US Open Day 3 - Top seed Zverev survives, barely

23:26David Law:Yeah, he said that he felt he played okay with the rest of his game, but that his serve was really good. And that is a little bit... I mean, he's not meaning to be unkind to Blanche, but he said, look, he didn't have a good day today. and so I didn't have to play that well, is what he was saying, really. But he's also, for the most part, a really reliable player, isn't he now, Fritz? We were in a chat earlier on about how Artifices' loss reminded us of Taylor Fritz losing to Brandon Holt, Tracy Austin's son, a few years ago, and that being the sort of nadir of Fritz's kind of pro career after he'd kind of made all the breakthroughs and thought he was going to do something big and then lost.

24:14David Law:And these days, it doesn't really feel like that's ever likely to happen.

24:18Matt Roberts:Yeah, in particular, it was the post-match press conferences that really reminded me. I remember after that, that defeat, Taylor Fritz came in and said, I feel like such an idiot. I thought I could win this thing, and I've just gone out in the first round. He really owned it and was completely lost. It felt like a rock-bottom moment that he channeled in the right way, and obviously we hope the same is the case for our defeat. Speaking of Arters, Lorenzo Mazzetti manhandling Arthur Ferry, really 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. A lovely match, like a really stylish match. Very played well here, I thought. It was hitting the ball really well, obviously coming from a final run in Winston-Salem, but just didn't have the weapons on this surface to punch through.

25:05Matt Roberts:Mazzetti got broken a lot six times in three sets. Mazzetti, he said he was shaking, serving for the match. He said, not playing my best tennis, not feeling really well the ball. And he admitted to feeling really nervous. We're seeing a lot of that and a lot of owning it, owning up to it, particularly in, I'm sure everyone's tennis, it's first round, Jessica Pagula talked about it too. But I do feel like in the men's, we're seeing a lot of this and I feel like it is going to be a feature of this tournament. It's the size of capital T, capital O, the opportunity, isn't it? Yes, and I think for Mazzetti,

25:55there's always some nerves because on a hard court, I think he has to take some time to get his game going and he's he's seen what it can be when it clicks like at the australian open and he was leading djokovic two sets to love and then he gets injured and that i think is is still logged in his mind he's still overcoming all of that plus as you say the the just the nature of men's tennis at the moment brings more people into the equation who i think feel like they have a genuine chance to either go really deep or even win the thing um i was out on grandstand for the first set of this match and it was low intensity i thought like they just it was nice but there just wasn't a bite to it and ferry actually double faulted twice in a row to give up the first break of serve and that seemed to just be the moment where mozzetti was able to release a bit and i think from that point onwards he did start to you know do his great shot making a bit more and came up with some fantastic backhand down the lines on on big points and kind of schooled ferry really for for this match um but i but i do think mozzetti will or can pick it up even even from the level

27:15Matt Roberts:he had today it was a slightly strange atmosphere on the outside courts wasn't it today because it It was so heavily rain interrupted. I mean, that match got started a lot later than would have been expected. And, you know, when the tennis did come, it always felt like there was water in the air threatening to rain at any moment. Like, it was just a strange one. And I think that was probably part of the reasons for the nerves that Mazzetti had as well at the end. Because, I mean, they put the covers across the TV studios at that time. Like everyone knew a big downpour was coming. It was just a matter of when.

27:54And, you know, Mazzetti, the last thing you want is to be about to serve for the match and have to be rained off and come back tomorrow just throws your whole rhythm off. And I could imagine that he was seeing the clouds forming and suddenly started shaking and lost his serve as he went to serve for it. But he broke straight back, didn't he? And then served it out at the second attempt.

