Ep. 37: French Open QF Preview

Alvin Owusu (00:03.048)
And welcome back to another edition of the best three podcast. And this is the edition of the best three podcasts somewhere in the middle of Roland Garros, before the quarterfinals, but after a bunch of matches have already happened. but TH how you doing tonight, man?

diashawk (00:11.757)
.

diashawk (00:16.556)
Yeah. I'm good, brother. I'm good. I'm good. I'm happy to hear about you getting on the court and looking forward to giving you a little checkup in the next three to five to seven days to kind of check on you and see how your game's doing, you know.

Alvin Owusu (00:31.336)
My game needs some help. Yeah, I PSA'd all the tennis players out there. You need to mix up your practice partners. You need to mix up your practice routine. I've been hitting with the same player or same player type, if you will, and got out there with a pretty good hitter tonight. it was like I had two right feet and four left hands. It was bad. Had a tough time finding the ball until about the back 15 minutes of the hit.

It was a little too little too late, but you know, we we we we lived to hit another ball on another day. Hopefully, hopefully. Yeah.

diashawk (01:02.189)
Thank

diashawk (01:09.451)
I forward to seeing him on the courts. I would definitely say that's one of the biggest, subtle, I won't say biggest, one of the most subtle.

killers of a player is to play the same type of player a lot or the same style. I would even also add to that, speaking of the French Open, segue, when you play on the same type of surface all the time, you know what mean? You don't mix up a little bit to play on the clay. You don't mix it up a little bit and go indoors from time to time. You your game gets very, very one track, you know what I mean? And it's very, it's tough on the game, tough on the timing. I'll be honest.

Alvin Owusu (01:24.4)
Yeah.

diashawk (01:49.865)
I know you're one, the player, you're practice partner and you know, I know him well and he doesn't give you reps in general. He is the most opportunistic step up player I've seen. mean, that Atlanta has seen in a long time and trust me and me knowing Travis the way I do, could be, it could be, it's Travis's hit and you might be trying to get a groove. You know what I mean? So I'll just, I'll.

Alvin Owusu (01:51.944)
He doesn't give you a lot of reps to begin with. Let's put it that way.

Alvin Owusu (02:15.812)
Right. Yeah.

diashawk (02:18.981)
Your secret's safe with me, Travis, what up, man?

Alvin Owusu (02:21.519)
He listens to the podcast, the secret is now out. This will be a nice little segue here. Wanna talk a little bit about some of the upcoming matches as we roll into the quarterfinals. So tonight is, it's Tuesday night? Is this Tuesday night? It's Tuesday night. Quarterfinals kick off, it's Monday. Yeah, you're right, it is Monday. Quarterfinals tomorrow. Sabalenka versus Zheng Qinwen.

diashawk (02:35.105)
Yep, Monday. Monday.

Yeah. Monday.

diashawk (02:46.422)
We win? Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (02:48.023)
And Sabalinka had a very interesting match against Amanda Anisimova talking about slappers who aren't gonna give you a groove. Amanda, I was watching that match, Anisimova versus Sabalinka, I was like, Amanda Anisimova goes line during shooter, like early. So she's gonna pull line first every single time, every time.

diashawk (02:52.513)
Yeah.

diashawk (02:56.545)
Yeah.

diashawk (03:06.109)
that's her game. That's her game.

Every time, every time, you know what mean? And do pretty well with it. I mean, if it was anybody but Sabalenka, I thought she might've succeeded, you know what I mean? It was a...

Alvin Owusu (03:22.395)
Yeah, that's a really interesting matchup because there are some types of players that kind of, we talk about player profiles and prototypes a lot here, and one type of player that tends to not necessarily give Sabalinka trouble, but is going to give her more trouble than others are generally players built like her. Like tall, big hitters, they kind of neutralize what she tries to do, so.

diashawk (03:41.697)
Right. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (03:49.53)
Amanda Anasamova is like a Madison Keys type player, right? When Sabalinka wants to hit that big kick serve, know, Amanda has fantastic hands on both sides, right? Can see the ball early and redirect pretty easily. And she will pull, she'll pull line early. She will force Sabalinka to do a lot of different types of things, which she's gotten so much better at and was able to go back line, off line, slice, yeah, yeah.

diashawk (03:53.866)
All right.

diashawk (04:00.108)
Well, yeah.

diashawk (04:11.296)
Right, right. Go back line, off the line, slice, know, 100%. Which was I thought she showed some things today and she's been showing me that. Different ways for her to win. The old Arena would have just tried to out pummel and that would have been a mistake for today because I really thought Amanda, I guess was a day ago, Amanda did a great job of countering. If you went to that match saying this is my game plan, she did. She wasn't ready for Arena's

adjustments at the same time, played her as close as anybody, thought she did a great job. Maybe could have served a little better in the second set, in general, you're going up right there, five-all, and the first, she was right there. She was right there every step of the way, thought she did great. Really looking forward to her getting more, I'm just saying healthy, getting more looks at players like that deep in the tournament. She needs to face the Eagles, she needs to face the Cocos, she needs to face the...

Alvin Owusu (05:04.827)
Yeah.

diashawk (05:09.852)
know, the Madisons, the arenas deep in tournaments to really see what she can actually do. We're just now, in my opinion, we're seeing the, you know, the gymnast, so to speak, the phoenix of Amanda Nesamova again. And I'm really looking forward to it. a fan of hers for a long time. Looking forward to it. What about the knockdown drag out that your girl, Zhang, had with Samson Oval?

Alvin Owusu (05:34.504)
You know, Ludmila, yeah, that was, I didn't get to see a lot of that match because it was happening at the same time, I think, as maybe Ego was playing against, against Herbacna. Yeah, and I was pretty invested in that match, but like Ludmila is like, you know, she's crafty and she can do it all, but she's one of those players when it comes like, when it comes execution time.

diashawk (05:49.449)
I guess you're back in it, Sure, obviously.

Alvin Owusu (06:03.321)
It's she's she lacks the, you know, the belief in her weapons to finish things off. And the same thing came up.

diashawk (06:10.123)
You said it right there, in the weapons. mean, she doesn't have a ton of weapons to speak of, but has no holes, right? And there, as you said, very crafty and did a whole lot. I was just curious what your thoughts were. That kind of player seems to hurt Quinn Wynn, you know what I mean, a little bit. And I just didn't know what your thoughts were as far as going three. that match, especially the six one second set, does that bode?

Alvin Owusu (06:14.011)
Right.

Right.

Alvin Owusu (06:23.59)
or that

diashawk (06:36.203)
poorly for Queen Wynn going up against Arena tomorrow? You know what I'm just, curious what your thoughts are.

Alvin Owusu (06:40.248)
Not not on two days rest, I think she'll be fine. I think she'll be fine. The interesting part is like

diashawk (06:44.811)
Not on the volume. I mean in terms of did it show you more chinks in the arm? I guess we're still early in the second week I'm saying did it did it cause you any concern to see her not dismiss a Semsonova in streets?

Alvin Owusu (07:00.417)
No, no, no, no, because I saw Sam Stoudava play against Rebacca in the finals of Strasburg right before Roland Garros and very, very similar. can't believe it was the first set that went into a tiebreaker or the second set, but very similar situation where Ludmila had chances and then just couldn't finish when she had opportunities.

diashawk (07:19.531)
Right. Couldn't finish. Right. when I look at her game, that's what I say. Her craftiness, her hands, she almost backdoors into the opportunity she wants. And then at that point, she needs, and it needs to move a backhand line, or she needs a smack, forehand, down line just to finish the deal. And at that point, just seemed like that's where the craftiness kind of meets the ceiling a little. It's what it seems like to me. I don't know how this works.

Alvin Owusu (07:30.769)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (07:45.446)
Yes, no go-to, like there's no go-to. When the chips are down and it's like, she's serving 40, 30 at six, five, what is she going to? She's going to move it around and maybe hope for you to miss because she doesn't have that pedal to the metal. So I'm not concerned just because I saw her play that final against Rebecca, another big hitter. So I knew that she could hang with Lujang. I just.

diashawk (08:05.779)
Right. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (08:13.967)
Yeah, that didn't surprise me much. Not too much. What do you, okay, so we talked about this because Queen Win and Irina played in Rome. They played in Rome. Was it Rome? It was Rome. Saba Linka, yeah, they played in Rome.

diashawk (08:16.658)
Okay.

diashawk (08:32.33)
Tell my Queen win and Sabalinka in the defeat match that we thought may or may not have been a, yeah, take my watch. I got four days. If I take the L here, I got a great break going into the French. Yeah, that match.

Alvin Owusu (08:48.497)
So yes, exactly. So I think Arena was seven and against Queen Wind before that match, loses that match, quote unquote loses that match. And so we talked a little bit about false confidence. Did that allow Junkz some, I can do it, I did it, versus does Arena view that any differently if they were to match up again? So fast forward two weeks, they're matching up again. I feel like,

diashawk (08:59.7)
Yep.

diashawk (09:16.115)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (09:18.221)
Nah, Arena's gonna, Arena's gonna, she's gonna bring out the big guns. I feel like she's gonna bring out the big guns. Now, Jung Chen does have a lot of really good memories and experience on this court from having won the Olympics last summer, right? So she won five matches there. She's won five matches, four matches this week. She ain't lost there in a while. So how do we feel about that match? Competitive or are we falling back in order here?

diashawk (09:34.823)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

diashawk (09:48.669)
Falling back in order. Order will be restored. I also feel like the only concern I have for Arena is to not take it too personal. Like, not overplay. You know what I mean? And I will say about the match, I won't say much else. Gwynwyn is a great player. I think at a high level, a lot like Samsonova, you're talking about with her, different type of game. The go-to weapons to finish.

Alvin Owusu (09:49.051)
Falling back in order. Okay. Okay.

Alvin Owusu (10:01.551)
Yeah, yeah.

diashawk (10:17.897)
have always been in question in big matches like this. Can she finish off? In my opinion, I would have, she employed a different mental strategy than I would have, beating Arena. She chose to kind of put it in Arena's face a little bit. I'm not sure if that's the right move. I would have been, you know what, Arena wasn't on her game. You know, I look forward to playing her again. You know what I mean? Happy to get the win. You know, I'm not sure if this was the best Arena today, you know, but.

Alvin Owusu (10:33.147)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (10:45.051)
Yep. Yep.

diashawk (10:46.505)
She put this too much respect, had it for the last seven times. I showed her today, blah, next time I play, okay, okay. And I really felt like she might have been better served just kinda letting a sleeping dog lie, as the old expression goes. But we'll see. I think there's more of an issue of, has belief now that she can win. And obviously you mentioned on the clay, which is, she certainly hasn't done poorly.

