US Open Day 7 - Will it ever happen for Alexander Zverev?

0:10Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on day seven of the US Open Labour Day weekend. So here we are laboring away. I've torn myself away from Laura Siegmund double bagel watch and Matt has torn himself away from Amanda Anisimova all to bring you part one of this tennis podcast because I'm going to be able to do this. A lot has happened today already before we even get into the night session, the primetime session, which we'll, of course, discuss in part two of today's show. Let's start with the world number one, Yannick Sinner, who was for a while there in serious trouble before winning through in four sets against the ever unpredictable David Denis Shapovalov.

0:52Yeah, I mean, you could have rewound to Wimbledon and for Grigor Dimitrov read Denis Shapovalov because he was really pressuring Yannick Sinner. He was hurting Yannick Sinner. He was making us wonder, at least me, when it was one set all and three love to Sinner and I think he had chances for four love. It was making me wonder whether an upset barring a torn pectoral muscle might be on. And then Denis Shapovalov reverted to the Denis Shapovalov who has frankly underachieved in recent years. I know he's talked about a knee injury and various other issues, but the old problems surfaced. But until then, and we'll come on to talk about those old problems, but until then, for two and a half sets, he was toe-to-toe with the best player in the world and he was a problem for him.

1:48He has a weight of shot. He was keeping his nerves under control and his anxiety and everything else. And Sinner was nowhere near what we have become accustomed to. And it was intriguing to watch him in that situation working his way through it. And I found it interesting in the moment. I found it interesting in the post-match press conference as well. But I do think that Denis Shapovalov, had he made further strides with his mental approach in that third set, might have won that set and may even be in a different position right now. No fewer strides have been made in mental approach than Denis Shapovalov from the third set of this match or midway through the third set of this match onwards.

2:36We'll come on to dear old Denis in a minute. Yannick Sinner said in the press conference that he thought he played well today. Maybe not his best, but he thought he played well. Do you believe that, Matt? Do you think he played well? No, not by his standards. I think his serve was massively off today, particularly the start of the match. Hawkeye had some quite good stats during the coverage of this, saying that 61 % of the serves he was missing were in the net. and that was tallying with what Mary Crillo and Colin Fleming were seeing in commentary about his ball toss maybe being a bit too low, his rhythm on that serve not quite being there and his forehand was off as well, there's a lot of forehands in the net today and frankly I think he can't have been playing well because otherwise he does not find himself in that position against Denis Shapovalov as well as Denis Shapovalov did play for two and a bit sets here he wasn't lights out he wasn't like just blazing winners all over the court he was steady off both wings he's got big power off both wings so he's a problem when he is playing like that but a problem that Yannick Sinner at his best would have handled today I think more easily than he did but I don't know I never felt that much jeopardy in this because to me the only jeopardy I would have felt as if Sinner looked unwell or looked injured or something.

4:10He didn't look like that to me. So I always thought, like, Sinner is pretty much the most reliable guy on the ATP Tour. He's probably going to come through this, versus Shapovalov, who pretty much the least reliable guy on the ATP Tour to actually, like, sustain that level through a match. So, I don't know. I was intrigued by it. I see the Grigor Dimitrov comparisons, absolutely. It was a bit like that, just with more butt sweat for Yannick Sinner. But otherwise, I wasn't like, okay, this is... Or maybe a kit that was slightly more revealing of said situation. Yeah, and conditions to bring out the butt sweat.

4:52Said it again. Let's go for the three feet. I wasn't on huge upset watch for this. I think we've become so accustomed to Yannick Sinner cruising through matches that him having a slightly off day and him dropping a set feels like a really big deal. He was keen in the press conference to use this as a reminder that, well, in his words, I'm not a machine. It's a good quote, that. Yeah. I think he was quite irritated by it. And I started it because I asked the first question and I said, we're not used to seeing you in this sort of position, Yannick. What issues were you facing and what sort of challenges was he posing?

