Halford & Brough in the Morning - Has The Golden Era Of Canadian Tennis Fallen Short?

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they chat the state of Canadian tennis and the latest from the National Bank Open with Sportsnet tennis reporter Mike Koreen (26:09). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Bruff You're listening to Halford and Brough Alfred and Brough is the danger of growing stale. I'm taking it to strange new places. Miles Straw hits it out. And Bichette delivers with a huge two-run single.

Again, the three-two. Got him! And the Blue Jays find a way to win this game here in Baltimore. I'm fired, aren't I? Oh, yes. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halpert and his breath.

It is SportsNet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Good morning. And who else could it be producing the show today? Good morning, Arash.

Good morning. Alfred and Brough in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates, B.C's first and trusted choice for that help with over 3,000 5 star reviews. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. So we got a big show ahead on a Thursday, lots to get into on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650.

The guest list today begins at 630. Mike Corrine, senior editor at SportsNet, covering the NBO. That's the tennis tournament that's going on in Montreal and Toronto. It was a busy Wednesday at the NBA. Jeannie Bouchard lost and then retired from the sport. That was planned, by the way. It's not like she did at spur of the moment.

Felix Oje, Aliasim. Bad loss. That's it. I'm out of here. Well, it's been a slice. Felix lost. Gabriel Diallo won. He's the hot new thing in men's tennis in Canada.

And then today, Victoria Mboko is going to play at four o'clock our time she's the hot new thing in women's canadian tennis and uh i want to discuss today possibly with the listeners but definitely with mike careen um has canada's golden era of tennis delivered good question like has it has it given has it has it lived up to the promise there was lived up to the potential there was one grand slam yeah thanks to bianca there was the now famous davis cup victory We talked about that when you were on vacation with Vashik Pospicil, who we had on the show. Okay.

Because he was part of that team. There have been four Grand Slam finals appearances, I want to say. If I'm doing this, I'm just doing it off the top of the head. The women won the version of the Davis Cup, too. Yes, they did. It used to be called the Fed Cup. Yes, that's right. I was trying to remember the new name.

The Billy Jean King Cup. Thank you. So there has been some success, but that's a good question for Mike Corrine when he joins the show at 630 this morning. 7 o'clock Adnan Verk is going to join the program. MLB Network, our MLB Insider. The MLB trade deadline is today, 3 o'clock our time, 6 o'clock Eastern, super busy already. The Mariners made a huge splash late last night for those that may have missed it. Reacquiring Eugenio Suarez from Arizona, that's the second trade that they've made with the debacks,

having already picked up Josh Naylor. Eugenio Suarez obviously used to play for the Mariners, so that was a big move. Philly's got a stud closer in Juan Duran. and the Jay snapped their losing streak yesterday. So we got a lot to get into with Adnan Verk at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30 Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN is going to join us busy times at Seahawks training camp as well. Big news from yesterday. The Seahawks agreed to an extension with general manager John Schneider.

That's going to take him all the way through the 2031 season. Should he survive until 2013, it'll be two decades on the job in Seattle having first come aboard. 2010 with Pete Carroll. So we'll be joined by Brady Henderson at 7.30 to talk about all that. 8 o'clock, Thomas Dranz from the Athletic Vancouver in Canucks Talk. We'll join us for your daily dose of Canucks Talk. Lots to get into with Thomas in a relatively slow hockey period, but he's always got spicy mui caliente takes to share with us.

So that'll be coming up at 8 o'clock. Working in reverse on the guest list. 8 o'clock, it's Drancer. 7.30, Brady Henderson. 7 o'clock Adnan Verk and then 6.30, Mike Corrine for some Canadian. tennis talk. That's what's happening on the program today. Arash, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler

by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA. dot CA. Before we get into anything, I think we have to go with the most recent. It's not quite breaking news because it happened over an hour ago, but it's still big news. Nonetheless, Summer Macintosh, our Canadian swimming sensation, is now halfway to her goal of winning as many golds as humanly possible at the world championships. What do you mean she's halfway? Does she have two and a half gold medals? Two and a half, make it three. What do you say when she has three and she's on her way to five? More than halfway. More than halfway.

no one of the golds got snapped into it actually that's what she did with it because she was choked that she didn't set the world record today in the 200 meter butterfly third gold for summer macintosh at the world aquatic championships in Singapore so she set the world championships record she missed setting the world record in the 200 meter butterfly by 0.18 of a second and according to everyone in attendance including cbc's devon haru who's live at the championships she was Pretty angry. She was fuming in her post-swim interview because she really wanted that gold medal and the world record. But she'll have to settle for a world championships record and, of course, her third gold. Yeah, it's pretty exciting what she's doing over there.

Sounds like it. And we're going to talk to her swim coach from U of T tomorrow, correct, A dog? One of the craziest gets in show history. That was courtesy of basketball, Ben, who's no longer with the program. It's just because he's got the day off. He didn't pass away or anything.

