French Open semifinals preview + Lindsey Vonn | The French Connection | NBC Sports (FULL EPISODE)

Intro my doctor didn't really approve it so let's just let's no one tell him okay let's have a look at this let's have a look at this this is good this is good form with with a a bung KN as we say look a couple more years of practice you might make the uh the Olympic team in La 2028 well you know Renee gave me like a like some tips but I don't know Renee you promised me you're going to give me a less and I'm still waiting on that so hey I'll come down to Miami anytime my friend all right everyone welcome to to The French Connection once again brought to you by NBC Sports and Racket we are here to cover the tennis not only from the French Open right through of course back to Paris for the Olympic Games at Roland gas we're so excited to bring it to you and all the tennis in between but before we get to that of course it is me Renee stubs alongside that guy where is he that side Sam query and we have the one and only one of the greatest skiers that has ever skied down a hill and of course I'm going to say it the greatest downhill skier of all time Lindsay vaugh thanks for joining us today Lind thanks R thanks for having me hey Sam how's it going all right Lind we're gonna get into this because we know that you love tennis as much as anybody that I've ever met you play tennis way more than I do and certainly more than pickle ball Sam um play so that in and of itself is pretty amazing but why why tennis why what what do you love about the sport of tennis I always grew up watching it you know my dad um always had aacy on on the weekends um Pete sis I I was always drawn to the sport I think my dad really wanted me to be a tennis player but he claims that I was horrible but he granted he did make me try at like two years old so you know I think he should have given me a couple more chances um but I just love the the mental strength it takes to be a tennis player you know obviously you need to be incredibly talented and need you need to have all the skills but I love being able to see the athletes emotion um it's not it's unlike any other sport you know it's not like football where you really can't see anyone's face in tennis you see everything the athlete is going through and I just I love it all right so who's your favorite player I mean I kind of have an idea about this but who's your favorite player I mean I don't think it's a secret I mean minus like Sam obviously it would be Roger I think Roger is everyone's favorite player who's your SEC let's this who's your second favorite player okay that's a really good question um it would be Yanik uh Yanik and I have become pretty good friends and we went skiing together last year um which is shocking because normally active athletes don't ski um I actually was pretty nervous I don't want to be responsible for anything that happens but uh yeah he's a he's a great guy and I'm really excited for him to be number one now um disappointed that Novak had to retire from his match but still you know Yan being number one is pretty exciting yeah very much so listen I I I confess I skied through my whole tennis career I I always thought this is really not the smartest although you'll be proud of me lens I just stayed to the groom run so I ski fast but terrible on bumps and I do not go in the trees unless someone forces me so because I didn't want to hurt myself but then again but Yanik is an incredible skier he's five billion times better than me so I'll let him go on the slopes but what what about skiing and Tennis I mean you sort of touched upon the fact that the emot side of tennis and we talked about this last year at Wimbledon tell me some of the things about tennis that Comparing tennis and skiing you would actually that are easier or harder when it comes to tennis and skiing and and what you like about them both um individually well I mean I think you know tennis when you're when you're talking about the risk of you know being down a set point or you know you have all of these you know high pressure situations the ramifications of of not doing it well or you just lose the point you lose the match you know and and Yanik and I have talked about that you know there's it's not like if you make a mistake you're G to hurt yourself you know you're not going to be in the fences you're you know there's no physical harm that will come to you so I think um that's the the biggest difference um but I love that you know tennis is a is a very fast chess game and it's very similar in skiing you know you have to make have to have a plan but also be able to make Split Second decisions um I don't know there just there's so many things that are similar that I love about it um but yeah the stakes are a little bit higher physically on the skiing side here's the question now we're talking about the similarities a match point in tennis you've been at a ton of tennis matches you know how quiet is in it is in the stadium when you're at the Starting Gate for a final run for an Olympic gold what's a quieter moment that or the match point of a tennis match definitely tennis match it's it's really weird in skiing because there's a lot of people actually yelling at you um and cheering you on but sometimes yelling at you uh in the Starting Gate you know especially at the Olympics or World Championships people are standing right next to you it's not like um you know in a tennis Stadium you have quite a big distance between you and the fans and ski racing someone could actually be standing five feet away from you um and it can be a little bit distracting I love the energy of fans of people um I would love to be competing in a stadium I I love that kind of energy um it really motivates me but I think the silence it's it's really interesting you know on those on those really high pressure moments and again that's why I love it you know there's so much intense focus on this one moment and I always love Roger because no matter you know if he had a match point or not he would come up with an ace or you know I never counted him out no matter how hard the odds were stacked against him which is you know just made him so exciting to watch among other things um yeah