Australian Open 2024 Preview

DISCLAIMER: Please note we use a transcription service, so there may be some errors in the following transcription of this episode. If you can, please refer to the audio for exact quotations.

Daniel Kiernan  00:09

Welcome to Episode 213, of Control the Controllables. And it's a big hello from Melbourne, Australia, as the first Grand Slam of 2024 is about to get underway. But before I jump in and let you know about our amazing panelists, I want to just make a little plea, I listen to Gary Neville on Sky Sports and, and The Overlap. And he often says, watch it if you'd like, I'm not going to be so polite. If you are a listener of Control the Controllables we're very fortunate to have been shortlisted for the Sports Podcast Awards, we would absolutely love your vote. If you feel that we deserve it. If you have taken value from the podcast over the last few months, the last year, then please we will put in the show notes. Very simple way of entering your details and voting for Control the Controllables these are the sorts of things that keep us going, you know, they keep the name out there. They keep allowing us to be able to attract all of these amazing guests. And I thank you in advance for considering voting for us. Or I thank you in advance for voting for us. And anyway, I am now going to move on to our panelists. You know him well, Freddie Nielsen, if you've listened to Control the Controllables over the last couple of years, he's been a consistent figure on our panel as we're looking into everything Australian Open 2024 Freddie Nielsen, the Wimbledon, 2012, men's doubles champion, the current Davis Cup, captain of Denmark, and then we've got Gaby Dabrowski the current US Open women's doubles champion. Gaby has been with us over the last few Previews and Reviews. She's a WTA Council member, but again brings incredible insight into what we've got to look forward to. And I'm also helping Gaby out here in Australia. So she's got that inside knowledge of what's happening inside the doors at Melbourne Park. And then lastly, a first time panelist for us Calvin Betten, Calvin's an ATP coach. He's working with the British player, Henry Patten, who's playing out here in Australia. And Calvin is someone who has lots of opinions articulates himself incredibly well. And I'm excited to welcome him onto the onto the show. So without further ado, I'm gonna pass you over to our amazing Australian Open Preview panelists 2024. So Australian Open 2024 panelists a big welcome to Control the Controllables How are you doing?

Freddie Nielsen  03:15

Great, thanks. Good, Happy New Year.

Daniel Kiernan  03:17

It's great to have you guys. And thank you for showing up I know the time difference in Europe has meant that we've been led to more withdrawals from the Control the Controllables podcast and we've had at the Adelaide doubles over the last over the last few days, it seems that the start of the year. Gaby, why so many withdrawals?

Gaby Dabrowski  03:43

The week before a slam there are a lot of withdrawals in singles and doubles. The main draw list drops last minute the qually list drops last minute, there are a lot of Lucky Losers that get into the main draw, which is a good thing. But at the same time, it's difficult for the tournament and difficult for people to plan their schedules because you can't count on tournaments dropping so if you're ranked a little bit lower to try to get into those events is a risk. Yeah. And then the doubles. I mean, a lot of times once the players who are playing singles are out of the draw, they want to get to Melbourne as soon as possible. Yeah, they just they pull out of the Dubs and it's sad to see.

Daniel Kiernan  04:24

But Cal if I let's take Jan Zielinski this week in Adelaide, it's a 24 Draw. They're in the semifinals and they haven't hit a tennis ball yet. I know you coach Henry Patten, but you also coach Luke Johnson, you know, you've been you know, that it's kind of in that period of, of pushing through challenges, they would almost give their right leg to get a chance at a 250 What's the thought process of those guys ranked in and around 100 150 When they see that that's happening? I mean, I think it's twofold. Really what I mean for Luke and his partner Skander I think first of all they think Well, this is our ranking. In that regard. If we want to get in the events, our ranking's got to be higher. So they don't sort of take a victim mentality on it. But at the same time, I know that Luke and Scott Luke's ranked, I think about 110, on the live rankings about 120. And in the last month of last year, in the first month, the first couple of weeks of this year, they would have got in for ATP events. And they haven't gotten any, if they'd have gone and signed in, but you can't just go and turn up in Adelaide, on the hope that you might get in a tournament, when there's three Challengers in Thailand. So they're out playing Thailand, now they could have played in, they would have been, they would have got in Adelaide this week, they would have got in Hong Kong the week before, they would have actually got in, it seems they would have got in the Paris Masters, if they'd have hang around in Paris until the very last withdrawal, which was about five days into the event, I think the system's broken. I do think that the system needs changing both with the acceptance of singles players who can get in doubles draws, but also what's disappointing with this week is the number of actual doubles specialists who have been falling out. And in my opinion, it's just because they turned up at those events, the top guys, the top 10. Guys, some of them just wanted one match before they went to Australia and then pulled out and I don't like that or was that we certainly I mean, obviously we don't know we'll see what Doddridge and cry check a lake when they turn up in Melbourne. But they were obviously the high profile doubles team that did that and Adelaide and I think ready to bring to bring you in, I think it probably is a bit of an Australia thing, you know, and those that played and Gabby was one of them playing till the very end of the season on the WTA the ATP even further with Davis Cup finishing a few days into December. And then we got United Cup, Brisbane, these events Auckland that are actually starting around December the 29th. So we're talking about a three and a half week window where players are supposed to holiday, spend some time with friends with family, they suppose to, to work on developing their game from all the different aspects. They're supposed to make sure that they get enough physical work in them that's going to carry them through the first six months of the year. And it's just it's not possible. You know, and I think we do then start to see and being out here you kind of feel it as well. Obviously, different people are coming out of various parts of preparation. You know, we saw last year, Casper Ruud and Cameron Norrie just decided to almost play through December, you know, they played in Abu Dhabi, they played all the exhibitions, they looked sharp, they looked hot as they started in Melbourne. But then by July their season was kind of over, you know, and we're dealing with human beings here. You know, that aren't. They're not robots, so we can just keep chucking loads on top of and keep doing that and keep doing that. What? When you were a player, how did you approach the offseason period? And how did you then find it? Starting off in Australia? Feeling like maybe you hadn't played a match for a few weeks? Yeah, what was the what was the approach that you took to this period?

Freddie Nielsen  08:22

Yeah, so during the year, I never had any time off. So at the end of the season, I would try to take some time off first and foremost, just to do some of the stuff that was not possible for me to do during the year. And then I would start training slowly. And in the last few years, I would go to Luxembourg, to do my preseason with, with shield there and, and see the physio or physical coach there and my tennis coach that was helping me. And I like that I wish I had done that previously to go to a different environment where the level was high, and I felt I could really push myself but it's also the time of the year where I could maybe try rackets or if I wanted to change something or if there was something in my technique I could change. But ultimately, it was it was a chance to reboot and feel good. And I I always felt good at the start of the year. I did it wasn't that big of a deal for me with the lack of matches. On the other hand, I was just feeling really ready to go. But it was good. I always felt like Australia was one of the reasons why maybe it's just my theory, but one of the reasons why it was such a nice event is because people ordered their preseason, they were happy, they were feeling good. Nobody came down one out. So my impression was that in Australia, people were all just raring to go and I feel like there's also a lot of good tennis to be played. And that was the same way I felt I always felt great at the start of the year. So it is obviously very different these days and you know So kind of ask the question, as they have with so many other sports like football and whatnot, Is there too much tennis. And I think we're getting close. Because at what point we see now, people, people start to get injured a lot. At the end of the year, you have all the debate about the change of balls, and if they don't have a proper recovery time and time to load up and the players are gonna get injured, and that's going to be bad for the sport in that sense. So I think it's a really, really interesting debate.

Daniel Kiernan  10:31

Cal, I saw a tweet of yours. If anyone doesn't follow Calvin Betten on Twitter get follow following him ASAP. It's always it's always entertaining. I saw a tweet of yours Nick Kyrgios blame the balls for Novak Djokovic's injury or wrist and and you've had a response, what was your response? There might be an argument about the balls changing, like throughout the season. But at this time of year is the worst time of year to make that argument, because who would have finished is season at Davis Cup, which I think was the next to last week in November, or maybe the last week in November, he then had a week off. And since then, he would have played with the Australian Open ball. So by the time the Australian Open start, he'll have been playing with the Aussie Open ball for about seven weeks in a row. This is the longest time during the whole season where you play with the same ball week in week out from the start of preseason until the end of the Australian Open, you're playing with the same ball. So I'm finding it difficult to see that Novak Djokovic, if he does have a wrist injury, which I've got suspicions about because he never loses the match when he's not injured. But if he does have a wrist injury, then I can't see been because of changing balls when he hasn't changed balls for seven weeks. Which is which I think is a fair point. Did Mr. Kyrgios reply? He did not, no. Did he block you. He hasn't done yet. Now. He replied to almost every other reply except for that one. That's really weird. He probably just didn't see it. So I'm just going to say I do think that we should have a standard ball. But that's difficult. I think the legalities of that are difficult with monopolies and that kind of thing. I don't think you can do that. I don't know if it's possible to regulate how the companies make their balls, that might be possible. Because I don't see any reason why you wouldn't do that, why the companies wouldn't do that, because they just want their name on the ball that kind of thing. But you know, on the balls at the ball, like we're currently playing the Australian Open ball is a terrible ball, especially for the conditions I think I don't see why we really should be playing with the US Open ball at this tournament. Because in these conditions with the heat and that kind of thing. You want the most durable ball. And this ball is not remotely durable that the change in it. And I assume Gaby's had the same feelings that the change from the first three games with new balls to then like that it changes to a ball that I wouldn't coach with a home in my basket. And then you get four or six games with that ball. And then you've got this bowl that's uncontrollable. Like Luke was telling me yesterday that they've been playing with that ball in Thailand. Luke says and Luke is one of the best returners in the men's doubles game, Luke says he doesn't think he's made a return off the first serve of a new ball into two and a half tournaments so far. He said, Because it comes the difference that it comes from, from the ball that you've the old nackered fluffed up ball, to basically playing with a golf ball, for the first three games is impossible to control, and then you're back to the old ball. So you've basically got three different balls in the first set, you've got the ball that you've warmed up with, you get the first couple of games with that. Then you've got this old nakid ball, and then you've got a brand new ball, and then it just repeats again. That's the name of the podcast, from beach ball to golf ball. I think we got it. I think we've nailed it. And Gaby as the, you know, we're sitting here, the coaches are sitting here, given all these opinions, you're the one that's you're the one that's playing at the start of the year. You're the one that's had to prepare here in 2024. Give us your take on that, but also, firstly, give us the take on the Australian Open tennis balls.

