US Open Day 15 - Alcaraz has final answer, Sinner seeks change

17:37David Law:well one Carlos Ferreira said in a question I asked him about what they did after Wimbledon because I was pretty shook by that Wimbledon final I was taken by how comprehensive that win was I know it's four sets and our crowds won the first but he was four tube down in that first set in that Wimbledon final and he kind of reeled off four games of genius in order to to win that set but he was never convincing he was never his best self and and I thought Senna was awesome and and just dissected him really and I did wonder after that now what does Alcrast do you know what does one Carlos Ferrero do you know where'd you go from here you've just you shared these two grandstand finals but the one you won you've kind of pulled out of a hat because you were going to lose that one as well and the one you've lost you've got pretty comprehensively beaten and now you're going to play on Yannick Sinner's favorite surface and he's clearly the favorite so what what did they do well Juan Carlos Ferreros said we went straight out there and because I thought they just had a holiday but no he he said we we spent 15 days planning for the next time we played against Yannick Sinner, working on things, looking at his game, working on things specifically for this one player.

19:00David Law:And look, I'm sure by doing that, you prepare yourself for everybody else, because Sinner's so much better than all of them. So if it's going to work against Sinner, it'll work against the rest of them. And I think that is so interesting. I don't think I've heard too many, I don't think I've heard, probably aside from Federer, Djokovic, Nadal maybe, players talk about a specific opponent.

19:24Matt Roberts:Alfie Hewitt and...

19:26David Law:Tukito Oda. Tukito Oda. Talking about, yeah.

19:29Matt Roberts:It's what it made me think of.

19:31David Law:That's the only other example I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure Chrissie Everton, Martina Navratilova were like this. Those are the sort of rivalries we're talking about now. And it is kind of damning for the rest of men's tennis, isn't it?

19:44Matt Roberts:I'm just going to train for this guy.

19:45David Law:Those duffers. Yeah, the duffers. Everybody wants to give due respect, other than me, but everybody wants to give due respect to the rest of the field. And Al Kraus was asked a question in the press conference about, you know, how different it is playing Sinner to playing everybody else. And he could feel himself about to maybe say something that might be considered disrespectful to them, and he pulled himself back. Lads his passion off. And he really didn't want to do that. And the rest of the field don't deserve that in that. But look, we also can't paper over the cracks of the fact that these two are way, way better than all the others.

20:22David Law:Let's not pretend that's not the case. So Ferrer's laid this out. And I then did try to say, can you tell us what you decided were the things that you needed? And he said, no, I'm not going to tell you that. Simone might be watching, he said. Look, I completely understand that. And then Carlos himself came in, and I tried to put the same question to him, and I said, when did you first start to think about Yannick and how you're going to figure this out? Because when Carlos had explained to us that you went straight out to work on it, and he said, oh, as soon as the match was over. As soon as the match was over, I was already thinking about what I need to do.

21:05David Law:I had a holiday first for a week, but then I got to work. and I just thought, isn't this great? We're finding this out. But what Yannick Sinner told us was even more shocking.

21:17Matt Roberts:Right, because it sounds like he is right now or was in that press conference exactly where Carlos Sánchez has just described to us that he was after the Wimbledon final. His press conference was extraordinary, Yannick Sinner.

21:32Catherine Whitaker:It really was because he was asked quite a generic question about the future of the rivalry with Carlos Alcárez.

21:41Jannik Sinner:Yeah. And he went in on a... Softball question, Yannick. Here you go. And I think I may have looked down at my phone or something thinking, oh, this answer won't be all that interesting. But no, he just went into great detail about his own game,

21:58Catherine Whitaker:describing it as predictable and talking about the fact that he needs to be more unpredictable as a player. He said he needs that against Carlos. He needs to be prepared to lose to become a better player. He wants to try stuff out. And it was really, really fascinating stuff for a guy who has been, you know, a pretty dominant world number one. to have won so much over the last couple of years to be talking like that about his own game really did emphasise the effect that I think this match in the moment had had on him where he just realised he was well short against Carlos Alcarez. And, you know, I'm not convinced that he needs to do the wholesale changes that he's talking about there.

23:02Like, I think there's a very clear decline in one shot of Sinners over the last few months or so.

23:10Catherine Whitaker:And again, I'm going to sound boring, but it's the serve. He was at 48 % on his serve today, first serves in.

