Transcript
Lifestyle of Longevity: Hello and welcome to the very, very first episode of the... Tennis bakery. a fan podcast. that we've decided to host because we are massive tennis fans and we felt like There needed to be a fan podcast out there to discuss all the things on and off the court that fascinate us about tennis. And together with me is my. Dear friend, co -host, business partner, business wife in life.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Christina, hi.
Kristine: and co -tennis fan
Lifestyle of Longevity: Co -tennis fan, co -tennis event visitor.
Kristine: Hi.
Kristine: Yes, co -tennis lover. Not so much. co -Carlos Alcara's new hairstyle lover. but Let's talk about that later, maybe. hu
Lifestyle of Longevity: But I'm the one that's not co -there. You're all you're all in on the new colours.
Kristine: Yes, I'm all for it. ah we We will elaborate a lot.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm -hmm.
Kristine: on not only Carlos's hair, but hair in general. I think it's a good topic thing for this podcast to start with. but
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes. So we called the podcast The Tennis Bakery. Do you maybe want to explain to people? because you came up with this name. ah where the name comes from. Why are we calling it? The Tennis Bakery.
Kristine: Yes. I would love to. First of all... Because we love. All things. that are being produced in a bakery.
Lifestyle of Longevity: ha
Kristine: Just because we do have so much and positive associations with. um Eclairs. and in in I would say that's a special highlight for us, bakery -wise, because um also our love for tennis.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm.
Kristine: developed very much when we visited the Roland Garros slam, but we will talk about that more in detail one day, I'm sure. But there we also got to know the famous pistachio eclair that we ate in Saint -Germain.
Kristine: And oh my God, we love it so much.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes.
Kristine: And there's so much more pastry wise and bread wise that we love that in general. All the bakeries, or at least the good ones, are very close to our hearts I would say. And therefore, bakery is a term that we really associate with But it has also a different reason, and that is that If you are a tennis fan, and I think you are because otherwise you would not be listening to this podcast, you will be very familiar with the terms bagels and breadsticks.
Kristine: For those of you that are not familiar with those terms is
Lifestyle of Longevity: Bagels and breadsticks? I thought it was bagels and baguettes.
Kristine: No, I think it's bagels and breadsticks. but
Lifestyle of Longevity: Okay. Okay. This is the first thing that we're not sure.
Kristine: we will We will look it up later.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm -hmm.
Kristine: we we it It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. In any case, it's... Bakery related. yeah and um Talking about bagels.
Kristine: A bagel is if someone loses to another tennis player. Bye. Whatever, six, zero. Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Or wins against another one.
Kristine: So if you really. Hm?
Lifestyle of Longevity: If there's a zero on the board you could be winning or losing.
Kristine: Yes. Yes, yes, right. and if you're losing with a zero or with a love as you would say in tennis then this is a bagel because the zero Just looks like a bagel, right?
Kristine: And if you are losing or winning to one. So... 6 -1 for example, then that would be a breadstick. or a baguette. we We don't know for sure.
Lifestyle of Longevity: We're not sure.
Kristine: But in both cases, it's all about the bakery. It's all about the tennis bakery. And because we thought those names are... Really funny. We think it's a really good match for our name, for the podcast, The Tennis Bakery.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes. And we are both from Germany and we're Germans. So um German is our um our native language. But we decided to do this pod in English and give it a go because we think that there are so many international tennis fans and that we want to interact with through this podcast and hear what they think and what they enjoy and what they love about tennis and what's going on on and off of the court. But we decided to give it a go in English. And yeah, we're really excited to do this. We actually...
Lifestyle of Longevity: are podcasters already in another life in another part of our life um in German and um also business women so we do all kinds of things but tennis is a huge passion and love of ours and not only tennis technique or strategy? Because I think we have to say that right at the front, neither of us really play tennis.
Kristine: Well... I do play tennis. But it's kind of the worst way to play tennis because I'm not really able to, even though I have been learning for... I don't know, four years now? Three and a half years or something.
