EP 14 - 2025: A Year of Tennis Highlights

Spin The Racket (00:11): Welcome back to Spin the Racket, the recreational tennis pod. Covering everything from the pro tour all the way to the recreational tennis player. I'm your boy, Luke.

Gerard (00:22): And I'm G

Spin The Racket (00:24): And today we're going to be talking about the end of the year. We're going to be wrapping things up. And for that, we've brought back Jake Tuckman from episode three of the podcast. Jake, how are you doing?

Jake Tuchmann (00:36): It's good, it's good, it's good to be back. It seems like it must have been a decent episode if I got invited back, so it's good to be here.

Gerard (00:44): You're definitely an OG guest. was telling Lou, I was like, hey, our numbers are crazy for that episode. So how to bring you back on.

Jake Tuchmann (00:50): Well, hey, I appreciate it being here.

Spin The Racket (00:51): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (01:00): That's right, that's right.

Spin The Racket (01:21): It feels like every year you look back and it's like, dang, it was a highlight reel, right? But this year in particular was just full of ups and downs of tournaments, trying new things, new formats, ⁓ big moments. What are your thoughts?

Jake Tuchmann (01:41): Yeah, mean, it's you think you I feel like we go into every year thinking that we know like, yeah, you know, this is what happened last year and this is what happened the year before. it's like, OK, we can start to paint a picture. And every I feel like every time I know more and more, I'd actually know less and less on what's going to happen because, you know, we had examples of, know, I think it was the four horsemen that came out on like Netflix with it might have been even in like Saudi Arabia or something with like

Spin The Racket (02:10): there's

Jake Tuchmann (02:11): The Sinks Kings, yeah, yeah. mean,

Spin The Racket (02:19): they did it last year, they started in 24. Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (02:37): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (02:57): If you, don't know if you saw the, uh, yeah, like the, I think the one for a rune made him like, uh, look like a Viking and stuff. And they had like, they put like face paint on here and everything, dude. was like, they, they gave everyone like a certain like King persona. And so he was like the Viking and all that. And they had him like a ship and everything. It was like, I mean, they went all out and I could see myself being like 10 years old and just going crazy over it. But as an adult, I was like, yo, what?

Jake Tuchmann (03:05): ⁓ yeah.

Gerard (03:26): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (03:53): Yeah, the Atlanta Cup, was brand new this year, and I believe they did in Duluth. And they had top four players, ⁓ or not top fours, they had Nick Kirios, they had ⁓ Osaka, they had Savalanka, and there's one more I'm missing. Shelton, yes, Ben Shelton, yeah. So that was a whole new thing, and it was just them four.

Spin The Racket (04:09): Ben, right? Shelton? Yeah, Ben Shelton.

Gerard (04:10): Sheldon, yeah

Jake Tuchmann (04:17): Again, know, the BB &T is kind of a smaller tournament. So that was a completely new thing, which I thought was a very cool concept that they brought to it. But yeah, I mean, I'm excited. mean, 2025 is a great year. I can only imagine what 2026 is going to bring this year.

Spin The Racket (04:34): It's exciting. mean, we talk about new things. ⁓ You know, we had a totally new concept of tennis launch this year, this summer here in Atlanta, you know, with intense tennis. had J.Y. Ubonne from the from from intense come to the not come to not come to us, but be on the on one of our episodes as well. We got to talk to him a little bit about that. We're going to have one of the players in January that we're going to be

Jake Tuchmann (04:46): Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (05:04): having on the, on the podcast as well. So a lot, a lot coming for that, but, ⁓ yeah, totally new concept of tennis with intense and, ⁓ just new things in general. I feel like 2025 was also the year where, I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but there's a lot of new tennis and pickleball inspired, like content creators, a lot of content creators just kind of bring, like growing with, with, ⁓ tennis and pickleball.

Jake Tuchmann (05:08): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (05:32): Just so many. mean, we have some that follow us on the podcast and I'm just like, you know, I didn't realize how big that scene was. I mean, we're technically part of that industry, but you know, when you look back, I don't know if it's because I've been following more tennis content in general, but there's so much content for tennis out there now.

Jake Tuchmann (05:32): Yeah.