28:15Matt Roberts:Yeah, it was already raining by the post-match interview. He was pretty drenched by the end of that, much like Matt Roberts after his journey into the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre. It was bad. He needed new socks. I had wet feet at half 11. That's no way to start a day, is it? Just didn't see the puddle. And here we are 15 hours later, Matt, but at least your feet are nice and dry. Okay, that's it for part one. We'll be back in part two to talk about the women's matches today, including Coco Gough. But first, folks, as you may have been hearing, we have had the pleasure of partnering with Steve Fergal's International Tennis Tours for a few years now.

29:01They are, of course, the premium hospitality and experience provider. And now, to mark five decades of providing world-class tennis travel, we can offer a discount off one of their wonderful experiences at the WTA finals held this year at Indian Wells from November 8th to 15th. You can take a trip to the California desert to watch the eight best women's singles players and doubles teams from some of the best seats in the house. And there aren't really any bad seats in the house in Indian Wells, let me tell you that. All with fabulous hospitality options and accommodation at one of the area's three top hotels.

29:40Just go to toursfortennis.com forward slash podcast. That's tours, the number four, tennis.com forward slash podcast and use the discount code DEUCE5. That's D-E-U-C-E-5. You know how to spell juice if you're listening to this. And check out for 5 % off your dream package to go to Indian Wells to watch the WTA finals. Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast. Let's talk about the women's tennis that we've seen today. Let's start with the tournament favourite, Coco Goff, 6-3, 6-4 for her over the Turkish player Zeynep Somers. Matt, you were inside the Arthrash Stadium for this. Tell us about the Ash experience and the Goff experience tonight.

30:29Yeah, well, starting with the tennis, a very impressive performance, I think, for Coco Goff, especially when you compare it to a year ago and how tricky those first few rounds were for her as she was fighting to find her game and very upset on the court she started this one with such authority had a couple of aces in her first service game got a fairly early break in the set and won the first set very very comfortably sonmez my goodness she played well in the second set really raised her game started coming to the net so much and from a breakdown suddenly had break points to go up a break did some men's and the second set became a real battle with some of the highest quality tennis i'd seen all day all tournament really and credit to some men's for doing that because she she changed her tactic she mid-match suddenly thought i am going to get to the net here because i'm not winning this match otherwise and it was really good to see and goff had to respond to that and of course she did and that was fantastic to see as well so i was very impressed with both players and i think it's a really nice start to the tournament for um for coco goff in terms of the ash experience you know i've been up in up in the media seats in ash for the last two first night session matches ben shelton coco goff the big american hopes at this tournament the two of the biggest names and i know it's it's not an original thought i don't think there's been an awful lot of chat for a long time about arthur ash is it a good place to watch tennis and there's so much talking it's so loud in there but i do think there's been a bit of a shift even this year with the ash experience in a way that to me as someone who is obviously there for the tennis to me it just feels like that balance has just shifted a little bit towards there being more people there for whom the tennis is not all that important and i'm trying not to be really snobbish and i think we see a lot of that we see a lot of people just say oh it's all it's all influences and that is a bit of a term that i think has become a catch-all term for people who you know aren't necessarily they're hugely because they're big tennis fans but just because it's it's an event to come to um that doesn't necessarily mean you're an influencer and that doesn't necessarily mean that all influencers are bad you know there's there's there's it's a it's a much more nuanced conversation than that i think but what has happened with this ash renovation is that they've added 2 000 extra seats in the in the lower bowl price them up they're lovely seats it's nice to give more people a great view the great seats down low in ash but with those prices up with the with a lot of hospitality now as well in the first sort of half of ash is all really expensive seats or hospitality there's a real disconnect between what's going on on the court and where we are up in those media seats and where a lot of fans are up in the top I could not hear the ball on the strings you know I just couldn't hear the players hitting the ball and that's a very odd experience and I found it pretty unsatisfactory really and dissatisfying you know not that enjoyable the last couple of nights and I think what happens as we've seen is that as the evening session goes on the crowd thins out and you actually end up with the people who really want to be there for the tennis still in the stadium making a lot of noise and it being great you can hear the ball on the strings again oh but now it's gone midnight and half and the stadium is barely barely full and it's i just don't feel like you it certainly so far this tournament doesn't feel like there's been much of a balance of loads of people in there focused on the tennis loving it and it not being super late it's a yeah it's a weird experience in ash at the moment i think yeah the golden hour is kind of between 11 p.m and midnight isn't it it's it's late but it's not crazy crazy late 11 p.m seems to