Gaby Dabrowski  14:32

I completely agree with Calvin. I've been struggling for the last few years ever since they switched from a really nice Wilson ball. Actually, I would I don't remember what Wilson ball they were using before. I don't think it was a Wilson US Open ball. It might have been like a Wilson Championship ball. But that ball was much better on these courts, I thought and as soon as they change to the Dunlop ball. Yeah, I think it changed the dynamics of the match completely just what Calvin was explaining how you can literally play with three very different balls within one set and having to adjust every single time and I've certainly been struggling on my returns with the new balls. I've been struggling to control the ball more than I had even in preseason because the conditions here are so lively in comparison to other places that we play at. I don't really understand what's gone wrong with this ball because it doesn't even feel like a classic Dunlop ball to me like in the in the, I believe in Madrid and Rome. We use Dunlop forte if I'm not mistaken. And that feels completely normal as a tennis ball. I feel like the Dunlop four balls super reliable. But that's not what we're playing with here. It's like a ball specifically for this swing that they do use in other parts of the world. And we're going to be using that ball in our Middle Eastern swing. So it certainly is concerning when you have that much variation. I was told once by a former Dunlop Rep that they tried to make the core of this ball harder to try to withstand the heat of the court and the conditions in Australia. But I think they've just missed the mark. And I would love to know more about why the ball plays the way that does. But I agree that there's too much variation. It could contribute to injury, I would say not in the sense that we're changing balls during the swing and our preseason, but just the way that the ball fluffs up, and the wear and tear on it over the course of practice. So if you've been playing with this ball for Yeah, six, six weeks leading into a low playing tournament, maybe there is some overuse issue that could then occur, but it wouldn't be something acute, because we're not changing. It is the same one. So you could still have an issue that could be correlated to an injury, but I don't think that it's because of a change. I think it's just because the ball sucks,

Daniel Kiernan  17:01

Guys, I love tennis ball chat. But we potentially, we've just talked for an hour and a half on tennis balls. So I'm gonna have to jump in and move it on. And I'm gonna take this to you now, Freddie, because I had a little luck in just to get a little sample size. When we talk about, I guess tennis running over an 11 month period, you know how you how you structure your Yeah, I touched on there, Casper Ruud and Cameron nori went a certain way. Darby and Aaron came across the city I cover last week in Adelaide, and she's played pretty much straight through December, you know, and that obviously, I think there's no doubt that that prepares you best in the short term for this period of time. But we have a full year where you accumulate your points, your wins your development, and then you've got a career to think of as well. And getting the right strategy is is something I think it's quite interesting. So I did a little look and I saw that Iga last year played 18 tournaments. And in those 18 tournaments, she played 80 matches. Kudermatova played 26 tournaments. And in those 26 tournaments, she played 58 matches, Novak that played 12 tournaments in the whole year. Must be nice. And played 63 matches. And then you had Mannarino who played 31 tournaments, and in those 31 tournaments. He only played a few more matches than Novak did in the year. So I think what I'm trying to get at Freddie is there'll be different people that will be of different rankings and have different approaches. But it's not just the match volume. It's also it's the travel volume and going the relentlessness of going from week to week to week. So the top players are able to do that in less weeks, have their matches Novak we didn't see between US Open and Paris, you know, go and spend that time with his family, take care of his mind, take care of his body feel like he's got a bit more normality, and because of his success. Now, what's your take on that? Using your examples as a player but also as a coach on how someone should approach the year?

Freddie Nielsen  19:24

I think like you said here, it's very individual. And I think that it certainly depends on where you are in your life and your career. One thing which you alluded to that I've seen the last few years, be it Roger, Novak, Serena, Iga, the better you get, the less tournaments you play because obviously you want to be ready for those big tournaments at that point, the point from a 250 or the money from a 250 become relatively insignificant and and you start just gunning for a slams and 1000s and, and the big bucks. So I think there's something to be learned from that. But other people might not have that financial freedom, or they might not have the ranking freedom. So I think it's very individual, I think. I mean, as a rule of thumb, you know, we spoke about this, if you are mentally and physically ready to compete and go and win for the tournament, you're good to go. And whatever that means for you personally, that could be different than what it means to me. And I also think that it's very important to try and see, even though it's difficult, and that's where a coach comes in, and can be handy, that you got to do what's better for you over the span of a career, you know, and it can be very tempting to make short term decisions, but they will come back and haunt you. So maybe you can add a few tournaments in the short run, but in the span of a career, you subtract, so

Daniel Kiernan  21:02

I got a high profile version of that. Does you regret it? I don't know. I would imagine not. But Sir Andy Murray. I mean, if we go back to 2016, he went for absolute the short term gain, he saw a window where he could be world number one. And he played I believe it was 11 tournaments in a row. He went on this crazy run, obviously, playing five matches six matches a week, he got to World Number One, but his body never recovered. You know, and I know that that's a quite an extreme example. But if Andy Murray maybe hadn't been seen the bright lights of that, then, you know, maybe he was able to pace himself a little bit better. And he would have had more longevity of a career. Now. We've got that all the way through. Because we're, we're made to think right, in the world of tennis, it's about ranking, it's about results. It's about this go and get it that's your opportunity, make as much money as you can in the short space of time. You know, that's very, there's, there's a feel of that, you know, you feel that when you're out here that young people are on this, in this rat race, where it's like, right, we need to do it now is our time. And and I guess we're all guilty as human beings of trying to almost fit into this gone, almost uniformed way of thinking without actually seeing what's best for us.

Freddie Nielsen  22:34

Yeah. And if you take the Murray example, I think he was at the end game, you know, he was seeing his target, he had won slams, this was his opportunity to be number one in the world. Maybe it would be, I think it probably is more fulfilling to him, that he was able to become number one in the world, and maybe sacrifice a little bit in the other end, then it would be to pull out and maintain some sustainability. But maybe linger around. I don't know. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, though, so there's a big difference to me when you get to that point. Also,

Daniel Kiernan  23:12

If you linger it. We call it can we call it lingering? If you're two in the world?

Freddie Nielsen  23:18

What do you mean, maintain that there's a huge difference, you know, you don't remember all the twos in the world, you probably remember all the number ones in the world. And he was also not that young. At that stage. He was not old by any means. But he has been through a lot. And there's a big difference between that and then trying to push your ranking from 80 to 60. You know, so that's probably he earned the right to make that push because he had been so accomplished in his career and probably done a lot of things that he wanted to do, such as winning Wimbledon and winning slams. And then probably the biggest goal for him could have been being number one in the world, then, you know, kind of like a casino you you you pick your hands and when you get a good hand you go for it. Right? One but but you got to earn that hand first. And I think he did that. So I think that's obviously a little bit different. But I think you know, you can it's very individual it depends on what you want to do with your career. What are you trying to do? He's he was also financially independent at that time, I imagined that it didn't have to worry about too much about his family's security in the in the in the future. So he's earned that right to make that choice. So I think that was a little bit different. I think it's the difficulty is when you come through as a youngster, and you're trying to make your way in the game. That's where it really becomes tempting because usually when you're young, you're impatient. You want everything right here right now and you think that you can sustain it and you don't think anything is going to hinder you. I think it's much more of a challenge. You can see the older people get the better they get it pulling out of tournaments and and resting and making sure that they're feeling fully fit So, yeah, I think it's very individual to be honest.

Daniel Kiernan  25:03

And specifically, Australian Open I want to I want to jump into Gaby. It's my first time here since 2012. I don't know where that time time is going. But that's that's another subject. About 80% 90% of people I ask all the time on this podcast, what's your favorite slam? Australia, Australia, Australia, Australia. You get people that might, you know, say traditionally Wimbledon but Australia, they call it the Happy Slam. It's it seems to seems to come out. In almost anyone you speak to my feeling I was like a kid in a candy shop. As Gaby kindly gave me the the walk around. We did 23,000 Steps Gaby walking around that site. But I was just like, Oh my God, look at that. Look at that. That's amazing. This is amazing. This is amazing. I completely get it. You know, there's little nooks and crannies. There's the way the players are valued. And the way that the coaches are valued the way that they have really make such a big effort. And it seems like they're adding to that every single year. From your point of view, what is it that makes the Australian Open so special and remembering that those listening, a lot of them would have been here and they certainly wouldn't have experienced it as a as a player or someone on the inside?

