US Open Day 8 - Czech Volcanoes erupt in New York, but not Machac

0:10Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast coming to you shortly before midnight from the media Garden of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre on day eight of the US Open. A huge day for Matt Roberts and his dormant volcano theory. It's happening. There's volcanic ash all over the Arthur Ashe Stadium right now because Marketa Vondroshova is erupting and Barbora Krikshikova is a dormant volcano as well and she has erupted. They're here and they're dangerous and they might be in the mix. I'll say, yeah, volcanic ash everywhere around the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre. Barbora Krojcikva and Marketa Vondroshova have stolen the show here today kind of from under everyone's noses.

1:06They both played the two matches of the day. They've probably put in the two performances of the day, although Carlos Alcaraz and his behind-the-back trick shot is probably going to have something to say about that. But, yeah, for me, David, those two, can't believe I'm saying this, have stolen the show. They've erupted. Yes, and maybe we're going to have to have a dormant volcano list to go with your backhand list at some point. Anyway, it's only a two-person list, apparently. But it's bang on because the performances they put on pretty wildly different in terms of the manner in which they enfolded.

1:45Krishigovic was so dramatic and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, whereas Marketa van Drossova, I think that was a virtuoso performance tonight. I was just remarking to Matt before we started recording that I don't really think I've ever watched her play at her best in person before. I was around at the Wimbledon final that she won, but I don't think I was close up. I was probably watching it on TV. I wasn't commentating on it. I really took a close interest in this tonight, both on TV in the first set and a half and then courtside with you both later on. The way she played tonight made your heart sing.

2:25For a start, it was really quick between the points. They're flying between the points. It's snappy tennis. It was wonderful to watch. I was actually keeping an eye on the shot clock when they went up to serve. There was always 10 seconds minimum left on the shot clock when Rabakina and Vondrosseva served. But, you know, Vondrosseva just, she found shots today of every type. Whether there were power, passing shots, lobs, drop shots, serves, absolutely the lot. Yeah, we just come from that match on Arthrasch Stadium. So we're all a little bit high on it. and maybe there's a bit of recency bias, but I loved this Marquetta von Drosheva performance so much.

3:09She's such a clever tennis player, Matt. So clever. And, you know, if she were around more, I truly think she would be very close to the top of my list of favourite players. Like, when she plays like this, it's just such a joy. She makes me want to play tennis. That's how I feel watching her. I'm like, oh, I want to try that. Obviously, I can't do it, but I just want to try it. It's just so cool watching her play. The way she constructs these points, and like, I don't want to necessarily compare players to players, but I guess the point I'm making here is tennis is so much about match-ups. Because we saw at Wimbledon, Emre Adekarno beat Marketa Vondroshova pretty comfortably.

3:53We saw the other night, Emre Adekarno look kind of with no answers of how to play Elena Rabatkinner. and then today we see Vondrosheva come up against Rabatkinner and decode her and nullify her and bring out errors that Raducanu just wasn't able to extract. You know, that match we saw the other day of Rabatkinner was hitting up and down the court and Rabatkinner does that, I think, better than anyone and has played all of that match against Raducanu on her terms like that. But today, you just can't do that against Marketa Vondroshova. Firstly, Marketa Vondroshova has turned into a serve bot this tournament.

4:38She did it against Jasmine Paolini, absolutely served her off the court. And today, in crucial moments, particularly that final game, 15-40 down, just literally served Elena Rabatkinner off the court. And when you think of the Vondroshova serve, you think of the lefty slider out wide. But it's not necessarily that. It's the big one down the tee which has been so effective. 13 aces to Rebecca in his five. Incredible. I just learned that stat from the Czech journalist sitting next to us who was shaking his head in disbelief. But then in the rallies as well, the way she was able to get Rebecca moving side to side, give her different looks, whether it be a slice, whether it be a lob defensive shot, whether it be taking a return and getting whips on it just to just to get Rebecca out of her strike zone she had it all going on and I think the the portion of the match that impressed me the most was the two games she played from one love down in the third set because at that point despite everything that Vondroshofer was doing it seemed like Rebecca might have a level that was just too good.

