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Arnaldi has withdrawn. It is a walkover. Kaboli to the finals. Our first walkover at this stage of a major in four years. 2022 Wimbledon. Rafa pulled out. Curios. He made it to his first final because of that. That's what's happening with Kaboli. His first major final appearance because of walkover taking on Sasha Zera for Kaboli. His previous best result in a major last year a quarterfinal at Wimbledon. And here is the tale of the tape. Head-to-head, Zerv leads this one 3 to one. This will also be the first time that Zerv is favored in a major final in his fourth appearance. Many
people believe he was the favorite against team. He was not. Team was the favorite. This will be the first time Sasha is favored in a major title. And you can see the disparity those five years. Sasha has put up some numbers. The only Kaboli win actually this year in Munich 3 and three. Agassy as you start now focusing on the final, where does your mind go? Well, it goes to that stat I saw there about six weeks ago. Kabully finding a way over that finish line uneventfully against them. I mean, if there's anything that can put doubt in somebody's mind, you know, it's it's the fact that you lost to this person last
time you played on the same surface. I mean, granted, Munich's a little quicker. Um, it's going to be a little harder for to dictate against Sasha in the slower, heavier conditions, but obviously Cavali has the firepower to do it. Uh, he has the movement to do it. I think he's has a chance at u at making this one hell of a final. I mean, he's certainly going to make Zarv feel like he has to earn it. This is undoubtedly his surface as well. since the start of the 2025 season. Cabali is 28-10 on Clay and that includes titles in Bucharest and in Hamburg.
Yeah, and look, they've played twice actually in the last six weeks. So, they're familiar with each other. One Kaboli's way, one wins Verveway. Both have been lopsided scores. Kaboli beat him three and three, then Zerv has beat him one and four. But that one win, like Andre is saying, that's going to give Kaboli a little bit of confidence. It's going to put a little bit of doubt in the mind of Zerv. And I think for Kaboli, he did play a big serving FAA in the previous round. He's now going to go up against a better serve probably in Zerv. And Zerv's obviously got better ground strokes. He's a better player than Felix, but he at least got a little look at that serve coming from a guy who's about 6'6 in the last
round. Most importantly with this matchup and for tennis fans worldwide is both these players have an absolutely full tank of gas going into this final. Kaboli has not spent much time on court. Neither has Zerv. So, these guys are going to be 100% ready to go. Should make for some good tennis. I think for Kaboli, this is huge. Obviously, beating Zerv, this is his first Grand Slam finals. It's a big stage for him. He got nervous earlier on in the tournament. Was like, "Oh my gosh, I had to finish off this match and I, you know, had to relief myself
almost." But going into a match where you've beaten the player before and it's recent and on Clay, I think that's going to give some calmness to him. Obviously, when the stakes get high, you get closer to the finish line, he's going to feel nervous if he gets there, but you got to think that gives him the belief going into the match. And he's going to come out firing early on. This is the final that I that we would have anticipated, hoped for with the players that we had left. And I think it'll be a great match. And it's Zervs to lose at this point. The ball is on his racket. The match, the championship is on his racket. It's just
if he can execute, if he can hold his nerve, if he can figure out how to get through that last little bit. Obviously, Kaboli has everything to play for. He did just beat him, so it could be interesting. But if Kaboli can get into the match enough to frustrate Shashra enough just to make enough balls, again, we don't know what the win will be like, what the temperature will be like. We don't know any of those variables, but as long as Kaboli can get into the match, it'll I think it'll be a really nice one. I think it's also fair to say that in tennis, it's it's better to have the wrong game plan with total conviction than the right game plan that you're questioning. And I don't think
Kabali is going to go out in that court and be questioning what it is he's going to be trying to do. He's going to be playing with total conviction. I mean, the guy moves well enough to defend to get the ball back to make SV have to hit a lot of good shots to win a point. He can push him around. If Serev starts leaving that forehand a little nervous and sitting up, he likes to play like a Spanish player. He's going to try to dictate with forehands, but don't underestimate his backhand. he can stay back in the back end with Zerev and wait to go to his forehand to get the shot he wants. I think we're going to see some fun tennis. If I would have told you two weeks ago that two top 10 seeds would make the
final on the men's side, you go makes sense. Normal tournament. It has been anything but that. 5hour marathons cramping on the court, walkovers in the semifinal. This has been a rolling gross to remember. We have a qualifier playing in the women's final tomorrow. We haven't seen that in years. Up against a prodigy in Meera Andreva. It has been a wild two weeks and here we are on the doorstep of the finals. It is officially going to be Zerv and Cabali after the surprise withdrawal from Matteo Arnaldi. We are not going to have a second match tonight, but we are going to have a final in which Sasha Zerv could finally lift the trophy.