Alvin Owusu (10:55.239)
You

diashawk (11:16.356)
I'm not sure that she is the favorite in anyone's book, maybe only in her own mind if she's drinking her own Kool-Aid from that last match that row. That's me. Bye.

Alvin Owusu (11:26.329)
OK, all right, fair. think we feel about the same way. Yeah, so let's move on to Svidalina versus Iga. We're going to say.

diashawk (11:34.204)
Ugh.

All I can say, and I want you to give me your side, the two max I want to you about the most was the Svidlina match and the Rebecca match because part of me is like, know, Svidlina first. Is she taking some of Gale's cues in the late matches and just saying it?

Alvin Owusu (11:56.136)
Well she's, know, Svitalina, Svitalina post child has come back and kind of recreated herself as a tennis player, right? She was a true counterpuncher prior to, I think she, know, cracking the top 10, 10 to 15. She had a child, took her time off, came back, and like is now a, she looks to attack, right? Backhand.

diashawk (12:02.341)
Yeah. I would agree with that.

diashawk (12:13.372)
Yep.

diashawk (12:17.723)
Yep. Yep.

diashawk (12:22.396)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (12:23.227)
backhand can be picked on a little bit. I think, you know, if Jasmine could have, I think Jasmine kind of ran out of gas against her. Yeah, that was a really high quality match.

diashawk (12:26.395)
Yeah.

diashawk (12:30.856)
I thought so too. But her backhand on the run is actually pretty good. And that's what's funny about it is her normal backhand isn't, in my opinion, big enough or deep enough or penetrating enough. But when she gets that first ball in the move, she can actually, to your point about being counter punishing a little bit, she can defend well with the backhand on the first one. After that, it tends to, you know. But again, right. But Paolini, if she's not going forward on it,

Alvin Owusu (12:42.011)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (12:48.357)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (12:53.575)
Yeah, gets shorter, it gets shorter, finds a net generally,

diashawk (12:58.95)
I wouldn't say that her step up backhand is that big either. It's good. It's just as you know, as others have said, she's a little bit challenged in some areas, especially in terms of levers and height, right? So at some point, if she doesn't get that lean in, that three or four step in on the backhand, know, I don't, that's what to me this match came down to was on the backhand side. And I felt like Svidlina's ball was just,

heavy enough, just deep enough that she, Jasmine, could not get on the rise, transfer the momentum she needed to get the ball to have a little more, it's what I saw.

Alvin Owusu (13:30.149)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (13:42.322)
So do you think that we're talking about like, know, mean, Jasmine was up a set and four one, right? Before things started to get a little squirrely and the wheels came off, right? So do you look to that point and go, okay, because for her to beat someone like Svetolina, who's not gonna make a lot of mistakes, right? Is gonna run down a lot of balls, very similar to Jasmine, forces Jasmine to play a lot of offense. Do you think that Jasmine hit the, and she definitely hit the wall at some point late in that second set.

diashawk (13:49.083)
Right. Wheels are coming off. Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (14:12.529)
that that was a reflection of maybe just too much volume. Because she plays singles and doubles, right? She played, yep, singles and doubles. Yeah, so that's a full schedule. And then does the same thing in the Grand Slam. Like is that something that as she starts to, we're in a full year now of being in Paulini world, does she like Coco, like Pagula, step away from the?

diashawk (14:18.64)
singles and doubles. She did win. She just won Rome, right? So singles and doubles. you, you. Yep.

diashawk (14:36.782)
Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (14:41.339)
step away from the doubles. mean, even Arena used to play doubles with Elise Mertens and then once she started getting, know, cracking the top 10, it's like, okay, I need to focus. Is this something that she steps away from?

diashawk (14:53.179)
I would hate for to do that. I think she gets a lot of her returns and serves from that. If there's one part of her game that's improved to me, it's her serve. In particular, her second serve. Her return's always pretty good. I would hate to see, you're right here. I thought Coco's serve went down after stop playing as much double. Let's be very honest. So in my opinion, I would hate for her to make that move. I will say the volume clearly.

Alvin Owusu (15:11.239)
It's hard to argue, yeah.

diashawk (15:20.195)
affected her. You can see she literally hit a wall there. After that breaker in the second, she hit a wall. But how are you not going to play Rome when you're Italian? I mean, the timing of it, no doubt. It's not her fault that she won. I personally feel like this was just a match where she played a girl that plays in some ways a lot like her. Not a lot of huge weapons, tough grinding points. I didn't think she played poorly until she lost that second set of breaker. I didn't think she was in trouble.

Alvin Owusu (15:27.031)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean...

Alvin Owusu (15:47.675)
Yeah, and they both played well. Like that's the thing. They both played well and she was a good, she was in control of the match and they were both playing well.

diashawk (15:49.796)
both played well. mean, good match.

Right? The wheels came off and literally I want to see how quick did she go down in the third. I mean, was it, was it? I think it was six one, but I mean, wouldn't that like, it went fast. So I'm just saying. Right.

Alvin Owusu (15:58.6)
6'1", 6'2", was fast, fast, yeah. Yeah, she didn't have much left in the take. But I don't want this to be the, so obviously that you're gonna start seeing some fluctuations in ranking as points to defend, right? She back to back Grand Slam Finals last year, so anything less than that will start to affect that ranking, whatever, whatever. I still think she's a top 10 player, Jasmine Paolini.

diashawk (16:14.51)
Yeah.

diashawk (16:20.559)
For sure. Yeah.

for sh-

Alvin Owusu (16:26.435)
And so I still look for very positive things for her moving forward. I'm excited.

diashawk (16:30.566)
Oh, 100%. Perhaps not four in the world. think we can appreciate that point together. A very solid eight and a dangerous six, but I'm not sure if she's the fourth given the situation of being what it is. And so perhaps that's a little bit of correcting right there in the situation of what it is and what it ain't. So that's point.

Alvin Owusu (16:33.912)
Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Alvin Owusu (16:57.541)
Yeah, that's fine, and that's fine. We're lucky as tennis fans to have so many high quality players on the women's side in the top 10, like juxtaposed to the men's side where you feel like it's those two and the rest of them. The women's side, feels like it is, like maybe at points it is arena, but arena can be challenged, and then like, let's call it one and a half through 12 is, it's any given day, any given day.

diashawk (17:03.446)
my god. Note out.

Bye.

And then, right.

diashawk (17:22.457)
right and he could 100 %

Alvin Owusu (17:25.799)
So that's fun, speaking of which, Eega versus Rebacchina. Let me get your take on it. I wanna hear your position on this match, because I watched this one and I really enjoyed.

diashawk (17:30.809)
Yes.

diashawk (17:40.587)
Ega played the best I've seen her play in a probably in two years. and has been playing better ever since. Two people, and I don't want to dip into the men's tank too quick yet. I thought she played as well as center play today or whatever the match was in this match. You could just see the old Ega come back. It was refreshing to see. I was happy for her.

It seemed like every match she's played so far this tournament has built her confidence back in herself. She needed this match. I'm going to also say all of the pros and they do this thing where a player that wins a grand slam, they all join the grand slam club where they're never going to talk about that player because they'd want to slam. They're never going to dis or say something negative about this player.

But let's be very honest, Ega was playing some bad tennis. She has played, leading into this tournament, she has played better every match since. And Alvin, I'm here to tell you, the girl played herself back in the winning form today and that was a big match for her against Rebecca.

Alvin Owusu (18:44.487)
Leading coming into the coming into the event. Yeah. Yeah

Alvin Owusu (18:58.105)
Yeah, and not only did she play herself back into winning form, right? It was just that. She got rocked in that first set. Elena could not take a step six one. She was up a break, I think, in the second set as well. But you could see Ega slowly getting herself settled, getting herself back into the match, finding, didn't.

diashawk (19:07.778)
Yeah. 6'1", what's 6'1"? Like going away.

diashawk (19:21.624)
Right. Didn't rattle. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (19:24.775)
didn't get rattled, thought she would have, all things considered, the way things have played out for her in the last six months, I'll say last three months, you would have thought that she would have started to be a little more demonstrative, a little more pissy, if you will, because she gets pissy at times. But she stayed there, she stayed there, and she found, I was doing a little bit of he started to pick up some notes post-match, and that's one of the things that her and Wim Fasett have really been focusing on, like getting back to

diashawk (19:37.272)
Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup.

Alvin Owusu (19:54.76)
kind of being able to lock down and not always feel like you need to dictate and dominate with the forehand because we're not there anymore, right? For whatever reason, she can't do that anymore. But she can, she's an extremely good mover, especially on clay, especially going to the back end. And I felt like there were points in in the third set where he didn't know where it was gonna go, like, for all.

diashawk (19:59.64)
Yup. Yup. Yup. Right. Yup.

diashawk (20:20.407)
Right, I was gonna say, I almost thought Rebacca moved her too much. I thought Rebacca almost should have played more straight up, cross to cross, forehand, side or up the middle and made Ega beat her and kinda got more to her counterpunching ways, counterpunching ways I should say. And I felt like by moving her so much, you almost put, know, there's that, was that old fable, Briar Rabbit in the Briar Patch, you almost let Ega get back on the move and she's really comfortable. It almost hit her back in her game.

Alvin Owusu (20:27.226)
Up the middle. Okay.

Alvin Owusu (20:45.722)
Right, yeah.

diashawk (20:49.548)
I also feel like a little bit of this album, talking to the middle side of game, Rebecca, the one that first said so easily, so convincingly, that I felt like she tried to shift gears and just put it on her. And the bigger she had and the more she went for the first shots, felt like Ega actually responded and actually preferred that.

Alvin Owusu (21:09.211)
Yeah, it was interesting. You start to see someone like Rebecca who, when she's serving well, she's a tough hang. She's a really, really tough hang. And obviously if she's serving well, it allows her to dictate with that forehand, which she can dictate with, but when you move her around, she doesn't defend on that side all that well. So what I started to see, as soon as her serve percentage dropped a little bit, Ega was able to get her claws into the match.

diashawk (21:10.881)
This was.

diashawk (21:17.719)
Yep. Yep.

diashawk (21:32.098)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (21:38.888)
And I started to see like, you know, Rebecca hasn't played a ton prior to Strasburg, right? Like you started to see the fatigues that it, you started to see her get behind in rallies from a, you know, from a positioning standpoint. And at a certain point, it's like four, from like four all on the third set, like you can just like dip and miss another ball. She's like, I'm not going to miss, I'm done missing. And she really elevated into.

diashawk (21:44.983)
Right.

diashawk (21:55.773)
Right. Right. If you want to take it from me, take it from me. But I'm not, I'm not going to miss. Hard middle, hard middle. I a lot of hard middle shots just, and if anything started really, I saw Carlos do that a little bit with against, against Novak and Lash and the Wimby last, last year. Just went bigger and harder up the middle. Like beat me with that ball.