5:51Like, even in spite of all this wizardry shot making from Vondrosheva, Rabatkin was kind of like, well, my power is going to win out here. And she just entered a zone of hitting the ball so cleanly. Backhand took over the match. And she went, I think she won nine points in a row, end of the first set, start of the second set. And it looked like, OK, she's going to take over here. But then Vondrosheva, having played all the shots in the book except the drop shot all night suddenly pulled out the drop shot had a couple of them right at the start of that second start of that final set and won both points one with a forehand pass after the drop shot and one with a lob after the drop shot and that just seemed to change the momentum back in her favor and then she went about unpicking Rebecca Cano again it was superb I found that absolutely incredible how she did that because it wasn't it wasn't really a tactical change because she put the drop shot away after that it wasn't like oh i'm not going to win from the back of the court i need to start slicing and dicing and drop shotting rabatkinner it was i'm going to do this to disrupt this to get you off this ethereal plane that you've ascended to which she absolutely did and from from that point onwards she changed the temperature of the match she changed the whole course of the match with those two points it felt like to me.

7:12It was wizardry. Would you believe it? When I was watching those particular rallies that you referenced, my mind went back to a match I commentated on at Wimbledon many years ago between Gisela Dolko and Maria Sharapova, where Dolko did exactly that to Sharapova. She just suddenly chopped down on the ball a handful of times, brought her in, passed her, and eventually discombobulated her and knocked her out of the tournament. And, you know, it's hard to believe when you see the sweetness of the strike of Rabakina, particularly the way she played against Raducanu the other day. And she did bring that form into tonight for the most part.

7:53I thought such a high quality all the way through. It was one of those where you just kept feeling good about what you're watching, like really uplifted because so many of the rallies are finishing with women. And so much of the crowd stayed. It was a decent crowd for that match. I know helped along by the fact that the Djokovic match was really quick and a lot of people would have wanted some more tennis for their high ticket price tag. but it was a really good atmosphere in there. And those aren't two tennis players that would be considered huge names here in New York or that necessarily are known for their auras.

8:30But they held the attention of the crowd tonight in a really noticeable way, I thought. Giri Nathan, the fantastic tennis writer we had on the show a couple of weeks ago promoting his Alcaraz Sinner book, Changeover, which is excellent. And he wrote piece yesterday in the second serve, part of it describing the experience of watching tennis on Ash and that loud murmur that you get throughout the tennis, no matter kind of what match is happening. The sort of distracted sort of low level, not even low level, like mid and loud level sometimes just thrum of New York City happening and seeming to not particularly be paying attention to the tennis.

9:24And OK, it wasn't a full crowd, totally full crowd in for this match, but it was pretty quiet in there. They were quite spellbound, I thought, by that match. It really captured the attention. And I think that was particularly important because one of the lines that Geary had in that piece is, what good is tennis without its tennis sounds and one of the best things about being in the stadium for a Rabatkinner match is the sound the ball makes off the strings like and we were able to hear that tonight people were engaged they were in this match and that just added to it you know it's so it's such a good line that because when you're in the stadium you do notice the sound of Rabatkin's ball is different to other players.

10:13I don't know if I can quite describe how it's different, but it goes through you a little bit. It's a purer sound. It's louder, quite frankly, than other strikes of a tennis ball. And the flight of the ball looks different as well, particularly from those seats that we sit in side on. You can see the arc of the ball over the net, It just looks different to me, to anybody else. And as David said, like, yes, there were a lot of Rebecca Kinnah errors today. There were also a hell of a lot of moments where her ball striking was incredible, like top level. But the errors feels like an absolutely classic, going back to our big conversation we had in the summer, unforced errors and errors, and is there even an unforced error?

10:59because none of those misses that Rebecca had today were happening in isolation. They were happening because Vondroshova had extracted them out of her by manipulating the ball as she did in a way that Rebecca just hadn't faced in this tournament so far and wouldn't face against anyone else really. It was quite something to witness. And she will now face Vondroshova-Arena Sabalenka, the top seed and defending champion in the quarterfinal. and you might think, well, brilliant news for Sabalenka, that Vondroshova has taken Rabatkinner out. And maybe it is good news just, but Vondroshova is not great news for Sabalenka, is she?

11:42I mean, she's really, really troubled her in the past. I know they met in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago and Sabalenka was quite a convincing winner, but it's five and four, the head-to-head. And I don't think Vondroshova fears Sabalenka at all. And I think the match she's played tonight will be really great preparation for that quarterfinal. Yeah, I think she'll view herself as a player that if she's on form, she causes trouble for people because she has answers. And she does hurt people. I thought it was a very convincing performance, though, from Sabalenka tonight against Christina Bookshare.

