US Open Day 5 - Is Coco Gauff the title favourite?

19:46David Law:That is a match I'm looking forward to.

19:49Matt Roberts:What a story she is at this tournament. She's come through qualifying. She's a former established top ten player, reigning Olympic gold medallist, beat Igor Shviontek at Roland Garros to win that gold medal, when Igor Shviontek felt totally unbeatable on that court. And she's had elbow surgery about a year ago, just under a year ago, and it has been a rocky road back to, well, she's ranked outside the world's top 200 not even to the top again rocky road back to just being a professional tennis player she is into the third round here having won three qualifying so that's that's five match wins i know you want to talk about the match today which we absolutely should 6-4-2-6-6-1 against yulia putin saver a match that had a bit of everything it had shunanigans which are on the rise in tennis folks and it also had retaliatory shenanigans which which i think might be a first thank you leoputin saver for your service and thank you to hannah uh hannah wilkes

21:00David Law:who's part of our team who is keeping us abreast of this match and resulted in me going out to to courtside because there was there were reports of so much aggro happening in this match and and And, yeah, they were both losing their mind with the umpire, Damien de Messoa. They were both accusing him of bias. Both players. You've got to laugh, haven't you? And both sort of you're always against me type of thing. As you say, there were complaints about shoes. Putin's ever was getting really irate with the crowd that were there supporting Jung Chin Wen. I mean, when I arrived out there, it was all very serene because Putin's saver was winning quite comfortably in the second set.

21:45David Law:And to be honest, Jung Chin-Wen couldn't hit a barn door. She was just, it was kind of like, if she didn't hit a winner in two shots, she was bailing out of it. She knew the set was gone. There was a long delay at the end of the second set for bathroom breaks, etc. Jung Chin-Wen came back a different player. She showed the difference in level between these two players. She played immaculately in that third set. And Putin's saver had to resort to moon balls in order to try to disrupt her. And occasionally it worked, but just not enough. And as the match reached its conclusion, the crowd were getting louder and louder for Jung Shin-wen.

22:29David Law:And Putin's saver was just getting more irritated by them. And she was putting her finger to her head as if to say, these people are crazy, you know, and she just couldn't handle it. She was gesticulating at them with her hands, and look, she gives you everything, she gives you everything, but Jung Shin-wen collapsed onto her back in victory at the end of this match, like she'd just won the title. You can tell that this isn't the same as when she used to win rounds before that injury. This just feels like it means everything to her right now.

23:06Matt Roberts:I think it does. It was an incredible press conference she gave afterwards in one of the smaller rooms, so it was very intimate. She just told you anything you wanted to hear about with humour and with sort of poise and just like her tennis, really, an incredible combination of sort of strength and softness. I think she's extremely special. and I'm so pleased to see her a factor in tennis again. She said winning used to be like running water, basically saying I took it for granted and now it feels completely different. She said she'd forgotten how to compete. She said when I first came back eventually from the surgery, she said I was too relaxed.

24:01Matt Roberts:She said I did get into some pretty competitive matches with top players, but I lost them all because I forgot how to compete. And she said, I found it. This week I have found it, and that feels amazing. And she was asked about having to come through qualifying. She was asked, you know, do you think that actually benefited you? And she made this face like, well, I'd rather not have had to come through qualifying. It was amazing. There was a sort of such a strut and a confidence about her answer, but also a total humility. She was like, I'm completely accepting of it. I'm not too big for qualifying.

24:40I know where I am in tennis's pecking order right now,

24:47Matt Roberts:but this isn't where I want to be, and it's not where I feel like I deserve to be. I asked her, I said, do you know who you play next? because they don't always. And she said, yeah, I've just been told. And it's Madison Keys. And I said, well, you know, because of who that is and who you are, I imagine that's going to be on a very big stage. How much have you missed those big stages? And she was like, oh, like, you wouldn't believe. Like, she said, I wanted to see a big name next to mine in the draw so that I know I'll be on a big stage. She said, because I don't warrant that in myself anymore.

25:28Matt Roberts:I need other people to be my vehicle to the big stages. And again, totally accepting of that. She's like, I hope I will be again in my own right. But at the moment, I need a bit of help. And I wish her so well. I think she is not like anybody else in this sport. the way she carries herself, the way she plays, that heavy topspin, it's a big serve. It's pretty unusual in the women's game. I think there's something quite ethereal about her.

26:04Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, and that thing you say about learning to compete again and win again, that's been a real pattern of her last three matches. The final one in qualifying and then the two in the main draw, she's dropped a set, either the first one or the second one, and then absolutely surged in the third and played this just business mode tennis against, you know, tricky opponents. And it's like she's finding herself in these matches and she's amped up with adrenaline by the end of them. It's like she wants more, you know. It's like the match is kind of only just getting started because she's feeling like herself again on the court.

26:47David Law:It's a bit like Alcraz, isn't it, really? There are some similarities there. It's been amazing.

26:52Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, look, I think it's obviously a tough match for her in the next round. It's a tough match for Madison Keys as well. It's a tough one to call. I just hope this is, at the very least, the start of Jung becoming a presence on tour again regularly. I think the win's got her back in the top 100. So, you know, the climb back to where she was has begun. And yeah, I echo everything you say about what a great presence she is on tour.