Gerard (05:43): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (05:44): Yeah.

Gerard (05:55): There is, there is. Yeah, like you said, we're part of that, I guess, because we started in June. yeah, I don't know. I wonder, obviously the algorithm's finding you too, just as you like all these reals and stuff. But yeah, as the game continues to grow, especially with Pickleball too, I mean, can't imagine there not being a continued ⁓ growth as it relates to new influencers and different series and things like that. So it is cool to see.

Spin The Racket (06:06): Right.

Jake Tuchmann (06:24): So, yeah.

Spin The Racket (06:25): Yeah,

Jake Tuchmann (06:41): Hmm.

Spin The Racket (06:53): And seeing like so many different angles of the tournament that wasn't from like A-list celebrities or, you know, top 10, top 20 players was pretty cool. I think it was, what's his name? Ben Thompson from the Tennis 101. The dude like, you know, flew to the US Open. He's gotten an interview, think Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. And so just seeing that.

Jake Tuchmann (07:08): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (07:21): know, blend now that brands, brands are taking brands and manufacturers are taking like tennis content creators a lot more seriously and bringing them on board to the journey and just showing different facets of the sport that, you know, again, it's not curated by, you know, tennis TV, tennis channel. It's not your typical outlet. It's a little bit more inclusive, more behind the scenes, more quick content. ⁓ It's been pretty refreshing. Obviously, like you said, the algorithm finds me. So.

Jake Tuchmann (07:40): Mm-hmm. ⁓

Spin The Racket (09:09): Yeah, just being taken like taking more seriously as a broadcasting platform. I agree. Nice. Like, I mean, anyone can post on social media, but I think it's when you've got start having a backing of, you know, some of the bigger broadcasters, the tournaments, the, the brands, right? The sponsors, that they want to, they want to, they want to see more of that content and becoming official where you now have like

Jake Tuchmann (09:14): Yeah, agreed. Yeah.

Spin The Racket (09:34): Yeah, you might have like, I don't know, Wilson or head sponsor, like a content creator to do something, ⁓ records content throughout the tournaments and stuff like that. I think it's, I think it's nice. I think this whole thing started and, and, you know, agree or disagree with me, but I think this whole concept of the behind the scenes started with, ⁓ Netflix's show again, going back to Netflix, right? ⁓ formula one drives to survive. I don't know if you guys have ever seen that show.

Jake Tuchmann (09:38): Right.

Gerard (10:02): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (10:03): It grabbed, was, it's been now out for like seven or eight years, which is crazy. My wife just started watching it. So I was just like, Whoa, okay. I've been watching this for a while, but that show took what used to be ⁓ an industry that was shrouded in mystery. And, and, and then just kind of peel the onion back and show the behind the scenes and the struggles and how cutthroat everything was. Cause you know, to us, Formula One ⁓ is just kind of a

Jake Tuchmann (10:35): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (11:03): which is the exact same concept as Formula One Drive to Survive. And then Breakpoint, which was tennis. And my understanding is that Breakpoint didn't get another season because the expectations from Netflix were so big on the show that they just didn't do the numbers they were expecting. I think it still was a home run of a show, but...

Jake Tuchmann (11:25): Hmm.

Spin The Racket (11:29): When you now have like kind of the gold standard of drive to survive, I guess, you know, it didn't perform as well. So it's interesting what you're saying, right? What are your thoughts, G?

Jake Tuchmann (11:36): Yeah.

Gerard (11:43): Yeah, I know those shows are super popular. Like you said, the drive to survive on many, many seasons. think Breakpoint had two seasons and I think they replaced it with ⁓ with Carlos Alcaraz's like My Way documentary series, whatever that just came out. But to your point, I don't think it had the same amount of traffic and eyes that the drive to survive did. And I don't know why. I I think I I watched both seasons. It's tricky for a tennis player because like I'm obviously following it.

Spin The Racket (11:51): At two.

Gerard (12:13): during the year, so there's no cliffhangers or surprises when you're watching it. I don't know if that could be part of it, but I was surprised it didn't get as much traction as the other series that you mentioned.