Gaby Dabrowski  26:29

Yeah, Australian Open is really special. This this swing, the whole swing is great. Whether you're playing in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, all the cities are great to visit. It's really good vibes. But I think what makes the Open in particular really special is the player and the fan experience. Every single year, you see improvements made for players. And for fans, even for fans just thinking of okay, it's normally really hot, the sun is really strong. So all of the outside courts have awnings over the stands. So even small improvements like that, make it even better. And for the players, I feel like they always think of something that we need, or they've taken our feedback, whether it's an improved gym, or warm up space, or multiple warm up spaces throughout, throughout the venue. So we're not all on top of each other when we're getting ready for our matches. The locker rooms are beautiful, the coat they have separate coach female and male locker rooms where you guys, you know, can even hand in your laundry yourselves. And that's like a bonus that people might not think is a big deal. But it actually is a big deal because it just makes your life so much easier. The food is incredible at the Australian Open, we have two levels of food. And in two weeks, it's really difficult to get bored with the food because you could eat something completely different every single day they change the menu, the food's really fresh, the produce is really good, which is sometimes hard to find and hard to do. We have enough money credit on our badge to eat for most of the day, so you don't have to worry about the cost of the food. The coffee is phenomenal. And the practice venues are also I think the conditions are pretty close to the match courts, which I think is important and not something that you can always easily find. And also Melbourne in itself is an amazing city and it's super accessible so you don't have to commute very far to get to the tennis venue is very stress free. Yeah, I really don't have like enough I have Yeah, I don't have enough good things to say is I mean it's it's it's amazing.

Daniel Kiernan  28:47

I mean the food this is a this is there's this was bittersweet for me because we went for the food on the first day and the salad bar and looking at me at the sound I can't imagine Carl's been to the salad bar Yeah, he's not the you know the bonds or you don't have salads in Barnsley in Excuse me we're not that we're not that uncultured The salad bar me that's got like I mean just yeah, the freshness of the food but I got to the end of the salad bar and I looked in that's all they look at those prawns and I love I love prawns next thing I knew I had about 14 King size prawns, you know, beautifully marinated in some kind of sweet chili or certainly was sat down, the prawns went down and absolute treat. Next day straight back to the to the aisle for the prawns. Anyway, I've got gout and anyone that's got gout. Well, no, it's not a pleasant experience. I take my tablets every day, but the almost the number one food that affects my gout is prawns. I woke up yesterday morning, and I felt every ounce of every prawn that I've eaten, you know, coming out in this just agonizing pain in my foot. So it looks like, I'm going to have to have a different choice of karate in the next few days, until I can until I can start walking properly again, before I move back to it, but yeah, it's been for me. And just to jump on the back of what Gaby said, and I don't know if you felt this yet, Carl, but you can turn up to tournaments, and we're talking about the best tournaments in the world. And as a coach, you can feel a little bit like, who are you, you know, that feels, you know, you're no, no, no, you can't go in there. And actually is a male coach coaching female players. And again, this might sound like a silly thing, but like US Open, you're not allowed in a locker room. So you can't go in the male locker room and you can't go in the female, obviously can't go in the female locker room. So it's then little things that where do you go during the day for a bit of comfort, a bit of quiet time, a shower, a bathroom, you know, these things that we might take for granted was I turned up and I was whisked off to the coaches lounge and given a little gift and then off you go to the coach's locker room. And that feeling of being valued. I think we can all all resonate with that with that feeling and whatever, whatever form of life that we're in. And just by giving me a heart, that whenever I wear it, I don't wear it. It's a feeling of feeling of value. And that's something I've certainly appreciated. And you can see that Craig Tiley and his team have done it have done a great job of thinking all of the little details. What about yourself Calvin, one of the first, your first time at the Aussie Open? First time or the Open? Yeah. How's it been? So far? I know you've had a tough experience at the airport with the transport which didn't get it off to a great start. Now, Now, it was actually it wasn't that bad, but you'd message me about an hour before that saying, Oh, this time was the best tournament they do the little things so well. And I turned up at the airport and there was a two hour wait for transport. So we're just sat in the Melbourne isn't normal? No, they said apparently they changed the system of how they did it. And there were a couple of drivers off I think with COVID or something. So there was a delay, but there was about 30 players all waiting for the players and coaches all waiting for transport. And we were actually at the front issue of the queue. I think we were the fourth in line and it was about an hour and a half until we got to transport and then there was some there were probably 25 players and coaches behind us waiting for transport so yeah, but you know there's teething problems they were trying a new system apparently. But yeah, the site is very nice. I gotta say I I mean I think you both you Kierno and Henry were giving me grief yesterday because I I do love New York. I do love US Open and I've only I only went there for the first time last year I thought it was brilliant but I think is anything with all of these tournaments though you kind of remember it on on how you do when you're there as well. I mean I know you've had a good experience there Kierno in the past and you had a great experience US Open both you and Gaby last year so and Freddie's obviously won Wimbledon so I love that one but like I thought I guess I thought the French Open was crap but then we lost first round there. So that probably probably opinion I I love India. I love India that's the place I want a futures singles event. It's like India's like my favorite ever. I think as well like I like tournaments. And this goes for challengers and futures and and the the main tour I like tournaments that you get to see a little bit of the city that are like city center tournaments, that kind of thing and I think US Open you stay in the city center and also something that affects it is when is the weather like the weather when you're there I think like if it rains all day, a particular tournament like it's you struggle to think it's a great tournament so you just hanging around tennis courts all day. And also when you play the matches, like I said I had a great experience US Open Book or we play the lads made third round but we played all our matches first on so we play the mat warm up like the match we're out there by two o'clock and then I could go see some friends in New York, you know, go and walk around the city and that kind of thing where I think if you play in later on and all you get to see is the tennis then you know that that can affect your opinion of the tournament but but yeah, I mean you know the site here is beautiful that you know, it's very modern. That kind of thing. We went round a couple of the stadiums yesterday I had a little look on the Kia Arena. I saw Novak was practicing on Rod Laver side a little look at that. I haven't been in John Kane, but Henry tells me it's the best one. And I haven't been in Margaret Court. Other than to the players locker room, which is which is in Margaret Court Arena. The food is excellent. But I think I think for me if we almost kind of detract ourselves from our own personal experience, because I completely agree with you that the personal experience like Adelaide, I don't feel the so Adelaide really, you know, we, we were there for four days, we were there for four days, but you preparing for the first round, you lose a tight first round match, and then you get out of there. So if someone ever mentions Adelaide to me, I almost want other a big personal experience about it yet. But there's two things for me. And I think these are probably bigger life lessons in whatever we do. When people are valued, we're talking about the top of the game. But this goes into like this can go into any fun, but certainly in the tennis world, this can go into ITF Futures Events, if you set something up where the players, coaches, people that are they're a valued, and they'll be the smallest of small things, you know, it might be that you get a locker, it might be that you get a towel, when you turn up whatever it might be, you know, just to make you feel valued. And the second thing I think, and it's a big word, that is if you feel somewhere or something is progressing. You know, it doesn't always doesn't matter where it was, but it's where it's trying to go towards. And it's not just standing still, then you tend to have a bit more appreciation for that as well. And I've actually had a couple of drivers that have used the word progression. As I've been I like to have a chat. And he plays it I'm with a normally a bit embarrassed because I always just jump into a chat with the driver, but I like to meet the locals. And I like to ask them when they're the word progression. Oh, yeah, yeah, we're, we're proud of how we are progressing each year, you know, on that, see, there seems to be a real pride in that. One driver also said, Well, you guys are all traveling where it were at the end of the world. You know, it's such a big effort for people to get here, we need to make sure that we're also then providing a great experience. And I think that comes through quite loud and clear. And yeah, hopefully, we'll all be sitting here in in a couple of weeks and have memories from winning matches on court court as well, which we'll, we'll add to our personal experience for sure. I think as well like one of the things that I really liked about the US Open and the other tournaments around the world just haven't got it. And it was only when I went to US Open and experienced it is this idea of the spectators can just go in and out of the stadiums when they choose that I think is something that tennis really needs to embrace, because its only when you've experienced that, and then you go to another tournament, and then they're telling you to wait, I came from US Open, where I enjoyed the matches that I was there working on but also I went around the grounds just watching random matches that kind of thing. You can just walk on a court and and watch it whenever you want. I came from there to then Davis Cup was at Manchester, which is near where I live. So I took my parents to Davis Cup about a week later, after US Open and we will we went out to get a drink or I went out to get a drink in the middle of the match. And I had to wait 45 minutes to get back into the match from that because of the queues. The queues to get back in the arena into the actual tennis arena the queues to get a drink that kind of thing. And I remember thinking then, this is not how tennis wants to be selling itself. That and that for me was and then he was like Australian Open sorry Adelaide last week I went to watch a match just on the on one of the outside courts to the steward was like no, you gotta wait until the change of ends that you can go in. And this is this is ridiculous. It's some silly out of date tradition that they've got. And I'm told by all the players Freddie and Gaby would know this better that they don't mind it as long as things are moving constantly is it's if something is still and then something moves that there's a problem but things move players moving people moving constantly in and out of the arena. Isn't that much of an issue? Gaby.