But Ben, U of T, managed to set us up. So this is a pretty cool thing. We're going to get to talk to a swim coach from the collegiate race. Byron McDonald. There you go. Yeah, he's going to join us at 6.30 tomorrow morning. So we'll get some more on Summer McIntosh. Let's talk about the trade deadline, though.

Yeah, we got to talk about the Js first and foremost because they managed to avoid what would have been a season high five game losing streak yesterday. and that was courtesy, a 9-8 win, a very narrow 9-8 win over the Orioles in the series finale in Baltimore yesterday. And it was Nathan Lucas, who's at a very eventful series, adding another chapter to it with a three-run jack in the seventh. Here's what it sounded like, the eventual game winning runs. Courtesy, Nathan Lucas. Lucas hits one to deep right field. A three-run Homer.

What a moment for the Blue Jays. What a moment for Nathan Lucas. What a much needed hit right there as he comes off the bench and hits his fourth home run of the road trip and gives the Blue Jays a nine to five lead. It was a very important hit for the Blue Jays because Toronto's AL East lead was down to a mere four games after dropping the first three games of the series in Baltimore. What's more? the Jays fell behind 3-0 yesterday. It looked like it was going to be a sweep for the O's. But the Jays managed to avoid it.

They come away with a win, 9-8 in Baltimore. And now they've got the day off today. So they can spend the entire day fixated on the 3 p.m. Pacific trade deadline. They don't get back into action until tomorrow when they go back home and host Kansas City. Are the Jays and the Jays fans? Is there a little fomo going out going on right there?

I didn't even let you get the question out. Yes. Because there's a lot of other teams doing some stuff and adding some big names. Even a team down the road, the Seattle Mariners that haven't exactly been known for, you know, going for it or, you know, spending money. Making important trades at the deadline.

Having, you know, some semblance of courage, you know. Well, they did last night because in the midst of a very disappointing loss to the athletics and shout out to the A's, I'm wearing their hat today. The Mariners swung their second significant trade of the deadline, but this is the biggest one. No disrespect to Josh Naylor because the M's have reacquired third baseman, Eugenio Suarez, from the D-backs.

It's going to cost them a lot, including one of their prize prospects, whose name I don't have in front of me at the moment. But Suarez sits fifth in all of Major League Baseball with 36 home runs. As a matter of fact, at the time... At the time of the trade, you know, like... At the time of the trade, he changed. trailed Shohei by just two for the NL lead. He was an all-star this year for the D-Backs.

According to MLB.com, this is the most home runs by a player traded in a mid-season deal. The previous one was Mark McGuire, who had 34 jacks when he was dealt in 1997. So this is a major move of significance. I mentioned it was the second deal that the M's and D-Backs swung. The Mariners obviously previous acquired Josh Naylor. So if you go through this lineup right now and you look at their one through seven, You've got guys like, obviously it starts with Cal Rale. And then you've got Eugenio Suarez joining with his 36 home runs.

You've got Randy a Rosarine. You've got Julio Rodriguez. You've got Josh Naylor now. So it becomes a pretty formidable lineup for a team that has often been, you know, chastised for its lack of bats and lack of power and lack of run scoring ability. Now, whether or not this will be able to get the M's across the line remains to be seen. Naylor and Suarez are going to have to come in and keep the form. that they had in Arizona is a weird year in Arizona because those two guys played exceptionally

well, especially Suarez who made the All-Star game, but Arizona did not. They wildly underachieve this year and they started selling off pieces at the deadline. So this is going to be interesting. I mentioned that this was a reacquire for the Mariners. I'm sure, you know, most of you don't remember, but some fans will remember that Suarez came in there in a trade from Cincinnati and really was kind of a non-factor, really revived his career in Arizona. And, you know, I think a lot of Mariners fans, although happy about this deal, we're thinking, if only we had held on to this guy, but alas, he's there now

with his 36 homers. He hit 31 home runs in a year with Seattle and had 96 RBI's the next, like he wasn't, it wasn't terrible by any means, but maybe they just expected more because. His slugging percentage dropped under 400 in that last year before they eventually

traded him away to Arizona, and then he like I said, he kind of had a revival at the plate to a certain degree, and then this year was fantastic. So, the Mariners, did what they needed to do in acquiring some bats. Blue Jays need pitching, man. How many runs did they give up to Baltimore? I think it was 40, all told.

It might have been more. I don't know the exact number in front of me. It was 27 in the first two games of the series. I think it was 38 runs over four games. And they won one of them. Yeah, it was a lot. And the back end, the relief has been an issue. Guys are getting extended.

