00:03Ok, si on peut commencer, j'ai juste voulu dire quelques mots.
00:08J'ai juste entendu parler de l'adresse de Howard Friendridge de l'AP
00:12et j'ai juste voulu dire mes condoléances à lui et à ses familles et à ses amis et à
00:19ses amis.
00:19Je suis heureux qu'il est à la maison, mais il est quelqu'un que j'ai toujours regardé à
00:23parler de la presse.
00:25Et parfois, il y a peu de gens que je me sens comme ça.
00:28Donc, je me sens seeing Howard ici et j'ai juste envoyé mes prayers à ses familles.
00:35All right, j'ai bien décidé.
00:36Jess, welcome back to Paris.
00:37Just talk about your preparations and how things are going so far.
00:42So far, so good.
00:43Nice to see some sunny weather here in Paris.
00:46It was very, very cold when I first got here.
00:48So, that's been really nice, but excited to get going.
00:51I feel like this week has really kind of flown by with practice, and we're already almost underway.
00:57So, yeah.
00:58Excited.
00:59All right.
01:07Good to see you here.
01:09So, I know there's been a lot of talk, obviously, about with the position that you guys have today
01:15in terms of relationships to the tournament and the future of prize money.
01:19A lot of the focus and a lot of the things that people are saying is that it's not just
01:22about the top players.
01:24It's about the players lower down.
01:25But on the top players, I mean, you know, in a world where quarterbacks are getting $60 million
01:32and guys in the NBA are getting $50 million a year.
01:36Should the top players also be getting bigger prize money as well?
01:41I think that the prize money in general, yeah, as it keeps growing, I think top players who are winning
01:49and selling tickets,
01:50of course, should be rewarded for bringing in those fan bases as well.
01:54But like you said, we're more worried about the ecosystem of the sport, like as a whole, not seeing it
02:00maybe be so top heavy.
02:02You know, like U.S. Open raised it last year, which was great, but it was all at the very
02:06top,
02:07which is, again, not really what we're looking for when we're talking about, you know,
02:11stuff that we've been doing with the slams and why we're here today and, you know, only doing the 15
02:16-minute thing.
02:16So, I mean, I think, of course, the top earners and performers of our sport should be, yeah,
02:22making what they have earned for sure.
02:25But, again, you know, the whole point is to help the ecosystem of the sport,
02:31and that's the lower-ranked players and giving them a chance to have a good career,
02:34to have chances to break through, and to see more of those stories happen.
02:38Okay, okay.
02:40First of all, thanks for the nice words about Howard.
02:42And secondly, just this is a day, obviously, where a lot of players are getting asked about this,
02:46and you've obviously been deeply involved in sort of player affairs for a long time.
02:50How has it been getting people on the same page, getting the messaging clear across, you know,
02:55all these players on both tours?
02:57Like, what's the sort of, you know, coordination effort been like,
03:00and how successful do you think it's been so far that people are going to be on message the way
03:04you hope they will be?
03:05Yeah, I think in tennis it's the hardest thing,
03:07is getting everybody on the same page.
03:09But as far as what's happened today, I think it's been really easy to coordinate through everybody.
03:15I mean, just tell players they don't have to do as much media,
03:18and I think you can get them on the same page pretty fast.
03:21But, of course, it's always difficult.
03:22We're all playing at different times, practicing at different times.
03:25The schedule, again, we're each on our own individual schedule, which tends to not be at the same time.
03:30So I think, yeah, it's been fairly easy.
03:34Like I said, with getting people to do, players to do less media, that one caught on pretty quickly.
03:39So, yeah, not a lot of trouble with that.
03:45Kind of a similar subject.
03:47How, like, obviously there was talk of boycotts in Rome and everything,
03:51but in general I'm curious how willing do you think players would be to do things that make them uncomfortable,
03:56that things that maybe kind of are sacrifices in a way in order to kind of achieve these aims.
04:01Like, I mean, for example, with the press conferences, I guess you could have chosen not to do them at
04:06all
04:06and kind of almost dare Roland Garros to find you.
04:09So how comfortable do you feel players would be doing things like that?
04:12I think every player's comfort level is always a bit different.
