Anisimova & Fonseca Shine + Sinner’s Suspension & US Open Changes

Anastasia is back from the Delray Beach Open and catching up with Nick about the trip, plus all the big stories from the past week in tennis!

In This Episode:

• Delray Beach Recap: Anastasia shares her final thoughts on the tournament, standout moments, and behind-the-scenes insights from her time on-site.

• Tour Highlights:

  • Doha WTA 1000 & Buenos Aires ATP 250: Amanda Anisimova and Joao Fonseca claimed titles—what their wins mean and how they pulled it off.

  • Jannik Sinner’s Suspension: Breaking down what happened and its implications for the season.

  • Elena Rybakina’s Coach Ban: A surprising development—what led to it and how it might impact her going forward.

  • Mixed Doubles Changes at the US Open: A shake-up in the format—what’s changing and what it means for the event.

  • Diego Schwartzman’s Retirement: Reflecting on his career, impact, and legacy on tour.

TRANSCRIPT

Anastasia (00:00)

recording in progress.

Nick (00:05)

We're saying this because we miss Riverside.

Anastasia (00:08)

We're trying out a new system, trying out a new system here, guys. So hopefully the sound is perfect and crisp and just the best it's ever been. But welcome, Nick. Welcome back. Hello, ground passers. We're back. It's been, has it been two weeks? Yeah, because last week was a mini episode.

Nick (00:27)

Yeah, has it been three weeks for us?

Anastasia (00:29)

my, did we have a pre-recorded?

Nick (00:32)

which a few weeks round of the schedule.

Anastasia (00:34)

Yeah,

I can't remember now.

But yeah, it has been a while. I'm thinking about it now because I think the week after the Australian Open was our Blair Henley episode, which we recorded in November.

Right? Yeah, we recorded that in November. So it's we definitely have had a break. I hope everyone enjoyed that. That's our new series, Meet the Professionals. We're going to try and I think bring that once a month because it does give us time to sort of like take some time off and reset and things like that. And the next episode that's going to be out in March is already recorded. So stay tuned for that.

We have a lot to cover in this episode, so we'll probably jump right in, but this episode, we're gonna cover my trip to Delray for the Delray Open. Then we're talking about all the other tournaments that I kind of watched. I'm gonna lean on Nick a little bit for this because I haven't watched much of Doha or the Argentinian Open. I have watched a couple of matches. We'll also talk about all the news that's been going around, because there's a lot of news coming out of the tennis.

Way too much news. That's not the tennis. So we have Sinner have Elena Rybakina mixed doubles, Diego Schwartzman retiring.

So much to talk about, but let's start with the Delray Beach Open. So I went down to the Delray Beach Open. I've never been, this was my first time going. And I think it's like, it's such a little great tournament. So it's about 30 plus years old. It started in the early nineties.

the Delray Beach tournament and, you know, tons of American past champions, I want to say. It's like Riley Opelka has won it, Francis Tiafoe, Jack Sock, Taylor Fritz has won it twice in a row now. So a lot of American, it's a very, it's very much a home tournament for a lot of Americans and not just because they're Americans, but a lot of them actually just live

really near the site in Florida. So they're just, you I remember talking to Taylor Fritz in press and he was like, it's so nice to just sort of leave my apartment, get in a car and drive to the site, to the tournament. And that must be really nice for a lot of them. I mean, you haven't been, but were you watching a bit of Delray or no?

Nick (02:59)

Daryl Ray's been on the wrong time zone for me quite a lot. mean, or there's been other stuff going on like Delray only been interesting to me because you were there. To be honest, mean, like obviously the news of like, you know, the Americans maybe not performing as we'd expect, because you know, you talk about that being an American champion, that's not going to be the case this year. It's like your low budget Rafa Novak final.

But anyway, we.

Anastasia (03:22)

I think that's one of the...

Nick (03:25)

Delray for me was like low priority because Doha there was a lot going on, Buenos Aires there was a lot going on and so Marseille and Delray kind of got pushed to the wayside for me. For me it's all about those previous two tournaments.

Anastasia (03:40)

Yeah, yeah. Just to explain what Nick means. So the final is going to be against Miomir Kecmanovic who is from Serbia, and Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina, who is Spanish. And I think that's like the shadiest thing Nick has ever said. Ever. I've ever heard him say.

Nick (03:57)

On a recording.

Anastasia (03:59)

That is true, that is true. But no, that is exactly what it is. It is, it's light. It's Rafa Novak light. You know, the funny thing though, that I didn't realize until I was there at the tournament is Miomir Kecmanovic lives in Florida because I know who knew because he was having his on court interview and the, you know.

the the on-court interviewee or any of you were sorry said, know, what does it feel like to play your home tournament? And I went his home tournament. He's from Serbia, but he went on and he was like, I'm so excited. You know, I live in the area and I was like, my goodness. So there's still going to be a hometown hero in the finals. If you want to say that, even though he's actually from Serbia, but he lives in the Florida area and has for a while, he was a finalist.

At the tournament, I pulled this up. He was a finalist of the tournament in 2023. So he played against Fritz and Fritz won that one. So it is kind of his home tournament. For me, know, we always talk about this. Like the story is not, it's not always about who's winning. And at the Delray Beach Open, for me, the two stories that came out of the tournament were,

the doubles and then also comebacks. And to just expand on that a while for a bit, Evan King and Chris Harrison are a doubles team that I actually talked to. Well, I talked to Evan King at the challenger that I went to in November. He was partnering with someone else there, but they won the Dallas 500. It is the biggest title they've ever won.

And then they came into Delray and now they're in the finals in Delray. And I just think talking to them throughout this tournament really kind of gave me a bigger insight into the issues. I guess issues would be the wrong word, but like the sort of hurdles, hurdles, that's a good word. Hurdles that doubles players have to go through because talking to Evan and Chris, they couldn't participate together in

all the tournaments because their ranking, their combined rankings was not enough to get them into, you know, bigger tournaments and things like that. And if you don't know for doubles players, it's an average of their ranking that decides if they be, if they can enter either a tournament directly into the main draw or into the qualifying. And they just haven't had that. Evan King's ranking is higher and Chris just started playing regularly again last year.

So they've been kind of like trying their best. When they go to Grand Slams, they partner with other people so that they can, how do you call it? You know, participate in the Grand Slams. But yeah, so I think their story has been great. Just following them, they're doing so well. Now they're in the finals of Delray. And I feel like this is the momentum and the little breakthrough they needed to be able to stay together, play together more and become a successful team. They're really good.

