Is Medvedev back?!

Our Cracked Rackets team is proud to partner with our friends at the Laurel Springs School.

Imagine a school day that doesn't start with the ringing of a bell, but instead the rhythmic

bounces of a tennis ball and the crisp pop of a perfect serve.

That's the sort of opportunity offered by the Laurel Springs School.

Laurel Springs, they understand how difficult it can be for any aspiring athlete to balance

their daily training, weekend travel, competitions, and their academics.

That is why they offer a 100% flexible online private education that molds to fit any and

every athlete's lifestyle and aspirations.

Enrolling at Laurel Springs means every new sunrise is a chance for your child to thrive

both academically and on the court by enrolling at Laurel Springs.

You're not only empowering your child with a premium, personalized education, you're

also enabling them to thrive.

In both their academic and athletic pursuits, start the school year off right and visit

Laurel Springs.com today to learn more.

You can join them for an upcoming virtual open house and learn more about every program.

Every resource they offer, again, go to Laurel Springs.com to start your school year off

right.

Laurel Springs, a proud partner of crack-crackers.

Welcome to the mini-boring, your day popped for me, big story-match results, and

countries from the tennis world, the Saturday, February 28th, want to offer a big championship

weekend update to all of you tennis fans.

There have been a couple of fascinating results that have unfolded over the past couple

of days across our five tour level events on the calendar this week in the pro tennis

world.

One run in particular has captured my attention.

It serves as the inspiration, the catalyst for today's episode, and I want to get right

to that story line, but before I do, your reminder, a shout out to the support we get from

our friends at the Laurel Springs School to learn more about why they continue to rank

amongst the top private online schooling options in the country, visit Laurel Springs.com

today.

Also, your reminder, we're going to have college tennis broadcasts for you Thursday through

Sunday every weekend through the end of this 2026 regular season.

You can follow those broadcasts by subscribing to our crack-crackers YouTube channel by

ensuring your ESPN plus subscription is up to date so you can tune in to the best action

each and every weekend happening in the SEC, the ACC, the big 12 conferences every week.

We see a player with college tennis ties finding success on the pro tour this week.

It's former Texas NCAA singles champion, all American Peyton Sterns, who of course

has reached the final in the city of her college in Austin this week.

Again, if you want to see the best as they rise, make sure you check out our coverage of

this 2026 college tennis season, weekly shows, recapping each and every week live on our

crack-crackers YouTube channel Tuesday, Wednesday night, 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Of course, you can listen to those live shows the next day on the great shot podcast

feed with that said, though, let's get into again what has served as the inspiration.

Why record this podcast and not just wait until all the championship action wraps up tomorrow?

Well, of course, coming into the week, I mean, we all knew the stat, or maybe we didn't

all know the stat, but it was a prominent stat certainly in this player's career.

The Neil Medvedev had captured 22 different titles in 22 different cities entering this

week in Dubai for a guy who has been exceptional on hardcore.

It's probably no worse than the fourth best hardcore player of the 2020s.

Again, for him to have not captured a single hardcore event more than once, a stunning

feat for a guy who will be remembered as the best hardcore player of his particular generation.

The Neil Medvedev finally ends that streak.

He captures a second title in a single city as he brings home the title this week in Dubai.

And I'm well aware, we didn't ultimately get to see a championship match between the

Neil Medvedev, telling Greeks, whereas Greeks were after upsetting Booplick, after upsetting

Rubeland, after playing exceptional tennis to get to the championship match for upsetting

men's chick as well, forced to retire due to injury and conditions that again were perfectly

quick for his first strike, centric game.

The Neil Medvedev's performance against Felix Ojiarlia Seam, that's the performance

this podcast was raised on.

As obviously this show started in 2019, and again, 2019, in particular started August

of 2019.

Why is that relevant?

Well, of course, that city opened where Medvedev loses to Kerios.

That was the first run for the Neil Medvedev and the start of a signature summer that was

his breakout summer.

And it was the first moment.

Well, the first moment was really the round of 16, I believe, in Australia, that year

we played.

I think it was that year, not 2018, when he played the most unbelievable, forset match with

Novak Djokovic.

