A little something different

0:00Our Cracked Rackets team is proud to partner with our friends at the Laurel Springs School. Imagine a school day that doesn't start with the ringing of a bell, but instead the rhythmic bounces of a tennis ball and the crisp pop of a perfect serve. That's the sort of opportunity offered by the Laurel Springs School. Laurel Springs, they understand how difficult it can be for any aspiring athlete to balance their daily training, weekend travel, competitions, and their academics. That is why they offer a 100% flexible online private education that molds to fit any and every athlete's lifestyle and aspirations. Enrolling at Laurel Springs means every new sunrise is a chance for your child to thrive both academically and on the court by enrolling at Laurel Springs.

1:01You're not only empowering your child with a premium, personalized education, you're also enabling them to thrive. In both their academic and athletic pursuits, start the school year off right and visit Laurel Springs dot com today to learn more. You can join them for an upcoming virtual open house and learn more about every program. Every resource they offer, again, go to Laurel Springs dot com to start your school year off right. Laurel Springs, a proud partner of Crack Crackles. Welcome to the mini-boy, your day podcast for the biggest storylines for some of these end compresses. From the next world days, Monday, March 2nd, it's going to be a three. Yes, a three mini-break podcast Monday as I have three distinct objectives to accomplish

2:06on this show today. Just in foremost, on this edition of the podcast, I want to break down another busy championship Sunday in the pro tennis world, we technically only have three tour level finals in the action in Santiago, Austin, Marina, however the championship match in Acapulco taking place late Saturday night. I want to break down that one as well as our three Sunday championship matches on today's show. Of course, I also later today want to perform what is one of my favorite exercises each and every month on this podcast. It's when I perform the first Monday or at least try to of every month as well. I want to offer my top 10 rankings as we get ready for the start of March a month. Of course, that features back to back 1,000 level events on the pro tennis calendar. Oh, by the way, Indian Well starts this week. I know that because I'm headed out tomorrow to Santa Monica as I have the distinct privilege, the distinct pleasure to get to be on the call for some early round Indian Well's action

3:07for our friends at tennis channel, I will try my best to post the broadcast schedule. So for those of you who would like to hear me call those matches, you are able to do so always in immense pleasure to get the chance to be out in Santa Monica and get to do maybe my favorite thing in life. Just shoot the shit with some of the smartest minds we have in tennis. So again, looking forward to providing coverage each and every day of the action in Indian Well's the action in Miami, of course, as well immediately following it. By the way, I go directly from covering that was matches for tennis channel to Phoenix for the best 175K event we have on the calendar each and every year. Yeah, fun stretch coming up for us here at crack brackets. We will be busy posting content across various mediums whether it be this show will still have our weekly college shows on the GSP on the crack brackets YouTube channel. I'm going to get to sit down with a bunch of different players in the field. In Phoenix, those conversations can be available to watch on our crack brackets YouTube

4:08channel to listen to over on the crack interviews podcast feed. So make sure you're subscribed to each and every platform so you don't miss out on any of our impending coverage. If you don't mind, take the 30 seconds, go leave a little five star review for us leave a rating. Excuse me, a review of what you want to hear more of moving forward. We always appreciate the feedback. A thank you to all of you who have already done so a thank you, of course, as well to the sport we get from our friends at the Laurel Springs School and to learn more about why they continue to rank amongst the top private online schooling options in the country. Visit LaurelSprings.com today Laurel Springs, a proud partner of the mini break podcast feed. All right, let's break down something a little different in our championship weekend. Again, we have three, I think, surprise winners emerging certainly this week on the at the pro level in our champions in Austin, Acapoco and Marina. You could argue it's an as expected for a Luciano Dardari who picks up another ATP tour title.