Jake Tuchmann (12:15): I'm

Spin The Racket (12:17): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (12:25): Yeah, that is, what was, you said it was full swing was the other one, right? That's the golf one, right? With like Justin Thomas and like walking through. Cause it's like, what do they do? They work through, it's like, just like everything that goes into preparing for like those big, big tournaments, right?

Spin The Racket (12:30): It's a golf one. Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (12:48): I want to say it's on like three at least. ⁓

Spin The Racket (13:13): a lonesome sort of at least on the the on the single side, it has more of a lonesome kind of a grind, you know, type of vibe, right? Like, yeah, we're traveling all the time. Like we're living out of a suitcase. Like there's struggles and all that. But it's like, you know, you're not worried about whether you're going to lose your sponsorship like every other week, like with Formula One, you know, like these dudes can like, I don't know if you guys saw, but like

Jake Tuchmann (13:15): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (13:42): Not to get off on a tangent, but Red Bull's second driver like got switched up like two or three times just this year. So yeah, they like the guy didn't do well for two races out and then they put in another one and

Jake Tuchmann (13:43): Yeah

Spin The Racket (14:03): Well,

Jake Tuchmann (14:08): you

Spin The Racket (14:59): Yeah, they gotta get

Jake Tuchmann (15:02): Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Gerard (15:04): I'm curious, Jake, for your USTA wrapped or alter wrapped. Like, how was your 2025 season on the courts? No, you had been battling an injury. Like, how did that end up for you? Like, what was your record for the year?

Jake Tuchmann (15:15): Yeah.

Gerard (15:52): There's some bad blood there, the teams don't get a-

Jake Tuchmann (16:05): I mean, the guy on his weekends probably is like researching top players that like in Atlanta to around the area just so he could recruit them for this team. I'm like, like it's crazy. This, mean, it's so funny because this guy is so nice. Like he, like when we came there, it was a really cold morning. Like they had the heaters on, which was really nice. They had a bunch of great food spreads, but the guy never sees the court and it's like, it shows the guy. like, he's like out of shape. doesn't like, he's like, we go with these tennis terms. He's like, what are you talking about?

Gerard (16:05): You

Jake Tuchmann (16:34): Dude, what this is like a common term like tweener like you don't know what that means but to make a long story short we we ended up having to actually Default our line five and playoffs, which is crazy enough by itself because all to this year Which I have never played this format is that typically they do you play every Saturday like normal? Ulta you play your your playoff matches on Saturday, and then I think Sunday is your rainout day Just in case Saturday was bad

Spin The Racket (16:48): Wow.

Jake Tuchmann (17:03): ⁓ So we played Saturday and the schedule originally said it was Saturday You take a bye week and then the finals was your was your was the finals for Ulta But what they did was they did Saturday Sunday and then it was a week off and then it was the finals which I have never played Since to this day of me playing Ulta for probably 10 years. I have never played an Ulta match on a Sunday So we had guys that couldn't play on Sunday ⁓

Gerard (17:40): ⁓ my gosh.

Spin The Racket (17:53): Yeah, I mean.

Gerard (17:55): Absolutely.

Jake Tuchmann (17:57): Yeah, so that was a disappointing one and we had to, you know, the night day before we traveled like 45 minutes to like Buckhead and then this one we traveled like an hour and 20 minutes to like Cumming. So that made it stung more. So we made sure to crack open a few extra ones while we were there to make it sting a little less. but no, Ulta is good. I still really like Ulta. was, you know, it was a good experience. But yeah, back to your point about the injury with the wrist, wrist got a lot better, which has been good.

Gerard (18:56): Mm-hmm.

Jake Tuchmann (19:06): I need to really work on it to get it there. So I'm of still meant I feel like it's a mental battle I'm dealing with but it's like from a purpose of playing it I go out there. It doesn't hurt It's just I think the lack of range of motion or mental block is still there. So

Gerard (19:20): feel like Louise could relate to that.

Spin The Racket (19:22): Yeah, dude, my wrist is actually, ⁓ I think, I mean, knock and wood, ⁓ fully healed for the most part, but I'm still dealing with the same thing where I can now play without a, a wrist wrap or anything. And I've done it and I, I'm not breaking the wrist as I should. And so a lot of my shots are just coming out flat and I'm just very rigid through.