They're really, really good.

Nick (07:09)

have to keep an eye out for them because they're first I've heard of them.

Anastasia (07:12)

Yeah, yeah, they're, mean, again, it's like a new team and I'd seen Evan, like Evan King, think he played Wimbledon with Chris Eubanks, I think, in doubles. Like he'll, you know, play with different American players in, the Grand Slams, but it's nice to see them being able to play together because I think if they can practice together, play together more, get to know each other, each other's.

style more, they could be really a dangerous team. And they're on a roll right now if they're in the finals of Delray. And then the other story I think coming out of Delray was comebacks. A lot of players coming back. Like even the final is between two players who last season didn't do so great, but are on the up and up now. Miomir Kecmanovic and Davidovich-Fokina Who else came? Brandon Nakashima.

did well at this tournament. Also, Michael Mmoh who's been off the tour for nine months, I think he said, due to injury. So this was a tournament of lot of players coming back and like at least getting back-to-back wins.

Nick (08:18)

Yeah, and I think it's great to see obviously, because she was up and down for that long. Michael Mmoh was like, when I saw he was playing a new talk to him, I was like, oh, yeah, remember him? I remember him making a splash. I think it was the Australian Open a year or two ago. And like, I was like, oh, what happened to him? So it's great to sort of see him kind of gain his feedback on tour, as it were. And I think that those kind of stories do help make sort of interesting, not just to follow, but actually if you're going.

as well, which there's going to be lot of opportunities to go to more tournaments.

Anastasia (08:54)

Yeah, there's a lot of tournaments coming up. We're in the middle of one of the busiest. mean, you the time just before the US Open, I think is busy as well. But I was looking at the calendar and I was like, there are a lot of tournaments in the spring in the US. And I've started calling this the US Spring Swing, which is a bit of a tongue twister when you're trying to.

Nick (09:17)

I think it fits though, because I don't understand why no one's actually tried to coin it yet, like the spring, the US spring swing, because it fits, it's what it is. Like, yeah, we have, I think everyone talks about the North American Hardcore Swing in the summer, like it's the only one that happens. And then like you and I who follow tennis in depth is like, but no, there's, there's like a spring swing as well. I think partly because there's a Middle East swing.

and a golden swing happening at the same time, it gets overshadowed a little bit. But arguably, if you're an American, particularly like American fan and also American players, because American players tend to prefer to go back to the US and play in kind of February, March ahead of Indian Wells and Miami and Sunshine Double. Like it's actually a pretty important sort of warm up section for the Americans particularly.

Anastasia (10:07)

Yeah, and it's such a great chance for American fans to see tennis live because I think this time is dominated by Indian Wells in Miami. So people only think, it's almost tunnel vision. They're just like, Indian Wells in Miami, but there's so much. So we've already had Dallas, which is over. Del Rey is in the finals. So that's gonna be over this week. Coming up, we have Austin.

a WTA 250 event. Then we have Indian Wells in Miami, which are the mixed thousand level events. Then we have Charleston, which is a WTA 500 event on clay, on American clay, I would say it's green clay. And then back in Texas again, Texas is such a big, you know, location for tennis, but the Houston 250.

is happening, which is an ATP event on clay as well. So there is a lot of opportunity for American fans to see some live tennis.

Nick (11:07)

Yeah, definitely. Although maybe not necessarily the players you want to see if you're thinking about what happened to the Austin one. And I don't know if you saw the news about that, Anastasia. It was about a couple of weeks ago.

Anastasia (11:19)

Oh,

yes, yes. Okay, so yeah, we can mention this for sure. But Austin, and I actually really feel, I feel sad for the tournament and I feel sad for the fans. I remember I actually did comment on this on X, Madison Keys was scheduled to play the Austin 250 and it was decided before, she committed to the event before her Australian Open run.

She goes to Australia. I remember actually the social media team for the Austin 250, like following her every move through the tournament. they kept, you know, there was all this promotion where it's like, my goodness, Madison Keyes makes it to the quarterfinals. She's gonna be here in Austin. You know, and they just kept following her rise and then she won and they put this great post and everything. And then a few days later.

they had to post that she had to withdraw because there is a current rule on the WTA that for 250 events, only one top 10 player can be in the draw. And because Madison Keys won the Australian Open, she's now a top 10 player. And I just think that's a bit of a bummer. Like I just think for a local crowd,

at a 250 because 250 tournaments are really small. This is what I learned from going to Delray where, you know, I've been to a challenger now, they're only just a step up from a challenger. So in the Delray Beach open, there's only one main stadium and then another side court that's actually just right next to the practice court. So it's very small. You can go around the whole site in like 10 minutes.

So this event in Austin would have been such a great showcase for American tennis for fans to come see Madison live, but she had to unfortunately withdraw from the tournament. And that was a bit of a bummer, I have to say. What do you think of that rule?

Nick (13:15)

It's complicated. I think I know what they're trying to do with it. They're trying to create, WTA is effectively trying to create a Formula One style calendar where you know the tournament, like the top players are committed to the same tournaments and they don't want people distracted from 250s. I think also there's an argument for 250s like being an opportunity for lower ranked players to really get a ranking boost from getting that extra 250 points from winning it, get some trophies earlier on in their career.

But yeah, if you look at who sells tickets, it's big name players. it just doesn't help tournaments. I think it's ridiculous that like, it couldn't be ranking on entry. That's the thing, right? Because all that, yeah, because I think, yeah, I don't know whether it would be ranking on entry in this case, actually, because it's it's four weeks in advance, I think it's the cut off So what Austin did two weeks

Anastasia (13:53)

Exactly.

Nick (14:04)

This Austin fan will be two weeks from when we were recording this. Yeah. And we are how many weeks of the Australian Open happened? Three. So yeah, maybe actually she would be top 10 when the entry list closed. I think it's just a weird loophole that's kind of meant that it's lost out. I think, if I do think it hasn't been thought about that, oh, suddenly someone becomes top 10 after committing to an event. You know, that's it's not great.

for all the marketing teams and everything. And it just feels like the WTA particularly only really cares about the top rungs of its ladder.