35:14Matt Roberts:be when the people who the non-hardcore leave and you're left with about six six thousand enough to make a big noise and sometimes they move the the people in the cheap seats down to the lower seats like it still feels like the main court at a grand slam but everyone's engaged with what's going on that's what you that's what we've been seeing between about 11 p.m and midnight and And then from about midnight onwards, people go, oh, my God, I've got to we've got lives to lead. We've got work to go to in the morning. And even the hardcores start start thinning out considerably. But yet it does feel like I have the same caution as you with talking about this, because it's been a big topic on on on social media and conversation around this U.S.

36:05Matt Roberts:Open. And there's a there's a clip going viral of an influencer having a light on, you know, a professional light on doing a video or a photo shoot in the lower bowl, you know, in the eyeline of the players during a rally. And there's there's been some comments on her video and she's gone back at them and clearly not understood what the issue is. And that's, you know, inflamed a lot of people. And, you know, rightly so, but that's not necessarily indicative of the big picture of what's going on here. As you say, like the word influencer is a real catchall term being used here. But it does feel like a Rubicon has been crossed and they've lost as much as some of the uniqueness of Ash was that hum of constant noise, the low-level chatter and the fact that it was so different to Wimbledon, the whiplash of another sense of the whiplash change from Wimbledon to the US Open where you have pin drop silence on centre court and here it's all about noise and it's all brash and in your face.

37:21But it also was always a vibe here. Like I first, this was the first slam that I, the first tournament I came to outside of the UK. My dad brought me in 2004 and I just remember feeling electric on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and feeling like somebody had run

37:41Matt Roberts:an electric current through my body. And it doesn't feel like that. It doesn't feel like that's possible right now on Ashe. It might very well evolve as the tournament goes on and as the matches grow in significance and weight and import and the crowds will be different as well. So we'll keep an eye on it and we'll approach the conversation with caution, but it's definitely a feature of this tournament, unfortunately, and I think it's right to talk about it because Goff was kind of the test, wasn't she like if this is still happening during a coco golf match then we really do have a problem here i think yeah and i got the sense i actually left because i couldn't stand it i left after the first set and and went to watch back in the press room and listen to mary corolle's commentary i got the sense that as the match got better the atmosphere got better as well but you kind of want the atmosphere to to be there from the start for especially for a Coco Gauff night session that as you said it's not it's noise there's always been noise it's not electric it's just this this constant distracted noise that takes away from the viewing experience and you want it to feel like noise that you know will fade away when attention is yes you want to feel like everyone on there is okay chatting away but they're on alert for a moment and a point or a game that requires the attention and that always used to feel like the case with the noise doesn't feel

39:34David Law:like that no it feels like several thousand people who've gone to a bar together to have have a drink and a good conversation whilst the tennis match happens to be going on. And look, that's... And that is part of the experience, but it's not how I want to be experiencing it myself.

40:01Matt Roberts:Armstrong does seem like the place to be, doesn't it? Because you get that sense of occasion. It's a big stadium, big crowds, but it does seem to be a lot more it's it's more of the upper bowl of arthur ash vibe in terms of the crowds that are in there and it felt like the absolute perfect place for alexandra yala to play her opening round match tonight 6-1 6-2 against the uh american qualifier mary stoiana in 78 minutes. I mean, this is a woman with, you know, the pressure of a whole sport and a whole nation on her shoulders. And she just played one of the best matches I've ever seen her play, David.