A match he ultimately lost again, but it was one of those matches if you actually watched

it.

Yeah, it was 2019, six, four, six, seven, six, two, six, three.

You just thought to yourself, holy shit, like other than Federer, Nadal, I don't know

if I've ever seen someone push Novak Djokovic physically on a hard court.

In the way, Neil Medvedev is competing with him, and again, extending every rally, matching

his rally tolerance and depth and precision on the backhand wing.

Why do I bring up that 2019 moment?

Because again, that for me was the, okay, this guy is here to stay.

What can he do moving forward?

He has the breakout from there.

And again, for the next six years, he's one of, you know, he's, if he's not one, he's

the number two hard court player behind Novak Djokovic at every moment.

Obviously, that is not who Neil Medvedev has been over the last 18 months, in particular,

you can go back to the end of 2024, where, you know, yes, he made a US Open Quarter Final,

but dominated by center on the hard courts, which was a dramatic flipping of how that rivalry

had played out in the past, down the home stretch of that season, loses first matches

to David Vichvokina, Lachecha, respectively, in Canada, Cincinnati, you know, semis

and quarters of Beijing and Shanghai, okay, but he loses to Algrasm Center, again, kind

of signifying this next generation, ready to pass him up, moving forward, loses to

popper and fritz, indoors and pairs, and the tour finals respectively.

That's where the signs of crack in the hard court armor, the shield that the Neil Medvedev

had worn, so successfully on the hard courts for a half decade.

That's when they first started to show, obviously, last season, you look at the prominent

losses for him at the majors on the hard courts, he loses, of course, match one debentment

bone Z at the US Open, the first loss to learner, of course, in Melbourne, you know, again, that

learner TN was able to beat him two different times last season on hard court, he lost matches

to Ponzi, Adam Walton, how may moon are, like, Hamad Medvedevich, Matia Balucci, again,

this isn't matches, he lost to them on clay, this is matches, he lost to them on his surface

of hard courts, he lost to him would take twice on hard courts last year.

Signs were obviously getting better for him when at the end of last season, he finals

Beijing, he semis Shanghai, he finally ends that lack of title streak and wins that Al

T title, you know, even the quarter finals in Paris, things were getting better for him, a

little bit of a setback at the Australian Open, which by the way, he wins Brisbane to start

the season, but didn't have to play a top 25 opponent, setback in Australia, how he lost

that match to win just seven games at a hard court major in a match, not against Alcarazza

Center, but against the learner, like against learner TN of all players, that's still not a loss,

we're accustomed to seeing him offer us, obviously, then he loses match one, three sets

in door hard courts to Ugo and Bear, look, Bear can get hot, so I hold that one against him a

little less, to lose the CT pass in straight sets in Doha, like, what has, that's CT pass

the best win in 18 months, that's not a good loss, certainly, that's a worse loss than

the loss to learner in Melbourne. Again, things had gotten better, but there were still signs

of leakage for the Neil Medvedev. There were no signs of leakage this weekend, Dubai,

as Medvedev, straight set wins over Shang, Waferenka, Brooksby, Felix Ojirolyaseem,

to reach the finals in Dubai, obviously, then gets the title as Grigsborg Flores to withdraw

with injury, but why were there no leaks for the Neil Medvedev this week,

well in exceptionally quick conditions, the Neil Medvedev made over 70% of his first

serves for the week, he faced just 13 total break points, again, played 10 sets of tennis,

faced just 13 total break points, no excuse me, played just eight sets of tennis,

faced just six break points, total last week was broken twice, and what was ultimately still

a 6263 win over Waferenka, he was unbroken in matches against Brooksby and Felix didn't

face a break point in either of his two final matches, was hitting about an ace in game

in each of those matches as well. I mean, against Felix, it was just the vintage Medvedev

performance, and it just feels like physically he's back to where he needs to be, to where,

you know, again, he can play that for lack of a better term, and maybe this is the first time

this word will be used, that Octopusian style of tennis where there's just limbs and the bodies

flying around everywhere, and he's 12 feet behind the baseline, but he's tracking everything down,

he's coming down with these remarkable first pass dip that your feet second pass ball by you

combinations, he's hitting the backhand return with depth in a pop, I mean, just right out of the