Gaby Dabrowski  39:06

Yeah. I don't necessarily disagree with that. I think I'm so used to things being quite calm that I think it would be difficult if it was in my eyeline if it's along the side. I don't think it's a big deal at all. I think if you're sitting along the side of the court, you can be moving and it's not that big of a deal. But if you're in the eyeline, you know when you're tossing when you're serving or as you're getting ready to return there's movement sometimes it can be distracting, however that could just be because I'm used to it being pretty still most of the time if all of a sudden people were moving in and out all the time. Maybe I would get used to that. Eventually it would just take some time to adjust, but I do see about the about the waiting to get into matches like that's not good.

Freddie Nielsen  39:58

Yeah, I think I think you should be To walk in and out. And for me, it was never the movement that bothered me I was more bothered by noise or sudden sudden yells at particular times. I mean, I think you can walk in and most people know what to walk in and sit down and I do feel a little. Sometimes when I'm at sporting sporting events, I do feel a little embarrassed by my sport that we're sitting waiting for two people to sit down on row 37. It's

Daniel Kiernan  40:27

Especially when we're losing. When we're when we're winning. And when we're hitting the ball great, it doesn't seem to affect us. It's funny. Well, in terms of the start of 2024 Freddie, it was it was the year of the comeback. And by the way, a certain Mr. Rafael Nadal walked past me in the corridor yesterday. So all of these press talks that he's back, back recovering in Spain. We can give you an exclusive he's not he's still in Australia, he might have left in the last 24 hours.

Freddie Nielsen  40:58

Myabe he likes the prawns.

Daniel Kiernan  41:01

I wouldn't blame him I hope he doesn't have a gout attack because that might keep them out of that and what he's injuries right now, but the Gout Attack is more painful. I can guarantee you that of whatever he's got, but a 38 year old man he's 38 this year. I mean, the couple of things I'd like to see on Rafa obviously we've had the comeback of Rafa and unfortunately he's not playing here in Melbourne. Naomi Osaka you know, I think someone who I don't know if it was you Freddie, or it was Xavier Mellise on one of these shows said she was going to win more grand slams than Serena Williams two or three years.

Freddie Nielsen  41:36

Melisse, definitely not me.

Daniel Kiernan  41:38

And then we got Emma Raducanu who's obviously massively high profile coming back. Carolyn Wozniacki was back at US Open but you know, she she's back I think there's some exciting stories but if I just start with Rafa Freddie, 38 years old this year hasn't played a match in 12 months comes out held to love against Dominic Thiem in his first match you know played some really good tennis was fantastic against Kubler in the second round look like actually in front statistically actually I believe that he'd almost eat increased his certainly attacking statistics look like he hadn't been away but then 38 years old to come and play three matches at that intensity after so long away, I guess we were just reminded that he is a human being, the body's you know, fallen apart a little bit already which which is unfortunate. So he's going to be a big big miss. But when we talk about those names, and obviously Caroline's someone we've spoken about before from from your home country. Which of those do you think is going to go best route 2024 and also the start the start of the year between Rafa Naomi, Emma and Caroline.

Freddie Nielsen  42:57

I don't have much faith in Emma to get back to Grand Slam winning kind of form. I need to see some more from her. To be honest. So I would put her last and then I would put I think Osaka needs a bit more time to get back on track. But it's a tough one. I mean, Rafa, Rafa seems to be broken doesn't I mean, that's that's a shame Caroline. She's got the ferociousness and the tenacity to come back and she's in it to compete and you could see at the USL maybe she did so well already then. I think it's difficult that's a very good question. Why don't we why don't your best ones ever. I mean, it's difficult for me not to my my heart wants to say Caroline because I want her to do well, because she's my friend and she from Denmark.

Daniel Kiernan  43:50

She plays, she plays Magda Linette in the first round who was a semi finalist from last year, and I think that's a really interesting first round match.

Freddie Nielsen  44:05

Oh, yeah, for sure. There's I don't know some Polish heritage because Caroline's got the Polish, Polish heritage and maybe there's some respect there from Linette as well. They probably know each other maybe they grew up who knows? I mean, I think a lot of the girls would not want to play Caroline in the first round to be honest and in general, I think one of the big storylines this year is both men and women is that there are so many dangerous floaters and so many big names float us outside the seeds it's it's quite astonishing to me I actually went and looked through the drawers so yeah, if you're here to defend semifinal you would probably not want to see Caroline first round.

Daniel Kiernan  44:47

What are some of the standout I don't know if you guys have seen the draw that was done yesterday, but any any standouts for you guys first rounds of the men's and women's singles. I know that Osaka plays Garcia.

Freddie Nielsen  45:01

Swiatek against Kenin Collins carrabba To play Santiago Canyon. Even even as even just an Azarenka, Georgie is also kind of a good match. You never know what she was going to come out of the Georgi's rackets. You have Pliskova against Rybakina you have quite many. I mean, I have to say there's it's quite an interesting draw this year.

Daniel Kiernan  45:27

I think in the men's there's some interest in second rounds. Evans, Alcaraz would be an interesting one. Well, depending if our Fit ever was this potential for Murray and Djokovic, in round three, as well.

Freddie Nielsen  45:43

Berretini Tsitsipas.

Daniel Kiernan  45:46

Just on that one, Freddy, again, similar to what we've talked about, Lynette because as much as we'd like to say defending points shouldn't be a thing. I'm not convinced that it doesn't get in players heads, even at this level, and Tsitsipas.

Freddie Nielsen  46:03

That's all people talk about.

Daniel Kiernan  46:04

Yeah, and somebody said the other day, how's Tsitsipas still top eight in the world? Because it doesn't seem like he's won that many matches over the last few months. But he was finalist here in Australia last year. I don't think you want to see Berrettini in front of you either when you're you're defending final, I know Berrettini hasn't played that much tennis. But he's certainly got he's got a good match in and you know, and when you're defending final like that, I would imagine that's going to have a big effect on Tsitsipas' ranking if he was lose first round. And the other one I want to mention actually, and and I'd love to get your guy's opinion on Jannik Sinner, because what we saw at the end of last year was Jannik Sinner beat Djokovic a couple of times, was playing unbelievably well. I mean, the ball striking was just off the charts. And as we like to do, we then jump in and start saying, Oh, that's it. He's gonna win multiple grand slams, it's it. He's done it. And it's like, well, actually a couple of things that was indoors, you know, pretty fast. Turin's very fast. You know, Malaga is a decent speed indoors. He obviously hit red hot form. But interestingly, for me, hasn't played a tournament since Davis Cup. It might be a good thing. It might not be a good thing. He plays Van Der Zandschlup in the first round, I am a big fan of Botic, which I think he's got some serious game. That's the one I'm quite interested in. You know, just to see how if Sinner is going to just continue that form. Or as expectation rises. It's outdoors, different conditions first match of the year. I think that's an interesting matchup as well. I think if I mean, first of all, if Tsitsipas defends his points, then I will eat my Australian Open hat. There's so many, by the way. I mean, no problems. What I find it bizarre about Tsitsipas is if you look at his coaching situation over the last year that he decided to take his dad out of the equation, his dad who isn't a tennis coach, and replace him with Mark Philippoussis who isn't a tennis coach, and then chose to get rid of him and replace him back with his dad who still isn't a tennis coach. And I think that that sort of sums up, Stefanos Tsitsipas' decision making about his career. He's got Badosa in his corner though. Did you see when him and his brother won that doubles title last year. And I and his brother and I know Petros relatively well, because I've seen him around Futures and that kind of thing. And he's a lovely lad. But they won him. Him and his brother won. Forget where they won the doubles? For him. Yeah. Yeah. No, it wasn't the annex Joan regime. And for Angela, they wouldn't it and I thought that can't be as I've got brother replaced tennis and I thought they can't be a greater thrill than winning a professional doubles titles with your brother. And I thought Petros must be so happy with that. And immediately Stefanos came in the ceremony and gave all of the credit to Badosa, his girlfriend for what she'd done in the week. And I'd just be livid. If my brother did that. I'd be absolutely livid like you've just taken that it's just so such a weird thing to do. Now, Cal to use it to use a word that my 14 year old daughter uses quite a lot around me and my wife, it was cringe. Very cringe yeah. It was very cringe. But yeah. So yeah, I don't have much faith in Tsitsipas making the final although last year made the final last You know, out of nowhere, it didn't it didn't. It didn't be anybody really did he had a weird run to the final? I think there was I mean, I don't I don't know whether it would count as a dark horse, I rate him very highly. And if his body holds up, I can see Jack Draper having a decent tournament. If he's if his body holds up, he's played excellently in Adelaide. I know he's under ranked at the minute. But I don't think he's been in the quarterfinal of a slam before. Always something in Australia this summer. So that brings me to the, to the dark horses and Cal, we've, we've had a lot of discussion on dark horses all the time, because people have kind of bent the Dark Horse rules a little bit as their selections, you know, picking multiple Grand Slam champions as dark horses, you know, like it's, it's taken a little bit of getting there. So what we're talking about is were we talking about someone who could have have a quarterfinal round, possibly semi final that, that we're not, haven't seen really do that before. We haven't seen them go, go to such a win and get some, get some names, get some names out there. Who wants to start who's been thinking about this.  He's one of my three that I've written down. And actually, he plays Tommy Paul, potentially plays Tommy Paul, in the second round, who obviously is beaten in Adelaide. Yeah, but Tommy, Paul's also, you know, I would imagine Tommy Paul and Melbourne, a couple of weeks on from where he's at in Adelaide will be a different, a different opponent, but I'd be with you on that. And when I looked at, I thought, well, yeah, the winner of that if they do come across each other, you know, I could start to see them move through the draw and potentially go a little bit deeper. So I'm with you on Jack and Jack, for me will be a top 20 player at the end of the year, if his body holds up, which is obviously a big part a big part of the sport. And the other one actually just on Jack. I sat there and I watched it in Malaga Davis Cup he played. He played Kecmanovic. And I know they had like a three hour 40 match last week in Adelaide as well. Kecmanovic massively impressed me and Malaga. And by all accounts, he played very well against Jack again and Adelaide. I think he's another one that under ranked. But I expect both of them to significantly push their rankings up in 2024. I'd agree with that. Somebody asked me a friend of mine, who's a journalist asked who writes for The Guardian asked me the other day for a couple of names to watch some similar to this decision, but not not prediction of making the latter stages. And I'm interested this year as a whole really to see how Jerry Sanders from China is the young lad. I think he's 18 or 17. Did well did well in Hong Kong. Yeah. And I know he's the one who, you know, they really haven't had a male player who's broken through. And I know a lot of people have got a lot of high hopes for him. I don't I have not seen loads of him to know how good he actually is. And again, for all intents it's a weird one really, they're saying is the first one that comes through the Chinese system, but I don't think he's really come through the Chinese system for I. I've had a couple of conversations with him. He's friends with Henry. I think he's been brought. He's got full American accent. I think he's been brought up in IMG Academy. Gaby, Freddie, which names are jumping out at you?