it's a lot it's a lot different in skiing um and also there's just not as many people watching yeah that's interesting you hear the hop hop hop you know when you you're skiing and people are like yelling and screaming at you but it's interesting that you talk about being in the gate how it can be distracting and do you feel like something and you don't have time to be like hey bro can you just keep it down for a second I'm trying to concentrate here um but I want to know you ski with Roger uh just Lindsey’s friendship with Roger Federer pretty recently uh during the winter give me your thoughts on his downhill skis uh skiing ability and tips you gave him and Etc I mean he did post something today about taking up golf so you know now he's really getting into the Casual Sports he is really crushing life right now let's be honest I think we would all love to have Rogers life um he's clearly great at everything he does his golf game looks impeccable but his skiing was really good I mean I think we need a little bit more time on the slopes together to sort out some technical Kinks um I need to change his equipment for one but um but he was just he was so loose he was out there having fun he you know was getting in his tuck he really enjoyed himself and I was really impressed with his kids skiing you know they all all four of them were just ripping around and am too you know they were just they were really good and I I I think ski racing and skiing in general is just a fun family Sport and the fact that I was able to join the whole family and do it together with them was was really special where is that for what mountain range is that are you in Europe there or is that yeah we're in Switzerland Switzerland right of course you guys didn't have a gold star like you know ride up the chairlift like a you know security all around you and all that stuff and I was actually really surprised by that um you know I thought that people would recognize him and you know B him or or maybe me but everyone was really respectful he was waiting in line with his family no one bothered him I mean the lines were really long there was a lot of people I was also worried that he was someone was going to hit him you know so I was just I I felt like I was playing you know keep away and trying to make sure no one no one touched Roger exactly do you have a favorite casual Mountain somewhere around the world that you like to ski um you know know I've I've Been Around the World Racing but I haven't really casually skied very many places I would have to say valair in France is amazing um or St meritz um I love St meritz there's a lot of places that are I really enjoy skiing but I I have to actually go casually skiing in more places before I can give you a better a better answer Lindsay you can stay away from Australia those mountains are not not they've not long enough for you you'd be down that mountain in like three seconds I I was yes I did I was 16 and I never went back for good reason but we've got great beaches um but uh interestingly today we saw uh sabalenka I know that you've been watching the tennis I know that you get up early you Aryna Sabalenka’s surprising loss, battling against illness like you're into it as much as anyone else but just take me through what she was going through today clearly we could see that she was struggling struggling physically something you know either nauseous or whatever was going on with her I want to know a story from you we kind of touched upon it already to but tell me a story where you had to actually go into a a start gate or a day where you did not feel good and how you dealt with that well yeah I was disappointed that she lost I mean I I always want to see a fair match you know both opponents are you know healthy um obviously it's not always the case and that was hard to see today I don't know what she was going through like you said maybe it was nausea it seemed like she was out of breath and just low on energy but I definitely have had many situations where I've been sick there was one really bad time I had food poisoning um I was in Croatia I was hugging the toilet Rim just letting it all out and um I missed the the Caravan to the mountain um so I had to scramble to find a a ride I finally made it up there I had missed inspection so we everyone gets one chance to look at the course I missed it I literally rolled straight in puked right before I started and then and then went um I don't remember how I did which means it probably wasn't very very good but uh but I tried you know I I hate missing races you know I think every athlete wants to always put their best foot forward and even if you know you're not feeling well you want to get out there and try and um I give sa Lanka a lot for just going out there and giving it her best shot and it was definitely a her mental strength shown showed through um today I mean I know physically it let her down but mentally she was very tough and um again disappointed to see her lose but it was a really fun match and it's going to be the next round's going to be great sure going to be interesting to see Pini it's not a it's not a semi-final that Sam and I would have guessed seeing Pini who by the way I can say this out loud because I've said it on my podcast is my favorite tennis player to watch she is she's literally this big and she plays like she's seven feet tall she smiles all the time she's the happiest person to be around on the court and I'm so delighted to see her actually be doing as well and she's had the same coach and Sam and Lindsay you can both appreciate this forever and so they've gone through the ups and downs so I'm actually excited to sort of see this semi it's not one we expected but Sam real quick before we get to the next question have you ever puked on a tennis court or before a match no well I mean I guess maybe hours before or days before but I was gonna say sometimes as an athlete if you get sick or you have an injury sometimes it helps you on the court it's like it you it's all you're focused on you're not focused on like you know external things and I've played great tennis matches I don't know about about Ur or youy like ski I've played great tennis matches before when I've