40:46David Law:Yeah, she doesn't look as though it is a pressure, really. She doesn't come across as though any of this is hindering her or making her anxious. She just embraces it. And she played bloody great tennis today as you say her opponent not somebody i'd ever seen before nice slice back end occasional occasional combinations that that were effective but it just kind of showed you the difference between somebody who's a professional at the top end of the game and somebody who's who's a good shot maker but way lower down the pecking order and aniala was just able to handle her game and throw stuff at her that she just wasn't expecting left-handed she uses that style so well um she's she's one of the stories not just because of the attention she gains but because it feels like she's now come into the US Open as a threat.

41:53David Law:For the first time at a grand slam, she's a threat to the very top players. I don't think she's in the mix to win it. I don't think. I'd probably be surprised if she won the tournament, but she also makes you think that anything is possible, which is an interesting feeling to have as well. a fun feeling to have yeah i am really impressed by how quickly we've got to the point of iala

42:27Catherine Whitaker:just being able to win matches at a grand slam 6-1 6-2 and okay there's a big gap in experience and ranking to the opponent she played today's diana but still like it wasn't that long ago that i was thinking more about the holes in the isle's game and the serve and that kind of thing now i'm thinking about the possibility of it and as you say that word the threat of it and i'm i'm plotting her route through the draw and thinking who's who's the first player she's really gonna come up against that she can ruffle some feathers you know like she's that player to me now and that that has happened quite quickly i don't think i was thinking about that even going into wimbledon and then at wimbledon she obviously was that player beating igas fiontech in the way that she did so so incredibly it's tantalizing having her in the draw when we know as well what a filipino community there is here and and the noise that they can generate the guy in the

43:31Matt Roberts:the laundry room, the incredible laundry dry cleaning service that they have in the building here that saves me from having to wear dirty pants in the second week of the US Open. He is from the Philippines and he is very invested in Alexandra Ayala and we've had quite a lot of chats about Alexandra Ayala and it's been absolutely lovely. not a tennis fan, but very much an Alexandra Iala fan and tuning into all her matches. And the answer to your question, Matt, about plotting her route through the draw and who's kind of the first top player that she could be on a collision course with, it's very much Coco Gauff, isn't it?

44:15Matt Roberts:We are all circling that potential fourth round meeting with Gauff.

44:19David Law:And I think, is it Evie Jovic maybe in the third round? Which would be fascinating in itself. But yeah, I mean, bottom line is if she did play golf, that would be the biggest match in the tournament. It could be the most watched tennis match of all time. It really could be. It really could be. Yeah. Other women's matches that we've seen today. Lena Rabatkinner, comfortable today against Thea Froden, the American wildcard, the college player,

44:54Matt Roberts:famous, of course, for being Serena Williams' body double. That doesn't sound right, does it? She played... I think that is right. Yeah, she played a young Serena Williams in the tennis scenes of the film King Richard. So she had a lot of attention on her because that's a cool story, isn't it? It's a certainly cool line for a story. And Rebecca had a lot of attention on her because a week ago she could barely walk. You know, she's carrying this ankle foot injury. We've seen a lot of practice footage of her pretty much limping, certainly barely able to push off of that foot, particularly on the serve.

45:34Matt Roberts:And look, she looked significantly better than I was expecting today, David. I thought there was a world where she was, you know, she didn't even look like a professional tennis player, quite frankly, out there. She looked a lot better than that, but equally she wasn't tested, was she large portions of this looked like a practice session.

45:56David Law:Yeah, the ball was being hit back to her very nicely into just the right spot for her to tee off on it and not have to move much. I mean, look, some of that is because Rebecca obviously starts points incredibly well with a serve and a return that puts her in a good position. Actually, Fredin was able to hit many more aces than she hit. She's got a heck of a serve. I think she hit 11 or 12 aces in this match in a 6-3, 6-2 defeat. But look, she's so green, so new and so inexperienced. And she was just feeding the ball really to Rebecca and she was having her way. But there were some moments where she was moving out to a right in particular, I noticed with Rebecca where she either let the ball go or at least just couldn't really get there.