23:17David Law:And the final set was even more spectacular as a differential between the two. Alcaraz was at 72 % and Sinner was 36 % first serves. Literally double.

23:34Catherine Whitaker:That used to be an edge that Sinner had over Alcaraz. You know, his serve was such a foundation, it would then set up the rest of his game. It's the other way around at the moment. You know, Alcaraz is serving better, it's setting up the rest of his game, and I think we all probably think that Alcaraz, yes, does have more in his game, variety, changes of spin, changes of pace. So it's kind of even more important, therefore, that Sinner gets his serve working, because he can't fall back on the other stuff quite so much. Like, yes, I think some added variety would be helpful for Yannick Sinner, but I do think to some extent he's already brought that in.

24:13But he was sort of saying that he wasn't feeling confident enough with it

24:18Catherine Whitaker:through the tournament and he wasn't using it, like serve and volley or drop shots, and therefore he got to playing Carlos Alcaraz today and he didn't feel like he could bring any of that out because he hadn't been using it. He's not feeling good with that element at the moment, and therefore he was quite predictable. And he was, but I kind of think at his absolute best, in his predictability and his repeatability and his reliability, is his biggest strength and his edge over Carlos Alcaraz. The fact that he can keep hitting these laser ground strokes with such pace off both wings, backed up by a good serve.

24:58Catherine Whitaker:of like, okay, it won't always be enough to beat Carlos Alcaraz, but at its best, he will beat Carlos Alcaraz. It was interesting that he was having such seemingly existential doubts about his own game. He was having an existential crisis about his game, Yannick Senna.

25:16Matt Roberts:He wasn't sort of, he wasn't devastated and emotional in the way that, or outwardly emotional in the way that Amanda Anasimova was yesterday in press or the way that, you know, beaten Grandstand finalists sometimes are. He sort of emotionally, he seemed very controlled. He's Yannick Sinner. You would expect that. But in terms of the way he was talking, it was like, I've got to hit the panic button here. It was, he said, he said, I'm a very solid baseliner, a big hitter. I'm a good player. That elicited a laugh from the room. Like the way he said, I'm a good player. Kind of in a sort of slightly ironic, like I'm good but I'm not good enough and everyone was like

26:02David Law:mate

26:04Matt Roberts:you're Yannick's sinner

26:05David Law:it was almost like he was jealous of Carlos today yeah and he wanted to be like him and I do think that that was his version of a real emotional reaction to today and sort of looking at himself as if I'm rubbish I'm nowhere near as good as him look at all the stuff he can do I can't do that I don't want to be able to do that I do think it's it's straight after the match we've always got to factor that in and I do think he's fundamentally wrong because I don't think what he's if he's serious I think he's going to be disappointed because he's not going to be able to turn himself into Carlos Alcaraz not the way Alcaraz has kind of been able to turn himself into Yannick Sinner today, it's easier for somebody with that array of skills if you can get the right mental approach to lock down and do one thing a lot better, serve and be more solid from the baseline, than it is for a player who's a great baseliner, well, the best baseliner as just a standard baseliner like Yannick Sinner, is to suddenly expect him to be able to do all the stuff that Alcras can, or to have that degree of variety.

27:20David Law:Maybe that's not what he's seeking. Maybe it is more incremental than that, really. And I think the incremental changes would make sense to be a little less predictable. And I already think he's added those things to his game over the last couple of years. But come on, Yannick. You know, I know this head-to-head looks like Siena has a problem with Alcaraz, but it really doesn't feel like that. One of them was a retirement. Another one, you had three championship points. He often looks like he hurries Alcaraz to me and causes Alcaraz trouble. I just I loved the line I'm prepared to lose some matches in order to become better at sort of this variety I kind of want to see that happen because I think it would be just a fascinating experiment but I don't think it's necessary I think you just need to get your game going again sort your serve out, make sure you're fresh and fit and ready to go you're going to lose some of these against this guy sure, but come on, you're right there

28:22Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, he had a line towards the end of the press conference saying, secret is patience. And I think that was just a little way of saying, it's not going to be a big change quickly. He had a funny quip about that, saying he's not going to be a lefty in Beijing, which was very amusing. But I think what he was getting at there is, yes, he is going to make some changes, but there might not be changes that you can really tell he's made unless you've got a very keen eye he mentioned the serve again didn't he said a couple of tweaks on the serve which can end up making a big difference I think that is going to be a real area of focus for him but it really was fascinating there's back to back press conferences illustrating the various ways to which the other has lived in the other's head.

