US Open Day 10 - Shelton shocks Alcaraz in latest finish ever

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1:21Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast on Day 10 of the US Open, a day full of epic matches, tears, drama and mind-bending sports. It started at 11.30am on Tuesday morning when Irina Sabalenka and Linda Noshkova embarked on a match that would end 7-6 in the deciding set and ended with the latest finish in the history of the US Open. 3.33am when Ben Shelton finally beat Carlos Alcraz, 7-6 in the fifth and deciding set. Every single one of the four quarter finals we had today went to a final set. Wish us luck trying to sum it all up. Matt Roberts is here. We're usually three, but unfortunately our host Catherine Whittaker has the lurgy at the moment, a nasty cold, and we pleaded with Catherine to go to bed.

2:16Thankfully she agreed so that she can come back tomorrow full of beans, or should I say later today, because Matt Roberts and myself, David Law, come to you just outside the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre following the Carlos Alcraz against Ben Shelton match in the middle of the night. Welcome to tennis, if you haven't heard tennis before on the tennis podcast. Before we get cracking, if you're new to us, and particularly if you're listening to us via the New York Times app, you may not know that we are now in our 15th year covering this sport for the tennis podcast weekly, year-round, daily at all four of the Grand Slam tournaments.

2:53David Law: So do come back and listen to us throughout the year on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. and it's quite a baptism, Matt, if people are joining us for the first time, isn't it? Because here we are. What time is it? 4.08 a.m. 4.08 a.m. We're sitting outside the Arthrasch Stadium and we've just witnessed Ben Shelton winning what he's just told us in a little media huddle in the corridor was the best performance of his life, the biggest match win of his life and it puts him into a semi-final against Francis Tiafa, which means America will be getting a men's American finalist.

3:35David Law: That has happened recently with Taylor Fritz, but it hasn't happened like this. And the situation that we find ourselves in following a match of that ilk with Carlos Alcaraz losing, what is it, only his second, fifth set in his entire life. I'll be honest, David. Today is a bit of a blur, so I will do my best on this podcast. But my God, what a day of tennis. Just 16 sets on the Arthur Ashe Stadium. All of the matches deciding sets, as you say, and then the match that everyone had been kind of waiting for, certainly all day, but also all tournament, really. We knew that Ben Shelton and Carlos Alquaz were on this collision course.

4:24They didn't start until 5 past 11 p.m. They finished well into the night. The Arthur Ashe Stadium, that is the most people I've ever seen in a tennis stadium at that time. I mean, it's a cavernous stadium. The top had very much thinned out, but there must have still been 10 ,000 people in there. And it was just extraordinary. You know, I'm still reeling because we've covered Carlos Alcárez's whole career. we've been to so many Carlos Alcres moments and he always wins. He always wins these sorts of moments and matches, whether it be a Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic, the epic French Open final against Yannick Sinner when he saved the match points, the Australian Open semi-final of earlier this year where he was cramping for the second half of the match and somehow came through it.

5:14And there was a similar-ish vibe to this one today to that one in terms of the way he powered down and had an energy lull in this match and then suddenly became Carlos Alcaraz again and you thought maybe somehow, some way he would get over the line. Surely he will. He always does. But he didn't. And that is because of Ben Shelton, who was unbelievable tonight. That is the best I've seen Shelton play and he did it over such a long period of time. I was stunned by how good Shelton was because, yes, Alcaraz had that lull, but he also brought a lot of his full force and Shelton stood up to it. And that wasn't something that I was necessarily expecting from him.

6:04David Law: We'll go over what we think may be some of the reasons that Alcaraz didn't win in the end from his perspective. Now, obviously, a big factor in that is Shelton himself and the level he brought. but just if we go through the match, I mean, it was a fascinating match because it wasn't straight lines, was it? It started off with a tie-break set, but it was Alcraz who struck first. He broke first and broke for 6-5. It seemed to me that the first set, they were almost showing off to one another in terms of how hard they could hit the ball. I felt like Alcraz got a bit carried away with some of that.

6:46David Law: I mean, he hasn't played for such a long time, and I think he's missed these things so much that he just wanted to show everybody how good he is, how athletic he is, and that some of the athleticism on show from both of them, in the same points, you know, was just... I think it set new levels, some of the points. I don't think this was sustained brilliance the way that Sinner against Alcraz at the French Open was. It wasn't that. It was a different kind of brilliance. I definitely feel like in some points you saw the two most extraordinary athletes in tennis doing ridiculous feats at the same time.

7:25David Law: But what was interesting, when Al Kraz broke for 6-5, he was immediately broken back. And I thought, OK, he must be, that must be the rust. Again, Shelton hit back at him. but I just don't think that Alcraz loses his serve in that situation normally. So they end up in a tiebreak, but Alcraz still wins the tiebreak. And then it's just off the rails, isn't it? I mean, 6-1, 6-3 the next two sets. Yeah, and a couple of those amazing points that you talked about happened in that first set tiebreak. The second point of it, probably everyone's seen it, But if you haven't, just go and watch it in terms of the athleticism.