5:37And he looked at me in that kind of quizzical, what the hell are you talking about way? And I think other players would feel very familiar with that. Even though they're not as good as Yannick Sinner, I think it's the look that players tend to give to journalists when journalists are assuming something's going to happen and actually players think, well, you don't know how bloody hard it is to make it look like it does. And I think he was thinking, you know what, this is really tough. What I'm doing is amazing and it isn't just an automatic development. I have to work really hard for this and it is normal, was his word, to describe the challenge that Shapovalov presented him with.

6:20And I think it is a useful reminder for us all. and yet at the same time it's not normal for him and it's not normal i mean i know he has lost to shampavala before but it still came as a big surprise you know given given the way they're lined up um and it's it just adds an extra level of of intrigue to the tournament really that the fact that this little reminder that that yes sinner is not a machine he is an incredible performer and reliable competitor but I think it will have been noticed in the locker room by a few players who will think well okay and and while I think it's an important point and totally valid for Yannick Sinner to make it do you think the fact that he dealt with that line of questioning the way he did with a touch of irritability rather than with with levity or that dry sense of humor he quite often applies to situations like that do you think that's at all revealing

7:22of possible... I mean, it's all relative, isn't it? When I say doubts, I don't mean like Denis Shapovalov doubts. I mean Yannick Sinner doubts. I mean, I think what you have to remember is the last time we felt like this in a grand slam, he went and won the thing. And I know that he was let off the hook and it was a lot more dramatic with Dimitrov, but he went and won the tournament and he beat Carlos Alcraz in the final. So everybody can have a bit of an off day. he may well just gather himself the way he normally does and just go win the tournament. I really don't. I think he's just genuinely a bit irritated with that line of questioning.

8:00He's just annoyed with David Hall. Even though I think it is a perfectly valid question, I also get it from his perspective. He's just become so used to David asking about carrots. Exactly. He was caught off guard. What is this journalistic question from the tall guy? Ask me something fun. there were there were karate boys present today but none of them are just as carrots yeah i've got a real problem with karate boys that are just men in orange t-shirts like that's not anything you want sort of credit for if you want to sort of get the credit for the branding you've got to be dressed as a carrot and we enjoyed those orange t-shirts the other day that said what was it just call me a carrot right like fun yeah leaning into an orange t-shirt corporate orange t-shirts that say karate boys on them yeah not for me it's crap dennis shapovalov folks i don't want to be too scathing because this is this is dennis shapovalov isn't it like this is everything we already knew about dennis shapovalov a beautiful tennis player at his best with tremendous potential but not a mental colossus and not really a grown up mentally when he's stress tested on the court but I did think this was particularly disappointing and feeble from him he did get to one set all three love against the world number one and that is not insignificant both in terms of his ability and his strength of character but I think mentally that's a lot easier than the bit that comes after getting to settle and three love.

9:46I think the massive disappointment is that he did so well to get to that point, and for a long period. I mean, it's a couple of hours' worth of holding your ground, going toe-to-toe with a guy of this level, and then he just threw his toys out the pram. And there was a warning sign of that in the first set, because he was up a break, and he gave that break away, and there was a footfall in that game. and he went over to the umpire and said, I've never hit a foot fault in my life. Very convenient for a foot fault to be called. And I thought, okay, that's the worst of Denis Shapovalov, thinking that something like that is against him.

