Djokovic Still Sets the Grand Slam Standard, and Felix Had to Answer

Novak Djokovic’s five-set Wimbledon quarterfinal win over Felix Auger-Aliassime was not simply another example of Djokovic surviving late in a Slam. It was a measuring match. Felix showed real top-tier growth: the backhand held up, the serve remained a weapon, and the forehand looked more like an attacking upgrade than a way to protect a weakness.

But Djokovic remains the player who exposes whether that growth is complete. As the match tightened, he repeatedly challenged Felix’s patterns, especially the predictable inside-out forehand, and forced him to prove he could stay patient without searching for shortcuts. The fifth-set breaker became the clearest separation point: Felix had played like a contender for more than five hours, but Djokovic still managed the match like the standard.

The episode also turns to Coco Gauff’s grass-court evolution after her win over Jessica Pegula. Coco is beginning to show a more aggressive version of herself on grass, built around a bigger serve, more purposeful net play, and growing trust in the forehand. The discussion closes with Gauff-Muchova, Naomi Osaka’s exit, and the tactical shape of the women’s draw.

Transcript

Alvin Owusu (00:00.52)
And welcome to another episode of the Best Three Podcast. I'm Alvin. That's Tori. And Tori, two things can be true at the same time. Huh. Felix O. J. Aliasim played a fantastic tennis match today. He has he has jumped a level, or I should say he has established himself at another level, I think, where he looks like the he looks like he's ready to hit the prime of his career. On what on one hand.

Torrey (00:08.268)
Ha ha, true.

Torrey (00:14.54)
Yes.

Torrey (00:21.877)
Great.

Torrey (00:27.145)
A great, great introduction, yes. And the second point.

Alvin Owusu (00:30.858)
On the other hand on the other hand, Jesus Novak Djokovic is really good at tennis fan. That was the so okay, so today we're gonna we're gonna talk about the Novak match. We're about I would say we're three hours after that match is over. we'll get a little bit into Coco and some of the women's stuff as well. I don't know what round we're in. It's we're somewhere in this tournament. But Novak defeated Felix, Oj Aliasim in the quarterfinals today.

By the score of seven six, six three sorry, pardon me, let's read this correctly. Seven six three six six three six seven seven six and that's ten four in the match breaker. Tori, how you doing?

Torrey (01:08.138)
Yeah.

Torrey (01:15.541)
I'm doing well, man. I feel exhausted just watching it. Great tennis, great tennis. I mean, how else could I be on a day like this with great tennis? It was just phenomenal to watch and be a part of it. Good tennis all the way around. know, this is the... If you had told me that it would be this good a tennis without some of, with nine of, some of the other, well, I'd say three of the best players in the world and with a few of the others that have lost out.

unfortunately early in the tournament, I would have said, yeah, the tournament might lose a little bit of its luster when they lose some of the bigger names. I would have been very much mistaken because the tennis today was unbelievable. I mean, the level was just as high as, it's about as high as I've seen a Wimbledon match minus the one and two players in the world, lacing them up, say from last year's final.

Alvin Owusu (02:09.506)
Yeah, I mean that match today's match went five hours, fifteen minutes, right? That's that's a really long time for a grass court match. and you could probably and it is a quarter final. And and you could you could tap into that match at any given point and watch some of the points that these gentlemen were playing and go, Jesus, one, this is a high level. Two I I I okay. What Novak did considering his age, considering all the things, right? The miles, all that stuff.

Torrey (02:12.839)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey (02:17.896)
and a quarterfinal, you know, right?

Torrey (02:36.275)
Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (02:39.358)
is impressive. I was even more pr impressed that it took five hours and ten minutes for Felix to kind of flinch. Like his backhand stood up. I mean we go all the way back to post US Open last year and and we we specifically talked about how that backhand sometimes gets a little thin, sits up and the likes of Carlos and and Yannick and and Novak will will sting him up the line. I I know we're gonna come to that in a little bit, but

Torrey (02:52.421)
sure.

Alvin Owusu (03:08.982)
And he would also tend to pull it thin, you know, pull it too thin and and and shank a lot of times, actually. the backhand standing up. He served like a served like a brick house, right? was not able to produce as many brick points as you'd like to see, but again, we're we're playing against one of the best spot servers of all time. But I mean I'm almost at a loss for words because the match itself was so one exhausting, even as fans.

Torrey (03:16.695)
So, holding it on and then something.

Yup. Yup.

Torrey (03:29.646)
All time.

Torrey (03:37.232)
Right. Right, right, right. Emotionally, you're drained.

Alvin Owusu (03:38.136)
We're both a little tired after that one. and and they left it they left it all out there. And it it took us a really, really long time to get to the point where separation started to happen. And when we got into that tiebreaker, it was almost like from the very first point of that tiebreaker. And then I know we'll go back to the some of the other p high points of the match, but when Felix Bailed and hit that drop shot that almost hit the damn roof before it hit before it hit the ground, I was like, Okay, this is gonna be this is gonna be a battle.

Torrey (03:54.278)
Yep. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (04:07.499)
This is gonna be battle. And 'cause that was a very long a long rally. And then he checked to the drop shot and it's like, okay, one zero. It's a long way to go. take me, take me. What were you what were you kind of feeling? What were you thinking as you were we were going through the match? We weren't we weren't texting all. We were zero comms during this match.