27:20Matt Roberts:Can't wait for that match in a couple of days' time. Last player we should absolutely touch upon, Alexandra Iala, 6-1, 6-2, over Alexandra Olenakova today. You and I were out there for this one, David. The last couple of games felt like a fever dream. I was that sweaty and struggling so much in the humidity. But not the case for Alexandra Iala. who was awesome today. And it so quickly became apparent watching this. Just what an absolutely nightmare matchup it was for Oleksandr Olenikova because of the timing of Eala and her ability to take the ball early and do something that is outrageously difficult in tennis and make it look easy.

28:10David Law:Yeah. quite often we've seen Ola Nikova this year with this mix of moon balls looping the ball high up into the air as if she's lobbing her opponent, landing them on the baseline, then chopping down on the next ball and bringing the opponent forwards and just messing with their minds, you know? And she tried her absolute best to do that against Iala, but in that first set, I mean, it was sort of full love after about 12 minutes. And what was happening was Ola Nikova would send up these balls, and the moment Iala could see that happening, she took two steps forward and half-followed it with power, real power.

28:49David Law:And then if Olenikova did another one of those into the air, she then stepped in further and did a drive volley and just put it away. And to the point of what Catherine was saying about the timing, it just didn't worry her. The trajectory of the balls just wasn't worrying her, the way it worries so many. I mean, it was bothering Jung Chin Wen against Putin's ever at times. She didn't know whether to go back or forwards. Iala instinctively seems to know what to do. I compared it when we were watching it to sort of a left-handed Martina Hingis. I remember Hingis playing against Conchita Martinez at one of the grand slams back in the early 90s.

29:31David Law:And she was looping these balls up with masses of top spin. and Hingis was just sort of half-volleying double-handed backends and putting her on the defence. And that's what was happening here. It's kind of like when you're at a club, a tennis club, at a much lower level and somebody's hacking away.

29:49Catherine Whitaker:I thought Dave was going to talk about being at the club.

29:52David Law:Well, you know, I mean, that's the other thing I do in my spare time. But when somebody's trying to mess you about by smacking it up in the air and not playing proper tennis, and those are the sort of players that just make me beat myself. But then somebody else will come along who's just a way better player and just make that game look ridiculous, you know, by swatting the ball away. And that's what Iala did. She was great.

30:19Matt Roberts:She's, I mean, we're seeing so much evidence, I think, of what a fast learner she is. I mean, you talked a couple of nights ago, Matt, about how quickly she's gone from it being a story just for her to win a match at a Grand Slam as it was here last year, that epic win against Clara Towson, to a player who okay, I don't think any of us are quite putting her in the mix, but we're having conversations about her being in the mix. That's happened in the space of 12 months, and she lost to Olenekova in Strasbourg in May of this year, and okay, that's Klay, which is by far Olenekova's favourite surface, and she was in a different vein of form at that time, Olenekova than she is now, but But honestly, the way this matchup looked today, it looked like if Iyala is anywhere close to inform, Onnikova is not going to have a chance on any surface, quite frankly.

31:14Matt Roberts:And she talked about that in press afterwards and how she remembers that match from Strasbourg and having a strategy meeting like you imagine Yelena Ostopenko apparently having, Matt. I think Iyala might be having them more regularly than Yelena Ostopenko. She said, I had a great meeting with my coach after that match. And I knew what to do today. Just all, you know, just extremely clear to me. And she went out there and she did it. And like, I think that is going to be the story quite a lot in Alexandra Iala's career.

31:48Catherine Whitaker:Yeah. And that's going to be put to the test again in the next round. She plays Ivo Jovic. The first thing to say about that is they're very close friends, Jovic and Iala. They've played doubles together before. They hang out a lot together. They get on extremely well. So there's that factor into the match. But also Jovic is 2-0 against Iala this season. One of them was at the French Open, Klay, which I do think is probably the surface where Iala finds it the hardest to do the things she's so good at, taking the ball early. and then one of them was grass at Queen's. But again, a bit of context for that is that Iala had played the week before in Birmingham and it was her first match in Queen's.

32:29Catherine Whitaker:It was early in Queen's and, you know, I think maybe she was a little bit out of gas in that one. But those matches have not been close. Jovic has won them in straight sets and three of the four sets have been 6-2. So she's really had Iala's number. But that's where what you've just talked about comes into it. and now meeting on a hard court and with Iala's growth over the last few months. It is absolutely fascinating, that one. It's one of the third round matches I'm most excited about.

32:59Matt Roberts:Yeah, so much good stuff set up today. Okay, that is it for the women's section. We will be back in part two to talk about the men. But before we do that, we want to tell you about a chance to finish the tennis year in style by attending the WTA finals held for the first time in Indian Wells. Beautiful, paradise-like Indian Wells from November 8th to 15th. You can watch the eight best singles players and doubles teams in the world battle it out. And you can let Steve Fergal's international tennis tours eliminate all the faff, take care of everything for you with brilliant hospitality packages and superb hotel accommodation.