Hoffman's pitching an awful lot. And then if you look around Major League Baseball, right now. There are a lot of contenders loading up with arms in their bullpen, including the Philadelphia Phillies, who probably made the second biggest deal of the day yesterday. If you're going to say that the Mariners getting Eugenio Suarez in was the biggest deal,

then the Phillies getting Yohan Duran from Minnesota was a pretty big one. One of the more higher profile closers in baseball, although the save total wasn't as high, is some of the highest end guys this year, like Josh Hader or Suarez in San Diego. Still 16

saves. And This is a guy that can routinely top 100 miles an hour. And he's going to join a Phillies team that, like a lot of the contenders in the NL, have aspirations of getting to the World Series this year. He's converted like 89% of his career save opportunities. So he's a pretty elite closer. And he's got good postseason success. I think he had five scoreless innings in 2023 the last time that he went in as a closer.

So that's a big one for the Phillies as well. So we'll kind of sit around and wait to see what happens today. you've got to think as we circle back to the Jays here that if they don't make a move of significance it's going to leave a lot of fans wanting not just because their pen needs arms but as you mentioned the FOMO side of things where you see all these other contenders loading up

and if you're left kind of holding the bag it's going to be disappointing for Jays fans. Who's the favorite in the AAL? That's a great question. We were talking about this on our baseball chat last night yes I belong to a baseball chat. You know if you're if you're a Blue Jays fan obviously you see this opportunity

and we've talked a lot about the Jays for obvious reasons Kinney and Rogers tells us every day talk about the Jays no they don't know every day every second day seriously but we haven't talked as much about the Mariners and if you're a Mariners fan fan of a team that's never even been to a world series

you got to be thinking right now well why not this year why not you've you get a decent team and you're loading up with some pretty big names especially one big name yesterday why not the Mariners

is there is there really any like I know I know the Jays have the lead on the Yankees in the division a four game lead so it's a pretty sizable lead and the Mariners are probably going to be a wildcard team because they're five games back of Houston

in their division but like I I honestly don't see a huge difference between the Mariners and the Jays. No, I think probably like the Jays actually, you know what? I would probably take the Mariners unless the Jays significantly improved their pitching. Right. I mean, the thing with the Mariners now is that they're giving themselves a shot in the arm offensively

in a division where they're still chasing Houston Astros teams that I would consider somewhat flawed. Because if you look at those elite teams in the AAL, Houston's offense doesn't really stack up. They're at 473 run score. The run differential is pretty good because their starting pitching has been so elite, but they need bats in a fairly major way

and they don't score a lot of runs. You take pitching, right, over hitting? If you were going to go into the playoffs, would you rather be a great hitting team with kind of questionable pitching? Or would you rather be a great pitching team with a questionable hitting? I take the pitching.

Yeah, I mean, I think the majority of people would Although, if anything, like the past, the most recent post seasons have shown us, like you've seen some teams that have just dried off offensively, right? Where, and a lot of it has to do with. Because of the great pitching. And the ability, the single swing offense, right? That's kind of what you need in the playoffs sometimes, where it's low-scoring tight games is that's where the Jays could fall short in the playoffs is

they manufacture runs. They grind out runs. And a lot of that has to do sometimes, especially when you're playing the Yankees and Anthony Volpe, you know, putting the opposing defense under. pressure by just putting balls in play. Do you kind of blame Vladdy for that? What's that? The lack of home runs?

I mean, he's aw as a guy who can be the guy, like, well, how many home runs does he have? 15? Yeah, he's third on the team. He might have passed that as a barger now. It's wild that he's only got 15 home runs. Yeah, I mean, there's a, he's a guy. It's a 500 million dollar player. Right.

And there's a guy. I mean, when we had Dan Shulman on the show when you were away, I mean, he just flat out said, like, Vladdy's not right. This isn't to say the statistically. he's having a very good year because his batting average is flirting with 300 and he's got a lot of walks but he said you don't pay vladdie guerrero junior to go up and take walks and to hit blue burns like strawberry go hit home run it's like okay boss sure can chief you got it skill and he has he has been swinging the bat better now the thing with gladys he's always been a sort of july and

august guys that when the season and the temperatures heat up and get further into the stretch he gets better but his numbers aren't going to come anywhere close to some of his elite hitting seasons year, especially when it comes to balls leaving the yard. Well, he's only had one crazy home run season. Right. 2011 when he had 48. And this one's like I mean, this one's not going to, wait, what is he going to finish with this year? Like if he gets to

20, what's he's on pace for like 22 home runs or something? Yeah, if he gets to 25, he's going to be extending himself at this point because right now he's on pace for probably closer to 20 or as you said 22. Yeah, it would be interesting to see what happens there. Okay, we got to run through some other things here in what happened. I do want to recap

the tennis very quickly so we can set the table for Mike Corrine. He's a senior editor from SportsNet, and he's doing all the coverage from the, or majority of the coverage anyway, from the NBO in both Montreal and Toronto. And it was a very busy Wednesday for the Canadians at the NBO.

I mentioned the biggest story of yesterday was that Jeannie Bouchard waved goodbye to professional tennis yesterday. The 31-year-old, one of the faces and the signature people of the golden era of Canadian tennis, bowed out yesterday. to the 17th seat in this tournament.

