My main man Arthur Fees, he came through strong with a good match against Nicholas Yerry. I told you it was going to be a tough match for him. I was not looking forward to that one because Yerry is one of those guys. He's just a veteran. He takes pace well. And I was worried that if Fees has one of those off serving days, he wouldn't take care of business. And Alvin, was very, one part relieved and one part he re-instilled confidence in me with his level of play. Went for some shots.

Alvin Owusu (32:52.927)
Right, yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (33:04.913)
You heard it right here, Alvin. He has very similar attributes as Felix Aguilar-Leassim. And I was happy to see when the moment mattered, he went for some shots, tagged some down the lines, ripped some backhand returns to just laying up with the old backhand bump. And I was very, very happy to see that, especially against a Jerry who can come forward. You know what mean?

Jerry's no stranger to upsets and no stranger to playing top players. So I was worried about that match as well. I was happy to see if he's through. I think he won in four, but it was a very good match.

Alvin Owusu (33:38.987)
He did, yeah. In true French fashion, as it says along the ring there in Philippe Chapetrier, think it's a victory belongs to the most tenacious. And I feel like there were lots of instances over the first few days where matches were tight and those who actually, not necessarily went for it as far as like over hitting, but like felt.

Torrey Hawkkins (33:52.518)
Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (34:06.591)
going through as opposed to waiting in those tight moments were rewarded.

Torrey Hawkkins (34:08.765)
100 % GMP. mean, I'll give them a little bit of one last one last shameless plug was went for shots today. I mean went for shots had to you know, I mean and had gave him a lot of credit. So good matches good matches all across. You know, I thought it was a very solid solid first round. Of course, I didn't see everything but it was from what you can't right? Yeah, exactly. So very very good stuff. What about

Alvin Owusu (34:31.305)
Yeah, so much. Yeah, pick your spots.

You know, speaking of your boy, well, I want to kind of look forward before we switch over to the ladies. Second round matches, a couple of them that I jotted down that were interesting, speaking of your boy, Arthur, he's got Jaime Munaar in the next round. Not a proper clay quarter, a proper clay quarter. That will be, think, as if Feast is going to matriculate his way through this draw and maybe start holding up his seed and threatening for more, these are the types of sharpening matches that you

Torrey Hawkkins (34:39.162)
What about the ladies?

Okay. All right.

Torrey Hawkkins (34:48.827)
Yup.

Torrey Hawkkins (34:52.51)
meh.

Alvin Owusu (35:07.893)
that you look for, yeah. I'm also looking forward to Alcaraz Marijon, actually. Because Carlos, yeah, I do, I do, and I know what Carlos owes him. Yeah, yeah. Carlos owes him one, and I feel like, Fabio beat him last year, Rome? Maybe Madrid, one of those two tournaments. He uses the drop shot more than Carlos does.

Torrey Hawkkins (35:08.1)
Like to see. Yep.

Torrey Hawkkins (35:15.182)
Okay, alright, you like Marijan?

I mean as a player, not in this match per se, but yeah, I'm with you. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (35:31.162)
Yeah. Yep.

Right?

Alvin Owusu (35:36.937)
I'm not kidding, like that is his, it's in his A package, if you will. So that's gonna be a fun one. I'll keep an eye on that one. I generally keep an eye on Carlos when he's playing.

Torrey Hawkkins (35:49.819)
match I'm looking forward to for you know simple mental reasons is Tiaffo and Karina Busta that's a that's gonna be one to see you know Karina Busta is obviously a better match of course he needs to 100 % 100 % and the other match that caught my eye was where was it I was just looking at it obviously Monfils and Draper that's gonna be that's anybody can work the French crowd

Alvin Owusu (35:59.935)
God, Francis needs to win that match. He needs to, that's the match he needs to win.

Alvin Owusu (36:16.427)
That'll be fine.

Torrey Hawkkins (36:18.317)
It's gonna be you got Monfils and I've got Jack. Say Jack Jackson, but again, but you know, it's gonna go four or five sets. I mean, you just know that well, not not for Jack's sake. Jack is known to

Alvin Owusu (36:20.907)
Oh, I got Jack. I'm not, I don't, I'm not.