Kristine: But I still can't properly serve. I mean. To be honest, I can't really sob at all. Yeah, so I'm really bad at tennis, but I try to. At least I try to.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, I've also tried, I've also taken... um trainer lessons tried to learn as an adult and failed miserably and decided to play paddle instead so I've given up on my tennis career but that doesn't matter still have a huge love for the game
Kristine: No. I think you can be a fan without playing.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Absolutely. And definitely if you want to look at the game like we do. And we've decided to launch to the pod this week because... The US Open, I don't know, can we say are coming up? They're actually already...
Kristine: They're already underway. but
Lifestyle of Longevity: They're already underway. It's the week before the start of the main draw. So the singles main draw is starting on Sunday um in Europe in the Sunday evening. And we are recording this year on Wednesday.
Lifestyle of Longevity: So it's Wednesday lunchtime um on the week prior. And as many of you might know, the mixed doubles, for example, are already underway. Qualifying is underway. So there's all kinds of stuff going on in New York for the US Open. And there's all kinds of stuff being shown. And my personal highlights so far have been the mixed doubles from yesterday. and i was shocked to my core. this morning to find out that you are not watching them.
Kristine: Yes. I'm not. And what I texted you when you found out was. That you can like... really bash me for this in this podcast you can really give me the shit for that because You can. And you did now. But I'm... Really?
Kristine: I really hate to say it but I'm but not really that interested. I think it's just so much. Faff. about something and I know there's Carlos Alcaraz and I know there's Serena Williams and I know there's Novak and Irina and all the big names but I just I'm just not so interested. So I just watched the highlights this morning and was perfectly happy with it. What I am here for though. is all the social media kind of snippets around it. Right, because the US Open does have a fan week.
Kristine: um In the first week before the proper um event starts. And I really love like the social media content that they do because it's, ah it's so cute to see Carlos and Serena having these little tit chit chats between like the points or before they have started and all of that. I really love that.
Kristine: i just I just, yeah, didn't.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, but you could have had two hours of that.
Kristine: Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: You missed two hours of that.
Kristine: I missed. one hour and 50 minutes because I saw the highlights.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yeah. Yes.
Kristine: ha
Lifestyle of Longevity: No, really. i I really think so for me, I've been thinking about this because. I was wondering, like, why didn't you watch and why did I watch? Especially since you're the one obsessed with Carlos Alcaraz and not me. And I got to look at him for two hours yesterday and you...
Lifestyle of Longevity: didn't so I was like what's she doing she's been consuming every single tiny snippet anyone's put on the internet of him in the past months that he's not been playing since April and now he's actually on a court for two hours and she's choosing not to watch.
Kristine: okay
Lifestyle of Longevity: I don't get it especially since Tennis for me is... Entertainment. It's entertainment. It's what gives me... joy and just maybe especially because I'm not um super knowledgeable when it comes to strategy or tactics.
Lifestyle of Longevity: I really enjoy seeing everything around it. Um, How the people look when they come onto the court, how they react to certain balls, what the aura is. And I must say yesterday, the aura of Serena and Carlos. Oh my. God, it was just they were glowing.
Lifestyle of Longevity: the two of them on that one side of the court they were glowing i have no idea how they lost the second match because they were just so they had such an aura around them of just being The best, the ultimate. Yeah on so many different dimensions.
Kristine: Do you know what could maybe be a hidden reason? why I didn't watch.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm hmm.
Kristine: Can you remember the doubles that Carlos played with Rafa? I think it was for the Olympics.
Lifestyle of Longevity: I have that in my notes because I was thinking we have to discuss that because that was the most uncomfortable I've ever seen him ever on a tennis court.
Kristine: And for me, this kind of it gives me physical pain. To see that he's not playing well or that he's, I don't know. now nervous or not hitting the balls well or whatever.
Kristine: And I think that was like the most comfortable uncomfortable that I ever felt watching him.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm.