33:40Matt Roberts:Who are Steve Fergal's international tennis tours? They are the premium hospitality and experience provider. And plus, to celebrate their 50th anniversary year, Steve Fogles are offering 5 % off for tennis podcast listeners with the code JUICE5. That is D-E-U-C-E-5. I shouldn't read that out, really, because if you're listening to the tennis podcast, you probably know how to spell juice. But there you go, JUICE5 at checkout. Just go to toursfortennis.com forward slash podcast. That's towards the number four tennis.com forward slash podcast to find out more. Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast.

34:21Matt Roberts:On to the men now. All the men apart from Alexander Zverev, the top seed who will be covering in part three. We have lost two top ten seeds today. We lost the third seed, Félix Auger-Aliassime. And we lost the sixth seed, Alex de Menor. Let's talk first about Félix Auger-Aliassime. defeated 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 by Karen Hashinov, who we all identified as a very dangerous unseeded floater in this draw pre-tournament. I think everybody looked at this as a round two match and thought, well, that's a tough draw. Felix is going to have his hands full today. And yet the shape of this match, David, what it ended up looking like was a real shock.

35:04David Law:Yeah, because the first two sets were probably exactly what we expected with them duking it out and lots of big hitting from the baseline and Felix kind of looking like his top level was higher than Hashinov's. And then suddenly Felix Ogeliassime just faded. It was a draining of the battery out there for him and Hashinov didn't. He just kept up his slightly plodding way of playing tennis, This huge battering of the ball from the baseline, relentlessness. And he did very well. I mean, look, I don't want to, I'm not trying to do him down as such, but, you know, he has kind of one level of playing tennis.

35:49David Law:And if he plays that level, he's tough to beat. And Urgele Asim just could not deal with those conditions today, it seemed. He was struggling in the heat. He had no energy. I thought he might be injured when I saw him sort of, you know, lurching forwards and messing around with his ankles. But, you know, from what we understand, Catherine, this was a heat-related problem that he got. And it's surprising because we've seen him cramp a couple of times this year. He ended up withdrawing from a match to the Australian Open. And here we are with him struggling against Khashanov and being comprehensively beaten in the end.

36:28Matt Roberts:Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't worry too much about doing Karin Hashanov down because Felix Auger-Liasim has done that a little bit with his post-match quotes. Not in a disrespectful way, but Felix can quite often be perfectly nice, but quite stiff in press. He's not a great quote, is he? I was expecting him to say, didn't feel my best today, but all credit to Karin, he played a great match. That's not what we got at all today. He was asked about how well the opponent played, and he said, it's tough to talk about anything else other than how I feel physically. After a set and a half, I just couldn't feel well.

37:06Matt Roberts:I was dizzy, seeing spots, and I couldn't recover. I thought maybe it would pass, but it didn't. Karen is a great player, but look, I cannot beat him or anybody in this draw feeling the way I felt today. If I can't move, we're not talking about tennis here. He said, it's unfortunate. I wish we were talking about tennis.

37:29Matt Roberts:But that's not the case. Reminds me of Casparoud at the French.

37:33David Law:Remember when he had his horrible turn? He managed to win that.

37:38Matt Roberts:Yeah, I mean, he's a bit lost as to exactly what went on. And that must feel so disarming as an athlete. And look, he's not the only player that we've seen that from today. We saw something quite similar, Matt, from Lorenzo Mazzetti. He went down 3-6-6-1, 6-2, 6-2, three very one-sided sets to unseeded Australian Dane Sweeney. I mean, talk about upsets that weren't on the watch list at the start of today.

38:10Catherine Whitaker:No, absolutely not. He's the reciprocal wildcard, I think, Dane Sweeney. That's how he got into this draw. And look, he's a very admirable player because he's tiny. You know, like he's really small. He has to work very hard to win points against these guys. And he's been grinding away at the lower levels. And this is going to be a huge moment for him in his career, earning close to US$200 ,000. That's probably going to go a long way for someone like Dane Sweeney. So great for him. But we did see in the first set what this match looked like when they were both kind of at full pelt. and it was close for a little bit, but Mazzetti just had a level, an acceleration, a gear that Sweeney couldn't live with.

39:00Catherine Whitaker:And I thought Mazzetti was actually playing with great intensity at the end of the first set. He was ramping his serve up to 130 miles an hour. It was good stuff from Mazzetti. But quite quickly after that, in fact, right at the end of the first set, after he'd won it, Mazzetti doused himself in water. and I thought okay like it is really hot today that's maybe that's a really sensible thing to do but I looked at him I thought he's struggling physically more than I would have expected after after a set like that and then in the second set what happened I think was that inwardly he was feeling the physical struggles and he was expressing it outwardly by having this really poor attitude he was he was moaning a lot he kicked the towel bin and his game sort of fell apart but i think reflecting on it i think he knew that the physical fade was coming and there was nothing he could do about it and he was really frustrated and worried about it and then very quickly in the third set became obvious that he could he could barely move i mean he was not swinging properly at the ball he wasn't wasn't moving with any intensity took a took a medical timeout off court came back briefly looked like he might recover some energy but then faded again and yeah those last two sets he was barely present on the court he was a ghost really and it's devastating for him I mean talk about a Grand Slam season he's been playing the best tennis of his life in Australia and has to retire up two sets to love against Djokovic he misses is the two slams that have been his best traditionally where he's gone the furthest in the French Open and Wimbledon he's a semi-finalist there previously and he couldn't play them this year he returns for the US Open having had a full American hard court swing to get ready for it and he's actually been improving and then he feels like this and suffers something like heat stroke we think.