Jake Tuchmann (19:33): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (19:52): I'm still just really stiff on the on the hand. So I'm just constantly I feel like I finally got it out of my head where I was playing like three times a week and I was like constantly just working on breaking the wrist and then it worked and then I didn't play for like I don't know three weeks and then it's like now going back to like default mode and That's how it's been for the past couple of months. Like last time I played with G is just like

Jake Tuchmann (19:56): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (20:19): Remembering that I hear you. It's it's trusting that the wrist is healed and that it's going to be okay And that you have to play like you used to

Jake Tuchmann (20:29): Yeah, and I think that one of the most frustrating things about playing a sport is when you're like partially injured or had some type of injury is like obviously you don't want to take time off especially if you're an active person but it's like you have to like really tell yourself to like okay like

Gerard (21:19): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (21:23): Yeah, it just sucks.

Gerard (21:27): And you're definitely right about the whole availability thing. feel like with all the in your STA, it's just...

Jake Tuchmann (21:31): Yes.

Spin The Racket (21:32): Yeah, I knew

Jake Tuchmann (21:35): you

Gerard (21:35): ⁓

Jake Tuchmann (21:44): Yeah,

Gerard (21:55): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (22:11): Yeah, I would say

Jake Tuchmann (22:16): Yeah, yeah, everyone just,

Spin The Racket (22:22): Yeah, if you're not going to be

Jake Tuchmann (22:27): Yeah. Yeah.

Spin The Racket (23:04): Yeah, pet

Gerard (23:06): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (23:06): peeves, pet peeves.

Gerard (23:07): We have some people who like, like weak of like the lineup will go out on Tuesday and then on Wednesday they're like, I can't play on Saturday. And you're like, wait, what? Huh? You said for a ⁓ week now you're

Jake Tuchmann (23:08): guess.

Spin The Racket (23:17): And I mean,

Jake Tuchmann (23:22): Yeah.

Gerard (23:22): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (23:34): Yeah.

Gerard (23:37): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (23:37): Well that's good man. Imagine if you had

Spin The Racket (23:43): That's what I'm saying, dude. I like I remember this is the match that I play with Keegan. We drove we drove an hour away ⁓ Almost to Alabama. I don't know where it was. I forget where exactly where exactly it was but it was like dude is an hour away and I'm telling G like dude It would suck to drive an hour. Well, actually we've done this because there's a team the place I what is it West Georgia? Whatever. That's like an hour away from us and then like it's clay and those guys are like it's always a dogfight

Jake Tuchmann (24:07): No.

Spin The Racket (24:11): And they're super good. so, ⁓ this was kind of felt like that, like it was going to be just like, yeah, you're going to drive an hour away to just get like bodied. but somehow we carried it, ⁓ three sets, carried it in three sets. Cause by the way, this ALTA season, I don't think I won in two sets. I only won in three sets. So yeah, kind of, kind of crazy, but, ⁓ the only, the few wins that I had and I mean, mostly with G.

Jake Tuchmann (24:21): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (24:41): ⁓ we're all three sets. It's just like, come on, man. Like we've talked about this, how mentally and physically and emotionally exhausting is that to do that every weekend.

Jake Tuchmann (24:43): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (25:05): Right, right. Yeah, yeah. Like, why would

Jake Tuchmann (25:16): Mental battles, Yeah.

Gerard (25:18): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (25:29): Yeah,

Jake Tuchmann (25:30): Yeah. Is that a- I think the fourth is Sunday. Would it be on Sunday or Saturday? wow, okay, I didn't know that.

Gerard (25:33): Yeah. Yeah, they're on Sundays for, yeah,

Jake Tuchmann (25:38): Yeah, that's correct then.

Gerard (25:39): like. I feel like they also get like preferential times too, like Sunday at one o'clock is like the perfect time for like a winter match, you Yeah, you're like.

Jake Tuchmann (25:45): Yeah, yeah, it has to be. Yeah, it has to be. Yeah. 9 a.m. in the winter, there's no way. It'd be like 20 degrees.

Spin The Racket (25:45): during the winter. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. know again. No there's

Jake Tuchmann (25:57): Yes.

Spin The Racket (26:11): Yeah no wonder no one signs up.