gates, and again, I think he forced a doose right out of the gates for Felix in that opening

service game of the match, Medvedev's connecting on the backhand return, obviously the backhand

line return winner, he hits on the match point where even he's smiling to himself saying, damn,

that's good, like, yeah, damn, that was really good, and it's just been a while, yes, you know,

again, the court position has been there throughout, and what has caused the struggles, it felt like

people were now able to play the sort of plus one tennis, to just take advantage of the court

position seated to them by Daniel Medvedev and Medvedev no longer had the defensive skills to

scrap himself out of those scenarios every time, as he did for a half decade, he did this week,

helps that the courts were a little quicker in Dubai, and obviously that means his serve was

firing that much more, and thus again, that's the ultimate combination for Daniel Medvedev when he

can combine his inherent innate physicality with just a plethora of three points one behind,

a first serve still delivered by a human who you forget is six foot six, and just inherently can

bump down on serves with great pace, it was just the best version of Daniel Medvedev, and there

were times when he was trapped in rallies, the long rally they play, what was it to ultimate,

was it the 30 shot rally, I think it was at the end of set number one, yeah, it was, again, it was

the set point 10 set number one where the forehand for Felix ultimately leaks wide cross court

after this long rally, to watch Medvedev even when Felix was able to hit up the ball into the

dewside in pressure Medvedev's forehand corner, Medvedev just plays this high and heavy forehand

back down the line, that is just baiting Felix fine, you can try to keep playing to my forehand

if you'd like, but if you do that you are seeding all of this space, I am now giving you, and I'm

challenging you, I dare you, try to challenge my on the run backhand cross court, Felix did because

you have to, and Medvedev came up with the backhand back with that back with pace, back with action

on it, that Felix just wasn't comfortable running around and finding the easy forehand that Felix

has dominated with throughout the course of his entire career, it's the precision of that

backhand defense that I am telling you, you know, I'm laying out a clear path for you to try and

attack me through, and I'm just going to beat you at this game anyways, and just again the stubbornness,

I'm going to keep playing that forehand high and heavy down the line, you're just, I'm not doing,

you're not getting forehand on the dewside of the court, you're just not doing that unless you're

hitting it on the full sprint, because I've lulled you to sleep and I'm going to try and sneak one

by you now here as well. You know what the thing is, and this is a stupid personal note, and thus

probably serves as the inspiration, the catalyst, once again, for tonight's podcast,

I would equate my, I mean, that's not true, it's interesting, I ask my friends, you can ask

my friends, that's such a stupid thing to say to a podcast, we're going to leave it in, but apologies

folks, I play like the Neal Medvedev, that's the thing I see just so evident in his game, and obviously

you adjust for level of competition, but if you watched, and it's the best, he's my tennis

soulmate, I've brought him up in the past, if I, if you're asking me, Alex, what would be the number

one determination in where you want to live, moving forward the rest of your life, and I mean,

eventually I'm hoping, wife, kids are one in one B on where I ultimately end up, but in this

immediate moment when life is a little bit more of a luxury when unburdened by other things,

if you guys feel like, what would be the number one criteria, but I'd really like to live by Blake

Ahadi, because then I could hit three times a week, and it would be exceptional, and I'd get my

skill set back, and get the physicality back, anyways, God, I really do still love this sport,

that's great, it's great, you can still love the sport, giving out involved, we are, anyways,

every point we play looks a lot like a Medvedev first Felix point, looks a lot like a Medvedev

point in general, he'll try to push me in the forehand corner, try and play forehand across,

and I'm just going to play a forehand high and heavy down the line and say, no, we're not doing that,

like if you want to hit the backhand line and try and beat me behind me, congrats, you're going to

make that one out of seven, and you're going to hit a winner one out of seven, and I'm going to be

able to track down that ball, and maybe finally eventually get a forehand cross from there, or we're

going to play backhands crossing now, I get to be the one who changes direction and go backhand line,

anyways, like I just know that, the reason I bring all of this up is to say, I know that pattern

in my bow, it's like I grew up with two lefties, that's a pattern I was forced into playing every

every 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday for three years, as I hit with my brother every morning,

it just works, like it really does work for Daniel Medvedev, and it's the thing he wants to do,

and he's just better at it, like even staring down the barrel of the Felix, the Felix forehand,

he's just going to out at least this week, he was just going to out execute, be better than that,

the plus one he was playing behind his own, so again, when he's landing first serves like this,

and that's been the biggest difference between this year and last year, he's making the first serve