41:10Catherine Whitaker:And he mentioned feeling dizzy and no power in the legs and yeah, just a real shame for his tournament to end like that.

41:18Matt Roberts:Yeah, absolutely brutal. And just to complete the kind of brutal trio of losses, Alex de Menor going down in straight sets to Burtick van der Zanskopp, who is such a talented player. Like, we saw Burtick van der Zanskopp do this in the second round, same round, against Carlos Alcaraz on the Arthuras Stadium two years ago. He's a total mystery of a human being. I find him utterly hilarious. He looks inconvenienced to be on the tennis court, inconvenienced to be winning the match because it means he's probably got to come back and play tennis again. And yeah, he's just so nonchalant about everything and yet such a smooth, talented tennis player.

42:08Matt Roberts:I do find him endlessly fascinating. And look, this is a continuation of a theme for Alex Diminor, a theme that goes back to Rotterdam, really, in February, where he won the title, had a great run, had a solid Australian Open, reached his seeding there, lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. No shame in that. Went on and won Rotterdam, looked like he was potentially on for a career-best season. and it is nosedived from there, quite frankly. He hasn't beaten a top 30 player since May. That was Luciano Darderi, the world number 16 at the time in Hamburg. And the average rank of opponents he's lost to since that title in Rotterdam in February is 48.

42:58It's been a drastic drop-off in form

43:03Matt Roberts:And we had that very sad, moving but sad press conference with him after his defeat at Wimbledon, where he talked about his childhood dreams being shattered, feeling them slipping away, feeling like he's given everything to this sport and it's just not good enough. and he's getting further away, not closer. And, you know, he wants it so desperately, but feels like he might never get it. And, you know, it was all heartbreaking, but incredibly open. And I went to his press conference probably only about an hour ago now expecting a very similar Alex de Menor, and it could not have been more different in terms of what he was saying.

43:49Matt Roberts:His demeanour was the same. He looked sad, but he was back to having the walls up and trotting out the things that you have to say to make all the losses palatable, to make it possible to keep going. It was all, you know, well, on to the next one. Some you win, some you lose. Not playing my best right now, but hopefully I can find it. And there was just this glazed expression. You know, it was kind of dead behind the eyes. And I... In a lot of ways, I found it sadder than the Wimbledon press conference.

44:31David Law:I wonder whether he was a little taken aback by just how much cut through his very raw emotional reaction at Wimbledon had in the world.

44:42Matt Roberts:Quite possibly. And I realise this might, it might be a decision. He might be exactly the same behind the scenes as he was at Wimbledon. He's just made the decision to not give that publicly. I totally realise that's a possibility. But the way he was asked, like, are you ready for a break now? Or certainly the pressure valve coming off a bit with the Grand Slam season being over. and he said, no, next on the calendar is Davis Cup in Brisbane. Tennis moves on, you know, hope to get back on track. And I just felt exhausted hearing him say that, you know, just always the next one, always the next one, just sort of suck it up and move on.

45:30Matt Roberts:It's the cruelest game, isn't it? But Burtick van der Zanskopp, what a player. What a guy. What a guy he is. Let's talk about Taylor Fritz. I mean, I don't know how much time to give to Taylor Fritz because he didn't give an awful lot of time to the tennis that he played today. 6-love, 6-1, 6-1, an hour and 38 minutes over Thomas Bellucci. He's feeling it. He is feeling it. You've done it again, by the way.

46:05Catherine Whitaker:You've mixed up your Bellucci's.

46:08Matt Roberts:At least I didn't say Monica. Can I have some credit for that?

46:11David Law:Did you say Thomas, the Brazilian from about 15 years ago? Whereas this is Mateo.

46:19Matt Roberts:Mateo Bellucci. Mateo Bellucci.

46:21David Law:Mateo Bellucci.

46:22Matt Roberts:Thank goodness we've got Matt, David. I mean, look, Taylor Fritz is, you know, he's not being tested today.

46:28David Law:But, you know, that's also credit to him. He's very efficient. He's really good at these things. there's not much point in taking much time up talking about it as you say but

46:39Matt Roberts:you went in his press comments I did yeah and look it's just so obvious that

46:48he he is owning this opportunity he's like right game face on this is it now I am I am in form it

46:58Matt Roberts:is all it is all coming together it's up to it's up to me now and he was asked about how it was a very well phrased question actually about you know the the drawer opening up and the usual basically sinner and alcaraz not quite being well sinner not being here although still thanking thanking the hotel he's not staying out on instagram might be my moment of the day um and alcaraz being well in theory not quite being the alcaraz that we've we've come to know in in recent years um and he was asked about that in the context not just of himself but all the americans you know this being an opportunity for an american male champion which obviously we haven't seen his since andy roddick and he he said it was it was a perfect answer i thought he said look that doesn't affect me until the semi-finals though i would never i would never play one of those until until the semi-finals so logically i don't think about that until the semis but if i get to the semis and i'm not playing yannick sinner great like you know he would not taking anything for granted all due respect etc to who he might play in the semi-finals and it you know might be could be no it would be carlos alcaraz in the final wouldn't it be be alexander zverev in the semifinals, who he did lose to at Wimbledon.