10:23Look, it wasn't a conclusive foot fault when they showed the replay. I can understand frustration, but like saying it's convenient and just like, you know, again, Colin Fleming and Mary Carrillo in the commentary box were citing his new coach Michael Tillstrom who'd said that one of the keys for Shapovalov is that he can't throw away games out of frustration and there he was just doing it right there he was then helped out by Sinner double faulting away that first set but then he did well to win that first set he did well to hang with Sinner and go 3-love up he was left 30 up in that 3-love game as well but then the same thing happened again on a line call there was a line call he was really unhappy about just as Sinner levelled it up in that third set and again he lost his he lost his head about it and that immaturity has just always been part of his game really and I don't have massive question marks about like the game, I think there's a ceiling on it you know, I think he hasn't developed massively but he's we know what he is, he's got weapons and all that kind of stuff and he displayed that today but it's the questions over can he bring it in the big moments and he he didn't really do that today despite taking the lead and and doing well for a lot of the match and i interrogated him about it i mean i he came early to his press conference so i asked the first two questions i asked him one about going toe-to-toe with sinner and he went through that and he was pleased with himself but then my second question was given you got to that position of one said all and three love you then started to get upset you started to have a lot of back and forth with your your support team there um what was happening there and is that something you're going to have to get a grip on if you're actually going to make any further progress and he really refused to accept that as a as a as a concept and it was relentless all the way through that third set.

12:30He was being sarcastic towards them. He was blaming them for his serve going off. And I just thought, OK, this match is over. You know, the break had gone. So he's back to 3-2 up or 3-3 all. I mean, he was barely winning games after that. And he just refused to accept that as a concept. He was talking about how pleased with his progress he's been over the last few months. He's got to keep going in the right direction. Sometimes he needs to get fired up and sometimes maybe he does need to not not get fired up and and sort of you know let let it go so he was saying one or two of the right things but I got the sense that Tillstrom and and that team and he's a very smart coach who's dealt with a lot as a coach over the years he's coached Gilman Fies for many years I just feel like he's got a hell of a job on his hands if he wants to make material difference to this incredible talent because I really he's a nice lad don't is shiapavalov but it is like talking to a child when when he's in that mode when he's when he's in that mode and i know i'm really not meaning to say to be harsh on him i just think that's the truth he's got to to grow up and stop that stuff however he gets there i just think he's he's never going to achieve what he wants to without yeah i'm not sure there's anything more more limiting to growth or progress in any sense, tennis or otherwise, than failure or refusal to take accountability.

13:59And that, I'm afraid, is what Denis Shapovalov exuded today. When the chips were down, that was the quality that came out and it was tough to see. So Yannick Sinner threw to the fourth round to face the winner of tonight's match between Alexander Bublik and Tommy Paul. We'll obviously talk about that in part two. Let's move on to talk about, well, two matches in tandem because it feels like they are a diptych here. Naomi Osaka's victory over Dario Kazikina, 6-love-4, 6-6, 3. Coco Goff's straightforward victory over Magdalena Frech, 6-3, 6-1. Setting up Osaka versus Goff round four. we'll have a yes please to that it's a delicious prospect big time you know that that is the one that we wanted the moment the draw came out it's one that noemi osaka would have known nothing about because she doesn't look at the draw um but which she is clearly very satisfied to have set up now that she is there she describes that prospect as special because of the match they had here specifically six years ago which you may remember Osaka won and a very young Koka Goff who was tearful at the time was invited and encouraged by Osaka to share the microphone with her in the on-court interview it's a really memorable moment and a lot's happened since then for both women Goff becoming a two-time Grand Slam champion Osaka going through a lot of mental health challenges and and uh taking time away from the game to have her baby and to coming back to the sport and not managing to have the sort of comeback she's wanted today and she said i've wanted it too quickly and i've expected it to happen too quickly probably um but here she is now for the first time into the second week of a grand slam tournament since 2021 i mean it's it's a long long time um And it was a really interesting couple of matches, I thought, because Goff did find the form that she's been looking for, certainly to make major strides.

