THE BIG T DROP SHOT EDITION - Madrid Mutiny: Alcaraz & Djokovic Out — Who Seizes the Moment?

What's up, guys? Nick Monroe and BG here. Welcome to the big T drop shot edition. Some big news coming out of Madrid earlier today. Carlos Alcaraz out with a wrist injury. No back

joke of it. Also out with a shoulder injury. Yonic center still in the draw at the moment at the time of this recording. But BG, how does this look from a coaching

perspective for these players moving forward? Well, Nick, good afternoon on a little bit of somber news, a little mutiny in Madrid. Second year in a row, Alcaraz gets hurt at Barcelona, you know, the quick turn around from money

Carlo, you know, we're it's a one week term. It got to play five matches in five days. And if you're in Alcaraz's team, you got to error on precaution because the wrist issue, look at a player from a few years

ago, Dominic team, when you heard his wrist was never the same after surgery, DELPO and other one major risk problems. So he's had lots of matches. So maybe even if he's not 100% you don't even play Rome and you get ready and do

everything you can to be ready and Roland Garros because that's first and foremost. And remember last spring, Novak didn't play a tournament at all. And he still made the semis of the French. And for him,

it's all about the first week, use the first week to get ready for the second week. And if you saw the interview from Yannick Sinner with Procache, Emma Trash, at money Carlo, he says to Procache, I'll see you in Roman Paris. I don't know if that was an oversight of Madrid, but Sinner's played a lot of matches. And if you're on his team, you're in his coaching team. Do you want to go to altitude.

And then maybe overplay because you want to be fresh for Paris. So he's potentially does pull out. He would be starting in Rome and then Paris and come into Paris incredibly fresh because that's for what it's about for him at the moment. It's not winning, you know, Madrid, it's winning Paris. So being in the best position to succeed there.

Yeah, and look, I think it also shows how physically taxing these matchups are for center and Alcarazza. I mean, anytime they play against each other, obviously it's popcorn stuff for us, but it's physically taxing on these guys. And I feel like you always want to try to find as a player, any training blocks where you can, whether it's two weeks here, three weeks there. And so for Yannick Sinner, I thought it was so smart for him to say, hey, I'll see you in Rome. I'm going to take two, two and a half weeks just to get the mine right, the body right, you know, we call these training blocks. It's not going

always a physical training block. Sometimes it's a mental training block, right, where you can maybe just take a week off, get away from the tennis and then be able to come back mentally and physically ready because as we know, the grand slams are what these guys are chasing. And you mentioned for no back joke of it. Him also being out with a shoulder injury, you know, he's been posting on his Instagram. He is training a little bit in Marbella right now. So he is in Spain training a little bit, but you always want to err on the side of precaution as you mentioned. But you know, for these guys, look, you don't need the money. They don't need the

points. You know, if you look at Sinner and Alcarazza, there's 7,500 plus points ahead of everybody else. So that's not even an issue or the money as well. So how can they peak for the French? And so that's that's the biggest thing for these guys, but also BG, what do you think about the economic implications, the TV rights that go into this without having a center or, you know, as an Alcarazza joke, possibly a center. Let me just tag on one thing about the training block. Look what happened with Sinner after he lost in Doha. And he got the unexpected.

12 day training block in Indian Wells early hasn't lost a match since, you know, he's dominated the economics this tournament. Obviously the second year in a row to lose the biggest Spanish star. You already have tickets sold, but now you will have a lot of empty seats and a lot of people that are totally bummed out because obviously not only is he missing, you know, Madrid, you know, he's missing in Barcelona.

And it just shows you how amazing what Rafa was able to do so many times to be able to go from money, Carlo to Barcelona and do the entire clayswing and numerous times he swept them all, you know, like at the Crab Table, like when you go seven.

That was like, Ross, even more amazing that, you know, how he's able to sweep the table, but the game is so physical now Nick. Yeah.

And you really got a feel for the tournament that two years in a row, obviously they're losing the biggest Spanish star. We don't know if we've lost Sinner, but for them to lose Alcaraz is a gut punch and what an opportunity it is now for the field.

If you told me all three guys are out, I would tell you that easily we could see something like men's sick at Miami last year. We could have one of maybe 20 different guys. Everybody's probably thinking in the locker room. Why not me. Why can I step up and who do we have when it last year.

Casper Rude wanted last year, the year before that Andre Rubelev wanted the year before. So it's one of those things. As you mentioned, this becomes an open door for these players, you know, it kind of went from a superstar showdown to a wide open tournament, you know, that's where, okay, maybe a guy like Alex, Alexander's Barrett, three in the world saying, okay, why not me. But hey, what about that young Spanish player coming up Rafael Holdar. He won in Marrakech, the ATP. He's been playing extremely well. He's now inside the top 50.

So they have a young Spanish guy coming up that also can make some waves as well.

He's playing with that same racket with center and probably the racket ball is exploding off his racket. And what a big match tomorrow against fees. Two big hitters that you could probably see either one of them making a deep run.

You know, if you just change the J to an R, you know, radar, remember the old song, radar, love that guy, Holdar, for a guy that's 6354 pounds absolutely cracks the ball. And this is where the coaching the team, everything matters that opportunity knocks and obviously for the tournament, you would love for somebody like another Spanish player and holdar.