46:50David Law:So I think it is extraordinary that she's actually able to play, given the state she looked in a couple of weeks ago. But Jessica Boutas-Moneiro in the next round, I think is a player who is going to ask questions that she wasn't asked today.

47:07Matt Roberts:Yeah, she'll get her moving in a completely different way, I would have thought. Madison Keys opened Ash today, 7-5, 6-4 against Elina Corneva, the talented young Russian got very dicey at the end for Madison Keyes, Matt. Yes. She was asked in her on-court interview how she, you know, how did you manage your nerves? And she was like, I don't think I did manage my nerves.

47:36Catherine Whitaker:You know, 63 mile an hour, second serve, double fault as she was trying to serve it out. Just an absolute horror show from Match Point Up from Keyes. but she did break in the next game to win it and squeaked through in two. And, yeah, it's that point you made. Like, it's fascinating how someone like Madison Keys, who has done this so many times and played so many first rounds at the US Open and is now a major champion, can still feel the nerves of the first round. As an American on the Arthur Ashe Stadium, it's a lot for them to deal with. And she also was playing quite a dangerous opponent. in Corneva, who's had a real rise this season and I thought played quite a nice match in terms of bringing out some of that nerves that Keyes was feeling.

48:28Catherine Whitaker:She wasn't overhitting Corneva. She was making Keyes come up with shots. I think Corneva's serve herself has got quite a bit of work to do and can improve. But yeah, one for Madison Keyes to get through because she did not get through the first round last year against Zara Zoua and that was a disaster for her in terms of the number of unforced errors in her game and I think the nerves she was feeling that day as well so hopefully she can now just settle into the tournament but I don't think her game is quite there at the moment it's it's there's a lot of errors Mira Andreva the French Open champion no struggles for her 6-2 6-2 over Janice Chen just wanted to mention Maria Zachary

49:16Matt Roberts:who came from 6-2 for love down to beat Robin Montgomery so I know Zachary is known for losing from ahead and winning from behind but even even for her that's that's pretty extreme and she celebrated like she'd won the US Open it was incredible scenes out there and the last women's match we absolutely desperately need to dedicate some time to is Yulia Putin's save as win over Belinda Bencic 4-6 7-6 6-3 Matt described himself as the pied piper of the media room earlier going around telling everybody drawing everyone's attention to this match that was going on

49:56David Law:public service Matt Roberts yeah well I was like well James at the Athletic the tennis editor he's definitely going to want to know about this and then I bumped into Simon Briggs at The Telegraph and I was like, did you see what happened in Benchich's Putin's Saver? And I knew he was going to want to write about it. And the thing is, it was one of those matches

50:16Catherine Whitaker:that I had on my radar at the start of the day. I thought, you know, court 17, that could be fun to, you know, personalities, Benchich and Putin's Saver. They're not versed to a bit of aggro, either of them. So I put it on my screen. It was one of the four matches I was keeping track of. And then with Benchic up a set and up a break, just out the corner of my eye, I saw her after she'd lost that break in the second set, hit the ball away into the crowd, Benchic, petulantly, recklessly. And the thing is, the camera angle of it wasn't very good. You couldn't really see where the ball had ended up, but you knew that it had gone into the crowd or where the crowd should be, where someone should be sitting.

51:08Catherine Whitaker:And Benchik knew immediately what she'd done. She turned around, there was a look of real horror on her face, and she apologised and walked to the chair for the change of ends. And, of course, Putin's saver was pointing, being like, well, that's the default. She has hit the ball into the crowd, And there followed then this exchange that Putin's saver had with the umpire Arno Gabba. And the umpire said, yeah, she hit someone, but it wasn't intentional. And Putin's saver said, but she hit someone. And the umpire said the person was fine. And Putin's saver said, but the person Djokovic hit was also fine.