Kristine: And maybe that was part of the reason at the back of my head that kind of prevented me from switching switching on the tv and and watching it because i didn't want to see him being that bad not knowing the doubles rules and everything and just behaving like.
Kristine: I don't know a really bad player. but I'm happy to hear that he Obviously. Played better. Because they won.
Lifestyle of Longevity: They won the first match, they lost the second. So they they did okay. They did okay. um But no, it was a completely different aura. So he definitely wasn't as uncomfortable as he was back then with Rafa on the on the doubles court. He knew what he was doing. He had some fine strokes, but, and I think this is something that unites.
Lifestyle of Longevity: all of the successful teams from yesterday. is that he let Serena be in charge. She was the boss. He was just like... i'm just doing whatever she's telling I'm just doing whatever she's telling me to do.
Lifestyle of Longevity: And... Whatever that is, it's working.
Kristine: Good for him.
Lifestyle of Longevity: And interestingly enough, that's what all the men said that were being successful. Kobaly said the same thing about Vintage. that He was just letting her decide what the hell to do. And Morpheus, who was playing together with his wife.
Lifestyle of Longevity: swiolina um he basically just said happy wife happy life so
Kristine: They are so cute. They kissed in between points I saw.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, it's just it is you are I think there's a trend. that the guys who are letting the women take the lead and just decide what the hell is going on, especially on the tennis court, they were successful yesterday.
Lifestyle of Longevity: But I feel like we need to talk.
Kristine: But a good idea generally for life, I guess.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, I think I can. It can be applied to everything. It can basically be applied to everything. But what I do want to talk about is their outfits. And if you saw... um highlights. I'm sure you saw it. What was your opinion on the Nike kit of Serena and Carlos?
Kristine: Is the kid topic already a topic we're discussing in our first episode? I think it's one of the most important topics. But anyway, here we go.
Lifestyle of Longevity: I don't mean Carlos alone.
Kristine: Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: I mean the combination of the two.
Kristine: I think it was perfect I loved it.
Lifestyle of Longevity: The combination of the two
Kristine: Yes. I loved it.
Lifestyle of Longevity: No. No.
Kristine: I loved it. Totally loved it.
Lifestyle of Longevity: It was a different... purple and a different black.
Kristine: Oh, I didn't even dream.
Lifestyle of Longevity: They had different tones.
Kristine: is.
Lifestyle of Longevity: They had different tones. The two, in my opinion, the two kits didn't match. So each kit by itself
Kristine: Was it really a different couple that you didn't see that on the snippets that I saw? At least I didn't realize it. Or maybe it was because I was only looking at Carlos' kit.
Lifestyle of Longevity: I find Carlos' kit, with I mean, we can discuss that some other time, but I think it's very like it's perfection from head to the... to the toes It's so well done. I thought Serena's was...
Lifestyle of Longevity: Okay. But they didn't match. And I'm thinking if you're Nike. And these are two of your top signings and you're putting them onto the court. together the entire world is watching this match you need to sync the outfits better
Kristine: thanks
Lifestyle of Longevity: I was really disappointed.
Kristine: Okay, I didn't realize. So so maybe maybe it wasn't that bad. But yeah, I mean, if it really wasn't the but the right purple, then... I understand your point. Like the only thing that I realized when they had the...
Kristine: on -court interview after they won, right? The first match they played.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm -hmm
Kristine: I realized that because Carlos, this kid does have like no sleeves, right?
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes.
Kristine: And the armhole is quite...
Lifestyle of Longevity: It's quite large.
Kristine: It is quite large.
Lifestyle of Longevity: It's giving almost nipples.
Kristine: It is quite large. and Yes, sometimes when he moved, you saw his nipple, and I thought... Mmm. Maybe that's not what he's going for. He's going for, maybe you could have another kit for like.
Kristine: the the proper start of the play, where his nipples are at least hidden.
Lifestyle of Longevity: I found the she she didn't as much have the basketball element that his does, and happy to discuss his one some other time.