48:27Matt Roberts:But I thought it was the perfect answer to that question. He's not denying that this is an opportunity or trying to trick himself into not feeling any pressure. I think he's putting just the right amount of pressure on himself. And I think he's able to do that because he's peaking at the right time. And his best might not be good enough. He's not Carlos Alcaraz, he's Taylor Fritz. but I think he's giving himself the absolute best opportunity and he is still my pick to reach the final and lose that final.

49:04Matt Roberts:Yeah, same. David?

49:08David Law:Yeah, same, but by a different opponent. Look, yeah, he's got such a reliable game. The only question mark is, has he got reliable knees? We saw him look in very good shape heading into that match against Zverev and then suddenly he experienced pain in it. And Zverev played out of his mind that day. I do think this is different. I do think he looks totally at home at the US Open, which is why he is in the final for all three of us. But yeah, still a long way to go, of course.

49:43Matt Roberts:As it is for Flavio Caballi, particularly because he's very much taking the scenic route, I'll just give you some Flavio Caballi quotes to sum up his victory over Tristan Schoolkate. He said, of the largely Italian crowd, although lots of locals as well, that were all out there to support him, he said, I feel incredibly involved with you. He said, today I loved to be Flavio Caballi. And when asked about his policy on what and when to get a new tattoo, he said, just tell me and I do. He said, if I wake up tomorrow and want to make a tattoo, I do it. And then he invited the interviewer to sort of tell him what tattoo she'd like him to get, and she took the high road with that one.

50:34David Law:Oh.

50:34Matt Roberts:I mean, he's already got an Incredible Hulk tattoo. What would you have come up with? Ooh. What would you have come up with?

50:46David Law:Some sort of animal. OK. Yeah.

50:50Matt Roberts:Right, we'll workshop that, folks. Matt, to close out part two, tell us about the end of Gael Monfils' Grand Slam career.

50:59Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, he was beaten on Armstrong back in that slot where he won the other night. He was beaten by Lerner Tien. They'd met a couple of weeks ago in Cincinnati, and Tien had won that one. And this was exactly what you'd expect, really, moments from Gael Monfils and the crowd roaring him on in the third set as he was spending most of the time between points hunched over and trying to suck in as much air as he possibly could against this guy half his age down the other end of the court who's an incredible ball striker. And yeah, Tien definitely just had too much game and did well to keep his head.

51:40Catherine Whitaker:But it was a weird experience because Tien is this coming American player, young and I think a lot of people here are very excited about him I know I know I am personally I'm very excited about Lone of TM's game but all the support was for the retiring Frenchman and that must have been an odd experience I suppose for TM but I think he also very much gets it and knows what Monfils means to people um I have just seen by the way perhaps the perhaps the up the shock of the tournament so far. Is this...

52:14Matt Roberts:I've just seen this too.

52:15Catherine Whitaker:Ben Rothenberg's... Hang on a second.

52:18Matt Roberts:Let's do a quiz here. David, what do you think Guermont Fies' next career move is going to be?

52:24David Law:Well, that's not fair because I've also just seen it.

52:28Matt Roberts:Would that have been your guess? No. Drop the bomb, Matt.

52:33Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, Ben Rothenberg saying, here's an unexpected answer. I asked Guermont Fies what his post-retirement plans are, if he plans to stay in tennis as a coach or commentator, perhaps? No, he said. He's already signed on to work an office job next year for a Swiss wealth management company.

52:49David Law:I find that deeply depressing. I want to see him in his suit and tie.

53:00Matt Roberts:I mean, good luck to him. Good luck to him. If that makes him happy, then fine. But... corporate Gaël Monfils? I don't know, yeah.

53:13Catherine Whitaker:I mean, look, maybe so many years being the showman, he wants a bit of peace and quiet for a time, perhaps.

53:23Matt Roberts:Go to a retreat in Bali for peace and quiet. My suggestion. Go to a wealth management. What do you think is happening at wealth management companies, Matt?

53:34David Law:People getting rich. Cool.

53:37Matt Roberts:Yeah, good luck to you, Gail. That is it for part two. We'll be back in part three to wrap up the day's action and to look ahead to tomorrow. Well, welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast, where it is now 2.24am. And I feel quite silly about the message that I sent to our editor four hours ago saying, might be an early night tonight, Jib. because, of course, no such thing in tennis. Apparently no such thing at this US Open because we've just had the latest finish yet. 2.15 is when Alexander Zverev, the top seed, finally sealed the deal. 6-3 in the fifth. Another epic for him this time over Quentin Aliz.

54:23Matt Roberts:Another four hours and 33 minutes on the match clock for Zverev. What are we all doing, David?