Alvin Owusu (36:26.953)
I hope not. Gale's the old one, he just played a five setter. At some point it matters. At some point it matters.

Torrey Hawkkins (36:33.979)
Won't matter. be drinking a Coke. He'll be drinking a Coke on the side. He'll be drinking a Coke on the sidelines like he was in the US Open a few years back.

Alvin Owusu (36:47.252)
god, Gael is gonna ropejack into that bullshit, isn't he? He is, he is, he is.

Torrey Hawkkins (36:51.771)
He's never gonna be out of the match. mean, let's be honest about that. know that and the French crowd won't let him not be. Come on.

Alvin Owusu (36:54.495)
Right.

It'll be a night match on chat rate. god. god. It's gonna be bad.

Torrey Hawkkins (37:01.019)
So that's the match I'm looking forward to. And I don't really see much in this one here, you gotta throw a little bit of love old school for Rashard playing Yannick. And it'll be hopefully a little swan song for Rashard.

Alvin Owusu (37:16.491)
Oh, that'll be cute. Yeah, that'll be nice. That'll be nice. There are two more men's matches that are just kind of tennis nerd matches. Yuri Lahechka is playing Davidivich Fekina. Yeah, that's a, I don't know what Davidivich Fekina is seated, maybe like 24, 26, but Lahechka is like one of those like right outside of being seated.

Torrey Hawkkins (37:33.474)
I knew you were going say Davidich for King, that's going to be a great match.

Torrey Hawkkins (37:40.794)
20, 26, 34 probably, right? Yep.

Alvin Owusu (37:45.534)
Yeah, it's gonna be a good one. That's gonna be a really, really good match. I hope the weather's nice and I hope it's during the daytime, because that'll be nice one. then Jensen Brooksby against Seppi Korda. That will not be straightforward.

Torrey Hawkkins (37:58.436)
Saw that. Saw that.

Torrey Hawkkins (38:03.468)
now but but I'm but I have to I have to give my love to Sebby on that one just because but I hear you I hear you on everything that it means

Alvin Owusu (38:14.923)
I'm gonna stay away from predictions. I just feel like it's bad business. I don't wanna be in it. I don't wanna do it anymore. I'm just saying that match is much closer than the rankings are.

Torrey Hawkkins (38:17.722)
Yep.

Torrey Hawkkins (38:27.231)
God, of course it's closer. Of course. There's no doubt about it, you know, and I don't think...

Alvin Owusu (38:29.7)
much closer.

I mean Jensen won, he won, I mean it's a 250, but he won a 250, he won Houston. He beat Francis, he beat Tommy, he beat all those guys.

Torrey Hawkkins (38:43.194)
He deserves to be there. I'm just hoping that a little bit experience for my sake, I'm hoping that Mr. Cedric Corder gets through. I was very happy, speaking of Americans, that Sir Benjamin Shelton took care of business, albeit in five against Sanago. And I was very happy that he wrapped up his next round against Gaston because we...

Alvin Owusu (38:44.521)
Crafty. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (39:08.543)
Well, no, they didn't play. didn't play. Gaston with Drew. Yeah. Yeah, even better.

Torrey Hawkkins (39:11.512)
Well, to my point, even better. Gaston, even better. Because when you start running up against the French in France, buddy, that can always be a tough situation. I'm happy that Mr. Shelton is through. That's all I can say. That's Nago match was nip-tuck.

Alvin Owusu (39:28.201)
Yeah, that was a professional win. Like that was a professional win. Didn't have his best up. There were some ups and downs in that match as you would see at a best of five. But yeah, that was a, and they always match up well. Like they tend to bring the best or.

Torrey Hawkkins (39:33.124)
No.

Torrey Hawkkins (39:42.298)
They do. I some of the head to heads they had. Let me say this. I like it when a player gets through early in the slam and isn't playing his best. That's my knock against Yao. I thought Yao played pretty sharp today. He's still young. So he has a few good days in him and he's fresh. Playing off of adrenaline and just playing off of just why can't I do it, right? But the more a guy struggles a little bit, not too much, but struggles a little bit to get through and just plays good enough.

and you know he can play himself into the tournament. I like those kind of guys going deep, I really do. I'm hoping Ben gets through.

