BONUS - US Open 2025 - Happy Hour

0:10Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast and the first of 17 daily pods from the 2025 US Open you've reminded me that we're yet to get a photo of David with someone on stilts which is always a priority on a day like this maybe they'll let me ever go on the stilts and then I'll be able to go to the top of the Arthras stadium without going up the escalator I've got Igor's Fiontech winning it yeah I've got Osaka winning it all of it

0:49I love that. I think it's absolute insanity, but I love it. We've been there before. Disco David, what can I say? OK. For Fritz, isn't it? Because he gets put off balance. What does he do better than Novak Djokovic? Even 38-year-old Novak Djokovic? Well, he's better at being in his 20s. So is Matt. You know, that is something I have over Novak Djokovic. We've got Joel Fonseca in Taylor Fritz's section. He was brought to press today and put in far too small an area. He took up the whole area. When will the people learn that lots of people, just forever more now, regardless of what he does, are going to want to speak to Joel Fonseca?

1:37It was the media equivalent of some of his court schedules, you know, that one in Miami when they had to sort of suddenly move him and get him into the big stadium. That was the great scene earlier this season. It was giving that. It was Alcaraz and Fritz. Well, pickleball has been happening. We've also seen Alcaraz being sort of blessed by a priest. That's the most uncomfortable I've seen Carlos Alcaraz look.

2:07David has accompanied Artur Rindeknes to the locker room. Yep. And recorded it? He was offering me a very short interview in the interview area, or a longer one if I accompanied him on his walk back to the locker room. So I told the latter.

2:27Owen, you've reminded me that my favourite moment of today was when our subway broke down earlier. Yeah, we struggled to get into Queen's today. Yeah, we were on that subway for sort of over an hour. It was a pretty dark moment. I remembered that I had a croissant in my bag. It was just such a pick-me-up. You made a very similar noise as when Saru Rani went under our serve. The whole subway was allergic to them. It was the boost that I needed. I can't remember specifically, but I don't imagine that this time a year ago we were saying, wow, he looked flat, he looked knackered, he's going to lose to Bottage Man.

3:07Watch out for Botti. I can confirm we were not saying that. he um you've been asking you're obviously working on a piece about clothing sponsorship i assume charlie unless it's just a personal interest just trying to get a sponsorship myself and i'm hoping if i put myself out there enough in press conferences

3:32and he came in off the back of this massive ad campaign with american express which was all built around whether Andy, whether anybody could find Andy's mojo because he'd lost it on a plane as though it was a physical thing. And he'd wake up... Like he lost him how. Exactly. Lost first round in straight sets to Gilles Muller. You haven't mentioned the runner and rider. Who have I failed to mention? Taylor Fritz? Amanda Anissimova. My apologies, Matt. What did we learn? Not that much.

4:14Look how serious he takes it. He's not going to go out on a limb. This is a man that used... He likes to palm his predictions off to his mum. Yeah, this is a man that used his mum as a human shield in order to not make predictions. That was for the wider predictions. I'm more than happy to make these good predictions. To be fair, Charlie has made some excellent predictions on this podcast. Absolutely. That's why we want them.

4:35I think I might go for Rabakina to take out Sabalenka, I think I might go for a Shiontek-Rabakina final. And I'm going to be bold and go Alcaraz-Sinna. And who's winning? I think I'm going to Alcaraz. Well, we all know Brad Gilbert is picking Aisling Kruger. It's his dark horse. I've seen on ESPN the other day. Pam asked him for a dark horse and Aisling Kruger came out and Pam didn't know what to say. final question in this section and this one's just for you charlie because david and matt already know the answer how much does a lobster roll cost in the food court i mean it's going to be high the fact you're asking 35 dollars 39 50 Wow.

5:32Did you get one? No, not made of money, Charlie.

5:39And second on is Daniil Medvedev losing for a second slam in a row to Benjamin Bonzi. He's going to turn the tables. Medvedev's going to win this time. Yeah? Punchy set prediction, please. Four. Charlie. I mean, massively on upset watch, to the point where I guess how even big an upset would that be? and upset. Yeah. Against Borna Chorich, who is apparently staying in the hotel that Matt and David stayed in a few years ago, where Matt was checked in as Matt Lobbett. Happy memories. And I had to check out of that hotel three times. Where I surfed briefly before discovering it was quite a sharky spot.

6:25Oh, goodness. Although it is a very popular surf spot, so I'm sure it's fine, everyone.