54:32David Law:Oh, that's a very good question. I mean, it is absolutely absurd. At one moment, they're very careful with the way they sort of frame the TV shots to show the few people that are in the stadium. At one point, they did pan into the rest of it, and it was totally deserted, which is just a joke, isn't it? Anyway, we've done that so many times, and we have to, because each night we sit here at 1 or 2 a.m. But huge credit to the two players for the battle they've just had. Conte and Elise, I think, played brilliantly. That's probably the best I've ever seen him play. And I really felt he had chances to win that match because he had Zverev in all sorts of trouble.

55:17I mean, it was quite a shock to see Zverev lose his way the way he did.

55:21David Law:He held serve very comfortably all the way through the first set in a bit and won the first set 6-4, and then it just completely deserted him. He lost his serve three times in a row. He had a break point against him for 5-1 in the third set when it was one set all. He looked a bit gone, to be honest. I think there were periods where he just had massive energy drops, and his form just isn't there, really. He's sort of hanging on by a thread in both of these first two matches. and you know he deserves huge credit because he manages to get over the line and win these matches and stay alive in the tournament because in his words when he just gave his interview at the end my performance was shit well it kind of was most of the time i mean he's bouncing the ball sometimes 40 times between two first and second serves you know um he's playing incredibly sort of passive tennis for the majority and then occasionally hits out and reminds you that he's got power.

56:26David Law:But I think he just doesn't have any feel. He doesn't really have any rhythm. And now he's got, as you say, what is it, about eight and a half, nine hours in his legs?

56:34Matt Roberts:Yeah, four hours, 53 minutes for his first match, and now four hours, 33 for his second match. And in incredibly draining conditions tonight. Okay, it was a night session, but the humidity is kind of the most draining of all the condition types to play in. And, Matt, he's now in this rhythm of playing the night session. He's going to have to play the night session again in two days' time. I don't see how it's fair that he doesn't risk again of another late finish. Like, he's just in this sort of nightmare cycle now, really. Yes, he's stuck. Partly of his own making, partly of shit scheduling's making, but, yeah, he's stuck.

57:18Catherine Whitaker:Yes, I think that's it. I mean, we've got this weird situation where he's not playing well. He spent nine and a half hours on court. He's going to bed at 5 a.m. every other night. We can tell you what that's like. Yeah, but he's in a very easy, really, section of the draw for him. You know, he's got Tabilo next, who's a very good player, but he's a lefty and Zverev always beats lefties and he will like that draw I suspect and then it's Darderi or Sweeney to make the quarters and then in the quarters as they call him it's Zheng, Zeya, Burgs or van der Zanskulp you know so I think it's very likely that Zverev still manages to work his way through to the latter stage of this tournament the semi-finals and that's where see previous chat about taylor fritz we kind of expect him to be but it's all pretty joyless and tough to watch if it's going to keep being like this in the middle of the night slug fests i think it is breaking matt oh so over it i i mean we've seen matt like this at every

58:40David Law:single Grand Slam tournament that he's ever participated in. But it's always been day 10, day 11, day 12. This is the second time. Second time. We're only on day what? Four? Five?

58:56Matt Roberts:Five, but now bleeding into six. Yeah.

58:59David Law:We've already had two Matt Wall hits.

59:02Catherine Whitaker:I had such a good day. I spent like eight hours in the sun watching tennis. you're not then supposed to still be watching tennis at 2am

59:13Matt Roberts:I just I just kind of want to round off this section by coming back to actually something that Taylor Fritz said in his press conference earlier way before Zverev had even taken to the court obviously Fritz has had these two remarkably straightforward victories in the opening two rounds and is scheduled to be Zverev's semi-final opponent who's had a completely opposite route through to the third round. And Fritz said in his press conference, I think it's really important to not kill yourself in the first couple of matches because you need to have the energy to potentially do that later on in the week.

59:51Matt Roberts:You know, at the end of the day, you do get a day off, but anyone will tell you one day is not enough to recover from a five-set match. It's just not. You can come back and still play good, but it's not enough to fully recover. It's good to get through these the way that I've gotten through these and I think the one today gives me a lot more confidence than the first round match. And so, you know, look, as Matt says, the draw is falling kindly for Zverev now until the semifinals, but he's playing poorly enough that it feels like he could get himself into a sticky situation against almost anyone.

1:00:30Matt Roberts:I could definitely see Bertuc van der Zanskiel causing him problems.

1:00:34David Law:Well, I mean, it depends which but it turns up, doesn't it? I mean, serious point. We've seen him throw in some absolute stinkers here. I mean, that one against Jack Draper a couple of years ago, that was an embarrassment. And yet today he was fantastic, and he's capable of both extremes of the spectrum. I think the interesting thing with Zverev is he just looks delirious out there at the moment. He's sort of getting through, but he looks like he's not really fully conscious of what's going on at times he's just a born fighter in these situations but it's got it's surely going to catch up to him his only hope is that he has a couple of easy matches against players that are far inferior to him and he kind of gets chance to get his energy back and find some timing i mean i think these are big ifs would you are we all in agreement that

1:01:29Catherine Whitaker:you'd rather be Fritz right now, even though he's facing down potentially Surundalo, Kabaly, TN to even get to that Zverev match?