It was a valiant effort by Jeannie, actually. She fought back after going and losing the first set, 6 to push it to three sets. I don't think many people expect her to win her first match. No. And she pushed this one to two hours and 16 minutes before eventually bowing out. And then bidding farewell at the age of 31 to, you know, she's from Quebec. So that was a nice homecoming for her. So she bid farewell.

But that sort of was the theme of the day for Canadian tennis is that there were more disappointments than they were successes because the biggest disappointment on Wednesday was that Felix OJ Aliasim had his run for a national title and real quick real quick he lasted just one hour in 41 minutes

losing 6-4-6-4 to the 56th seed in the world Fabian Marizan so that was Canada's top ranked male going into this tournament was him and Shapo were the two highest ranked males and they both bowed out very early so they've only about one Canadian on each, like on the men's side.

Diallo's left. And is he 23 or 24 or something like that? I think he's still pretty young. And then Victoria Mboko, who's only 18 years old. And she's kind of the talk of the tournament in Montreal. Yeah. And she's going to play today at 4 o'clock. And she's going to have the center court.

I believe Koko got it this morning. And then Mboko's got it this afternoon. So it's funny because when you talk about, the golden era of Canadian tennis. I distinctly remember a large part of it being, oh, there's always someone waiting in the wings, right? When Milosh was doing it, it was kind of a chapeau, and then Chapo, and then Felix,

and now you've got Gabriel Diallo, who's going to be the next one. And on the women's side, it's been very similar, right? It was after Jeannie, there was Bianca, and then there was Leila Fernandez, and now you've got Mboko. So they're well positioned to continue this run of the golden era of Canadian tennis.

But it's interesting to see if they can rack up some more higher profile victories. Not to say that Canada tennis hasn't had any, but we'll see. Well, have they delivered enough in the way of victories and big victories to kind of earn that title of the golden era of tennis? I mean, I think I would give them the nod when Bianca won the U.S. Open. That was just such a big deal because we'd never seen a Canadian. win a Grand Slam event,

uh, winning the Davis Cup and, uh, the Billy Jean King Cup on, on the women's side. And having, what was it, four finals.

Mm-hmm. Four finals to watch with a Canadian in it. Um, three on the women's side, Jeannie, Bianca and Leila. Bianca also beating Serena Williams, which was,

I mean, that was part of the, the lore as well, right? It wasn't just that she won the U.S. open. It was that she beat Serena as the eight seats. So it was still pretty much,

not at her, like, the height of her game, but still playing some very good tennis. So that, yeah, and then what was the, what was the Canadian men's Grand Slam final? That was Milosh. Milosh at Wimbledon, right? Yes, that's right.

Okay. So, you know, that's, that, it's, it's pretty good. It's not, it's not, it's by,

by no means, dominance. Mm-hmm. There hasn't been any Canadian dominance. Um, but, you know, when Bianca won,

it kind of reminded me of when Mike Weir won the Masters. It actually really reminded me of that because it was such a big moment that a male had won the Masters, right? And we've got kind of inferiority complex in certain sports. And in men's golf right now, we're still waiting for another guy to really break through and become that consistent majors contender that Weir was. Like there's a lot of guys, not a lot of guys, but like a guy like Corey Conners.

It's the same names that we keep saying over and over and over again. I feel like it's like wrote at this point to just mention them before a major. And be like, well, what happens with one of these guys? Well, none of them have, none of the current crop, if you want to talk about Cory Connors or Nick Taylor or Adam Hadwin. They've never really been right in. in the mix on a Sunday in a major. Corcor Connors has had a few backdoor top tens.

Yep. But, and that's great. But it just shows the difference between very good in the elite. And maybe that's where the Canadian tennis says, if you want to put it this way, the golden era has fallen short. They've never had a player that has been consistently elite. I think now this is different on the women's side because I think there was a touch more parody

although the Williams sisters did dominate. On the men's side, part of the issue was the big three. Yep. Was that breaking through was damn near impossible for anyone, not named Federer Nadal or Jokovic? And it's interesting because moving forward, you're already seeing a couple heirs to the throne

in Alcoraz and Sinner who have kind of emerged as the guys to be. Yeah, they might be the big too. Right? And so, you know, it'll be interesting to see because at this point, you're not calling Shapo or Aliasim young promise they're still young in terms of like overall collective age but they've been around for a long time now they've been on tour for a while tennis is a young person's game and we see a lot of tennis players whether it's injuries or the stress

of it all and a lot of them get grinded down because you can start pretty young and you can be a pretty good especially on the women's side you can be a really good player in your teens and You know, I, like, has, has Bianca ever stayed healthy? I mean, that's the biggest issue. She got hurt again at the MBO. She turned her ankle. Yeah. And, and I think it's just, I think the sport is, not other sports aren't,

but that one seems to be a particular grind. Oh, yeah. Mentally and physically, where you might reach a point where you're 25 or 26 years old and you're like, man, I'm just like, I can't, I can't get any better. Or like this radio show. I don't know if I, I don't know if I can break through anymore. Do you know what I mean? No, it's true though.