04:15So you kind of have to bridge the gap and find that balance of what everyone's willing to do.
04:21I think seeing the top players speak out, especially in Rome,
04:26I think that more other players kind of will follow in line with what other top players are doing.
04:33I think that's why it was so important for us to get the top players all on the same page.
04:37And I think most of us are, but again, scheduling conversations,
04:40it's difficult to align everybody just with all of our schedules.
04:44So I think in that turn of seeing a lot of tennis players, top players come together,
04:48where, you know, I think the other players, it's easier for them to follow
04:51because you feel like, okay, we're all part of this together.
04:54It's a little bit different when you have an outlier of one person
04:58and, you know, you just have another person following you.
05:01It's kind of like, you know, people don't want to necessarily put themselves out there for that.
05:05But again, when you saw with Arena and Yannick kind of stepping out and being leaders to that
05:11and kind of just saying what needs to be said,
05:13all of a sudden you kind of saw the collective like unity very quickly.
05:17So I think that was really great.
05:19But like I said, everyone has a different comfort level.
05:22So, I mean, I've tried to do my best with talking to a lot of the top players
05:26just to see what that is.
05:27Some people, you know, you don't want to force them to do anything.
05:31But I think you just want to educate them, talk to them,
05:34talk about what's going on and just see where they fall
05:36and then see if you can come up with something
05:38where you can all kind of meet in the middle, I guess I would say.
05:41And that's kind of what happened with today.
05:44How did this particular idea come about?
05:46Like whose suggestion was it?
05:47And do you have in your mind what the kind of natural next step from this would be?
05:52Well, I mean, I think we're always thinking of ideas.
05:55Obviously, Arena said boycott.
05:56That was more of an extreme kind of stance.
05:59And then, yeah, the people, the players,
06:02we've kind of come up with different ways of what we could all do that's feasible,
06:07that's easy to do before a slam, that, you know, that type of stuff.
06:11But what was your second question?
06:13How this particular idea came about?
06:16How this idea was it?
06:17Yeah.
06:18Yeah, I think it just came amongst, you know, Larry Scott,
06:22the guy that we've been working with,
06:24and kind of just finding a middle ground of what we can do together that's feasible.
06:30Like I said, the week before a slam, that's capable.
06:33You know, if you try to talk about more extreme circumstances,
06:36and then all of a sudden, like, people aren't on board,
06:38and you can't get anything to happen.
06:40So, again, it's like finding that meat in the middle of things that are possible
06:44and doable all in a busy week before a slam.
06:47All right.
06:47Courtney, just raise your hand to the team.
06:53Hey, Jess.
06:54In terms of just the tournament, the draws,
06:58obviously you're an analyst now because you're a podcaster.
07:02How do you see kind of the men's draw, obviously, pretty, everybody's kind of wondering,
07:08how do you stop one person given the momentum Yannick has?
07:11And then what seems like one of the more open Roland Garros' that we've seen on the women's side
07:17with you in the conversation as well.
07:19How do you kind of break these things down?
07:21And from, secondly, from the Yannick side, like, what is it like to be in a draw where,
07:27because we've maybe had this in the past with Iga,
07:30where it does feel like there's a crew that's trying to stop what seems like an inevitable?
07:36Yeah.
07:37The Yannick problem, I don't have an answer for that.
07:40I wish, I don't think anybody does.
07:43That's a tough one.
07:44I think I, myself, am just, like, stumped kind of by just the level that he's been able to put
07:49on.
07:50And then now with Carlos not playing, you're kind of looking like the inevitable is going to happen.
07:56Obviously, the thing about this sport is anything can happen.
07:59Anything's possible.
08:00You never know what's going to happen in a match or what's going to unfold.
08:03And if he's going to stay healthy the entire tournament, now going to three out of five,
08:07there's a lot of other factors.
08:09So, yeah, that is, I'm not sure I have an answer for that,
08:14but I think he's obviously the favorite.
08:17And he's been playing, you know, the best tennis in the world and just been,
08:21yeah, it's hard to put into words, honestly.
08:24Like, we've talked about it on the podcast, and we're all just kind of like,
08:26we don't really know what to say.