8:11Alcaraz was reaching balls that just simply no one else is reaching, putting them back in awkward spots. But Shelton's still there and he won it with a smash. And I don't know about you, David, but I've never heard a stadium erupt like that. Like everyone around us, we were in the press seats, everyone just around us jumped up. There was this huge roar. And then there was another one on set point. and Shelton hit this amazing tweener. That is one of the best tweeners I've ever seen. It was crazy. And then the rally continued after that for a long time and Alcaraz won it. And after he won the set, he just roared.

8:50And I honestly thought, well, Alcaraz is going to win it from here. Like if he's won that set that Shelton was leading in the tie break, kind of let it go. if Alcaraz has won that set now he's a set up surely he's going to go on and win this match if you told me that the next two sets would be 6-1, 6-3 to Ben Shelton in that moment I would not have believed you and it took me a really long time as that 6-1, 6-3 was happening to figure out what on earth was happening with Carlos Alcaraz because he went from this huge high at the end of the first set where he was doing these electrifying things to being really poor and ropey and vibeless and listless and frustrated.

9:35So many things we don't associate with Carlos Alcaraz through particularly the second set and also the start of the third set. He's totally lost his game.

9:43David Law: Those first two games of the second set, I think really winded Alcaraz. They were both five juices long. Yeah. And I just thought, okay, you're seeing one man here who is match fit and has been playing all summer long. Yeah. And there's one Canada. And you're seeing another guy who's obviously still super fit in Carlos Alcraste, but just hasn't had any matches of this type at all. And he looked gone, really, in those two sets, I thought, physically as much as anything. Yeah, and I think it probably tells you something about what these guys are feeling when they play these incredible five-set matches.

10:23is, like, I think you do have to push through boundaries that you just cannot replicate in training. And he just hadn't, I think, felt what he was feeling on court today for so long. And, yeah, I think it maybe just shocked him a little bit. And for a little while, he wasn't pushing through it. He was almost giving in to it. And he was really struggling with his game. and Shelton kept up an excellent level. You know, there would have been some players who even with that Carlos Alcaraz in front of them wouldn't have put the foot down in the way that Shelton did. And for him to break Alcaraz, I think, four times in a row, he won nine games in a row to take the lead.

11:05It was incredible from Shelton. But Alcaraz started to power back up at the end of the third.

11:12David Law: And actually, is that when Shelton played those three incredible points to shut him out? Yes. because it looked like Alcaraz was coming back at him there and might get back on serve. Yeah, there was another one of those rallies where Shelton had hit the deftest drop shot up at the net I'd ever seen, and yet Alcaraz still got to it and had room and soft hands to get it back over the net and win the point with a sort of forehand that was behind him. He spun round and hit it into the open court, and that gave him break point. And the stadium is up, the olays are ringing around. And I thought, right, OK, Alcaraz is back.

11:50He's probably going to break back here. But he didn't because Ben Shelton played, I think, the three best points in a row he's ever played. Alcaraz was coming full force at him. Baseline rallies where you expect Alcaraz to be stronger and Shelton just lived with him and won those rallies and held and won the set. And it was an incredible thing to witness, Shelton doing that. but then he had his lull in the fourth you know but by this point Alcaraz has powered back up he hasn't won the third but he's back in the match he's he's there again and Alcaraz actually raced through the fourth quite quite comfortably and then we're in a fifth and Alcaraz's fifth set

12:33David Law: records on the line yeah and and just to say at the start of the fourth set Alcaraz has two sets to one down. He looks exhausted. Mary Carilla said in commentary he looks punch drunk and yet he was smiling. It was like he relaxed. And I thought at that stage that makes him dangerous because he started to turn it on and he wins that set number 4, 6-1. They go into a 5th. Shelton leaves the court. A cameraman comes over to Alcraz the way they do and is very close up to him as he's sitting down and Alcraz just turns around to him and just sort of motions as if to go away, doesn't want to be filmed.

13:17And so eventually the cameraman starts to back off and then turn around towards Shelton instead. And then we realise that actually Alcraz was shooing him away because he was about to be sick and he was puking in his towel. On the rise. And he didn't want to be seen doing it.

13:36David Law: well he was seen from another camera but anyway it was quite a sweet moment but it tells you how rough he was feeling he was sort of jumping around the court trying to get loose but he was very clearly having to be sick quite a lot and yet he goes into the fifth set and then they start duking it out again Yeah and in the initial stages I felt like Al Kraz was the stronger player he had little chances on the Shelton server at 2-all and again at 3-all. Like, he's in Shelton's service games and he's threatening, he's lively. Shelton is holding firm so impressively, coming up with a big serve when he needs it a lot of the time.

14:21But there's just this delirious feeling on the Arthrash Stadium. I mean, it's like 3 in the morning at this point and Sweet Caroline is ringing out, Eric Salio, the journalist, next to me gets cramp and has to leave, Matt Futterman of the New York Times is suddenly writing his article and policing the media section because people are trying to get in those seats. It's absolute chaos. And yet these two are still just, as you say, duking it out. And then it was actually Shelton that looked the most likely to win it before the tie break because he had a couple of break points. He turned into sort of Agassi with his returning.