Anastasia (14:42)

Yeah, I think, I do think they didn't think about this exact case. And I would not be surprised if there is a rethink of the whole situation because I think it's doubly upsetting because she's an American player. Like if this was, don't know, you

someone else, know, Iga or Aryna or whatever, and they had to like not do it. I think it would be, well, you know, they can't, but it's almost like it would have been a great homecoming, you know, like she's at home, fans can go watch her. It would have been great for that tournament in terms of publicity and getting fans through the gates and getting new fans through the gates. think I would not have been surprised if a bunch of people new to tennis would have come to just say, let me,

you let me come see this Madison Keys and then in, you know, in the meantime, see all the other tennis players that are there. So I think it's a bit sad and I had forgotten about it, but now I've remembered.

Nick (15:43)

Yeah, and if now you have to go and tell Indian Wells to see Madison King back on call.

Anastasia (15:49)

Right, because she's not playing the Middle East swing. So the only time I think she would have a pre-tournament into Indian Wells is if she went to Mexico. There's like a tournament in Mexico just before. So yeah, yeah. wow.

Nick (16:05)

tell you, it's weird to be that there is this off week coming up in the US spring swing because there's no tournaments happening in the US this week. Like if you want to watch your tennis on your time zone, you've got to watch the Rio Open or I think that or the Chile Open.

Anastasia (16:19)

Yeah, but Chile is the week after, but yeah, Rio is the only thing in our time zone that we'll be watching. yeah. And then the Middle East swing.

Nick (16:28)

Yeah, the Middle East swing. Yeah, but that's the only one in your your time zone. I just like, okay, you've got this momentum and then you've got a week off, although you're probably pleased to have a week off. Let's be honest.

Anastasia (16:36)

Very

pleased. Very pleased for someone who's covering tennis. It could be really, you know, just a little side note. It is really busy when you're on the grounds, like when you're there trying to cover the tennis and like talk to players after matches. It's it's go, go, go. And you in your mind, you think, well, the matches are, you know, two, two hours long and you have time in between. But you really don't. You really don't. Two hours goes really fast.

when you're doing stuff like that. so yeah, that's the U.S. Spring Swing. Someone call me. I think that's, we're gonna trademark that. It's the U.S. Spring Swing. A lot of tennis coming up and we will be on the grounds on a couple more tournaments. Nothing to announce yet, but follow us on social media and you will know when we are, where we're going next. Yes, you will.

Nick (17:24)

You'll know.

Anastasia (17:28)

A little bit on that before we move over to the other tennis that's been happening. We have a sub stack now. We have joined everyone who has a sub stack and we didn't want to be left out. So we, we have a sub stack. I've been thinking about this actually for a while, but I didn't just want to make another thing for no reason in a way. And it's, it actually just came at the right time where I'd been thinking of where to

put all the ground pass on site stuff. Because if you remember from last year, every time I was on site at a tournament, I just released those mini videos or mini podcast episodes to our regular feed. And I mean, it was fine, it worked, but sometimes it just felt a little cluttered and it didn't feel like it had a real home. So now we have a substack and our substack is only going to be active.

when I am at a tournament. I think it's a great dumping ground for the mini videos I make, mini reviews and things like that, and writing up like a mini little write up for each and every day. So if you haven't seen our sub stack yet, there'll be a link below to be able to subscribe. And then it just gets emailed to you every morning, then at a tournament, you can have it with your coffee and you can catch up with my activities.

on the grounds. And it also ties into our website too. So it's like, whatever gets published on our sub stack will also be on our website as well. Which if you haven't been to recently has gotten a new redesign. Anastasia has been busy. Anastasia has been.

Nick (19:04)

They're busy. Anastasia needs to find a job.

Anastasia (19:08)

Anastasia has been really busy with all things ground pass. But yeah, so that is the US Spring Swing. There has been a lot of tournaments also happening. I was on the ground in Delray, so I didn't really pay attention. I think for Nick and I, we apologize to Marseille, but we just did not watch anything.

Nick (19:33)

I think I've had some Marseille on in the background, but not really paid much attention to it. Like there was a rain delay for the Doha final, so I watched a little bit of Bergs versus Humbert. But that like even then I wasn't paying attention because I had people coming over in like an hour. So frantic cleaning was ensuing. But yeah, I think the Marseille final is happening now, I think.

about to get underway if I just check my life score app. It's Yeah, it's starting in 20 minutes as we've heard Hamad Medjedovic, who is a very sort of promising Serbian talent. won the next gen finals in 2023. Got to the right year there. And playing Ugo Humbert who is the defending champion at the event. Medjedovic beat Daniil Medvedev, who is

not having the best start to the season. no, he's not. just can't beat them. new generation, Daniil Medvedev and the next generation are not getting on.

Anastasia (20:34)

They really aren't. it's that. So I saw the scores of that and that is actually a match I want to go back and watch the replay of Medvedev and Medjedovic Yeah, just to see it. because because Danil Medvedev is not having a great time and I can't figure out why in a way, because I think a lot of people have talked about maybe there's a shoulder injury or something.

but I also just don't, in the latest matches I've watched anyway, he just doesn't seem happy, pleased to be there. And maybe he's tired, I don't know. But it is a funny case right now of Daniil Medvedev. Okay, so that was more to say, we didn't really watch that. Doha, I came home, so when did I get back? I got back Thursday night, the worst travel day ever. I sat on the tarmac.

at Delray Airport, the Fort Lauderdale Airport actually for two hours in the plane because we were waiting for weather. But anyway, finally got home. So Friday, I wake up Friday to watch Iga Swiatek versus Jelena Ostapenko because that's just the matchup that is a must watch. If they're ever playing together, you turn on the TV ASAP. And I was not disappointed. Jelena Ostapenko gets up in the morning.

hoping to play Iga Swiatek I think she really does. Like, I think she just, she's like, am I playing Iga Swiatek today? I hope so. Because she has her number and Iga then just doesn't have Jelena's number. It is one of the most fascinating head-to-heads in a while. I remember we had the head-to-head with Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner, which Jannik Sinner was able to turn around. And now he leads the head-to-head. Do you think Iga?

We'll turn this head to head around and finally figure out Ostapenko. Okay.

Nick (22:24)

Yes.

Easily. the thing is like, so the head to head is now five zero Ostapenko And actually everyone was expecting Iga to get this one because it's in an event that Iga quite likes. She'd won three times on the bounce. She was going for a fourth in a row. so, but the thing is every single time Ostapenko has beaten her.

it's been very different circumstances. So it's not even a distinctive pattern in each match. Like, I think about this one, this week, Jelena Ostapenko just turned it on and which she has been all week because she swept past Ons Jabeur and Jasmine Paolini and you know, she was on fire having only won two matches since Wimbledon up to this week in singles.