Torrey (04:12.849)
Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (04:24.334)
Yep.

For me?

was just wanting to make sure that Felix didn't go away. He's gone away. I want to touch back on what you mentioned with the backhand. What typically happens Alvin, you know this. When my backhand isn't as clean I start doing two things. I either A. Run around more backhands, hitting more forehands, risking more right. Trying to shield it. Or I get tight.

and either start slicing, start going down the line prematurely, start changing to bring it back to my forehand, something. Not the pro level, top five level at that. They're pretty good. They may not be feeling or puring the backhand as my boy Chris Eubanks would say, but they are certainly not hitting a bad ball. They're just not hitting as clean as they would like. But when you're hitting the backhand like you want, you pick and choose your times to run around like you should. And then when you take a forehand, it's an upgrade.

having the backhand is everything because now you can actually perform like it's meant to be hit. You're not shielding the backhand and hitting the forehand in its stead.

Alvin Owusu (05:34.145)
Well, when you say hit in the forehand, how it's meant to be hit, expand on that a little bit.

Torrey (05:38.187)
So when I take a forehand on the backhand side of the court, for all tactical purposes it should be an upgrade. It shouldn't be a cover-up. When you don't feel the backhand or you feel like the guy's going to get a forehand on you and rip you inside out or inside in and put you on the run, which we all know on the run on grass is a much different situation than clay or any other surface, you're

You typically want to take it first just so you don't have it done to you first. But when you can hit the backhand clean, pure. You take the shot away from the guy, daring him to do the same thing back to you. So the forehand, as it's meant to be, is taken slash earned, and it's the upgrade it's meant to be. Typically, you're getting a better angle. Typically, you're getting inside the court a little bit.

Alvin Owusu (06:21.719)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey (06:35.329)
Typically you're able to dictate play a little bit. You go from, we're going to call it, from being neutral to a little bit more pressure. Not quite in bill yet, but you're pressuring. And now you have the options on your court. Good enough inside out forehand brings it back to you. You have a chance to do what you want. That's what Felix was able to do today, which he hasn't always been able to do. Mind you, against one of the best backhands of all time, Novak Djokovic.

One of the only things I felt that he didn't do well enough, and this unfortunately showed itself through the rest of the third set, obviously the fifth, he wasn't able to keep Novak honest enough with the down the line, the inside in forehand, just enough to keep Novak honest. When Novak cheated just a little bit to the backhand wide, he burned him enough times because that is the one tactic that the inside out forehand leaves open is the down the line backhand.

Alvin Owusu (07:31.852)
line backhand.

Torrey (07:33.01)
And I thought he heard him on that on approaches. He heard on the pass, off the approach, off the inside out step up, off the inside out, off the first ball he took inside out. Novak, even if he had Novak outside of the Douglas alley, Novak found line. And when he found line and found pay dirt, I mean, once you hit four and you're committed, right? Once you take it, you're committed. You're full fledged, three fourths the way over. It's kind of put up a shut up time. And unfortunately for Mr. Novak,

Mr. 24 Grand Slams, he's seen that ball a time or two and he was able to take that shot. And that to me was the difference in the match, but I can't say enough about Felix going all five. And it was a testament to Felix, his improvement, his level, as you say, his level jump that has, that even got him to this point because Novak Djokovic is still the greatest of all time. And minus the one or two player in the world.

You might argue me say he's the third best player in the world right now, you know, all day. I mean, all respect to Sasha, but he is legitimately results as well as ranking. Can't even talk about history. History, of course. But without those two, he might be the clear favorite. So that said, we have to keep in mind, forget the rankings and who was seated. Novak was the better, is the better player. And it was a testament to Felix to take it five.

Alvin Owusu (08:32.878)
sure, sure.

Torrey (08:59.423)
and I take it 10-4 in the fifth set breaker.

Alvin Owusu (09:01.943)
I I remember in the beginning of the tournament when we were going through the draw and I I I gave I I disrespected Felix a little bit and I said in this section Novak was the de facto three seed, right? I said that you can go back to the draw, so that's what I said. I I will not run away from it. And that that was unnecessary I'm not gonna say unnecessary shade, but I mean Novak did win the match, but Felix did not give him the match. Felix did not Felix showed up.

Torrey (09:13.3)
for sure.

Torrey (09:28.777)
100%.

Alvin Owusu (09:31.448)
He showed up. and and kind of going back to your point about the about Felix not being willing to take and kind of pull the trigger and get out of that that ad chord diagonal rally. I I I'll push back a little bit because it it's okay, on paper that's what you want to do, right? We're we're going backhand to backhand. I slide over, I hit the inside out forehand, and I I ideally I want to go inside out once, maybe twice, but then at some point we're doing it

Torrey (09:31.625)
100 % 100 % Play great.

Alvin Owusu (10:00.225)
for a reason, which is to take that inside in. I don't think Felix is Felix is not his backhand down the line is not the shot with which he's going to change direction. Like that's that's not his that's not his bread and butter. on grass and with Novak's ball, I think that had a lot to do with his inab with Felix's inability to take that shot. the ball staying fairly relatively low through the court.