Alvin Owusu (40:16.565)
That's fair, that's fair. Yeah, speaking of getting through, no break. Let's just go straight to the limit. I'm gonna go right after this one. Osaka Badosa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, was a, wasn't, you know, the match had some ups and downs. I don't think either them played well at the same time, but it was an entertaining match and.

Torrey Hawkkins (40:24.334)
Done.

Torrey Hawkkins (40:28.853)
I knew it. I knew it. knew it. Hard not to leave without one.

Torrey Hawkkins (40:37.942)
Alvin Owusu (40:45.387)
There was, it's just entertaining. Two players who know, you know, they're professionals. Like they're both accomplished players, obviously.

Torrey Hawkkins (40:51.607)
Yeah. Do you think, and I'm gonna cut you off briefly, did she lose the match or did Bedosa win? What did you see?

Alvin Owusu (40:56.096)
Please do.

Alvin Owusu (41:00.179)
Okay, I, After that first set, right, Naomi kind of like, she made a leap. So in her comeback, she's been making these small incremental leaps tournament after tournament. Like she struggles in a tiebreaker, then comes back the next tournament and does well in a tiebreaker. Like these small incremental leaps. And so she blew a tiebreaker against Peyton Stearns, I think it was in Rome. Okay, comes back, first match, first round.

First set gets into a tiebreaker against a very accomplished player and gets through it, right? And then just like the air comes out, right? Yeah, down four, and a heartbeat and it's like, okay, all right, fine. We settle, we come back into the third set. Third set is competitive.

Torrey Hawkkins (41:33.657)
Sure. Sure.

Torrey Hawkkins (41:46.473)
But she's up 2-0 and 3-2 if I'm not mistaken. I mean 2-0 in a blink. mean pulling away.

Alvin Owusu (41:49.875)
Yeah, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (41:53.801)
Right, but the thing is like, I never really feel, I found myself watching that match and I'm thinking I don't ever feel safe with Naomi. Like I don't feel safe. Whereas you watch someone like Paola, not saying Paola is the end all be all in this space, but Paola can create the same stroke over and over and over and you feel like she's not going to miss it. And she can hit it with a decent pace, right? She is Spanish.

So there are some things that I, Spanish-ish.

Torrey Hawkkins (42:24.152)
Here you go again. You make these great points, but the context, you're talking about how many slams has there been? One, two, four. You're talking about a four time grand. I thought she had one, I was thinking it was three. she's won four slams and you're comparing the four slam winner, although at a break and with the young one, with Bedosa, who's yet to win any and your point is so spot on.

Alvin Owusu (42:33.739)
4 4

Alvin Owusu (42:39.211)
There's two of each, two Australians, two US Open's.

Torrey Hawkkins (42:53.558)
but you're comparing it to Naomi Osaka. And I just, for clarity, I just gotta have you explain that.

Alvin Owusu (42:57.203)
Yeah, here's the thing. Okay, this is where I got to. What is it about Naomi in this particular, in this comeback that is missing? What is wrong? Like everyone's like, okay, what's wrong? I've come to the, I came to this thought and I wanted to bring it up to you. I didn't text it to you ahead of time. I just wanted to give it to you fresh. This is my thing. With Naomi, Naomi was the first wave of post-Serena babies, if you will.

Torrey Hawkkins (43:15.082)
always do this I love it.

Torrey Hawkkins (43:25.6)
Okay, okay.

Alvin Owusu (43:25.631)
Like she has molded her game after Serena like a lot of them did. Yes, like a lot of them did at that time. So the way Naomi played when Naomi was winning slams isn't all that much different than the way Naomi plays now, except for the players she's playing against now are actually different. They are not of Serena's mold. They're more of the Ash Barty mold.

Torrey Hawkkins (43:29.528)
See Serena 2.0, 100%. Yep.