Doubles tearing it up, but and then like she she kind of turns it on and gets the job done in Doha almost anyway and she and like Iga just didn't have an answer for her but frankly watching Jelena I don't think anyone would have had an answer for her that much like no

Anastasia (23:28)

Yeah, she was playing really, really well this tournament. just feel there is something.

Nick (23:34)

But with the Ostepeko-Swiatek matchup, if I think about when they've like, I haven't seen the early clashes, but that was very early in Iga's career. They were on grass, which suits Jelena's game way more than Iga's. Their third meeting in, would it be Dubai 2022, which kickstarted Iga's first big winning streak, her biggest winning streak. That was a super tight three setter that went to the wire and Iga could have won.

their match at the US Open in 2023, Iga was up and then Jelena came back and Iga didn't know what to do with the fact that Jelena came back in that match and there was a bit of a mental thing going on there. But Jelena wasn't playing anywhere near as well as she did today. don't think and so I think each match wins being very different circumstances. There will come a circumstance where Iga comes out and she's

Jelena is not on it and Iga is more on it and more prepared and she's going to get that win. I saw a tweet from a guy called Bastien Fachen, which if you know him, he actually does a lot of social media work for the ATP and WTA now. And he put a thing out saying that obviously you've got the Med for Deaf sinner head to head, which sinner has turned around. Federer was down on the Albanian for a lot of his career and turned it around. And I think the other thing that happens in Iga's favor is that she is

four years younger than Ostapenko. And so Ostapenko is gonna fade sooner, you would expect. And so like, I would imagine that a 20, Iga's still in her 20s will beat a 30 something year old Ostapenko at some point. that's kind of where I'm expecting it to turn around. think that, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that there is a match that's gonna happen where Iga is more up for a fight and Jelena is just not ready.

Anastasia (25:21)

Right, right. I don't know. I remember in her post-match interview, it's almost like she just really just truly enjoys playing Iga because she just knows what to do. I think in her interview, she literally said that. She was just like, I know what to do. So again, I remember I posted this. said tennis is mental because I think there is a lot of that to it. It's how you're thinking. And I think

Jelena just thinking that she knows what to do and she knows how to execute like helps her case even more. So we'll see how that story goes. She was not able though to win the title she was playing so well. She beat Iga and I thought, you know what, this is it. And no, Amanda Anisamova who I was not even paying attention to partly because I didn't watch much of Doha but-

I just wasn't paying attention to her matches. know she beat Ekaterina Alexandrova, who's been playing really well. She took out Aryna Sabalenka that first week. Yeah, very, Also another person who I think has someone's number because hasn't she just won a lot of matches against Aryna as well?

Nick (26:31)

Possibly, I mean, she's got a few people who she's got a head to head with, because she's also got a head to with Diana Yastremska and Donna Vekic

Anastasia (26:38)

Yep, yeah. yeah, Donna Vekic has her number too. Tennis head to heads are very fascinating. We should probably make that into a topic one day, but yeah. Amanda Anisamova has a 1000 level WTA title to her name now. And I think that's great because she's one of those players, know, she stepped away from the game a couple of years back, I think for her mental health. And she just like...

stepped away. She's always been a player that I think, you know, almost like Madison Keys a little bit where people are like, she's going to do big things. She's going to be really great. And I think she, the pressure got to her a little bit. She stepped away. Now she's back. You know, she always kind of plays well, but she finally had a good week. She finally had a good week and put together a title. So I'm excited to see how she goes this season. Definitely.

One to watch for sure.

Nick (27:35)

Yeah, and it was quite fun to see the way like she basically out Ostapenko to Ostapenko. Yeah, more or less because they both hit the ball pretty big. Anisamova was very good at kind of just doing that a little bit better on the day. And it was a little bit back and forth. It was two tight sets. No doubt about it, like quite a few breaks in there. But yeah, Anisamova is a player that like we have has been on the watch list for a while. And when she's on she's really on it's super exciting.

But yeah, sort of having that weight of expectation after getting to the French Open semi-finals at 17 and then doing the odd, like getting the odd big results since, you know, there's always been a sense of, yeah, she's kind of over due. In any way, it's kind of the key situation multiplied because Keys was putting stuff together much more frequently and around at the equivalent stage in her career.

which for her would be about sort of six, seven years ago. I think, what was it, six, seven years ago, she would have been, what year is it, 2025? She would have been like, yeah, just coming off that US Open final and she put together a good 2018 season. Yeah, think it's, I think I'm interested to see what Anisamova does now, if she's gonna take this level of confidence and become.

and kind of get some momentum from it or whether she will always be a streaky player which I would imagine is probably going to be more likely.

Anastasia (29:00)

Yeah, yeah. Next up, what are the, the Argentina Open. Argentina Open. Argentinian Open. Argentina Open. One of the two. The story of that is João Fonseca and the Brazilian just knocking out every single Argentinian player on his way to the final against a player from Argentina. It is so...

great to see him do so well in the Golden Swing. And other than him playing so well and kind of living up to the expectation that I think everyone has for him right now, it might be a little bit too much, but I think that's just human nature. You see another great player and the comparisons to Carlos Alcaraz have already started. I woke up this morning to a tweet from Andy Murray.

saying I can't wait till João Fonseca and Carlos Alcaraz play together in a match, which I'm not sure if they ever have before. Maybe not. Maybe they haven't played before. Yeah.

Nick (30:05)

Fonseca & Alcaraz?

behind like he's three years younger now so

Anastasia (30:12)

Yeah,

the only thing I know for sure, cause I remember, mean, that's how, how Fonseca came on my radar was he was a hitting partner during the ATP finals two years ago. And that's when everyone was, you know, kind of like, who's this kid who's the hitting partner and winning all these practice sets against all these big players. So that's how he came into my, my, sort of my, my

worldview, I don't know what you're saying, but whatever. But either way, he's doing great at the Argentinian Open, winning all these matches. And I think too, showing some grit, which I think players who reach the top of the game have to have, because the matches he's played have not been easy. They haven't been sort of just like straight sets, two and one.

all the way to the finals. He's had to come back. The match that I actually watched was the one he had against Navone. And Navone was, mean, Navone had match point. He was gonna win that. he had to like, Fonseca had to save match point, come back and win. And he showed some really, really true grit. And in that as well, the atmosphere, the atmosphere at the Golden Swing.