5% more, like not 0.5%, a full 5% more frequently, there's a huge difference in 15 more made first

serves at this level, that's fucking everything, like I know that sounds so simple, but it really is

that simple, make a first serve, and let's look at the tennis abstracts numbers right now, you make

a first serve, the average win percentage of first serve points right now amongst top 50 players,

73.7%, the average win percentage on the second serve 52.6%, it's math right there, like it's just

simple math, you're that way, you are 21.1% more likely to win a first serve point than you are a

second serve point, and he is tilting that, this is the word you're going to forget, I mean,

he is tilting that pendulum, that balance, whatever, back in his work direction, in the right

set way, again, average first serve percentage 63.1%, you look for a medvedev during this stretch of

him working his way back, right, and for me that's really post US open last year to where we are

now, as things did pick up for him in the Asian swing, but you look for him during this stretch now,

he's 28 and 8 overall, he's making 65.4% of his first serve, so again, that's a little bit down

than the 67.4 to start this season, but I, it's again, the whole percentage is back up to 85.2,

he's back to serving like a top 20 player in the top 20 server in the world, and he's always been

one of the five to 10 most talented returners, that didn't go away over these past couple of seasons,

if we get this version of the Neal Medvedev, and by the way, to see him go from the lightning quick

fast surface of Dubai to everything that is in Dean Wells, like it's death taxes, the first Medvedev

complaint of the Indian Wells surface calling it a clay court, like that's when we know the sunshine

swing will have truly started, and if he's going to serve this well, if he's going to move like this,

if he's going to be playing with that much juice out of the backhand return corner, he's just back,

like that's the top five version of the Neal Medvedev, that's the out then, unless you're a

center, unless you're an algorithm, you can replicate the sort of aggression and consistency with

that aggression to hit through that repeatedly, you're just not be the brick wall, that is the Neal Medvedev,

and so certainly again, it's good to have this version of him back, it sucked, we didn't get to see

him play a championship match, but the Neal Medvedev, your winner in Dubai, tough one for Felix,

I know that scoreline 4 and 2 doesn't sound great, and he wasn't great returning serve,

he served really well, he hit his forehand exceptionally well, he volley, you know,

there are a lot of douche spots where Felix was able to get himself out of the jam with great depth

on a volley, peppered at his feet, or just a decisive forehand on a 4-A-4 that still did enough,

I mean again, like had game point chances in each of the games he was ultimately broken,

this match was closer than a 6-4-6-2 scoreline, I actually thought Felix played well, he's played

so much better month 2 than month 1, his game's in a much better spot going into the sunshine swing,

I mean again, the backhand was vulnerable against Medvedev, and against the lead competition, sure,

that's the side you still want to attack, it can still be relatively one-dimensional compared to

the rest of the elite of the elite, but that one dimension is awfully powerful, like you got to

see him strike, some serves, it was just one of those days where Medvedev had the answer to the

equation, and boy again, if Medvedev is going to hit the backhand return like that, he's just

beating you on this sort of day in these sorts of conditions, so it's title 23-4 to Neil Medvedev,

again, he looked great, Felix looked good, Greeks were forced out with injury, he looked

exceptional before that, I believe he's now been forced to withdraw from Indian Wells as well,

that sucks, obviously had a massive win there over Zeraven, again, he was playing such good ball

this week, but unfortunately for Greeks were eliminated according, I forced to withdraw,

eliminated, forced to withdraw, still for Greece, we're making the final, back up to 25 in the

live rankings, Medvedev and win the title gets to hold his spot at 11, little cushion between him

now in 12th place, Yaka Menshik, 710 points there, as he tries to make a top 10 push for what is

worth, he's 45 points behind Sasha Bublik, decent week for Rubelev and making another quarter semi-final,

obviously Rubelev going to hold in the top 20, not where he expects himself to be, tough one for