15:00I mean, I know. He was just landing. He went two break points up. And on the two break points, he made two of the best service returns I've ever seen him make on the backhand. Penetrating deep, firmly struck. But he didn't follow them up and actually win the points. And so, you know, you did wonder, like, is he going to leave this court having played the best tennis of his life against maybe an Alcaraz that's short of his best and not win.

15:31David Law: Imagine how hard that would have been. Yeah. And I think the thing that amazed me the most was the game after that. So Shelton's had those break points. He's made the returns. He's not broken. It's four all in the fifth. And he held in about a minute. Yes. You know, like despite not taking his big chance, he didn't let it phase him at all and he just retook the lead in the set and I thought okay he has he's stomached that and processed it and moved on and still with us in this match it was so impressive strategically I was just enormously impressed with Shelton in the moment I think a lot of it is the the plan he and his dad came up with his dad Brian Shelton on the sidelines there throughout, but you know how Al Kraus has spent this tournament moving forwards on the return and moving back and trying and he said, I'd do it to keep my opponent guessing as to where I'm going to be and what they're going to be looking at.

16:32David Law: And Shelton, he beat him to the punch time after time with his own serve. If Al Kraus went way back, Shelton immediately served and volved. If he came forwards, he tried to serve through him with 140 miles an hour and sure and Alcrast didn't have time to get it back it was a very clever tactical performance I thought very clear-eyed yeah I think I think that's really well said and it just goes to show all the work he's been doing with his serve over a long time to figure out how to use it I think because he's got those options at his disposal You can't hit 149-mile-an-hour serves every single time.

17:15But he has it when he needs it, and he also has the variation. And I agree with you. He had that blend really, really working today.

17:23David Law: So we go into the 10-point tie break. At 3.20 a.m. At 3.20 a.m. Shelton gets the first mini break and goes up 3-1. I did think he'd got it at this point. then Alcaraz hits back and goes 5-3 ahead and I mean you start to doubt yourself because I thought Shelton was going to get it but then I started to remember that well Alcaraz doesn't lose these sort of things but Shelton turned it again and he pushed through to the finish line it was so impressive and I end up wanting to ask you where you feel this match was won and lost. Was this Alcaraz a little short of his best, physically maybe, not having the match experience of recent times?

18:16I do think so. To me, that's the only real explanation of what happened in the second and third sets there. I just don't think the Carlos Alcaraz that we've seen in 2025 and the start of this year would have fallen off like that. And I think it was that thing of not having, kind of what you've been thinking might happen all tournament, not having felt that pressure before and that force of an opponent coming at him for a few months and struggling to adjust to it in the moment. And he did get there eventually, which is why I think Shelton deserves so much credit because there was three sets tonight, I would say, of pretty much full power Carlos Alcaraz.

19:04Ben Shelton probably lost two of those sets, the first one and the fourth, but he won the fifth. When Alcaraz was there and he was present and he was bringing it, and I just didn't expect Shelton to be able to do that and live with him, And I think the margins are so small when you get into a deciding set tie break like that. I do think Alcaraz had a mid-court forehand in the middle of that, which gave the mini break back. And he will regret that, I'm sure. But Shelton stood up to him. And Alcaraz said that in the little media huddle that we just did right now. He was like, he's a beast. He's an absolute beast.

19:49and he was primed and ready for this in a way that kind of I wasn't. And Al Cross wasn't gutted, was he? No.

19:57David Law: He didn't see, I'm sure he was disappointed, but he left the court smiling ear to ear and waving to the crowd, really prolonged in a kind of, I'm just happy to have been part of this, I'm happy to be back, I've missed this, he deserved to win, and that's what he said in his little press huddle as well. from a sort of Ben Shelton standpoint. Yeah, I think to be able to stare down a guy like this, who's one of the two, and you've never done it before, huge credit, huge credit to him. He will now face Francis Tiafoe in the semifinals in, well, there's two more days, two days off they get, so thankfully they get two days off because Francis Tiafoe didn't exactly have a nice walk in the park, did he?

20:50He came back against Alex Mickelson, his compatriot, who played just lights out tennis. This match was even longer. Al Karras against Shelton was four hours, 28 minutes. Tiafoe against Mickelson was four hours, 39 minutes. And Tiafoe did it by coming back to win 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, and he managed to save himself when his opponent was serving for the match

21:16David Law: in the third set he broke back and then Tiafa won the next two sets 6-3 and then 7-6 in a final set 10-point tiebreak as well. I mean, it's just hard to believe that this has happened today. The day has lasted 16 hours of tennis on the court. they've had as many sets as you could possibly have in the in the four matches and tiafo i mean look he looked like he'd blown it really didn't he because he's two sets down and i think mainly my thought is mickelson just played just as he has all the way through the tournament he'd won 12 out of 12 sets coming in he won the first two of this he's serving for it tiafo said he felt flat He said the crowd were flat for the first two hours, but I think his opponent made everybody flat.