29:15Catherine Whitaker:I've never seen Sinner like that before. Really interesting.

29:19Matt Roberts:Is this a is this a new level that we can reasonably expect from Carlos Alcaraz from now on in terms of this consistency the way he answered that question about he was it was put directly to him is this the best you've ever played and there was no pause and well it was yes unequivocally yes he was busting to tell everybody yeah this is the best I've ever played in a tournament consistently and And I'm really frigging proud of myself for that. Is it reasonable to expect this from now on from Carlos Alcraz at Grand Slam level? Or was the way he played this tournament for you specific to the circumstances or more specific to the circumstances?

30:08David Law:The reaction to Wimbledon is what I think has triggered it. And the rest he's taken after Wimbledon, which I think was very sensible to just freshen himself up mentally. and then to go again and to be just this dedicated. But I also do think something Juan Carlos Ferreira said is also fair comment and stands up to scrutiny. He's getting a little older. He's maturing. He's learning about himself and about circumstances and situations.

30:38Matt Roberts:He's blooming, David.

30:40David Law:I am still worried, maybe irrationally, but I am worried about the number of exhibitions that he signs up to. He signed up to the Saudi Arabia one. He signed up to one in December. Lever Cup's kind of an exhibition. You know, I don't think you need to play all these things. And I worry that he, for his sake, that he gets injured or he gets burnt out. But, you know, look, I was saying that a year ago. It's gone pretty well this year, hasn't it? So my expectation more is that he comes out with this massive target to the question that you asked him, Catherine, about wanting that career slam. And he was quick to say, look, it doesn't have to happen next year.

31:24David Law:I just want to do it one day. But he's going to be, he's going to be jumping out of his skin trying to win that Australian Open.

31:32Matt Roberts:Yeah, he said, it's my number one goal now, but it doesn't have to be next year. I think what he was trying to say is, it's not about beating Yannick Sinner.

31:43Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, it's not a race.

31:44Matt Roberts:It's not a race. Yeah, although it is a race.

31:46Jannik Sinner:I think he was basically like, we're both going to do it. It doesn't matter who does it first, but between the lines, I would quite like to do it first.

31:55David Law:Clearly, he'd love it. He's desperate to do it. That's what he wants. And in answer to your first question, I do think that this can be a more new normal for him. I think he's liked the consistency that he's shown.

32:07Matt Roberts:Yeah, that's what I think. I think the fact that he's enjoyed clearly taking such satisfaction from this consistency, from being a little bit more boring, proving to himself that he can still have fun and still take the enjoyment, take what he needs to take from the sport, doing it this way. You know, he was so pleased. But he was one of the first questions in the press conference was about how Juan Carlos Ferreira, who had been in just before him, had described it as the perfect match today that he had played. He was so pleased to have pleased Juan Carlos Ferreira in that way. It was a really sweet moment.

32:48Matt Roberts:And he's taking so much pleasure from all elements of this. I think that's real nourishment for him in terms of a new template of how the sport can be for him.

33:01Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, he's always been this incredible blend of someone who is absolutely desperate to win, but also absolutely desperate to entertain. Like, there are examples of the former, there are examples of the latter, but getting that blend is so unique. and it seems that the game style he was playing this tournament is compatible with that. So I absolutely think he's going to want to keep this up. I think from a US Open perspective, it's quite interesting that this tournament, he's barely played night sessions. That was one of our big concerns about Carlos Alcaraz here. Like, we've seen him not have his best stuff in the night sessions in the big matches.

33:59Catherine Whitaker:You know, here he played quarterfinal in the day, semifinal in the day. The final now is a day session. I feel like we didn't quite get that test of him. I'm sure he would have passed it. He was so clearly the best player in this tournament.

34:13David Law:We did get indoors, which was interesting to me.

34:15Catherine Whitaker:We got indoors against Yannick Sinner.

34:17Matt Roberts:We got sleeveless and we got indoors.