been like partially sick or injured because like I'm just like all right play this point and focus on nothing else sometimes it can be can be beneficial yeah yeah um anyway so what's Best matches of the French Open, picking winners the best match lens that you've seen so far at the French I know you can't watch every match unless you're up at four in the morning because you're in Miami but but any of the any matches that you've just absolutely loved to watch so far I love the ego Saka match that was definitely my favorite so far um I just I thought the level of play was amazing and look at that look at that tweet that from me yeah I mean I I think I think it would have been an amazing final or semi-final you know aaka I haven't seen her play like that in a long time um and she was just she was really swinging for the fences she obviously made a couple of more errors than EGA but um but it was really fun to watch her you know play at that level again I mean I know she's she's had a baby and I just think that in of itself is so impressive so I love that match I thought it was amazing who are you picking men's women women's uh sorry men's women men's Champion Women's Champion got go one of each um I mean I you know I really wish that the the Carlos ionic match was a final I really hate that it's always a semifinal or a quarterfinal I I always want to see them in a final um I'm going to go with Yan um I hope that he he can kind of win this and you know be number one and I think that would be a great um ending to to the last couple of weeks but on the women's side um I'm a big fan of ego we're good friends so I'm I'm gonna go ego the way yeah I think I think you might be right although I don't know Casper Roode might have something to say he's made the finals a couple of times he's had that guy called Rafa stop him a few times um and Novak but uh it's going to be interesting Z of course coming in playing very very well um too but yeah you're right it would kind of be nice to see those guys playing a final for once instead of a semi we all want yeah it's we we need the ATP Gods to kind of just we just realign I know it was interesting somebody tweeted at me the other day why is eager playing the number three player and not the number four player and you could say the same thing with this situation in tennis the one is at the top two is down the bottom and three and four get pulled out of a hat depending on what side they go up or down so for people at home that don't know that that's how it how it works whoever's pulling the names out of the Hat needs to do a better job listen Sam and I know I don't know if Sam did it but putting your hand in there and actually doing a draw is stressful because you're like H you know it's exciting though it's like gambling when when's my name gonna be pulled out yeah you never wanted to do it you're always asked to do it and you're like I don't want to do the draw all right Lind let's In the Olympic Village with Lindsey Vonn take you inside the Olympic Village we know that the Olympics in Paris um first of all um are you g to go to to to Paris um am yes absolutely yeah okay so is there a moment lens in your time at the Olympics where you have been Star Struck at the Olympic Games I mean pretty much every moment of every Olympics is amazing and I've always meet someone that I wouldn't expect I think you know for me as a winter Olympian going to the Summer Olympics is always really special because I meet people that I'm that I normally wouldn't meet or you know maybe haven't met yet um the London Olympics I met uh Kobe Bryant for the first time and that was really special um so I think that was probably my my coolest moment um at any Olympics I'd say was meeting him and spending time with him do you have a favorite Summer Olympic sport to watch gymnastics obviously wow look at that I mean you fan listen let's be real I love tennis and I will always love tennis but no one really watches gymnastics outside of the Olympics soly you get plenty of tennis the three and a half I get my pH of tennis every Grand Slam or every ATB 1000 so you know I'm going to go for gymnastics and I'm so excited to watch Simone I think she's gonna be just absolutely Crush everyone which is gonna be really fun to watch yeah I mean what a story to to have her back um just you know with the potential of what we saw in the last Olympics for her to come back is pretty amazing as you as a great athlete would know it's not that easy just to put you know the skis back on and do what she's doing and on a beam this big all right so where are your Olympic medals my friend oh um well two of them are in my sock drawer and one of them is hanging up next to my back street boys poster we were hoping you were just gonna have like a desk in your drawer right where you're at right now you're gonna hold a couple pull it right out no I and the only reason I have the the one hung up is because um my friend surprised me with it otherwise it' probably still be in my sock tore oh that's cute I have a funny story about Sue bird uh I was at her house in Seattle not to name drop but I was at her apartment and we played a drinking game this is a true story and you know the flip cup game so we're playing the flip cup and she was on my team and we won there was like five of us on one side five of us on the other and we won and she was so funny she turned around and grabbed all of her five gold medals and started putting on on all her teammates and I thought who has the gold medals just hanging in the kitchen so there you goals that's a lot some people have their metals like out and proud some people kind of have them tucked away like Lindsay saying it's just like everyone's got a different kind of mentality as far as like where do you display your Olympic medals your trophies there you go I mean I have my trophies lined up they look really nice but the Olympic medals I don't know they're just they're kind of my special thing where where where are yours uh Sam where are your trophy my I was going to say I I have no Olympic medals but uh trophies I've got some kind of like in the family room up there's a couple like upstairs um but it kind of just spread out everywhere I don't I don't