12:21I mean, I think you would expect it to be. But my big takeaway from the day of those two matches that we've referenced apart is big names turning up and meaning business. This is where most of the top players just drew a line and they looked different. They looked what they are. They looked top players. And I think Karina Sabalink is part of that group. Vondrosha incidentally she was quite tearful in the on-court interview wasn't she with James Blake you don't often see that from her and it's just a reminder of what a rocky road it has been I think two surgeries since she won Wimbledon and really long periods in the wilderness and I'm sure lots of doubt and lots of low moments and another example of a player that just because they're not necessarily emoting on the court doesn't mean they don't care.

13:22So, yeah, I'm really thrilled for Marketa Vondroshova. And as much as when the draw came out, I was hyped about Rybakina Sabalenka, I'm potentially more hyped for Vondroshova Sabalenka. It's really interesting, isn't it? Because Sabalenka does have some stuff that Rybakina doesn't have. I think she's a much better mover, I would say. I think she'll be less bothered by the side-to-side nature of the rallies against Vondrosheva. She also plays a bit more spin to counter Vondrosheva's own spins. I think the spin's quite important. Not only that, but clearance over this net. Because if you hit this net, the ball comes back.

14:11It doesn't dribble over. Yeah, there's very few. And I think that that hurts players like Rebecca, who aren't giving much of a distance between the ball and the net. Yeah, so I could see it being a match where, at the end of it, we're talking about the little variety elements that Sabalenka's added. You know, I think there'll be times where she hits through. She hits through everyone. Like, she can just overpower you. She can do that. But I think she'll need the subtleties in her game as well. and I know that head-to-head is very, very close. You do have to go back to, I think it's Indian Wells 2018 for Vondroshofer's last win on a hard court against Sabalenka.

14:52I think she's tended to have success on clay and grass against her. So it just seems to me that the surface might favour Sabalenka here in that match shot. Sabalenka, incidentally, very comfortable 6-1, 6-4 in the final match of the day on Armstrong today. It was just one big order of play on Armstrong today. No day session, no night session. Sabalenka was the fourth and final matchup. I heard from Sky Sports in the UK, their coverage this morning, that Sabalenka had been offered the choice of either the second match on Ash night session or that fourth slot on Armstrong. And she elected for the fourth slot on Armstrong, anticipating it to be, I guess, that bit earlier going on than the final slot on Ash, which proved to be the case.

15:54She did not have faith in Thomas Mahatch, and she was right. She was absolutely right. Yeah, look, not much to report from Sabalenka against Bookshare. exactly the match you would have expected, apart from Christina Bookshire unexpectedly whipping up the crowd. That was my one unexpected moment from this match. Well, she did tell me, didn't she, that she was looking forward to a night session, and she made the most of it. She embraced it. Staying on Armstrong and the other match of the day, Barbora Krejcikova erupting to beat Taylor Townsend 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 in three hours and four minutes, 15-13 in that second set tie break.

16:41She saved Krojcikova eight match points at the end of that second set, seven of them in the tie break, and only one of those was a Taylor Townsend error. I mean, those are the headlines that by no means tells the story of this match, which was absolutely extraordinary. But it does tell you quite a lot about Barbora Krojcikova. Yeah, she does not hold back when she's under the gun. And in fact, she played her very best tennis when she was in that position. And I think that that isn't that much of a surprise today because this is a woman who's won two Grand Slam titles. You don't do that unless you've got the goods when you're under pressure and the back's against the wall.

17:26And the fact that she found the lines was pretty extraordinary. I mean, those eight match points included being 6-3 down in that second set tie break. Three match points in a row. The two of them were on Kriti Higgeva's serve. And then when she saved those, I remember turning to you, Buds, and I said, I think Townsend better win this one. You know, I still didn't think she would get quite as many more chances as she got if she didn't get that one. and there was the one most memorable shot of the lot from Kritschikiva, which I think was an inside-out backhand winner down the line, which caught the very last lick of paint on that line.

18:13And the crowd thought it was out and Townsend thought it was out and then she looked at the umpire and the umpire put the palm downwards to say that it was in. And the atmosphere, the mood inside that stadium, I mean, I think people still thought even then that it would end up being Townsend winning. I did. But my goodness, that was an extraordinary moment. And yeah, she took it on. Did critique of her when it really mattered and she made those shots. The kids with their giant tennis balls thought it was over, didn't they? It was incredible. It was like a landslide. It was like a mudslide seeing all of these children run, rush down the aisles with their enormous tennis balls to get in position to get an autograph at the end of the match.