1:01:40Matt Roberts:I'd rather be Fritz. I'll take form. I'll just always take form.

1:01:47David Law:I will almost always take form. I agree with that. I think one thing you could say, though, is when they end up, let's assume they do both get to the semifinals to play each other, Fritz and Zverev, they may be in different positions physically to how they are now. Fritz may have had a couple of epics by then of his own. So, you know, I just, you can't take it for granted that Zverev isn't going to win this tournament. He is very good at surviving and coming back and so forth. But usually it catches up with him. I mean, even him, we've seen it many times, including against Alcaraz at the Australian Open this year.

1:02:32David Law:You know, eventually it caught up with him. There was that one against Medvedev when he was two sets to love up at the Australian Open after having five setters in the previous rounds. You know, I think Fritz puts it very well and he's going to know more than anybody, isn't he, what it's like trying to get these matches out of your system. We had shenanigans, by the way.

1:02:56Matt Roberts:We did. Twice in a day.

1:02:59David Law:Really is on the rise. This was a bad one, I thought. I thought so. They shouldn't have let him do this. This was Verev, wasn't it? Yeah, he changed his shoes on break point.

1:03:10Matt Roberts:The opponent's break point.

1:03:11Catherine Whitaker:Yeah, at least serving break point down. 15-14. Verev's changing his shoes.

1:03:16Matt Roberts:I mean, it just shouldn't be allowed, should it? No.

1:03:19David Law:No.

1:03:19Matt Roberts:Should not be allowed.

1:03:20David Law:If you want to change your shoes, okay, finish this game, and then you can.

1:03:24Matt Roberts:Yeah, we have tennis a lot's time for you to do stuff like this. Well, he did it again.

1:03:31Catherine Whitaker:He changed his shoes on break point, the game finished, and then he changed them again at the change of ends. It was crazy. And he's Adidas as well, isn't he?

1:03:40Matt Roberts:Same as Rodar.

1:03:43Catherine Whitaker:Yeah.

1:03:44Matt Roberts:I'm actually an Adidas shoe wearer. This is a worry. Elena Rabakina, I think it's time to change our policy on Elena Rabakina and just assume she's physically okay.

1:03:57David Law:Oh, yeah, she's women.

1:03:59Matt Roberts:Until proven otherwise. She's the next world number one. I've spent a week telling people she can't walk. And here she is comfortably winning three matches against good players. 6-2, 6-4 tonight over Jessica Boothas-Monaro. Very comfortable. Let's assume Rabakina is fine until proven otherwise. She's got Starob Dubtseva. Yulia Starabdubtsaiva in the next round, which is a rematch of quite a dramatic clash they had at Roland Garros this year.

1:04:29Catherine Whitaker:Yes, when Rebecca's forehand went completely missing and she ended up losing that one. So we'll see.

1:04:41Matt Roberts:We will see. That'll be in a couple of days' time. Let's talk you through what we've got for you tomorrow, or rather today. That gag just never gets old, does it? 11.30, less than nine hours from now, folks, things kick off on the Arthur Ashe Stadium with Jessica Begula against Leila Fernandez. Second on in the day session is Wu Yibing against Carlos Alcaraz. Night session tomorrow night opens with women's doubles first round action and Serena and Venus Williams against Maya Joint, who is seeing Serena Williams in her sleep at the moment and Hao Ching Chan, my joint doubles partner for this US Open.

1:05:30Matt Roberts:I mean, I suppose Serena Williams was never going to be scheduled anywhere other than Ash, was she?

1:05:35David Law:It's pretty cool, I think, that they get this night session slot and the place is going to go bananas.

1:05:43Matt Roberts:Do you know who I think probably disagrees with you?

1:05:45David Law:Who's that?

1:05:46Matt Roberts:Irina Sabalenka.

1:05:48David Law:Yeah, you're probably right.

1:05:50Matt Roberts:Ben Shelton, Denis Shapovalov, second on the night session. Ash, tomorrow over on Armstrong, we open in the day session with Irina Sabalenka against Camilla Rakimova. Second on is Alexander Bublik against Tommy Paul. And then the night session is Valentin Vashiro, who we haven't talked about a lot. the shanghai champion of last year a tournament with gross heat and humidity he was kind of the last man standing wasn't he in that one um and and backed it up well vashiro that that shock tournament victory until he got injured just before the french open or during the french open wasn't it that he ended up having to pull out but he's he's a real unknown quantity and a dark horse here and he's taking on a Tiafoe who we've we've now heard because he did an interview didn't he with Gil Gross for US Open Radio confessing that he ain't feeling great I mean I know we perhaps suspected that he wasn't feeling great but he's very much confirmed without giving specifics that his body is not feeling fantastic at the moment so I I do just wonder about Vachero

1:07:05David Law:tomorrow yeah he he's not somebody who puts limits on himself he i suspect he likes these conditions right now he's a big strapping guy who can hit through the the heavy conditions i think they're gonna liven up from what we understand over the weekend um and cool down actually as well i don't think we're gonna have quite the level of humidity but yeah it's still going to be a factor I think tomorrow. He likes a big stage. Tiafoe has kind of been hanging on a bit. He's, like you say, that interview was very telling. Gil was pushing him on whether it was his game that was the problem at the moment.