Torrey (10:21.256)
100%.

low through the court and in middle of the court Alvin. He didn't give him a lot. He almost gave it to him. Middle third not wide and that's that drill Alvin. We've done it a lot with some of my top kids that middle third to outer third. You don't really have much angle so to your point you're almost you're almost forced to take a forehand. You're almost forced to move over into the forehand and that opens up line.

I'm not saying that it was easily done. I'm only saying that if he could have yanked just a few more inside in, kept Novak going a little more side to side, a little more east-west, he might have gotten a little more mileage out of the inside out. He started hitting his inside out better. I would say albeit maybe even a tad predictable in the process. And in the process that gave Novak the balls looking for. To your point.

Perhaps he was forced to. And so again, and all hail to the Chief. I mean, my main man Novak is just showing everybody. He's putting on clinics out there and Felix played great even to take it five. I love seeing a little bit of emotion, love seeing the match. Five hours and 15 minutes, Alvin, that is not a walk over by any far stretch. think they say it was the longest match in quarterfinal history. It was an absolutely great match.

could have gone either way. The elder statesman at this point in time took it. But I feel really good about Felix's game going forward. had he played anybody else, had he played anybody else without the initials of D and J, you know, he would have been, he'd have been fine.

Alvin Owusu (12:03.04)
Yeah, I th I that's that's one of those like, okay, as we exit this match, right, how do we how does he how do we view each player, right? We'll we'll we'll take we'll take Felix first. Obviously I feel like you he leads this match like, yes, disappointed, but head held high. Right. If you wanna talk about, okay, do a you know let's do an inventory of where his game is right now. I think his game is where it needs to be. he probably felt like

Torrey (12:19.048)
Oh my god.

Torrey (12:24.902)
right where it needs to be. On all surfaces by the way, we just got back from Clay, played a pretty good French, did the same thing here at Winby. Again, losing to Novak in five is not a bad tournament, you know what mean? So I want to make sure I point that out, keep going.

Alvin Owusu (12:38.952)
Right. And I think even going back to the French where he lost to Kabali, where I felt like he he probably felt like he missed an opportunity. We've been we've been hearing a lot of people say that like players left the French open feeling like they missed opportunities because of both center and like obviously Carlos wasn't there. Center loses early. Novak ends up losing somewhere in like the round of sixteen, whatever it was when he lost to Fonseca. That the opportunity was wide open for a lot of different players. But I mean, sometimes you are who you are.

Torrey (12:45.138)
Sure.

Torrey (13:02.088)
Sure. Sure.

Alvin Owusu (13:05.866)
And doesn't really mat it's not it's not just those people that are blocking you. And I think what in hindsight in in some time what we're gonna learn is that so Felix lost to Flavio Caballi, right? I think we're gonna I think we're gonna view that loss a little bit differently in the next over the next twelve, eighteen months. I think Flavio's about to go. Like he was he quarterfinal here last year. final or what did he yeah, final French open this year and he's in the qu he's playing tomorrow against Arthur Ferry.

Torrey (13:06.162)
Yeah! Right. Right.

Torrey (13:15.74)
Yeah.

Torrey (13:20.306)
Sure.

Right, Certainly playing some ball right now.

Torrey (13:31.516)
Bye,

Alvin Owusu (13:35.905)
Which will not be a walk in the park. but Felix, I think, you know, twenty-five years old will be twenty-six soon. Like he's he's there. He's there. Now it's just now it's just go time. and I I don't feel I feel like the only thing that you know, when you get into that fifth set tiebreaker and you're you're up against Novak Djokovic, right? Novak is going to take this one point at a time. And Felix at some point, I think it was like three two where he loses this point.

Torrey (13:47.373)
Yep, that's it.

Alvin Owusu (14:05.874)
And it's just like he looked a little bit in between gears. Like at that point it felt like from what I saw from his face, it's like I can't just stay back here with this guy and win seven or eight more points like this. He can, I can't. But then Felix didn't have it was either it was in his legs, the energy or the creativity or the gumption or whatever it was, he could not start creating opportunities for himself.

Torrey (14:09.911)
Yeah.

Torrey (14:31.233)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (14:35.23)
And agree, like I said earlier, Novak's not gonna give you a lot of opportunity to create opportunities. but yeah, that was that was it.

Torrey (14:35.395)
It's

Oh God. And so those flurry of errors, and like I want to say it was like, because didn't he get it back to four six and then like four seven four eight four nine, like, or maybe it was three six to three, the three seven three eight. There was a period in there where he missed three or four. I'm not going to call them routine errors. Nothing's routine in a fifth set tiebreak, super match tiebreak. But it just felt like you could tell he was trying to go a little bigger.

knowing that he couldn't go through him, but was just trying to get Novak to cough up something. And ironically, it seemed like the majority of the errors came off the foreign wing, which is his bigger wing, right? And I feel like he was just trying, he was just redlining, just a little bit, trying to get Novak to give him something. And unfortunately, we know, as we now know, Novak doesn't give away much. so it was, God, it was, just, again, and I said it, I missed that earlier, D and J.

last name starting with a D and a J. You just have to understand how quality of match it is. Alvin, I'm going to take a step back and maybe mention one thing on the other direction. How blessed are we as tennis fans and the tour, quite frankly, to have a veteran like Novak who has spanned generations, who is letting you know how good you have to be. I have been on this podcast a few times and told you about

Alvin Owusu (15:46.934)
Okay.