Torrey Hawkkins (43:46.636)
Hmm

Alvin Owusu (43:51.445)
the requirements to be at the top of women's tennis. There is one thing that Naomi does not do well that I think holds her back and it's very, very slight. Naomi's hand skills are non-existent, but that deficiency shows up on clay frequently. When she gets pulled out wide on the forehand, she can't find shape the way that...

Torrey Hawkkins (43:51.874)
Hmm.

Torrey Hawkkins (43:55.896)
Hmm.

Torrey Hawkkins (44:07.361)
Okay.

Torrey Hawkkins (44:12.278)
I'd agree with that. I'd agree that.

Alvin Owusu (44:18.671)
someone else like a Paolo Bedosa could, right? She wouldn't, yes, ball in front of her that she's running forward for. Her continental grip skills are not tight enough to feel her way through a, let's say like a forehand slice push that needs to like move her opponent back, right? And then, you know, it's a very, very small thing, but I picked it up during that match and I was like, that's enough.

Torrey Hawkkins (44:21.186)
Sure, and I would give, Kyle was a great example in that category. Keep going.

Alvin Owusu (44:46.987)
That's enough to not be top five and be 25 instead.

Torrey Hawkkins (44:53.015)
I agree with you on so many levels, but I think her problems are more basic. And you're spot on if you weren't talking about Naomi Osaka. Here's what I'm going with this. Alvin, I think upstairs, she's a different player altogether. She doesn't believe in Naomi. She doesn't believe in who she was and she keeps, or let me say it

Alvin Owusu (45:04.299)
Hahahaha

Torrey Hawkkins (45:22.696)
is still trying so hard to get back to who she was, she hasn't moved on to the Naomi she is right now. She took a break from tennis at a time that she should have kept her foot on the gas. And I think deep down there's a little bit of regret in there that won't come out and the mental health issues, which are well-documented. Alvin, her serve's not as good as it used to be, period. Her footwork's not as good as it used to be, period. You heard it right here, Alvin. Naomi had...

blazing returns back in the day. Out, returned Serena when Serena was still serving well. She didn't just beat Serena. She matched and beat Serena. So that player is no more as far as I'm concerned. And you're not wrong about the continental skills. You're not wrong about coming forward. She's never been a great player coming forward. But Alvin, I saw a player today that took the first set from Palom. I saw a player then in the third was

Alvin Owusu (46:02.217)
Yeah, yep, yep.

Torrey Hawkkins (46:19.895)
in control. Could have moved better on a backhand on the rise, took it up by her armpits and hit in the net and missed another backhand long, about six inches, and folded, Alvin. She folded, never to be heard from again. And that whole second set, Alvin, she just collapsed. I don't care about anybody. She collapsed, Alvin. She didn't even compete. So I say she gave that match, she lost that match, Alvin. Paola did not beat it, all respect to Paola. I like Badosa's game. But I felt like Naomi.

Alvin Owusu (46:26.427)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (46:49.428)
was in Naomi's head once again. Alvin, you heard it right here. I hear you about little incremental betters and adjustments and one ups, it's great. I don't think she will ever get back to semis or better of a slam for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reasons are right between the two ears, in my opinion.

Alvin Owusu (47:10.271)
I don't disagree with you. I hope for the sake of us as fans that, I hope she has a good hardcore summer because I think she can still be a contender. She can still be a person on tour that matters. Let's put it that way. And I think as a, I'm sure she has her own set of goals, right? But like a small one would be like, let's just get to the point where we're seated and we can maybe not be playing the number 10 player in the world in the first round, right?

Torrey Hawkkins (47:15.41)
god, do I not hope?

Torrey Hawkkins (47:25.222)
fuck it's not me.