Rubelev against talent, Greeks board is worth noting, Rubelev faced one break point in that

match and got broken, difference was, Greeks board was able to fight off all six of the break

points that he faced in this match, again, talked about the quarterfinals already this week,

so a fun week in Dubai, again the big note, it's just more fun when we get this version of

the Neal Medvedev, the counter-puncher to all of the pace, all of the power that we see in the modern

game, again, Hekiveran for Medvedev as he ultimately grabs his 23rd title, his Michael Jordan,

it's probably pretty fitting that his Michael Jordan is also his first time winning a title for

a second time in his career, that's where things stand in Dubai, by the time you're hearing this

championship match will, if not be underway, obviously it's tonight, Flavio Kuboli taking on

Francis Tiafo and Acapoco, I'm going to save that match for tomorrow, I will say, I went back,

I watched Francis Tiafo's victory, of course, it's 3-6-7-6-6-4 over Brandon Akishima, again,

it's as well as I've seen Francis Tiafo play in quite a long time, and it was the discipline

on the backhand, his forehand wasn't hitting through the court, it was certainly the side Akishima

tried to play through and had some success serving through, certainly throughout the match,

and Akishima has that sort of weapon to the caliber where it can be, that sort of issue,

even still for this reinvigorated and shorter backswing, Francis certainly has now on his forehand

return, but it's the way Francis fought, gets broken to go down 6-3-6-5, breaks back, has

an immensely lucky let-cord backhand return that just clips the net, creeps over, and that's how he

secures the break at 15-40 to break back for 6-all, a long tie break, that's all him just continue

to push forward, and that's the best version of Francis Tiafo, not when he's playing the drop shot,

the slice showing off the defensive excellence in his speed, no it's when he's using his feel,

his craft and that overwhelming physicality to get downhill, and then hit you with the short

angle chip, and then hit you with the incredibly soft drop volley, and hit you with the overhead,

and just again, using his speed to beat you to spots, using his feel to cut through you as well,

he was just more multi-dimensional than a brand-new Akishima who served lights out, who just

keeps lugging away, again, foundationally, Brandon should be a better returner, he's not the

most fluid move, although it moved well last night, again the movement's not a hindrance for Brandon

in any way, but the discipline, again, it's one of those times where Francis backhand to backhand,

staring down Akishima in the backhand, cross exchanges as he did in a consistent discipline and

depth that Francis played with, that's the best version of Francis when he's doing that with the

backhand, because structurally, technique wise, like, in principle in action, that's what Francis'

backhand can be when he doesn't slice too frequently, when he doesn't fall in love with the drop shot,

when he just is committed to saying, no, no, you're not going to be able to hit through me,

and the moment you leave something short, I'm coming at you as well, and that's what we got from

Francis who, by the way, gets an early break in the third step, breaks Brandon right out of the

gates, races out to double break 5-2, gets broken, serving for this match at 5-2, but then gets

that hold 4-6-4, gets himself through to the final in Akapoko, his first final since Houston last

season, his first what 500 level title or higher since Cincinnati back 2024, again, needed a moment

like this, because I test wise the match is the loss against learner, the loss against demon in

Australia, the loss, like, again, if you had actually been watching, the level was improving,

the serve in particular has just been light years better for Francis over these past couple of

weeks or two months to start the season, and now he gets the signature run to go along with it,

no, he hasn't had to beat a top 25 player, he's had to beat a bunch of top 60 players,

and he's beaten, you know, top 40, Baluchi, excuse me, Nakashima, Borges again, Baluchi,

Kawasavitch, two guys who've been playing their best tennis certainly of late,

Francis gets through all of them again to break back and have that sort of mental moment as well,

the resiliency as he did to break back for 6-0 to fight off the match points as he did with

electric tennis against Kawasavitch in the round of 16, now you have again the moments that can

serve as reassurance, as confidence building foundational blocks of well I did that against