Torrey (16:05.045)
top players like Jessica Pagula being the litmus test of a certain level right? It'd be five in the world and so on and so forth and I stand by that. I still think she is. Novak is the litmus test to be a Grand Slam champion. You want to be a Grand Slam champion? Let me show you what it's going to take. You want to win a high level match and deserve to be in the final of a Grand Slam final? Play me.

I'll tell you, I'll see, I'll let you know where your game's at. I don't care if you're Joao, I don't care if you're Felix, and I'm gonna tell you right here Alvin, those players are lucky to have played them as many times as they have, and they are lucky to have had that clinic, that lesson, that mentoring. I know it sounds strange to use that term as their competitors, but he is getting them better. There'll be a time in Novak's to play from the game.

But they will be the better for having played him because they have been tested to the ultimate degree and Novak would have literally tested all parts. If there's a weakness, Novak will find it. It could be patience, ball tolerance, certain shots you have to hit when you got to open court. The return of serve, but you know it's coming back. Novak will put you through the limits. He will stress test you like nobody else.

and how good, how lucky are they to have played him, even in a losing effort, you now know where your game is. And I feel like that's what he's providing the ATP tour right now, especially, especially with some of the top names not being, not going the distance in various tournaments for whatever reason, injuries, as well as, you know, a a few early upsets in past tournaments. Novak is still showing you what it's like to be there. And the players are lucky enough to take him the distance, let alone beat him.

But you cherish that win because that is not something that happens every day. And you know Novak's playing for keeps. He's playing knowing this could be any one of these terms could be his last one. So he's all in. So I just want to mention that, Alvin. I feel like we sometimes, I know I do it all the time. There was a period last year where I was ready for him to retire and move on. You know, I said it and again, and all apologies. And I remember telling you around the Australian Open time, I was like, I have to change my whole mindset.

Torrey (18:29.543)
talking about when he's going to retire and enjoy the moments that he's here. And now I'm going, I'm doubling down. Enjoy the tennis he's bringing, the level he's creating for everybody else. And man, hold on to it as long as we can get it.

Alvin Owusu (18:44.723)
Yeah. well put. And, you know, to finish up on the Novak side, so y yeah, all that and moving forward, he's got a he's got a date with Mr. Mr. Yannick Center on Friday. The Friday part of this is really important. Normally there is a day in between each match at the Grand Slams, but towards between the quarterfinals and the semifinals on the men's side, one half of the draw is gonna get two days, right? This is the half of the draw.

The top half of the draw gets two days. So I was texting with my buddy Bob and I was like, man, like there was a look of res of of resign in Novak's face. It seemed like it. Like, even if I get through this match, I still gotta come back and do this. I gotta play I gotta play center. And the mileage is just running up. But then I was like, Huh. He's got two days. He's got two days. If it was if he had to play this match on Thursday, no no dice.

Torrey (19:28.568)
I this again.

Alvin Owusu (19:41.504)
But Friday? And it'll be f it'll be first match on Friday. But Friday, he should be good to go. He sh he should be ready to go by Friday. That's sure. Yeah. But he'll be he'll be he'll be ready by Friday. That's that that is within reason for sure. I mean I know what I'm gonna be doing Friday morning. That's that's that's gonna be that's gonna be a fun one. obviously Novak won the last matchup, five center in in Australia. Let's let's see what's let's see what's coming. Let's let let's see what's coming.

Torrey (19:47.717)
Yep. Certainly more ready than Thursday.

Torrey (20:02.363)
It will be.

Torrey (20:06.906)
Yeah. arguably, center was playing better at that time. I'm just going to put that out there and I'll just leave it at that. I'm not saying he's playing bad tennis now. He's not necessarily playing as sharp as he has played in times past. So I think that I think that matches a real I'm looking forward to it. I'll put it there.

Alvin Owusu (20:32.543)
And you even if you look at the you look at their paths, right? Novak I mean, you come out of a match like this today, obviously Novak is you know it's gonna take some rest and recovery, but he's pretty well tuned at this point. Like he's hitting the ball, he's had a lot of he's had a lot of balls with high quality ball strikers.

Torrey (20:46.34)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (20:49.435)
Yannick has played some interesting matches. I don't I wouldn't say a match against Jan Leonard Struff is a match that you come out of going, I feel I feel good. Right. again, he's

Torrey (20:52.015)
Yeah.

Torrey (20:58.635)
I feel good. Sure.

And Jan Lennard is what 35, 36 himself. He's getting on the older side. Let's face it, perhaps fatigue set in a little bit for him this deep in the tournament. You know what mean? So again, put nothing past him. The guy had a phenomenal tournament, great time for Jan Lennard. But again, you don't feel like I didn't come away from that match thinking, was it in his traits? I didn't come away from that match saying to myself, he really put him through the wringer. It wasn't a Davide Spokina FAA match. I put it that way. You know I mean?

Alvin Owusu (21:05.077)
Thirty six? Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (21:30.977)
like it was just a barn burner or even even kaboli and

Alvin Owusu (21:36.693)
Demonore.