22:10Yeah, I agree. I thought Mickelson was superb in certainly the first two sets and most of the third as well to be in a position where he's serving for the match. And, yeah, he was doing a lot of the things that he's done so well all tournament. He was taking Tiafoe's time away. He was the one coming forward, Mickelson, quite a lot. and he was serving really well. He was brilliant. He was absolutely brilliant, whereas Tiafoe was, yeah, asleep, he said. You know, he said the crowd's asleep, I was asleep, and it just felt like the sort of match that was drifting away from Francis Tiafoe. And frankly, he needed the helping hand.

22:55You know, like, he got back into it eventually and found his form, but he was only allowed that because Mickelson let him in, serving for the match, two double faults, and then just a string of really poor games for Mickelson at the end of that third set. And then it became more of a contest. The fifth set was really good in this match. The fifth set was the set in this one. Once Tiafa had levelled it up at two sets all, that was when they both were sort of playing their best tennis at the same time. And it had taken quite a long time to get there. And, you know, it had just been very fraught for Mickelson at the end of the third, not getting over the line.

23:40But he regrouped well, you know. Like, he kind of had a bit of struggles still in the fourth set. But by the fifth set, Mickelson was playing some of the tennis he was at the start of the match. His problem now was that Tiafoe was playing a lot better. And he'd found his game. So it just... And the crowd were getting involved.

23:56David Law: And they were on Tiafoe's side, as we expected. Yeah, and they were lifting him. He was lifting them. And frankly, it was nothing personal against Alex Mickelson. If he's playing against a non-American, they're on his side. But they don't know him as well yet, do they? And also, Tiafoe, he just has that thing that people are drawn to him. Yeah, he's a star. And he's been around for years doing this on this stage. And people know how close he got against Alcraz a few years ago and then Fritz a couple of years ago. But did Mickelson choke when he was serving for that match? Unquestionably, yeah.

24:34I mean...

24:36David Law: He'd been playing so well. I mean, the previous service came, he'd served his way out of Love 40. Yes. And then he came to actually try to serve for the match at 5-4, and you could tell he was just trying to almost shake his arm out, wasn't he? And just, he was hoping Tiafa would miss, which is not what had been happening through the match. he'd been taking it to Tiafoe. It's the most normal thing in the world, isn't it? To tighten up like that. When he's 22, he's never been in this position before, and he tightened up. And yet, as you say, he still nearly won the match. And when he didn't, we had one of the scenes that I think I will remember most from this US Open because Francis Tiafa went to celebrate.

25:28David Law: He was about to pull his shirt off the way he sometimes does in celebrate. And then within an instant, he sort of noticed Mickelson coming towards the net. And he's really close to Mickelson. They're good friends. There's an age difference. But I think, in Tiafa's words, we're really tight. And Mickelson had said the same before this match. And I think he also could tell that he was obviously crushed. and he didn't want to leave him waiting while he was celebrating. So he ran up to him and they just fell into each other's arms and had the longest, most prolonged hug as Mickelson just started to sob on Tiafoe's shoulder.

26:09David Law: And Tiafoe was consoling him and telling him, I know how you feel. I've been in this position. I know it's hard. You're going to get this. You're going to have so many more of these. I thought it was a beautiful, heartbreaking moment. Yeah, it was so beautiful. The way Tiafoe just recognised in that moment that Mickelson's need was sort of greater than his own. It was just an amazing act of friendship, really, and humanity from Tiafoe. Because also he's been there. You know, like that makes the hug and the bawling and the sobbing just so profound because Tiafa knows how that feels. He knows exactly how Mickelson is feeling in that moment of having an opportunity at the US Open and not being able to take it.

27:06And yeah, it really stopped me in my tracks, actually, when we saw that. And, yeah, the way Tiafoe just flipped from celebrating his own success to comforting a friend was incredible, really, and what sport is all about. And, yeah, and then he was able to have his celebration with the crowd and take it all in because that's a huge moment for Francis Tiafoe. And it's, you know what, it's got even bigger now because, look, as we've just said, Ben Shelton was absolutely awesome. That is a hell of a task for Francis Tiafoe to beat Ben Shelton in a few days' time. But it's not Carlos Alcaraz.

27:51David Law: No, and Tiafoe has had two fantastic Grand Slam matches against Carlos Alcaraz. He hasn't won either of them. They were both very close at the US Open a few years ago when Alcaraz won his first title. And at Wimbledon a couple of years ago, early on, and he just got edged out. He was two sets to one up in that. He's played Shelton twice here. He's won one and he's lost one. But you're right. I mean, Alcraz has gone to another level, generally speaking, since the matches Tiafoe has played against him. So it's all there for these two now. One of them is going to reach the final of the US Open. Neither one of them has ever reached a Grand Slam final before.

28:36David Law: This is the opportunity. And I did find, I mean, a very different press conference setting to what we had for Alkrazen-Shelton just now, which is middle of the night, so they do it in the corridor, just outside the locker room. The number of texts we've had this tournament telling us that someone is in a hallway at 3am. Yes, it's always Alexander Zverev, but this time it was Alkrazen-Shelton. But yes, several hours ago, So Alex Mickelson came into his press conference and he'd clearly been taking a little time to come to terms with this. He said it took me a few minutes, really, but I'm OK. I'm really gutted, but he didn't use that word.

