Intro [Music] welcome back to the slice I'm saying that to you listeners and I'm saying that to myself because last week on I was gone and while I missed Stephen I had the best time I was on my honeymoon we were in ply muuh har Cancun and it was incredible but we're back into action came back in one of the busiest times of the year during the US Open and as always we are delivering you an electric show where we will be talking about all of the tournament results we're going to be talking about what everybody else is talking about the center doping SC Scandal where Stephen and I stand on it what players have come out and said some things that maybe we agree with maybe we disagree with and how it will kind of shape the locker room maybe going forward the second story unfortunately for Stephen on the men's side I haven't kept up too much with the Canadian women but we got to talk a little bit about the Canadian failures and then we're going to get right into our smash or pass segment guys our NE you know we break down our weeks real quick and I just want to let you know why we only have two stories on here if youve been listening to the show JP's Week you know I've been dealing with some some housing situations I was supposed to move in with my new wife back in July we kept getting pushed and pushed we're supposed to move in tomorrow which when you listen to this yeah is today basically supposed to move in Wednesday I get a text message today at work work is very busy by the way and get a text message at work it says Hey apartment won't be ready until maybe Friday but just to be safe let's say till next Wednesday so that put my head in a blender my week was amazing the week before in Mexico we had the best time ever and then we come back to the US sitting my wife she has a flat tire waiting for her at home we had to deal with that got it to the Airbnb the next day we get the text I met pton Manning in between all of that which was cool but it's been a it's it's been a it's been a it's been a week man and it's only Tuesday it has been a week man you are a warrior I mean you and S have got to be a special you know godd designed couple for this amount of resist to be coming after you right at the beginning I would say so to me that's a good sign for you guys how bright your future is uh and you guys are great and strong for getting through this and you will get through it and you will get into your new place and you will have it all work out but right now that is super annoying for you JP so we Stephen's Week feel bad for you but we're happy to have you back yes thank you plea please tell me your week was better than mine my week was better than yours for sure so I mean other than having to do the podcast solo last week which actually nothing new for me I've done literally hundreds and hundreds of solo shows here on the slice which I'm happy to do uh but we did miss you other than that I've been playing more tennis recently so I obviously leading up to the US Open we had lots of news we had the center doping Scandal we had Felix alj Alim getting robbed by Jack Draper just literally just mugged at gunpoint by Jack Draper Scandal uh but then I've been playing my own tennis and I already told you a few weeks ago how I lost like a 14-year-old girl respect she's amazing uh but so I'm playing in a new tournament and I played actually this was the same tournament I played this other kid in the um in the in the in the first round of like the constellation draw and he was like he's like for he I think he was like 16 but he for 16y old he's like my height more jacked than I was and I was like all right it's about to be another quick night here and like he played good and I know and he's like oh I play four or five times a week I'm like no I great I play four time five times like a year essentially right so all right and then I had actually had it was funny we had like a work thing going on before and I had like I had like two beers like a couple hours before that but I'm a lightweight for sure so I still could feel it like you know what I mean if I was playing for my life I would not have done that but I you know I'm almost 30 I don't really care so right I get out there though and this kid he breaks me on my first service game I'm like all right but then just get into the match and I start to you know use some things I learned in Montreal watching these pros play and the kid starts to do what Juniors do which is beat themselves and I don't do that anymore so I just played solid play you know I started to sober up and uh yeah just ended up playing solid and beat him like 6361 I want to say and this was he was a 16y old yeah which is the yeah and I you know and I don't feel that bad you know 14-year-old you should feel bad 16-year-old you know he's a man essentially so yeah there there's guys that are about to turn pro at 16 but I guess the yeah the funniest optic of of it all is just thinking about this dude is probably like you know stoked it's it's a school night he's going to play tennis and the guy is playing against it just like has a little bit of Buzz going on across the court it wasn't even a buzz it was like a little it was like it was essentially like I could a little bit of misbalance like you could tell something was still in the system was so you were what you were playing loose that's true and I was playing pretty nice and then I beat him and I went on to play a really good player in the next round who's but he's older like he's like I'm more of an athlete than he probably is at this point but he's you know still a very good player and we played a close match and I played some nice tennis so I and I lost but I wasn't even sad about it so playing another tournament this week oh so I'm getting back into it I'm starting to feel the competitive juices fly again with tennis and that's nice so that's essentially been my week is playing tennis and preparing to cocoon myself for the next two weeks but it's awkward JP because my my wife's very pregnant our D dates like at the end of the US Open essentially so the baby could come at any moment so I mean to be fair to this podcast if you know her water breaks or whatever's going on I'm out of here JP's out of here it's gonna be a short podcast so I think we're all okay with that uh something I would love to do is probably bet on your matches and if I if it was a available on betway which this podcast is presented by I would be hammering Stephen if they knew the behind the if they listen to this podcast they would for sure have him as the underdog seeing his pregame Antics and I love that value at whatever line they set him at and also before we get into our betway Best Bets of the day we do and I think I speak for everybody that listens to the show we got to get some video of you playing at one of these tournaments we got to get you to set your phone up just give us one little clip give the people what they want I should I could do that I got the swing vision app and the and the and the uh the post that they sent me to hang up on the back fence but I these ones are indoors which is weird but uh yeah I'll get my wife to