You know, obviously, you know, tournaments are based upon stock, but this is one of those situations where you, you have to be prepared, you know, to write a new script that something might happen right in front of you and you got to go with it.

Who do these conditions suit? Do you feel like imagery because we talk about the altitude, how fast the ball moves on the court. It almost feels like a pellet. I mean, I played there in Madrid. You come to the net and try to hit a volley. That thing is popping off your racket.

We mentioned that Casper Rude wanted last year in 2025, Andre Rubelev in 2024. Who do you think these really fast conditions now will suit and maybe who's your favorite to go all the way.

Okay. Now you you're also forgetting about altitude. You got about you know, 2200 feet. Yeah. And sometimes if the weather gets warm there, that court will play unbelievably fast.

So it actually gives a chance now to a serve bot or gives a chance to, you know, like a Rude left. So I mean, that's a big hitter. So I think more than anything.

We know when Algaraz and Sinner are both in the tournament. They win the tournament. We still don't know. Obviously, if Sinner is out, my first inkling was when he did talk to Procache at Monte Carlo, he wasn't going.

So I don't want to sell him short. I mean, he would be a handful there on the quick thing. But I also feel like, you know, you know, that court should also, you know, favor a guy like fees. Who's a big hit or, you know, but you wonder, you know, the guy's playing long into Barcelona, the quick turnaround.

But we just saw the one week tournament. I love the one week masters 1000. Yeah. At two week masters. If you do come from a win the week before, you have a little more time to break into it.

But if I was going to the betting window, I would bet on the field. I would take like, you know, some guy that's not on the board, because I can see something unexpected happening. You could see an unseeded player making the semi there. Maybe even somebody out of the top 20 in the final. If all three guys are out.

Yeah, I would agree with you. I mean, you mentioned how fast it is with that altitude. So a big serve, a big, big first strike for anyone. That's going to be a big deal. Because, you know, you think of, okay, Andre Rubelette, he's going to hit big from the back. Maybe not, maybe the biggest serve. But again, if you're able to kind of play that first strike. I feel like that's a big deal. So leading into the French. Let's say with Carlos, or as in no back joke of it. Out kind of what would these guys be doing here in these next week or two to get ready for Rome and to get ready for Roland Garros.

Well, obviously Carlos Alcarazza is going to be doing a ton of rehab. You know, that's going to be first and foremost, he's going to be doing tons of rehab. And that's what you got to be focused on twice a day, doing whatever. Obviously, he would have MRI scans. No back is going to be doing a lot of physical work, you know, to make sure that physically he's ready. Mentally, he knows what he's doing. But he's still got to be putting in the reps on the practice courts and in the gym.

With the wrist, you know, you can't go out and do a ton of physical stuff. He can Alcarazza can probably do a lot of cardio, but he's going to have to be careful with what he's doing. And also, it said wrist and forearm.

So you hope that they're just arrowing on the word of caution. And that's the big thing. These guys have all played a lot of matches, but it's just how do you pull them in, you know, to the to the wrist, being at 100%.

You know, or how do you like navigate that first week, but working on your physicality, you know, I'm sure Alcarazza can do. He just maybe at the moment can't hit any balls.

Yeah, I think these guys know that hey, going into Rome slash Roland Garros, they know how physically and mentally ready, they'd be to win the grand slam. And that's what they're looking for is how can you win the French open.

As you mentioned, no back joke, a bitch has done it before where he hasn't played these tournaments and done well in our G. So it's basically that I call it that mental refresh right that's a mental refresh for Alcarazza center, you know, the training block is physical sometimes, but it's also a mental thing. So it's a lot of fun kind of just dissecting these things and seeing that hey, this is a wide open event now.

So exactly what you just said mentally, I think when sinner and Alcaraz and Joker are all in the tournament guys are hoping to have a good run somewhere they're not thinking when in the tournament that's kind of out of the equation.

It's like, okay, maybe I can sneak a quarter a good result. If these guys are all out, it's like, uh oh, there's opportunity, you know, somebody's got to win this thing.

A guy likes very I've got to say, why not me? I'm three in the world. Nobody ever talks about me winning these things. So I do think mentally now with them out.

Things change for you. And you got to say, why not me? Why not a hot week for me? We saw Casper Rude do it last year. We're seeing a guy what Yoda is doing. So I feel like if if sinner is out.

I tell you what, you know, like like a hot shooter on the craft stable, you know, you know, get your hard ways. Go, go get the two, get your hard six, get your hearty, get to 10 and then start hitting some, you know, points on, you know, on the doubles, make some money.

BG, you're the man always love your insight. You know, as you mentioned, there's so many points and money on the board for these players. And BG, you're going to head back to your shop. I see you're in the shop right now. So I'm in the shop right now. And listen, we've been rock rolling today.

So three new blades. So the clash, the Wilson are on fire today.

We can see that I see all the Wilson's right behind you. So go ahead and keep selling the Wilson's and this been a lot of fun. But for everyone, be sure to listen to the big T podcast on all your favorite podcasts platforms and catch our full episodes on YouTube and the tennis channel app and we'll have a new episode coming to you on Wednesday.

See you, buddy.