34:18Catherine Whitaker:Those are two things ticked off. He's got a win over Novak Djokovic on a hard court for the first time. So, look, he's absolutely proved himself. But I just wonder, going into Australia, whether that's going to be a factor that we're thinking about again when he plays those latter stage matches. Can he be as focused? Can he be as controlled in those night sessions? I think he can, but it's just a little something. in terms of the big picture race that isn't a race to complete the career slam. What's interesting is obviously they've gone two and two now over the last two years. They've split the slams, Sinner and Alcaraz.

35:03Catherine Whitaker:And the one that Sinner needs is the one that Alcaraz has won both times in the last two years, the French Open. And the one that Alcaraz needs is the one that Sinner's won both times in the last two years. So it really does feel like they each need to break serve, right, to try and complete that career slam, which I think is also what's made this summer interesting. Because if you'd said to me that Sinnoh would win Wimbledon, I'd have been surprised. And if you'd said that Alcruz would get the US Open on the hard court, I'd have been surprised. And I think the rivalry is in a good place because it's not like they're just doing the things we expect them to do.

35:43Catherine Whitaker:you know they're constantly responding to each other and improving their games as a result of it and proving that they can beat each other on every surface like comparing comparing it to Federer Nadal you know back in 2006 7 8 which is kind of what it feels like a little bit in terms of this duopoly that was much more for a long period Federer's winning on the grass at Wimbledon Nadal's winning all of the matches on the clay and maybe they're not going to meet in that many hardcourt finals because Federer's so ahead and other players can beat Nadal that was a pattern for a few years and it took Nadal winning at Wynwood in 08 to break that and throw the whole thing open and then obviously Djokovic comes along but this rivalry is already open I really think they can each beat each other on every surface, at every event And it does leave us in a really enticing place with those two.

36:48Catherine Whitaker:Because I think our point about the bigger picture of men's tennis does stand. But as long as Sinner and Alcaraz are there, we are going to be left with a fascinating plot line, I think, a kind of going into every slam and at the moment at the end of every slam as well, because they just keep meeting.

37:09Matt Roberts:I mean, as you say, it is the second consecutive year that they've split the slams between them. It's really hard to see that not being the case for the foreseeable, right? I know there's probably some recency bias in there, but, like, do you see this going on for a while?

37:27David Law:Yeah. I mean, look...

37:29Matt Roberts:You've already said duffers.

37:30David Law:I know I'd had a few drinks that night when I said 12 in a row back in 2023, but he's won five out of ten, and between them they've won 9 out of 10. I know I didn't know Sinner was going to be this good but it's actually not quite as absurd when you think of it in those terms because I think that they could, if they stay fit, I don't see who's stopping them at the moment. I think it's going to take somebody else. But injuries can happen and likely will happen but I don't see them losing their motivation. I don't see them losing their ability, their focus, any of it. So, yeah, I think that this is going to be something to get used to.

38:16Matt Roberts:Do you think Al Graz will do it in Australia?

38:19David Law:I've already said he will. Him and Srivantec will win Australia. I said that months ago. You don't feel as strongly about the sort of sinner ability to respond

38:33Catherine Whitaker:in a way that you've described the Alcraz ability to respond post-Wimbledon?

38:38David Law:Oh, listen, absolutely. I think he will respond.

38:43Catherine Whitaker:But Alcraz will still just have enough. Listen, it could easily go the other way.

38:48David Law:Sinner could easily win that tournament. But I would strongly advise against trying to overhaul your game, Yannick, as a way to do it, because you just don't need to. yeah double down on making plan a even better nothing wrong with being a baseliner yannick

39:07Jannik Sinner:he sort of spat it out in the press conference sydney like i'm a really good baseliner as if like you know the way people spit out the word the way the labor cup spits out exhibit we're not an exhibition it's okay there's nothing wrong with being exhibition it's not a dirty word um

39:23David Law:Again, I haven't even had any beers and I'm a bit high on Alcaraz. So that can account for some of what I might be saying. And there is a recency bias to things because the moment that Wimbledon ended, it really felt like Sinner had got hold of him, even though the head-to-head said something different. It was only when I saw Alcaraz again the next time, even in that just first game of Cincinnati, and I thought, OK, I just feel like I'm looking at something different here. so we'll see what's next

39:54Catherine Whitaker:and look Alcaraz has just navigated this period of the season much better this year than he did last year, I know last year had the Olympics and that threw a real element in but now I think the challenge for him is to navigate this end of the season where he's never really looked himself has he in the latter portion of the season in the indoor swing and then figuring out what best to do as his preparation for the Australian Open. I think Sinner likes the indoor swing. He sort of keeps up the momentum post the US Open. I think he also has kind of just really figured out how best to perform at the Australian Open.