6:36No sign of Monica Selesch tonight. Maybe the negotiations are still ongoing. Rory McIlroy was in situ watching, though, which was pretty wild. Three hours after finishing up on the course in Atlanta. just an unmissable Novak Djokovic first round US Open match they had to get straight on a private jet to be in place for I expected it was quite a grind in the opening set had a pop at tennis' shadow problem just for you Matt yes he's requesting Armstrong wrong instead of ash because of the the ash shadow during the day the underlying sort of unspoken bit there being that he's sort of knows he's not going to get ash at night necessarily yeah so there's a joke in there about throwing shade it's just too late or early

7:43and alejandro davidovich fakina won at 11am yes it can be done he can do it it's a real blow did Did you think he was a little bit annoyed that that sort of a blow to his agenda? We were certain these would be the scenes of the day on Grandstand. How could that be beaten? Enter Daniel Medvedev. And yet I still think they were really the scenes of the day. I think that it's impossible not to lead with Medvedev because it's just only just happened and it was utter chaos. But when I think back to today, I think I'll remember Ayala and that atmosphere more personally because I found that all so uplifting.

8:29Amazing and actually I was in the little corridor in the media centre when she came back in. I don't know who she was embracing but she embraced someone who just sort of fell into their arms and said, fucking hell.

8:48In the deciding set tie break, after having seven match points in three different games, she twice had three consecutive match points. Mojiko Uchijima did a double Alcaraz and then an extra match point on top. And you know what she's like. She's, I mean, she looks pretty displeased even when things are going her way.

9:15Mostly watching football. But also in Cartney Kessler. I simply have nothing to say to that other than that is true and I don't regret it.

9:29OK, we will be covering the night session, Carlos Alcaraz and his lack of hair against Riley Apulka. I was going to say, maybe this part one is an emergency pod, Alcaraz Haircut. Yeah, we simply had to talk about it as a matter of urgency. Hannah has picked her to beat Sabalenka in unsolicited predictions news. They don't play next round, I think they play in the fourth round. Fourth round, yeah, a way to go. We don't know if Hannah's OK, but she did make that unsolicited prediction on the barge earlier.

10:08He sees only positives from the amount of support he gets. but he did he did very he was getting so much asked so much about football at one point he did sort of panic and say I'm not a huge football fan and I did think that is the sort of line that could get you cancelled in Brazil Brazil turns on Joel Fonseca for shunning football

10:36and like Norrie as a potential third round opponent like leans into David's theory of like make it physical against Novak Djokovic and look I don't think Cameron Norrie's going to beat Novak Djokovic but like there's one thing he's got you know it's those lungs it's those lungs big pair of lungs

11:03you ready for this? I've got the scoop on the Alcaraz haircut oh yeah via the US Open Instagram account oh yeah he it's it is it a mistake it's a mistake I mean we could see that he said I had I had a haircut that I struggled with and I had to start fresh

11:29the hair so poor Rory McIlroy because Rory's had quite a severe haircut as well not as Alcaraz I think severe has been redefined by Carlos Alcaraz tonight

11:40he said i just got a haircut that i struggled with i mean i had to start afresh and uh rory goes yeah good i like it i think but i've just been through all the the carlos alcaraz shots because now of course all past carlos alcaraz photos are out of date yeah because this is a It looks totally different. He's caused an absolute nightmare for VT producers everywhere. And these ones won't last very long. No, because his hair will grow so quickly, which is probably a relief to him right now. And I suppose that kind of leans into David's theory there about sort of readiness feel to him, the sort of coming-to-get-you feel.

12:26Is it a faff-free feel? Maybe. Absolutely no time spent on your hair. What a world. I cannot imagine what that must feel like. Night session starting at an advertised 7pm. I feel quite confident the night session is going to start on time tomorrow. Yeah, I mean, no, I feel quite confident the night session can start on time tomorrow, but inexplicably still won't.

12:56anissa mova said today that she's um put some blonde highlights back in you know so she's leaning into the to the blonde it's all it's all coming together and um our friend and colleague itamar sent me some very detailed in instructions of what i should be doing uh so you know we are we are so back and i think given our location you know everything at our fingertips here in the big apple i think we can stretch to a professional job if if it comes to it that would be great and a relief she's she's at it again every time i looked up at the screen Dana Schneider had a very familiar face of desperation and despair written all over her.

13:48I mean, this is a pretty extraordinary Grand Slam season that Siegmund's putting together here, you know.