potentially if she comes to uh to to film some of you know it's okay the game's okay like I I'm excited to uh to play more and get it to a level where I can like go to tournaments and stuff again that are like a little bit more serious and play be fun shout out swing Vision we would love to bring you on as a sponsor of the uh podcast bring you back as a sponsor bring you back it will be my first time with you guys and your first time's always the best time but that's right let's talk about the Best Best Bets of the Day by #betwaycanada Bets of the day that you can place on betway who this segment is presented by the best place to bet is betway 19 and up to play in collaboration with igaming Ontario please play responsibly Stephen you were talking about a little Underdog what the people viewed as an underdog matchup that you are looking like you might hit on that's going on right now can you tell us what your next best bet of the day is a little Futures bet that can get the people excited about some potential future coin in their life yeah so I called right now as we you know it's kind of ridiculous to talk about what's happening right now this is going to come out tomorrow Bianca andrescu playing very tight with Jasmine palini Jasmine palini beat her at the French Open and Wimbledon this year but this is the US Open and Bianca andru won the US Open in 2021 and Pini has not ever won the US Open so I thought that's a you know a little value play uh so I said that so right now that's looking okay um although I think she just won the first set Bianca andreski I can't really see anyways uh my value pick right now is for let's just look at the outrights yeah she did be krki wins the first set in a tiebreaker let's go come on um so Mystic ma calls it again uh third quarter outright winner right the favorite the fourth seed is Alexander Zev uh but what do we know about Zev is he oftentimes comes up short based on his expectations uh when he said I'll put I quote this is like a t-shirt I'll put myself in there as far as putting himself in there with the best players in the world always loses after he says something like that you know he's been more quiet recently uh but he is the favorite to win that quarter at negative 138 but we got Taylor Fritz right behind him who in reality with these faster conditions and just being a good player has plus 650 to come out of that quarter uh I like that so that's pretty good odds pretty high odds I would say for the second best player in that quarter um he's du I feel like he he's due for a little run at the US Open it's it's always TFO TFO steals the American headlines of American tennis at the last two US opens at least and Fritz it's they everybody I feel like everybody thought Fritz was going to be the one that would make the deepest run so maybe this is the year he gets to make that run maybe that's our pick that's our best bet of the day best bet of the day now speaking of the US Open US Open Results and some results Stephen what has happened a lot of things have happened today this has been an electric day we've seen some some high seeds go down in the last two days we've seen some some awesome maybe not so awesome outfits on Court and we've it's been it's I would say so far it's the US Open has lived up to US Open hype in my opinion yeah absolutely I saw there was um I saw that there was a record amount of people on the venue for the first day of the tournament uh which actually JP surprised me it doesn't surprise me because people you know people said tennis is going to be in trouble after the after F all are done not the case which is great but that venue is way smaller than I thought before I went there I don't remind me you have been there before right with a I went last year for the first time right did like that is a smaller like square footage of a space than I expected at the Uso but it's not it feels like Indian Wells is a bigger space feels like the Rome Masters is a bigger space it's crazy it almost it's almost like the same size as Cincinnati like it's it's probably not as big but like Cincinnati I don't know both places are so walkable yeah but I mean it's not walkable when there's 100 million people inside of the US Open grounds and it's not that big so that's interesting good for the organizers good for the USDA for that Kahuna money uh for selling tickets bad for the mobility aspect even for fully mobile people like JP and I at this point in our lives uh but not not to complain you know who should be complaining though is uh one of the upsets in day in round one here so far hul garuna goes out uh in round one to Brandon Nakashima we talked about it on the show yesterday not a massive surprise to be honest because Brandon Nakashima has been taking names he beat Dennis shapovalov friend of the show he beat Tommy Paul he beat Taylor Fritz all in the last like three weeks so this guy is an absolute machine so I'd look again Best Bets of the day I'd look at him obviously lot of value one thing JP JP I don't know if you saw this hogar Runa tweeted out he's like I so sorry to my fans he's like tweets this whole paragraph about how he needs to be better he needs to do he loves the support he's like he's like it was a perfect day there was happy kids the Sun was shining I yeah weather was great uh and I just played terrible tennis no offense to my opponent I know isn't that the best he's just you can tell he's running his account dude and we need more of that because you see the guys that are not running their accounts and it's so cringe and unfortunately I know we're going to get into it but you they they need to give the log Felix's Twitter account to You Stephen because did you see the post of him showing up for day one I mean come on man you bro I know that okay well because of all the the you know because I tweeted his management team and him have broken up right so his management team used to run his socials I know that so Felix is out there not thinking about about his socials let's be honest he's trying to figure out how to win first round matches at this point but he set himself up because did you see this his picture of him he's like headed to round one I know they flipped it they flipped it headed home after round one that was messed up man but listen Felix obviously we're fans of you you're you're one of the most likable guys so this is no hate at all but please hey Twitter is my thing d i you know just in this in this quarter I think maybe you could say I've gone viral twice so if you're looking for somebody to give the login to look to the slice we're GNA take care of you we're player first we'll never do anything to harm you and we're going to boost those numbers and now you get paid on Twitter you get that blue check mark you get paid extra money in your not a conflict of interest I'll still report what I got to say I said on Twitter today it's rock bottom for these for shopo and Felix it is but exactly we are also we could be a management team for you as well so JP uh is um presenting his Services hit him I'm here for you Felix that's right what what about so I ran I I ran through all the results