40:37Catherine Whitaker:Clearly, he's won it the last two years. Like, he's, I think, from that sense, he's got nothing that he needs to really change, Sinner. Alcraz has got, this has traditionally been his weakest time of year, the next few months leading into the Australian Open. And the Australian Open is clearly his weakest slam. So, game-wise, I think Alcaraz now seems like he's got the edge. But, like, just knowing how to perform in Australia and bring your best and be ready for that tournament, Sinner's kind of got the edge. So, right now, I would probably go Alcaraz to win Australia in a way that I think before I would have said sinner, but it's so close.

41:23Jannik Sinner:It's so hard, isn't it, to see what you've seen today and just not pick out Coraz to win everything, right? Like, that's the bear track. That's the feeling it gives you, yeah. Incidentally, the clang that you probably just heard,

41:36Matt Roberts:there have been sort of slightly softer clangs throughout the show, but that was a pretty dramatic clang. That is the sound of the pretty extreme airport-style security that we've had in place today here at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre being dismantled before our eyes. This has been a big feature of today, of the final day of action here at the US Open. We were warned about it in advance. We knew this was going to be the case because of the president attending the tennis today as a guest of Rolex in their suite. That obviously comes with major, major security implications. We saw the trucks arriving last night.

42:23Matt Roberts:We saw them putting up the airport-style security just on the main forecourt of the US Open in front of the Arthrasch Stadium and by these sort of iconic fountains that you see. It was a pretty dramatic and arresting sight as we were leaving last night seeing them put that up. So we kind of knew on paper what it meant. We all made very unusual arrangements in terms of leaving all our laptops here at the Tornham. We were told to travel very, very light today because of the very intense bag searches and security that we'd be subjected to. Actually, we all got in. We arrived early. we all got in fairly smoothly relative to what we might have been expecting.

43:07Matt Roberts:That wasn't the case for an awful lot of fans that came to the tennis today. At about 1.30 in the afternoon, the final was scheduled to begin at 2pm. At about 1.30, the start time was delayed until 2.30 and then there was a further delay announced until 2.37pm. I don't know where they came up with the specificity of 2.37pm. But I could see on the build-up coverage that I was watching how slowly the Arthur Ashe Stadium was filling up, how much time it was taking to get the thousands and thousands of people that we could see filling that forecourt through the security gates and into the stadium.

43:54Catherine Whitaker:And that is the only entrance into Ash anyway. You know, it's always a bit slow getting into Ash because you've got, what is it, over 20 ,000 people going through one entrance, a large entrance, but one. It's not like there's entrances at all corners of the stadium. And suddenly you had that number of people having to go through that entrance with incredibly enhanced security. It was always going to take much longer to get the people into the stadium than it normally would. And it just did not seem like they had accounted for that. It was a mess.

44:37Matt Roberts:Yeah, it was a disaster. I mean, thousands and thousands of people that had paid thousands and thousands of dollars missed at least a set of this final. now I know the USDA didn't invite the president to to the final today Rolex did and of course they made accommodations you know for for a whole bunch of reasons they're not going to block that that happening but it happened and it was it was a disaster for a lot of fans I mean I spoke to I bumped into some lovely listeners who were on the barge and have had a shout out and who were who were in great spirits they weren't they didn't come over to me to have a moan but i asked them about their experience of the day and they had each paid two thousand five hundred and ninety dollars to sit in the the top bowl in the loge level which is the same level i think that the the media seats are in the upper tier media seats were in um and they got in two games into the second set after having arrived at about 1.30pm.

45:50Matt Roberts:It was a catastrophe today. Matt and I at first weren't given a media seat. A lot of White House reporters were here today and a lot of the media seats were allocated to them. No additional provisions were made for the political reporters that come with the president attending an event. The USTA communications team did eventually come through for us and give us a pass, but at first we didn't have one, so I went out and got a flavour of what was going on out here during the opening set here in the concourse, and it was pandemonium. It was a disaster. It was chanting, it was unrest. It was grim.