5:12His fourth over his last 52 weeks of play. You look forward to our dairy who is now able to, of course, add this championship run in Santiago to the run team eight last season in Marrakesh, Boched, Umag as well. Yeah, it makes sense that Luciano Dardari finds himself now up to a new career high 21 in the rankings given he has won each of those title made another final in Buenos Aires. Of course, this month all in the last 52 weeks of play. Let's break down the numbers beyond that though. You look for Dardari now 48 and 28 over his last 52 weeks. He's 36 and 10, 36 and 10 on the clay courts during that stretch remarkably impressive. And it is worth diving even further where you look at whom he has played during this stretch. And I think that's as important. Dardari 35 and five against opponents ranked outside the top 20 on the dirt over this last

6:15year stretch. Now, what's the inverse of that? He's one in five against top 20 opponents, his lone win. He beats Rundlow Boched out last year. He's lost a Shelton, Tiafo, Draper, Rublev and obviously Serrundal and the Buenos Aires final earlier this month. So what do you take from that specifically? Well first and foremost for a guy who is still just 24 years old, although I, I, yeah, it just turned 24 years old, early or in February, like still so young in his two or level experience in his, in his career to see him dominating what I think we can refer to given his standards as lesser competition, this consistently and doing it across continents as well, right? It's not as South America centric as say a guy like Sebi Baez is remarkable play court success, but it is remarkable, particularly in the context of South America. Dude Darderia has now done it across continents in different conditions, yeah, different conditions,

7:21different elevations, maybe most importantly, and he's still just dominating lesser competition at every turn. Again, yes, he had the rough middle week in Rio, but that was after he made a final in Buenos Aires. He beats Sebi Baez twice on South American clay during this stretch. It's not a top 10 victory by ranking, but given how successful Baez is in South America, it's a top 10 most impressive feat accomplished, certainly thus far in 2026, especially given what we saw from Baez in the opening month to beat him twice in straight sets in his home territory. Those are two notable clay court victories for a guy who otherwise lacks those top 20 notable clay court wins, I mean, again, 36 and 10, and maybe even more importantly, since Roland Garos last year, he's won 5, 9, 14, 17 of 18, 17 of 19, he's won 21 of 23 matches, he's

8:2321 and 2 on the dirt, his two losses to the Serrundal Obrothers, since the end of Roland Garos last year. Sorry to swear, it's pretty fucking good, and what has been so successful for him on this surface during this stretch in particular, it's the return of serve, it's the forehand in particular, the forehand is just an absolute, you know, even beyond the return of serve, it's just the forehand, the forehand is an absolute bazooka, and while he wasn't finishing points moving forward at the net, he didn't have to hit valleys against Yana Confiment, because that forehand was that destructive, that that effective in what was ultimately a 7675 victory for him in championship Sunday match, and look, this was fantastic tennis, and I always have had a soft spot for Yana Confiment not only because, you know, again, his college years were in my formative days as a tennis fan 2012, my senior year of high school, or I guess my junior year because it was that spring watching him and Stevie's

9:28team, again, win that fourth championship, that 2014 titles, always the one that I know I did this rant already, but the 2014 title of USC won, they just had no business winning, they weren't the best team, they just got hot at the right moment, they had that institutional know-how of how to play in those biggest moments, and Hoffman was the best guy on what ultimately turned out to be the best team in May, and again, that was in my formative years, which was like, okay, so he's a guy for the match against Alex Domachan in the semi-finals, is why they win that championship match, he flips that match, gives USC the momentum, they run away with it from there. Hoffman plays downhill, his serve is massive, and it's the kick serve, and how far back Dardari had to stand on that return of serve, and now all of a sudden the drop shot becomes open to him, or Yana Confiment is one of the few people who has the size, the stats, the strength, and the technique to handle Luciano Dardari's inside-out forehand, and the way Hoffman was striking the backhand line consistently, driving through that ball,

10:34the depth he's able to generate off that backhand, it's always been special, such a sound value, or uses his wingspan so well, again, that's something he's certainly developed over the course of his college career, like, Hoffman did not back down in the face of Dardari's wave of first forehand success, and look, to Luciano Dardari's credit, gets an early break, goes up 3-1, is able to play from ahead, and then Hoffman gets the break back for 4-all, and then they're battling over the course of that tie break, and Dardari, how does he manage to pull away, a couple of big forehands, big first serves, again, same thing, maybe the biggest moment of the match, I think it was either 4-all or 5-all in the second set, I forget what it was, no, no, maybe it was 34, but two break points he had to fight off, two massive first serves, first forehand combinations, that just weren't coming back, Hoffman played a really sloppy game, 5-6 in the second set, again, misses