51:50Coming up with the receipts from the 2020 US Open.

51:55Catherine Whitaker:And look, it was one of those that was hard to comment on because, as I said, we couldn't really see what happened with the ball. It was kind of all up to what the players were saying. But for me, if that isn't a default, then literally the only thing that will be is if someone actually gets hurt, which I think is a really bad situation to be in. And that is not acting as a deterrent for the players. They should not be hitting balls into the crowd, no matter how frustrated they are. And I think Putin's favor had every right to be quite annoyed and quite aggrieved. And, of course, she made her point loud and clear as she does.

52:39Catherine Whitaker:And then because Benchik hadn't been defaulted, the rest of the match had to be played out. and there was just this incredible simmering anger to it you know putin saver at the occasion and bengshix frankly at her own game as it was slipping away from her she was getting very angry towards her her box and in the end putin saver ended up coming back to win it and there was this this kind of troll moment at the end where bengshix lost her serve in the in the third set hitting three double faults in the game putin saver who is not one of the sport's biggest servers as a kind of direct reaction to those double faults then hit three aces in the game to hold immediately after that and end up winning the match and the crowd was so into it someone at the end shouted finish her you know it was absolute scenes out on court 17 and yeah cinema really you

53:43Matt Roberts:Finish her was, as a moment, that's going to take some beating this US Open. Yeah, Hannah on the bar was like, it was as though it was WWE. Yeah, you're right. I mean, there are a lot of incidents like this in tennis, and I think 90 % of them would evaporate instantly if you made incidents like that a clear default. like people are doing it because there's no deterrent from doing it people are absent mind there's no there's no intent in it but people are absent mindedly doing this because there's nothing in their subconscious holding them back saying hang on a second you're going to be out of the US Open if you do this like it's it's an absolute nonsense situation and at some point something really bad is going to happen and tennis will do something about it but it feels like until

54:40David Law:then we're just gonna sleep and the problem is that they are adjudicating it with that in mind if something really bad happens we will default if it doesn't we'll let it go and that's that's just not the point is it yeah quite exactly okay that is it for part two we'll be back in part three to look ahead to tomorrow, today. Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast. It's just ticked over to 3.01am, folks. What are we doing with our lives? We're doing our first 3.01 show of the week. Probably not the last, David. What have we got to look forward to later on today? This is your day four order of play.

55:27We are going to start with the round two matches, but we're also going to continue with the round one matches because a lot of them didn't get completed today. A lot of them didn't even get on the court today. So it's bumper tomorrow, folks.

55:42Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, and it's complicated. Brace yourselves for people being through to round three before people have played round one. Yeah. That's just where we are. We're just going to have to accept it. 11.30am, we start on Ash with the all-American clash between Jessica Begula and the wildcard's Sophia Kennan. Second on is Ben Shelton against Hubert Hercatch. Interesting one. I mean, Hercatch hasn't been at his peak for quite a while, but he remains a dangerous player with weapons.

56:13David Law:Yeah, you'd have to say both of those two matches, on paper, have threats. I mean, Sophia Kennan has won a grand slam and Jessica Begula hasn't. And yet that doesn't really feel like that's going to be that close. Whereas Hubert Hercatch, because he's got this ability to just quietly serve lights out and go to the net and finish things off. And he can stay with you on the scoreboard. I don't know what sort of form and fitness he's really in. That's the thing. It's been a bit up and down. But Shelton's nerves the other day really stopped me in my tracks. Of all the people, I wasn't expecting a bit of stage fright from Ben Shelton.

56:56David Law:so fascinated to see what the difference is this time Night Session on Ash is the top seed defending champion Irina Sabalenka against the Russian qualifier Polina Iachenko world number 160 Iachenko and second on in the Night Session Jaume Faria against Carlos Alcaraz and we're expecting a match there for Carlos Alcaraz Even if, I think given what we've seen of Faria recently, even if it was last year's Carlos Alcaraz, we might be expecting a match because he's a serious player as Faria. So expecting a fun one there. Over on Armstrong, we open with David's new fave, Sebastian Gorsny. Oh, yeah. The American wild card.