Kova, then I raised my level against Brandon, can he go grab that title as well, again, it's one

thing to have to beat a Koboli, to have to beat a Nakashima, it's a complete another to have to

beat a Medvedet, a Zera, certainly a Sinner or an Alcaraz, it steps in the right direction though,

for Francis Tiafo who by the way, in reaching this final up six spots to 22 in the live rankings,

again this is a guy who was on the precipice of breaking into the top, well he did break into the

top 10, he hit number 10 in the rankings but again was inching closer and closer to that

two or final sort of territory it felt like with how he ended his 2024 season, again he was

another guy who has to look at how last year finish and said wow boy did I have a window to not

only compete with but really again you see no disrespect to Ben or Demon and be like that,

that should have been my top 8 spot, there's no way the young buck Ben Shelton should have made

a tour finals before I, Francis Tiafo who has made multiple slam semi finals and again been the

guy of my generation, a generation before Ben, there's no way he should be getting there before me,

made a change obviously in his coaching team and not just changing who was coaching him specifically

but obviously had been with a guy in Jordi Arcana for a really long time as his hitting partner,

sparring partner, workout partner, all these different things to guys who grew up together,

he said no I'm gonna even switch that up as well, it's working for Francis Tiafo and the

tennis world also just better again when we have more players at their best, good to see Francis

28 years old now, near or at his best once again, again really fun week for him in Acapoco,

huge week by the way for Flavio Caboli as well as up to a new career high 17 in the live rankings

accordingly, on his success, Caboli, big win yesterday as he earns a 763664 win over mere

mere cast of Manavitch, I mean again you look for Caboli certainly, another guy who hasn't had

to play top 50 opponent this week, right, the wins over Wui Bing, Sivakina, Pacheco Venente as

a cast of Manavitch and he hasn't blitzed through any of the opponents he's faced, he also had

it made a final since Hamburg last year, he had lost first four consecutive matches heading into

last week's Delray action and go semi finals Delray, now finals here in Acapoco stacking success

with obviously the sunshine swing and then even more importantly a massive clay court season of

points for the 23 year old to defend, it's been much better this week on serve, it does feel like

the altitude these conditions are great for him, he's also against Sivakina, all six break points

against Wui Bing, thought off all eight break points, first serve has been really hit or miss

these last two matches but I mean again it's a fun final between the inferences, Tiaf, a lot of

athleticism, a lot of improvisational flair in that match certainly, so looking forward to the

fun final in Acapoco, going to talk about that one more tomorrow, going to spend a ton more time

tomorrow breaking down the action on the women's side as well, look in Marita, the big storyline,

of course Frances Tiaf, Emma Navarro, really really continuing her struggles here in 2026 and

you know again to lose four and four to Zheng Shui, no disrespect to Zheng Shui who can

obviously place him line drive Tennyson, catch his sleeping at the wheel in the course of any rally

but you just look for Emma now, four and seven to start her 2026 season and you know again the

loss to Schneider and Adelaide, whatever, even the three set lost to Magdalena at the Australian

open you can get over, but lost to Francesca Jones, Haley Babthes, Zheng Shui, I mean again three set

lost to Count Skia, okay two and two lost, like a lost to Martins on its own, if it's a three set

thriller fine, she lost that match two and two, that just can't happen, you look for her the big

thing of course, it's not the whole percentage, she's serving much better here to start 2026,

it's the return of serve, it's fallen off a cliff, this is someone who was routinely amongst the

top 10, 15 returners by break percentage, only 11 matches this year, her break percentage is

28.6, it's just not coming back with the same sort of depth, same sort of pop it has in the past

for Emma Navarro and that's what allowed Zheng Shui to dictate so thoroughly with her ground strokes

with her baseline aggression, look Navarro came to Marina having to defend a title, 500 points

off of her resume, Navarro falls to 25 in the live rankings, Emma Navarro right now 44 by

elo rating and that does feel accurate, Americans got to find some form, now she has typically brought

her best at the biggest events, it's a massive sunshine swing, coming up for the American here,

she tries to steady the ship heading into the European season, outside of that of course the other

big one, how is Jasmine Paulini gonna find, oh what sort of success might she find Paulini,

oh and two over Priscilla Hanna as it should look in round number, or match number one,

love how she recovered, in her quarter final victory, love six six three six three went over a

very much informed Katie Bolter and I'll continue to say that, Katie Bolter's playing top 50 tennis