yesterday uh day one day two have you seen anything JP I'm trying to think of of of big issu today I know CER lost his first set and then red the ship and came through EV was today no sorry Dan Evans vs Khachanov reaction Dan Evans was today right correct did you see that tell me what happened there bro d Dan Evans over Karen kov longest match in US Open history and this is crazy we we talked about this weeks ago when Dan Evans decided to foro playing Washington put him outside of the top 100 and what do they say karma is not a beep Karma's not a [ __ ] it's a mirror and this is what Dan Evans gets for sticking it out playing with Andy Murray showing his loyalty everybody was like they applauded him for it right thank you so much for doing that but you might have screwed yourself over in the end it all came around for him and it should Dan Evans yet again on top well done sir yeah legendary performance huge props to him for playing the Olympics that was cool and then someone tweeted it out I think John wor time the tennis gods they were on they rewarded him for his sacrifice and he got the win today longest US Open match ever and he was down 4 Z with another break Point 40 love 40 in the fifth set came back to Win It 6'4 longest match of uh in history one of the biggest chokes in history too if you're Karen hatov to be honest that's a tough way to go losing the longest match and you had like so many chances to finish off the set I know yeah legendary performance there from Dan Evans something that I do love about Dan Evans as well is the ankle socks oh I can't stand it see and usually I'm with you usually I'm with you can't stand it but he's got some he has some great cavves so it looks nice and it's just like dang he really is here just to show up and and take names and he's not worried about you know looking nice with the ankle braces doing anything too crazy with with a socks or a knee brace he looked springy out there it makes him look more springy I could not disagree more vehemently I think the I think ankle socks for men uh in tennis should be illegal it should be uh like an automatic point penalty to start the match or something like that to me it just looks like you're one of those dads who's just like the wife buys the socks from Costco and there she's like the ankle sock you're like okay I'll just don't care you're at the park chasing around your son with your ankle socks on you got to be wearing the calf ey socks in tennis to your point he has great calves the white ankle sock or calf socks which he should be wearing accentuate how big the cart it makes it look bigger dude when you have great legs you got to show off the whole thing are you saying Federer jokovic and Nal don't have great legs I think if they they have great legs but I think if they had Dan Evans legs they might have done all those guys you just mentioned are way more into their appearance than Dan Evans and maybe I just see a little bit of myself in Dan Evans oh that you know that is true D I guarantee you those guys are more into their appearance than Dad Evans he's a he's a funny guy you tell me Stephen I my legs look like Dan Evans looks like you just walked back from Cancun Mexico you got you don't know what these shoes have seen bro it's like you're treading through the cartels on the way back here running uh no that's hilarious no anyways the Dan Evans five set winner uh from behind with ankle socks yeah that's an amazing story at the US Open right now Carlos alra is at one set all uh and he lost second set versus Lou or two uh and I don't know if you saw this JP when you're away but he rolled R his ankle in practice Yeah match but I'm going to probably bring it up here now actually but he rolled his ankle and it was like I've rolled ankle a lot playing basketball right and there's degrees but there's no way his ankle is not sore after what he did for sure I might not be debilitating they could put that but it's just a really bad way to start the tournament because those things don't heal it literally just takes time there's nothing you can do to make it go faster yeah and it's not uh cuz when I was looking at the draw obviously I'm I'm always room for Dennis and you see alcaraz right above him that would have been his second round matchup but after I see the draw I'm like that's tough then I see the video of alarz with the ankle you never want anybody to get hurt if they do get hurt you want it to be minor and for this sake I saw that happen I was said oh my gosh Dennis might actually he could have a little shot here if alarz is is feeling is he tweaked SLE the pressure was too much the pressure was too much oh we'll get we'll get into the Canadian Saab story later here in a bit but uh so that'll be interesting we got a lot of Danielle Collins last US Open match matches going on right now oh I need to give a quick shout out to Danielle Collins unfortunately it was was her last grand slam match of her career everybody has seen the year she's had she announced the retirement at the beginning of the year and then all of a sudden she took off she's getting the best results of her career she's a grinder she she never had the backing of the UF ta like a lot of our other people I saw her dad was like he owned a landscape business mom was waking up at 400 a.m to take her to practice and school and all the other things so to see your have such an awesome year it's just a great a great Feelgood story I wish she could have made a run in the US Open but Danielle Collins thank you for what you did for American tennis thanks for the attitude and the spunk you brought to the sport as well we will miss you I know The Season's not over yet but we'll miss you at the Grand Slams what did you think about her snubbing Stacy Alister the USA uh head or tournament director I believe with the flowers at the end now that I didn't I forgot that she didn't get the backing from the USDA so I love that if that's the case just walk right by see it thanks for nothing peace out the perfect ending for her she she she left how she started chip on her shoulder and now can't wait to see what she does next that is Danimal that's what they call her right Danimal Collins also shout out danals had one last or two weeks ago had bought me a little four pack that tastes just as good as I remember back what's a Danimal I don't I don't even know what that is Danimals are basically like a pretty much like a sugary yogurt smoothie for for kids and there's like a monkey monkey is like their uh logo thing and he was always hyped they had the awesome commercials growing up you always wanted animals my family we weren't big like like treats we weren't a big treats family so I'd have to get him at my friend's house oh yeah that's there's nothing better than being like the family like where your you know your parents are like health conscious so you don't get all the crazy stuff and then you go get it from your friends it tastes so good or like you're not allowed to play video games and you go play video games that your friends house you're like hey nice to see you Mrs Smith I don't care let where's the controller at turn the game