Alvin Owusu (22:02.117)
And I'm not dropping my ball quality either. Yeah.

diashawk (22:22.007)
beat me with that ball and I dare you to me with that ball. know, and we're backing up, you know, who's, like that's what I saying about, felt like she had moved her so much and got burned by it that she almost laid up like, okay, let me just give you one more roll on that side and see if you miss it. No, no, she wasn't gonna miss that ball. And it was really good to see.

Alvin Owusu (22:24.581)
And then...

Alvin Owusu (22:39.367)
So let me ask you this then. Do you have Ega as the favorite to win this title now? Still no.

diashawk (22:47.06)
No, still Arena. But it gave me better hopes, better feeling about her game being back where it needs to be.

Alvin Owusu (22:56.583)
Okay, but if it's back where it needs to be, why does she not win this tournament that she's won four times?

diashawk (23:02.73)
Because Arena is playing that well right now. That's my take. Period. Period. Period. With the T. That's me. You know what I mean?

Alvin Owusu (23:06.503)
Interesting. Interesting.

here yet. OK. OK. All right. OK. That's fine. That's fine. Let's I want to OK. So we have.

diashawk (23:22.402)
Don't bring up, just don't bring up JPEG. That's my only request.

Alvin Owusu (23:24.615)
Oh no, we're gonna talk about that right now. No, we're gonna do that now. No, no, we're gonna do that now. We're do that now. Mira Andrava is playing against Jessica. No, wait, she's not. She's playing against a wild card ranked like 1300 in the world. Who is French? Yep, yep, she's French. She is. The one time, the one time, iBackJPeg got me out here looking like a chump.

diashawk (23:35.04)
I knew it. First of all, you're wrong for that. You're wrong for that. Who's French?

Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (23:53.788)
looking like a chump. Now, let me say something about Boisson. There is something to be said about safe, repeatable ground trucks. Boisson hits a very heavy forehand. Heavy forehand. And she ain't gonna miss it. She's not gonna miss it. And it's a different type of ball to deal with, right?

diashawk (24:00.31)
Poisson.

diashawk (24:09.378)
Yeah.

diashawk (24:18.473)
No. Nope.

Alvin Owusu (24:23.493)
Case in point, I dealt with that shit tonight, right? It forces you to really be consistent with your forward and backward movement. Like it's one of those type situations to catch balls in the slot. And then it almost forces you to start playing that, to play that kind of same game style, which the women don't do that. No one hits the ball like that. Nobody. So once that match got kind of notched in, and you're obviously, she's French, right?

diashawk (24:34.901)
Yep. Yep.

diashawk (24:42.443)
Right, right.

Yep. I agree.

Alvin Owusu (24:52.805)
That was.

diashawk (24:53.281)
and the French got behind her. I thought that was more of a deal more than it was. And I'm not saying JPEG wasn't used, Jessica wasn't used to that. I will say there was a French player years ago, Alvin named Sandrine Testute. I don't if you remember Sandrine Testute. Good player, heavy for it. A lot like Luis or Boisson, but played a lot like her, was much better. I think Testute got to like, was probably a

Alvin Owusu (25:09.829)
No, no, never heard of this player in my life.

diashawk (25:22.272)
10 through 20 player back in the day. Good player, by the way. Reminded me a lot. Heavy forehand, played a little more, you know, I'm gonna say the word tomboyish for lack of a better term. Heavy ball, sliced occasionally. And I thought that's what Bosson did. I just felt like she had the match of her life tonight against, in the French moment. And I honestly just think it was more about Bosson answering the moment than it was JPEG, you know. JPEG.

Jessica decided and what I saw Jessica just Kind of played it safe a little bit to think that was on with miss and in which is the smart thing to do smart money would say do the same thing she's the girls gonna fold she's whatever buck 80 in the world come on and was on Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to my point again, and and to be honest, I really feel like at some point at some point

Alvin Owusu (26:08.069)
No, no, she's 370 something in the world. Don't give her, yeah, we won't see her at Wimbledon. You might never see her again.

diashawk (26:21.278)
And I feel like all of our American players do this to some degree. There's this belief of they're treing right now. They will cool off and not this, let me change tack in case they don't. And I feel like that's just a, I don't know, that's just something that I'd love to see change. I kind of feel like it's a culture thing. I hate to say that to the point. Is this just this?

Alvin Owusu (26:47.014)
Hmm.

diashawk (26:50.418)
I saw it, I saw it against, I'm gonna bring this up, Mincic and Fritz, same thing. I just felt like Fritz stayed the course. This guy's gonna break down any minute now. He can't keep this up. Mincic did keep it up. Mincic kept it up against Novak. And so I don't wanna get off topic, but I just feel that that's what happened tonight. Just saying.

Alvin Owusu (27:05.884)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (27:11.161)
Interesting, interesting. OK.

diashawk (27:15.355)
I don't think Boss-Own is going to play that game ever again. I'm going put that out there.

Alvin Owusu (27:19.181)
See, here's the thing. I find that her game style is very repeatable. Like, I feel like she's been playing the same way since... Yeah, just she gets to run...

diashawk (27:25.715)
Yo, repeatable, yeah. But catching lightning like that, because the player wasn't playing that great and on the clay, clay is clearly not Jessica's best service. I'm just saying.

Alvin Owusu (27:36.911)
Okay, so you're saying that, what is Mira and Drava gonna do differently that Jessica was not able to do?

diashawk (27:44.544)
be Mira and Drava. Work that backhand line return like she always does. It puts you in the death corner like she always does. Ripped the forehand hard cross angle, bringing you back to the unrise backhand and it'll take you wide or take you wide. I think Jessica's ball striking is very good from a certain height and a certain part of the court. Mira, if you would go a little wider on both wings, she can do it that much better, that much wider. That's my opinion.

Alvin Owusu (28:07.463)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (28:11.967)
Mira might be the most mobile. Mira is the closest thing to a polished Rebecca that I've seen. And I think Rebecca has the, in my opinion, the complete smiley face of the outside alley that Ali can smack it wherever I want to on a given day. And Mira does it even better on the return, in my opinion. That's what I she'll do. I think Jessica played safe. I Jessica played smart. And a set and a half, she was smart to do so. I think it's when she didn't.

Alvin Owusu (28:26.545)
Sure. Okay.

Alvin Owusu (28:32.367)
Okay. Okay.

diashawk (28:41.425)
She didn't step up and she did this little bit against Alexi Allen, know, in Miami. She didn't step up and go through her. She just allowed her to hang. That's why I went three steps. I saw the same thing there. And that's her home slam. That's her home mini quote unquote slam in her backyard.

Alvin Owusu (28:47.405)
Right. Right.

Alvin Owusu (28:52.337)
Which what?

Alvin Owusu (28:56.903)
Right, well think that's the difference between Alex Yala and Bocail is that that ball is harder to attack because you can't really square it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's...

diashawk (29:04.519)
and on clay, that same ball. Had Jessica played Ayala on clay, if mine had been on clay, she'd have met the same result as Woff on the That's what I'm saying. She played it almost that same way.

Alvin Owusu (29:12.679)
Interesting, okay. Yeah, no, no, that's true, that's true. And Yala got a little shook towards the back end of that match where Walsall did not, because she had the crowd. Like she kind of rose to the occasion. It was a cool thing to see. I'm sorry it had to happen to Jessica Pagula. It is what it is. Coco.

diashawk (29:20.935)
And and Zessa still love you.

diashawk (29:30.015)
to the country.

diashawk (29:35.165)
That one. Yeah. It is what it is.

Alvin Owusu (29:42.385)
Coco is just kind of like making her way through the draw, just being the two seed, making her way, doing her thing. Yeah.

diashawk (29:44.959)
Make it away. Doing her thing, holding up for end of the draw, making sure she's keeping her appointments, you know what mean? And doing her thing. I'm loving this phase of Coco where she's going through the tournament doing her thing. I'm really liking how the draws really stack it up for lot of these players. Coco, obviously, Iga. And now we're getting to the business end of this tournament now, Alvin. I did have...

You mentioned, Andre, but what did you like about Mira with Kazukina?

Alvin Owusu (30:17.575)
you know.

diashawk (30:20.496)
Or was it, or to me, Coskina did not play as well as she has played in Time's Pass. To me, couldn't give it, it was more about how she didn't play than to me about Mirren in my opinion.

Alvin Owusu (30:29.223)
Just, yeah, well, I think just as long as Mira is mentally all there against Kazukina, there's nothing that Kazukina's gonna do to really throw Mira off. And that's one of those things where as Mira just continues to get stronger and stronger, the chances of Daria being able to hurt her get smaller and smaller. Yeah, she doesn't have any weapons. We get to the certain point where it's like, okay, all the girls left are damn near six foot tall. You gotta bring it.

diashawk (30:58.363)
Right?

Alvin Owusu (30:59.367)
You gotta be able to go through them. And if you can't go through them, then this is where.

diashawk (31:02.555)
Right? Or you got to be an elite counterpunisher like Rebecca that can take that same ball and deliver it with more interest whenever I'm on the move.

Alvin Owusu (31:11.949)
And Rebecca, I can also like snap off about 20 out wide on the first serve too. Like it's like, like whatever, like she has that thing too. So.

diashawk (31:15.806)
Yeah, true. Right. She's a wiry, powerful skinny chick. mean, I gotta say, I she can absolutely, she has an arm. I mean, it's crazy to see her. Anyway, I hate giving her credit because she's kind of crazy, you know, crazy in a weird way. Like, not in good way. was crazy, but he was crazy in a good way. I love Murat. She's, anyway.

Alvin Owusu (31:24.325)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (31:39.335)
She's working some stuff out. She's working some stuff out. I like when she is, like I said this before, I think she's one of the best three players in the world and I like when she's involved. So I want her involved more often. That's all I ask. I want her to.

diashawk (31:51.655)
Yeah, she is certainly, she does to the women's game now what Gornese Ivanevich did to the men's game back in the 90s. He was a lightning rod. Everyone knew on his day, couldn't touch him. On his day, I mean, just would serve you off the court, rip you off the court. There was no weakness. The only weakness was up here and he knew, which made his Wimbledon win so much more fulfilling because you kind of empathize with him. But to your point, like we're back in a.