Torrey Hawkkins (47:37.418)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (47:38.075)
It's just little things like maybe we can get some matches that are pretty straightforward in rounds one and two to build some momentum on us, on a surface that's more favorable on a hardcore, right? But to your point though about getting back to who she was, I don't think even if she does that that player is a top five player anymore. Yeah, yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (47:56.278)
Now, right. So, so let me, let me counter that with this thought. You won four slams. You got some money. You're not worried about where your next meal is coming from and you're already a household name in a lot of ways. Why not just go out for the next two years and play tennis on your terms, play a schedule pre, pre 30 year old Naomi and do it at 25 or however old she is and just say, you know what? I'm going take my shots period.

and I will feel better and be in better place. I feel like the way you're describing it, and I think you're correct by the way, but the way you're describing it is like a player who's come back from major, you know what I mean, reconstructive surgery all over the whole body. Like, well, let's just try to get a few wins and then kind of be seated. I hear you, but you're talking about a four time, go out and bang the ball.

Alvin Owusu (48:46.859)
Sure, the why doesn't matter. We're saying the same thing. She's playing her, she wouldn't really do anything differently if she viewed it the way you're viewing it versus viewing it the way that I'm viewing it. She's gonna play the same schedule regardless.

Torrey Hawkkins (49:06.164)
She can play the same schedule, but I would like to see her play to win instead of all this, you know, because it's almost as if she's trying to get back something that'll never get back.

Alvin Owusu (49:16.831)
Sure, like you said, she's a four time Grand Slam champion.

I'm, I'm... That's enough. That's enough. That's enough.

Torrey Hawkkins (49:24.395)
Just saying. Wait, too much. Let me tell you the match that I thought was a pretty good match and I was really excited to watch was your girl, Jasmine Pallini. I watched that UN match and I gotta tell you, UN came back and made it a match. Jasmine did play her best, but you heard it right here. It was entertaining. It was fun. It was well contested and

Alvin Owusu (49:48.671)
Yeah!

Torrey Hawkkins (49:50.805)
It showed me that Jasmine has very, very solid reads, very solid, high percentage, but aggressive shots. And Alvin, I always thought her forehand was kind of her go-to. Her backhand's not too bad. Her backhand cross, taking it early. I know she can hit down the line occasionally and then have a good stinger, but Alvin, she stepped up a couple times and hit through.

Don't mind a girl 5'2", I don't care how tall they say she is. Jadra Palin is 5'2". She's not tall. She ripped the backhand through your girl, Yuan, and I was like, wow, she's got a backhand forehand. And her serve's gotten better on the clay.

Alvin Owusu (50:21.579)
She's not tall. She's un-tall.

Alvin Owusu (50:36.627)
Yeah, you know, one of my favorite things about clay court tennis is the sound. Specifically, the sound of sliding into a ground stroke. Even more specifically, I really like when people slide into backhands. It's a beautiful thing. And I noticed during that match, and a match that was on here at the same time or right after, right before Dona Vekich was playing Blinkova, and...

Torrey Hawkkins (50:46.674)
A shot. Sure.

Torrey Hawkkins (50:52.455)
It is.

Alvin Owusu (51:06.314)
The ability to slide, we talk about this kind of like, it's this thing, like, you gotta be able to slide on clay, but I think it's even more specific than that and we'll go deeper, right? The ability to slide is the Mendoza line between those who can and cannot play on clay. But there's the ability to slide off of both feet equally. And that's not just sliding to the forehand, sliding to the backhand.

Torrey Hawkkins (51:20.326)
Right. Right.

Torrey Hawkkins (51:27.806)
Both feet. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (51:33.833)
because if you're a right-handed player and you slide to hit an open stance forehand, that's off the sliding onto the right foot, right?

Torrey Hawkkins (51:38.644)
100%. I'm that type of player. I slide right footed either way.

Alvin Owusu (51:42.167)
But yeah, but then like some players go out to the backhand side, they can't slide on the left foot, like hit the open stance backhand, but they can slide on the right foot, like hit the slice, right? So those are very different things. Like you need to be able to slide on both feet equally. And I noticed in that match against, is it UN? Is that how they pronounce it? Couldn't slide to save her life. It was bad. It was bad.

Torrey Hawkkins (51:53.287)
Yep. Yep.

Yep. Yep.

Yep. No.

Alvin Owusu (52:08.405)
props to her for taking a set off of a top five player without being able to slide where the piss. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (52:10.515)
100 % and struck her way back into it. But to my point, Jasmine wasn't playing as well as she could have. I just thought for a player again, like Ben in some ways wasn't playing her best and you know she's gonna play better into the tournament. But she also didn't go for a lot of shots she didn't have to go for. And the way she beat her was pretty standard and pretty crisp. She just stayed with the on the rise, stayed with the game plan.