19:02They thought their moment had come and they'd been unleashed. I've actually never seen anything quite like that before. And then when they finally realised the match hadn't finished and we would be going on, they all had to sort of, they all plopped to the floor at the same moment. There was nowhere for them to go. And the tie break went on for so long. They were sat there in the aisle clutching their giant tennis balls. That point was at 6-7. That was that match point. And then it ended up being 15-13. They were like David kneeling down during that really long tie break at Queen's. We're going to even this official those years ago.

19:43Correct. Suddenly caught out. But, yeah, I've written down here. Inside in, forehand winner. Inside out, forehand winner. Townsend miss, forehand passing shot. Townsend miss, backhand wide. I think that was the unforced error. That was the unforced error. The passing shot, forced error, I would say. It actually didn't quite hit it cleanly, but I'd say forced error. wrong-footing backhand winner onto the line is the one we've talked about there. I think maybe the most extraordinary of the lot, the backhand volley winner that she hit at 10-11, Craig Chicova, because I think she slightly hesitated and didn't really know how to hit the volley.

20:23She was sort of in no man's land, just behind the service line. It was a really awkward spot to have to hit a volley from. and she just caressed it with perfect control back behind Townsend and short and out of reach. It was a brilliant shot. I don't think many players in the world would have had that control to be able to hit that. She then hit a forehand return winner on the seventh match point and then an unreturned out wide serve on the eighth. It was brave tennis in the biggest moments from Krejcikova. and what made it all the more dramatic was that in this incredible, what was it, 28-point tiebreak, we've talked there about these remarkable moments of, I'm going to use the word, clutchness from Craig Cheekover, that were just sprinkled in there the odd moment where she had a shocker.

21:19Like she'd suddenly get a short backhand and dump it in the net or not quite be able to control it And that sense of drama, like it was generally an incredibly high quality tie break. But there was enough just moments of, oh, my God, what's she done there? That you just had no idea what was coming. And I love that feeling. Yeah, I said in one of our many group chats that Kraychikovas showed us her floor and her ceiling all in one tie break, albeit a very long tie break. But it was everything. It was the full spectrum and it was full heartbreak for Taylor Townsend, who personally I think did well to make that deciding set as competitive as she did.

22:01I feared for her sitting down at the end of that second set. It was actually Krajcikova that went off court and Townsend just stayed on court, wrapped herself in a towel and had a lot to think about. Yeah, like you're going to have regrets, aren't you? because you've had eight match points, you're going to be thinking about them. Kind of as we've described, I don't think she did too much wrong in those moments. I do put this down massively to Kraychikova stepping up. Like, yes, there's the backhand she missed. Yes, maybe she would have liked another, I think, on one of the ones that was on her serve.

22:40I think she might have missed the first serve. But there wasn't that much that she did wrong. I think if she's gonna have regrets about that second set came earlier in the set she was up a break she was she was leading this match because Craig Chicova was so flat at the start like she needed to take advantage whilst she was dormant right exactly stop her erupting because once Craig Chicova gets into a match she does not let it this is it she's both a dormant volcano in the macro sense and the dormant volcano in matches. You were calling it all along. I was saying, my God, Krojikova looks sluggish and slow and flat.

23:20And you were saying, yeah, for now, you've got to put the hammer down while she's like this because she will wake up eventually. And initially she did. I mean, 6-1 first set. Yes. You know, that was pretty dramatically one-sided match. But, I mean, it's pretty similar to what happened against Emma Navarra in the previous round. And in the start of that second set, Craig Cheekhover just started to get into the Townsend service games. And she held a couple of them and that was impressive. But the 3-1 game, I pinpointed this, 15-all. She had a backhand drive volley on top of the net, did Townsend.

23:57And she just dumped it in the net. And she ended up losing that game. And OK, it wasn't like a pivotal point in the game. It wasn't like a break point. But it did lead to a break of serve. And it just seemed a little bit careless. It seemed a little bit like she wasn't quite fully aware of just how ready to be a volcano Krejcikova was, how ready she was to erupt in this match. She had to kill it there and then. She ends up in the second set tiebreak getting all those match points. She still could have won it. And in the third, when she went down a break, I thought that was it. But then she broke back immediately and had a game point to level it up.

24:38And Craig Chicova hit David, a backhand return winner, down the line into the postage stamp to save that game point. And then eventually Townsend didn't win another game after that. Craig Chicova just stepped up in those biggest moments. But devastating for Taylor Townsend. And, like, the crowd were obviously so with her, like, so with her. Like, Craig Cheek was coming up with these ridiculous things, and it was pretty quiet in Armstrong. She had one guy, didn't she? Yeah, one very loud guy. And yet whenever Townsend was doing some incredible stuff, and she really was, they were so with her. And, you know, it's a shame to lose that vibe, that buzz, that energy that she's brought to this tournament.