on I brought batteries yeah I brought flowers for you to let me uh yeah that's funny um I don't even know how we got talking about that Danimal um yeah well we'll get into more you know results here obviously there's not too many we're not even through round one uh although ALR is grinding right now but you know I'm watching him right now and he you know I don't think there's any movement issues I mean we all know ALR can drop a set in a five set match it doesn't mean a thing so um yeah we uh I fully expect him to to turn this one around and I and when Center was down a set I actually I threw a little money on uh little money on him through betway and that was that was easy cash so you know you know these guys are they're okay they set vet move everybody needs to think about what Stephen just did there anytime these top guys lose lose a set especially the first set those odds go down and that is the time to pounce betway they're up to date you got the live betting on there so check the app because it's it's a grand slam these guys they're bound to lose they're bound to lose an early set Sinner doping scandal and reaction that's right make you some money that's right um okay let's get into our our first story here uh because I actually have another one that I might throw in there slide in there quick okay first story is I just want to talk to JP about it because I love his his takes we've already talked about it with a full video show on the center doping situation but I feel like there's been some more developments and mainly like the interaction within on Twitter to be fair if you're not on X or Twitter you know God bless you because your mind is probably in a more stable place like you're probably in a much healthier place in the rest of the world but it is absolute Carnage right now in tennis Carnage yeah Andy Murray tweets out I think it was Andy Murray at least just like tennis Twitter is is like is on an absolute role right now or something yeah I think he actually said Carnage that's where I got it from there you go yeah because it is I mean you so Sinners and the main thing I don't know what if it's just my algorithm because I look at all pavy G and curios tweets about it yeah like literally two of the biggest clowns in in the world of tennis uh just going off about it and just like throwing out like insane opinions uh and it's just crazy and this the whole story is crazy so JP I don't know how much you saw this when you were on your honeymoon hopefully not that much what's your take on it so far dude it it seems like because when I really started diving into it all was when he did that sit down interview with ESPN which I saw a player quote like quote twet it was like and maybe it was curios like okay so somehow he gets a exclusive 20 minute interview to explain exactly what went on but this doesn't happen for anyone else like you know shout out to his team and so I guess another part that was shocking me was I mean it doesn't shock me that guys weren't like sticking up for him I was sort of shocked that you know all these like fan accounts which now that I say it out loud it's not shocking actually that they're like man that's you know all these guys are horrible people not sticking up for Center in the locker room yada y yada but it's like man maybe people don't actually rock with them like we may have thought in the locker room and that that's the speculation ultimately I think it comes down to like they've all these guys have talked about like Center has the resources and Center has a great team behind them which a lot of these people that have got popped like one of the Emer Brothers Jensen Brooksby Simona halop she definitely has some resources but you just wonder like pretty much everybody I just named can't afford what Center can afford and shout out to him for putting the right people around him and I think tennis players do lack that accountability of themselves or just like the the knowledge to like okay these are the important things I need in place that will set me up because it's not like or it doesn't seem like CER broke the rules he just had people that that like we're on top of it all so it's like no fault to him for how he handled it why wouldn't you handle it like that well yeah I think on that aspect of it like the fairness uh of the process towards him versus other players I think you know I don't think why people get it twisted like do they do they think the tennis world is fair or like the World's Fair like it's it's not like the winner of the US Open gets $3 million if you lose in the first round you get 100 Grand CER is the number one player in the world because of how he's played throughout his career and he's got there so I think it's kind of crazy to think they're like people like why aren't they trotting the number 800 player out there in the world and giving them 20 minutes on espan wal right no one cares like to be's gonna watch I'm sorry but uh sin's the number one player in the world I have said I don't think he's guilty at all I think his story the story makes sense it makes a lot more sense than a lot of the other ones yeah um but I do think the whole system is a bit crazy like you just mentioned Jensen Brooksby and yeah he's literally out until TW January of 2025 because he just missed three tests yeah he didn't even get caught with anything he just just didn't show up for three tests and those are all like you get texted in the middle of a basketball game you're at watching and you don't see it for an hour that's a Miss test right um so the whole I get it like I don't want I don't want doping done in or I don't want doping in tennis obviously right but there seems to be so much confusing on what confusion on what actually happens because yeah as other people were pointing out uh Andy rodic said that every player gets tested during a major apparently that's not true at all like lot of times players won't get tested the entire time during a major and you know to me it's it's like Lance Armstrong survived for so long doping without getting caught you got to think that if player if he can do it there's guys in tennis who can do it and not get caught so to me if it's like is CER doping everyone's doping and to the your point of Lance Armstrong like when they went back and looked at it I think over the course of those 20 years he was riding it was like I guess he won like I forget how many he won maybe seven or eight but like of the 13 other Champions 11 of them all got caught for cheating during that same time yeah so exactly to your point it's like if he's dope and he he's not the only one that's doing it he's like the Le like I've said like CL the ball like people were saying I said on the show is like it's that one is apparently is used for muscle building like there's other steroids that are like you know cardio performance and stuff like that but I was like if C's using that CLA the ball he's not using a right because he's like the least muscular guy body's always breaking down like you think alra like to you know I'm not I'm not alleging anything but there's guys who whoa but there's like jokovic is 37 hasn't