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On the Infiniti Sports Network. Right before we went to break, We talked about Wimbledon. We got a couple of Americans on the male side that are still kicking, showing some life. Maybe they'll inject some life into uh male American tennis. We have some interesting storylines going on as well on the women's side, some of the women who've been eliminated.
To talk about what we could see out in Wimbledon, what we can expect to see the rest of this week heading into the championship. Joining us is someone who covers all things tennis for the tennis channel with the U.S. Open and more. It is Gil Gross. Gil, how are you, man?
JR, I'm great. It's great to be on with you. I grew up in New York just like yourself and listening to the fan. and uh dreamt of of having a show like yours and my sports broadcasting career took me in a slightly different direction, which has been terrific in its own right. But all that to say, it's great to be on the fan.
And I know you're nationally syndicated as well talking tennis on this platform.
Well, thank you, Gil. I appreciate the the nice words. Nice way of calling me old. Thank you, Gil. Yeah, I don't know about that.
I can dig it, man.
Well, anyway, I'm joking with you. Listen, when you take a look at what we currently have going on at Wimbledon, right before we went to break, we talked about Ben Shelton and his emergence at 22 years old. We got Taylor Fritz, who's going to take a look at trying to knock off Carlos Alcaraz, who's trying to go out there and win his third straight. What are your thoughts on the way things currently look right now on the male side? And just.
Getting back to a place of prominence where we have some great male players coming from the States.
Well, the numbers are certainly there. And they have been for quite a few years. This generation that grew up. Obviously, pushing each other in Taylor Fritz and Francis Tiafo, Tommy Paul. They have all emerged as top 20 talents.
Ben Shelton's a little bit younger than them. Shelton has a little bit more raw ability. I'd say he's a more explosive athlete. brings bigger weapons to the court.
So his upside may be even higher than those three. But it's definitely exciting times in men's tennis. The big question, though, is. These two guys at the top They are dominant right now. They've won each of the last six slams.
And tennis is a sport that we've seen over the years in the era of Feder and Adal and Djokovic. when when guys get to that level It's really difficult to pull off the upset and have that run where you take them down and you have your moment and you win your slam.
So it just takes so much to get there. I think Fritz deserves a tremendous amount of flowers.
Now playing his second major semifinal. And we'll see what Shelton can do tomorrow against Donnick Sinner, who's been the most consistent player in the world for the last two years.
Well, Grove, when you talk about Yannick Sinner, he's dealing with an elbow issue, and we saw him beat a guy yesterday as well to even advance to have a fallout or fallout of the match. What do you think Ben's chances are given Yannick's condition?
Well, it's so difficult to predict. what is what's what's the deal going to be with Sinner's elbow?
So what happened in the first game of that match, the quarterfinal match, excuse me, the fourth round match that Yannik Sinner played against Grigor Dmitrov, He slipped on the grass, he fell on his right elbow, and And for the rest of the match, it was subtle. But he couldn't serve as well. His forehand was way slower than normal. Ended up taking painkillers during the second set, and it was two all in the third set. Sinner was in big trouble here, down two sets to none.
Uh when Dmitrov, his opponent, Partially tore his pectoral muscle, and that was all she wrote. It was a really tragic scene, to be honest, on that center court. But Yannick got very fortunate there. I think now the question is. Modern medicine, they know it's a problem.
They're going to be able to take all the painkilling measures possible, all the rehabilitation measures possible. And I don't know, something, my hunch is that sinner is going to be just fine. That could be wrong. Again, it's just a hunch. But there is that glimmer of hope if you are a Ben Shelton supporter.
If you're an American tennis supporter, there is that possibility that you're dealing with a compromised Yannick Sinner tomorrow. Gail Gross is joining us, covers all things tennis. It would be a dream. I don't expect it if we saw Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz there, but I think I'm going to favor Carlos Alcaraz. But it's nice to see how things have advanced on the American side.
But you had mentioned one name and how things have changed over the years. We know Federer gone, Nadal gone. Djokovic is still here. He is still competing in this tournament. What are your thoughts on his longevity and still being here, picking up, trying to pick up another slam?