29:21David Law: But that's the gist of what he said. But I believe in what I did today and I think I'll get better for it. He was very matter-of-fact. I thought he handled it really well. And Tiafoe came in, and he's one of these that sort of had the view that, look, I was going to be okay with the results because I was going to leave it all out there. And he's, because I said to him, you know, you've had a couple of heartbreakers this year already against Matteo Arnaldi at the French Open and Alexander Bublik at Wimbledon, both of them five sets, and you came out on the wrong side of them. Did they occur to you at all in the match?

29:56David Law: He said, not at all. You know, he said, I just wanted to win what was in front of me. but he went on to say that this is the best he's ever played this is the best season he's ever had and what he what he most wants is to see what this version of himself can achieve he wants to know what this me can do and what he means by that is he accepts that the two previous versions that have been in the semi-finals of the US Open were not maximizing what he was capable of because he because he was doing it on a kind of ad hoc basis almost, coming into the favourite time of the year, the summer, Wimbledon, the US Open, when he's keyed up and when he's enjoying it.

30:43David Law: And he was turning it on. And he said at the start of this year, you know, my whole family, my agent, my friends, my coaches just said, we don't want, you know, if you're going to do that, just stop playing. If you want to do it properly and go all in, let's do it. and he chose that route and he he spoke about process in the in the press conference but he says all I care about is my process of kind of clocking in every day and giving my best every single day and it's led to him getting more match wins this year than he's ever had um he's going to be ranked higher than he's ever been none of that will mean an awful lot I don't think in his mind unless he maximizes at a slam eventually.

31:28David Law: But he's giving himself the best chance. I think he's satisfied with that. He knows he's giving himself the best chance this time. And I'm so fascinated to see which way this one ends up going. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I sort of have confidence that Tiafoe will prepare well for this match because, as you say, he's got these routines that he's going to stay in, and he's now in a position to be able to treat, you know, do that thing of treating that match like it's any other match that the best players say. And you kind of think, how? How did he do that? You sort of think in the past, Tiafoe has been showing up for that match in a different way to the ones that got in there.

32:16But you just back him to prepare for it in the right way. and I think even if he'd lost this one in the fifth set, he'd have been able to live with the end of that match because he got it together. I think if he'd lost that in three today, he would have found that very, very difficult to come back from because that wasn't the version of himself that he wants to put out on the court. But by the end of the match, it absolutely was. And it was remarkable the way he found his game. You know, that is such a skill to be able to do that under that much pressure. And not panicking, not just thinking, oh, no, it's all going wrong.

32:59Right. Yeah, totally. There was a stat going around, wasn't there, that he hit three aces in the first four sets. Three aces for a guy over four sets is just not that many. And he upped that to seven in the deciding set alone. That was such an important shot for him. and it's going to be again against Ben Shelton, because I do think, just to very briefly go back to the Alcaraz-Shelton match, I do think what we found all tournament with Alcaraz not serving at his best, that did get a bit exposed tonight for the first time by Ben Shelton, who returned way better than I thought he would, than he kind of ever has done.

33:37But Alcaraz's serve was vulnerable, and if Tiafoe's serve's vulnerable, given what we've just seen Shelton do on return, that's going to be a problem for him. So he's going to need that shot firing from the start. But it's an incredible occasion as well, isn't it? Just having those two, who I do think they're the two, obviously Fritz is the most accomplished, I would say, out of that pack. He's the most consistent, probably, over a long period of time. But I think if you polled a lot of fans here about who their favourite American players are, I think you'd get a lot of people answering Francis Tiaf and a lot of people answering Ben Shelton.

34:18There'll be an electricity to that match.

34:20David Law: Yeah. And I can't wait for him. No. Who do you think is going to win? I think Ben Shelton. But then the thing that comes into the equation is backing up that win. Yeah. Which is one of the hardest things to do. He will feel like he's climbed the mountain. that all these guys are trying to beat Carlos Alcres and Yannick Sinner because they sort of think, well, if I do that, I'll probably win a slam. He's done that. He's got two more matches to go to actually try and win the slam. That is extraordinary. Plus it finished at God knows what time it was in the morning, half past three. It's so much to come back from.

35:00But I do back him physically.

35:01David Law: They do have two full days and then they played on the third day. So that's a big help. well I think think I look I said Shelton would win the tournament yeah now I realize I've flip-flopped last night and I said Alcaraz would beat him because I thought Alcaraz was his normal self and I think I think we you know we found out that he wasn't quite not not in terms of match toughness so I mean look I really do feel pretty 50-50 about this match. I've seen Tiafa play the best tennis I've ever seen him play this year. And I think he's got the engine. But I also think Shelton's playing the best tennis I've ever seen him play.

35:49David Law: And he's got the engine. I'll go Shelton, still. I'll go for him to win it now. I'll go back to what I said before, Matt. You know, I like to cover my bets. And I will give you credit for that. Okay, we'll see. Look, it's just been an incredible night and that's the men's portion of it. We'll be back in part two to give you the women's portion of this incredible day. And I tell you, that was just as dramatic as well.