slowed down at all there's alra who's just a muscular freak at 18 like like if we're just going to start throwing accusations around then it's like it just where do you stom like I guess like like you know I get it Center had a billionth of a gram but you know you could feels like you get a billionth of a gram from drinking tap water like you get a billion of a gram of yeah and I I think something that was fascinating that I think I guess I saw maybe Dennis quote tweeted but it was from somebody that we're gonna have on in a couple weeks Ahad from the ptpa his big thing was like yes in every other sport these got Roger Goodell Adam Silver like they have to answer for these inconsistencies that happen in the NBA in the NFL a lot of people don't like Roger Goodell but at the end of the day when big things come up he does get in front of the mic he gets questioned most time He makes himself look like a fool and everybody wants him out but he's getting out there and doing it and there is just no accountability it seems among anybody on the ATP or WTA and then and this goes all the way to the umpires as well it's it's like yeah these people have got to face some sort of public accountability at least let the media ask the questions how did this happen and then they can give their answer and then everybody can have their opinions yeah yeah I think it's uh it's crazy and I think there's no head of tennis essentially like people were talking about Andrea godenzi like the leader of the ATP the CEO of the ATP right making moves when he was like kind of bringing the wa closer like when he was intercept the golden tour kind of proposal by the Saudis like he ended up doing a deal with the PF instead of letting them do with the grand slams and you're like okay that's gangster there's no like yeah there's no like hey I looked at this we all looked at this and like we believe Sinners clean based all this stuff it kind of it's I mean yeah there's like we've seen the I independent report there you know and then also yeah we're looking into the discrepancies of the process because it's not clearly not right so yeah I think if you're shame if you're tennis you got to have a a face of it from the leadership standpoint and I don't know why they just wouldn't look at another individual sport just watch Dana White after all of this all of these fights especially the big fights now that he's built it to what it is it's like if the head of tennis could just show up at each Grand Slam and similar to Dana White come do an opening press conference all right hey these were like some of the awesome moments that happened love this match these are some things we want to do differently here's what everybody gets paid it would go such a long way and it would you throw a likable guy in there it it grows the sport even more they're like oh dang this dude that's running tennis seems dope but yeah man you're gonna drive yourself nuts hoping for that because like alrea godenzi runs the ATB tour which does not control the US Open like it's right does not control the IIA which so it's just it's nuts it it'll unfortunately I in my opinion never be like that um but yeah you have all these bureaucrats which is what the the federations are ran by I was just in Montreal you got the US Open you got all these people getting paid the big kahunas and they all want to have that moment to give the person the flowers to you know shake the hand in front of everyone it's all no we don't need any of that that's just all them wanting to be on the stage getting their little they want to be like show their friends and the HT what they did on you know at the US Open it's all D so it's it's it's just where we're at that's what shocks me is that there's not a guy that has that like the biggest ego and has the most money and is like I want to be at every Tournament being the guy speaking on it all and I will do whatever it takes to make it happen because even if that if that person does come in and nobody likes him at least a precedent is set of like okay this is how it can be but hopefully the ptpa can do their thing and they can give the players a little bit more of a voice it was cool to see all of these players getting more active on Twitter without some admins running their pages and giving their voice because even just that that puts the pressure on the ATP Tour when there's this like social media unrest of everything that's going on so we'll see yeah we will see and uh yeah Dennis shaval is definitely running his account as well he's back on Twitter baby he also shout out Dennis he did just finally he followed me back last week we needed that bro tell them we need the follow as well bro we just had uh we just had one of our players one of our friends of the show just unfollow us which I was very sad oh no he's following and then I think he had a management change as well potentially a new manager who's more involved with his socials maybe they you know there's a whole it's a big conspiracy up here in Canada I'll just say that it's all okay uh so that's funny so yeah anyways that's the center situation I feel like we've done it justice you know it's uh you know curios just obviously you know has no clue what he's saying but you know and in my opinion like and he would say oh yeah I'm a pro I've been that I've been piss tested it's like that doesn't mean anything like doesn't make you an expert on anything what it does is he wants to be on ESPN for the Long Hall he wants to take as many checks as possible and ESPN will let you do anything you want unless Ben Rothenberg Lawsuit vs Zverev it is you know unless it violates their specific set of rules about what a commentator can and can't do I was just reading this is okay this is a quick second story and then and then we'll get to the uh Canadians Ben Rothenberg dude I think I might have seen this Ben Rothenberg is a pretty Infamous reporter in tennis I've met the guy if I just met manto man from only what I know in person beauty beauty of a guy very nice guy uh sincere to me we had a great time together he's pretty legendary in the sport though for getting a guy a writer in the UK kicked out of basically journalism for plag Rising which I believe was legit this why I thought of this right now is he also got a guy though from ESPN fired um for basically highlighting that he he said fenus Williams charged the net like a gorilla in one of her PO in one of her matches like said it commentary right and literally he like that could be seen like if you just take a face value for what it is it's like that's an you know but it's obviously with the racial element there probably wouldn't have been anything but Ben Rothenberg highlighted it got this guy fired he's apparently he was like an inner city coach with like African-American youth like coaching tennis like really good guy wasn't a racist at all got fired and then he's also been obviously railing against vera for years now uh in a way that you know some people including myself see kind of as more than just journalism like more it seems to be like having a personal Vendetta it seems to be having trying to enact Justice himself