Torrey (21:37.465)
Demon or thinking that that was that just went they just went you know absolute red light you know what mean it just got both guys were digging deep in the tank you know what mean I just felt like it was a little more routine yeah didn't see as much of it as I wanted to but I just had to say I don't think on paper and what I what little I saw it didn't look like he was pushed to the limit so and you know no that could push it you know I mean so this so this this remains to be seen this remains to be seen

Alvin Owusu (22:01.451)
It'll be a good one. It'll it'll be a good one. who else got through today? Zero V Zero was able to finish up his match from yesterday today. so he'll be he's playing Taylor Fritz tomorrow. That's fun. I should wanna go over to the women's side. All right. Not to we've talked a lot about cocoa golf lately, and but when you start to change the narrative about yourself on a surface

Torrey (22:16.888)
Yeah.

Torrey (22:20.685)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (22:31.239)
in real time, then you get featured on the best three podcast. That's what happens. And so that's what's that's what's happening, right? One Coco of Gauff difficult relationship with Grasscourt, and now she's in the semifinals of Wimbledon. played a

Torrey (22:32.759)
Yeah.

Torrey (22:37.098)
Mwahahahaha

Alvin Owusu (22:52.593)
She played a cocoa golf match and then some today. Like like Beach Capagula four six six three six three. you texted me and you said now she's got the weapons.

Torrey (22:58.23)
Yup.

Alvin Owusu (23:11.101)
I don't know if that was necessarily my takeaway from the match. I want to get to your to your perspective. But like as I'm watching this match, I'm like, she looks she looks like she's forgotten about the server she's playing on. Let's let's put it that way. Like it's I'm just gonna I'm I'm c she's like I'm comfortable enough doing what it is that I'm doing, surface, be damned. Doesn't matter. and from the beginning of that match, it was like the thing that we talked about with that matchup is like it Jess is gonna make her hit up, and that's a tough ball to hit up on.

Torrey (23:23.284)
Yep.

Torrey (23:32.373)
Yup. Yup.

Torrey (23:39.027)
Yep. Sure. Yep.

Alvin Owusu (23:40.649)
And you saw that early. It's like, okay. But then she got it. Like she got a hold of it. And then she started same g almost very similar to what she did in her prior match. Like, I'm gonna get that ball up high and not allow you to keep the ball low. And then we're gonna dance on my terms to my beat. I just think she's like she's one of the best competitors, she's one of the best in match managers that we have on the women's tour. and I think that showed up today. it doesn't always have to be pretty.

Torrey (23:56.063)
Yeah.

Torrey (24:04.725)
I agree with that.

Torrey (24:11.701)
But it's getting prettier. you not agree?

Alvin Owusu (24:15.537)
It's we talked we talked about lack of B game with Arena Sabalenka maybe like a couple days ago against Osaka then prior going to the coming into this tournament. What I saw from Naomi t to that I mean sorry not Naomi to from from Coco today was that that match management piece of where she was able to change tactics and like, I'm I'm coming in now. Now now now I'm coming in and and I'm doing it correctly.

Torrey (24:20.404)
Yup. Yup.

Torrey (24:38.548)
Sure. Sure.

Alvin Owusu (24:45.235)
And I'm and I'm finishing with volleys because I do know what I'm doing up here. to that like that is and we've also seen her win Grand Slams running around like a banshee behind the baseline, digging. yeah. So I mean that is that is B game.

Torrey (25:04.212)
Certainly B game. She's comfortable up there. You can't do a lot of attacking out without a serve. And the serve was there today. I felt like she served. It wasn't so much that it was just tons of aces. I want to say she had seven, which is a lot. she had seven double faults. But her aces came at big times. It also set up a lot of forehands. She was, for the most part,

coming forward and really dictating play, save for that early break in the first album, she didn't play a bad first set, a little shaky, a little erratic at times, but she didn't play bad. I actually thought after serve and return, especially in the third, I felt like there was some times she almost played too safe and then got it back together and says, no, no, I'm not doing this. I'm trusting myself and I'm gonna keep coming forward and keep putting pressure on Jess. I'm not giving this to her and I'm not gonna let her.

lose it for me. I'm going to take it from her. And that's what I mean. It's a weapon mentality. She's starting to serve big enough, trust the forehand big enough. You know she's got a big backhand, but that's always been there. And I think the word I used was tools. She's got the tools now. And now she's not defending. Where we just talked about with Felix where not having your backhand makes you run around. She's almost in the opposite. She's been hacking forehands.

hitting buggy whip forehands, hoping to bring you back to the backhand side, and at times even overplaying the backhand. Now she has a forehand, it's on her to trust it, it's on her to get herself stable and be on both feet instead of one foot and go on the buggy whip in there, but she's being more technically sound and being more tactically potent. And that's what I saw in that match today. And you heard it right here, she did not, she, Jessica, was not able to dictate.

She hits her normal clean through the court ball. She kept the ball through the middle of court. Technically, she didn't get herself on the run. She played as good a ball as she could play. I think Coco just shifted gears on her today.

Alvin Owusu (27:10.814)
Yeah, I mean Coco, like to your point about, you know, seven aces, seven double faults, four of those double faults came in the first set, and I would think they were all kind of like bunched up in that, you know, second and third service game. yeah, so like after that Right, and it's pretty good the rest of the way. after that is six aces and three double faults over the rest of the rest of the the two second and third sets. So, very similar to the the match in the in the previous round, right? So yeah, it's it's

Torrey (27:18.288)
Second third, right, right, And serve pretty good the rest of the way.