16:17She seemed so much happier out there today, didn't she? Daytime conditions, just four double faults, just a lot more security to her game. And Osaka was brilliant for a bit, and then not very good for a bit, and then good at the end. And she was helped out by Dario Kasikina, hitting seven double faults in the first two service games so you know it's it's it's a tantalizing prospect I do think what's going to be interesting is that I felt like one of the reasons Goff was so much better today is that she was facing an opponent who doesn't really have weapons so she was actually very comfortable just rallying with her and and she said this in her press conference today she said that basically she wasn't thinking about rushing she wasn't thinking about you know having to go for broke on the ball she was comfortable to just trade and back her own physicality in those rallies and that's different to Tom Janovich who's so good at using pace and Vekic who's so good at generating pace in her first two matches which I think made her more uncomfortable from the baseline in those matches and Osaka is going back to someone with weapons going back to someone with that power so as good as Coco Goff was today I think Osaka is a much bigger test of her confidence on those ground strokes the good news is the serve was was a lot better today as you said just the four double faults decent percentage as well like really does feel like we've come on since that first set of the Vekic match since the Tomjanovic match and look maybe that's to be expected she's working on that serve all the time and making little adjustments in between matches so she's she's in a good place I think relatively to where she was a few days ago Coco Goff and I am very very excited for this I do feel like we're due a Goff Osaka classic I don't know I feel like we haven't really had one yet like they had a good match in Cincinnati quite a few years ago now but otherwise they've tended to be pretty one-sided and the last one they played was just getting going when Osaka had to retire during the match at the end of end of last year in Beijing but maybe there's a reason we haven't had a classic you know maybe there's something about the match-up something about the the shared history that they've had that that makes it not quite the classic that we just on paper think it's going to be but I really hope so because it's such an intriguing match considering everything going on with Goff's game and considering this much better form that Naomi Osaka's in and if Osaka can win it she then reaches that point in the tournament where she'll definitely win the title right because she's never lost in the get the champagne out there and then you know like the fourth round has been the one if she gets past the fourth round she's gone on to convert all of those into titles now just because it's happened before doesn't mean it will happen again but I'd love you know as much as I would love to have Coco Goff in this tournament I'd love to have Naomi Osaka and just test that theory whether she's still that big match player that she always was like I'm excited about it but I don't want to lose either of them either it's a it's a bit of a it's quite early to have it feels early ESPN feel right as well and on that I'm seriously intrigued about where they schedule this match because it obviously feels night session.

19:50You know, they call it prime time, don't they? It feels prime time, but it's going to be Monday and Monday's Labour Day. Yeah, I think afternoon. It's a public holiday. Coco Gauff will be wanting for it to be day session. I don't quite know what the broadcast situation is, but don't they put it on another network as well as ESPN on the weekends? Yeah, I mean, certainly ABC is the one that ESPN's coverage goes on at the weekends. And I would assume that's the case on Monday. I haven't checked that, but I would assume so, given it's a holiday. I just, I think there will be a clamour from the broadcasters to want that in the daytime when they can maximise maybe their audience.

20:33But we'll see. Well, certainly Europe would, you know, that would, you'd think, be the biggest international audience. I know there's no Europeans involved, but I don't think there'd be too much pushback against that if that was what the domestic broadcasters wanted. And that sure would be Coco Goff's preference, right? Day session? I'd have thought so. I mean, given how comfortable she looked out there today, given generally we talk about, you know, just take this tournament out of it. we talk about how good she is in those daytime conditions. I'd have thought so. I'm just curious, what did you see from Osaka today that Gough might be able to exploit?

21:18Because the bits I saw of Osaka were the good bits. Suddenly she found her shots down the line, down the close, and started pummeling winners again. But what went wrong in the middle, I suppose, is my query. Well, for a start, she really struggled with the shadow. When the shadow was coming across the court, her game went to pieces, and she lost four games in a row in the second set. She was six love, and she got a point for one love, and she just hit a screaming backhand winner down the line. And I said to Charlie Eccleshire from the Athletics sitting next to me, I think this might be a double bagel, because Casa Quina just couldn't get serves in at all.

22:00She hit eight double faults in the first set. And seven of those were in the first two service games. And then it's 14 minutes and it's four love. And suddenly, Kasukina started to make her play more. She hit a couple of winners. And Osaka just suddenly lost it and was getting anxious. To me, it's actually that. You've got the biggest, best, big match player in the sport, in Cocoa Golf who manages to win matches playing really not very well against somebody who really struggles not to not to kind of get down on herself and get frustrated and and is is out of practice of winning big and I think that that is the big test is because I think toe-to-toe the better tennis I've seen has been from Osaka and I think she can hit heights that golf won't but can she actually win a big match like this against such a strong mental opponent like Goff?