which I would say to straight to his face I think he's just gone too far and now he's actually getting sued and he's in illegal battle with Z of over and now he's asking the public for money or asking I guess his supporters for money to help fight it uh which is very I would say mess it's a messy look on on again on tennis Twitter what do you think about all that JP I I'll tell you what I think at because I did see this tweet and I want I literally I I scrolled I read it I saw the gofund me link I rolled my eyes I thought about clicking it I said hang on let me let me take a second and I never got back to it what I what I'm really curious to see is how many people have donated so far and I'm clicking on it right now I think it's like 10,000 us or something like that okay let's see or did you think it was less oh yeah so his goal is $22,000 now right now he's at 1077 6 I'll tell you this Ben I'm sorry man you the minute this thing went to a legal battle was verev you should have you should have backed out because that man has way more ammunition in his bank account than you do but the overall arching that's not right that's not he would say that's not the Justice thing to do yep and that's the world we live in man but I think the I I I guess I don't I didn't know about that the story with Venus Williams and that really bothers me because there was another there's like a similar dude that we that we've come across before and he brought up he like is one of these guys he he resurfaced some old tweets of this NFL quarterback and it was like you know from middle school when he's saying I don't know what we can't can't say on the show but you know you're he's saying middle school things and so it got that guy like under all this heat he lost out on a contract he was basically cancelled and it was like dude what what are you doing digging up this old tweet that clearly has like this Taylor haniki dude has a great character everybody loves him his teammates love him he's everything that's you're like he's ever he's I'm trying to think how to say it he is the exact opposite of what you're trying to make him out to be and anytime you know you mess with somebody's livelihood for your own gain and for some attention that's to me when it crosses the line and it bums me out hearing that about the Venus Williams scenario and yeah as I've just scrolled through tennis Twitter and I see Ben Rothenberg just beat the horse of Zev with something that's already gone to court and settled one way or the other it's like dude what are you what exact like what is the end goal that would make you happy and I think that's an answer we probably don't even want to hear from him about Zev yeah yeah because it's like you know it's it's it's at it's at some point it's like relationships are messy like and like well like couples fighting gets messy and like I'm not gonna you know know there's just two sides to every story so anyways that's one that was one thing that's a very big issue or big thing going on on Twitter right now that or that I just kind of saw I think the last story or JP the third story is I just sent you the article for that was talking about Rothenberg yeah uh Canadian Struggles at US Open is a Canadian struggle I mean you know we're in pain here as Canadians not going well not going well in New York I said maybe this year it'll be uh the Canadian it'll change it back to the Canadian open because for a while there you know it's been the US Open but for a while there with Bianca andreski winning it and with uh Canadians doing better than Americans essentially at the US Open for a while uh we started to call it that but not to be this year Felix Al J loses in the first round to yakub menik in three sets straight like I got I could bring up the score uh the the uh final score here but it was pretty straight um if I could see it it was oh now I can't see it anyways it was in three sets uh Dennis shapovalov loses to botic vanan sculp in four sets I believe and Fernandez loses also today to poova yeah sorry Felix lost to menik 62 64 62 just so yeah so that's bad and I mean these Guy this is round one so these are two guys who used to be both top 10 and they're still not old but literally losing in the first rounds again and I and I if you I think you know Felix hasn't been to the quarterfinals or pass out of the third round of a major in like years now at this point like two years I think so yeah it's a bad day for Canadian tennis but potentially might it better but not looking good right now yeah I wonder I me I guess after the the SK the remaining schedule after the US Open always kind of fascinates me I would love to talk to the players in the Felix world and like Dennis world where it's like all right your big four tournaments are over you head into this this final swing are you like fired up to you know have some a few more opportunities to end the year nicely or are you more like let's get this year over with and let me just get to the offseason so I can re like I I need a I need a total reset personally I feel like the reset comes with playing more tournaments but they're they're the ones that are out there all year the mental like grind of it all I'm sure is just brutal it is brutal and from what I've heard and felt and and heard from people on the tour is that essentially when the US open's done so many people check out right it is a grind to finish the year um and fix in 2022 had that amazing run in the you know in the fall he won three tournaments in a row two ATP 250s and then bosel where I was interviewing after every match we had a great time there and then you were I was thinking you know is he and then they won the Davis Cup as well that year Canada won the Davis Cup which is crazy and was not able to bring that forward into 202 three and now we're here 2024 major season is done for him and he has nothing to show uh disappointing result in in uh in Montreal he had a great result in Madrid he had a good decent run until he got he got absolutely slew footed in Cincinnati um but yeah just a really disappointing run continues for these top Canadian guys I will say bright spot right now Gabriel Dio friend of the show our boy our boy we literally dopped it up multiple times in Montreal just won his first ever main draw match at a major against juam munar in four sets so that is big time that puts an extra I think 40K in his pocket after Mak it he he had to win 30 or three rounds to qualify gets the round one win so I mean that's a that's a crazy result there for uh our guy Gabe as we call him so yeah that is hype shout out you Gabe we got hey Gabe you not even ask you to come on the show all I would love to see is just a little clip you say hey the slice what's up I heard you guys were asking what am I gonna spend my first because you said this is first time winning first round match in a grand slam right yeah yeah I would love to know Gabe what is your first little Splurge purchase after your first Grand Slam win do you just pocket it put it in the bank or do you go maybe you just keep it light buy some nice shoes maybe you get a little watch would love to would love