Jake Tuchmann (26:26): ⁓ Yeah,

Spin The Racket (26:32): Yeah, dude, there you go.

Gerard (26:36): Honestly, honestly. yeah, I'm

Spin The Racket (26:37): Do

Gerard (26:37): excited

Spin The Racket (26:38): do-

Gerard (26:38): though. I'm ready to get back in the routine, like start grinding, practicing again.

Spin The Racket (26:42): Yeah, we talked about having a fixed day of the week where we can hit. Because every time we hit, it's also content creation for us. it's like, we, you know, it's just, again, we keep talking about flexing the muscle, building the muscle. It's like, it's so hard. But I think 2026 is going to be the year. And G's going to hold me accountable to it. On the record.

Jake Tuchmann (26:48): Hello.

Gerard (26:51): this.

Jake Tuchmann (27:01): Yeah.

Gerard (27:04): That's it. That's it.

Jake Tuchmann (27:06): on the record. I was about to say what are the the New Year's resolutions you're looking for.

Spin The Racket (27:12): Ooh, that's deep. I don't know, man. just like continuing to have fun with Spin the Racket because there's a ton of fun just getting on here and just recording things. I think we definitely have to streamline some things to make it to where we can focus more on the content creation and the creativity piece. Because I mean, to anyone that's ever like ran a channel or some sort of like outlet like

Gerard (27:17): I

Jake Tuchmann (27:35): Mmm.

Spin The Racket (27:42): There's a lot of stuff that goes behind the scenes that can get very business very quick and it can just suck away all the fun from the thing you started to have some fun. Right. So it's just making sure that we can scale properly, have the processes in place so that we're not thinking too much about what what's going to get done when or whatever. And we were thinking more about ideas. I think that's that's key right there. And just like as with anything, you know, G and I have full time jobs, so it's just

Jake Tuchmann (28:05): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (28:12): balancing

Jake Tuchmann (28:22): Yeah, that's awesome though, man. That's good. mean, that's like you said, like the roots, you gotta, I mean, why'd you start in the first place is to have fun with it. So you can't lose that perspective or it's just, you know, it's just another side gig that's not fun, right?

Gerard (28:24): Good.

Spin The Racket (28:35): Yeah, it's just more work and so that's that's I think the biggest thing I think 2026 has a lot of potential for us ⁓ You know, we're starting to see again this shift into into more of the social media being like a formal channel for a lot of brands It technically should benefit us. So it's something to be excited about if we are in this like industry then why not us right but obviously there's a lot of things that need to happen for us to get there and

Jake Tuchmann (28:43): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (29:05): ⁓ Definitely having bigger guests would be an awesome thing to accomplish. No, just in general, everyone wants to have like, I mean, who wouldn't want to interview like a Roger Fed or a Rafa Nadal, right? So it's just, ⁓ I think that's just normal to want to do more and more. ⁓ But we've played with the idea. Maybe Jake can be a little bit more ⁓ often, more around.

Gerard (29:10): Sorry Jake, I guess you're not big enough.

Jake Tuchmann (29:12): Yeah, that's fair.

Spin The Racket (29:37): you

Gerard (29:40): You

Spin The Racket (30:01): It's just a number.

Jake Tuchmann (30:09): Yeah, yeah, a healthy body full range of motion you can ask for a better day than that, right?

Spin The Racket (30:09): Nice dude. Yeah, we got to stay mobile.

Jake Tuchmann (30:26): Dude.

Gerard (30:31): Amen.

Jake Tuchmann (30:31): I miss it. I really do miss it.

Spin The Racket (30:45): Right.

Jake Tuchmann (31:06): I

Spin The Racket (31:17): So super fast, can return anything. And so it's like if you're not hitting a winner, you're not you're not beating this guy. So it's like you had to really dominate with the forehand. The moment I lost that and started like doubting my forehand, that was it, Tough losses. Yeah, dude.

Jake Tuchmann (31:21): You

Gerard (31:37): What about you, Jake?

Jake Tuchmann (31:40): Yeah,

Gerard (32:23): Great.

Spin The Racket (32:33): Are you getting married in 26 or are planning in 20s? ⁓ game.