1:07:50David Law:And he kind of said it's everything, but really it all comes from the fact that physically he's just not in a good place.

1:07:56Matt Roberts:Second on the Armstrong night session tomorrow is Alina Svitolina against Anna Kalinskaya, one of those awkward Ukrainian-Russian matchups. And we got another one of those to open grandstand with Marta Kostryk and Ekaterina Alexandrovich. Second on is the piece of work clash between Daniel Medvedev and Arta Rindeknesh. Third on is Karolina Mukova and Emma Novara. Expect that to be a nice looking clash. And Yurila Hetchka is last on grandstand tomorrow against Stefano Sitsipas, who backed up his big feast win and has made it into round three. Stadium 17 tomorrow. Jasmine Paulini and Saronica Stea first on.

1:08:37Matt Roberts:Taylor Townsend against Diana Schneider second on. That's a fun match and winner of that likely to face Irina Sabalenka, Anne Lee and Linda Nozkova third on. And fourth on is Alex Mickelson against Daniel Merida. Any big upsets we're seeing tomorrow? Is Tiafoe the most likely?

1:08:56David Law:That's the one that jumps out to me.

1:08:58Matt Roberts:Matt?

1:09:01Catherine Whitaker:Yes, I'm always on Medvedev upset watch. So could see something happening there, I suppose.

1:09:10Matt Roberts:Permanent state of Medvedev alert.

1:09:12Catherine Whitaker:Can I draw your attention to court 12, where not before 2.30, Conte Alise in doubles.

1:09:24Matt Roberts:Absolutely extraordinary. Pierre Uguerbe is going to wake up in the morning, check his phone and go, oh, fuck. That is Alice's doubles partner, if that isn't obvious. Whereas Simone Bolelli and Andrea Bavisori are going to wake up, check their phones and go, brilliant.

1:09:45Catherine Whitaker:And that court is also for fans of B.Nakashima.

1:09:49Matt Roberts:Yes. Did we know there were two?

1:09:53Catherine Whitaker:I did think perhaps it was an error Well hang on It's Brandon and Bryce

1:09:58Matt Roberts:There's a Bryce

1:09:59Catherine Whitaker:There's a Bryce Younger brother There's a Preston Stearns

1:10:07Matt Roberts:There's a Bryce Nakashima Yep What a time to be finding that out And there's two Penichco We did know there were two Penichcovers didn't we But both of them are playing also on court 12 tomorrow. It's the place to be for niche fun stuff.

1:10:26Catherine Whitaker:Whereas court 13 for the Kitchen Ox.

1:10:32Matt Roberts:Any others we can find? Where is the junior, Matt, the ambidextrous junior playing tomorrow and what's his name?

1:10:41Catherine Whitaker:Oh, I don't think he is playing tomorrow, but he will. He's playing at some stage, right? Yes, he'll be playing soon. Tio Davidov, ambidextrous junior, switches hands, one to look out for when he gets on the schedule.

1:10:57Matt Roberts:OK, I think we should probably call it a day at that, except to draw your attention to our lovely mascot, Leo. Leo says, with all the rain, he's considering floating to the championships. Here he is. Oh, my gosh, he's a border raft. He's aboard a raft with US Open branding on it. What a photo shoot. My goodness. Wow. Yes, perhaps he could dry the court. Yeah, well, that is the technology they use. It is just towels and children. So Leo could probably do as good a job as anyone. Thank you, Leo, for that little boost at nearly three o 'clock in the morning. Hello to our mascots, Bodie, Maisie and Roger.

1:11:39Matt Roberts:Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. I will not be asking for shout outs because I think Matt might resign in the podcast if I did. But I will tell you that we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. And if you're an NFL fan, the Athletic has something really exciting that is starting next week, which I guess is when the NFL season starts, David.

1:12:04David Law:Correct.

1:12:05Matt Roberts:I just saw a trailer for some NFL that seems to be happening in Australia.

1:12:10Catherine Whitaker:Yeah. That's almost as ludicrous as tennis happening at 2.30am, isn't it? It's the same genre. Absolutely bonkers. What are we doing?

1:12:19Matt Roberts:What The Athletic is doing is The Athletic Live, presented by Google Gemini, which is a brand new YouTube watch-along on NFL game days, featuring the biggest and best beach reporters The Athletic has to offer. You can even become part of the show in the interactive chat on YouTube. It all starts from September the 8th. And if you're into the NFL, it does sound really fun. So do check that out if you're an NFL fan. We will be back tomorrow, hopefully with Matt, TBC, on whether he is ever prepared to watch tennis again at this point. But people bounce back.

1:12:57Catherine Whitaker:I'll bounce back. I'm always up for tennis. I'd just rather be watching, you know, Pagula at 11.30am in the stadium than whatever the hell that was tonight at 2.30am. But that's not going to be possible.

1:13:12Matt Roberts:And on that note, folks, we say thank you for listening and we'll speak to you tomorrow.