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39:04Well, welcome back to part two of the Tennis Podcast. And if you thought part one was exciting,

39:11David Law: Well, part two is no less exciting, really, because the day started with Irina Sabalenka, the world number one, trying to hold on to her world number round ranking, trying to defend her US Open title for a second time and win three in a row. And here she was against Linda Noshkova, the Wimbledon champion, in an absolute toe-to-toe slugfest of a match. it was eventually won by Sabalenka 7-6, 3-6 7-6 and I mean right until the end of this one I did not know who was going to win and Noshkova she's just raised her level so much really hasn't she over the last few months obviously winning the Wimbledon title along the way but she is a real champion of a player and she does it so much differently to Sabalenka.

40:07David Law: Sabalenka is all roars and you hear and feel every bit of power she's putting into the ball. Noskova does it quietly and yet just as devastatingly in her own way. But in terms of the achievement for Sabalenka, I think it is an enormous one. It's massive. I think this was the match, this was the moment I think we'd been waiting for, she'd been waiting for. I wanted to see Sabalenka in this scenario really tested against a great player because it's been a really tough few months for Sabalenka you know like she's not been going deep in tournaments which she does so regularly she's she's had some real crash outs in matches and faded and you know ordinarily Sabalenka should feel like the favorite for the title if she's still in the draw in the quarterfinals, having won it the last two years and everything she's achieved on hard courts in particular.

41:10And yet she hasn't felt like that to me. I've been waiting for something to go wrong, I suppose. And yet she stood up to Noskova today and won this match. I mean, the first set struck me as a very typical Sabalenka performance in slams that we've got used to over the last few years. A fantastic start. it was pretty flat on the Arthur Ashe Stadium to begin with. You know, this was many, many hours ago. And the sun was out. I can't remember too much about it. The sun was out and this awful shadow was across the Arthur Ashe Stadium. And it just didn't have the feel of a big quarterfinal between, you know, still just about the current world number one and the Wimbledon champion.

41:58And yet Sabalenka was bringing all this energy and she was up for it and she was awesome and took a lead. But then Noskova got the first set back into a tiebreak and then what happened? Tiebreak Sabalenka arrived. You know, someone we've not really... Someone who was just so consistent for so long in those big moments, stepping up in tiebreaks, but someone who we haven't seen in a little while and she did that there and then and won that first set on a tiebreak. But then what happened was for the next set and a half, Noskova totally outplayed Sabalenka. Having settled after an initial bad start, Noskova found her game and she was flawless through the middle portion of this match.

42:43Serving beautifully. She had that wonderful out-wide serve going on the deuce. She was handling Sabalenka's pace with her own hand skills. She was getting a lot of success off Sabalenka's second serve. She was just majestic. the form that won her Wimbledon. Her incredible wide serve, swinging out. Right, just brilliant. And I thought Noskova was going to close it. I really did. But then I suddenly remembered, oh, she does get tight. You know, even when we saw her win Wimbledon, Noskova got tight. And that did happen to her deep in that third set when she was up a break. She lost her serve. Now, Sabalenka, there was one particular great point in that game that Sabalenka played as she got the break back.

43:34But I'd felt like Sabalenka's tennis had remained pretty good through this match. She'd just been being outplayed. I didn't feel like it was the Sabalenka of the last few months who lost her game, lost her way in the match. She was just being outplayed. And as soon as she got an opening, she seized it. and her attitude was mostly incredibly positive body language. And she went on a real streak at the end of that third set and won several points in a row to end up leading the set. And then it was up for Noskova to take it into a tie break. And it was just fantastic. It was a fantastic match between two players playing close to the peak of their powers.

44:19Yeah, it sure was. and then for Sabalenka to finish it the way she did with a second serve ace on match point.

44:29David Law: I mean, that was so fitting to me for her showing her nerve and her champion spirit, which I feel as though the last six months, she's wobbled a bit, really. You know, she's lost herself at times in big matches. and this was her facing down a real threat of somebody that you know she she said afterwards she's so good Linda Noskova Sabalenka she was so so full with her praise for her and she was under enormous stress and yet she came up with a second serve ace on match point oh unbelievable like kind of using Noskova's own weapon against that swinging serve out wire and we were sort of watching it i think i think she was nine seven up or something like that in the tie break at the time and so you know it's it's still very much on a tight on a tight rope this and a knife edge and and she she's got a second serve and you can tell noshka lining up this forehand to knock it down her throat and she doesn't even get a racket on it amazing on a second serve yeah it was incredible And there was a line that came up in the commentary, which I think was quoting someone from Sabalenka's team, talking about how she needs fires within her.

45:56It's good when Sabalenka is displaying a lot of emotion and roaring and getting angry at the world. That's good. That's a fire. What it's become over the last few months is wildfires, where she can't control it and it's too much and she loses her game. But it was all the right amount today and I think this sets her up so incredibly well for this tournament now. She needed this win. I don't think she could have won this tournament without experiencing a match like this and being put under that pressure and facing down an opponent playing so well. And she stood up to it and her tennis was awesome.

46:44And she's shown over the last few years that her tennis on this surface is the best.