11:36a forehand, misses a forehand in the net, misses a forehand plus one in the net tape inside in, just two unforced errors to give away, two free points from two, advantageous winning positions with his serve, and then on the match point Dardari is able to play with 4-hand depth, heavy top spin, Hoffman yanks a forehand long and wide, Dardari gets the break, he wins that fourth title, I mean again, it's a credit to two things, Dardari's 4-hand the heaviness, he just hits his 4, it's a fucking bazooka, I don't know how else to describe it, I know I keep saying this, but it's a visceral thing, you watch it, and the heaviness of the racket speed, he's able to generate an accentuated nature of how he flicks his wrist and gets under and over that ball and just gets outside the ball and the whip action on his stroke, and how he follows through, it's very clear the top spin he's trying to generate, and he's able to do so, and that ball just rips through the cord, but the biggest thing for me is how much better Dardari has gotten as a mover, and just covering his back

12:40hand corner, covering the forehand on the full stretch, because he likes to protect that backhand, we can play so many outside forehands, he looks leaner, stronger, better as an athlete than he did when he was first breaking through, and that movement's always going to be essential for him, given how forehand centric his successful patterns are, but even then he was able to sting a couple backhand line, more than anything, his backhand returned in the face of the Yana Confman kick serve, which again I put on the short list of the best kick serves we've seen, certainly in men's tennis of the last decade, his backhand held up, and his forehand, how big he was serving, where he's able to find first forehands from, there was a middle stretch of that second set, it looked like Confman was about to get rolled over, where it just felt like his forehand fell apart, disappeared, and it's credit to Yana Confman, the big competitor he is that he was able to find first serves, find different ways to get forward, and pressure, dark dairy, again an awesome first set tie brick, a really physical match, again for someone on the side to slide around as he does, just

13:44flick that forehand, the forehand was ultimately what let him down in this match, it just could not hold up quite well enough, quite well enough, I mean again, Yana Confman's back into the top 70 of the rankings, that's where his weapons belong, and quietly one of the old displayers in the top 100 as well, shout out to our guy, I'm going to, I'll send him the text, we'll see if we can get our guy, Yana Confman on the show, as he gets ready for all things in Dean Wells, gotta see where he is in that Indian Wells draw, if he's, I don't think he, let's see, is Yana Confman in qualifying in Indian Wells, this is good, this is definitely something, I should know, he's not in qualifying, yeah let's see if we can get Yana Confman on the show tomorrow or the next day, certainly I can't do it tomorrow, I guess it's going to be a travel day, but maybe the day after that, we'll see if we can get our guy back on the show, because certainly again he is playing some of his best ball, and the most impressive thing is how he went about building himself back up, playing a couple of challengers last season, finding success there, going and playing qualities in places like Athens, where he can then make a semi-final last week of the

14:46season, obviously here, getting win a win in Rio, making a final in Santiago, beating Francisco Cerendolo, beating an Hugo Carabelli, Yana Confman's playing some ball, folks, great to see the 34 year old back at this level serving as well as he did, but what's not, didn't serve well enough, and that's a credit to Luciano Darderi, who again, that first serve has just become a weapon to compliment so many of the other things he does well, it's become a reliable weapon to compliment all the other things he does well, he's gotten better as a mover, which for me was the big concern initially, I don't know if he's one of the ten, I mean I do know, he's not one of the best ten players in the world right now, but he did make around the 16 in Australia, beat Bias there, by the way as well, beat Hatchin' Off 2 on a hard court, in four sets, like we know his weapons work there, he played an awesome third set against Yonic Sinner, again, 36 and 10 on the clay over the last year, 21 and 2 on the clay since the end of Roland Garros, I'm not saying he's going to win Monte

15:50Car, I mean again, you got to see the fields, right, where our center Elcras is going to be playing, given they're probably going to play both sunshine swing events, unlikely you see, both of them in Monte Carlo, could he have a 2025 Museti, 2023, Runa, type run on the clay, that's the question, I mean again, it's been far more 250 centric and it's, you know, it's kind of in that 2021, 2021, I can't say 2020, I guess 2021, 2021, 2022, Casper Roode model, like Gowin-Stod, Bo-Stod, and Kitspule, it's kind of been in that mode, we've obviously seen a translate for Casper Roode elsewhere, I mean again, needs to have that big breakout, European clay court run, whether it be, I mean it would be so cool if it was in a place like Rome, on home soil, but you've got Barcelona, you've got Monte Carlo, you've got Madrid of course as well, Estero is probably a place we see him go, well maybe by ranking, doesn't have to go play at 250, because there are so many other options available