Jake Tuchmann (32:44): It'll carry over a little bit, but I guess the big one is finishing up the planning and then actually getting married. ⁓ that's a big one as well. ⁓ Definitely uncharted territory for me, but it's a good step in life. Yeah, Hopefully one and done.

Spin The Racket (32:54): Nice dude.

Gerard (33:01): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (33:05): Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Gerard (33:09): Yeah,

Jake Tuchmann (33:11): Yeah, for sure. yeah, it's been ⁓ stay healthy, get married, happy wife, happy life. That's all I can ask for.

Gerard (33:13): Well, it's cool.

Spin The Racket (33:20): Yeah, I

Gerard (33:21): go.

Spin The Racket (33:21): totally misinterpreted the question. I thought when the question was asked, it was more about the podcast itself and all that stuff. And I kind went down that horror, like rabbit hole.

Jake Tuchmann (33:28): Yeah, mean, we start we

Gerard (33:37): Yeah, it

Jake Tuchmann (33:41): Ha

Spin The Racket (33:41): No, no.

Jake Tuchmann (33:45): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (33:53): Yeah, honestly, dude. Yeah. Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (34:03): no.

Spin The Racket (34:20): As I was dragging my right foot, this court is like super gritty. It's the one a lifetime. Um, my knee popped for a moment and I just immediately knew that that wasn't like nice. It didn't hurt or anything, but I just felt weird yesterday. It's still kind of feels weird today. And it's just giving me a lot of, uh, it's a reality check that like, like you, you take your knees for granted. And I'm just like, please no, man. I've already dealt with.

Jake Tuchmann (34:24): Mmm.

Spin The Racket (34:47): In my tennis career, I've dealt with two shoulder tendonitis where I couldn't lift up. Are you kidding me? ⁓ great. Not again, ⁓ I've dealt with two shoulder turn tendonitis, dude, where I couldn't lift a rock. couldn't lift ⁓ a racket above my shoulder. Barely 45 degrees. So I've dealt with that. I've dealt with bad knees and now there's wrist things. So I agree with you guys. Like being healthy is should be like anyone's.

Jake Tuchmann (34:53): Whoa, there we go.

Spin The Racket (35:17): you know, number one goal going into 2026 because can't replace that, you know, without being healthy. Think about it. You can't play tennis and then like what happens to your mental health?

Gerard (35:28): Yeah, honestly, honestly.

Jake Tuchmann (35:28): Yeah, yeah. I think to

Spin The Racket (35:39): You're preaching to the choir brother.

Jake Tuchmann (35:52): so much more and it can be literally for anything. It can be for business, can be for tennis, can be for your job, it can be for your pleasure. If it can be for anything, if you're setting up those designated times where it's like, okay, every week on Wednesday at this time, I know this is gonna be very consistent. It's easy to kind of work a lot of things around it, but it also helps you stay organized.

Spin The Racket (36:23): Yeah,

Jake Tuchmann (36:31): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (36:52): Kind of the

Jake Tuchmann (36:57): Hahaha.

Gerard (37:02): yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (37:02): where are my type A boys at? That's what we need. That's funny.

Spin The Racket (37:05): Yay!

Gerard (37:06): That calendar.

Spin The Racket (37:08): Dude, yeah. I mean,

Jake Tuchmann (37:16): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (37:51): Dude, even if you, even

Jake Tuchmann (38:02): Mmm.

Spin The Racket (38:16): Dude, I want it. I want one so bad. It's so expensive. My manager got one and I

Jake Tuchmann (38:24): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, one of my friends

Spin The Racket (38:33): Yes.

Gerard (38:49): Cool. ⁓

Spin The Racket (38:52): now huge, huge thing.

Gerard (38:54): Yeah, well know end of year obviously for us we have our own plans but also the pros I was looking at you know some big news in terms of coaching changes I know obviously Carlos everyone's talking about him and Juan, is it Juan Carlos Ferreiro? Like splitting up and ⁓ I know Naomi Osaka is like stepping away from her agency so a lot of like changes kind of end of the year but curious for your thoughts on the whole Alcaraz Ferreiro split.

Spin The Racket (39:09): Carlos, yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (39:09): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Gerard (39:49): It would be like financially.