I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying. Yeah, you get to a certain point. You're like, all right. I'm going to do something else. Okay, we got a lot more. We're going to do something else now. We're going to go to break.

When we come back, Mike Corrine is going to join us for more Canadian tennis talk here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. He's covering the NBO, both the men's and the women's side of things for Sportsnet. 7 o'clock it's at Danverk. 7.30. It's Brady Henderson. 8 o'clock. It's Thomas Drance.

A reminder, you can get your What We Learns in. There's only two days left until the weekend and then we're off for vacation for most of August. So if you want to weigh in, if you want to be on the radio, the Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Hashtaget at WWL and send it in to the Dunbar Lember text line at 650, 650. You're listening to the Halford & Breff Show on SportsNet 650.

632 on a Thursday, everybody, everybody, 632 on a Thursday, everybody, Halford Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford and Breath of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80%. With no more interest, visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. A lot of tennis talk in the open of the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. That continues now. Mike Corrine, senior editor for Sportsnet, doing some coverage of the NBO.

Both the men's and the women's side of things, joins us now on the Power West Industries hotline. Good morning, Mike. How are you? Hey, how are you guys at West? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. So it was a very busy Wednesday for the Canadians at the NBO. And I guess we should start with what was the biggest story, not just because of the match, but the retirement as well.

So Jeannie Bouchard goes down in her match and then announces, or formally signifies and announces her retirement in the aftermath. Did you have a lot of time to think about the legacy that Bouchard leaves behind, not just from an individual perspective, but being one of the signature faces of that quote-unquote, quote, golden era of Canadian tennis. It still is going on, but her chapter obviously now written. Yeah, actually, I was kind of addictive about match last night.

I thought it was really compelling theater. And she just had a great second set, totally turning back the clock. And then, you know, somewhat predictably as it went on, just started making more enforced errors. And it looked like perhaps fatigue became a factor. But still, obviously a very good fight against a good player in Benz's. Belinda Bensish. Her legacy,

it's, I don't know, you can't really put it in one word, I don't think. Like, she obviously had that huge breakout year where I think she was two semifinals at Grand Slans

and then the Wimbledon final and then never hit those levels again. I thought her former coach, Nick Saviano had a great quote in the tribute video last night that said she suddenly became very famous. And that, it was just, like, for a time, I don't know if you guys would argue or not, but I think she was one of the, easily, the top three most famous athletes in Canada.

And she was, you know, she hit non-sports fans, too. But she just could not maintain that level after that year. And you could look at any number of reasons. But ultimately, look, she was the first ever Canadian woman to reach a Grand Samp final in open era. And you can't change that. did some amazing things on the court, albeit for perhaps not as long a time as she or all of us would have hoped for. Do you think the fame did hinder her game?

Look, I don't know her personally, and I'd be guessing like anybody. I mean, it seems impossible that it didn't affect her to some degree. You know, she had a ton of endorsements, and luck to be a great tenets. player you have to be extremely driven and you have to have natural talent and that combination is just so rare like in terms of being the elite of the elite do i think she could have been a top 20 or top 30 player for a bit longer i i think a lot of people would would think that and for whatever reason it didn't happen do i think she was going to be you know one of the all-time greats no i don't

think so, but I think she, I think a lot of people thought she would have been, you know, a contender for at least a few more years than she ended up being. So the loss yesterday, although the farewell ceremony, it was very nice and very emotional and heartwarming. Overall, kind of a disappointing day for Canadians, if you combine the Bouchard loss with the loss of Felix Oce Aliasim from the NBO, his run for a national title lasts a grand total of one hour and 41 minutes in front of a packed center. court crowd, Felix lost his first match in the tournament

64-6-4-6-4. He's out quickly to the world's number 56, Fabian Marizan. Can you kind of relayed to the listeners the level of disappointment that there was, not just in any Canadian losing in this Canadian tournament, but Felix, who was the highest men's ranked player among all the Canadians

participating in the NBO? Yeah, I just think it sort of sums up the year that's been in Canadian tennis, which there have been some real nice moments, such you know, Shepavlov has won a couple tournaments. Layla, of course, winning a tournament last week in Washington. Gabriel Diallo has had some very nice moments.

