Super Shelton, Serena Returns & Another Boycott? | EP 185

**Sam** (0:00)
All right, on today's episode of Nothing Major, Serena Williams is back. We also got results from the first grass court tournaments of the season. Let's get going. Jack, John, Stevie and Sam got close a few times, never won a slam, nothing major. All right, welcome back everyone. I've got Stevie, John with a beautiful background, myself with a normal background, Charlie Fox, the team at SIFT. Before we start, I do think we need to address something awkward from the last two episodes.
Isner was eating in the last two episodes. A lot of people took offense to it, like a lot. That was the only YouTube comments we got. I feel like it's a little bit ridiculous. Do you want to apologize or do you have a statement prepared or anything?

**John** (0:38)
I have a statement. I texted the group chat. Charlie alerted me to this. I was not really paying attention and said I was getting roasted in the comments. And so I go to YouTube and sure enough, I was getting roasted. We do check the comments, everyone.
I probably shouldn't have done it at the same time. I was starving.

**Stevie** (1:00)
When you're hungry, you're hungry.

**John** (1:02)
And I was getting hangry. I was with Sam in Paris. Stevie, as you know, Sam can just not eat dinner and be totally fine.
I'll say this, I probably shouldn't have done it. All right. I, you know, the sound of someone chewing. I thought I was muting successfully. When it was not my turn to talk, I thought I was muting pretty well, you know, but then I was going like this to eat it. It wasn't the best look.
It wasn't the best look.

**Sam** (1:34)
I didn't think it was that big a deal, but our listeners-

**John** (1:36)
But I'm not going so far to apologize. I will just say I shouldn't have done it, you know, in retrospect, but I was hangry.

**Stevie** (1:44)
Maybe just you needed a softer food that you didn't need as much chewing. That's a good point. A nice porridge.

**John** (1:50)
Little mushy. Yeah.

**Sam** (1:52)
All right, let's start talking about tennis.

**John** (1:53)
Hey, I have a question on your background, Sam. So at this stage, with that water, you're not going to ever drink that water, right? Because you want it centered in your background.

**Sam** (2:01)
I've got a bunch more. I replenish it in the background. Oh, OK. With the loon in, yeah.

**John** (2:05)
All right, never mind. All right, go on.

**Stevie** (2:07)
He's got another Christmas party in 2026 He's got to work.

**John** (2:09)
Yeah, exactly.

**Sam** (2:10)
It's the trendiest water. It's an air one. All the celebs are drinking it. You seen that?

**John** (2:13)
Is it glass or plastic?

**Sam** (2:15)
It's glass. But like if you go like Haley.

**Stevie** (2:17)
That's glass?

**Sam** (2:18)
Yeah.

**John** (2:19)
Oh, that is trendy.

**Sam** (2:20)
Like Haley Bieber and like all these people drink it and me.

**Stevie** (2:22)
Like a $14 bottle right there or?

**Sam** (2:25)
I don't know how much the bottle costs. But I get it for free.

**John** (2:31)
You know what they say? You know what they say? The rich and famous never have to pay for anything.

**Sam** (2:36)
Yeah.

**John** (2:38)
It's like the court side seat at the Knicks, right? Like you think Timothée Chameleau is?

**Sam** (2:42)
None of them are paying for that.

**John** (2:44)
Exactly. Just like salmon is water.

**Sam** (2:45)
Right. Just like all the celebs at the DMV, the different way of getting their license. All right. Let's talk about tennis. A handful of glass court tournaments this week. We're going to start with Stuttgart.
Ben Shelton takes out Taylor Fritz, a rematch from Dallas. Shelton in this event, look at his scores. He took out Giron, then Shimabukuru, then Lehechka, then Fritz.
His first round won 7-6 in the third, what saves a match point. Then against Shimabukuru, 6-4 in the third. Then he beat Lehechka 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, including a 16-14 in the breaker. Then he took out Fritz in three. Stevie, are you surprised Shelton won this tournament, given the fact that he won Munich on clay, then he lost first round Madrid, first round Rome, second round Stuttgart, second round Roland Garros? He had a bad five-month stretch prior to this.

**Stevie** (3:43)
He's just had an up and down year. I think it was just a, we've talked about it before, it was a bit of a bummer that he kind of got, he was sick at Indian Wells, Miami, where you really feel like the Americans would shine in those two big master series events in the States. But then on the clay, wins Munich, you're like, okay, all things are right in the Ben Shelton world, and then just doesn't have a strong French open.