16:52to him, Dartera is going to do something noisy over the next couple of months, obviously again if he can, I'm not saying he becomes a contender for the title, but does he become a top 10 sort of guy by expectations going into the French open, like maybe you can ultimately say that, depending on how these next couple of months go, certainly the high bouncing slow conditions of Indien Wells, you feel like it'd be really good for his game, I mean again end of last season, Darderi lost five consecutive matches, Moosetti, Machizuki, Nakashima Kazoo, Kessmetovich, he's right at the ship, no doubt about it, we'll be one of the big stock up winners of tomorrow's podcast series as well, he's your winner in Santiago, I wanted to spend some time talking about the 24 year old talent, because again, the Hatchiko was that guy for me forever, where maybe we didn't get that massive notoriety, but again talk about a guy who was still 23 and under and putting up the results he was, I know Darderi is 24 and that gets a little old, but given how fresh it still feels, Luciano Darderi

17:56has played 124 total two level matches in his career, it's really his third full year of two level play, watch for the breakout year three from Luciano Darderi, he is certainly just, he's got to be on the list now, it's a proven sort of viewer, I've seen enough of the 250 success, can he go do it at the biggest events, he started out with a win in Australia, I will see how he does over the course of this sunshine swing, that was your action in Santiago, was it your best championship match of the day, I mean I thought it was the highest quality level, but I'll tell you what, Peyton Stern's first Taylor Townsend was pretty fun at Austin as well as Peyton Stern's wins, what she referred to as her grand slam, as of course Austin, where she spent her two years in college at the University of Texas, she won two team titles in NCA, singles title while there, the 24 year old can now add a 250 title in Austin, to her illustrious resume as Stern's 7675 knocking out Taylor Townsend two hours, 22 minutes to capture the championship

19:02match in Austin, I mean again Peyton Stern's needed this run so desperately, you look for Stern's between that Rome semifinal and this weekend Austin, she won multiple matches at an event just once, again that's first week of May last season, all the way through to February, excuse me, yes, to end of February this year, she went seven months, eight months of tennis without winning consecutive matches in an event, the first time she did the only time she did it, Australian open this year, now she adds a 250 title to an Australian open third round to kick off her 2026 season, I'm curious, not that it matters because there's still so much to go, Peyton Stern's is sitting at 26th in the points race for what it's worth, she's back up to 45 in the live rankings, that's essential because now all of the stress and yet that's a lot of points she's going to lose off of her resume come row, but she's still certainly going to be in the top 75 after losing those

20:07points and maybe me, maybe even more consequently than that, like she's not, she's back inside the top 50, she's not going to have to play qualifying, she's getting into main draws of whatever she wants to play over these next couple of months and it just eases the tension because again, there are only a few European play court events on the women's side, right, and the cut-offs accordingly are so high, stoop guard, so hard to get into, obviously, Madrid and Rome are 1000s and they carry their own difficulties, but like, I mean go look at what would the event rebock in a one last year row in the 250's Fiddleino one, like heavy hitters because there's few and only so few precious play court opportunities on the women's side in Europe. Outside the top 50 life just gets tricky, outside the top 75 certainly as Stern's was on the precipice of falling out of, like do you go play those, you stick around obviously for the WTA 500 in Charleston, but even that draw cutoff can get pretty high, do you stick around here

21:09and play some of the 125's, the WTA went to 100k's, like what do you do with your paint and Stern's? Now it's no, I don't have to worry about those things, I just won my home 250, I'm back inside the top 50 and you look for paint and Stern's, again the biggest thing for her this week was just has such a firm identity, no so clearly what she wants to do, hit the big, ideally kick serve to set up a time for her to find forehands and whether it's the forehand inside out, how she ropes the forehand inside into the point where it's not just the line drive, that ball is still moving right to left from her trajectory and left to right if you're the opponent, again you're getting stretched into the alley as well as having to deal with that pace and yet Taylor Townsend is always able to find answers because Taylor Townsend is always able to break a rhythm, Taylor Townsend has a counter to whatever you throw at her, a high and heavy, a slice, a drop shot, a drive short angle, a high, you know, again just a chip in charge, like you name it,