Please never change. Please never, ever change the Golden Swing because it's like Davis Cup times two. They're just so loud and boisterous and excited and they're going for their players. it's, just, I want to one day just go to South America and be part of that atmosphere. Cause it just, it looks so fun.

And I think it adds so much to the matches too. I can't imagine a player not being in that and just relishing it. You know what I mean?

Nick (32:04)

What's

Rio gonna be like?

Anastasia (32:06)

I can't even, it's gonna be crazy because Joao Fonseca who's also playing Rio and he's from Brazil. mean, Davis Cup times 10, probably.

Nick (32:19)

I'm really hoping that his fitness kind of holds up for it because there's massive let down if he can't get very far in the tournament because he's gone to the final in Buenos Aires where he's playing later against Francisco Cerundolo to already potentially win an ATP Tour title at 18. And obviously winning in Argentina when we know that Brazil and Argentina historically have a very strong sports rivalry in general against an Argentinian, that's a big ask, but that's going to be...

bit of a blockbuster match I would imagine later on today.

Anastasia (32:52)

Yes, I will be sat and watching that for sure. Yeah, so great things coming out from matches around the tour. And now let's jump into the news because there's been a lot of it and we'll try and hit rapid fire on all of these because there's truly a lot of stories coming out this past week. And we can't start anywhere else but with Sinner. So Jannik Sinner, so this was actually really funny too because

Every Friday, I do a coffee catch up of just like, it's a short reel, it's on our Instagram. And if you're not following us on Instagram, what are you doing? You're missing all of my cool videos. I'm getting so good at them, by the way. I'm learning, I'm getting good at the videos. But anyway, I do a coffee catch up and.

I was mentioning that, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, they're all down in Doha. They're be playing the ATP 500. And then the very next day, Sinner gets banned for three months. And I was like, they ruined my coffee catch up.

I mean, that wasn't the main story, but they did ruin my coffee catch up. I mean, you know what I mean? So if you haven't been paying attention, I mean, this has been everywhere, but I think it's really important. And the reason why I wanted to bring this up is just to state the facts of the matter. And I understand there are bigger issues in terms of like fairness and like, you know,

Nick (33:56)

It's like the same thing to be honest.

Anastasia (34:17)

the resources that a player of Jannik Sinner's caliber has versus a lower ranked player. And I think all of those things can be debated. But what can't be debated is that the ITIA had a ruling. They cleared Sinner of any sort of, know, he didn't dope purposefully. It was a mistake of his team that I still can't really quite understand.

how they could have been so careless, especially with such a well-known substance. But he was contaminated with Clostebol, which is a substance that's readily available in Italian pharmacies. Like it's part of different products in Italian pharmacies, but it's like clearly labeled, like, don't use this. It's, you know.

not you can't use it if you're an athlete. Again, don't know how they missed that. But either way, he was contaminated, but he was cleared of any sort of wrongdoing. But WADA wanted to appeal it based on the sort of like the punishment that was given, which was none he wasn't, you know, was cleared of any

Nick (35:27)

Yet given one, it didn't make a difference because he was injured. um, it, it, the part...

Anastasia (35:33)

The original.

Nick (35:35)

wasn't

playing so you got banned for like a month.

Anastasia (35:38)

Yeah, that was like the original suspension while they were investigating. Yeah.

Nick (35:42)

And like when he took the ban, it effectively ruled him out of tournaments he wasn't gonna be playing anyway. So that's what happened there.

Anastasia (35:52)

It happened between, it was when he pulled out of Madrid due to injury and then he didn't play Rome. So yeah, I think the thing is, ITIA cleared him. What was appealing was the fact that they did not agree with the punishment given.

and they felt like Sinner should take responsibility for his team and also be punished long, know, have a longer suspension. You know, people were throwing out one or two years, which I thought my, like, I was like, that's, that's a lot. That's a lot for something that you had no control over

So while all this is going on, I think they had set a date in April for the appeal case to happen. And then all of a sudden yesterday, they were like, there's a settlement. We're going to give him three, we've settled on three months and his ban starts immediately. So his ban starts now. He will be back May 4th, which is in time to play the Rome Open and not miss any Grand Slams. Again.

Nick (36:58)

Yeah.

Anastasia (37:00)

I think we can debate all the sort of the timing of the suspension. I think we can debate like, is it, should it have been longer or shorter, all those things. But I just feel like in the discourse, there shouldn't really be a debate of the facts of the matter, which is he was cleared of any wrongdoing. He has accepted responsibility for his team.

And then that's that. He hasn't done anything in terms of this process that is not in the rules. I will say he is the number one player in the world with endless resources. And you best believe he probably got the best lawyers to like deal with it. And it is unfortunate that not every single player has those resources.

And maybe that's what something like a players union, which I think is what they're trying to work on will help alleviate, I guess.

Nick (38:02)

Yeah, it's a complicated, it's probably a lot of complicated issues around it. For the most part, I think the negative reaction is a little bit overblown. I think that, look, at the end of the day, the real debate should be, it should Sinner be responsible for the next, like it's in a negligent in sort of overseeing his team. And like, clearly the system suggests that he would have been found that anyway. The

or he was willing to take responsibility for that in the end. He wasn't at the time, but he is now. The timing of the ban is the timing of the ban. Like, I don't, I understand some people are saying, well, missing a grand, not missing a grand slam is not sufficient punishment. Missing three months of tennis is still a lot. Or 1000 events, which is a lot of points. His ranking is now still in jeopardy.

Anastasia (38:46)

It's a lot.

Nick (38:53)

If you only care about grand slams, they understand it, but tennis is more from the grand slams.

Anastasia (38:57)

Yeah.

I feel like that's actually, I saw that post I think, was it Mark Petchy who posted it? I can't remember, but it was basically saying, no, yeah, he was defending him. And I think he was saying that, you know, a lot of us tennis lovers are always saying that tennis is not just the grand slams.

Nick (39:07)

But yeah.

Anastasia (39:18)

But when it comes to this specific case, all of a sudden it's all about the Grand Slams and he is, he's missing four 1000 level events. Like that's a big deal.