Alvin Owusu (32:05.743)
Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (32:18.799)
Yeah.

diashawk (32:20.987)
A little crazy.

Alvin Owusu (32:21.615)
Okay, fair. I'm not gonna call it crazy. You called it crazy and it's off. It's ironic that they that they partnered up for a little while How do you feel about even ease of itch joining the Sitsipass camp that news came out earlier this week?

diashawk (32:24.358)
I'm calling it crazy.

diashawk (32:33.982)
I think he needs more than going, but I like it. I like it. I like the fact that he's going after going. If anybody can appreciate it, it's gone. I feel like Titsipas needs to go back to a little bit of a drawing board about what his game is now. We're seeing, in my opinion, this is his 2.0, Titsipas, and Titsipas needs to find a new

I'm going to say a new way to win against certain profile of players. He can't just be freewheeling, slapping forehands from the ad court alley, hitting backhands wherever he wants to. was, he was, he reminds me a lot of how Fed played when Fed first came on the tour, ripping the backhand, hitting forehands, coming forward, just almost bringing more pressure than skill. And I don't mean that in any ways as a downside, but he did a lot of big hitting.

coming forward and serve big. And then it wasn't enough. Serve started coming back. He started having to be able to create off the backhand. He started being able to have to be solid. He started getting down in the service points and playing uphill more than playing downhill. And I feel like there's some game things, some development things he's gonna have to get where everything from tight enough serve, better first strike.

Alvin Owusu (33:41.447)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (34:00.263)
high backhand has got to get a little bit better and he's got to not come flying in like he used to because guys are realizing they can pass it. Gorin to me as a big server understands it. Gorin to me as a returner maybe can help him. I'm not sure. Two handed versus one handed. Lefty and righty. I don't know. But he can certainly help him calm the demons in here which I think was a good thing for him. And I really feel like it couldn't it's not a bad thing. My only question is

How much will he allow Gorn to help change? When I saw, and I keep going back to one of the greats, Fed got Lubachitch, right? You knew what that was about. He was gonna make Fed come over the top of the backhand. And I thought for those three or four years in there, he did great. When Fed had Anacom, you knew he was gonna work on closing that up and getting that little more and play the ball, play the return game a little faster. I felt like with this one here, I'm like, what do you do first? Right.

Alvin Owusu (34:55.207)
It's like, what are they gonna do? Yeah, we are, Here's another question.

diashawk (34:58.236)
What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do first? And then what are you gonna do in general? Because this is a two-year, in my opinion, this is a 18-month, a two-year project right here, and a guy who's trying to get back to three in the world.

Alvin Owusu (35:09.807)
Right, so my question is then does it even matter?

diashawk (35:13.052)
it's certainly a good rung of the ladder to grab onto on the way down. It couldn't hurt. It was like rub-a-lab with what's happening. It couldn't hurt. How much are you really gonna change it? I don't know.

Alvin Owusu (35:24.953)
Right, so does Safin help Rublev back to the top 10? Does Goron help SitSpass back to the top 10? I say, I feel like we've just passed our window. I think it's like, you should try. Right, yeah, yeah. Okay, you know, let's.

diashawk (35:41.398)
He needed going a year ago, you know what mean? But again, hey, great thing to good. And make no mistake, you made this point, I think it was a great point. The game has changed in that meantime, you know what I mean? I would tell you the same thing about Naomi Osaka and Patrick Moritagalu. Moritagalu, I apologize for butchering his name. What can you change to get her back 20 slams? I'm not sure you can.

Alvin Owusu (35:55.975)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (36:10.225)
Yeah, it is what it is. Right.

diashawk (36:12.997)
Great coach, good player. Can she get back to winning four slams? I'm not so certain. Not certain at all. You know what mean? Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (36:17.423)
Right. So wrapping up the women's side here, Coco is playing against Madison Keys. gosh, we're doing this again. I tried to look away today during Keys' Baptiste and I checked in, it's like okay, Madison got the first set, 6-3 is pretty good. right, it's fine, she's got it settled. And then I was working out and then the match was on and I'm like my God, I'm watching the match now. Now I'm watching the match.

diashawk (36:25.487)
Yep.

diashawk (36:44.783)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (36:47.163)
Dear God that match was like throwing rocks. It was a rock fight. And Chris Everett was calling the match too. it was, it was, was.

diashawk (36:54.251)
god.

Let me tell you what you need when you're watching a Chris Everett Lloyd commentator match. You need the mute button on the remote control. There may not be a more

I'm going to say it, There may not be a worst commentator for the women's game than Chris Everett. The only other person I hate as bad as Chris Fowler, but Chris Everett is in her own league. Alvin, she's demeaning. Her insights are Captain Obvious level, zero. And I will say for as phenomenal as a player as she was, I feel like she goes on these tangents and I'm like,

Alvin Owusu (37:25.991)
There's nothing there. Nothing there.

diashawk (37:38.735)
Where are you going with this? And she's more critical of the players than she is helping me the fan understand. You give me Martina on one end, Martina will say, will make a comment that I'm like, wow, that's gold. I have yet to watch a match with Chris and said anything close to, wow, that's insightful. you can't miss a ball like that. Really? I think we all understand that. We're all tennis players. Can't miss mini balls to be honest with you, Chris.

But she makes that comment and she comes off a little condescending, which makes it to me. And it just so happens to be often against players of color. I'm gonna say it. And for both today, just saying.

Alvin Owusu (38:08.689)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (38:16.531)
yeah, okay, I know you've mentioned your distaste or displeasure with disdain of Miss Everett Lloyd's commentary style. It wasn't until today that I found myself, I was like, who's calling this match? This is horrible. Who is this? And I'm like, damn it, it's Chris Everett. There it is, it's Chris Everett. I'm like, what, no, maybe it's Lindsay. I'm like, maybe it's Lindsay. Like, nope, nope, it's Chris Everett.

diashawk (38:25.23)
disdain, disdain.

diashawk (38:31.161)
Yes.

diashawk (38:40.206)
Exactly.

Alvin Owusu (38:45.863)
Lindsay got me the other day too.

diashawk (38:48.826)
Lindsay can be critical, but Lindsay is insightful. Lindsay and Lindsay knows a lot of the players. I get some of the take from, Lindsay used to coach a girl by the way, for a good chunk of time. I feel like Lindsay comes at it from like I am the player's big sister slash coach. I'm here to help him try to get through some of these moments. I went through that about myself. it. Here's what they need to do. Blah, blah, blah. I feel like she's a little more pointed than Caroline. Caroline's.

Alvin Owusu (38:56.977)
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (39:07.985)
Fed Cup

diashawk (39:17.848)
still, you know, everything's rose-colored glasses. I don't want you not to have an opinion. I would just like for your opinion to be a little positive from time to time and we get that you're Chris Everett. We all do. We know how great you were, are, records will, some of your records will never be broken. Get it. Help me the fan at home. I can be critical on my own. I can be a fan on my own. Help me with something I didn't have before I tuned in. And I feel like that's what I don't get when I watch.

Alvin Owusu (39:41.327)
Right.

So as I'm looking at this whole brand new Warner Brother discovery, presenting the friendship for the first time, they brought in all these names and voices and faces that people are very familiar with and then some new ones as well. Venus has been doing some studio work. Chris Eubanks has been doing a lot of court coverage. He's doing a great job. Big Banks always does a great job. Petsy has been involved. He's doing a good job. I think it's like we're.

diashawk (40:03.577)
Doing a great job, the way. Thanks, doing an excellent job, Yep. He's been doing a good job. Yep. Sam Query's done a nice job. I gotta tell you, I gotta say, I know Sam from before. Sam made some insightful points here and there. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (40:17.519)
Yeah, it's near call in matches for as well, and then I know Agassi's coming in for the quarter, semis, and finals. So that will be good. mean, what is the, we've had the same people, Mack and Rose as well. We've had the same voices, it feels like, for so long, but then even when we start to replace voices, I feel like once you get a certain distance away from the game, away from the modern game, I feel like you're,

diashawk (40:37.145)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (40:47.375)
your insight becomes less and less impactful. Yeah, someone like Petchy, he is an active coach. Imran Khan is an active coach, right? So he has been watching these players and he is in the game right now. Chris Eubanks is a current player. Sloan Stevens just retired. Although she had been great. She's not really saying anything. She's talking, she's not really saying anything. First time, first time.

diashawk (40:50.361)
Little more dated, right? Little more back today, yep.

diashawk (41:14.359)
Yeah, but she's there. I prefer Chanda to her, but I think Chanda does a great job of giving me some things I hadn't always thought of. She's very insightful on the tennis side of things and helps talk to the viewer as you're a tennis player, you're back at home watching, here's something you want to watch. And I always take home at least two or three points from watching. Even some that as a coach, I'm like, yeah, yeah, I knew that already, but I'm like, yeah, yeah. But everybody in a coach like me, you know,

Alvin Owusu (41:33.817)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (41:41.479)
The-

diashawk (41:43.373)
Chanda, great point. And I keep her mind, I feel like she's dialed in with who her audience is.

Alvin Owusu (41:48.738)
I think Sloan could be in that same vein, not to say that just because they're two women of color, but I think Sloan is personable enough and witty enough that I think now going through this probably for the first time, she realizes how much more probably research and work she's gonna have to do. Like she's just now, she hasn't retired, but I think the sun has set, right? But she was on court for Alcaraz versus Shelton.

And one of her insights was, man, they're ripping the ball. And I was like, well, obviously they're ripping the ball. Come on, on, Sloan. Come on. Yes, that's what they do. But tell me something else. You're the one, you're the one on the court. And I never got anything of value. But I think that's like a little more, a few more reps. I think next time around, she'll know what she needs to do. Yep.

diashawk (42:31.299)
Right. Right.

diashawk (42:39.092)
Few more reps. Good to see her in the seat, right? Good to see her in the seat for sure. Could do a little more. One of my all-time favorites, and I gotta say it, Brad Gilbert. BG, absolute one of my all-time favorites to watch. As far as females, Martina, absolute all-time favorite to watch. Insightful, clear, calm. And you could tell in a player's spiral, she is hoping that the player can get it together.

