Yeah.

You might get some backing from some financial aid that's gonna help you with hiring a coach or hiring those sorts of things.

But then, you know, when you get actually between the lines, all that stuff really doesn't matter anymore.

You know, now it, whether someone has a massive financial backing or not, that, it doesn't count for any points on the scoreboard.

It, it's in training that you get those sorts of opportunities.

Um, but then you look at some players from some smaller countries that did it in a much more, um, off the screen sort of way, where they just kind of, you know, the, the court might not have been brand new and they might not have had new balls every practice, but they had that sort of str- uh, structure and discipline.

Yeah

... like a target.

shapeAnd how do we assess where we feel Novak Djokovic is now, Ryan, after three rounds?

I, I think he's the favorite in my book.

I, I look at the way he's playing right now, I look at the draw ahead, I don't see anyone that I see that's gonna scare him before that match against Sinner potentially in the semifinals.

And as we get further on in this week, it's gonna heat back up for week number two, and that's gonna be something that Sinner's gonna have to deal with.

And especially with these lower ranked guys that are playing and they're throwing everything at him because they've seen him be a little bit more vulnerable than other times.

So his path is just getting a little bit more difficult.

Even Brooksby had some chances in there in the second and third set where he had some break point opportunities.

But if we look at Fonseca and Hadad both going out, who both had those impressive runs at Roland Garros, something about backing up performances at Grand Slams harder than we sometimes just expect from these youngsters.

So, what do we feel about Sinner at this stage? It's not been plain

sailing.

No, I think that it's two things.

First of all, we talked about the chatter in the locker room, the way that he's shown some vulnerability early stages of the Grand Slams, the way that physically there's some question marks around it you wonder if the tournament does heat up which is supposed to in the second week how is it going to last if it's a middle of the day match if I was Novak and I played center in the semi-final I'd want to play in the middle of the day at the hottest point of the day after what we've seen in Australia and here but you also wonder some of these more physical matches the five sets in the first round And then also the three tight sets today could have very easily been four sets.

Is that sort of time on court going to start to play a factor? I always look at that when you get to the quarterfinals and semifinals.

You can talk about age.

You talk about all those things.

of the season, the

I feel like the more attention, the better it was, actually.

Yeah, it was tough.

You know, when I burst on the scene, I was coming from the States and a big tennis country.

They followed, especially over the U.S. Open Summer Series.

And you have the expectations, and that's the thing about when you're in a country that has more notoriety.

You have all this pumping in the media if you have a breakthrough.

For me, it happened when I was 15, 16 years old.

the fatigue in his system having played almost non-stop and winning every match for the previous two months so I think he's going to be very very difficult to beat now having had a rest but you're right he's not played a competitive match for a month he did play an exhibition against cam nori at hurlingham last week he practiced with novak djokovic on number one court here so he'll be doing everything you'd expect of him but i think it's sensible isn't it to take a bit of a break he decided not to play a grass court warm-up tournament even before his early exit at roland garros because i think he just thought i've played too much tennis this year i've been too successful

And I guess one of my critiques is, of of corda throughout the years in the past has been i don't think there's quite enough intensity i don't think there's enough emotional edge do you feel like that's been a fair critique

I think that you, you understand that everybody's personality on the court has its sort of benefits.

And then you have the things that you have to work on, you know, no matter who, you know, especially when you're finding yourself as a player, um, you're, you're going to get some guys who are so high, strong and so fired up, but then they might lose their marbles, you know, and then you have some guys who are more chill and it's about learning the timing of how to, you know, how to fire yourself up, how to be more, um, intense in certain moments, even if it's not your natural desire out there, your natural tendency out there.

And for Sebi, everybody handles stress and the pressure and everything a little bit different and um i had to manage it a little bit um there was some times where i lost my marbles and um please don't go look at them on youtube i'm trying to keep those sorts of videos like way down the bottom from when i was having to manage some of the stress but you know we all we all handle a little bit differently And then through experience and having been in a position where I was a top ranked junior as he was, and having understood some of the pressures that you feel when you're going through that, that's when, like I said, he's done an incredible job of addressing the mentality, the sort of presence he wants to have out there, the confidence there.

And, yes, I don't think it's a coincidence that he has taken the commitment to really address, like, okay, what's going on and how do I feel out there? And I think that you're seeing, like, the best of the best from a resilience standpoint.

You know, people talk about the Alcaraz match, and that was incredible, the way that he turned himself around.

into a you know competitive beast in the early stages of the third set but if you go back and watch the taylor fritz match in dallas where he had every opportunity to close it out in two sets he had love 30 i think three different times several break points he had opportunities in the second set to close it out in two against fritz and then he turned around and he started competing right away again in the third set after not getting the second set kept competing, put himself up five, two in the third set tiebreaker and didn't get the payoff there.

I guess what are the strategies then to deal with that external negativity that that starts to fester?