Nick (39:27)

like, honestly, if you're gonna say that, I think what is, I don't think anyone's gonna say that negligence isn't a bad thing, because there's some situations where negligence risks lives. That's not the case here. But the principle could be applied. The question is, is whether this case of negligence is bad, if say the slams are the be all and end all if we're willing to just go with that for the moment, which we don't subscribe to in this podcast, but

you know, if the slams are the be all and end all is what Sin... is Sinner's level of negligence worthy of a punishment of having to miss a slam. And in my opinion, it's not. So that's I think that's the other thing we have to consider here. So yeah, Jannik Sinner is not going to be playing the Sunshine Double. He's not gonna be playing Monte Carlo or Madrid. He's gonna lose a chunk of points. His ranking is now mathematically in jeopardy, although it would require

Zverev or Alcaraz to go on the run of their lives to knock it away from him. Because I think Alcaraz needs over 3000 points. he needs to win. He needs to get this title in Dubai. He needs to win Indian Wells and Miami. And Monte Carlo. Madrid as well.

Anastasia (40:26)

.

Nick (40:43)

and maybe not necessarily Monte Carlo, Zverev, similar thing, it's just under 3000. He's gonna need to do the Sunshine Double, pick up Madrid. That's a lot to ask. that's gonna, mean, like of the two of them, Alcáraz is gonna be one likely to do something like that, like listing those titles off. I don't think it'd be that crazy for Alcáraz to pull that off. But yeah, I think, I'm hoping that this will just kind of put it to bed. There will always be people who,

refuse to believe that Jannik Sinner is not a cheat. Those people tend to be Carlos Alcaraz or Novak Djokovic fans and they're kind of biased in a certain direction and want to believe what they want to believe. I am not a fan of any of those players so I can just say that can we just sit back and enjoy the tennis please.

Anastasia (41:28)

Please. Thank you. Okay, Elena Rybakina So Elena Rybakina, know it's like news after news, but she, there's been an issue with her coach. We found out during the Australian Open that her at the time former coach, but now is back to being her current coach.

Nick (41:50)

want to have her back as a coach and have

Anastasia (41:52)

Yeah,

Stefano Vukov was suspended and then it was officially announced by the WTA that he has been suspended for a year.

Nick (42:06)

Yeah, didn't see a time frame with it.

Anastasia (42:10)

So I've seen a timeframe and then I've, so I've seen reports with a timeframe and reports without a timeframe. So it's actually quite confusing, but the article, which I will link below, cause I think it's, they have everything in one place, The Athletic article about this. I will put it in the show notes of this episode, but I will say, go read it. It really breaks down the news.

exactly as it is, it explains Vukov's actions and why he is being suspended. I think it is unfortunate that Elena Rybakina is going through this and I can't just help feel, just feeling sad, you know, that this is happening and there doesn't seem to be any sort of resolution, like clear.

resolution because it just seems like it's just going to be ongoing and as someone who is such a great player you just hope it doesn't derail her career in the end because I think she's such a great talent and you want to see her do well and this is not helping at all.

Nick (43:21)

She's not really having a bad season despite this, let's be honest. She's played four tournaments and she's either lost the tournament champion or Iga Swiatek So, you know, she's not having a bad season. probably about on par for what we might expect Rybakina to have. I think let's see how this Vukov ban goes. But I hope that she maybe realizes she doesn't need him to be her best.

Because even if she gets him back, it will be a healthier relationship. And yeah, that it's just, it's not nice because it ends up everyone kind of just starts gossiping about it and making assumptions and whatnot. And it clearly isn't great the situation. She does have a new coach, Davide Sanguinetti, who's kind of joined the team so he can like actually travel with her and be on tour.

and like do the actual job. Yeah, but she doesn't need this right now. She really does. Nobody does in this situation like no player does. And yeah, it's, it's a shame because it just, yeah, it's life is complicated as it is without throwing in complicated people.

Anastasia (44:25)

Correct. Yeah. So again, I'll leave the article for everyone to read and wishing Elena the best. Mixed doubles. Now, this is the tournament talk that we love.

Nick (44:38)

That's

the stuff we want to talk about here.

Anastasia (44:41)

Mixed doubles is changing for the US Open.

And it's a pretty big change to the US Open mixed doubles championship. the decision now is that instead of mixed doubles just starting with the other doubles tournament kind of like a few days after the start of the tournament, mixed doubles is now going to be over two days during fan week.

The prize money has been increased to a million dollars, which is four times as much as it was before. And they're going to base the entry into the mixed doubles championship on singles rankings, which basically means it's gonna be more attractive to singles players to participate in it. And it's gonna prevent a bunch of doubles players.

from being able to participate. They're only going to be 16 teams participating over the two days. And they're also changing the scoring. if you know, we've talked about this a little bit, next gen is, it goes to four games instead of six. That's what they're gonna be doing for the mixed doubles championship at the US Open. So a bunch of big changes coming. If you...

saw the sort of mixed doubles exhibition that happened last year at the US Open. This is basically it, but for the full championship. they wanna, I think that event was Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff Stefano Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa Nick Kyrios and Naomi Osaka and Amanda Anisamova and Taylor Fritz. Those were the teams that played

the exhibition and basically I would not be surprised if those same groups show up at this at this for this championship here. So it's a it's a big big change. A lot of doubles players are very upset about it, including the champions of the mixed doubles last year, Sara Errani and Vavassori I will put a link to their Instagram post that they did a joint post together as kind of their statement.

And I think it's still a work in progress in the sense that the US Open organization has said they're going to be wild cards into this event. So you wonder if they'll give wild cards to former champions and things like that. And their sort of, you know, defense of this change is that they need to attract more fans to watch the mixed doubles.

that it wasn't attracting the fans or the airtime in the former iteration of it. And this is their attempt to revamp it and get more fans. for me, as someone who does love doubles and I love watching doubles, I have to agree. Like I have to agree. The mixed madness thing they did last year, there were so many fans at Arthur Ashe watching that. So many people excited to see those group of players.

And I do think that is how you attract people into a sport. If you ask anyone how they got into tennis, I think very few people will say, well, I just watched two people on my community court playing tennis. And I thought, ooh, I love that sport. It's not how it happens. I think for me, for example, I saw the Williams sisters and I was like, ooh, that's what brought me into the sport.

a lot of people that it's finding a player that they can attach to start watching them play tennis. And then it kind of, you know, opens your eyes to the entire sport. And that's, you know, that's what happened with me. So I can understand them using this as a showcase event to show what doubles can be, how much fun it can be. I would not be surprised if, you know, you come to fan week, you watch these doubles.

And then when the doubles tournament starts, you're more likely to just check it out, see what it's about. All the matches, all the doubles matches that I've watched at the US Open that were like packed and exciting. Like I remember the year Ben Shelton and Taylor Townsend played together. It was like their matches were always packed. Or when Pegula played with Coco Gauff their matches were always packed. So I think the names are needed.

to try and help reinvigorate the doubles field, I think. What do you think?