once again, Paulini needed a victory like that, so badly, again three said she's through the semi-pinal

sets up a date with Christina Bukza, Bukza, good tournament so far, wins over a Vechage,

stacoustic three and four over the very much informed right now, Zainab Sanmez,

Magdalena Frick, just doing her thing, wins over Boses, Maniero, Marie Boge, COVID to get to the

semi-finals, again, fun set of semi-finals, things always get a little funky in Maria,

wanna spend more time breaking down how Paulini's looks specifically, I wanna see her match up

with Christina Bukza tonight, so again that's where things are in Maria, again wanna spend more time

with Austin tomorrow as well, breaking down all things, Peyton Sterns, because Peyton Sterns

has had an awesome week, victories for her, again, Jones, Yvonne, Sleck-Mateva, Kimberler-Barrell,

three three said victories along the way, she just so desperately needed a week like this,

not only of course because of the obvious reasons right, you of course have

serious points to defend in those Rome semi-finals coming up, all the struggles between then and now

four Peyton Sterns and reaching this final by the way, Peyton Sterns, up ten spots back up

the 52, oh my god does that make her life easier, going into this European Claycourt stretch,

but you look for Peyton, it's how the serve has been firing, the forehand has been firing,

how she's overcome deficits whenever she's faced them, and certainly again she has this week

dropping that second set against Barrel, dropping that second set against Sleck-Mateva,

dropping the opening set against Francesca Jones, by the way, and we need to say it again,

a shout out to the tennis abstract singles forecast, it was on Taylor Townsend from the start,

the wild card, into the singles final here in Austin, as she earns victories this week,

over Fruvertova, Barton Cove, Master Open, six and three in the semi's over Ashland Kruger,

what a week for Taylor Townsend, Taylor Townsend who by the way with this success, up 33

spots, welcome back to the top 100, she's back up to 86, the 29 year old, two's always in the

ball game in doubles, but now thoroughly back in the ball game here in singles now as well,

massive moment, massive moment, certainly for her, by the way, me and Mayor Kess Menevich

another huge winner of the week, he was up 26 spots to go from 84 to 58, just you breathe a

sigh of relief, okay I'm getting into 1000s, okay I can go to Europe, okay my schedule for the next

few months looks clear obviously to go from outside to inside the top 100 same sort of deal for

Townsend, yeah massive weeks, even for National Kruger making the semi finals, up 22 spots from 103

to 81, so desperately needed exactly this sort of run to a semi final and you know again even for

Katie Bolther to make a quarter final, she's gonna keep herself in that top 100 mix, where's

Bolther back up to now, she said obviously wins a title or yeah back up to 64, back in the mix

moving forward, obviously a tough one by the way for Eva Yovich, she knocked up by Ileta Mianvich

466, 464 in her round in their round two battle, Braels had a good start to the season, great

week by the way, all American final in Austin is a really cool thing, it's a hot ticket, like that's

the sort of ticket I think the event would be looking for because not only that, yet Matt McConaughey

in the house to support obviously the former Texas longhorn in Peyton's terms and it's always

good to just have celebrities, particularly celebrities who then become willing to interact that much

more with the event, in Peyton's played awesome, Tennis Taylor Townsend, again talk about another

player who is just more fun when she is in the mix because of how different her skill set is

than everyone else is, the lefty can just put the ball anywhere on a court with any different

type of spin hitting any different shot out of the air or otherwise, it's been a really cool

week in Austin, Townsend, Sterns, Mysore Final for Westworth Townsend 1-0 in the career had to

head and then last but certainly not least, set it a couple days ago, never sleep on my guy,

Yana Confman, Hanfman, knocking off Ugo Carabelli in the quarters, Galbus in this, excuse me,

Carabelli in the round 16, Galbus in the quarters and a three and four win over top seed

Francisco Surrendolo to advance to the final in Santiago, third final of Hanfman's career,