46:41Matt Roberts:And look, I know not everybody will feel the same about the president having been there today. But David, you were in the stadium when he was first presented to the crowd, albeit a half empty stadium because half the crowd were out here in the concourse. As planned, as we reported yesterday, he was shown during the national anthem and you got a flavour of what the reaction was.

47:10David Law:Yeah, I just stepped out the commentary box to try to see with my own eyes and listen with my own ears because I didn't really know what the TV company was going to do, the production arm of the tournament here, whether they were going to, I don't know, maybe mute the crowd a little bit or something like that. So I went out and had a listen and when he was shown during the National Anthem, I mean, like you say, there were a couple of thousand in at that point. in a 24 ,000-seat stadium, and there were boos. There were quite loud boos. Not everybody, some people, one or two, were cheering, but the vast majority were booing that were there, but it wasn't that loud because there just weren't that many people.

47:54David Law:However, contrary to what was expected, the anticipation was that he would only be shown on screen once during that opening ceremony. But a few games in, at a sit-down, he got shown again for quite some time, picked out, put on the big screen for quite some time when the place was fairly full by then. And it was, I would say, 80 % booze. It was loud and it was clear. And it was quite an arresting moment. And listen, I heard that through my... I don't know what it sounded like on TV, but I was listening on the radio of our BBC Five Live coverage. And so that was coming through the feed. So I could hear it on there.

48:36David Law:and I would assume, therefore, people could hear it on TV. But, yeah, that was loud, and I'm sure a lot of people were thinking, I've missed a set because of this, so I'm going to boo because of that. But I also think, look, a lot of people let their feelings known from within this city about how they feel about how their country's being run.

48:58Matt Roberts:Yeah, and, like, obviously I understand not everybody feels the same way, but a lot of people will have felt like that was a significant cloud over today. It was certainly a significant feature of today, however you felt about it. Like, it was undeniable. These two athletes being made to wait before... I mean, it eased as the match went on. But at times in the build-up, it felt... You could almost forget that there was a tennis match about to happen. Like it felt not even secondary. It felt tertiary. It felt like a footnote to the circus. Oh, absolutely.

49:44Catherine Whitaker:It was all so distracting. I think it was a massive embarrassment for the tournament, having to move the start time of the final at extremely late notice. My heart was breaking for those fans stuck outside. You might get one chance to come to a Grand Slam final. I think we can probably be guilty of taking going to tennis for granted, but we hear a lot of stories of people who are here for the one time and something they've been desperately looking forward to and they've spent a lot of money on and the experience was ruined. Look, I know that I'm sure Alcraz and Sinnoh, when they got in their seats, they would have made up for it to some extent, but not fully.

50:41Catherine Whitaker:There was a lot of people there who had their day torpedoed by that and, yeah, it was pretty grim, actually. personally I found it really hard to get into the match until about an hour in and when things had settled down and you could tell that the stadium was filling up it was a really tough scene

51:05Matt Roberts:yeah honestly it was a tough day for a lot of people with a few saving graces obviously Carlos Alcraz and Yannick Senna being a biggie

51:18Jannik Sinner:the fact that the trophy that was placed in front of Donald Trump turned out to be a fake a sort of shiny toy for him to have at his disposal that was also a great moment and of course the final most important saving grace was the moment we found out that Bruce was here we were on the subway on the way in guest Bruce Springsteen I still don't think people are getting how iconic it was make them get it Matt well I went to a couple of Bruce's shows this year and he started those shows by saying America is in the hands of a corrupt incompetent treasonous administration and then he carries on throughout the entire show, slamming that administration and curating a set list on the Land of Hope and Dreams tour.

52:24And then he's there in the stadium when Trump's there. Like, it was just remarkable. Like, he just couldn't let Trump have the stage, you know. And you know that Trump was raging when Bruce got shown on the big screen. There were cheers. Courtney Cox came over, of course, having been in the Dancing in the Dark video. Like, my guy. He just showed up. Not when Amanda Nissimova was playing. He was unavailable. He was unavailable.

53:01Jannik Sinner:Yeah. Yeah. He's the boss. He is the boss, yeah. Incredible. Shaggy, also there. Shaggy and Sting the duo that nobody knew they needed yeah well done Bruce big moment that is it for part one join us in part two when we look ahead a little bit just before we do that though we want to take a moment to well look a bit more ahead quite frankly to next year for anybody thinking of taking a big tennis trip in 2026 because there is nobody better to organise a tennis-themed trip of a lifetime for you than, of course, Steve Fergal's International Tennis Tours, who have been a long-time partner and supporter of our show.