25:31I am glad that at least, like, she went out in an epic match. You just don't wish that much heartbreak on anyone. Like, that was brutal. And seeing how upset she was was really tough to take. Yeah, she was extremely upset. By the time she came into press, she was obviously still upset, but she metabolised it remarkably. And I always have mixed feelings about that. I'm in awe of it and it's obviously very impressive and in some ways very healthy, but there's always a part of me that's like, it's okay to feel your feelings. I do think sometimes they're wary of being criticised for complaining when they're multi-millionaires, they get to travel the world for a living.

26:14It's really fine to be devastated, but I do understand why there might be that wariness of how sort of feeling your feelings and being upset would be perceived. I'm not saying that's what's going on with Taylor Townsend, but I do, I always have mixed feelings when a player comes in and seems so, to have so much perspective. I thought it was Ben Shelton the other day. Like, I'm really upset, but don't worry. I know that I live a charmed life and I'm blessed and everything. Like, that doesn't mean you're not allowed to have feelings. Well, I was in that press conference for Taylor Townsend and by the time she got in there, she was in control and she explained it as if, in terms of her coach and her had agreed, have a policy that you're allowed to sulk and feel sorry for yourself for three minutes and that's it.

27:09And she said, I decided... Wouldn't be enough for me. She said, I decided to extend that to ten for this one and there were a few laughs and so forth but it was a very philosophical press conference. She wasn't in there full of regrets. She was giving props to Krachikova for taking it. I think where I struggle a little, the question I asked her was remembering how Krachikova was in her position several years ago as the world number one doubles player who wanted a singles career and was ranked too low to play the same tournaments as she could get into for doubles. And, you know, Townsend is in the 140s in the world.

27:53She's now going to go up to 111. But if you look at her year, most of the time she's playing qualifying in singles and she's playing the doubles tournaments. And I said, do you think maybe you'll switch your focus a little bit going forwards and change the way you do things? And she said no, because she thinks she plays better singles when she's playing doubles. And she gave me all the reasons why, and I think they're all very compelling. and she's absolutely convinced in her mind that she's on a trajectory to get to top 20, top 10 in the world and be competing for Grandstand titles at the age of 29.

28:27Now, the level she's shown this week, I think she's shown she can live with top players and beat them, which is great, but you've got to be able to get that ranking up and be able to do it all the time, or at least be in a position to compete, and if you're in the qualifying for these events and get a couple of losses there, you just don't make any progress. Yeah, it's a little bit of catch-22, isn't it, with the ranking being where it is. She's now got Jessica Pergula, has Barbora Krojcikova in the next round. Pergula is so comfortable against Anne Lee in the first match of the day on Ash. One and two, 54 minutes.

29:07Not a whole lot to report from this one other than Pergula was fantastic. super solid no second set wobbles you know that we talked about that being kind of the pattern that her matches had followed she was you know foot to the floor the whole way here Krajikovic won their last two matches obviously the crowd will be with Pagula here but Krajikovic really doesn't mind that she really doesn't like I asked her about that in her post match press conference today what's it like emotionally even if you know it's not personal and you know they're not anti-you, they're just pro the opponent. Like, emotionally, what is that like to experience?

29:48And she was like, honestly, I don't mind at all. I kind of, like, atmosphere is atmosphere. I really love it. And I do think she's the kind of character where that really is true. I don't think she's going to be bothered by the Arthur Ashe crowd being against her at all. and I don't know, I think Pagula might have a match on her hands unless Craig Cheekover hits the wall. I think that's the risk here. This is two matches in a row that have been pretty exhausting, particularly today, emotionally and physically. Three hours and four minutes. She hasn't had runs like this in her legs for a long time.

30:31That's the big question, I think. Three Americans in a row. Yeah. I think she's a contrarian, Krojcikova, isn't she? I think she's enjoying being the American killer. Yeah, I think so. I think it could be a really good match if she's not tired because Pagula has suddenly hit the sort of form she wants and is just dismissing people quickly. That's her kind of thing. So I hope we get a good Krojcikova because I think then we get a good match. And just incidentally, Krojcikova knew that she was playing Pagula None of this don't tell me who I'm playing nonsense. Got to ask her proper questions today.