22:10show throw it at you and again for someone who's outside the top 100 entering the week, to earn victories over Fruver Tova, Barton, Kova, Messerova, Kruger, gets her back up to 87, 87 in the rankings, just back in the ball game, if you're Taylor Townsend from a singles perspective, all those events you want to go play doubles for, you don't have to worry about well can I get into singles qualities, it's like no, no, you're definitely getting into qualities, you might even be getting into the main draw, what a week for the lefty, problem for her again, second serve just sat up and she plays a higher bouncing second serve, even when she hits the slice serve, it just there's a natural kick action to everything Taylor Townsend does because she has that live wrist and that ball sat up and accordingly painsterns was just able to find four hands in the biggest moment down the stretch of that first set tie break when Sterns just kept on swinging first serve percentage just after she was again over 65% and every match this week makes fewer than 60% of her first serves in the championship match, the margins were that thin,

23:14that was the killer, you just felt like Sterns was able to find that first serve in bigger spots, even when the problem was when Townsend hit the big slice first serve out wide or slice serve T, honestly that lefty kind of kick tee she can play that just bounced up on Peyton Sterns and got her jammed and then she could play everything through the backhand from there, get forward into that backhand corner, the problem was she needed to play that first serve because that heaviness of the Peyton Sterns ball got up on her pretty quickly and you know again if you can get that ball up particularly on the Taylor Townsend forehand as the Sterns inside out forehand will do Townsend will give you a slice or something short and from there again Sterns was just able to commit through to her forehand as well enough, obviously she gets to play it in front of a celebrity, a long time Texas longhorn supporter in Matt McConaughey was an awesome crowd all week long and Austin as well, look they were probably hoping for a different All-American final at the start of the week right when you thought we might get Paguli, Yovic certainly that's what I was hoping for, Sterns Townsend delivered, this was a really high level, there were a lot of skills

24:19on display and more importantly you had a compelling score line from start to finish right and each of these players taking advantage of different opportunities, what a bounce back for Peyton Sterns again, I'm sure she will end up, yeah probably one of the biggest stock up winners just given especially loses to Zavanna Raiva, round one in Doha, has to earn a lucky loser spot into the first round of Dubai, after by the way she goes three sets with Zavanna Raiva again round one qualities into Dubai, bounce is back, yes you know didn't get a single top 50 victory but needed this sort of run, stacking five matches consecutively together, huge stretches, obviously sets her up for in Indian Wells where she didn't win a match last year, one just one match in Miami can absolutely exceed those results and more than anything found some confidence in her level finally, going into the sunshine swing, again certainly Taylor Townsend finding some

25:20confidence as well, more than anything, finding the top 100, once again does the 29 year old in singles, your 2026 Austin champion Peyton Sterns bringing home the title, of course next up I want to talk about Acapulco, this was an awesome match as well and ultimately in Acapulco it's Flavio flipping the script of his 2026 season, Kaboli who of course had struggled out of the gates, was not healthy at the Australian open as he gets knocked out in straight sets round one by Arthur Ferry, he loses the United Cup match to Rinder Kinesh, he loses match one Mount Pele A to Luca Nardi, two in three, match one in Dallas, two in two, to my guy former TCU All-American Jackpinnington Jones but a Jackpinnington Jones who certainly isn't ranked inside the top 100 and you have finally signs of life, last week in Delray, as he gets wins over Wang Atman before lost to Corda in Acapulco, made the most of a draw that certainly opened up for him but wins in championship weekend over Wooley Bing, Miamir Kestmanovich and then 7664 he survives

26:27against Francis Tiafo, Tiafo again thought he was going to get ruled over when Kaboli goes up a set in a break and it just felt like Tiafo's energy midway through that second set had just dipped as he was the one who certainly had to work a little bit harder to find advantageous court positioning, then it just felt like Kaboli's forehand was just moving through the court more successfully than anything Tiafo could throw at him through the first hour of immensely physical play, Kaboli gets a break after Tiafo plays a loose service game, easy hold for Kaboli after that Tiafo puts a hold on the board and then Francis wakes up and connects out a couple of returns of serves, gets the break back for four all, again all the sudden he's in the fight and there's a fist pump he gives to his team on the side and he just think oh my god his Francis is going to work his way back, no he was not Kaboli coming up with the goods, gets the break at five four right back serves things out four six four picks up the title in acapoco