08:27It's just pretty incredible.
08:29So, you know, it's funny, and you see that with, we used to say this with Novak,
08:33and you're like, oh, no one's going to do this again.
08:34And now you're kind of like, well, someone's already starting to do it again.
08:37And it's crazy how, yeah, these players come into a draw and things can change.
08:42So, to the women's side, yeah, it seems a bit more open just with different results on the clay.
08:48You know, with Alina winning Rome, Marta winning Madrid,
08:52it seems like there's a lot of favorites that could win in a way.
08:55There's a lot of people playing good tennis, myself included.
08:58And then, obviously, Arena's, I think, record in Grand Slams has been probably the best.
09:02But you have Alina playing really well.
09:05Coco obviously loves to play well here.
09:07So, there's definitely a lot of, I think, space for someone to win, which makes it, I think, fun.
09:16Maybe less stressful if I was a guy, knowing that I had to somehow take down Yannick.
09:21But it's a bit more open, which I think is really exciting for women's tennis,
09:25because there's a lot of really good players right now that are able to possibly break through and win a
09:30title
09:31or at least challenge, you know, the top players.
09:36Jess, speaking on that same subject, does it feel completely different this year in terms of the openness?
09:40Because last year we were here and Igu was a three-time champion going to be the first one to
09:44win four in a row in like 100 years.
09:47And how do you feel about her aura, what's happened to it, and how that opens up things for all
09:53the women in the field?
09:54I think that those few years with Iga on clay was definitely tough because she was the best clay player,
10:01you know, that we had had.
10:03And she was so dominant on it.
10:04So, I mean, I don't know if she's lost any aura.
10:07She's still an amazing Grand Slam champion, multiple Grand Slam champion, has won on all the surfaces and everything.
10:13So, that's always going to be there.
10:16I think, you know, when you play a lot, people are training to kind of figure you out and trying
10:22to figure out how to beat you.
10:23And I think when you're that good and you're that much higher, like what was happening with Yannick,
10:27is that all these girls started looking at how to beat her.
10:31And so, I think the depth probably maybe got a little bit better as well.
10:35And she, yeah, maybe just wasn't as confident a few times here and there, a few matches, and that can
10:42always sway.
10:42But, I mean, she's so young, and I think there's always going to be ebbs and flows in a career.
10:48And so, I mean, she's already been a great champion.
10:50So, at the same time, yeah, she's not as dominant as those years.
10:54But I don't know if you'd really want to play her here as well, knowing her experience here.
11:01Last question?
11:04I like doing that.
11:05I think Matt's up the back.
11:08Yeah.
11:09Sorry.
11:11Hi, Jessie.
11:11Just going back to the media action today.
11:14It seems like you've obviously been in conversation with the fellow top players,
11:19but you've kind of all talked about how you're kind of doing it really for the lower-ranked players.
11:23What's the comms like between you and those lower-ranked players?
11:27Because they today seem maybe a little bit less on message than the top players.
11:32I think that the next step would be probably creating, like, a better communication with them.
11:39I mean, I still have communication with some, you know, people are moving up and down the rankings, like, all
11:44the time.
11:44So, there's definitely communication there.
11:48But what we've really just been focused on is getting more of the top players
11:52because we feel that would kind of make the most noise, so to speak.
11:55But, like you said, we're doing this for the whole sport.
12:00I mean, it may seem like, oh, we're just, you know, asking for more money or why are the top
12:04players complaining?
12:05But at the same time, like, these people want to hear us talk.
12:10So, we're trying to basically use our voices and maybe the more media presence that we get
12:15to, again, see the ecosystem of the sport is going to keep to continue building and growing.
12:21And by that, yeah, we've said the revenue share needs to be higher, player welfare needs to be higher,
12:27and that will, you know, return help a lot of lower-ranked players.
12:33So, I think next steps would definitely be to build up that communication with them, for sure.
12:40But right now, obviously, just trying to get us all on the same page
12:43and showing that unity on the men's and women's side was our focus.
12:46But, yeah, I would say that the communication is still good with them.
12:50I don't think it's, you know, it's not bad or anything.
12:53I don't think it's still good with them.
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