Photo : Peter Power
This week on Match Point Canada, Ben and Mike welcome highly respected and renowned Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Ron MacLean to the podcast for some hockey/tennis crossover talk.
Maclean was recently at the National Bank Open to help referee the tournament Ball Hockey challenge between ATP and NHL players. Tennis players such as Canadian Alexis Galarneau, World No. 5 Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz participated in the friendly competition against hockey stars such as Nazem Kadri, Quinton Byfield and retired Toronto Maple Leaf legend Doug Gilmour.
MacLean discusses his love of the sport going back to watching Wimbledon in the days of Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors as well as his appreciation for Novak Djokovic, who he called his favourite among the Big Three. He shares his impressions of how the tennis stars handled themselves with a hockey stick and expresses his excitement for the new wave of tennis players on the ATP such as Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune.
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Later in the episode, Ben and Mike recap all the action from the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati which saw Djokovic and Coco Gauff hoist some big hardware. The stage has now been set for the US Open and Match Point Canada is ready to cover the final Grand Slam of 2023. Check back with us for all the action from Flushing Meadows in the weeks ahead!
Listen to our newest episode of Match Point Canada, available on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify below. Enjoy!