Kristine: Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: But what you didn't see, I think, unless there were some perspectives, was that her skirt was see -through as well. Her skirt...
Kristine: Oh I didn't see that.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Her skirt was a net a bit like Irina's.
Kristine: Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: um outfit but she had black shorts and exactly the same length underneath so you couldn't see
Kristine: Yeah.
Kristine: Mm hmm.
Lifestyle of Longevity: really, unless it was a very specific angle. So it was, I don't know. I just wasn't content with the mix of the two, especially since Serena is such a fashion icon.
Kristine: Hmm.
Lifestyle of Longevity: You can really just basically put her in anything. And the other thing um I wanted to say on the two of them was, oh my God, was she fit.
Kristine: Hmm.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Girl was fit. She is just. oozing strength. mobility, agility. She looks like she's 22.
Kristine: Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Absolutely amazing. She had a strength on that court. She was whipping the ball over there. I felt she looked a lot better than she did when she played singles in in Wimbledon.
Kristine: Yes, and she she was also hurt after that, right? quite Quite a lot, actually.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm hmm. Mm -hmm.
Kristine: So I was actually surprised to see her. on court at all because like It didn't sound like really good after after Wimbledon. But yeah, good to see that she's. That she's good and fit and well.
Kristine: And yes, let's let's discuss the kits in another episode more in detail, because I think that's always something to discuss.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Also Carlos's hair, then I have some comments from my kids on Carlos's hair. I'll save them for whenever we discuss his kit.
Kristine: Alright.
Lifestyle of Longevity: The other combination, which was, of course, completely iconic, especially thinking about how many Masters titles are on a court at the same time, was Drukovic together with Irina Sabalenka. Did you see the highlights of that?
Kristine: Yes I did.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Any thoughts?
Kristine: No, not so much. I just find they are so...
Kristine: In my point of view, they are so outstanding like in and in themselves. I mean, not that Carlos and Serena are not, but both of them are kind of these... Out there.
Kristine: people with their out there personality and also sometimes quite the edgy personality in both cases. So I kind of i only watched the highlights, right? But I didn't feel them vibing together as much. but maybe that's also just their personalities.
Kristine: What did you think when you watched it?
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yeah I can only catch the the first set of this which they won. And so there they were, of course, very... Very convincing. I felt he looked very bland next to her. And when it comes to his outfit, he looked fit. Like he looked like he's in a good. place um body wise but um he looked very bland next to her we need to talk about her jewelry But I'm happy to do that whenever we...
Kristine: Another time, please.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Speak about...
Kristine: We'll do a kit slash jewelry episode one day.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Heh. Kit slash hair slash ah Julie episode.
Kristine: ah Yeah. Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: um
Kristine: Yep.
Lifestyle of Longevity: But what I really... um was thinking about as I was looking at her I was on Irina's Instagram account yesterday and oh my god the us open is just the biggest money -making machine for these ah athletes. It's absolutely crazy. She has in the past seven days, every single day, she's launched a reel with a different partner with US Open Focus.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Right. So. And so it will be the 10 days leading up to the tournament if she carries on like this and there's no reason why she wouldn't. Where every single day she's posting and you ah a different ah which completely dominates her feed then. And she adds them in the stories as well. And it's everything from...
Lifestyle of Longevity: racket sponsor A whoop. There was ah the whole Whoop collab came out in this time. a Tequila. A hair product. um earphones so it's also completely different categories obviously but very very wide yeah and this is just i think another point of evidence of how commercialized this event can be.
Lifestyle of Longevity: by the leading athletes because the brands are just so eager to get any kind of foot in the door, even if it's 10 days before the actual tournament starts.
Kristine: Yes, and I think it's really interesting because some players do really embrace that, or at least it feels like they are embracing it. And I feel like for Arina, it feels like she's embracing it a lot. Like she loves to be at the center of attention and going for it, right? And then there are other players.
Kristine: Maybe like Sviatik. I don't know. How do you properly pronounce her name? I think we need to look it up. Sviantik? Sviatik?