She's not throwing rocks at her, not throwing, you know, and that's kind of my thing, not to keep throwing dirt on Kris, but I feel like, I feel like Kris, her condescension comes through as if, are you even good enough to be out there on the court right now? And it just, I feel this a certain way. And I don't know, I wish I didn't, but that's how I feel. There's something she sparks in me that it's a dark, it's a very,

Alvin Owusu (43:20.132)
Right. Right.

diashawk (43:34.453)
I don't want to get too deep into it, it doesn't speak to me at a pleasant place. And I will leave it

Alvin Owusu (43:39.355)
Gotcha. Fair, we'll leave it there. What do you think about keys, Gough? How does that match unfold? I feel like I haven't seen them play before.

diashawk (43:47.861)
Haven't seen them play, I haven't seen them play together, something out on clay. I don't think if I have to, I go through my whole quick coaches rundown, right? Who's a better mover on clay? I gotta think Coco's a better mover on clay. Who's got a little bigger serve? I gotta give to Madison. Who's got a better forehand? I gotta give to Madison. Who has maybe a tiny bit better return? I gotta give to Coco, right? This match and quite frankly, coming out of playing Haley, which and Haley can.

Alvin Owusu (43:58.354)
Cocoa, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (44:16.687)
Rock fight rock fight. They they were they were deep in the second set and the average the average Point link the shot link was three and a half shots. It's like what are we talking about? What are we talking about?

diashawk (44:16.989)
Really?

diashawk (44:26.136)
What, I'm about to say three or four shots, to be. 100%. I mean, Haley can rip two balls, drop shot three in a row and then hit a slice. And you're like, really? I if I'm, I wouldn't go into that match. I'm just hoping I get Madison two good days of practice and get used to that ball. I really feel it's going to be a good match. I would love to see the reigning Australian Open champion kind of get back to form.

Ugly or not, Alvin, she's made it all the way, wait a minute, quarters now, or rather 16 now? know, quarters, we're in the quarters now. And you know, like it or not, she's playing, she's here. So I've got a thing where players aren't playing their best, they can only play better going forward. And players that have played pretty well, almost worried about them. They've almost peaked a little too early in the tournament. I'm not saying that's half for Coco, but she's played better than Madison. If there was an X factor.

Alvin Owusu (44:59.335)
Quarters, quarters, quarters, quarters.

Alvin Owusu (45:11.803)
Right, yeah.

diashawk (45:25.671)
I would say Madison has not played her best match yet at Roland Garros. And that bodes well for her going in. And if Coco has, Coco coming could be, could be, not saying she has a will, could be a little on the snide here because she's played better tennis up to this point. Madison could play herself into this tournament in this match and be a huge momentum for her. And the rest of that draw opens up for her, obviously with J-Pek gone as well. This could be a big match. What's the implications?

Alvin Owusu (45:31.398)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (45:52.818)
So let me put this question to you then under the assumption that both players play their A game. Who wins that match?

diashawk (46:00.503)
On hard court, I give it to Madison. On grass court, I give it to Madison. On clay, I give it to Coco. Both playing the right game.

Alvin Owusu (46:01.081)
No, no, no, no, no, no, clay, this match.

Alvin Owusu (46:08.987)
What does Coco's A game look like? does Coco A her? Because I've heard this specific phrase a lot. Like, she's winning without playing her best tennis. And Coco's really good at winning without playing her best tennis. But what is her best tennis? I was to say, what does her, then I always find myself going, okay, well then what does her best tennis look like? Is she dictating with the forehand from the middle of the court? No. What does her best tennis look like?

diashawk (46:14.507)
Yeah. Yeah.

diashawk (46:21.182)
I think that is Coco's game. That's a game.

diashawk (46:30.068)
No, Coco's game is to match up to yours. She has a mutant ability to take your pace and work you with it. She has a phenomenal backhand. She moves well. She can hit a good foreign if she's moving into it. On certain days, she serves well when she's feeling it and timing it a certain way. I don't think she's the purest of strikers. I don't think she has a weapon to speak of outside of speed and a decent backhand and a backhand return. All things backhand are pretty good.

But I think that also if Madison want to go out there and roll and then drive and not just drive on automatic. I think this match could be a pretty straightforward match in Madison department if she plays the right way. But those who played it that way, other players who played it the right way, just know how to, your girl Panko has played the way, they just know how to play her on that side. And that's the case.

Alvin Owusu (47:11.535)
Right. I-

Alvin Owusu (47:21.061)
feel like if her, I think that this matchup could come down to something as simple as like Coco's first serve percentage. If she's having to hit a lot of second serves, if she's having a lot of second serves, Madison will tee off and that will put Coco on the back foot. And then think that starts to get to her. Like that starts to get to her. She won't be able to get into the match at that point. Because.

diashawk (47:28.586)
the end and the forehand.

Oof. Over. We will tee off.

diashawk (47:39.764)
Yep. Right. Right. It's a weird match because I feel like Coco being a two seed. It's a weird miss seeding because I don't know what is. It's the eager problem. Right. The eager being what she is. But what is Madison seven? So she's a seven seed to one Australia. Right. So you're in this weird spot where don't look too much into your own seeding and your own.

Alvin Owusu (47:51.761)
Cuz the ego, it's the ego problem. It's the ego problem.

Alvin Owusu (48:01.369)
Yeah, yeah.

diashawk (48:07.869)
what it is. That's just what the computer says about me. 100%.

Alvin Owusu (48:08.647)
And I don't think she will. That's gonna be something that one of the Mac and Rose brings up and it's gonna be something stupid that I don't wanna hear. But okay, fair. That's good. Yeah, we're settling in. We still have enough star power. We still have enough, a lot of boisson. A little, a little.

diashawk (48:18.323)
Yeah, good tennis stuff. All these quarterbacks are gonna be good.

diashawk (48:24.958)
a lot of song power. With the exception of my song. Get it in. I know you want to get it in one more time. Get one more dig on JPEG. Go ahead.

Alvin Owusu (48:33.607)
I had nothing to say, I had nothing to say, I had nothing to say. I thought she was gonna come out of this half. I said it, I did. I believed, I said it out loud, it's on record, you can go back to the last podcast, I said it, and here we are, egg on my face. I've been let down once again. Moving over to the men's side. Let's go from the, let's start in the middle actually, because Novak Djokovic is playing against Alexander Zverev. Novak,

diashawk (48:35.357)
Okay. You do, but you're not gonna say it. I appreciate it.

I did too. And here we are.

diashawk (48:57.557)
Ugh.

diashawk (49:01.769)
Yep. Also, also, also playing himself into the tournament. I mean, I thought he did good. Would you play your boy, or I thought, God bless it. He's had the best draw of all time. You know, story really come on. mean, geez. Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (49:02.959)
He's just having a nice hit. Having a nice hit right now.

Alvin Owusu (49:09.144)
I thought he wasn't gonna play a tournament.

Alvin Owusu (49:14.467)
my god, yeah!

That means very upset a pretty good draw to like, you know, gotta pull got another withdrawal against a Greek sport at that Greek sport, you know, I turn it on he's up three out. I'm like, talent here to play talent always plays them tough played him five sets and French up and last year played him tough in Munich earlier this year. He's always there. He beat him. I think another tournament like and then just I think it hurt whatever. So here we are. Zverev is doing that thing that he does, which is just get to the

diashawk (49:31.615)
Yep. Yep.

diashawk (49:44.553)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (49:47.429)
the last ladder stages of Grand Slams. What say you about this matchup?

diashawk (49:50.067)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (49:55.558)
Left then they played was Australian Open, tougher set, and then Novak retired. Alex finaled this event last year. Pushed Carlos to the brink, five sets.

diashawk (50:11.783)
I got no comment.

Alvin Owusu (50:13.455)
Do you, okay, let's today's, okay, fair.

diashawk (50:15.26)
I got no comment. got father time versus excuse machine on two players that I truly enjoy to watch. I enjoy watching Alex Zverev when he's playing well. I think he is, when I watch him play against an aggressive player, I love the contrast. Do I enjoy watching Alex Zverev play in a match with a guy?

Alvin Owusu (50:23.247)
You enjoy watching Alexander's Rare Play Tennis.

Alvin Owusu (50:35.075)
diashawk (50:41.616)
since the Dominic Keene match from several years ago to US Open? No, I've not enjoyed watching Alexander Zverev. Do I think that this will be an entertaining match with him and Novak? Yes, I do.

Alvin Owusu (50:52.519)
It's gonna take forever. It's gonna take forever.

diashawk (50:54.812)
it will take. And that's why I don't want to say anything, because I don't want to put anything on the former champ on the old champ. And at same time, I know your boys gonna be out there. It'll take him nine forehands to warm up and take one down the line. Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (51:05.127)
I have a question. Today is Monday. We're on the eve of the quarterfinals. When we get back together on Sunday to review the men's final.

Are we looking at Novak Djokovic having gone through Alexander Zverev, Yannick Center, and Carlos Alcaraz in order to win this tournament? That ain't happening, right? That doesn't happen, right? That's not happening.

diashawk (51:24.601)
No, absolutely not. Both players are playing so well. And honestly, he's got Zverev to thank for that because Zverev's gonna make him play four hours. And one of those two guys, whoever wins it needs to take him out for a steak dinner because that'll, his game, he will take four hours out of Novak's life. He will literally take four hours. He is the henchman in the James Bond movies that allows the, you know, the villain to escape.

Just because there's so many of them coming at Jamie Fallon.

Alvin Owusu (51:53.062)
I mean, 2020, I sometimes get the year wrong. I think it was 2021 US Open. Novak Djokovic is going for the calendar Grand Slam, right? Going for the calendar Grand Slam, meets Alexander Zverev in the semifinals. They play for like five hours. And then Novak gets through that match and then limps in and pretty much hands Meti the US Open title.

diashawk (52:05.703)
Right. Yep.

diashawk (52:20.275)
I hope hope many bought Barts Verve a car or something for that matter. That was just hey man, I can't thank you enough.

Alvin Owusu (52:25.077)
Hahaha

But here we are again, Madison did it at the Australian Open, taking down three, two, and one in the same tournament. But this is three out five, this is tough. This match, I got no call on it either, to be honest with you. My gut tells me, like, it's very even four. I feel like at some point we're gonna run like you mentioned for the other time, I feel like at some point we're gonna run until the machine can't run anymore.

diashawk (52:58.547)
I, yeah, yeah. And I'm gonna say right here, you you say he's better than four. I think it's gonna be, I think Novak might win in four or five. But he will be worse for the wearer for doing it. And that's what I'm saying. And that's, my point is whoever, they're gonna ding each other up. It's gonna be a death of a thousand cuts on this match. Good tennis. It will be, it would be, it will be a tough match up for both players because of the physicality of it.

Alvin Owusu (52:59.601)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (53:10.908)
Okay, fair.

diashawk (53:27.846)
But I just feel like due to both of them's physicality, I feel like.