23:06I think that's where the match lies to me. I actually think it was helpful for Asalka for the match not to have continued in the same way that the first set went and for it to have ended up being a battle out there today because it's pretty hard to see. I suppose there's a scenario where if you told me it's going to be a one-sided match, in a couple of days' time, I'd probably think, well, the winner will be Naomi Osaka then. Like, if somebody's going to hit somebody else off the court cleanly, that's probably going to be Naomi Osaka. But chances are, like, Coco Goff just has a wizard-like way of turning things into a tussle.

23:45The chances are Naomi Osaka will find herself in some sort of tussle. So I think to have had those competitive juices stimulated a bit today and to have come through it, I think, is no bad thing. I still think, you know, juice is flowing or not, Coco Gauff is a better competitor than anybody else in the world. But at least she's had those emotions and found a way through them. Exactly. So, Coco Gauff won on Ash, Osaka won on Armstrong. Before Osaka on Armstrong was the Italy off between Lorenzo Mazzetti and Flavio Caballi with Muzetti beating up the shattered remains of his best friend. What a spectacle, Matt.

24:36No, no. It's this Muzetti run, and I've been to all of his matches. They've been early on Armstrong, all of them. They've been quite a convenient time to get to and watch pretty much in full. it's very much reminding me of Jack Draper's run here last year where like he's doing well but everyone that he's playing against is just sort of falling apart in front of him. You know, Pesci Perikar couldn't return. David Goffin is 20-25. And Caballi had had 10 sets in his legs and his arm was falling off. Sorry, slight tangent. Just speaking of it being 2025 and you mentioning Giovanni Mpeshi-Perikard, do you know who his doubles partner is here?

25:26I saw this and I've now forgotten. I've blanked on it. It's someone that's had a retirement ceremony. It's Nicolas Mahou. Yes, it is. It is Nicolas Mahou. I saw him in the area earlier. I was like, what are you doing here? He's literally been in the coaching box this tournament. Yep. he was out there with Medvedev on Armstrong night with Benjamin Bonzi. Yep. Yeah. Anyway, as you were. Yeah. So it's kind of been a little bit hard to gauge just how well Mazzetti is playing here because I feel like he hasn't had a really true test yet. You know, like he's doing some good things. He's trying to get his forehand into play a lot more.

26:15there was a moment in this match where the Italian journalist in front of me leaned back on his chair after a backhand winner and whacked his head on the back of my laptop. He seemed annoyed with me about that. But that just shows you some of the shot making is still there. He's still enlisting those sorts of reactions. Of course he is. He always will. But I guess I'm just waiting for that test. This is now his best ever run at a hard court major. fourth round off the back of a summer where he could barely buy a win on a hard court. There's no doubt this is a really good tournament for him, but actually trying to gauge the level I am finding a little bit tricky.

26:55You've got Jaume Munar next, who is having this really, really strong season, and he actually leads the head-to-head against Mazzetti. He's got a win against him on clay, and he's got a win against him on hard court this year, back at the start of the year in Hong Kong. I think that's going to be the test. I think Munar is going to bring it. He's a pretty good draw in the fourth round of a major, you'd have to say, but he's going to force Mazzetti to keep it up the whole match, I think, in a way that none of these opponents yet really have. And this one, I'm not even sure we've mentioned, ended in retirement in that third set.

27:32I had one nice bit of analysis that I'd not really thought of before from Colin Fleming in the coverage, who said Mazzetti has stopped trying to be a hardcourt player in his attempts to overcome the surface. He said you could see that he was trying to stand up on the baseline and do what hardcourt players do. And he stopped trying to do that, and he's just being himself now, happy to stand a bit further back, be creative, use his whip and his spins and all that sort of thing. and I thought that's an interesting observation and I like the sound of it. I wonder what happens when you come up against a really good hard-court player who is going to stand up and take your time away.

