Wimbledon Edition: Osaka Stuns Sabalenka || Djokovic Into QF || Special Guest: Martina Navratilova

Brad Gilbert (0:11)

What's happening? BG, Brad Gilbert here from HQ in Santa Monica, and welcome to another episode of The Big T Podcast. Joining me from the pristine All England Croquet Club, our special guest host today, what a view he's got, Prakash Amritraj. He's all set up, ready to rock and roll. And here's what's on tap for today. We will get you caught up on everything week one. We will dissect what's happening with Novak, Sinner, and Iga and Rabakuna. We will talk to an absolute living legend and Martina Navratilova.

Plus an unbelievable fan mail question. Big T is on all podcast networks. Watch us on YouTube if you want to see us. And don't be shy. Sign up for the newsletter for all episodes and especially drop shot info.

All right, Prakash, what's happening from the roof? And let's get into the big story. Djokovic today beating Safiullin back into another quarterfinals.

Prakash Amritraj (1:31)

BG, great to be here. For those of you who haven't been here, spectacular view on the media broadcast building. So we have Court 18 right below me. Beautiful show court. They keep bringing up all the show courts all over.

Court one behind me over here. And I know a lot of people are calling it Murray Mound Gilbert, but I got to still call it Henman Hill right behind me. What do you think? Maybe Murray did win it. But Henman Hill was the original.

Brad Gilbert (2:00)

Henman Hill rocked. It was the original.

You can't change the name of the original. He didn't win the tournament, but that is his hill.

Prakash Amritraj (2:10)

That's right. That's right. I'm with you.

Novak. He was great out there. What I would have loved to have seen since he had some moments in a couple of his early matches where he dropped a set here and there, was struggling a little bit, would have loved to have seen him get away in straight sets out there today. But it didn't feel like a sensationally taxing match. What was really positive and thus far that we've seen from him in the opening week, that match against Stefanos, that was as sharp grass-court tennis as you could get. He was hitting the ball so clean from both sides. And I think he deals with the fact that, listen, every day he wakes up, it's sort of a new reality, what may bother him a little bit today. So he's got to continue to problem solve for that. But the tennis is there, and as we've all talked about, the gap between him and the rest of the field, it increases a lot more on this surface because of the difficulty of movement.

Brad Gilbert (3:01)

A couple of things, Prakash, that I'm seeing from Novak. I actually think the warmer weather is a good thing for Novak, especially for his body, and the way he's playing more aggressively, I think the court plays a little bit quicker, which I think is a good thing. A couple of things that I've noticed. One, on his game, so goes his serve. I feel like when he's hitting his spots and winning free points, I feel like that elevates his game even more on this surface. And lastly, the thing that I am noticing quite a bit, probably over the last three slams, Novak seems to have these little lapses when he's up two sets to none. And you wonder, when he does have some of these little lapses, does that taxing for later in the tournament? He's not putting down the clamps. He did against Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas is not the same player. But I've noticed that little bit of a trend that, obviously, he didn't put away Fonseca the French and it came back to bite him. But I feel like he's letting a few sets go when he's up two sets to none.

Prakash Amritraj (4:12)

Let me tag that.

I completely agree with you. I think those little lapses that we're calling it, it's going to hurt him much more on a hard court or a clay court. I think the points overall here are generally less taxing on him. As you said, he's been serving great. So he's creating a lot more opportunities to win or lose the point in a quicker fashion. So I think there's less taxation on his body, even if he is dropping those sets here and there. But I'd love to have seen him get through in straight sets. But I don't think he has too much to complain about. Let's also look at the back end here. If he's able to get through one more round, make it to that semi-final, he's going to have a big gap. He's going to have a couple days to be able to recover. He hasn't had that when he had his semi-final matches last year where, as you talked about, I was a shell of who I am when I got to the semis then at the beginning of the tournament. So because he is in Sinner's half, I think that two-day gap, if he is able to get through that next round, that is going to make a world of a difference.