46:51David Law: Yeah. And it just sets up the rest of this tournament so well because there's still so many other players who can stress her out, can push her, can test it again, can see whether it really is going to be there again in another match. Like, the women's draw is riveting right now. Yeah, because they've all got their own stories. She's got her, Sabalenka, she said impressed that winning this slam, bear in mind she hasn't won a Grand Slam this year, is more important to her than retaining a world number one ranking. And her world number one ranking is under threat, big threat. But one of the players that could take it over this tournament is Jessica Bagula, who played in the second of the women's matches today.

47:43David Law: She was up against Emma Navarro. And now this match was delayed over an hour because of the length of the Tiafoe-Mickelson match. So it started well after 8 o 'clock. It was due to start at 7. And it was a pretty nervy affair, wasn't it? I actually thought the sort of ball striking between the two was really enjoyable to watch. I think that they make for nice rallies. But Navarro won the first set 6-3, and Pagula's body language was not great, really. She looked edgy all the way through it. And I think it was a huge achievement for Pagula, who came back and won it 3-6-6-4-6-3, to win that match, given the way she started.

48:24Yeah, these two didn't even go to a deciding set tiebreak. I know, what were they? What's wrong with them? Hopefully they're not getting the same pay as Sabalenka and Noshkula, who went seventh-barrow course.

48:34David Law: I mean, it's just, it's amazing. All four matches going to deciding sets. Yeah, and look, this was definitely the least dramatic match of the day and the nerviest, I think, the worst quality probably as well. Like you, I was enjoying a lot of the rallies. When they got into the rallies, It's just that there was a lot in between the high moments of real frustration. But for Pagula, I think a similar story to her tournament so far, like opening set, really struggling with her serve, below 30 % first serves in. You're just putting yourself on the back foot immediately and against someone of Navarro's quality, that's really, really hard.

49:18And Andrea Petkovic said in commentary that serving like that can affect your whole game. You know, like it's the shot where you think you should be able to control and serve well. And if your serve's not going well, it can affect everything. And Pagoula's whole game was kind of struggling from that. And her body language, as you say, was was very frustrated. Even when she was winning points, she was sometimes, you know, really sighing and shrugging and having a bit like, oh, you know, I should have won that more easily, perhaps. Or why is it so much effort to win points tonight? It was that kind of vibe.

49:56And, yeah, Wenner sat down, but did really well to turn it around. Cleaned up the first serve percentage, got it back to over 70%, halved the number of errors. I think she'd also struggled a little bit with the night conditions, perhaps, that she was changing rackets a lot. She hadn't played at night this tournament on Ash. She played pretty late on Armstrong, but not night on Ash. And it is different, and there was just a lot going on. And I also think the world number one thing is such a big factor for Pagula. You know, like she said in press the other day, how that was her dream when she was young.

50:29And she's trying to win a slam for the first time. And it's suddenly like she's got these two things. And it's just a lot for her to deal with. And she's not really playing her absolute best. And she's up against someone in Navarro who's so hard to put away. I think it's actually a really impressive effort from Pagula to win this tonight. tonight and she's now 19 and 5 in deciding sets this year like wow an incredible record that when she gets into a match she so often manages to to get over the line and yeah this was one to just get through and now and now she's got arena savilenka who has blocked her here at this tournament the last two years in the final in the semi-finals and there were close matches, 7-5, 7-5 in the final of 2024.

51:18And she won the first set in their semifinal last year, 6-4, but then lost the next two sets, 6-3, 6-4. And that final set was that crazy final set where she only lost four points on serve in the entire set and they were all in one game and got broken. She held every other service game to love Pagula. She was so good in that match. And I really like Pagula's chances to win this US Open because of, well, how Sabalenka's been playing. I thought if Pagula can bring her level, she can beat that Sabalenka that we've seen over the past few months. The problem is she's going into this match and Sabalenka's playing the better tennis now.

52:04Sabalenka was way better than Pagula was today and has been this tournament. and I think Pagula is going to need to find her serve. She's going to need to try and hope that Sabalenka gets a bit stressed out again because if it just comes down to the way they've been playing in the last couple of matches, I do think Sabalenka will take it. But look, incredible from Pagula to put herself in this position again. She constantly shows up at this tournament, gets to the latter stages and here we are again. The last three matches that these two have played, Sabalenka and Pagula, have gone three sets.

52:44Right. And Pagula has won two of the three. And that's exactly why I've thought that she could win a slam, because she can beat the best players in the world. Sabalenka has been that, and Pagula has beaten her. Rebacan has been a bit more of an obstacle for her, but she's right there with them. she just needs it to be her night. But what we saw from Sabalenka today was a bit ominous, I think. Yes, yeah.

53:11David Law: And beating a player like Noskova and being tested like that and coming through is probably just what she needed. Well, that concludes the most incredible day here at the US Open. But we're going to be back to do it all again in just a few hours. It's five to five in the morning at the moment. So the next raft of matches will start in what? Six and a half hours. Yeah. We've got to sleep between that. Anyway. And we've got to get back to Manhattan. Yes, we have. But anyway, we're going to go and have a brief break and be back in part three to look ahead to today's order of play.