have that many I don't have as many as you guys yeah oh well mine are sort of tucked around all over the place but not out and about it's really interesting what's that is that a is that a that's a that's a joke that's my uh French well it's not a joke that's terrible I shouldn't have said that that is my runnerup trophy uh I have two runner-up loser trophies from the French so I displayed my loser trophies because one of our first guests Mary Carillo was the winner of the mix doubles and I told her she has that over me because I was just a loser there there It Is Well Mary is great so it's okay to be first loser to her she is all right Lind we uh so appreciate you being on the show today just uh real quick you are going to Paris uh the Olympics where are you going to be seen the most oh I mean again gymnastics I I really want to do the beach volleyball I think that's underneath Eiffel Tower um I want to kind of do all of the all of the really Scenic um events I have to see the layout of where everything is but definitely gymnastics um and I I'm really excited about the opening ceremonies yes along the canal apparently it's gonna be amazing all right well Lind we really appreciate you not only join us today talking about tennis we know I I can attest you are a huge tennis fan wait a second quickly show me your video of you playing tennis today or yesterday or whatever it was before your knee surgery because you've had reconstructive knee surgery show us give me give it to us well my doctor didn't really approve it so let's just let's no one tell him okay let's have a look at this let's have a look at this this is good this is good form with with a a bung knee as we say look a couple more years of practice you might make the uh the Olympic team in LA in 2028 yeah right no yeah 2026 when's it in LA 23rd well you know Renee gave me like a like some tips but I don't know Rene you promised me you're going to give me a lesson I'm still waiting on that so hey I'll come down to Miami anytime my friend any all right well skiing lesson tennis lesson Yeah we actually we do send each other videos of our different sports and we do critique which she did of my scheme which I appreciate anyway all right Lind we love you thanks so much for joining us we can't wait to see you in Paris and a reminder that the US Olympic and Par Olympic team team trials kick off June 15th I cannot wait to see them get into action all of them trying to make the Olympic team the best athletes in the country seek as I said to join and make the toughest team in the world ahead of the Paris games we cannot wait and catch the action on NBC Peacock then the Paris Olympics of course begins July 26 just give me your Novak Djokovic withdraws from Roland Garros thoughts on um Novak having to pull out it's just detrimental not only to the tournament but of course um for his I mean going forward this is not this is not a great injury to have at this time of the year no it's a brutal injury for Novak and a brutal injury for the tennis community no one wants to see him pull out of the French Open especially at a quarterfinal stage like this um he's battled the the the two previous matches in five sets which has been an incredible effort from him um but you know a meniscus tear like this I I think that's what it is it's a minor injury it's gonna put him out four to six weeks maybe eight weeks I I'd be shocked to see him at Wimbledon hopefully we get him back in time for the Olympics in Paris yeah I have to say I've had both uh my two of my niece um surgical surgically repaired by a meniscus and uh one I came back six weeks later but I was only just playing doubles um and I felt like six weeks was probably a week or two too soon um so I I imagine if he was going to have if he's gone into immediate surgery to have a miniscus you can play with a miniscus tear it's just said how bad is it because I saw him point to the back of his knee when he was having issues with it and had the trainer come out and I actually said to a friend of mine I was like that kind of looks like miniscus I mean I was totally guessing but when they said miniscus so so there's no question he will won't be able to play wimbl unless he decides not to have the surgery because you can't I played for about two three months with a meniscus tear it just depends on how bad it is but if he wants to win a grand slam there's no way that he can do that with a a slight meniscus tear so if that's the case six weeks my guest minimally although he is into the ruu he does all the stuff maybe he can recover a little bit quicker like what's that what was that quarterback's name that came back from the Achilles quickly anyway Aaron Rogers I'm kidding um but anyway so I think you know Novak certainly has the capability of maybe coming back a bit earlier than most but that is a rough injury to have for him all right play So Physical too a big part of his game is the movement and so to have it you know I think he's a guy that's only going to go out there uh you know when his knee is 100% And healed and and hopefully that's sooner rather than later I know one thing that your little uh your little crutch behind you he he's going to be needing that for a day or two after that surgery so you could probably lend it to him although you're a little bit taller all right so let's get to you know one of the great stories Jannik Sinner becomes world #1, will play Carlos Alcaraz in semis though is Yanik sinner has been the best player this year without question he has won the Australian Open he's won multiple tournaments coming into this event in the next the second grand slam of the Year arguably the best player this year deservedly gets the number one ranking sadly Novak didn't wasn't able to at least get to the final or keep that number one ranking with all the points that he has coming off from now until the end of the year but jannik's been fantastic but also has Carlos alcarez just give me your thoughts on who you think is gonna win this match yeah I mean Center even going back to last year you know winning winning Vienna um and then winning the Davis Cup finals of the year end winning Australia winning Miami he's been on an incredible run now it's it's welld