It's unbelievable, JR. I there are there are three parts of it. First off, you accomplish everything there is to accomplish in this sport. There's literally nothing he hasn't done. It becomes very hard to wake up in the morning and be motivated.
To continue with the same rigorous training schedule, all the sacrifices you make as a professional tennis player. And Djokovic, his motivation has definitely.
Sort of weaned off at the other events, but four majors, Novak still has found it within himself. to keep that fire burning. The other thing is he's revolutionized the sport in terms of Diet. And warming up and cooling down and stretching religiously, the way he's taken care of his body like a temple, it's been very. LeBron James, like Tom Brady, like, and you don't start that when you're 30, and then all of a sudden you think, oh, I'm going to catch up and try to, try to.
achieve that kind of longevity. You start that when you're 22. And I think all the care and attention that Novak has had from that young age really since 2011, when he changed his diet and he really got committed in that aspect of the game. We're seeing the fruits of that labor because the way he Has limited the injuries for the most part, and the way he's still moving around the tennis court. is is just spectacular.
And now the question is, can he become Now, can he get major number 25? And he's at an age, Feder did not win a major at 38 years old. Nadal did not win a major at 38 years old. All of their last slams were at either 36 and 11 months in the case of Nadal or 37 years old in the case of Federer. And if you look at Jokovich's last.
So can somebody win it at 38? That's the question coming up for Novat. Egil Gross is here with us on the J.R. Sporty Show talking tennis coast to coast. Who are you favoring here in the rest of this tournament?
I'm favoring Alcaraz. I think, numbers-wise, that's just you come into the tournament and it's undeniable. He's on an 18-match win streak after Roland Garros, having won Rome, having won Roland Garros, having won Queens, which is a pretty high-level tournament in the lead-up to Wimbledon. He's won Wimbledon now in back-to-back years. And then, if we get to another Yannick Center Carlos Alcarez final.
Alcaraz has beaten Sinner now five matches in a row.
Now, part of that is it's a little bit misleading, I gotta say, because those matches have been so close. The other one was what, five and a half hours? It was five and a half hours, and Yannick Sinner had three championship points.
So those margins are minuscule. In that sense, you got to look at it and admit that it's been very close between those two. But at the end of the day, in those big moments in the clutch. Alcaraz continues to come through and prevail over Ethelonic Center. And five times in a row, I mean, the record doesn't lie.
And Gil Gross is here with us on the JR Sport Re Show to take a look at the women's side. We see Sabalanka number one ranked in the world, but to put more of an emphasis on the women who represent the United States of America, the biggest names, obviously, Coco Goff, who's still emerging despite just winning the French. What is her issue? Of course the surface has changed. Why does she have so much difficulty and grass?
And do you see her that changing as she continues on with her career? I think in this case, there are some technical aspects to it, and then there are some mental aspects to it. On the technical side, she has. A Western grip on her forehand, and that particular grip is conducive to a higher. contact point.
And grass is the lowest bouncing surface.
So it's the difference between on clay, the ball comes in shoulder high for golf. Versus grass, the ball's coming in knee-high for golf, just to kind of paint that picture. That's a pretty big deal for her, but also we talk a lot about. Dealing with failure in sports and trying to rub some dirt on it and come back from that kind of thing. What's sometimes underlooked is how difficult it is to come back from success and to go back to work.
And Coco Goff. had that triumphant French Open title. and went back to the United States and did a one-week media tour. And she might have just had a little bit of trouble getting back into battle mode. And I could not blame her if that were the case.
It is not easy with only three weeks between Roland Garrows and Wimbledon. Yeah. Snap back into it. And Goff also faced a really dangerous opponent in the first round, Diana Yostremska. Yes, she's an unseated player, not inside the world's top 32, but everybody knows on Jostremska's day, she can be a killer.
And uh that also added to the the difficulties for Goff. Oh, Gil, you talk about failure. We heard Naomi Osaka with a heavy quote about. Failure and feeling negative and down, and then feeling the media highlights too much of her negativity. It yeah.