Gaby Dabrowski  53:35

Can we consider Dimitrov A dark horse?

Daniel Kiernan  53:38

We'll let you have you talked to us about Grigor.

Gaby Dabrowski  53:42

Well I think he had a really great end to last year, and he seems to continue his form this year. So I think that's pretty promising. Like if you finish the year strong, and you come to Australia and keep winning, I think that's a pretty good indicator that you have good chances at the Open I think Hubi be can still do well. I don't know if he's going to be emotionally recovered from United Cup because that seemed to be really, really heartbreaking and difficult to have gone through actually. So hopefully, he's gonna have put that behind him. But he

Daniel Kiernan  54:17

Dimitrov, Gaby is I mean, we saw the emotion when he was in Brisbane. That's his first tournament that he's won in five years. You know, nevermind, that was a 250. You know, so, I and I'm with you on him. And it's actually I think we've all seen the talent of Grigor Dimitrov for many years baby Federer, you know, the talk has been there. And it seems like balancing social life with I remember you playing doubles with him. Freddie, you know, in, in, in Rome, you know, and that was when he was going out with Maria Sharapova and we would have lunches and you could see Like it was very much, I remember of celebrating, he just got a Hugo Boss deal, a suit deal. You know, me and Freddie are sat there like deciding whether we're going to have, you know, mozzarella or burrata for our salad. And that was the exciting side of our of our day and griegos telling us about this massive six figure deal. He's just saying, well, Hugo Boss, you know, he's lived a very exuberant life as Griego. But it seems like he's really got the bit between his teeth. And I just wonder if he's almost as he's got a bit older. I don't know how old he is. But I would guess 32 That sort of age and it almost seems like as he comes to the latter stages of his career, is maybe appreciating what he what he has or what the sport of tennis can bring. And I know from speaking to Jamie Delgado, his coaches really knuckled down the last six months. I don't think anyone can deny his talent. But that talent on top of dedication as well. I guess the question mark just on him is can he do two or three, five set matches in the heat, you know, over and over? I think maybe the three set format suits regard a little bit more. But I think he's exciting. He has a decent enough draw. Don't think it's too bad. He's got Facsovics to play, Kokkinakis and he's in the same direction as Davidovich Fokina who's obviously a good player and then the next one, if everything goes well, I'm not a big fan of that, but I'm just gonna do it for for entertainment here is Medvedev. I think he has a decent job. And what about you, Freddie, who we who are we to look out for?

Freddie Nielsen  56:42

Well, like I said, there's so many and I think what to look out for is so many big names that are unseded Gaby mentioned Hubi before he could potentially play Shapovalov in the second row. That's a shitty second round. You have

Daniel Kiernan  56:56

Shapo's not Grand Slam ready.

Freddie Nielsen  57:00

No, but you there's still that element of you don't really know when he's gonna be ready. And if he just all of a sudden takes off and hits.

Daniel Kiernan  57:07

I'll eat Cal's Australian Open hat if Shapo goes deep.

Freddie Nielsen  57:11

Yeah?

Daniel Kiernan  57:13

Or eat prawns and take another gout attack. Shapovalov. When he came back last week in his first service game, he started off with three double faults in a row.

Freddie Nielsen  57:22

No, but if you were coaching Hubi, would you want to see sharp on the second row?

Daniel Kiernan  57:25

Yes, yes, I wouldn't mind you would, you would take that. Okay, right now, Right now. Absolutely.

Freddie Nielsen  57:33

The thing that's going to beat Hubi is the X fact and it's not that many unseeded players has the edfed expected that Shapo might have on the day. Yeah, possibly probably won't happen. But it could happen.

Daniel Kiernan  57:46

Okay, would you prefer if you're Hubi's coach to see Shapo or Jack Draper? Or Kecmanovic Or Arthur Fils? Who's again, he's one of my other dark horses and who's coming through I think he's potentially down to play Holger in the third round, which I think could be an exciting 18, 19 year old 19 year old matchup. You know, I think these players have overtaken Shapo, in my opinion, you know, I think there's, there's some really exciting players coming through. So I don't disagree with you often Freddie, actually. But I think I disagree with you on that.

Freddie Nielsen  58:22

No, I would also rather play Shapo than Jack Draper, but rather play. I would rather have Fils than I think. I think there are better players than Shapo right now. That's not what I'm saying. But but I'm not too worried about he'll be about the kind of average good ones. I think he'll beat them. But I mean, it might not happen but that element of he can take the ball out of your racket. I mean,

Daniel Kiernan  58:51

Shapo loses to the qualifier.

Freddie Nielsen  58:52

That's my that's a personal statement could happen. Yeah, it could happen.

Daniel Kiernan  58:57

If it doesn't happen, Vicki to edit it out before it goes out. So that's fine. If it does happen, the soundbite. It is really interesting. What's happened to the two Canadian lads over the last 18 months. Yeah. Felix are generally the same, because I mean, I know particular Felix but also Shapo. They there were hopes in Canada, and I think in their management companies, their agencies and by a lot of knowledgeable people that they were going to be to the very top of the game. And it's really been a disastrous 18 months for both of them. And I did wonder whether either of them all come back to the very top and I'm talking, you know, challenging for the slams. I think they both might have missed that window. Now.

Freddie Nielsen  59:44

They both have time to come back. But I completely agree with you that it's certainly not the career trajectory everybody thought they were going to have and it's really remarkable but it's kind of also they do like to just swing for the fences, right so If they're on, they're so warm that you can't deal with it. But if they're not, they don't really have anything to fall back on with teams. And now if they lose confidence, then things go the way they have gone. And then they don't really seem to be able to have the stuff in them to stop the slide. I thought as I thought it was also very interesting to see the comments by using I don't know if you saw them. He was quite he was he was saying that he didn't feel that Shapo applied himself enough for the level that he was trying to play on insinuating that he wasn't working hard enough. So from a guy who was on the inside, which I thought was an interesting comment,

Daniel Kiernan  1:00:42

The word is Felix is the opposite or the the Thomas is working too hard, wants it too much. I think if anything about Felix was that, I think as professional tennis players at the top of the game like he was top top 20 in the game at the time, you don't get really opportunities to work extensively on the technical side of your game that much because of the timings and that kind of thing. And I think that Felix had some real technical issues in his game. For somebody who was at that level, I don't think his second serve is good enough. At the top of the game, I don't think he's a great volleyer. And I don't think he's that good a returner. But I did think he had the potential to improve all of those. And then when COVID came, and we went into lockdown, tennis players had this opportunity to actually spend two, three months working on those areas of their game that they wouldn't usually get. And I don't think he improved any of them. And that was disappointing to me. Over that time, I thought that would have been an opportunity where I thought you know, him and his coach to really knuckle down and got to work on those things which are not, they're pretty. For someone of his talent, they're not difficult to improve on, and he just hasn't I still think he's, I still think right now. His weaknesses in his game are a second serve His return and his volleys. I agree with Freddie to a degree that they're both still very young. What worries me is that I think in tennis and sport in general, in sport, in general, you have these windows of opportunity, regardless of age. And I wonder whether the window has just moved on both of those guys. What's the word in Canada on those guys Gabs?

Gaby Dabrowski  1:02:19

I don't know, because I don't read the news. Honestly, whatever it is, it's, it's really difficult to know, because only the people around them will know exactly what's going on with both of them. I do agree that I think Felix could do with relaxing a little bit more and being a little bit less mechanical. And I do agree that his neck game should be better for his stature and for the way that he can play and for the weapons that he could have. Yeah, I mean, Dennis is game I would say is more dangerous. So it's kind of about how he puts himself together mentally, and how the pieces of the puzzle fall for him as he comes back from this injury. So I don't really know the ins and outs of it. But I do wish them both well, because they're really good for our sport and in our country.