I feel like Zverev being a little younger, obviously a lot younger, is going to be the difference maker in the match. But Novak is playing decent tennis. mean, he's dropping, he's sliding, he's moving. He's been Novak.

Alvin Owusu (53:44.689)
So how does he win this match? If he wins this match, did he do well? What did he do differently? Not differently, but yeah, okay.

diashawk (53:51.334)
He shortens points. He shortens points. He attacks second serves. He attacks the forehand side. He comes to net a little more often. He drops shots early. He does everything that he normally doesn't do. He doesn't let Zverev get into a groove. He doesn't let Zverev get in that rope and dope. You know, he brings it to him and he hits more step ups, risks a little more, stretches Zverev out. He does all the things that he probably wouldn't want to do.

But he needs to, if he wants to play this match through the next three matches. Right. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (54:23.621)
Right, he implemented a good bit of serve and volley today against KM, almost like a free practice. Like, okay, let me get this out in match terms here. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Like, he's just gonna not let himself get into a drag out, like baseline, deep behind the baseline, grinding out kind of situation with Alexander Zverev.

diashawk (54:31.122)
100 %

diashawk (54:41.906)
100%.

Otherwise, that alone will hurt him in this match and the next.

Alvin Owusu (54:47.673)
Yeah, if he's trying to win the tournament, which I think that's his goal, right? Always, he's trying to win the tournament, then how he gets through this match is important. Not just winning it, how he gets through it is important. Center, the other side, Center, what the hell, man? This guy, everyone.

diashawk (54:52.114)
That's his goal. Right.

Right. Huge. How it gets to it and how long.

diashawk (55:06.278)
Dude, dude. And he played better in the second than in the first, even though the score was close. You heard it right here. Center played some ball today, My only caveat, did he play a bit too well?

Alvin Owusu (55:19.743)
That's an interesting, okay, let's not make this about Sinner. Let's go ahead and talk about, no, no, no, no, I don't wanna talk about that at all. I don't wanna talk about that, it's not important. Sinner is a lot better than everyone else, not named Carlos Ocariz. And doesn't actually play Novak in Grand Slam, so this is going to be a, we are in an interesting place right now. All the best players are still here. Let's see how this plays out. So I don't wanna talk about, I just don't wanna talk about Sinner right now.

diashawk (55:24.21)
Go back to a blip.

All right. Yep.

diashawk (55:33.426)
100%.

diashawk (55:39.961)
Mmm.

diashawk (55:44.209)
Yeah.

Yup.

Alvin Owusu (55:48.36)
I'm talking about the other half that matchup Alexander bublic. Okay, so bublic went god mode for about an hour and a half today Like you could take the best hour to happen tennis that you could play in an entire tournament and he packed it into two and a half sets and it was like It was it was amazing. It was amazing because a bublic is Bublic is Nick Kirios But introspective and self-aware like there is no there is no shot

diashawk (55:54.578)
You

diashawk (56:01.688)
Yep. He packed in two. He really did. He really did.

Alvin Owusu (56:18.181)
that Bublek doesn't have. He can go hard, forehand and backhand wink, he can do it, great hands, right? It's just a little, like you would say, a little bit crazy, right? And will tank, but, and has before, yeah, he's not, no shame about it. But you've seen him in the UTS dinner interviews that he does with that whole having dinner, and it's like him and Dominic Team and.

diashawk (56:20.72)
I don't agree with-

diashawk (56:29.701)
lot

and has before often.

Alvin Owusu (56:47.559)
Go fan or somebody like that and they're talking like he's so introspective the way he thinks the game. It's all there It's just not all there when it needs to be there. Sometimes I'll just be like the hell with it but he knows it and That's why I say he is he is very much so like curious in that he can do anything on the tennis court Except for sometimes be a professional tennis player all the time But he knows it so he

diashawk (56:47.877)
Yep.

diashawk (56:55.3)
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

diashawk (57:08.687)
Agree?

diashawk (57:12.409)
I agree with that.

Yep.

Alvin Owusu (57:17.319)
He can hang and do some weird stuff.

diashawk (57:21.552)
I just have to fight the Nick Curios might be one of the better athletes I've seen the greatest tennis courts in the last few years. And Bublik to me is one of the dare I say below average athletes, but maybe one of the cleanest ball strikers and hits everything he there isn't a shot he doesn't have. There isn't a shot he didn't have period. So I have to make that statement because you're putting it with Nick and I'm like, but I know exactly what you're

Alvin Owusu (57:42.799)
Right. Right.

He can, yeah, okay, so obviously there's some, okay.

diashawk (57:51.396)
complete ends of the spectrum that comes back around where they touch each other. I'm with you on that.

Alvin Owusu (57:54.842)
Right, and where he lacks in athleticism, can also slap a winner down the line before that even becomes a part of the equation.

diashawk (58:05.264)
He hit some drop shots, Alvin, that you thought were gonna be a pro shots. Then I'm like, the camera guy got, you know, messed up. You're like, oh, wait, wait, where'd it go? I mean, you're like, he hit a ball. Your boy ran down a ball. Draper's left-handed. He hit a drop shot. Draper ran it down. Draper is already leaning to the open court. went behind him in the line.

Alvin Owusu (58:11.846)
Right.

diashawk (58:34.426)
this much space. And I'm like, the fact that he knew he was leaning and thread of the needle. This is what I'm saying. The guys, playing, he's, God, he's playing, he is playing, people say he's playing checkers, the guy's playing chess. He's playing chess with you. was, it was just, it was fun to watch that last couple of sets because he really did play pretty well. And I gotta say,

Alvin Owusu (58:43.121)
He's a gamer. He is a GAMER.

Alvin Owusu (58:55.814)
Yeah.

diashawk (59:00.624)
Draper's forehand for whatever reason was not there today. was the depth wasn't there wasn't heavy enough and Bublik took advantage. He hit so many he had a couple for his album outside the the double sideline on the on the ad side. mean inside it

Alvin Owusu (59:17.339)
He's not gonna play that game with Jack. He's not gonna play tennis with Jack. He's not gonna play tennis with anybody. He's like, I'm gonna do something else and let you figure it out. So my question is, under what circumstances does he unnerve, unnerve center? Can he unnerve center? Is center so bulletproof?

diashawk (59:31.606)
He beats them.

diashawk (59:39.81)
I just haven't seen anyone else do it. If anybody could do it, it's the classic statement. But there's not many like him.

Alvin Owusu (59:43.432)
But there's nobody like Bublik. Right, everyone, Tener is a better tennis player than everyone, but Bublik's not gonna make this about tennis. He's gonna make this ugly, not ugly, he's gonna make it not, there will be no groove. They are not gonna, they're not gonna hit cross-court rallies and then you know, craft points. Like, Bublik's not gonna let himself get into that with Yannick. So, can Yannick get himself through an ugly tennis match?

diashawk (59:52.857)
Agreed.

diashawk (01:00:01.217)
Right, right.

diashawk (01:00:11.277)
Right, right. I could see Buhlbik hitting all slices and moving the guy around. I could see Buhlbik doing a lot. I could see him playing completely different than he played today, just because the match required that.

Alvin Owusu (01:00:18.821)
I can also see him, I can also see him show up with nothing. He can be two, two and two. In like an hour and 13 minutes. Like it could be.

diashawk (01:00:23.599)
which is kind of what I think. Again, he played pretty well and he and to my point when I see players play that well, he's had the sermons of life. mean, he's had two matches where he's played pretty darn well. you know, I personally, I think he's kind of shot his wad, but and I honestly feel like center is going, center is just playing better. He's needed every match up to this point, but he is playing better.

Alvin Owusu (01:00:42.811)
I lean that way as well.

diashawk (01:00:52.409)
due to every match up to this point. As much as Buhlick will try to play foil, I don't see that happening. And I see it being a very, you'd love to see what Buhlick tries, but I'm not sure that it may be enough at the end of the day.

Alvin Owusu (01:00:53.755)
Yeah, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:01:05.243)
Yeah!

Alvin Owusu (01:01:10.129)
Yeah, okay, that's fair. Bounce into the bottom half of the draw.

diashawk (01:01:15.403)
Best match, one of the best, most entertaining match so far. Shelton and Alcaraz was an absolute entertaining match. I loved every bit of it. Thought it was thoughtless. At least for the fans sake, I love the, I just love the physicality of it on both sides. I didn't think that Ben was a threat to win it, but I love the fact that he was, he stole the third set. I love the fact that he stole the third.

Alvin Owusu (01:01:21.681)
So.

diashawk (01:01:44.204)
and was still fighting and made himself believe, especially on Clay, that he can hang and he can play with Carlos. And it just helped me to believe, we talked about this a few episodes back about our American players getting that top five, right? We talked about, it was five, six, seven at one point, right? With Francis and Ben and Tommy, or maybe six, seven, eight, whatever the number was, right? It was in that ring where they're all right there together.

Alvin Owusu (01:02:06.417)
the yeah

diashawk (01:02:10.83)
And I told you, and you made the comment to me, if I'm not mistaken about, so one of these guys, you see them going, get into the semi with Alcara or with the center. And I remember you mentioned to me like, cause numerically that would have to happen for them to be that high in the world, right? And I remember thinking to myself, and I think I said to the podcast, Ben could do it. Ben could hang. I'm not sure about Taylor. I'm not sure about Tommy, but Ben's got big enough game to, and I thought he notched.

Alvin Owusu (01:02:25.573)
Right, yeah.

diashawk (01:02:40.296)
one more step closer to showing that he could hang in that top five seat with a player like Carlos.

Alvin Owusu (01:02:48.497)
So I, okay, I'm gonna take the other side of that one. Not to be just to be a contrarian, but I've heard a lot of similar commentary about that match, and I was like, were you guys watching the same match? I watched the match, and I was like, from the first two games, I'm like, Carlos doesn't think he's losing this match. He seemed like he played the entire match in fourth gear. Like, I didn't see him loosen up a little bit until the fourth set, like when you got that first break, it's like, okay, I got it now, and then starts like,

diashawk (01:02:58.434)
Yeah. Yeah.

diashawk (01:03:08.619)
No, God no.

diashawk (01:03:17.559)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:03:18.319)
And then he starts tagging it, going in line with the forehand. it felt like he was like, he's like, I'm going to play the same tennis I've been playing every match outside of maybe the center match in the final of Rome. Where he's like, I'm just gonna let you mess this up. I'm gonna let my normal rally ball be impactful. And he's just like, playing heavy cross, not really playing outside of himself. Got down in that breaker in the first set.