to hear from you that 100K for the first round making it through Coles that's big and I did see him post on the Instagram with his girl Fiona around New York he had a little kith bag kith bag something in it so he went out got something nice you deserve that after all your work big dog uh that's a great win he will play for the Canadians listening who care he will play arur Fe oh the 24th seated Frenchman in the second round so honestly could be worse arer is very good I will say he's very very good they'll both you speaking French um but arur Fe is about six feet tall Gabe is about 69ine I think yeah 6 eight so depends which Feast shows up that's true that's true so let's uh let's not get ahead of ourselves but that's a great result there that is one Canadian singles player to win in the first round Bianca andrescu has without a doubt dropped the second set that's what always happens it's like literally she wins the first set it's just like go to the third set like you know you're losing the second set just show up in the third and it's always a three set affair with her I was about to put money on the I think I actually said it on the show don't bet on her to win the match bet on her to win in three like it's the same thing essentially there's just better odds in three it was like plus 450 and I think I actually put some money on it to win a three to be honest there you go that's another little vet tip for betway that Steph's got for you if it's Bianca she loves the three with and honestly I bet there's a aming value on it if you place it after she wins the first set yeah well it would get better yeah yeah exactly or after she loses the second set or you know it's a while that the the odds makers they definitely don't know what to do in that that scenario watching her um that's why I'm confident you know because I I definitely watch more tennis than they do so that's what I say Smash or Pass? um yeah okay well that's the Canadians I think JP so is it time for smash or pass time for smash or pass man our favorite one okay what what do we got first we have smash or pass curios commentary I have a feeling I know where you're about what you're about to say all right smash on his commentary on ESPN I think he's a great commentator on tennis pass on his commentary on Twitter as of late I think it's trash what about you JP I will smash both of those things solely the reason I'm smashing his Twitter commentary is because he has a large following and he Sparks he he lets a fire on Twitter and Tennis needs a fire starter on Twitter oh does he grow the game I don't know if he's growing the game but he's growing these Impressions and he's growing the Twitter conversation he's growing his bank account that's all he's doing on Twitter but I know what you mean but I love the grow the game is like the most overused term in uh TS now they're like we're G to grow the game it's like yeah ex there's there's plenty of ways to grow the game that just don't involve Twitter true and I was talking literally about this in in Montreal with another journalist is like does tennis need to grow do we need to grow the game like what I I want to bring more people into the game as in like people who don't feel like they're maybe accepted I don't know if that's how I don't know who would feel that anymore like you know what I mean like oh yeah you had everyone everyone's represented everyone's equally right it's there's a billion fans of tennis it's like the US Open has record crowds everything is good like you know what I mean I don't know if it's grown anymore so people love to use that excuse I'm not I'm not saying crazy things for the benefit of myself on Twitter I'm growing the game because I'm a cultural icon it's like hey you might catch some heat about which we we should talk about I would love to talk about this with with a player but the the you said there's equal pay you know it's all always a hot topic of these tournaments like Cincinnati when there's not equal pay between the men and the women sure yeah that's true not in the majors is equal pay that's what that's what I meant and then but then there's arguments both ways for for these other tournaments so there are arguments and I love those arguments you get canceled for one of the arguments though you if you make one side of the argument cancellation if you fall in line then you're okay oh I think it's safe to say what what you and I want is we want we want fairness that's now not everybody is happy with fairness no but it should be fair and that's fair objective yes it is and I guess we we kind of grouped in in this smash or pass we grouped in the commentary and the Twitter game oh yeah we did yeah we did we hit a d we hit a double pass or I hit a double smash Stephen he split I did a split Okay pavy g on Twitter JP do you know this guy do you know this clown I only know him just based off the last like few months and I know like you you just previously mentioned him and curios in the same air of two big clowns and I couldn't the first thing that came in my head was like God like what do I need to do to get in there with them in that conversation so I'm smashing pavy G on Twitter because I gotta get in the room I gotta get in that same breath as him but let's have him on let's have him on we'll have him on the show and I'll say it right to his face I think you're you know personally as a person I don't know you and I I believe you're probably a great person you probably love your kids you probably have a successful life I hope you do I hope I wish you health nothing but the best in life but on Twitter and with your opinions in tennis you are an absolute clown show the worst of the worst on tennis Twitter and I will say that to his face no problem love that pavy g stand on business sounds like you're uh smashing pavy G I'm no I'm passing passing big time but with you know whatever you know he he he does entertain me sometimes and uh on Twitter so it's just his his takes are ridiculous he's like he's like a necessary there's like there's one of there's a pavy g in every sport and it's necessary like I you can see I mean I don't follow him but he comes up on my feet every now and then and I'm like hey like crazy I also don't follow him he just comes up hey and that that means he's doing something right but I see now I'm kind of scrolling through his page real quick and I think I'm I see why you don't like him and it's has to do with one man that just tied a Federer for what the most grand slam wins singles matches no he's a it's it's great to go to his page man every time uh jokovic uh wakes up in the morning he's he's praising everyone for that he says how amazing jokovic is and then when he loses his big match matches like to Carlos alarz he goes how could he not he's 37 alarz too good well played Carlos but it's pain or it's to be fair it's what the tennis it's what makes the tennis armies around their players it is like he's the king of the joke of it the no fam there's other people who the king of the FED it's all it's all fun and games to be honest and uh you know I love the wars I you know like like the like like Bane