27:32five hundred level title for him on the hard court particularly impressive he's now 21 in nine on the hard courts over his last 52 weeks you add that to the 15 and six record for him on the clay courts six and three as well not too shabby on the grass given the limit sample matches we have there every year it's everywhere like again he's just kind of answered the question of is it going to work on every surface yes he's that sort of athlete he's that sort of quick twitch improvisational actor in the corners and you know again what was the difference in this match honest to god a couple of forehand passes from Flavio Kaboli a couple of forehand out of the corner just excellence that he was able to produce you think about down the stretch in the tie break the four all point where he's able to find the pass with that on the run forehand that just clips the net tape and lands good line I mean I think it was going to pass France as even if it didn't hit the net tape there obviously that didn't help but it was a couple forehand

28:32pass combination there were a couple of on the run forehand line which I believe he connected on to get that first break in set number two what was the other forehand line that I think he had one in the game where he broke ultimately four all in the deciding set as well like whenever he needed that on the run forehand which he was almost baiting into Tioffo to testing with some sort of backhand slicer backhand line or forehand inside in approach he just found that on the line on the run forehand it's it's rba asque it's like I'm baiting into attacking this thing because I know I'm going to beat you with it to have that sort of elite trait to compliment the underlying immense physicality the pressure just puts on every opponent because of his quickness because of his fluidity again it kind of reminds me of the other one demon forehand as well like that's how devastating he can be with it. Flavius techniques a little easier the ball he hits is more dynamic but it's another player you throw into that demon hour model which by the way again

29:33like you think about the demon hour models that player number one in the world no but back to back to our finals again you're never going to have to work a second job in your life for financial reasons if you're smart I would love to be set be told out you you strike me you're in the Alex demon hour model for your career what does that look like on a tennis commentary side do that I get to do outer courts at a slam for the rest of my life and like the occasional I mean I'm working second weeks but it's Louis Armstrong second week not Arthur Ash that'd be fine I'll sign up for that right now um Flavius couple is good man he's up to a new career higher back up to his career high 15 no new career high 15 in the live rankings as a result of winning this 500 level title four cupoli by the way again it is his what third two level title the last 52 weeks Hamburg Bucharest now a Capoco biggest title of his career he's up to the top 15 he's 30 by elo rating but 15 by ranking not too shabby as for Tiafo back up to 22 in the rankings

30:40he was so much better this week as he has been better all season long now the first serve got a little worse as the week progressed made only 57% of them that wasn't good enough especially with how well Caboli was just reading the kick serve and finding whatever return he wanted off of that second serve kick but look again I thought Francis was going to get rolled over in the second set he didn't kept fighting in set number one again there were no breaks of serve in that opening set and it's a credit to Flavius who served well enough into Francis his forehand to get the approach out opportunities that he was looking for but Francis his forehand was not an issue for him I thought in this one certainly you look for Francis I thought it was particularly impressive how well he now just the backhand return has always been good but how how committed he was taking that ball on the rise and getting in behind it that was his most successful attacking combination any backhand he wanted to take on the rise and get in behind he's committed to getting forward I feel like that much more frequently he's not playing around with

31:45his first valley neither as much it just feels like there's more drive there's more commitment to that shot of playing it firmly and just decisively winning points no more playing with the food notes he's just ready to eat this is a really stupid note but as someone and I think we've talked about this on podcasts with certain guests before I'm I'm an all-time sweater like I just sweat a lot it's just it's burden and a blessing it's a blessing because let me tell you when you sweat enough you come off that treadmill and you're like I'm I certainly lost at least five pounds like I'm feeling light I'm feeling loose it's a burden because everyone's looking at you and like did this guy just leave five pounds of water next to the treadmill it's like I can't help it um to watch Francis sweat in that acapulco heat and be like oh this is probably a four shirt and short change sort of match I it's just never resonated with me you know again it's just a particular detail that I'm like oh been there been there my friend I feel yeah like you all

32:48the sympathy all the empathy I know how tricky that is because you don't think about the sweat management but let me tell you that's half the ball game at this and it really is because it's like it's all over my grip and I can't hold that anything I feel gross um anyways shout out Francis I just I feel that pain I thought he was playing so much better love the energy coming off with Francis to start this 2026 season now a big result that hopefully will serve as a catalyst for a big sunshine swing for the 28 year old American that was the action for the men in Mexico of course for the women in Mexico playing out wrapped up in merida do you know that Christina Buksha the 28 year old spaniard is now the world number 31 Buksha winning the biggest title of her careers the 28 year old captures the 500 in merida five and four overpollini in the semi's six one four six six four over Magdalena free in the final I mean given Navara won this event last year