Nick (49:09)

I agree. I agree with you that they need the big names to make to get the interest in doubles. I actually think that you know, I've seen some thing going around before even the mixed doubles was announced that like I think our friend Todd put something up about at some point expect Grand Slams to go for three weeks at some point in the future. Yeah, and this is a step in that direction. Whether you think it's a good thing or a bad thing or not, certainly unless you're going to change the tennis

scoring system or like the way or like fundamentally change the way Grand Slams work. We're always going to have a scheduling issue. Mixed doubles happening during the two weeks was added to that scheduling issue because the mixed doubles always gets pushed back at every slam. I agree that and the thing is mixed doubles is of the of the five professional tournaments that happen at Grand Slam professional able bodied tournaments.

Mixed doubles is the least important. It has no ranking points. You only play for mixed doubles four, maybe five times a year in the Olympic year. Six if you count United Cup. Unless you're going to get a regular mixed doubles tour together, it's not going to happen. It matters a lot less. It's just a nice bonus pool for the players.

Anastasia (50:24)

Yeah.

Nick (50:27)

The Doubles players being upset by this, I understand, because obviously this was a nice little extra, as I said, it was a bonus pool of money. Doubles does not pay as much as singles. And that's unfortunate. That's just like a structural problem anyway that needs to be addressed. But certainly to just move mix doubles and give it the profile it needs again, it was already a glorified exhibition, to be honest.

this change and moving it into fan week and trying to attract singles players. It makes complete logical sense to me as a fan, as someone who would be interested in selling the sport to new fans. That's what this podcast is. The one thing I hate about it is the scoring system because I do not like fast four I do not like it. Tennis should be first to six, which the final is going to be.

but that's kind of like, that makes it kind of a showcase match and I understand it. But I would be like, I understand why they want to do it because they don't want to tie the singles players out here until you want to keep it two days and whatnot and just have it sort of fairly intensive. But I still think, you know, I, as a fan, as an established fan, I'm going to take it more serious. I'm going to take it less seriously, even as seriously as a result.

and even to the point where I'm not as interested anymore. That's a very meaty...

Anastasia (51:40)

Because of the score, because of the scoring.

Nick (51:43)

Yes, it matters that much to me personally. I don't expect a newer fan to care. If you have fun with it, watching it, great. The scoring is the thing that puts me off next gen. So, fix that, you've got me back. the one thing I will, that's the thing I'll say is like broadly everything else makes sense to me. And it's not too dissimilar to what they do at Indian Wells with the tie break tens in the mixed up all there.

but yeah, I'm, I'm fully supportive of them trying this. I'm interested to see what will happen. I guess the only thing I was going to say was if they do this and like, there's an actual kind of competition where you can sell tickets for, is that going to affect the price of tickets for fan week?

Anastasia (52:21)

Right, so this is the one thing that I cannot get clarity on and I'm gonna keep looking and then once I know for sure, I'll let you know because, so Fan Week is free to enter. That's not changing right now. But last year, the mixed madness exhibition to get into Arthur Ashe was an extra, was it $30? So you had to pay $30 to get into Arthur Ashe specifically

for that event.

Nick (52:53)

Which, but it's host ticket prices is actually pretty good.

Anastasia (52:56)

pretty

good. But at the same time, what I've heard so far is like, it's going to be during fan week. It's free. And I'm like, is it for sure free to enter? They're going to be playing. So this new mixed doubles competition is going to be on two stadiums. So it's going to be on Louis Armstrong and Arthur Ashe. So I just need confirmation on that because usually what has happened in previous years is that you have to pay

for the exhibition part of it. you you paid for Mixed Madness and then there was one that they did with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak. You also paid $30 for that during fan week. So I'm wondering if that will be the case here because if it is free, I mean, that's the ticket. That's, there's everyone go. Like that's the ticket in tennis if it's free. And I am not yet.

convinced that it's going to be, but I just haven't gotten confirmation yet that you have to pay for it for those specific. So I'll keep trying to look for answers on that because if it is free, you have to go. You have to

Nick (54:05)

You go.

Taylor Fritz has borderline already signed up for it, let's be honest.

Anastasia (54:12)

Exactly. He was like, I'll do it. I was like, well, there you go. He said he'll do it. Okay.

Quick wrap up for everything, but we have to say Diego Schwartzman has retired from tennis and El Peque is done with his professional career. I just wanted to bring this up because he is the definition of sort of defying the odds.

Diego Schwartzman is 5'7". That is short for a male tennis player. And despite that, he got to the top 10, he went deep in slams and just really defied a lot of odds to get to where he was. Like even when he was coming up, he wasn't, you know, wealthy.

came from a very modest family and still was able to sort of make it onto the tour. made it onto, like made his breakthrough late. It was like in his early twenties compared to other players who start in their teens and things like that. So, he'll be missed. I will never, ever, ever forget when he played doubles with John Isner and they made it to the finals of the Rome.

Yeah, it was the Rome Masters. They didn't win, but they made it to the finals. if you, John Isner is six, seven, six, seven, I think. Yeah, he's tall. He's really tall and he was playing with Diego Schwartzman and it was a sight to see. And I remember during the time they would call each other, I think John Isner even still calls Diego Schwartzman his twin, which I think is great. If you've seen the movie, twin

It's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. That's where it comes from. but yeah, I was really sad. He won his first match at the Argentinian Open against Nico Jarry which was again, with that energy that the crowd gives in South America must have just been a sight just to be in that stadium was probably the best experience. And

it looks like he had the farewell that he truly, truly deserved. And we will miss you. We will miss you, Diego Schwartzman.

Nick (56:25)

A lot of people will miss you Diego Schwartzman. You gave us a lot of entertainment in your last couple of matches as, yeah, he always has over his career. His sort of peak around 2020 when he got to the, he beat Rafa in Rome and he got to the French Open semis beating Dominic Theim. I think that will be forever his kind of, his peak of just like, yeah, just kind of gritting out those wins, which is what he was always so good at doing.

Anastasia (56:49)

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so what's coming up on Groundpass? I'm going to have a video review of the Delray tournament and also an interview with Ethan Quinn and his coach that will be on our YouTube channel. So please subscribe to that to get those videos. And again, subscribe to us on social media to find out where I am off to next on the US Spring Swing Trademarked.