13:59Unseated, in her mid to late 30s and just causing havoc and embracing it. It is a hell of a season. Just her outfit today, even that was distracting. Did he say what the solution was? He does have a solution to the shadow problem, and he took it to the USDA, and they weren't into it. And that conversation was mysteriously halted soon after, because they were broadcasting for the USDA. Oh, gosh, it's get rid of the shadows versus open the roofs. Yes, but... The Matt Roberts paradox. On the spot, what are you choosing?

14:47Mpeshi Perikar, I'm going to say this, I think is the worst return I've ever seen. We watched Riley Apelka last night. He was like Andre Agassi compared to Mpeshi Perikar. And this is courtesy of Josette Imat on Twitter. and Pesciperi car has gone, wait for it, 103 consecutive return games at slams on hard courts and grass courts without generating a break point. Not without breaking, without generating a break point.

15:31I've enjoyed seeing it through your eyes. I did not enjoy the 20 minutes of it I watch. That's fair. In less good news for our credibility... Don't think he'll be clamouring. ...got the better of Marin Cilic. David and I both picked Cilic for that win today. I'm zero for three. And we both had our pants pulled down by Alexander Bublik. Thank you. You just don't know when he's going to erupt. And we thought we'd got a handle on his name. And the umpire was announcing the score thus. Advantage, Shulhat, Hatay.

16:15Pretty certain it's Schoolcake because I remember checking with the ATP. Oh, Catherine, it is Schoolcake. Let me remind you, the umpire was saying Shulhatay and you played the biography audio and it is Tristan Schoolcake. And we were like, yes, Tristan, we know that. Thank you. This has reminded me that the stadium announcer here. Oh, my God, yeah. I mean, look, he's generally great. But he is still saying Karloff Alcaraz, which is absolutely inexplicable. It's insane. It's mad. How are Karl-Oth's people not having a word?

17:08Round one is over. It's round two. It's the time of the tournament during these 15-day slams when we finally figure out what side of the draw people are on. We know where we are. Yeah.

17:22Martin Dam is six foot eight inches tall. Wow. Yeah. He's my kind of guy. on the base of the last 24 hours he's probably not going to be one of the world's great returners is he? But we'll find out. I know someone who'll be better than

17:43I'd love to one day ask Yannick Sinner what his opinion of David Law is if I was sitting there going can I ask him about Al Graz's hair? Turns out I didn't need to because hero David did it for me and got a great answer which of course everybody is lapping up is the son of martin dam yes martin dam jr this is uh and uh his father is is the guy i knew and he was his son also martin dam

18:16on reflection of course it was martin dam Why did we dance it?

18:27I'm going to be looking out for you. Is Martin Dam tall? The original? He's about 6 '3", so not really. How tall is or was Mrs Dam? Not sure. I reckon she was tall. Well, my parents aren't that tall. You're a medical marvel. True.

18:55Incidentally, the head-to-head between them is 2-1 in Townsend's favour in singles, including a win in Canada last year, which, despite the efforts of Donald Trump, is still outside of the US.

19:10Do something that they're not used to, because their normal game is just simply not going to cut it against Novak Djokovic. In the words of Matthew, our camera operator at Wimbledon, and general friend, people shit themselves.

19:32And the hair already looks better. Yeah, it's already grown to a... Just looks like a normal... It looks intentional. Looks like it could have been intentional now. Normal buzz cut. Looks like Alvaro is off the hook for his failure. He's still looking a bit sheepy. He is, isn't he? How did he word it? He misunderstood with the machine.

19:57Our pleasure to do that. TBC on whether Matt Roberts will be on it. He might be otherwise engaged. Can we tear you away from Anisimova Joint to do a podcast? No, the pod will have to wait. That's a discussion. Matt will be on the pod, folks. Don't you worry. It's Pride night, it's Anissa Mova playing, I've got Faye, I've got Rosé. It's basically Matt Roberts' night at the US Open. I've torn myself away from Armstrong. You've got it on a screen for me. Yeah, we bribed him with his favourite yoghurt and a glass of wine. We had a compromise. You are good people. It's like you've been upgraded to business class again.

20:39Except this time there is tennis to watch. Exactly. We let him have a set in person. I said she won, thank goodness. Yeah, so a slightly distracted Matt Roberts on tonight's podcast. But a slightly distracted Matt Roberts is still pretty much better than anybody else. She's got Magdalena Frech next.