deserved this number one ranking even if Novak didn't pull out here I I I think Center was going to hit that number one ranking spot at some point this year and and alcaraz is right on his heels um and and they're kind of the the right they're the feder Nadal of 10 years ago and so uh it's a it's a shame they have to play each other they're on the same side of the draw as we had talked about earlier I think everyone would everyone kind of wants that as a f finals matchup at every tournament but it's um it's gonna be a fun match it's it's gonna be something that everyone's excited to watch and um you know I think CER knowing he's number one in the world it kind of gives him a little extra confidence on the back end of this French Open and and I'm I'm picking him to win it at this point wow yeah um I mean I don't know who's going to win between the two of them they both play so well against one another it is arguably the best matchup it is without question the big these two are the big two now theyve taken over from the big three obviously Novak is still there but this is the next generation of Roger Rafa and Novak um I don't know I would say that Carlos is slightly more comfortable on Clay than Yanik Yanik likes it fast so I think it's dependent also on this on the on the temperature Andy rodic said it last week that the French open's probably the one tournament that is really subject to the weather if it's hot and bouncy that will help um Yanick a little bit make the court quicker but also the spin on the ball and the velocity of the spin of alcaraz's shots will also be helped with the hot weather so it's kind of like a pick them they look look at their look at their matchups against one another four and four four who's going to be the one that breaks the drought and maybe takes over and gets the final and wins the French Open so much on the line between these two guys and and as you said Sam they're two great guys these two they're just so great for the game of tennis I'm so excited um for the next 10 years of men this is muchat TV when these two are matched up I wherever I am in the world I look like what time are they playing and I set the alarm to watch it because he's just a it's it's like I said it's fer the doll um from 10 years ago so it's a it's going to be hopefully they have a great match and it kind of entertain the crowd and everyone watching yeah well I'm hoping they both get through injury free and they as you said have a great match and I suspect if they're injury free they will all right Previewing Casper Ruud vs. Alexander Zverev Sam so of course the other semi-final certainly not being talked about as much as alar Sina which is understandable in a lot of ways is of course now Casper Roode who got the default over Novak jovic going up against Alexander Zev who just also had a great win over Alex deor in straight sets but boy oh boy it was pretty complicated even though it was straight sets for Zev it was very complicated that match it could have been a lot more difficult if poor old Alex Deo had won that second set but just just give me your whole thoughts on that semi on that quarter final yeah like you said it was three difficult sets um as well as deminar played you never really felt like he was gonna win the match you felt like he was doing everything he could to like get really close um you know like you said needed that second set he he was in that set point I think he got a little tentative there uh he definitely needed that um and then in the end did a good job of breaking zov when zov was serving for it zov as tough as he's playing as great as he's playing right now broke right back um but now we've got zov against Casper rud and that's going to be another great semi-final along with alarz center and um you know the the roods ver is a little bit of a tossup to me I think I'm going Casper just because he's gonna have a you know four days off now and Z's played a lot of matches had a lot of time on court um so I'm going I'm going to go a rud kind of 6535 there for percentage wise yeah so I have a question on that I mean I don't know if you've had a situation where you've been at a grand slam you've got best of five you know it's a brutal struggle you know that roode's going to come out banging forehand you know looking for the forehand all all of the things but tell me from your perspective as like a best of five situation Casper hasn't played in like four days essentially for him to go up now and play a guy that's gotten through a lot of tough matches and I don't know what it is is ver he plays unbelievably long matches look at the Australian Open he got through some really long matches there but did not does it help but does it hurt in some respects as well that Roode hasn't played a match in four days so do you lose your like your Match Prep your match like tell give me a little bit of what you think about that right um you know I think it's a little bit of like you know sorry what's okay Ruby I like this your dog you got a dog in here um leave that on please yeah leave that on you know it's gonna be four days off I don't think that's enough time for him to get rusty I think I think he would have signed up for that before the tournament started I think the four days is a short enough time where he's still G to be confident coming off three prior matches he's he's been to the finals here twice before so it's nothing new so I think for Casper he's going to go into this match literally feeling 100% And I expect them to have I expect him have zero rust I expect him to come out firing from the first shot and uh and ver like you said he's played a lot of long matches in his career he's he's extremely fit I don't think the fact that he's gone five Setter five Setter is gonna make that much of a difference um unless they do go five sets themselves but I expect ZB to come out and be ready to go as well in in two days time well I picked ZB I didn't know what was gonna happen to Novak clearly none of us knew that he would pull out in the quarterfinals that's just unheard of for him so he obviously very injured um but I did pick Z to make the finals I don't think he's going to win the tournament I think he gets too tight we saw it even when