33:49like should we be shocked it just feels like this style of play again making a ton of balls uh excelling with the additional pace that the conditions of merida provide you in the elevation like the movement for buksha that she still able to track things down I thought she hits again her serves her so well plays and how she mixed up her spots more than anything she just was able to play track meet tennis in all of the biggest moments and over the course of two hour 15 minutes just doing off to force that error that overextended Magdalena free backhand driving again neither free nor buksha creating elite pace off of either wing had to be that had to play with that much more fine margins accordingly and buksha just had answers was exceptional with her spot I thought she served so smart uh to just all the right spots do especially to the corners to keep frick on the move early that's a massive week from Magdalena free who by the way now finds herself back up to what number uh 38 in the live rankings not too

34:53shabby for the 28 year old from Poland but 20 year old from Spain now up to 29 29 in the live rankings that means it's not just by the way one week in merida you look at what she's done over the past couple of weeks obviously made that 250 final Hong Kong to end the last season round of 16 of course at the US open again she's making a push there's no way fans are about it she's making her push up the rankings right now that's particularly impressive shout out like again it hasn't just been one event that is stacking success now uh for Christina buksha we see it obviously now she gets the signature run with this 500 level title uh in merida again big week for her big week for Magdalena free talk about again two more players who it's like well I know what I'm playing now for these next six months accordingly um yeah by the way 20 in the world what does she have left to defend uh until that round of 16 at the US open didn't make out of qualities of the sunshine

35:57swing last year so she'll get to play both of those main drush to play main draw Madrid she could play main draw Rome didn't win a match at rule on Garros she'll get to just play a ton of again doesn't really have points to defend serious points until round of 32 at Wimbledon come June I'm not saying it's a top 10 push because I don't know if the results will be there for Christina buksha but absolutely the runway is there from a rankings perspective for her to make that sort of serious push which is remarkably impressive for someone at 28 years old again is she the 2026 Jasmine Palini she did make around of 16 at last year's US open probably has to have a big sunshine swing and you know again I don't see her making finals at both this french open and upcoming Wimbledon but man if she made like a quarter final a modern day version um we'll keep an eye out for it we see it coming this time Christina buksha continuing to capitalize on the success those were all of your tour level events of course on the weekend but you didn't have that 125

37:02k a title from Ayuka Uchijima Uchijima 5 and 5 in the final over Kalinina a big week for Uchijima she's back up into the top 80 for the 24 year old from Japan you look for Kalinina by the way with her success in reaching the final Kalinina back up to number 192 and back in top 200 for the 29 year old on the men's side a shout out of course to the young Italian Frederico Sina the 19 year old into the top 200 for the first time captures his first ATP challenge your title 7 6 and the third he knocks out Felix Gill um I got to watch more film I would just be disingenuous I got a tie I got to watch this the 19 year old and see is he another on the Italian pipeline to get excited about big win for the best of action opener he went to title in St. Brook 4 and 16 acts out Pierre Uzer bears on burp heroes knocking out Jules Schwartzler 6 3 and the third worth noting though Schwartzler the 20 year old from Austria up to a new career high 209 in the live rankings

38:04accordingly of course in Tigre is the that Fakunduddi as it comes to put him on the clay he'll find success he wins the title knocking out Miguel Damas of Spain a big moment first challenger final for the 26 year old so we see you of course as well that's everything from championship Sunday now of course I will be back later today to offer a snapshot where are things at the top of the tennis world as we prepare for one of my favorite months on the tennis calendar sunshine swing ahead we will of course has preview content for you over the next couple of days as we prepare for the impending action to get underway of course the reason we can do that day and day because of the Tyler's support we get from all of you tennis fans and of course because of the efforts of our super producer Daniel Westoff he shout out to him a shout out of course as well to the support we get from our friends at the Lowell Spring School to learn more about why they can do this regularly pride not mind to go out to the country visit Lowell Springs dot com it's a day

39:06that's that four of them have been one of the best of the Lowell Spring School for all of us here I hope cracked records in the pre-concast and I hope you have your host Alex Ruskin that's the break thanks everyone you