Can she get back to where she was a few years ago? Or is she, she's been very honest about her own mental health struggles. She's had a child. Ah That's the sound of James adding long-lasting gain scent boosters to his laundry this morning. Several hours later, James sniffs the irresistible scent of gain on his shirt.
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But is she too far gone from where she was? It kind of seems that way. Just because She it's We're not in phase one of the comeback at this point. She's been back on the tour. for about a year and a half.
And that's a pretty decent sample size.
Now, on one hand, you look at Naomi Osaka's age, and she is still technically in her athletic prime, she's not even 30 years old yet. In that sense, she should still have plenty left in the tank, but it does appear that she has kind of lost. psychological edge that she used to have in sort of phase one of her career before she took some time off to have uh her her her daughter shy And also, you know, it just seemed like at times The The difficulties of not just being a tennis player, but being a celebrity, being a star. Those things weighed on her. And Osaka is now, she's a mother, she has generational wealth.
She's come back out onto the tour without the same sort of a competitive edge and and spark, she's certainly still talented. She can hit forehands and backhands. She can hit serves. Nobody can question that. But it's been a long time now where she's been back onto onto the tour.
and she really hasn't been able to show her previous form. Yeah, we'll see if she's able to bounce back. She says, hey, she doesn't want to be portrayed as always being sad, but she's always sad, so I don't know what she wants for people. Uh Gil. Anna Samova, she's going to take on Saba Lanca.
That's our last American hope there. on the on the women's side. Does she stand a chance? I I actually think she does. Is such an incredible ball striker, and everybody has seen that about her.
Forever.
Now, she too has had some off-court issues that are actually kind of different, completely tragic and out of her control. She lost her father at a young age. She ended up taking a mental health break of her own, just stepping away from tennis for a little while a couple years ago. Uh but now she has I think she's developed a maturity level that she didn't have when she was in her teens, and she was actually competing towards the top of the game. even as a teenager, and a fitness level that she's never had before, which has certainly been kind of a missing piece at times for Amanda Nisimova as she takes on an Arena Sabalenka, who can't be feeling all that confident After being down a break 4-3 in the third set today against a very crafty and unconventional opponent in Lara Siegmund, but somebody outside the top 100.
And between the way Sabalenka's game crumbled in the Roland Garrows final against Goff, the way it looked shaky in that quarterfinal against Siegmund, I think it's fair to say, although without a doubt, Sabalenka at her best is the best player in the world, the number one player for sure. There are some cracks, there are some vulnerabilities that can be exposed. And Anissa Mova can go toe-to-toe with Sabalenka. In a lot of arena's strengths, Sabalenka's this big, powerful ball striker. Anissa Moba can match her.
I think it's going to be a really good match, a really interesting match. And the storyline that not a lot of people are talking about right now. Madison Keyes won the Australian Open, American. Coco Goff won Roland Gerros, American.
So if Anissa Mova wins Wimbledon, We go into the U.S. Open with a chance to sweep. Sign me up. I'm rooting for all the Americans. The ones that are left, we got two on the men's side.
We have Nissa Mova here. Getting ready to take on Sabalenca in two days. Hey, Gil, thank you so much for the time and the expertise and enlightening everybody from coast to coast.
Now, fill us in on where we can follow you and all your work covering this great sport. Absolutely. Appreciate being on with you, JR. Monday match analysis on all audio platforms. And just my name, Gil Gross, that's Gil with two L's on YouTube to check out the show.
Hey, thank you so much. We're going to have you back soon, okay? Appreciate the time. Absolutely looking forward to it. No doubt about it.
Shoutouts to Gil Gross for swinging on through to talk some tennis. Man, I love tennis. I love tennis. I don't play it anymore. My knees are shot, my arms hurt.
Don't like being sore. I like to watch. I'll be rooting for Mr. Shelton tomorrow as well in Fritz. I don't expect an all-male final on the.
On the men's side, but I can hope, I can wish, right? Nothing wrong with that. Gang super flings are here to take your laundry to the next level. Talking about gang. Super clings.
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Mm-hmm.