Lifestyle of Longevity: Shwee on Tech.
Kristine: Shriyantek. Um. And I think for her, for example, she does not love that at all. I mean, she also does some collaborations, right? But I think she's just... such a different personality type.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yeah.
Kristine: And I just... am listened to another tennis podcast just a few a few days ago where Andrea Petkovic talked about exactly this topic and where she mentioned that for her this was really a problem. To do like.
Kristine: all of these brand collabs and stuff before a slam because because it would take her mind off of of the tennis and of the things that are really important for her to win.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mhm.
Kristine: So it was impossible to do this. And she mostly... denied all the all the requests that she got from from brands. And I think it's just interesting to see how different it is, but also this must put you under a lot of pressure.
Kristine: right Going into the US Open. So if I think of Arina Sabalenka, she was on the... Times Magazine cover, right? I think only...
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes.
Kristine: A week ago, maybe two weeks ago.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Two weeks ago, yeah.
Kristine: I don't know. and I mean, she's not in her best form right now, right? She hasn't won a lot of things in in the recent weeks and months. And going into this, like being pushed from the times and being pushed by all these brands that are putting so much money behind you as a...
Kristine: as a personal brand, right? This must must give you so much. I mean, additional pressure on top of the pressure that's anywhere there for for any tennis player. um going to the US Open. So I think um it's interesting her choice to go ahead. i mean she She must have signed all these contracts already a long long time ago. but um Yeah, I think it's just a lot of pressure that she has to deal with additionally.
Kristine: And I'm not sure whether that's the the wisest thing in her. situation as she is right now.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yeah, maybe therefore it's so much um so smart to get it all done before it really goes underway. I was just having a look. Carlos, for example, he has... Zero brand collabs.
Lifestyle of Longevity: leading up now to the US Open, so nothing. So I thought I'd look around for the... um The people that we and that we know do more brand collabs like Coco Gov. Of course, she I think she earns more than I think any of the men with brand collabs. just She's the number one. um earner when it comes to um to to media, I think, in the tennis circle.
Kristine: And we do love her miu miu cola brain.
Lifestyle of Longevity: The one that she had in Wimbledon, I don't know if that's going to be something in the US Open. Have you seen anything?
Kristine: i'm not sure I'm not sure, but I love it.
Lifestyle of Longevity: No. Yes.
Kristine: So much.
Lifestyle of Longevity: So she had her aura launch. That was... of course big that she announced that she's working with them but then of course she went and once in Yes, but then she went on Cincinnati, so that took up a lot of space.
Kristine: The wearable, right?
Lifestyle of Longevity: And now she's had two things that she's done. um two posts that she's done leading up so she's done a lot less than irena so yeah i think just i think it's really exciting to see how the how brands are trying to move their way into the whole us open excitement but of course coco also isn't playing the doubles so maybe she knows that there won't be so much
Lifestyle of Longevity: coverage on her before the tournament gets going. But yeah, the the the mixed doubles, um I personally think they're a great asset. Because. entertainment to the US Open.
Kristine: And I additionally to add, and I mean, the mixed doubles are just a part of this fan week, right?
Lifestyle of Longevity: You wanted to say something?
Kristine: Or this this happening, I think that's that's going on before the official start.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes.
Kristine: And I think it's actually a cool thing because there are so many kind of exciting things happening. And this just enables more people to kind of get access to the tenors and to the players right before the official start of the of the tournament, because it is always a problem, right?
Kristine: To get tickets to these tournaments. So I do really appreciate that they try to... kind of have an action going on before that where people can really Where it's more accessible for people. Also, I really, really loved all the social media content that happened around. um ah Roger Bean back on Ash.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm hmm.
Kristine: So, oh my God, they really celebrated every little tiny movement of him, right? When he was tying his headband, which is of course very iconic because he always played with this headband.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Mm -hmm
Lifestyle of Longevity: yeah Iconic. Yes.