28:20Well, we might find out. Would we call Jaume Mouna a really good hard-court player? No, but he's playing good tennis. He's become a good hard-court player this year, I would say. I'd expect Mazzetti to get through that personally and then he's eventually going to run into one, isn't he? Yeah, Yank Sinner. Definitely very good. There you go. What else have we got? We've got Karolina Mukova. I've never been so pleased to be proven wrong by the incredible Karolina Mukova. 6 '7", 6 '4", 6 '2". She's unreal. How she picked herself up. I mean, frankly, how any tennis player picks himself up after losing a set like this first one, this first tie-break set.

29:02I would just go, do you know what? I've thrown everything at it wasn't quite enough I'll leave it yeah comes back and wins the next two and look the risk definitely remains an issue to some extent she's still being cautious about hitting the two-handed backhand but as we keep saying her slice is a heck of a shot and she not quite to the extent of Ash Barty but a little bit like Ash Barty has lots of different versions of the slice She has lots of different things that she can do with it. So it's not a sort of predictable shot in the way that, you know, a lot of sliced backhands, sort of improvised sliced backhands can be.

29:45And just in terms of, you know, how I interpreted her body language after her previous victory, also an epic three-set win when she was, you know, clearly extremely tired. but I thought her slight downcastness might be due to concerns about the wrist. But actually there was a translation of the Czech portion of her press conference and we have verified this with some Czech journalists that this is an accurate translation. She was asked to explain what happened at some point during her previous match. I think in the first set of her previous match when she seemed quite distressed on the court and she said it wasn't tennis related.

30:27I don't really like talking about it but opposite my bench my ex-boyfriend sat down he sometimes shows up at events where he shouldn't be that startled me a bit I told him to leave he didn't but later he did go it was hard to focus in that moment boy um I mean yeah absolutely absolutely grim that that is something that any woman or tennis player is having to deal with quite frankly and all the more astonishing that she's that she won that match that she's won today that she's set up a fourth round with Marta Kosciuk who beat Dan Parry today 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Mukova, Kosciuk's a good match. Yeah it's fascinating isn't it against somebody with such creativity who plays aggressive tennis but without just brute power against one of the most gymnastic, athletic players in the sport who, you know, has had a bit of a rough patch for a while and is coming back strong now.

31:29And that's a great comeback from her today. So, fascinated to watch it. Yeah, I predict a long one. Muković's gone three hours in her last two matches and Kostjec just loves to go three hours. She'll sign on the dotted line for that. Andrei Ryblev threw to the fourth round with a five-set dramatic win over Hong Kong's Coleman Wong. 6 '3", in the fifth, Marit Safin in his corner. You might not recognise him because... We don't. He doesn't look like an ex-professional tennis player, but he's here and it's just a cool angle on Andrei Rublev, isn't it? Absolutely. It's 25 years since Marit Safin won this title in 2000.

32:12It looks like it. Yeah. but I mean I think he's helping Rublev in many ways and there are lots of things that Rublev has needed to deal with and is trying to deal with and has been very open about and the help he's tried to get for himself and wish him well with that and I definitely feel like he's making strides certainly what you see out on court pushed again today, I did think maybe this is the tournament where he can take care of lower ranked players a little more efficiently huge credit to him for winning anyway but you know I I wonder where the limit is I suspect it's coming yeah I mean the I went through his recent Grand Slam results and sort of par for him used to be quarterfinals didn't it you know that's the the Andrei Roblev ceiling he there's been no by no means a Medvedev style decline but par has dropped from quarterfinals to round of 16 so So, you know, it's Zverev or Felix Auger and Iassim next, we'll tell you in part two.