Freddie Nielsen  1:03:10

One that I think looking through the draw might have a chance fourth round you can make so I'll put that in this Chris O'Connell playing at home being a bit of I think that's probably a dark horse. That's a dark dark horse Yeah.

Daniel Kiernan  1:03:26

Well, you saying that Gaby's weren't

Freddie Nielsen  1:03:29

Dimitrov. Yeah, exactly what I'm saying.

Daniel Kiernan  1:03:33

It was a Light Horse. It's still a horse. But a bit a bit lighter. I was just gonna say I have something like that might be of interest about Dimitrov, that, from when he made the there's always a find this, this anecdote quite interesting. From tennis as a whole. When he made when he went on that run a few years ago, he made the semifinals, I think he lost to Nadal, that was maybe 2017. Australian Open. And I was speaking not long after that, maybe about six months after that to somebody who worked for Sky Bet who does the the odds for the betting companies. And he was saying that what was interesting in that run that he had, and I think he had a good run. We had a good tournament the week before the Australian Open. And he did really well for a couple of tournaments after that, that they when they work out the odds, they work out the ratio of the percentages of break points won from that player what their norm is compared to on this run. And he said that people were throwing money at Dimitrov that whole year because he had this run at the early on in the year. And basically what he done is all of his stats were exactly the same as what they usually are, is on average is first percentage points when I first serve, etc. But he was just taking more than double the amount of breakpoints that he would normally be expected to take. And all that happened was it Just evened itself out over the course of the year, he just went back to it. But he was taking an obscene amount of, I think, on average on that I think the tour average on breakpoints, one is about 30%. That players won about 30%. I think he was around that. And he was taking something like 78% of breakpoint on quantities, which in that in that particular little run, and everything else was exactly the same. And I thought it's interesting how one stat can change that you'd think it was a pretty odds that could change the person's form and period of the year. It's like the it's like the xG in football as you can. It is an eight as an isolated statistic. It's kind of whatever, because every match is a different match. But when we're talking about sustained success, or sustained period, you know, those those statistics will often will often even out like you say, so it's not one I've thought of before so I think it's a good one. Not that we are encouraging people to look at those starting and gamble. Now. Just to be clear. In terms of on the women's side, I think I think there's lots I want to actually start with one Gaby in your doubles partner, Billie Jean came up, who had a great end to the year and see the smile on your face. And I think Leila puts a smile on lots of people's face. You know, she had a great end to the year she was was MVP her Billie Jean King cup, you know, got got all of those victories on the singles and doubles court. I mean, it's going to be interesting, I think we've all been waiting since the US Open final with Raducanu, who a few years ago and now we've been kind of waiting for her to have, I use that word again sustained success, you know, and actually establish herself as a proper top 10 player in the world, I had a little look. Interestingly, she could have a third round matchup with Coco Gauff, which I think would be would be an exciting match. But just give us a little bit on Leylah. Yeah,

Gaby Dabrowski  1:07:04

I was actually going to mention her as a potential Dark Horse. I don't know, I just feel like at any moment, her time is coming again. Because of her age, she still has time to work on her game to figure out her body, how she has those consistent, consistent results, you know, over many months, and hopefully over many, many years. I think her being a lefty will always be an advantage for her. I think if she can find more confidence in her serve. And her serving technique, I think that would help her so much because returning a lefty serve is still I think one of the most difficult things if a lefty is really hitting their spots. While it's very uncomfortable. I think she has such a great attitude. I just really want to see her do well, because I really feel she deserves it. She's one of the nicest people you'll you'll ever meet. She's super respectful down to earth works really hard. She's an amazing teammate, on and off the court. So yeah, I really hope for her success. That would be a really, really great match. If she could play Coco Gauff, I think that would be really good for her. And it would be a good test to see kind of where she's at. And I do think that she could win that match. I do believe in her that much. So hopefully the stars align.

Daniel Kiernan  1:08:30

Who wants to who wants to jump in? I've got a little list here of players, but I'm normally the one that gets this right. So I want to give you guys an opportunity before Freddie normally jumps on my bandwagon.

Freddie Nielsen  1:08:44

Because you pick half the draw every time.

Daniel Kiernan  1:08:47

You know so I don't want to I don't want to give all my secrets away first. I want to allow some space for you to XL Friday rather than just jumping on the back of me all the time.

Freddie Nielsen  1:08:59

But I got my eyes on Clara, Tauson my Danish compatriot as I always do, or my Danish face, but I actually do think she's very interesting. Few years ago, she was 30 in the world. She's had a tough time since then, but she's it seems like she's finally settled. She has a new coach and she seems like it's starting to pay off she had a decent first tournament in Canberra. So I got my eyes on her.

Daniel Kiernan  1:09:27

I don't have much to be honest because I was gonna say Leylah Fernandez I mean I guess again, this always interested in Andreeva, I think she's potentially going to be a very, very good player, although I know a lot of people go down as been potentially world number one dominating the game. I'm not sure she's got the firepower for that. But I do think she's going to be a very good player. So be interesting. See how she goes. Can

Freddie Nielsen  1:09:54

Can I can I guess one of yours down? Is it going to be anything over?

Daniel Kiernan  1:09:57

Unfortunately, Anisimova, as much I mean, she tennis wise, we're looking from a tennis standpoint. 100%. But the fact that she made me look stupid for eight grand slams in a row I've jumped, I've jumped off of that one, you know, she's got, she's got a, she's got to win me back over. But I do have a few. I have, I'm gonna go. There's there's another one that always and I think I've mentioned this before, but I, whenever I see a really exciting junior at a tournament, I take just a little bit of video of points. And I say whenever I do, but I'm talking like someone who I look, and I think they can be world number one. And I want to have a lot of videos of but of two players, when they were aged 15 And one of them was Carlos Alcaraz. And, um, the other one, you know, he's obviously proven, proven that to be right, but the other one I saw when she was I think she was even 14 was Martha Kostyuk. And I saw this athlete who hit the ball, well, who did everything well didn't see many big, big flaws in a game. So she's someone I've always had my eyes on as someone who I could see coming through now. She I know, everything that's happened in Ukraine has definitely affected her over the last couple of years. But it just feels like she's maybe starting to bring something together. And I just started a little look. And I see she plays Mertens, who, again, is someone who is doing very well I believe in Hobart this week, they play potentially play she have a second round. So I think the winner of that could go on a little bit of a run. But the one the one that I do want to mention who i i think is ready to have a proper run at a grand slam and and potentially move into the top 10. Top five in the world is Zhen. And she's she's back with with her coach who I think was the mastermind also behind Coco Gauff last year. And or Brad Gilbert got got the credit. And I'm sure Brad's done a fantastic job. But yeah, Zariba who was working with Zhen, and then was on the Coco Gauff's team over over the last 6, 12 months. And not many people know that because he's not, he's not high profile. But he's moved from Coco back to Zhen. And I think he's a highly influential coach who I think that partnership could could see something blossom, whether it's at the Australian Open, I do believe that to name we're going to see at the latter stages of some big events through 2024 Pick number 12 in the world as a dark horse. Well, 13th seed but anyway. But I think that's a legacy data. It's someone who she hasn't been what's her best Grand Slam so far? Yeah, good point. And then my last name to mention, it's a one that I checked it this morning, and I was like, she's 29 years old. Because I was thinking maybe she this girl's young, because you don't see it that much. But 29 years old, she just beat Rybakina. And I think she's beaten Rybakina two or three times now is Alexandrova. And she seems to be someone who has big wins in her. I don't know what what's her. What's her background, Gabby. Why have we not seen more of her, but she seems to almost just turn up and have big wins every now and then. Um,

Gaby Dabrowski  1:13:45

I think she has a very consistent game, she tends to play the same all of the time, but without a whole lot of variation. So I think when the matchups work against her game, then she can win. But then if the matchup doesn't work as well, then maybe she would struggle a little bit more, you know, she's a baseliner who hits really flat, low over the net, not a ton of margin. So when she's on, it's really good. But if that you add some variation in there, I think it's a little bit trickier for her to maintain that timing over the course of a match over the course of a whole tournament. And her serve also is similar. She she has a really flat first serve. So I think it's just she plays higher risk tennis, but not to the point in terms of a level of like a Rybakina, who also hits very flat and lower the net but is a little bit taller and a little bit more dangerous on her serve and who covers the court a little bit better with her height and her movement. And her ball striking. Yeah, over the course of a tournament tends to stay the same even if she does play people with a little bit more variation. So yeah,

Daniel Kiernan  1:15:00

Yeah I want to spend a bit more time on the dark horses. We're going to move into our winners now. And the reason being actually, how much more can we talk about Novak Djokovic, and Iga Swiatek and these players you know, it's, I think having the having the dark horses and the names to watch out for and who's coming through is maybe a little bit more interesting. But as we move into the winners 25 is a nice number. That feels kind of inevitable, really that Mr. Djokovic will be holding that trophy aloft in a couple of weeks time for Eddie.