Jake Tuchmann (40:04): I wouldn't want to mix up that chemistry. You're doing so well right now. Your only challenge so far has been Yannick's Sinner. Why mess up something that's not broken? That's only thing I have really behind it which sucks.

Spin The Racket (40:19): Did you?

Jake Tuchmann (40:28): Which one the the

Spin The Racket (40:29): the

Jake Tuchmann (40:33): I didn't. I actually haven't watched it yet.

Spin The Racket (40:35): Okay. I think that's kind of, again, it kind of reveals a little bit about the behind the scenes of the dynamic that they have. And so to me, seeing the news doesn't come as a huge surprise. Obviously it sucks. It's like, dang dude, same, same thought, right? Like if they, if it's working, if they're doing really well, if Carlos's only obstacle is either Yannick or an injury, like why wouldn't you want to

Jake Tuchmann (40:43): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (41:04): Like continue that. But when you watch the documentary, you see a little bit of the struggle of, you know, Carlos wanting to be more than a tennis player and trying to be more of, you know, someone his age and trying to do things his way. And you basically learned that Ferrera is only willing to work with someone that is shooting for absolute number one, no, competition period. And if it's not 120%, he didn't want it.

Jake Tuchmann (41:14): Okay.

Spin The Racket (41:34): that's

Jake Tuchmann (41:42): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (42:03): The undisputed, yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (42:31): Yeah, I get that perspective. I mean, I get really both of their perspectives. He really wants him to focus and be like, hey, you could be the best there ever was from the coaching perspective. Obviously with what you're doing, we've had some losses here and there. we can get you to where it's like, we.

Gerard (43:14): I feel like it's like a little bit of both of what you're saying. you know, obviously to your point, he's been incredibly stable with Ferreiro for so many years and still a head to head, you know, up against ⁓ Yannick, which is good. Obviously you wonder on the tennis side, does he need to continue to innovate or change up things so that he keeps that edge? Like, I wonder if that went through his mind. But he also just, I Lou brought the documentary, like he seems to be such a, like,

Jake Tuchmann (43:22): Okay.

Gerard (43:42): big family guy loves kind of keeping like a smaller circle. Like he likes just lot of traditions. And so it was a bit surprising that he would change someone who's been such a long time person in his corner like Ferrero. But yeah, I wonder if there is something else going on financially. Like you said, Jake, that could be something that pops up in his mind. But yeah, it was it was a bit surprising to see at this point for me.

Jake Tuchmann (43:46): Yep.

Spin The Racket (44:54): Dude

Jake Tuchmann (44:59): Yeah, Tony.

Spin The Racket (45:20): AKA the player is paying to hear what they want to hear. You know, they pay for a coach that's going to tell them what they want to hear. and, and that's, mean, because they're technically the customer, right? But so that creates a conflict is you're paying someone a pretty big chunk of money, and then they're telling you something you don't want to hear. It's, it's, I mean, it's just, it just happens with tennis. And I think it happens with a lot of sports, but in tennis specifically, because you're directly choosing that coach.

Jake Tuchmann (46:03): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (46:16): Yeah, no, there's a bit of a rub. Like, yeah, obviously I feel like Ferraro had Carlos's best interests in mind, even when he was giving him some of this tough love and advice. But yeah, to your point, mean, do you want to keep hearing that or do you want to get someone else who's going to listen to what you say and kind of flex to your demands as well? So it's a little bit of toss up.

Jake Tuchmann (46:17): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (46:17): Time will tell.

Jake Tuchmann (46:24): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (46:36): Yeah. And Carlos is just a dude, man. Like all his all his friends are 21, you know. So think about how emotionally and mentally mature we were when we were 21. I wasn't right. was being young and dumb. And so you're asking so much of a 21 year old guy that has friends that are the same age that are not number one in the world. So it's always I mean, this is just

Jake Tuchmann (46:43): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (47:06): It's just life, but he's going to make the decisions he's going to make and we'll see the results in 2026. I'm very, very curious now as to how, ⁓ to your point, does he continue to evolve his game? Because you're seeing Yannick is already evolving his game. He's throwing in a lot of different things. And so in my opinion, if he doesn't continue to innovate,

Jake Tuchmann (47:27): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (47:31): He's going to fall behind. mean, we've seen how many times Djokovic had to change his shots and kept tweaking his serve and all that. So, I mean, it's crazy when you compare like Djokovic, you know, last year to like 10 years prior and you see how the technique has changed for a guy that knows how to hit the ball the same way the exact same time, a thousand times to change something so significantly is crazy. So,

Jake Tuchmann (47:48): Yeah.