33:17So that's the test, isn't it? That's the test of where he's at. Last result from the day session, Leandro Reedy through by retirement. Not much to say here. Camille Myerschak injured, retired in the first set. But Reedy, I need to start learning about Leandro Reedy, he's into the second week of a slam, has almost doubled his whole career earnings this tournament alone. So cool. Yeah, what a story. He plays the winner of the match currently on court. A thriller, actually, currently between Alex de Mino and Daniel Altmaier. By the way, I walked past Meyer Chak earlier, having a one-on-one with Rob Maul of The Sun, which I thought was surprising, to say the least.

34:02But then I realised that Meyer Chak, have you seen this story? He's been at the centre of being nice to a kid. Oh. Because he gave his, he tried to give his towel, I think it was, to a little kid in the crowd the other day. This has become quite big. It has, and this guy snatched it away. Grown man, yeah. Grown man snatched it away from the kid, and you see the kid following it and looking really, really devastated. And he sneaks it away into his bag as the kid sort of, probably everybody listening has seen it. It's pretty horrible. Yeah, and I think in the moment, Majerszak didn't realise that that's what had happened.

34:38But anyway, he met the kid today, did Majerszak, and he gave him a little gift. It's all coming together with Rodmore. It's all the dots are joining. So I imagine that's why the son wanted to speak to him. I did do a double take. So that means the son put in a win-lose, win-slash-lose-slash-retirement due to injury request for Poland's Kamil Majerszak. Majerszak was like, sure. this is what happens when all the brits are out yes yes exactly okay uh mandor anusimova needs you matt we're going to send matt back to grandstand to bring her home uh and we will be back in part two to talk about the rest of the day's matches but first of all we want to tell you about our sponsors steve fergals international tennis tours who together with on location set the standard for tennis travel they can arrange the best tennis travel experiences to all of the grandstand tournaments and Indian Wells next March bringing you closer than ever to the action.

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36:21They even have current and legendary players from the WTA and ATP Tours visiting. when we were there a couple of years ago John McEnroe walked in as I was sipping on my drink from the full bar and eating my snacks and refreshments and enjoying the air conditioning I can vouch for all of those things being great so go to tools4tennis.com forward slash podcast for more information and to book your dream tennis trip welcome back to part two of the tennis podcast it is now midnight we're still here at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre and tennis you'll be surprised to hear is still happening.

36:57Tommy Paul and Alexander Bublik are thrashing it out on the Arthrash Stadium. And over on Armstrong, Beatrice Haddad Schmeier and Maria Sakharie are just getting going. They are still in the first set, having started at 11.28pm. It was scheduled that match to follow Alexander Zverev's match against Felix Auger-Aliassime. And predictably, that match was fairly lengthy. And it's just, it's another illustration of how equality is not equity because technically they do treat the men's and women's equally here in terms of billing on the main stadium courts and they alternate who heads up the night session, who gets the first slot and who gets the second.

37:43But they play different formats of the sport, therefore the implications of the scheduling are entirely different for men and for women. so treating them equally does not equal equality. And you have two tennis players coming out to play an incredibly important match at nearly midnight to a half-empty stadium, and it's a tough scene and an entirely preventable one. But let's talk about the match that hogged many an hour on Louis Armstrong Stadium tonight, the first night session match to the defeat of the number three men's seed. Alexander Zverev is out, losing in four sets. 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Felix Auger-Aliassime, the biggest Grand Slam win of Felix's career and further evidence that all you need is a little chat with David Law.

38:41Yep, tennis podcast meets on the eve of the tournament and we chatted about how three years ago He was world number six and Davis Cup champion and a US Open semi-finalist. And here he is now down at 27 in the world and 25 years of age. And we had a good chat about that. Available to listen to if you'd like to. And it seems to have acted as a springboard for this fantastic performance. Yeah. What do Felix Orgelia Seaman, Artur Indeknesh and Karolina Mukova have in common? There literally is only one answer to that other than their professional tennis players. It's that they all had a chit-chat with David Law before the tournament.