Alvin Owusu (52:26.699)
She will.

Torrey Hawkkins (52:38.579)
She knew it was gonna work in the end and play some good ball. You know what mean? A person who did warm up into the match, which I thought was great, was your girl, Mira play came out a little bit shaky against Busca and I'm gonna tell you, I didn't realize Busca was from Spain. Busca played some good tennis early on. Mira, Mira played better. The longer the match went, the better Mira got and the backhand started getting, she went from hitting some low rolls to some bangs off that backhand side. It got to the point where I'm like,

Alvin Owusu (52:51.403)
That's, yeah, it's tough matchup. It's not easy first.

Torrey Hawkkins (53:08.179)
Boosco forgot that she, Boosco was still trying the same stuff she tried in the first part of the match, it was working. And everyone back and realized, the more I keep feeding this hungry lion meat, the more she's gonna keep eating it. And I gotta dial this back in, get back to the low slides, get back to some change ups because Mira was out of sorts when she kept changing the pace on it. But when she kind of went out wide, started hitting with her, Mira was like, thank you, that's exactly what I needed.

Alvin Owusu (53:12.618)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (53:31.925)
So do you feel like that's gonna, that will prove her well in her next match against Ashlyn Krueger?

Torrey Hawkkins (53:38.01)
I think if Ashland, Ashland has a good slice. If Ashland brings the slice more often to the mirror forehand, we're talking about the player who has a coach who had one of the best backhand slices in women's tennis at the time. Conchita's slice was legendary. I'm just, so I gotta think that Mirra's hit it, was just more nerves. But it did seem like Mboska did hit that low hard hack that it gave Mirra some trouble. I think it was more first match nerves myself.

Alvin Owusu (53:50.911)
Right. Conchita.

Torrey Hawkkins (54:05.35)
But if I'm Ashlyn, I certainly don't try to go pace per pace on the backhand side. And Mara's got a very sneaky big forehand. She's got kind of a big wind up. She rolls so many that you don't realize she can actually go through it. But when she gets point number three, point number four, and she can hit it just as big line or cross. I think that's, to her credit, she's gotten better with the shape of it. So I don't think it'll work as well round two, but it's certainly if I'm Ashlyn, I'm watching that. I'm watching the tape on that and be like, hey.

Alvin Owusu (54:17.567)
Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (54:34.939)
I gotta at least try.

Alvin Owusu (54:36.619)
Gotcha, yeah, you know, was kind of trying to pull together my list of matches of interest in round two on the women's side and the list got long. But just because of the parody, I think right now in the women's game, the first two rounds of a Grand Slam truly are like a tennis festival, right? Like as a tennis fan, just, whatever your schedule allows, you know, whatever feels right, there's gonna be a good match on. You mentioned Andreava versus Kruger.

Azarenka Kennen, nice to see Vika get a W here. She's kind of been on the slide lately. Two former Grand Slam champions matching up in the second round. Couldn't ask for a better one. Emurata Kanu versus Iga Suatec. Two more Grand Slam champions matching up in the second round.

Probably straightforward. It will be straightforward for EGA, but.

Torrey Hawkkins (55:31.683)
Ega also played better the longer the match went and got back to some good form. She was actually early on some shots toward the end of the match and hit her forehand quite well. I was actually impressed. She's always had, she's got a little bit of Cocoa Golf Syndrome where she can, you don't, the forehand can break down a little bit. She's just not used to going for it on the forehand side. She's taking early and she's used to hitting it off, hitting off the court with spin, but letting her back into the heavy lifting. She had a of, she had a handful of forehand return winners that I was actually impressed to see.

And you know Alvin, we forget how much better they are than the number 60 in the world. We forget, you, we, I forget they are, they struggle against stuff. They struggle against each other. They struggle against, you know, they don't struggle against 60 in the world. They look like they got the biggest foreign you ever seen, you know, against 60 in the world. So that's something you also gotta keep in mind.