But then there's also been disappointments. They just have not been able to find that sort of consistent quarterfinal week after week that you'd hope for. Aliasim, too. Like, he was here, it's funny. It was at a Blue Jays game last week, and he threw out the first pitch. And this is, like, a week before the main draw. He was in Toronto.

was really preparing for this tournament. He did not play Washington. And, yeah, to go in the first round against, you know, a lower-ranked opponent and the world number 56, that is just another sign of how he just has not found the consistency that I'm sure he'd like to have at this stage of the season heading into the U.S. Open. I think sometimes maybe we forget the relatively young age of these players, especially OJ. Elias, and who's still only 24 years old.

so there's a lot of tennis ahead of him, assuming he can stay healthy. Is there one particular thing that people are pointing to that he needs to take that next step? Or is the possibility that this is where he might end up being as a professional tennis player? Because it is such a competitive tour, and it is very difficult week after week to be one of those elite high-end top-10, top-five players in the world. I don't know. Look, when he was young, I loved his game, and I thought it was a matter time before he'd win a Grand Slam or two. do. And like you said, I still think that's possible. He's only 24. So he's got time. I don't know if he does one thing particularly well. Like he has a good all-around game, which I thought was going to be enough and still might be enough.

The problem is there's, like you said, it's just such a good bedroom tour. Like you think with Djokovic near in the end and the Dahl and Federer are now done, you thought the door would open for guys like I mentioned, but then here comes. center and here comes Alcarez, and it seems like we have a huge two again, right? And everybody else is going to be playing for third place. So yeah, it's tough. Like it is hard to believe. He's only 24. So he's not washed up. Can he take that next step? He's still got to prove that to all of us. Same question now, but for Dennis Shepovovov, who's 26 years old, so slightly older, but still relatively young in the grand scheme of things. And another one, I mean, he doesn't obviously have the same levels of success that Felix has had, especially at the grand slams, although he did make the semifinals of Wimbledon once. It always seems like there's

something left wanting here as well. I do wonder at times if it's because of the temperament, which seems to flare up on occasion. But much like Felix, it was a very disappointing NBELF who bowed out early as well. He has not done well in Canada at all since, of course, that famous win in 2017 against Nadal and Montreal, which was one of the most exciting tennis matches ever in Canada. But yeah, it hasn't happened for the last few years. And again, I mean, here's a guy coming off a win a couple weeks ago in Mexico to start the hardcore season and just didn't have it in his biggest tournament.

He said he doesn't love the court in Toronto and there is a swirly breeze that sometimes comes through there and I get it. It's not, you know, maybe ideal tennis conditions, but both guys have to play on it. So he hasn't been able to make the adjustments for whatever reason. and yeah, you only get to play here once a year. So it has to be extremely disappointing to be won and done. Another guy who just has a, I would say a more explosive game than OJLUCM. And I thought would translate to multiple titles at the highest level.

Hasn't have it yet. The temperament has been an issue at times. He's gone through a lot of coaches. So it feels like he's tried a lot of things. And while he's had some success, he's certainly been a very, good player, hasn't had that ultimate success. So we'll see. We're speaking to SportsNet

senior editor Mike Corrine covering the NBO on the tennis beat here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, let's talk about the next ones here. That's always the fun thing in Canadian tennis. There always seems to be a next one. And Gabriel Diallo relatively well known,

although I'm not sure how many of our listeners are familiar with this game. So for those that aren't, give us a brief overview of where he's at, the 23-year-old, already cracked the top 40 rankings on tour and what he's done at this tournament thus far because he's now Canada's lone hope on the men's side of things.

He's had a real nice year. Like he's up to, what he's up to number 35, I think of the world. A big guy could serve the ball hard, so you know, it has some milos around his qualities in him. But being a bit of a stronger

overall game, sort of a unique background. He played NCAA tennis at Kentucky. generally not the path to becoming an elite player. If you go college, generally, you know, you're a lot of the best players go pro at a younger age. But he, you know, he didn't feel he was not a top-ranked junior, went to college, obviously improved his game dramatically there.

And, I mean, now he's a top 40 players who's, you know, made some decent runs this year. And, yeah, plays with a lot of emotion, six foot eight, a big serve. you know, only 23, so still time. Yeah, I mean, full credit to him. He's had a promising year. Does anybody forecast him to be a real Grand Sebtender?

I'm not sure people are saying that yes. But, again, from a bit of an unknown background, an unfamiliar background, as opposed to Chapabala and Ogiya, he seems like we've known forever. So, you know, let's see what the next few years brings for this guy. And then there's Victoria Mbocco on the women's side. of things just 18 years old and I know having followed it a little bit

there's been a lot of hype around her arrival on the tour and what she's been able to do thus far and again at this tournament in Canada in Montreal she's become a pretty big story and she'll get center court today I believe at 4 o'clock our time as she tries to make her run continuing through the NBO

I mean there so I really watched a full close to a full badger for the first time the other night against Sophia Kennan and I was very impressed like she is a huge weapon in her serve which you just don't see all the time in women's tennis that even when she makes mistakes

she could get out of trouble with it so that's just something not that many players have on the women's side in addition to that she has a very nice touch at the net and she could run and the best part is she's only 18 So I think for her, I remember when she was 15,