Gerard (47:56): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (47:59): Yeah, without progress, I don't think ⁓ he's going to get very far. don't know. Yannick is constantly innovating.

Jake Tuchmann (48:05): Yeah.

Gerard (48:29): That'll be sick.

Spin The Racket (48:31): I just pray I have the time to watch it live. Because

Gerard (48:35): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (48:35): God,

Gerard (48:38): I'll move everything.

Jake Tuchmann (48:38): And I'd gladly

Gerard (48:43): Yeah. I'll schedule everything and cancel move all appointments. Honestly.

Jake Tuchmann (49:07): Mm.

Spin The Racket (49:07): Dude, big expectations.

Jake Tuchmann (49:21): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (49:42): That's where

Jake Tuchmann (49:49): drop down.

Spin The Racket (50:12): I don't know.

Gerard (50:24): Yeah,

Jake Tuchmann (50:34): that would be very interesting.

Spin The Racket (50:40): expectations. either you either.

Jake Tuchmann (50:45): Yes, yes.

Spin The Racket (50:51): perfect.

Jake Tuchmann (51:10): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (51:30): Big fan there. ⁓ Yeah, we kind of named the ones that I would think of.

Gerard (51:34): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (51:44): Mmm.

Spin The Racket (51:44): ⁓

Jake Tuchmann (51:56): yeah.

Spin The Racket (51:57): ⁓ dude, yes.

Jake Tuchmann (52:00): Yeah, I would love to see ⁓ Felix make a little more deeper runs from, I always forget how to say his last name, it's like, Auger. Yes, yeah, yeah, which definitely a fun last name by itself, but I'd like to see him ⁓ get a little deeper. think he needs just a little more consistency, because I think he has a lot of great weapons, but I feel like against some of those monsters, like the Djokovic's, the...

Spin The Racket (52:11): OJ, how do you see him?

Jake Tuchmann (52:29): the Jannik's, the freaking Alcaraz's, that he struggles a little bit with the consistency.

Spin The Racket (52:35): you

Jake Tuchmann (52:37): And you know, I think he goes a little bit for too much in those times of need. So I like to see him, I feel like he can consistently get to quarters this year, but I'd like to see him push a little harder into the semis, a little more consistently in those majors. But yeah, that's my, that's why I'm going to put some money on him making a finals this year, at least one of them. So I'd love to see it.

Gerard (52:55): I hope so. It's so much fun to watch.

Spin The Racket (52:59): I mean in his in his defense. Have you seen a court level point between Carlos and in Yannick like it's so stupid bro like they are just crushing every shot. So it's like I don't I don't blame someone from going to playing like 85 percent tennis to paint to playing like 100 percent tennis and being like shoot I'm missing. I don't like who else you hit with to practice that you know.

Jake Tuchmann (53:07): Yeah, it's... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Spin The Racket (53:29): Ha ha.

Jake Tuchmann (53:30): you need like a cannon just to try to have any match it.

Spin The Racket (53:32): Yeah, dude, you need you need a bot

Jake Tuchmann (53:47): Yeah. Yeah.

Spin The Racket (54:01): Yeah.

Jake Tuchmann (54:16): Yeah, I mean...

Gerard (54:18): Well, we'll that hold us until 26th then at this point here. Thanks for joining us, Jake. It was fun to have you back on the pod.

Jake Tuchmann (54:20): ⁓ God. We'll see.

Spin The Racket (54:32): Yeah, dude.

Gerard (54:50): Appreciate you.

Spin The Racket (54:51): Yeah. Appreciate it, All right. With that, we'll wrap this episode and stay tuned for more watches and watches or listen wherever you digest your podcast. Thanks for watching. This is your boy, Lou.

Gerard (55:05): See

Spin The Racket (55:06): Thank you.