Alvin Owusu (27:40.009)
I mean we we we spilled a lot of ink on Coco two days ago. and but now it's like okay she's in the tournament and she's she's got a hold of what does the best version of Coco Gauff look like on this surface. And now it's a matter of okay, we start looking at the matchups ahead, right? Especially with you know, forthcoming with Muhova, who she owns, by the way. She owns

owns Carolina. That I don't know if the surface changes that matchup any. I don't I don't think it does. because one thing Carolina's gonna try to do is she's going to try to push the issue. And this always this is always the problem. She's going to try to come in and Coco has some of the best passes on tour. So it's like

Torrey (28:15.801)
Right, right.

Torrey (28:24.782)
Right.

Torrey (28:32.761)
Right. Right. It's ironically, and throwback to our last conversation, it's an FAA against Novak type of matchup. Carolina likes to that inside out forehand. Coco's got a pretty money backhand. So that matchup on paper isn't a great one. The second thing I'll say is that you mentally know when a player doesn't have a way to beat you consistently on any surface, you know that that kind of plays a role. The third thing I'll say, Alvin, is

I'm going to read you three stats and I'll give you both sides. Here's the first one. 15 of 24 net approach points 1 versus 8 of 17. That's the first stat I'm going to give you. Here's the second stat I'm going to give you. This is kind of a weird one. 32 unforced errors to 24. Here's the last stat.

Alvin Owusu (29:03.402)
All right.

Torrey (29:30.583)
Total winners 25 to 15. Now all three of the stats that I said first were Cocoa Gauff. She is not only getting to net more, she's winning more points. She almost had as many points won at net as JPEG had in total coming forward. I told you before this match it was gonna really depend if JPEG could come forward more and take the action to Cocoa.

and make sure she being the veteran player kept balls low, come forward, use her all court game. She is a good doubles player after all. Played with, played with Coco many of those years when Coco first got started. Coco beat her to the net. She still made 32 unforced errors. To your point, a of those came early in second, third game of the first, still made some unforced errors here and there the rest of the match. And yet Alvin, she still had 25 winners to 15, which tells me she's still getting better.

sloppy here and there at times for what she's done, but it also tells me that she's being more aggressive in her pursuit of getting her game better. She's not just letting you lose and hoping to grind you out. And this is a great, great coalescence of her game, her attack. She can still play on the run, to your point. That was her A game. Her B game is now, which is weird, it's flipped. Her B game is her aggressive game.

And so to your point to that last discussion, that's what we're starting to see and that's why I'm so high on Cocoa Gauff right now because for so long, God, I can't tell how long we've been watching Cocoa Gauff and we keep belly aching about the serve and the forehand. when she gonna get a serve fix? when she gonna get a forehand fix? still double fall, there we go. Now that's not the conversation. We're now saying imagine a world in which Cocoa Gauff has a big serve and a forehand.

How you like me now?

Alvin Owusu (31:25.522)
Yeah. It's i it's the little things. Now it's starting to it's starting to learn to live with these things. Like like you said, if if I have a big serve now and it's going to produce short balls, like how do I become comfortable with big serve landing on the front foot, looking for that short ball, shortening up that swing a little bit and ripping open court, now that's a that's a different that's a different player, right? She's not gonna she's not gonna forget how to run around and make balls. Like now we're switching it.

Torrey (31:32.287)
Right.

Torrey (31:39.467)
Correct.

Torrey (31:44.363)
Correct.

Torrey (31:54.42)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (31:55.228)
Right? B game in the back pocket of like, okay, if it's not if I don't have it today, I'll drop back and we'll we'll play we'll play prevent. Yeah. Right. Right. We'll go we'll go we'll go we'll go prevent defense back here all day long. It's fine. It's fine. so it's exciting. I wanted to just think about this. Like I like to look at things from a macro. When you said thirty two unforced errors, it sounds like a lot. Right? Is is one unforced error a game within reason? Yeah.

Torrey (32:00.97)
I'll drop back to my two grand slam winning A game. Which last time I checked.

Torrey (32:22.836)
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

Alvin Owusu (32:25.437)
Thirty two unforced errors in twenty eight games. It's fine. It's it's fine.

Torrey (32:27.85)
Yeah, 100 % especially if you're 25 winners in the pursuit. Right.

Alvin Owusu (32:31.783)
Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Yeah, that's it's it's a it's a that's a that's a actually a pretty clean match. And then you go seven and seven on the you know, aces to double faults. Okay, give one give and take one. So it's it's it's it's within reason. It's fairly clean. and so yeah, that's that that's what we have on here on golf corner. golf corner doesn't that feels forced. I don't that feels forced. That feels forced. I don't like that.

Torrey (32:43.625)
Yeah!

Torrey (32:53.693)
Yeah.

I know you're an organic kind of guy.

Alvin Owusu (33:00.229)
I am yeah, let's let's let's just we'll workshop something else. but yeah, that was that was that was an interesting match to watch. Another match that was a little less interesting but and a little more straightforward was the Osaka Mohova match. and I was a bit torn there. I was a bit torn. I thought, you know, golf versus Osaka would on grass would have been awesome. Like look how far we've come. But

Torrey (33:16.984)
Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (33:25.638)
Yeah. Right. Right.