But like even when Ben is serving four, three up a mini break, I was like, Ben's gotta make three first serves here and he's gonna win the set and somehow he's not gonna do it. He's not gonna do it. I feel like this is not going to happen.

diashawk (01:04:02.497)
But you did get a little more encouraged the later the breaker went.

Alvin Owusu (01:04:07.231)
Yeah, you just have to assume that somebody, if somebody is going to win two points on their serve and then steal one on the other, it's going to be Ben. I trusted that more. Yeah. Yeah.

diashawk (01:04:14.605)
Return side for sure. Return side for sure. Let me, qualify it, but I don't want to take away your point. I don't think Carlos was ever in trouble losing. And I'm not saying that. It did me.

Alvin Owusu (01:04:25.767)
Well, I think it's more important that Carlos never thought he was in trouble of losing. He never thought, it never seemed like Carlos, well, he never, didn't even look, like when Carlos loses, he looks pressured. He looks frustrated. He was playing okay tennis and still had a smile on his face. Like he's like, no, I'm gonna be fine. This is going to be fine. There's no way, there's no way in best of five scenario on this court, on this surface that I'm going to lose this match. It doesn't matter. I'm gonna be fine.

diashawk (01:04:29.754)
Yeah, but I don't think Carlos ever thinks that in general, to be fair.

diashawk (01:04:56.118)
Alvin Owusu (01:04:56.945)
That's what he looked like. Right. Right.

diashawk (01:04:58.455)
This is clay court, not Ben's best surface. The fact that it went four to me was a huge kudos to Ben. And the fact that the match and the points were fiercely contested three three games, three points out of each game was what I'm looking for. I'm talking about in the attrition of it all. That match now tells a Ben Shelton going into grass. I took a set off him in on the clay, my worst surface.

Imagine what I can do if I can catch fire on the grass. I have a chance. That's how I'm looking at this. And on hardcore, I think I got a chance. I really do. That's this match said to me. That it's not about the today, this match, this tournament. I think Ben was happy he got this far. To me, let's be very clear. But and did up and had a very solid showing against the number two in the world. Now.

Alvin Owusu (01:05:29.691)
Hmm. Hmm.

Alvin Owusu (01:05:35.835)
Hmm

Alvin Owusu (01:05:51.944)
So, Ben has semi-finaled two Grand Slams, right? Australian Open this year.

diashawk (01:05:55.819)
Yep. And caught a strong great draw and ran into the man in each of those affairs.

Alvin Owusu (01:06:02.201)
Right, right. So I think what we're starting to see is the Taylor Fritz of it all. Right, let's just say Ben Shelton's gonna be the Ben. I still think when it gets to a certain, like even at its best, the limiting factor is am I gonna run into one of these three before I get to where I need to go in this tournament? And once I do, it's over. Now you're saying, you're saying, right, yeah, yes, yes.

diashawk (01:06:11.501)
Okay.

diashawk (01:06:23.69)
Yeah.

diashawk (01:06:29.899)
Ray Lewis.

Alvin Owusu (01:06:33.773)
so you're saying that.

That's not the case on grass. Looking forward a little bit. Like if we run into the same scenario, he runs into Alcara's, let's call it quarterfinals of Wimbledon, Alcara's back to right champ, defending champ by the way. Yeah, right, right. Right, so you're feeling like Ben's feeling good about his, you should always feel good about your chances, right? You should always feel good. But you as a fan.

diashawk (01:06:54.027)
100%. He's forced like M17. That came from somewhere.

Alvin Owusu (01:07:08.303)
watching, you feel good about his chances.

diashawk (01:07:11.147)
I feel like the closer he gets each time, the better I feel about it. And what I'm saying is, is that for him to get a set of him on clay justifies that belief. If he got blitzkrieg'd two, two and one, it's like, yeah, no, clay's not my service, but I just got whooped out there. I don't think Ben got whooped out there. He got, it's hard to even say four sets as a routine. He got managed. And to your point, he did a nice job of keeping it close. He held serve.

Alvin Owusu (01:07:34.949)
Managed. He got managed.

diashawk (01:07:41.13)
Heck, the break was 10-8, Alvin. I'm just saying, it's not like that, we're not talking that he didn't just get embarrassed out there. He did play some good tennis. He matched drop shots. He matched drop shot for drop shot. He hit the backhand, Alvin. He hit his backhand as clean as I've seen him hit in the whole tournament. Had to, but he hit his shots. I'm just saying, I felt like he didn't go for broke, which I thought he did in that Australia, that US Open, that he had a nice run. He had no basis of going winning.

Alvin Owusu (01:07:42.919)
Sure, sure.

diashawk (01:08:09.611)
hit that huge four on the line and somehow it cashing in on that big forehand late in the point. That was luck, balls, and a phenomenal shot. Trust me, that was how that run started. So we're now talking about him now being more of a complete player. You just can't wing it like that. You're gonna have to actually play that level tennis all the time. And I felt like today's match put a lot of confidence winning his sales.

that I can actually hang with one of the best players in the world right now if I do these three things. Am I beating him yet? No. Am I getting closer? Yes. And that's all I'm saying. And I feel like on grass, a better suited surface and hardcore, he takes that confidence with him and exponentially does better. Is that two sets next time? Maybe. But that's all. And it'll be a year or two, Taylor Fritz, if at all, before he realizes that. But...

each set gets a little closer. That's all I'm saying.

Alvin Owusu (01:09:09.345)
I, it reminds me of Fast and Furious 1 where Paul Walker's character, Brian Earl Spilner gets into a race with Vin Diesel and gets out of it at the end and he's like, and he's like, he's he's like, you know, he hits the NOS, he hits it a little too early, Vin Diesel goes flying by him at the end, they all get out and Paul Walker's character's like, I had you, I almost had you. And then Vin Diesel looks at him and goes,

diashawk (01:09:22.347)
you gonna say it? Intro mile.

diashawk (01:09:37.877)
Yeah. You know. Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:09:39.346)
You never had me, you never had your car. It's not close. The score is close, but I know you know. I hope Ben doesn't think this way because you should be delusional as a tennis player. But as Ben gets better, don't forget that Carlos also gets better. And therein lies the problem. Therein lies the problem, yeah, yeah. But.

diashawk (01:09:45.79)
Yeah.

diashawk (01:10:04.234)
Touché. Touché. Moussé.

Alvin Owusu (01:10:07.611)
How, no, other half of that, other half of that Carlos match, he's playing against Tommy Paul. How the hell is Tommy Paul still here? I thought he had a broke AB. He plays back to back, right, got his truck back and apparently he Wolverine'd a new AB too, because he goes back to back five centers and then smokes through in a straight set match, even forget who he played now. But here we are, Tommy Paul's still in the tournament. I thought he died two rounds ago. He's here, he's here.

diashawk (01:10:17.544)
and a repo truck.

diashawk (01:10:28.675)
diashawk (01:10:33.192)
I Love Tommy Paul.

Alvin Owusu (01:10:36.711)
I do you feel like Tommy has a puncher's chance in this match?

Alvin Owusu (01:10:45.84)
No, no.

diashawk (01:10:47.443)
I think he spent and whatever good drugs and stuff that he's been on, think that unfortunately it may come to fruition. So, but whatever is on, bottle it because...

Alvin Owusu (01:10:55.451)
Yeah, I-

I feel like this is a bad match. This is a worse matchup for Tommy than it is for Ben because Ben has the weapons to stay close, right? Ben's got that serve, he's always gonna able to stay close. Like he's not gonna lose a set six two, right? It'll be six four, it'll be seven five, but, he's be to make up that serve, Tommy doesn't have the same serve to bank on, and then it's on clay. Yeah, Carlis is gonna test him.

diashawk (01:11:25.139)
He's a good mover, he moves well, but Carlos, to me, if I'm Carlos, I couldn't have asked for a better draw to play a couple of Americans, you know, play a couple of Americans on clay. I mean, only thing better if he had had all three them in a row. And with Museo de Teatro, he almost will, right?

Alvin Owusu (01:11:30.885)
Yeah, it worked out well for him. Work in the American corner.

Alvin Owusu (01:11:40.476)
Well he, yeah, he never knows. Okay, let's, okay, not a lot of mustard here on this match. Let's move over to Musetti and Tiafoe. Musetti, feel like is, I mean, we just keep beating the same drum. He is raising his floor. His professionalism is raising. He is turning into a week in and week out kind of player, right? So eight seed.

diashawk (01:11:53.361)
Yep. Yes.

diashawk (01:12:02.345)
All day, Week in, week out, top 10 and currently having a very nice moment. I will give you one compliment on Lucetti. I read something about him and he said, I am working harder and complaining less. And it seems to be working out. I will do more. And I said, okay, I can get behind you now because he just had that look like

Alvin Owusu (01:12:15.206)
Love it.

Alvin Owusu (01:12:27.515)
the adult in the room.

diashawk (01:12:32.401)
It's always something, my strings, the graphite doesn't work, the clay, And now I feel like he is, I feel like he is not complaining. That's how he looks to me from time to time. And I feel like he's playing. Still feel like he's a little bit full of himself, but that's another talk show. Why would you not be? He's eight in the world. But I gotta tell you, his backhand looked very good today, the other day was when he played Rona. And I was really, really excited.

happy to see him manage that match, came off the ground on several forehands out of it and I was like, wow, good racket speed. to me, to me, Runa lost this match and lost an opportunity. I don't want to put so much on Losetti. I thought Runa on Clay especially moves better and I thought Runa should have, Runa should have done, they won a second, but I thought Runa should have done, played a little more aggressive and a little more, he should have played up in the court more.

Alvin Owusu (01:13:07.196)
Yeah.

diashawk (01:13:31.016)
and made Musetti beat him with the backhand. just, Musetti's got a good back, don't get me wrong. But no one save for Stan Verenka 10 years, 15 years ago is gonna go through you with the backhand. And I felt like he didn't take his amazement inside out. He was so busy covering court that he let Musetti dictate play. And I'm like, come on, come on, Holger, come on now.

Alvin Owusu (01:13:44.006)
Right, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:13:51.419)
Yeah. Yeah.

That's kind of the mcureal Holgeruna, What is he good at? He can't do it all, but what is he as a tennis player? When you see the best version of Holgeruna in your... Fewer holes, no noticeable holes. like...

diashawk (01:13:59.592)
Right.

diashawk (01:14:07.012)
He's a Cocoa Golf in lot of ways. He does everything, well, a little bigger weapon on so go. Right, but no real game idea. mean, when I watch him play, I'm like, what do you do? What do you want to do? What's your go-to? What's what you play? I don't know.