he served for the match against Alex dor he didn't close out the the game and th those are sort of the games you expect someone who's wants to win the tournament close those games out even though he broke but you have to think that Casper with the days off with having thrashed Zev last year I think Zev is a better player this year he comes in with tons of confidence after winning in Rome and the matchup is it'll be interesting um I think as ver serves really well he has a chance but you have to think with the rest with Casper's Also let's not forget about Casper rot I mean this guy's been The Perennial runner up really I mean Novak Rafa without them he wins a French Open he probably thinks this is his best chance to do it you know this year having had the opportunity to have the rest day against Novak and going up against verev who he has a great record against clearly um on Clay so look the bottom line is you don't know we throw the balls in the air we let them play and that's the best thing about the french open this year with been very unexpected look at the women's uh some of the surprises there but certainly with the men's probably what we expected in some ways other than Novak but Roode being there is no surprise because he's been so good in um in Rolling ER so give me your you gave me your prediction but um give me a prediction for the final on what you think we're gonna see in the men's yeah so I'm gonna take uh I'm gonna take Casper over verev I think two Casper is a clay quarter like you said he's made two finals before he's loving this on the other side I'm going to go with Center over Al as and then the more that I think about it here I'm going to go with with Casper rud in the uh for the for the title you know he's like you said I think he looks at this draw and kind of says like okay maybe this is the time when I can win it I've made two finals I've lost to Novak I've lost to Rafa those guys aren't here this is my time he's kind of quietly going through the draw I guess you would say you know lot a lot of people are talking about him they're talking about CER and alarz and Zev so I think he's just going to kind of go under the radar he's he's winning matches relatively easily um and this is his tournament to win I like it Sam you always go for the you know the random stuff and you throw it out there and I appreciate it listen you're not wrong but the bottom line is if he does win against ver hottest player coming into the tournament he has to play against the two hottest players over the last you know year and a half let's say other than Novak so if he's gonna win it he's GNA have to do it the hard way that's there's no doubt about that and he certainly will earn his French Open title anyway we can't we can't wait for it it's going to be great semi-finals all right let's get to the ladies it's time to talk about them what we saw today was pretty extraordinary from the upset cut this is not what we thought but before we get to that let's preview the number one player in the world the most dominant player at this tournament Previewing Iga Swiatek vs. Coco Gauff over the last several years eager Shante going up against Coco Goff they've played each other a couple times here at the French but um and the head-to-heads certainly are very favorable for eager Shion but Coco having w a grand slam now she knows what it takes just uh who wins here Sammy you it's EA I mean you I I hope I hope Co can pull the upset it's so hard to get go against EA right now she's so dominant not only on Clay but against Koko as well we see there she's 10 and one overall four and0 on Clay um and you know as in the top half it's kind of like we've got two Heavy Hitters on the top half of the woman's draw and two somewhat un unknown girls on the on the bottom half so I think a lot of people are almost looking at this matchup as the final whoever wins this will be a pretty heavy favorite in the final but um I got to go with EA here she just too dominant in my opinion what about you yeah look I think that as it was against Osaka Osaka has the ability to really hit anyone off the court um Koko doesn't quite have that ability on the forehand certainly on the backhand she has arguably the best backhand in women's tennis but I think the matchup is the issue here eager loves to hit the forehand crosscourt and heavy and deep and that goes into the weaker side of Coco coko eventually gets one a bit short and then eaga takes control of the point again so this is a little bit more about you know coko is going to have to serve at her best she's going to have to have a high percentage of first serves in her second serve will get punished big time by eager and that's part of the issue as well on the clay it sits up for eager to do a little bit more with it um whereas opposed on hardc court her ball stays a bit lower gives eager a few more issues on the forehand but overall on the clay I just think eag Shante is by far the favorite having said that there's no one greater at trying to win a match no matter what is happening in front of her than Coco go it was not pretty in her match in the quarterfinals she lost the first set she bounced back she just hangs in there there's no one that has a better fighting Spirit than her um although you'd have to say Sabal Lanka today had some fighting Spirits just your thoughts on also what we saw Mira Andrea I mean this teenager we've Mirra Andreeva upsets Aryna Sabalenka, Jasmine Paolini upsets Elena Rybakina been talking about her on the women's tour now for a couple of years I remember her playing Coco golf might have been last year she won the first set and she lost her flipping mind in the first game of the second set and I was like what are you doing you are in control of the match and that was just her youth had been 16 years of age she lost one point she threw a racket on the ground I was like oh my God as a coach she' be like pick your racket up pick your racket up you're upet what are you doing and I think she won one game after that against Coco but to see her maturity of handling this moment today against sabalenka and getting through a couple of tough matches of late this kid is going to be without question punching finals of grand