said I was born in the dark I was born in the fidal jokovic wars uh yes should have seen you should have seen some of the old days when I was just in my room clapping back at them calling jokovic names on the streams it was crazy so you know I've I've been there and I see I see what pavi is I respect it but I think he's the worst and that's what it's all about right that those that last phrase you just hit you respect it but you think he's the worst that is what we need more of the respect is there I respect him as a human I don't respect actually the way he says anything on tw Twitter I think he's just like such a troll it's crazy it's crazy okay next one did you see Osaka's Nike outfit that she helped design yes smash or pass pass just a ridiculous outfit I just don't know it's like when you see those clips of people walking down the the runways in these insane fashion shows and they're wearing like you know like a a black paper bag and or something and you're just like that's not who deem this fashion right yeah so so so huge pass what about you JP yeah I I'm also passing the only reason I would smash is because I when I saw the the first video and photo all I could think was man if a fan could just reach down and untie that back bow that would be all time so if smashing me she keeps wearing it and I One Day have the opportunity just hit a little whoop and maybe I'll smash it but for now I'm passing because conversation is very suspect I think uh s might be sitting upstairs to be like you're You're Gonna Want now JP guys it's all it's all about it has to do with the bow the bow that she designed for her outfit but it is cool like I I wish maybe more players would would design some stuff I think we can get some some fun fun ideas going maybe Dan Evans can design some socks yeah you would you would never see what them you would you wouldn't know what the design is but he takes his shoes off at the end of the game you'll know and everyone will be like waiting for the reveal actually you know what baby I'm smashing of Saka outfit because I'm starting to realize you don't know fashion like me like Dan Evans like Naomi Osaka that is just a crazy grouping there of fashion EAS JP Hy Daniel Evans and Naomi Osaka I think Naomi Osaka probably does know fashion that outfit just was not it for me personally but I'm like a meat and potatoes guy like it's just like it's not I'm not saying I have an Authority here I'm just passing hey that's fair that's fair that's hilarious that is hilarious okay what is the next one uh for you JP Carolina karolina mova shot of the Year smash or pass I will say I'm gonna the reason I added that that shot of the year on there is because that's what the US Open tweeted and so and it did you see did you see the play no I'm gonna look it up right now yeah it should if you go to my Twitter I think it's one of my most recent tweets I haven't been tweeting much today since I've been pissed off yeah oh go I don't know if you can hear that uh did she lose the point I think she lost the point no no no she won the point damn wait one second here oh Phil oh it's a perfect lob to the back line that is too good behind the back lob I think it definitely it was kind of getting a little bit of hate in the in the replies of like shot of the year I don't think so but definitely needs to go on a highlight reel I'm like okay hang on I don't know if you could pull up whether she meant to lob it or not I don't know if you could find another behind the back lob in anybody's highlight reel you see behind the back shots for sure but not a lob so I'm do matter she belied it it doesn't she she tried to just got a racket on it and she did and it lobbed the other person perfectly perfectly people saying that are insane like that is one of the shots of the year for sure like there's a lot but you know that's that's one of the best shots I've ever seen for sure because she gets it on the strings exactly so I'm I'm smashing and screw the haters Carolina don't don't listen to them because you got two two fans right here that's right huge fans we're smashing on that um okay last one last one is medvedev's fantasy football team he didn't say who was on his roster but for some reason it cracked me up that he plays fantasy football and is into it they were like hey we heard you don't really like read much anymore like why don't you read and then he turned into uh you know I read a lot when I was 11 and 12 but then it got kind of boring and now the things that are relaxing to me is competition I love competition so I like playing fantasy football video games and I'm just thinking there is no shot that Mev has a good football team meev I would love to get proved wrong by you and please drop your roster because picturing you on draft night how all of us Americans are on fantasy football draft night is one of my favorite images I can come up with in my head I that would be the greatest thing he is the he is the the Golden Bull for me as far as podcast guests yeah and you know him saying I love competition like I find it relaxing is like from uh White Lotus when the girls like I love beauty I guess picture mv's head going I love competition right what a legend you might actually need to take a page out of the busting with the boys Playbook and we might need to because we did with Rich Eisen we tweeted a photo every single day of him until he came on the podcast and we made it to 7 like 81 days and then he finally came I feel like is he that much bigger than busting with the boys like that's crazy I feel like his whole thing was like I'm not getting on a bus without a motor we're like all right bro without an engine that is funny that's a that's a funny leadup that's a funny story uh okay that's all the smash of pass that was a good one those were great stories that we went through I feel like that was an action-packed podcast JP that was that was that was a fun 57 and 50 57 minutes and 50 seconds of content and if you agree with that please leave a comment please like Please Subscribe the US Open it's still we're still in the thick of it so we'll have another episode next week talking about week two coming up we got a player with with players it's tough to know that you know their their schedules are busy but we we hopefully have a player coming on next week later in the week for a little surprise interview but yeah that'll be great we you really it's really all up to the surprise here we will have the ptpa President coming on in the future in a few weeks here we'll Grill him about this Center doping trial and a few other things like you know what have you really got done in the last couple years uh a few other things you know not like saying that you haven't I just want him to like you know clarify like where they're at as an organization players Mev will eventually be on I did email his agent in Montreal he said no uh but you know that was kind of like last minute so fair enough so yeah that's all she wrote for this week JP thank you for hosting valiantly as you always do uh this has been the slice tennis podcast presented by bway we will see you guys next time here on the show