57:48He's taking on Daniel Medvedev. and second on is Marta Kostiuk against former champion Sloane Stevens. Nice session.

57:57David Law:That is a good match. I mean, this is the one thing you get as a result of rain is a lot of matches, a lot of attention grabbing matches and obviously there's a whole new day's worth of matches too. Kostiuk Stevens, you know, the coming player of the year up against a former champion here who is just having a little bit of a comeback in her career. I'm looking forward to that one. Yeah, me too. Absolutely. Night session on Armstrong tomorrow starts at 7pm with Ray Sakamoto, who's a good player. He's 157 in the world, but he's a better player than that. He's on the upward trajectory. and Francis Tiafo, I think, is going to need to be dialed in.

58:50It will certainly be a test of whatever hip injury he might be carrying. I'm looking forward to this match, 7 p.m. tomorrow, for Sakamoto against Tiafo. And then second on, it is the Wimbledon champion, Linda Nozkova, against the Thai player, Lanlana Tarudi. Grandstand tomorrow is... There's a lot going on here, folks. Brandon Nakashima against Alex Mickelson, first on, that is a second-round match. Then Emma Navarro against Katie McNally. So four Americans to open grandstand. Then it's the young American Eva Jovic to finish her first round match from today against Magdalena Freck. They're at four all in the opening set.

59:28Then we go back to round two in the men's. Dino Prismich against Tommy Paul. And then we're back to round two women's with Alina Svitolina against Maya Joint, who famously beat Serena Williams in her singles comeback match at Wimbledon and has now drawn Serena Williams again in the doubles here at the US Open. Amazing. Serena's sort of basically only played Erin Routliff and Maya Joint this year. So weird. Draws are so weird. Stadium 17 tomorrow. Taylor Townsend against Taylor Preston. Two different spellings, but I'm expecting the internet to throw up some... Quirky, boring stats about how often players with the same name play one another.

1:00:18There you go. Brace yourselves for that, folks. Then we have Daria Kazekina against Paola Bedosa to resume from today. And that's to resume, I think, with Bedosa about to serve for the match. Yes, it is 6-1-5-4. Terrible time to get rained off, but it really was hammering down at the time they called it quits. I think it was about 10-15 this evening. So, yeah, they had no option. Then we have a round one singles match that hasn't even begun. Third on 17, that's Rafael Hodder against the lucky loser, Yun Chao Kete Bu. Then we're back to round two, action. Katie Bolter and Karolina Mukhova, the Wimbledon finalist.

1:00:58And then we've got Stefano Sitsipas against Lloyd Harris. It continues to be chaotic everywhere else around the grounds. Jasmine Paolini opens court five. This is a very overwhelming sight at three o 'clock in the morning, looking at this order of play. And there is some rain hanging around in the schedule tomorrow. Not as much as today. It's not going to be like it was today, I don't think. But it could be... Hold on to your hats, folks, for tomorrow. We certainly will. And we'll make a date to see you again at two o 'clock in the morning. Let's just pop it in our diaries for the next... How many days have we got left?

1:01:36Twelve more days at this tournament. It is fun, though. There's nowhere else we would rather be. And we are here. Be still my heart for today's Leo photo with our US Open mascot, Leo. And let me tell you, folks, we've seen we've seen some mascot photos over the time, over our time. And I always look forward to scrolling to the bottom of the agenda and revealing the mascot photo to myself. And I try to be restrained and not let myself see it until the moment that I'm reading it out. But believe me when I say today's photo is the best I've ever seen. It is. Do you know what? It's not even close.