slams for a long time to come and we saw her get through a really tough match today against sabalan who was clearly feeling not well yeah and that and that match here I think we're just waiting for Andrea to to make a run and here it is and I was actually at rehab for my knee so I missed the first set missed part of the second set by the time I came back and turned it on saw that Sabal Lanka was kind of injured and sometimes it's tough to play against an opponent like that so Andrea they the match there when I turned it on in the third set it was a back and forth you'd see Andrea getting frustrated then it would go to sabalenka getting frustrated then back to Andrea getting frustrated but in the end Andre Andrea did a great job of staying focused kind of getting through the mental Battle of playing someone who's partially injured and that last game at 45 she did a great job of kind of hanging in there forcing some errors from Sabal Lanka and then on Match Point guessing right and just feeling a perfect backhand lob over sabala's backhand side and so it was a uh an exciting day for her an exciting match a great fight from sabalenka we know she was injured a little bit um but all in all it was just that was great drama yeah I mean I think I think you put it beautifully in the last game when you were getting so close to beating someone is the biggest win of her career to make the semi-finals of her first Grand Slam I think it helps to have someone like kta Martinez who's been there herself many times who's now coaching her has been coaching her for the last couple months we don't give enough credit to you know what K's been able to do with her to calm her down to teach her the ropes a little bit the mom left you know at the end of the second set she can't you know so there was a lot going on but the fact that she was able to calm herself and not get overw by the situation knowing that Sabal Lanka was certainly struggling you can see that but as an opponent you know you're seeing down the other you're like oh my God is she sick is she G to pull out there's all these things going through your head so as for someone so young to be able to not let that affect her and actually get the job done was so impressive flip it to Pini who is my favorite player I love her so much every time I see her on the tour I'm like Jasmine I love you you're my favorite player and she always laughs at me and I go I'm serious I've watched her for years Sam I watched her in small tournaments in Europe you know playing on the clay and I'm like who is this kid she's so good but she's like this big so I'm like for her to match up against someone like rabach Kina in that moment and hit with her aggressively on the Baseline and also to be able to handle the procha where she was up a set in a break twice in the second set 43415 on serve lost the game and lost the set to be able to come back and bounce back and not give anything free away in the third set against someone like rabach who in the end made her own errors to lose that match so I'm so bloody impressed by this young Italian at 20 I think she's 28 years of age she's been around a while to get through that match was awesome I mean it's going to be so interesting to see two players that probably never expected to be there I think Andrea we all expect to be there eventually but to get there now to against Pini it's going to be interesting to see how they handle it because they would not have expected to play each other in the semis to make their first final I haven't watched a ton of her matches but watching it today she's so fun to watch she's like a little ball of bubbly energy she's kind of built like Sakari but just with a bigger smile almost yeah so I think if you would if you have not watched tennis and you turn that match on today and watched Jasmine play You're gonna be like oh my gosh this girl is is so fun to watch she's got such great energy and uh like you said to lose that second set and then come back against rakina and win the third was really impressive for for a girl that hasn't been in this position before I was really impressed with kind of her her mental fortitude coming back in that third set and getting the win yeah I mean I just love her um so I was so excited even when she was choking she was looking out literally all the time and just laughing at her crew and I want to give a shout out to her coach who has been with her for it feels like forever and as you and I know when players aren't having success they certainly get rid of their coaches to too quickly sometimes and these two have developed such a great relationship that she's able to look up at him and smile and he's not like concentrate he knows her and so for me that's a beautiful story as well of two people that have stuck in there with each other and they've achieved what they've achieved today um Sam what do you think about Ana bur calling out the Roland G scheduling a little bit um what Ons Jabeur calls out Roland Garros scheduling issues are your thoughts on that I know I have mine certainly if you follow me on Twitter you know yeah you know I the scheduling is tough and I'm not going to kind of single out the French Open I can't stand it when tennis matches go to 12: 1:00 a.m. 2: a.m. we're seeing him going to 3:00 a.m. I I don't exactly know what the solution is I know they're going to go late at times but I just feel like people don't want to be out and about at 2 am on a Tuesday night watching tennis so I wish they would start these matches a little earlier or come up with a solution to kind of I don't know maybe maybe play half the match and we got a hard cut off time at at at midnight um but they do need to figure out something because I I'm not a fan of these matches going so late into the night it's it's just bad for the players bad for the fans and um you know they need to do something about it and like I said notes the French Open all these tournaments I agree and having two matches starting at seven o'clock with the men's and the women's whoever plays that second match is getting absolutely screwed every single time and you you people are like why do you let it why do they let it happen I'm like well you don't and you cannot predict the