Alvin Owusu (33:29.561)
myself, like a lot of people, Carolina Mahova, Sajora to watch her play tennis. now I'm very interested to see what that looks like on grass this time around. today the Namie just you know but like you mentioned before we got on, just you almost expected a little bit of a drop coming off of such a great match that she played against Arena in the prior round. And that's what showed up. It wasn't she wasn't terrible. She just just needed to be that sharp again.

Torrey (33:33.873)
yesterday.

Torrey (33:50.192)
Right. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (33:58.644)
to beat Carolina who was playing really good tennis and has been playing great tennis the entire the entirety of the fortnight. do we feel as as Naomi is leaving this tournament, how do we feel about her kind of like I'm not say full full circle moment here, but

Torrey (34:16.652)
great question. I was thinking about that today. You remember the years right after Vika Azarenka left the tour a little bit, had a little one and then came back and she was tearing it up in some of the early rounds surprising people. Not getting deep or winning per se but was every bit the competitor that you didn't want to play. I feel like Naomi's a much better version of that.

But unfortunately with the tour being so strong now that she has to be. I'm not sure if she is a grand slam threat, but she is every day a threat to beat anybody inside the top three or four. And that makes her dangerous. Her game is gonna go the way her serve goes. I think Naomi is taking her tennis a little more of day at a time, which I like.

for her own mental health and her own understanding. She's not putting a lot of pressure on herself to probably, she probably did before. I'm not certainly gonna put any pressure on her as a result. When she's on Alvin, like she was the other day against Arena, she can flat out take the racket out of your hand, serve, return, forehand and backhand. There were some moments, Alvin, she was taking the ball early on Arena's ball and changing direction on the third shot. It was almost like Arena wasn't in the ball big enough.

Which you don't ever say that about anybody. You don't ever say arenas ball ain't big enough. Arenas ball is the biggest ball, one of, in the entire world. And she was almost early on a few of arenas forehands. Forehands out. So that being said, I see her high end there. Right there with the best of them. Do I think she can put it together for seven matches straight? I'm not so sure. Not right now. And that's the only thing I'm going to say against it.

She'll need the perfect draw like most players. She'll need to a great tournament. She'll need things to fall into place. Can she beat anybody with a higher number next to their name? 100%. Can she do it for seven matches? That's what remains to be seen at this stage in her career, but don't sleep on her ever.

Alvin Owusu (36:27.869)
think the this you look at the two the two matches right the sh Naomi against Arena and then Naomi against Carolina the ball that na that Sabalinka hits is actually a ball that Naomi would prefer. She's never had an issue with pace, right? She she came into our consciousness when she won the US Open back in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, beating Serena, right?

Torrey (36:45.686)
loves.

Torrey (36:54.276)
Right. Beating Serena. Right. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (36:56.891)
She she's gone toe-to-toe with Azarenka, right? yeah. When you think about big hitters, like you you think about, you know, she's in that category. She's had, I mean, she's kind of gone back and forth with with Carolina and in prior matches, but one thing, especially on grass, that we talked about this before, right? It's who's gonna be able to get on their version of the front foot first care because Naomi did not serve as well today.

Torrey (37:01.229)
The biggest sticks out there.

Alvin Owusu (37:24.733)
Carolina was able to force her to do things that she's not good at doing. Picking the ball up from below the height of the net. Especially to the backhand side. I don't I don't think Naomi Ozaka has a backhand slice. Like it's just like she's just not she'd rather she likes to get she would she has a fantastic knee bend, right? So this is not a slide against her slice. Like if if forced into that situation, she's gonna drop that back leg to the literally down to the dirt and hit that backhand off of a low ball.

Torrey (37:28.484)
Right. Take me off the slide. Right. Yep.

Torrey (37:36.972)
Yeah, we haven't seen much of it, we?

Torrey (37:50.046)
sure. Right. Scrape her knee and hit one.

Alvin Owusu (37:54.449)
Yeah, but Carolina's slices on the nastier side, sometimes it's not coming up high enough for her to do that. And today I saw a couple of them where she just like her almost like her hands just kinda fell off. Like I can't hit that ball. and again, that all comes back to how many first serves are we making? How early are we able to get a grasp of the point and play it on the terms that we want to play it on? and it was almost that straightforward. First serves in, things things point in Aomi's way. yeah, not

Torrey (37:59.105)
Yeah, that's true.

Torrey (38:04.715)
Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey (38:21.121)
100 % 667 versus 80 % on the first serve percentage 59 % first serves versus 69 % first serves Here's the stat and I keep talking about it because Carolina of course has great great skills come to net transition skills 4 of 7 net points 1 12 of 18 that's point 1 for Carolina So again there to me is it's one of your tail of tape Eve winners dead even 24 each

unforced errors a little bit more but that's that's you know when you're digging up off the dirt and you're missing passing shots that counts as unforced errors unfortunately so you know you're right there uh i don't know i i look at she had nine aces wasn't like she served terrible but the first serve percentage wasn't as clean as it was in the previous match so carolina again like coco against j pack she played a smart match she used the surface to her favor came forward more way more uh you know almost more than doubled

you know, her coming forward again, she came forward almost twice as much. She won twice as many points as Naomi came in on total. So that just, again, that to me shows you that she knows the tactic that she wants. She's good at it, very good at covering the net. And again, she created enough opportunities to make that happen.