I remember watching her in a qualifying match in Toronto and thinking, you know, she's pretty good for 15. And then she sort of disappeared for a few years. She apparently had a lot of injuries and just did not get consistent court time. And then this year, she's finally, you know, been relatively injury-free, has won a ton of matches at the lower level

and has made some nice runs to get into the main drop of the French Open and then got into Wimbledon that's a lucky loser and won a match and she looked great the other night against Ken and she still has things to work on she still sprays a few more shots than you'd like but again she has a weapon

to get out of trouble I think it's great they're putting her in a primetime match and man if we could get her and Cocoa Goss winning both today they play each other I assume Saturday night in Montreal and that would be an absolute blast

Mike this was great thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Hopefully the weekend turns out like you said it was and we get a good match on Saturday night. Okay, guys. Have a good day. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Mike Corrine, SportsNet senior editor and tennis coverage here on the Health and Bruff Show on Sportsnet

650. So we got some Blue Jays news. Yeah, this is interesting. Reportedly close to acquiring Shane Bieber. Justin Bieber's brother. From Cleveland. Now, here's the good news. Not his brother. He's a former Cy Young winner. 2020. He was an all-star in

2019 and 2021. One of the best fielding pitchers in recent memory. I think he won three gold gloves. No, it's his brother. I checked. Here's the, I won't call it bad news, but like, interesting news. Mm-hmm. He hasn't pitched in a while because he's had Tommy John.

Oh, I know. He hasn't pitched in this 2024. Is that bad? Is that a problem? I think that just goes to show the market for starting pitching. It's like, sure. Yeah, like, he might be good. When you was, uh, so just to set this, just said the stage here.

apparently looked pretty good with the Akron Rubber Ducks. Those are my favorite rubber ducks. Oh, the rubber ducks. In AA. He went four innings and threw 67% of his pitches for strikes. I mean, you know, show me another rubber duck that does that.

Every time he pitches, though, he screams. So that can't be good. So, really loudly. I also want to point out that Sheen Bieber hasn't pitched since 2024. And when he did pitch in 2020. He barely pitched, appeared in a grand total of, I think he had two wins on the year in 2024. So it's been a while since he's been right. You need Tommy John. So at eight, again,

we're talking five years ago now, but five years ago, Shane Bieber was one of the premier pitchers in baseball. He's a big deal. I think he's like six, three, 200 pounds. But there have been health concerns. And I know the Jay's wanted to add arms. I don't know what this is going to look like because it's been such a long time since we said when you okay just set the stage here as we're talking to mike koreen i can see bruff's furiously researching and obviously something's broken in some way shape or form and when you said she no i knew everything about shame beber well but when you said shame beber the first thing that popped to mind was i was like when's the last time he actually pitched first reaction was like i was like i knew that he i saw his name pop up a couple times

jeff passen had it about you know two days ago saying like yeah there's talk about shame beber coming over from the Guardians. But I kind of put it out of mind because, again, he hasn't pitched an awful lot. If they can bring anything back here, if they, if he can, you know, reclaim any past glory, I mean, it's a, it's a huge coup for the Jays. They're really doing the dial back machine with Scherzer and Bieber if they were to get them both, you know, in the starting pitching rotation to be able to get some games out of them. Because, I mean, you know, Bieber's 30. Scherzer's 40, but those are both guys that at their peaks were elite, elite, pitchers in baseball. So Bieber won the Cy Young in 2020, and I'm going through a stat line,

I'm like, wait a minute, you only started 12 games and won eight of them. And I was like, oh yeah, pandemic season. It was a COVID year. Pandemic season. It was peak COVID year. And one of the things we wanted to talk about today was the article in the athletic that looked back on the NBA bubble. And it was one of those oral history type articles where they had a bunch of people weigh in, including some of the journalists

that covered the NBA bubble, which was in Orlando. And, of course, the NHL also had its own bubble in the Orlando of Canada, Edmonton. Yep. That's what they call it. And I know a lot of people,

like this article actually got quite a bit of talk. Joe Varden, very good NBA writer for the athletic. And who was it that? I've got it here. Okay. Darry, who at the time was general manager of the Houston Rockets. He's a very outspoken guy.

He's run himself into hot water on a number of occasions. I won't go down the road of all the sort of inflammatory, controversial things. He said, but he's a guy that likes to speak his mind. So in speaking with Joe Varden, Darry said the following, had my team, the Rockets, won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as a legitimate knowing that the immense effort and resilience was required. Yet everyone I speak to around the league

privately agrees that it doesn't truly hold up as a genuine championship. Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its leadership at both the beginning and the end of the pandemic, even though the champion will forever be marked by an asterisk. That champion, of course, LeBron James in the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers. I suppose we have our own unique perspective on the bubble,

given the Canucks performance in Edmonton, which was a good performance. And a lot of us thought, well, maybe this is a sign of things to come for the Canucks, good things to come for the Canucks. then the next year, which was the All-Candidative Division, they lost a few of the key veterans in the room, and it went terribly. Terribly.