amount of time someone takes to win a match right so a match could be an hour or it could be three and a half hours if it's women's match and then the guys are going on at 11:00 at night playing playing best of five the men could go best of five the women are getting on at midnight it's just ridiculous so we have to figure out a way to make it quicker I don't know I've always been a proponent also to maybe make the men's best of three but that's a whole another story i' be kind a best of three I me I don't even play anymore but I've when I was playing I would have loved slams to be best of three hey that's what the Olympics do and we see the drama there we see 19 you know 1917 or 175 in the third I'm I'm all for playing out the fifth the third set no problem so I think there's a ways we can get around it but starting a men's match at 8:30 on Clay best of five is really a dumb idea that's what I'm gonna say so totally in the gr and I think I think we're with the majority here I don't think anyone wants this so I it'd be great look they're not GNA make a change this year but the next Grand slim Wimbledon doesn't have night matches I hope the US Open maybe they'll be the first one to say hey we're going to start our night session at 6 PM or we're going to have a hard cut off at midnight or I'd be up for a a tournament or a slam trying something and if it doesn't work go back but these late matches are ridiculous I'm I'm with you and you know what as someone who covers these matches often Courtside and I'm sitting there at 1:30 2:30 in the morning I'm like really do we really have people watching so that's another thing we're not we don't feel bad for you court side we're feeling bad for the players and the fans yeah thanks um I appreciate you Sam thanks for that thanks for dropping the on me all right so bottom line is I'm G to ask you real quick with what you've seen so far at the French who's winning Wimbledon oh who's winning Wimbledon um you know I'm gonna go with kind of like I'm not gonna give you one guess but I'm gonna say it's gonna be someone like a like a Taylor fritz or demon hour you know one of these guys that's like ranked between like eight and 15 on the men's side and on the uh and on the on the women's side I'm going to go with sabalenka I think just the how hard she hits the ball it's just going to just fly through the grass and so I'm I'm going to take her on the grass but the men I think we're going to see kind of someone that were that's unassuming when their first Grand Slam okay our producer just texted um on our chat that you're drunk picking uh one of those guys but it's okay because if you're right we get to give it to her and Alexa is gonna be like I'm sorry Sam you were right H my prediction is cner I think he wins Wimbledon and and if he does and wins the France whoa look out my favorite to win the US Open because I think he's so good on that surface um and I think Rach is going to win wbl again but we don't know because sabalan could come good we don't eag's not super comfortable in Grass um an bur's been in the final a couple of times so we don't know so my two picks are rakina and Yanik sinner but we'll we'll see all right guys well we did a question for you in the last uh Dropshot: reacting to social media responses show with the one and only Andy rodic Chris evett Stephie graph Justine Anna Monica celis or eag Fon which one of these women has to win a match for you to save your life on Clay who are you picking we got a lot of great responses and um a lot of people really loved Stephie for forline forehand Stephy graph Stephy anywhere against any woman that has ever played the game uh Stephy Stephy Stephy there was also I don't know you take some here Sammy good because I also wanted Stephie I mean I would have taken them all but like Stephie was my pick too but um you know and and like we said here with we got kids too young to remember Chrissy ever on Clay uh and that was like me Chrissy was so dominant on clay and kind of the current generation doesn't doesn't know that she you know maybe didn't have as many French opens as nll but her record on clay and especially at the French Open was one that will could never be broken on on the women's side of the game 125 consecutive matches on Clay are you kidding me it will never be broken it's safe to say it'll never be broken that's insane oh God so yes a lot of Stephie a lot of Chris ever there was a lot of Monica celis as well um before uh you know sadly what happened to her in Hamburg Germany but um Monica was to me probably the toughest player I ever saw play at the French Open and the 1992 final with Stephie graph was unbelievable um which Monica won so listen bottom line is I don't think you can go wrong with picking any of those people fantastic exactly I'll take Brer and the men's and any of those ladies on the clay in Paris all right so the next segment okay for next week's uh question is we're going to do it right now which tennis content are you most excited about Roger feder's docu series Andre Agy and Stephie Gruffs movie or Serena Williams docu series tweet your answer to us of course always at NBC Sports tag me and Sam in there as well well Sam you're not on Twitter so don't worry about you but I am so oh well I'll retweet it but bottom line is which tennis content are you most excited about with Roger Andre Stephy and of course Serena's docky series coming out we can't wait to hear your answers thanks for joining us once again today thank you again of course to the one and only great lindsy vaugh and everyone for joining us on the French Connection brought to you by NBC Sports and Racket the next episode is out Friday June 7th we look ahead to the finals of course at rolling goes see you then Sam thanks for joining me again today and uh take it easy on the old crutch there well down I used to have two crutches I'm down to one crutch next week it'll be no crutch all right we're going to see Sam with no crutches by the end of this uh French Connection all right guys thanks for joining us today we'll see you next time uh Sam good luck with your Achilles thank you only six more months six more months I'll let him know six more months before he's back to pickle balling