53:52Jannik Sinner:They can provide packages to all of the world's biggest tennis events, including the one we're at right now. Truly the biggest, boldest, loudest and most energetic event on the tennis calendar. If you fancy a trip to New York City to watch the tennis, then Steve Fogles can offer a choice of hotel accommodations, transportation to and from the Belieging King National Tennis Centre. You could find yourselves on a bus with us. You could? We're always our best selves on the bus. Yeah. Promise. You get hospitality, the Overlook. I've walked past that a few times. Everyone looks like they're having lovely honey juices.

54:30Jannik Sinner:plus a choice of seating from suites to courtside. There really are no bad options. If that sounds good and you want to check out what Steve Fogles have to offer, just head to toursfortennis.com forward slash podcast to find out more and book your trip. Welcome back to part two of this final tennis podcast from the US Open 2025. Let's talk about what we have coming up, folks. David's giving me a look of like more podcasts.

55:04I've got the bandwidth to remember what it is if Dave is looking like that we're all in trouble

55:09Jannik Sinner:shall I tell you how in trouble we all are we will be back next Monday the 15th of September you've got a week David is that enough? I can do it Monday the 15th of September live on YouTube nowhere to hide to launch and look ahead to the Billie Jean King Cup finals which take place in Shenzhen, China, from Tuesday the 16th to Sunday the 21st of September. You might have heard this week, as reported in the British press, Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Great Britain team, but Jasmine Paolini will be part of Team Italy, defending their title. Madison Keys is down to compete for the US. It should be a good field, and it's an event that we love and we enjoy supporting.

55:58David Law:Yeah, it is. And, you know, even when you maybe don't get the biggest names at the team events all the time, it's always, it always feels okay to me because it ends up unearthing other players and the team spirit. and we find out about a few different players. I just, listen, team competition, playing for your nation never gets old, really. Even if I feel like it should be on a higher stage and in a better spot in the calendar often and you should have all the players supporting and why don't they make more room for it in the calendar and all these things. I wish it was all better than kind of it's treated at times by tennis as a whole, but I still look forward to it.

56:44David Law:I can't wait to cover it. Yeah, very well said.

56:48Jannik Sinner:So that'll be next Monday, the 15th of September, live on YouTube, 8pm UK time. That is 3pm here in the US, East Coast. I'm trying to get back in the UK groove.

57:01Catherine Whitaker:I think you've nailed it.

57:03Jannik Sinner:3pm East Coast time, and that means midday West Coast time. I've taken myself down a rabbit hole here. I didn't intend to, but there you go. You're all over it. That's our next main feed podcast, which will be live on YouTube. Before then, though, to help you with the Grand Slam Blues, we have several shows planned for friends of the Tennis Podcast subscribers. In the next few days, we'll be posting our US Open review show featuring voice notes from some of our very favourite contributors. Those are some of our very favourite shows to produce,

57:38Matt Roberts:sort of our opportunity to reflect on these major tournaments in a big picture way that we don't

57:45Jannik Sinner:necessarily get to do when we're kind of in pumped reactive mode which is which is brilliant and fun too but there are there are other ways to look at these these grand slams and these review shows give us the chance to do that also with the benefit of kind of the jumping off point of these these voice notes that we get from some incredible people that are very generous with their time

58:09Catherine Whitaker:and energy they sure are and they allow us to think about things that we've not thought of or think about things in a slightly different way uh yeah we always get incredible contributions to these shows and they make them fun and easy to record and i i think i think these ones are

58:31Jannik Sinner:popular with friends so that'll be coming this week we also have our happy hour show a new edition for 2025 it's essentially the best bits of our us open fortnight put together by the brilliant vicky sprebury that'll be up this week as well for friends and a little later than scheduled but absolutely worth the wait coming soon will be pam shriver relived and the story of her run to the US Open final here in 1978 at the age of 16 and everything that came after it. We'll hear from Pam herself and, and we've heard a preview of this, Pam in conversation with the two players she faced in the final two rounds, Martina Navratilova and Chrissie Evatt.