1:02:23It's not even close. I'm looking at a picture of Leo in a Cut the Faff T-shirt and a tote bag that says underdogs are my type and a large tennis ball toy. It's just absolutely epic. It's just everything I want to see in a photo. The Cut the Faff agenda being pushed, a funny tote bag a dog an adorable dog a tennis ball it's just be still my heart Leo yeah he has my heart at three o 'clock in the morning

1:03:03David Law:and all of you listeners thinking oh I wish I could see that photo well you can you can it's on our Instagram and for everybody that sees it and thinks I want to look like Leo and wear a Cut the Faff t-shirt you can do that too and we'll link to buy the t-shirt And in our newsletter, it'll be there. I'm wearing my latest Cut the Faff. I've got it in all the colours. I've got mine today. We had a new shipment here in New York, didn't we? Yeah, the agenda will be pushed, folks. We're all going to be wearing them. Cut the Faff. Absolutely, Leo included. Leo's a bit unsure about taking three days to get through round one.

1:03:42Aren't we all, Leo? Hello to our mascots, Bodie, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers. Greg, Chris and Jeff, Matt, do you have shout outs in you at this hour of the day? Let's do it. Let's go. We have Trip Johnson from Washington, D.C. Hello, Trip. Who says, my government name is James. Government name? Is he a spy? Who can say? Official name? but he's used the word government name and it amused me.

1:04:22David Law:It's a great name. James is a great name, but Trip is sensation. I'm so confused. Is that normal to have a government name and a fun name? I don't know if it's normal, but Trip's doing it. Have you ever given yourself another name? well i i'm already i'm already living an identity crisis because i'm cath i'm kathy i'm katherine i once tried to get rocky but i don't know what the government thinks i am what sorry when i when i was little with my sister i was a massive rocky balboa film fan and i used to i tried to get my sister to start calling me rocky how did that go didn't really take off how old were you oh i was pretty young you know 12 or something but i do remember also then looking in the mirror and thinking i'm not really a rocky

1:05:28my sister works with someone called rocky is that their government name it's too late for this and yet I want to hear so much more oh my sister's got stuff to say about Rocky okay Tripp thank you for opening these assorted can of worms and thank you for being a friend of the tennis podcast and finally we have Carol from Bromley right Carol hello Carol do we know anything about Carol what's her government name

1:06:08Carol says With this just a few weeks before my Labour Day weekend trip to the US Open I'm remembering when I used to enjoy watching late evening doubles matches on Ash Late evening That was a while ago When is that? I wonder whether Sweden Venus will get her You know I wonder what their court assignment will be

1:06:32David Law:I'll swap that into this case at some point. But that could be some late evening doubles on a show call to come. Yeah, they've got a lot to fit in with Serena Venus doubles and the essential three hours of intentionally blank that we must all endure. Carol, thank you ever so much for being a friend of the Tennis Podcast. Like, Carol... Echo Chair. Very good. fellow friend of the tennis podcast and mum of our friend Charlie Eccleshire and Carol Carol is a friend too we're missing Charlie very much at this US Open we are, yeah it's a lovely reason that he's not here we've got over it, we understand I am missing the chats yes, yes, Charlie would have loved the Bencic Putin saver alert, he'd have been very grateful Carol Trip slash James thank you ever so much for being friends of the tennis podcast if you would like to become a friend of the pod and get access to all of our bonus content and all the other benefits of being a friend then the link is in our show notes as is the link to subscribe to the newsletter which is one of the places you can see this incredible picture of Leo and you can also get Matt's daily stat which he was working away at well actually several hours ago now at a fairly reasonable hour of the day but I remember thinking God that's good work to be he was doing maths I saw him with his calculator out on his phone at about midnight was it?

1:08:07Yeah something like that the calculator part didn't actually end up making the final step so it was all nonsense but it was part of your process an important part of the process Matt and don't let it all be in vain, subscribe to the newsletter folks, we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network thank you for listening we'll of course be back tomorrow and we'll speak to you then