Kristine: And when he entered the the Ash Stadium, I think every tens channel tennis channel that I follow on Instagram post reposted this and every second of it. And I really loved it also when they kind of celebrated his one -handed backhand, right?
Kristine: And just loved how it still looks and he's still doing it and he's still good. I think he played against Andy Roddick.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, he did
Kristine: And i think that's so I think it's so cool um what they are doing there that makes me think that it is also really a good thing to go. not only for the main tournament, but also for the fan week before.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, it is, especially if you're getting so much... negative press as the US Open is regarding the the ticket pricing.
Kristine: Mm.
Lifestyle of Longevity: It is easier to get tickets for the US Open than it is for Wimbledon or for the French Open, but the prices...
Kristine: Mm.
Kristine: Yeah.
Lifestyle of Longevity: are just crazy And this has to do with the fact that in the US, it's a lot easier to resell tickets than it is for the European tournaments. But that this also goes along with much higher prices, which are being asked for in the resale market. So it's kind of like... Yes, you can go, but it makes it really... um really elite because the people can't uh because the the the prices are just so so high
Kristine: I've seen a post um of the... um Bürgermeister of New York. Help me out?
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, the mayor.
Kristine: the mayor of of New York. And he did, I think. to discuss with the US Open that there would be, um I don't know, I think 1 ,000 tickets or a number of tickets that would be sold under 100 euro. So there was kind of a deal that he agreed with um with them on um for some number of tickets to be sold with a lower price. And that was celebrated a lot by, I think, the New York Times posted this. I think it's it's cool that he that did that, even though, of course, this was not the...
Kristine: main amount of tickets but still.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yes, accessibility in tennis is definitely a big topic um that we can also get back to um at another point. But yes, it's really cool that there's stuff going on this week. It's also exciting for us to to watch, to kind of build up the excitement towards the tournament, to see social media heating up and all the different things heating up.
Lifestyle of Longevity: The Mixed Doubles tournament started yesterday. um And today, Wednesday, is going to be the semifinals. And I don't know if the finals also today, because yesterday also so several people.
Kristine: I think so. I think so.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Yeah, played several times. So yeah, it will be exciting to see because in the semifinals, other than prior years, it is a lot of these celebrity. um, matchups.
Lifestyle of Longevity: which are moving on. Whereas last year, of course, the people that won are actual mixed doubles players. So people who aren't professionally singles players, but are um actual mixed doubles players who won ah the tournament, and but they lost yesterday.
Lifestyle of Longevity: So they'll be out. And the number one doubles couple is also out. So maybe one of the celebrity couples.
Kristine: Good to see you.
Lifestyle of Longevity: will win it'll be exciting we will see I will be watching I don't know if you will most likely not because Carlos and sori Serena are out so you're like well now
Kristine: No. I hope I will not, but you will shame me for this then.
Lifestyle of Longevity: No, no, I'll keep you updated.
Kristine: okay
Lifestyle of Longevity: We wanted to chat again on Sunday because... um before the tournament gets going for us in Europe, the tournament always starts in the evening every day. So we'll be chatting on Sunday before the tournament, the singles tournament gets going because we wanted to catch up on any thoughts you might have on the draw up to then, um, and other things that maybe still happened and occurred before the tournament gets going.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Um, but I think that's otherwise that's all for today or Christina, do you have anything else?
Kristine: I just want to say I'm so excited for the year was open to start. ah I really love the fact that around the summertime, there's so much Grand Slam. things happening.
Kristine: And I'm really, really not looking forward to the cold winter month where there's no tennis grand slam happening. Oh my God. I'm really so excited for it to start.
Lifestyle of Longevity: You're going to have to become an NFL fan together with me for the cold winter months.
Kristine: Mm.
Lifestyle of Longevity: That's how you solve that problem. But no, we'll keep it tennis for now. So thanks for catching up. on this first podcast and we will hopefully If all goes well with uploading this new pod. hear you guys again on Sunday.
Lifestyle of Longevity: Bye -bye.
Kristine: Bye.