Alvin Owusu (56:10.984)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (56:20.525)
Right, yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (56:29.969)
You know with these and then everybody's kind of I don't care who they are everybody has first-round jitters You know I'm going to in tournaments. I don't care how many slams you've won Novak was nervous today You know what I mean until until he started hitting drop shot number 37

Alvin Owusu (56:36.019)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Alvin Owusu (56:44.171)
Center lost one set at the US Open last year and that was his first round, first set against Mac Mcdonald. So it happens to everybody.

Torrey Hawkkins (56:48.882)
in first. 100%. It happens. And if it's going to happen, going happen in the first round.

Alvin Owusu (56:54.665)
Yeah. And I mean, Jack, Jack Draper case in point today, like loses the first set and then quickly gets his business in order. and gets through pretty, pretty straightforward and four. yeah, I I'm, I'm excited. wanted to mention, think it's Victoria Mboko, Canadian, Canadian girl, making waves and yeah, she's making, she's making some waves. she took a set off Coco in, was it Rome?

Torrey Hawkkins (57:12.645)
Yeah!

At least tomorrow, yeah. Or whenever. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (57:23.121)
Remember that.

Alvin Owusu (57:24.139)
Yeah, Rome, second round, maybe something like that. And then qualified here and she's breaking folks. Yeah, plays at least tomorrow, maybe it's tomorrow, I don't remember. But one of them's gonna be in the third round of a major again. know, Lise had her run in Australia, but that's interesting. I think she's one to watch. plays a lot of fire, a lot of fire power.

Torrey Hawkkins (57:47.151)
Yep, I agree. Some of all the brothers coming out of Canada, know what mean? Gabriel Diallo, I'm like, you and Aaron need to move up to Canada a little bit and bring little Ash and Gigi up there, you know, and have them hit some balls and just put a little maple leaf next to the situation.

Alvin Owusu (57:52.977)
It's a...

Alvin Owusu (58:04.383)
Just a little bit, just a little bit. I got no problem with Canada, I love Canada. It's a great place to be. But yeah, those are kind of the matches I'm excited to see. know, Collins, Danilovic will be a good one, Keyes-Bolter. Atlanta, Georgia. So she beat up on Mujova today. Was it in three? It doesn't matter. She did take care of her. Alicia's starting to get it together. She's starting to get it together. You can start to...

Torrey Hawkkins (58:08.07)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkkins (58:17.635)
Alicia Parks, speak to it.

Alvin Owusu (58:32.639)
don't remember how she did at Australia, but she's from here, from Atlanta. know the locals are very proud of her, expecting a lot out of her. Taking down a 14 seed, know, Mojoba hasn't played much lately, but still a win's a win.

Torrey Hawkkins (58:42.307)
Yeah, for sure.

Torrey Hawkkins (58:50.061)
Win to win, especially a player that level. That player ain't trying to lose and they're not gonna lose by themselves. They're not gonna give you any help. Certainly that was a good win for her. Arguably not her best service and she's not playing at her best, but that don't mean nothing. That's a big W at end of the day and she's into her second round. Great match for her and very happy for her to get through. I have not had the chance to meet the young lady yet, but I've heard good things about her. My boy Chris Hill speaks very highly of her.

Alvin Owusu (58:55.764)
Right.

Yeah, fantastic one.

Torrey Hawkkins (59:17.337)
Just I can't wait to meet her one day and Alicia, if you're watching, good luck in the next round. You got ATL pulling for you strong.

Alvin Owusu (59:24.683)
Nice, nice, I think that feels like a tidy review of the first round. I feel good about that. Maybe we make plans to get together again after second round. I think we start to get into the, you know, once we get into the third round, it's okay, loosen up the shoulders a little bit, open up the chest, and yeah, we're into this bad boy. But yeah, it's a fun tournament so far. Yeah, I got nothing else for you. If you're good, then I'm good. All right, that's the three. We are out.

Torrey Hawkkins (59:42.093)
Right, shifting gears.

Torrey Hawkkins (59:50.319)
same. Peace.