I've said it before, I'll say it again, most underrated college tennis player of the 2010s,

clinches Stevie Johnson's fourth NCAA championship for that USC team, clinches the national

indoor title for them that year as well, plays number one on that shocking follow-up 2014 USC title,

probably the most impressive in the run for Peter Smith, that are the 2011, those are the two

rings, I bet he would say are the most impressive Hanfman was the guy on that team. His back,

he's just so physical, move so fluidly for a guy at 66, who can hit the, just the most, again,

his kick serve might, I know, another podcast and I, you guys know, I don't listen to other

podcasts, I don't want to steal any takes, we may have similar takes, but if I don't

listen, at least I know we both come to them organically, but I saw the clip on social media,

they're talking about best serves on a different show. Hanfman's kick serve, like if you're just

making specific categories, best kick serves in history, Hanfman needs to be on that list,

and he serves in Valleys, and just does all these different creative, fascinating things, and so,

again, was just able to rush Francisco Surrendolo, not allows Surrendolo to slug away freely from

the baseline. Again, Hanfman, three and four ends the run, but by the way, fascinating three

week stretch, right? Rick won in Buenos Aires, Darderi, Surrendolo Bias, they all make the semi-finals

or better, Surrendolo ultimately, the title, Darderi, the final, they all lose early in Rio,

now week three in Santiago, Surrendolo to the semi-s, Darderi back to the finals, he gets a

four and three win over Cepi Bias in the semi-finals. By the way, Luciano Darderi, I've said it before,

the forehand is a fucking cannon, and it rips through these play courts. Darderi's made five

finals in the last 52 weeks, Trails only center and Alcarez, and is tied with Sasha Bubliq for the

third most on the ATP tour during that stretch. He's the number three Italian now, in my mind,

over Caboli, over Arnaldi, over Anardi, obviously behind center and Musetti, but what a generation of

Italian men. Certainly, again, all guys who can spend some serious time inside the top 25, obviously

a little bit of a stretch to say that about Arnaldi and Ardi right now, but talent there for all of them.

It's a really fun generation, it speaks to the investment, by the way, the Italian federation has

made in developing their players. Darderi Tuno, in the career head to head with Hanford, obviously,

you look for Dionic in reaching the final this week, another massive winner in the rankings, he's

up 16 spots, 34 girls back up to 65, quietly one of the oldest men inside the top 100. Still feels

young, again, that's a guy from my youth, if he's 34, how old does that make me? Hell of a week

for Hanford, that's a really fun final, how his backhand absorbs that inside out forehand, how

his servant volley games that drop-shot will just rush and keep the ball out of the Darderi strikes

on what you have to do to fun final. They're looking forward to it certainly as the action

continues to unfold in Santiago. Of course, we've got a little championship action at the WTA-125K

level, the ATP Challenger level as well, just to quickly blitz through and I'll spend more time

on this and I want to spend more time on this level, just more broadly here in 2026.

Really could be a 250 final or could have been maybe back in like 2019, 2021, Sebastian Ophner,

taking on Pierre Eusebert in the same barouac challenger final in Lugano, Schwarzler,

First Pierrot, that's a good one, Cinevers Gale in Punei, the Moss vs. Faccundo, Dias Acosta,

the final in Tigre, of course, you were 125K title, a final Uchijima, going to take on

Antalina Kalinen, a good to see Kalinen a healthy, playing good tennis once again here this week.

That's everything, there's your midweek end update, I'll be back tomorrow to talk about the

rest of championship Sunday's action and then we'll get to preview the 2026 Sunshine Swing,

Indian Wells, Miami ahead, of course, World of Coverage, each and every day on this mini

break podcast feeds, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss out on any of our updates.

Of course, go subscribe to the great shout podcast, crack interviews, podcast feeds as well,

on our YouTube channel, we'll have tons of broadcasts over the course of this 2026 college tennis

spring. If you don't want to miss out on the other big of it, again, the easiest thing to do,

just go click that subscribe button, of course a shout out and thank you as always to the support we

get from our friends at the Laurel Springs School to learn more about why they continue

to rank amongst the top private online schooling options in the country visit LaurelSprings.com.

Today, also, of course, it's shout out as always to the tireless efforts and parts of

our school producer, Daniel and stuff, for all he does, Daniel and everything possible.

With that said, four west stuff, our friends at Laurel Springs School are involved here.

I've been crack-cracking in the great podcast network time post Alex Brass, can you help me say

that? It's the break. Thanks everyone.