And this whole thing about whether the bubble titles are legit or not, it's the perfect topic for sports radio and social media because you get to pick a side. Either it was easier to win in the bubble because not all the teams were equally invested. And do you remember hearing that about a lot of the NHL teams that went for, like, I'm not sure if I want to win. win. No. Can I get out of the hotel? Yeah. Can I get out of the Sutton Place Hotel if I lose?

Or, or you could say it was actually harder to win in the bubble because it was so mentally taxing. Um, Mori, you know, I know a lot of people were focused on his quotes about the asterix, but I actually really liked the way he put this. Mori called the bubble in Orlando a luxury purgatory, which, which, which I thought was pretty good, right? Like everything they wanted was in there, but they couldn't leave. You remember unless they lost. In one of the biggest gets in show history, we had

Taylor Rooks on the show. She of course, NBA coverage down south, she was a ESPN at the time. She might still be. Anyway, I worked that show. Yeah. She wrote an article for GQ because she was one of the handful of people that got to go into the bubble. Yeah. And I remember some of the anecdotes

she had, she was like, you know, you'd hear this loud thumping upstairs in the, and it would be Jimmy Butler. like working the treadmill because he needed a workout. And then Jimmy Beller also started his own coffee shop. Yeah, that's why he was working the treadmill at three in the morning. He said, I've had too much coffee. Right.

But they said like people would kind of go and stir crate. I don't know because of the coffee or not. But point being, the bubble was its own unique thing. And you could make arguments on both sides. Like, do you have the mental resilience to thrive in that, those type of conditions? Because it was unique. And at times you could singularly focus on just one thing, just hockey or just basketball because there was nothing else to do but you could also go mental right because there was

nothing else to do so correct me if i'm wrong here the blues were the defending cup champs right in the emminton bubble and the canucks beat them and that was great for the canucks but i always wondered and i think we all wondered and i think it's quite fair to wonder like were the blues all in on that because they had just won the cup in front of fans and they had had that great experience and the part of this athletic piece that spoke to me the most was the part about the fans being quote unquote the oxygen of sports and i can't remember who it was that said that in the piece but i was like man that's a that's a great way to put it that fans are the oxygen of sports i couldn't agree more with that i mean look i don't want to i don't want to sound like i was not grateful for

the bubbles like i i think both leagues did a tremendous job putting those things together. Sure. Working hard to overcome the complications. When a lot of people had a kind of attitude of like, shut everything down. Nothing is safe, right? They were like, no, we can do something for our fans and for the players.

And obviously, I mean, there was a business case to be made for doing it. and they did it and they pulled it off. They did the best they could. And I think we really needed the distraction at the time. We were looking for anything to watch. That being said, it sucked without fans like it did. It was terrible. Pro sports without the spectacle of fans

really isn't that compelling to me. We learned a lot. It's funny. We learned a lot. That was one of the things that we learned. I was like, you know, like I like, I like, I like hockey. But I like, I need everything. I need the crowd noise.

I need the shots of the fans. I need the people. Yeah. You know, the game. Yeah, the game. I watched the games, right? Sure. And I was into it when the Canucks won.

But the fans contribute so much to the intensity of the playoffs. And you and I were saying this going into the bubble. We were like, well, how is this going to be without the fans? But I think, and having read that piece, there was kind of like a lot of people realized how important the fans are. Yeah. For even watching at home,

I'm not talking about being in the rank. Even watching at home, watching on TV, I need the crowd shots. And when they have the crowd shots of, like, do you remember in the bubble? They had like fake fans. They're on posters. All the fans.

I was like, this just reminds me that we're in a pandemic. They green screened some fans in. were watching at home they put them like they're you know you're now you're in living room and then they had the screenshot of you in this they tried a million different things to replicate it and I think the one thing that they found and one of the lessons that we did learn from that sporting area of the pandemic is that you can't replicate the fan experience no you can try but you'll never be able to adequately do it and then they decided to jack the prices on live sporting events on

everyone who did that uh god the pandemic was weird I know we got to go to a break but it feels like it was a hundred years ago now. You know what the pandemic has become to me? It's become, oh, yeah, there was that pandemic for a couple of years. Yep. It wasn't three years. It was one really long year. That's what it felt like.

Yeah. It was just one really long year. We got fired in the middle of it. I remember. I know, we put on all that. That was a fun morning. We put in all that work. Do months and months of no sports broadcasting.

and they're like, okay, are we through this? I know. Every day I show up, we're like, I can go to game here. You're not, though. Now it's time to cut them off at the knees. All right, we got to go to break. When we come back, hour two of the program is on tap. We're going to be joined by Adnan Verk as the MLB trade deadline continues to heat up.

A reminder, the deadline is officially 3 o'clock our time today, 6 o'clock Eastern. We'll talk to Adnan at 7.9 at 7.000 at 7. Live from Seahawks training camp at 7.30. That's the next hour of the program. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 6. 50.