Freddie Nielsen  1:15:38

Yeah, and you also just have to look at his record in Australia. He's probably played the best tennis of his life in Australia throughout his career, so I think he is the very much outstanding favorite to win. I know that said I've got the best of him twice last year but like you said it indoors Best of three. It's a different animal in the slam best of five. Like winning three out of four last year this doesn't really seem like he's slowing down. Right. So yeah, he has to be the overwhelming favorite when I totally agree.

Daniel Kiernan  1:16:14

Cal, I mean, they've even got I mean, you see it sometimes on TV like Kylie Minogue and friends or Michael Buble and friends or you know these kinds of people that are much older and they get to that stage but last night on Rod Laver Arena they had a Novak Djokovic and friends evenings you know, it's almost like it's it's it is his tournament it has it has that feel you've got you know, Steve Smith, the top Australian cricketer turning up and all of these celebrities turning up to hang out with Novak as he settles into win his 25th Grand Slam. Do you see anyone? Anyone taking that away from him? I can't see anybody taking it I think he'll win it for sure. I mean, I messaged glad to I do the other podcast with last night saying I was looking at the draws last night and I said in all my time in tennis I don't think I've ever been more certain than I am that Djokovic will at least make the semifinals of this tournament. I would be absolutely staggered, if any if anybody beats him before the semis in the run that he's got. I mean, I think he'll win the tournament anyway but up until then, he's got a pretty tasty draw.  Ben Shelton, Ben Shelton potential last 16 The phone dropping the phone on him. Do you know what is that? Is that a possibility? I mean, he'll do his usual stuff, create an argument that isn't really there, like he did last time. I don't think you'll have any problems with Ben Shelton on these courts with these balls. It's a nightmare for Shelton to play Joker, which in those conditions, but I don't I don't think he minds playing anybody. But if you look at the players who we would want to avoid, potentially they're all in the other half of the draw. Like who the players in the playerss have caused him troubles and I mean, no one really causing him troubles that at slams, but uh, you know, in the in the Master series, that kind of thing, the players who potentially you know, he struggles a little bit more with Rune, Sinner. Alcaraz obviously. Think Zverev's in the other side as well. You know, those guys evolved man, one of relative Yeah, those guys have all won relatively big matches against Djokovic. And they're all in the other half of the draw. Who's in the who's he goes is semi. I think it's sinner. So then they're all Yeah, up until the semis, you know, all those guys I think is, yeah, you would say like, you know, the previous version of Andy Murray would be a nightmare for him. But I'd love for Andy to be in but don't see it, to be honest. I I mean, if if Andy's going to get to that third round matchup, he's going to come through Etcheverry and potentially Monfils, which is, which is also going to be difficult and I would imagine is going to take a hell of a lot out of him as well. But on the women's side, we we talked about, the big three was starting to come through in the Grand Slams, but I think Coco's probably earned the right to be in that in that conversation. Now. Jess Pegula is like so understated, it's unbelievable. But, you know, we obviously we saw her make her way through to the finals of the WTA finals in Cancun, is is incredibly consistent with what she brings. Does she make it into the top into the big five? I'm not sure if she's quite that at a Grand Slam yet. But I do think it's hard to see the winner coming from outside of those four or five players. But tell me if that's different, and if not, where is your thoughts going for who's going to be the women In 2024, Australian Open winner

Freddie Nielsen  1:20:02

Yeah, I agree with you. I think it looks like they're the most consistent ones. I do still feel like the the women's draw has a lot of potential upsets on the day. But to get seven matches straight, I think we're gonna see the coming from the from the girls that you mentioned,

Daniel Kiernan  1:20:22

who your five Kierno. So tell them again Iga, Sabalenka, Rybakina Coco and Jess Pegula. I would say that it's not a big statement. It's not a big dark horse or anything. I would say that if I was soccer gets through two or three matches under a belt. I think she's in the mix just because? Well, I'll tell you why. The open heart. Now I'll tell you why I think that because she's never been somebody who's played a lot of tournaments. So she doesn't necessarily need to work her way into form over a period of time. And I think that if you find that she's won three or four matches to get to the fourth round quarterfinal. I think that's enough matches for her to say that she's fully fit. And I think if she's there, then she's in the mix. I don't think that she'll get there. But the way that she plays and, you know, she's, she's gone through years playing 10 or 12 tournaments, and won slams doing that

Freddie Nielsen  1:21:25

would be a nice fourth round between her and Coco. Yeah,

Daniel Kiernan  1:21:29

Can she pass Garcia and the first round. She might not make gassy a favorite. But what I'm saying is, I think, you know, I think that if she, if she gets to the second week, then I think she's in the mix. I don't think she'll get to the second week. Garcia remember, she Andy Murray said many years ago, this, she will be world number one. And she has that kind of excitement and athletic ability to her. And obviously, she then had that period didn't she was at 2022, maybe 2021 At the end of the year, where she just smoked everyone for about four or five months. And it kind of finally felt like it all came into place. But then she she seemed to have a highly emotional 2023. You know, she never quite seemed settled. I think maybe the defending of the points she seemed to really struggle with as well. And she had some big results into that was in 2022? I don't know maybe 2024 She's kind of lost that feeling of protecting a little bit more. But yeah, there's something not quite right with Garcia. I don't think she's a top five player anymore. You know, I think she's got the ability to be but I think that'll be I think that'll be quite an emotional interesting match. Actually. I'm not sure that there but we're going back into dark horses and potential good first set first round setup. So come on that who is your pick for for the title, and I'm going to start this time. And I'm going to caviat this one with my pick has one issue. And she has the potential of her kryptonite in the fourth round. And I think Iga is the one actually I think I think Iga is in that place. But her kryptonite is Jelena Ostapenko Who she is 0-3 against her and she potentially plays her in the last 16 And I would imagine eager is saying her prayers actually that ostapenko Doesn't make her way to the fourth round because for whatever

Freddie Nielsen  1:23:44

he gets quarterfinal then.

Daniel Kiernan  1:23:46

Okay, so I thought I saw that as last 16 I mean, obviously ostapenko has got it in her to make a quarterfinal. But I think that I genuinely think that's the one name and the draw eager doesn't want to see. And you know, for whatever reason that is she seems to be the one that does shaker I know. And I think it's actually I actually don't think it's just game style. I think it's personality as well. She She kind of has this, this fuck you personality that goes like almost like gets to ego in some way. Maybe, maybe there's a learning in there, right for a player that they're able to do that and the kind of intangible impact that you can have on a person and on a match that doesn't involve hitting a tennis ball. Obviously, you have to have the level to be able to do it as well, which Ostapenko has the ball straight to be able to cause a problem but yeah, I think Iga, I think Iga is my pick for 2024. I think she just seems focused ready. Yeah, I think she'll handle the conditions. Well, I think Rybakina will when I'm behind you. She has got three and one record against Swiatek. Actually, whenever I see them then play each other. I think Swiatek has a bit of a bit of a stigma on a lot of players. And I just think Rybakina thinks that she can be a and be a pretty comfortably she'd be a comfortably last year I think she'd be like four and four here last year, and then she beat her to Indian Wells. of surprise. She went out early in Adelaide, because I saw a saw a couple of her first matches in Adelaide and sort of practicing. I thought she looked really good, but she lost last night pretty comfortably to the Alexandrova. Yeah, I'm just joking. But yeah, I think that I'm going with Rybakina. Potential semifinal matchup with Iga. I do think that Shawn tech is the best female player in the world. But I think you always look at these things and look at not only their head to head but which players have beaten them in big matches. And Rybakina has beaten Shawn tech in two big matches. That for me, is a big plus on her side.  Gaby?

Gaby Dabrowski  1:25:57

Yeah, I was gonna say Iga as well, unless she faces Ostapenko Because of that little bit of a mental barrier. But I do see Calvin and Freddie's point about Rybakina. Because it's almost a similar thing in principle to where Ostapenko and Rybakina are not as affected by Iga's ball. And probably in particular here in Australia with the conditions if we go to the clay, maybe it's completely different. Or, yeah, even Indian Wells, that's a little bit surprising, because the ball jumps there more. So. I don't know. It's it's a tricky one. My gut was Iga unless she faces ostapenko. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe.

Daniel Kiernan  1:26:46

Calvin and Freddie a very persuasive.

Gaby Dabrowski  1:26:49

Yeah, because I was then thinking about also what happened last year with the Rybakina. And she almost beat she like she could have won the Australian Open, but Sabalenka took it in the end, but it was not by much. So

Daniel Kiernan  1:27:01

Be you're own person, Gaby, be your own person.

Gaby Dabrowski  1:27:05

Well I'm half Polish. Maybe I'll just be biased and say Iga. But we'll see. We'll see how that plays out.

Daniel Kiernan  1:27:12

We'll we'll go against these two little doubles much. Iga against Rebecca. I want to just finish with one very, very last thing, relatively quick fire, as in tradition with the podcast. Give me a couple a couple of storylines for us to look out for in 2024 Freddie. Oh,

Freddie Nielsen  1:27:36

I think that the storyline on the men's side is that we will have a new Grand Slam winner for first time Grand Slam winner. Apart from that, I think it's going to continue a little bit the way it has been with the people are beating each other. All over the board. And Novak in the end is going to win most of the tournaments. But I do believe there'll be a new winner. And big big storyline, of course, is Novak going for the Olympics. I think that's going to be very interesting.