Alvin Owusu (01:14:17.489)
Game ID, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:14:22.363)
Yeah, you have all of the tools. What are you trying to build? Are you a painter? Are you a sculptor? Do you take photography? What kind of artist are you? What are you doing out here? Yeah, okay, well he's young. Yeah, so we can't. So, Francis Manansas records here against Lorenzo Musetti. Is there a world where Francis wins this match?

diashawk (01:14:34.918)
He's still figuring it out. And he's still young, so he still can't, but he missed an opportunity today.

Yep.

Alvin Owusu (01:14:49.841)
Cause he's just like, he's working his way through the draw right now. Like he ain't got no problems.

diashawk (01:14:55.611)
This is a great match. Both of them rely a lot on Moxie. I think Tiafos played himself back into winning form and is playing some good tennis. Tiafos believes he can still win and do his thing. Yes, I think there's a world where Francis wins this match. I really do.

Alvin Owusu (01:15:14.939)
What does he need to do? What does he need to do?

diashawk (01:15:19.311)
just what Olga should have done. Work the forehand to the backhand, take it at any given time, shorten some points when necessary, and make Mousseti beat him off the backhand wing, period, with a D, end of story. And I feel like he's gonna know that matchup better than most. I don't know. I feel like tactically speaking, France has always been solitatically. He knows what to do.

Alvin Owusu (01:15:27.612)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:15:45.243)
Right, yeah, yeah.

diashawk (01:15:46.215)
He may not have the weapons to do it with as much with a higher level top three or four or five guys in the world, but make no mistake, he knows what to do. And that's why I'm gonna give Francis the edge in this match because of that.

Alvin Owusu (01:15:57.096)
Yeah, I see it. If this match is beautiful and both players are running and sliding around and it's a beautiful European clay court match, it's not going well for Francis then. If it's ugly, yeah, yeah. Then I can see Francis winning this match. Of all the top eight seeds still remaining, Francis is not gonna.

diashawk (01:16:03.899)
Yep. Right, it may switch. Right, it's gonna go, but the points are short, slapping forehands, ugly, right?

Alvin Owusu (01:16:26.481)
beat Carlos on clay, I don't see that happening. I don't see him being joking, which I don't see him being sinner. I don't really see him beating Zverev, that's a lot. gotta, that's a lot. Musetti?

diashawk (01:16:38.548)
It's a lot. And his way of beating Zverev goes to Zverev's best shot. So it's a horrible matchup. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (01:16:43.751)
Right, yeah, it's a lot to handle. That's a lot to handle on clay. But this one feels like, yeah, I could see it. Yeah, it's winnable. Winner whether he will or not, I don't know, but it's winnable. Yeah, it's winnable. Did we cover all of them? Was that all of them? I think we did. Yep. Yep.

diashawk (01:16:51.29)
Yeah, it's winnable. It's all I'm saying. winnable. It's all I'm 51.49, you know, but it's winnable. You know what

diashawk (01:17:02.592)
Center, Novak, Alvin, it's gonna be, it's a neat quarter. I mean, let's be honest, it's gonna be a neat quarter. I'm happy that all these guys have gotten as far as they did. Missing in this is obviously Casper and a few others, that should be here at this point in time, but at the same time, as far as clay courtness and where they are in their careers. But I gotta say, I gotta say, I'm looking forward to it.

Center looked really good. I hope he didn't play too well. Hope he didn't play too well against Ruble F. That's all I'll say.

Alvin Owusu (01:17:35.367)
mean, well, hell, he played like lights out against Lehechka and then also played lights out against Rublev. So I feel like this is just him. This is just him. It's the weirdest thing. He just beats everybody except Carlos and Carlos will lose to anybody.

diashawk (01:17:41.316)
Yeah.

Yeah, so now you're like, is this just, this is just him? I know, that's what I thought. That's what I thought.

diashawk (01:17:54.879)
You know what I kind of, yeah, you're right. But you know what I felt, and that was early in the year too. I think Carlos has kind of started to catch his stride too. It's gonna be great finals should the two of them get there. Cause they both would really come from different paths to get here. I'm gonna say this. Yannick Center has the ability to start from almost 15 feet behind the baseline, Alvin. And three shots later, he's taken the ball on the rise. It is the most beautiful thing of transition from

Alvin Owusu (01:18:19.696)
Yeah

diashawk (01:18:24.719)
deep deep up to front court I've ever seen and let him get five shots in. He's running around a foreign on you going behind you to your backhand and he doesn't mind taking your backhand early off the court with the angle. it's just he somehow he knows what this movement is so good he get inside once he gets that third fourth ball in it he knows it's over. You cannot hurt me period.

Alvin Owusu (01:18:47.751)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it seems like Carlos is the only one that has been consistently able to hurt him by getting, Carlos can handle his ball and then get it out of his strike zone.

diashawk (01:19:01.094)
can't handle the ball and punish him with the line like most people can. Carlos hurt Ben today a bunch of times on that smack line that I was like, that's just a tough ball to handle. He just has that. And if he's leaning on it and going forward with his weight, that forehand line is something serious. He can go angle, he can go drop, and he can go big, but that's forehand line that he's moving to on the way there, on the way to the right.

Alvin Owusu (01:19:28.647)
Mm-hmm.

diashawk (01:19:29.892)
That foreign lines all day. mean, it is just, and you cannot stop it.

Alvin Owusu (01:19:33.32)
I would, you know, kind of in summation, I would like to, I'm not really paying attention too much. I mean, at this point, we're paying attention to everything because we're down to one court, Four matches a day. So the top half of the men's draw is interesting. Obviously the Novak-Zerav match is going to be, that will be what it's gonna be. I sincerely hope that, not because of my personal opinions about him, but I hope,

diashawk (01:19:42.105)
Sure.

Alvin Owusu (01:20:02.171)
Zverev does not win that match, because I don't want to Zverev play center again. I don't want to see that match. It's bad, it's bad. I want to see Novak play against center, because I think that is Custer's last stand. I think what Novak...

diashawk (01:20:07.009)
Right. Got it. Okay. Okay.

diashawk (01:20:17.763)
Yep. If he's to win one, it's this one, and it's got to go through center to do it. Or Alkraz, but yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:20:23.847)
Well, I think, yeah, let's even put the final off, right? Let's just say that two years ago, Sinner became Sinner in the last three months of 2023, and he beat Novak twice in that period, right? And then they, I think he had a shaky match against, Novak had a shaky match against him in Australia 2024. They met in the semifinals and he,

Novak was just like, he was dead tired by that point. He had a crappy morning and it it showed up on the tennis court. was a very, bad match. I think the same way that Novak needed to win the Olympics and he had to go through Carlos to do it, like that was like, can still do it against this generation. This generation will be the last generation that I face. And I've killed many a generation before this one. And if I had a few more years, I could kill this one too. But he's.

diashawk (01:20:59.139)
Yep. Yep.

diashawk (01:21:16.046)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:21:21.711)
at this point now he's got to put the pin in the center issue. And I think that is the driving, it's almost more important than winning the actual tournament. Like he's just got to beat center. To show people that he can do it.

diashawk (01:21:25.698)
Yeah, this is the match to do it.

Sure. Right. Right. That's actually well said. I hadn't looked at it with that level of full-scale gravity that you just gave it, but you're absolutely right. That would almost be an unofficial, you know, and I beat center at the top of his game before I went out. And you're right. And there's a lot of...

Alvin Owusu (01:21:52.517)
at the top of this game. Yeah.

diashawk (01:22:01.16)
There's a lot of weight to what you're saying. It won't give him 25, but let's be honest, who's getting 24 anytime soon? So that's done. I don't think anybody's gonna get 20 anymore, let alone the doll or Novak. So you're right. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe it's beating the guy that's gonna win it. It's a good point. I hadn't looked at it from that standpoint. Of course, he won't either, but I think the trophy's always been looking for.

Alvin Owusu (01:22:06.651)
Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Right, yeah, yeah.

diashawk (01:22:29.88)
But to your point, getting through, makes the Zara match be that much more pressing for him to be able to not, to do it in the most efficient way possible.

Alvin Owusu (01:22:40.615)
Right, yeah, to get there. You know, that triumvirate right now of Novak, Carlos, and Janik. obviously, Center and Carlos are the rivals because of the age, and they have their careers ahead of them, and they are one in two in the world.

diashawk (01:22:52.993)
Right. two in the world. Winners of the last, Seven of the last eight slams, give or take? I mean, all of them. Right, I'm trying to think about, I'm saying seven out of eight, because I don't know.

Alvin Owusu (01:23:02.119)
Yeah, think yeah, all of them. don't know about all of them. Novak won the 2020. No shit, 2023 French Open was the last one Novak won.

Yeah, yeah, or 2023 US Open. That's 2023 US Open. Anyways, yeah, like.

diashawk (01:23:28.075)
Yeah, something like that. point is, one's got two, one's got four. So there's only a couple left in there.

Alvin Owusu (01:23:32.569)
Yeah, they split the last five for sure. it's like, Carlos and Center have that rivalry. Novak and Carlos have a rivalry. Like that thing has been, they seem to, they're the ones that keep running into each other in Grand Slams, right? That's a real thing. But when the chips are down, Center's been flying, just flying pretty in all these Grand Slams. He's not meeting Carlos, he's not meeting Novak. mean, he met Carlos in the semifinals of Friendship in last year.

diashawk (01:23:50.647)
Center and no back, do not. Right. Right. Right.

Right.

Alvin Owusu (01:24:01.819)
and Carlos beat him, right? Kind of an ugly match, but he beat him. But besides that, like, Senna's just kind of like, I'll beat up on the Taylor Fritz's and Alexander Zverev's of the world. Like, now he's gonna have to do the hard work. And this is a...

diashawk (01:24:02.626)
Bye.

diashawk (01:24:11.779)
All day.

Yep, and face that former champ on the way, in route, not in the final. No, you're right. It'll be a good match. if we get there, right, if we get there and if we don't expend all of our gas in the tank, and it's very much, you know what mean? So it'll be a fun rest of the week.

Alvin Owusu (01:24:22.223)
Yeah, if we get to Friday, if we get to Friday, yeah.

Alvin Owusu (01:24:36.263)
Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Tennis always wins and tennis is in a healthy spot. I'm not, yeah, I'm excited. It's gonna be a good week. It's gonna be a week. I'm done, I got nothing else. All right, quarterfinal preview done. Everyone enjoy the tennis. BESSA 3 will catch you on the other side of these fantastic matches. Peace.

diashawk (01:24:41.878)
Yeah.

diashawk (01:24:47.872)
Yeah.

I love it.

diashawk (01:25:01.602)
Peace.