Alvin Owusu (39:35.763)
So if as we look forward to the matchup between Mojova and and Goff, it it could be almost as simple as first serves in, who gets to the net more?

Torrey (39:42.847)
Mmm.

Torrey (39:49.055)
Right. First serves in, who controls the early breaks? You gotta throw that in there. And who can get to net more? I would tell you that Coco passes a tiny bit better than Mahova in my opinion. I think she's a bit faster. think we both agree on that. It's just, I think Carolina Slice is better than Coco. I mean, I'll say that. So you're in that.

Alvin Owusu (40:07.218)
Sure, sure.

Torrey (40:18.556)
So each of them has a way of making this happen. Again, if she's trying to go inside out, you know, it's on the golf backhand. That could be why the head to head may be as upside down as it is. If she tries to match him on the forehand side and if Coco backs down and starts hitting the old buggy whip and the back foot wonder, Carolina's got a shot. She's got a real shot. You know I mean? And personally, this is my personal belief, but no shock, no shame on.

Linda, Elise, Jasmine or Marta, but to me this match here is, it leans a little more toward the final than the other Sunnis. I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it. It is. That's fair. That's fair. I gotta put it out there.

Alvin Owusu (40:58.568)
Ooh. Ooh. R Ooh. I don't know about that. I don't know about that one, coach. I don't know about that one. There there's a there is a Wimbledon, former Wimbledon finalist on the bottom of the draw. Okay.

Torrey (41:12.103)
Yeah, yeah. And I'm with that. I'm with that. again, and nor do I, and there's one of them, think that has an outside shot of winning the thing. But I feel like, I feel like golf has the inside track. She's just playing well right now. And of all of the remaining seeds, she is the, she's my favorite. I'll say that unequivocally. And I also feel like she's just playing better every match going into it.

We'll see what happens.

Alvin Owusu (41:43.367)
Yeah, I th yeah, let's let's get there tomorrow and l and see where we stand. I mean Marta Kostiak has turned herself into, you know, in the last few months, she's been she's been a day in, day out, whatever surface, yeah, semifinals of French Open, cool, quarterfinals of of Wimbledon, yep, doing that too. So, you know, and but again, Jasmine Jasmine's looking kinda like herself right now or the twenty twenty four version of herself. opening up the shoulders.

Torrey (41:56.935)
Top five player.

Torrey (42:08.637)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (42:13.158)
really ripping through balls right now. So we'll we'll we'll see there. if we end up with something like Paulini and Noskova I don't know. I I it just feels like Linda Noskova's trying to win a Grand Slam right now. It does. I I have this like feeling 'cause that's what we're doing these days. Everyone wins one. but we we we we sh we shall see. We shall see.

Torrey (42:33.337)
Hehehehe

We shall see. If the bottom half of the draw hadn't been playing leapfrog, would give you, would, I understand your pushback. They had beaten the player who's beaten the player the next round. Almost every single one leapfrog the other from Yala beat Sviatatec to Palin had beaten Yala and so on and so forth. And that's really what I'm getting at. It's nothing against, it's not their fault for winning matches by no means.

I just feel the players that have been tested going through and I feel like Coco has been tested, Hov has been tested and they have, haven't, the bottom half has not, not earned a chance to their, to their, to their quarter finals slash soon to be semi final birth. It's just to say, I feel like the, the top two have played a little cleaner tennis, pushed a little bit further in the test and should have come down to who's sharper.

and should have come down to who is more tested. feel like, fortunately for them, the top half has had the benefit of having a little bit of a, I'm gonna say quote unquote, tougher draw on paper. And that's all. And again, no shade. I love Marta Kostik. I think she's more due than Linda Nosková in my personal opinion. I think she's the one to me has the outside shot at this thing. Quite frankly, kinda came up a little short in the French.

I really feel like she's, she's do one this year. She's playing ball right now. it's just a matter of, she just so happens to be playing ball at the same time that Cocoa Gauff decided to get a forehand serve. And to me, that's what's going to, it's going to be a immovable object versus unstoppable forces. So we'll see. Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (44:15.452)
Let's let's see if they get there. Let's see if they get there. I will it's a it's a it's a good opportunity to give some some some praise to Elise Mertens while we still have her because she did she did beat Rebecca. Like she beat Rebecca and then kept winning. So she's holding she is holding up her end of the bargain.

Torrey (44:23.061)
for shi-

Torrey (44:29.197)
Yep, One of the few that has beaten the seed and continued. I'll give her that.

Alvin Owusu (44:35.187)
Keeps on rolling. Keeps on rolling. yeah, I think you know what? I think that's it for today. I don't I don't I don't want to go down the the path of talking through scores. I think we've I think we've covered covered enough. we've got a lot of we've got a lot of podcasts ahead of us over the next few days, coach. It's about to get it's about to get serious. It's about to get serious. yeah, let's put a pin in it. I'm Alvin. That's Tori, that's three. We are out.

Torrey (44:45.4)
Yep, agreed.

Yep, yep, I'm with you. I'm with you on that.