Daniel Kiernan  1:28:14

I think I don't know whether it's a big storyline. This happened 13 times before. But I think that Nadal probably pulled out of this tournament because he seriously thinks he can win the French Open. What do you think? Yeah. For the 14th time, it could be 20, it feels like it. But yeah, I think that if he didn't, I think he would have a pretty good idea of where he's at with his body. And I think if he thought this was a farewell type type of thing, I think he'd have probably played Australia, because I don't think it was necessarily that he couldn't play. I think he thought actually I can I can actually win the French again. I need I need a couple more. Couple more months to get myself there. Whichever. Yeah. I think the thing with all these players, though, like when you've got that mindset, when you've done what they've done, they always think they can win. And I don't think the Dow would come into its own, then that's another thing. I don't think he would play this tournament if he didn't think he can win it. And I think that's probably how he's looked at it. But I do think he thinks he can win the French. And I find what's interesting about that, and I always find it interesting when when people talk about, you know, that Nadal probably decided that he's retiring after the French or this is his last year and they do the same with Marie. How does that work? If they start winning again, they would only decide that if it's not successful, if the Dow wins the French Open, and then say goes to the US. If he's won the French Open, he could probably win the uvea won Wimbledon in the US multiple times. Say goes there and he's competitive. I think it depends. I think it depends where his bodies are and and what he's having to do to have his body ready to play those matches. What because I think he doesn't want to cripple himself over for life after tennis and I think there is an element of that with Rafa. Now that's that's true. But then again, do these players is that is the mindset of an truly elite level champion? It's not always rational is it? It can't be rational or you wouldn't win as much. Like you can't think you can't they have to be irrational how they think. So yeah, I agree to a degree with UK No. But I think at the same time that if you told him that he could have another year of winning slams, but he had to do this rific preparation is probably going to go sign me up. The media and others, you know, coaches and players and that kind of thing we talk about, you know, this plan is to retire ill I think you'd retire after French or after the Olympics. If they're winning them on.

Freddie Nielsen  1:30:51

You don't think they'll pull up heat.

Daniel Kiernan  1:30:54

He was, that that was so different, though, for me, wasn't it that like he wasn't doing anything before the US? I think he might have already decided before the US that he was done. And then he that was a company at that time, it was a complete freak. You know, it seems strange to say for Pete Sampras, because he wouldn't so many. But he was way down the list of people who, who you thought were going to win that tournament? And he just played unbelievable. And then I think within what he did was he then there was that period of time where he wouldn't normally play anyway. And actually thought, yeah, I've had enough here. And that was his personality more than rappers as well, wasn't it? Yeah, that was that was more Pete. But I do think the one thing that we've learned in elite sport we talk about the Pete Sampras stories or any any English people out there will know about Stuart Broad, who finished his career at the Ashes getting a wicket with his last ball and hitting a six on his last ball as a batter. As much as we'd like to control the narrative of how our careers end. It doesn't normally quite end in that Roy of the rovers way that we want it to Look at Sampras, not Sampras look at Federer. You no that's not how federal would have wanted to wrap it up. I don't think but and as well. I think with Pete I say personality wise, you know that he's, I think what was telling is he's basically disappeared from the game. Yeah. After that. We haven't seen him at all doesn't do any commentary, doesn't do any coaching or anything. And I find it's, it's funny on that when I was in Thailand last weekend, it might seem really boring to some people. But we were talking about toerner grips, which a lot of players still use. And I was saying that like isn't it bizarre. I want to turn a grip packet. It's still say taller grip as used by Pete Sampras has not played a tournament in 20 years. And everyone uses those grips. And that's still the one that they use. Yeah. Gaby 2024, what have we got to look out for?

Gaby Dabrowski  1:32:51

I think the doubles will be interesting on the men's and the women's side, because you have on the women's side, for example, a partnership that's coming back, Zhu Wei and Mertens, they won Wimbledon before they were very dominant when they played together. That's interesting to me. And then you have one of the winningest doubles teams in the last decade with Siniakova, Krejikova splitting and having new partnerships. So I'd be really interested to see how this whole year plays out with those changes, and sort of comebacks as well. And similar on the men's side, you have some some interesting decisions there. And so I think it'll be exciting. And also on a personal level to start the year with my partner, Erin Routliffe, having won the US Open and seeing what we can accomplish in 2024. Absolutely. So I'm really excited about the Olympics. Absolutely.

Daniel Kiernan  1:33:49

Absolutely, It's going to be a, it adds a different dimension to the year. And I think just a quick one on the doubles. It's what's interesting to me is a honeymoon period versus time to connect, you know, and I think sometimes those new partnerships in any form of life a new partnership can have this immediate effect and honeymoon period, but it can, it can also sometimes take people a little bit of time to connect and get used to each other as well. So I use it all the time. But the Bryan's used to say that first six months of the year, they thanked everybody for splitting up at the end of the year, and just allowed them to then just clean up for six months. And then the last six months, everyone was playing well and they were losing some matches. And if for some reason they all split up again and they will Oh thank you. We'll go to Australia and we'll we've still got our connection and chemistry. So that's going to be interesting for me. It's it's about the mummies and the comebacks. That's really an interesting storyline, you know, split Lena or Sark and wasn't the AQI you know, I think those three in particular, obviously Azarenka has been playing for a good while now but I think those three have all got the potential to do To make some noise and the big events, I think they'll all probably manage their schedules quite tightly. But certainly Svitolina and Wozniaki he showed us enough last year to say they are the real deal still. And they, they just have that class and they have that experience. So I'm really interested to see with if one of those three or all three can actually push into that top echelon of the game in the big tournaments. And then my second one is, there's a big TV deal with Sky Sports in the UK. Also, the Netflix series has just come out a couple of days ago, the second version and or the first version wasn't overly well received. But I think certainly from a commercial standpoint, and from a grown that the sports standpoint, in the world that we live in, I think those media deals are going to be interesting. Let's see what exposure Sky Sports TV can bring and the ability to be able to watch more matches. I'd love to see your WTA TVs and your tennis TVs coming together. That's still crazy for me that you I've got like people texting me, how do I watch that quarterfinal match in a 250 events still seems crazy in this world that we live in. So making ease of access for tennis, would be would be something that I hope we see a little bit more in 2024. I'm very worried about Sky Sports coverage, to be honest that so far, there's been no suggestion that they're even going to have multicourt options, that kind of thing. So far, they've had they've been had, they've had one court from two different tournaments on at any one time. And that just feels like a huge step backwards for tennis coverage. After I I liked the Amazon coverage in a lot of ways because you could watch any tennis match, except for the 250 doubles, which is a separate gripe that I've got. But you could watch any tennis match that was played at that time, you could go on select the match. I didn't like having to go through about 20 menus to get there. But if Sky Sports is just gonna take it and I was worried about this from the start because Sky Sports in Britain has cut a cut their budget massively on every sport other than football. If you look at their cricket coverage, they now do everything from a studio, that kind of thing, their golf coverage, they've really cut it down their options and that kind of thing. And I think for tennis to move from this situation where you can where you have the options of watching about 15 courts worldwide to now you can only watch one court that's been played. I find that really concerning. And I don't get why you would bid for I don't get why they would bid for it. If they didn't plan on having a an up to date coverage. Yeah, that was my understanding that there was going to be multicolored. So let's see how that unfolds. Guys. I have to go. I know Gaby has to go. We are on court in the next in the next hour. And before then I've got some prawns to eat. So thank you so much for for joining me, Freddie. It's late. In Denmark. Those eyes are closing your top man. Thank you for coming on. Gaby, you got a knock in 2024. Let's Let's rock the next few weeks and get prepared and the same to you. Calv. A big thank you to you all for your insight, personality and knowledge. So thanks a lot, guys.

Freddie Nielsen  1:38:28

Good luck to all you down there.

Daniel Kiernan  1:38:30

Yeah, so there we have it. We're gonna look stupid if Novak Djokovic doesn't win his 25th Grand Slam. I don't think anyone can argue with the pics that we've got for the winners. The dark horses I'm sure you do. And please reach out to us. Let us know who your dark horses, tag us in the social media at CTC dot podcast on Instagram, and we will share your picks. It's your opportunity to see your name in lights. If you can pick a dark horse to go let's say to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. We want them to talk more we want them to get into the doubles. We want you to get more into wheelchair tennis. We've been talking for so long. But I'm excited to see what is going to come of all of those events is Alfie Hewettgoing to start the year as he did in 2023. And is he going to partner up with Gordon Reid and golfer I believe we'll be there 19 Grand Slam. You know, there's lots of excitement around that. Then we've got the mixed doubles. You know, and I'm excited to see the partnerships. It's got more difficult than mixed doubles in terms of getting into the event. You believe it or not Harry Heliovaara and Anna Danilina, who are the US Open champions they won't get in here in Australia because their combined ranking is more than I believe 50, 55 which will be the cut off so Seems a little bit crazy. But let's see whose turn it's going to be over the next couple of weeks. So strap yourselves in. Enjoy the tennis. Thank you as ever for joining us. I'm having lots of conversations here in the Players Lounge, talking to coaches talking to different people. So hopefully we'll have lots more guests coming. One last little play. Please do go to the show notes and see how you vote or control the controllables for sports podcast of the year. But until next time, I'm Dan Kiernan and we are Control the Controllables