Nick, what is coming up next week in terms of tournaments?

Nick (57:16)

Well, we only have three tournaments to look forward to across the men's and the women's. We have the 1000 event in Dubai for the women. The men are going to Doha for 500. And we've mentioned a few times Rio, I've got their 500 on clay. It's highlight of the Golden Swing. And yeah, Dubai is basically Doha take two, but on a faster surface. That draw is almost exactly the same.

Anastasia (57:44)

Too similar.

Nick (57:45)

Alexandrova of a really round to potential as Alexandrova but doesn't win her opener could happen. Yeah, so it does. I'm going to be to see what everyone can go however one does with a do over. Almost. Although Ostapenko will have to with Rybakina and potentially very early on. That could be quite entertaining. And yet.

Anastasia (57:57)

Yeah.

Nick (58:05)

Doha, Novak Djokovic is back, doesn't seem to, that injury doesn't seem to taking up very long. Carlos is playing and like, it's weird that obviously, it's not weird that Carlos is the top seed and Novak is the number three seed. What is weird is the number two seed is Alex De Minaur no offense to De Minaur, but like, know, his, his CV is not quite the same, but like credit to him for like, that's where he's managed to get his ranking to. That is true.

But yeah, so you could be seeing a Carlos Novak semi depending on how they both perform. Carlos is chasing ranking points for potentially the world number one, as is Zverev who is playing in Rio. But let's be honest, he's not gonna be the star of the show. Joao Fonseca is gonna be the star of the show because he's playing Rio.

Anastasia (58:46)

Yes, that's all we're gonna be watching in Rio or like hopefully watching Rio, like you said, I hope his body holds up for two tournaments back to back like that.

It is time. It has been two weeks. It is time for our players of the Fortnite. And for the first time, I'm picking doubles team for players of the Fortnite.

Nick (59:11)

Stas has changed the rules with that again.

Anastasia (59:14)

I'm giving the doubles team some love, but my players of the Fortnite this week are Evan King and Christian Harrison. I think they have been playing some phenomenal tennis over the last two weeks because they're the Dallas Open champions. It was the biggest title of their careers. And now they're in the finals of the Delray Beach Open, which, you know, these wins and these

tournaments really will help bolster their rankings and give them the ability to play together more. And isn't that what we ask for? At the Delray Beach Open, got to interview the Bryan brothers about what they thought about the doubles field and how it could be improved. And some of the things they mentioned, like them being from the same country or wearing the same kit, one of the things they mentioned was

doubles teams sticking together. And sometimes that's just not possible due to rankings. And if you want to make money on tour, you have to play the Grand Slams. If you want to play the Grand Slams, your ranking has to be high enough. So all of these things come into play and by these wins that Evan King and Christian Harrison have had together, it means that they can possibly play these bigger tournaments together. But also,

show how good of a doubles team they are and actually be a force on the tour. So I'm really excited to see where they can take this year. It's been a phenomenal start. And yeah, I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing more of them on tour. They are a fun team as well. So if you're new to doubles, you don't know who to watch, I will suggest Evan King and Christian Harrison.

Nick (1:00:52)

for now, they'll also be very easy to go and see on a ground pass depending on here playing at the doubles because like, you know, there'll be some knowledge of people playing doubles and they'll probably go for people with numbers next to the name and King and Harrison don't have numbers next to their names yet. So actually, yeah, you're going to go Indian Wells or even the US Open, they might be still not as well known by that point. Yeah, you might actually have an easier life when it comes to fighting through the crowds to go and watch their matches and you won't be disappointed.

Anastasia (1:01:18)

Yes, yeah. Who do you have Nick?

Nick (1:01:21)

So this is an overhang. So I don't know whether we kept that discussion we had at the beginning of the recording about kind of what happened with why we missed a week or whatever, but I've had this player on ice for like a week because I thought you were recording last week and then we didn't. This is, I am going to take you all the way back to the Transylvania Open, Cluj-Napoca in Romania, which is a 250 event that happened

Well, the final was about a week ago now. Anastasia Potipow for one of the tournament. And it probably wouldn't have overshadowed by, you know, Abu Dhabi or whatever the Dallas Open. But quite often during the Transylvania Open, was, you know, I had the tennis on and then...

The matches in Abu Dhabi would finish kind of mid afternoon and the Rotterdam evening session hadn't started yet. And obviously was way off anything in like South America or the US kicking off at that point. Like, so quite often the only tennis to watch was in Cluj. And for whatever reason, during the schedule, the same person kept coming up. This is a year old German called Elas Seidel. And

She is obviously fairly new to tour. And what I noticed and what impressed me about watching her, she got to the quarterfinals, she lost to Pater Pover as I said, but she actually beat Jacqueline Christian in round one. I can't believe she beat in round two, but it was another sort of well story WTA player. And she, I watched those matches and she looked so composed.

Like I don't think she's had much experience at tour level and she looked like she was happy being there. She belonged there. There wasn't any obvious signs of nerves. Everything was working for her, especially on the backhand. I don't know whether she's going to set the world on fire. I'm not going to predict her to win Grand Slams. I'm not going to Andy Murray, Carolyn Garcia or anything like that. But what I am going to say is

I was impressed by her mentality and her fighting spirit. And I think as she develops, she could be someone who maybe causes some headaches for some people. Certainly pretty strong ball striker. So yeah, if you want to kind of catch someone early on and follow their career, go and watch Ella Seidel on the ground pass if you get the opportunity, because I reckon she'll be, you'll be seeing her Grand Slams this year.

So, or even your Master's, I call it Master's 1000. So, I'm picking her as like, I saw her, I was impressed by what I saw. I'm interested in seeing how she develops. And I think I'm always keen on everyone kind of going and seeing a young player early on, because then you can go and say, you got them early. So, Idle is my play of the fortnight.

Anastasia (1:04:07)

Good pick, good pick. I remember I didn't watch any of her matches, but I do remember, I wanted to make sure it was the right person. So I actually just looked up a photo of her, but she has a shock of red hair. And I remember just clicking through the matches and saw her and I was like, Ooh, that's one to watch. And there you go. There is your player of the Fortnite from Nick.

Guys, this has been another episode of Groundpass. Thank you for joining us.

Links will be below to all the things that we talked about in the show notes of this episode. And we will see you next week with a mini pod and then in another week with a full podcast. So stay tuned and we'll see you soon.

Nick (1:04:48)

Bye.

Anastasia (1:04:49)

Bye!