59:16Jannik Sinner:Trust me, you don't want to miss this one. So to gain access to all of those bonus shows, plus our whole back catalogue, We do eight new Tennis Relived shows each year, Grandstand Review podcasts after every major, and a live Q &A stream every month. You can become a friend of the Tennis Podcast to get access to all of that by going to tennis.supportingcast.fm tennis.supportingcast.fm S-U-P-P-O-R-T-I-N-G-C-A-S-T.fm You can also find the link in our show notes. I probably didn't need to spell that out for everybody. I like it. Better safe than sorry. You can also get a pre-sale window to our live audience shows, access to our incredible writer, Hannah Wilkes, and her monthly comment and her monthly column and access to The Barge, our online community message board, a safe, special, heartwarming space for tennis fans to exchange their views about the sport.

1:00:18Jannik Sinner:It's been an incredible thing to see flourish over the last couple of years. So tennis.supportingcast.fm for more or the link in our show notes. And speaking of tickets to our live audience shows, folks, do you fancy a trip to Wrexham?

1:00:35David Law:Of course you do.

1:00:37Jannik Sinner:If you want to see us live, then the final opportunity to do that is in Wrexham, Wales, if that's not obvious, Wrexham, Wales, on Wednesday the 22nd of October. Tickets are now nearly gone. Yeah. Better be quick. They've flown off the shelves thanks to considerable promos. But they are nearly gone. So if you want to come, get in there quick. Friends of the Tennis Podcast buying a ticket to the show. Also get 50 % off tickets to the W100 tennis event being held in Wrexham during the week. And that's a great show put on by Dave Cortine up there in Wrexham. And it's a great thing to support as well.

1:01:18Jannik Sinner:So we'll pop the link to that in our show notes. Which brings us to our incredible mascots, Phoebe, Maisie and Roger. Thank you for your unwavering support through each of our mediocre performances in the predictions this fortnight. None of us have covered ourselves in glory. I think it's been just about respectable. But no one's excelled.

1:01:44David Law:To me, my predictions run is a bit like my golf game. It doesn't matter what happened on the first 17 holes, as long as on the 18th I hit one good shot that I remember. And that's kind of what's happened in the last 24 hours.

1:01:58Jannik Sinner:Understood. I hope to soon feel that way about my own golf game. Hello and thank you to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Geoff. We had another lovely visit from Chris today. Oh, how lovely.

1:02:11Catherine Whitaker:We did. He's a lovely man with a lot of very interesting insight as well.

1:02:20Jannik Sinner:Thank you, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Thank you to The Athletic. We are, of course, part of The Athletic Podcast Network and it is a great pleasure to be so for our first US Open as part of The Athletic family, which leaves us just to thank our incredible team without whom we really couldn't do what we do. We actually used to do this without them and I really don't know how. No clue. What on earth were we playing at? So thank you to Hannah, Vicky, Gorona and Jib for truly making this possible and making our mental health possible, I think. Honestly, you are all the most incredible team and we're so lucky to get to work with you at all sorts of hours of the day and all sorts of different time zones.

1:03:09Yeah, thanks to them, we're a real 24-hour operation. We can actually go to sleep and stuff is still happening. Hannah's on the bog, she's making clips, Vicky's making Instagram carousels, she's doing a lot of admin for us, Goran is helping out with those Instagram carousels, She's designing the newsletters. And then there's Jib, who is editing these podcasts and just generally being a legend.

1:03:43Jannik Sinner:Yeah, and also planning trail runs on the side. And not getting arrested. Yeah. We love you all. Jib, we're a bit obsessed with you. And they're all so fun. Yeah, fun. Fun is the absolute key. you cannot do three weeks of a, as much as we love this, you cannot do three weeks of Grand Slam finishing at three o 'clock in the morning without fun.

1:04:10David Law:You have to find it funny. Yeah.

1:04:12Jannik Sinner:It has to be silly. So we are tremendously grateful to all of you for doing just that. We're tremendously grateful to all of you for listening because if you weren't, we'd just be three fools talking to ourselves at three o 'clock in the morning.

1:04:26David Law:I'd be up for it, but this is better.

1:04:28Jannik Sinner:So honestly, thank you ever so much for listening, for supporting us, for saying nice things on the barge about us if you do that, for generally being there with us along the way and making this all worthwhile. We're very grateful. We will be back next Monday. And before that, for Friends of the Tennis Podcast, one last time from New York for 2025. Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you soon.