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55:05Welcome back to part three. And today's order of play starts in six and a half hours. And it begins with another incredible story on both sides of the net. You've got the returning Jung-Chin Wen, who we've seen win two sets in the last two matches from Love 5 down.

55:23David Law: This is a woman who is ranked 121 in the world at the moment and has been off the circuit because of bad injury. And she qualified for this tournament. And here she is in the quarterfinals. Quite extraordinary. She's playing Elena Rybakina, who has won the Australian Open this year. and if she wins this tennis match, she becomes the world number one for the first time in her life. So the stakes are quite high. World number one is on the line in six and a half hours. What is happening? When are we going to get sleep? When does that happen? I was going to say we don't need it, but we do need it.

56:03Oh, we do. It's just that we don't need it now because we need to be back and watching that match and covering it here for the tennis podcast. fascinating match isn't it so Rabakina Jung Chin Wen who do you feel is the favourite for that I do think it's Rabakina she has played the cleanest tennis match I've seen all tournament from anyone in either draw in her previous round against Naomi Osaka and I know it was a compromise Naomi Osaka but Rabakina was so good like sublime Her serve, her ground strokes, just dominating the court. And I do think she'll win. But we've seen Jung have some success against her even this year in terms of taking sets off her.

56:53There's enough there in the match-up for Jung.

56:58And maybe there's this, I don't know, just this force around Jung Shin-wen and this belief she's got from coming back from the brink so many times and the way she carries herself and feels like she belongs, she does belong back on this stage. Perhaps that will get her through, but if I'm just thinking about the tennis, I think Joong is more up and down, and she's been five love down in those sets. She's played some bad tennis in those matches, particularly against Keys. And with Rebecca in his serve, I can't see her losing a lead like that, for example. So I'm leaning Rabakina in that one. But, you know, she'll be aware of the world number one being on the line.

57:45And she's made no secret of the fact that she's desperate for that. And maybe some nerves could come in there. It's an incredible match to have first up.

57:54David Law: It's not just tennis, though, is it, for Rabakina? This being on the line, world number one, we don't know if that will affect her adversely. What I would say, she served her way to Grand Slam titles. So I believe she's able to compartmentalise. She's starting to play well. She doesn't seem to be having any ill effects from the injury that made her retire in Cincinnati. I would also go Rabakina. That is going to be followed by Coco Goff against Mira Andrava. Then we've got Alexander Blocks against Karen Hashinov. and then the night session features Alexander Zverev against Botek van der Zanschorp.

58:36David Law: Give me your three winners of those three matches, Matt. I'm going to go Goff. I'm going to go Hachanov because I'm worried about blocks physically. And I'm going to go Zverev. Yeah, I'll go with the same for all of those. And I do think we're going to be in for an incredible semi-final line-up. I mean, particularly on all the women's semifinals, both of them will be fantastic. I think Tiafou against Shelton is perfectly set up. I do think that Zverev against either Blox or Hachinov is the least interesting, really. But generally speaking, the tournament is very well set up for a fantastic finale.

59:25Yeah, absolutely. And look, I think it's interesting how things shift now for Zverev as well with Alcaraz gone.

59:31David Law: That's true, yeah. You know, like, he was already the top seed, but let's not beat around the bush. Like, everyone knows that Carlos Alcaraz's best tennis is the best, and we were thinking maybe we were going to keep seeing that. Zverev now, he's already got the first slam off his back. does he really kind of relax into that role and take it from here or does he still feel the pressure of trying to get over the line as the top seed he's got quite a comfy side of the draw that he's in but he knows there'll be an American coming at him in the final that'll be a new situation for him to deal with or he's got good records against them very good records, yeah so there's real intrigue there yeah, it'll be fascinating no matter what tell you what's also fascinating no matter what and that's Leo our Grand Slam US Open mascot who never fails to give us an amazing picture um it was my birthday this week and Leo apparently sees me as something of an inspiration it says here and he's been trying to study the art of positivity and there's a picture of him here with the book Relentless Optimism you gotta love it and lesson number one is you never know apparently that has been the story of the year really that's right so thank you very much Leo for being our US Open mascot we'd also like to say a big thanks to our own mascots Bodie for Catherine my wonderful Maisie who I love very much Big Roger for Matt we'd like to say a big thanks to our top folks and executive producers Greg, Chris and Jeff.

1:01:18We saw Chris again today. Chris hand-delivered some snacks for us, didn't he? Chris. What a legend. Like an angel just appeared. I was literally thinking, I have not got enough snacks for the evening session. We were in set one at the time of Shelton against Alcaraz, weren't we? No, I think we were still in the women's match. Were we? Yeah, I think we were still in the women's match. and I was thinking, well, the media restaurant's closed. Like, there's food around, but it's meals. I need snacks. Where am I going to get snacks? And Chris just appeared with chocolate and sweets and I worked my way through it through all four and a half hours of Alcaraz Shelton.

1:02:01Thank you so much, Chris. Superb. Look, there's no shout-outs tonight because it's three minutes past five in the morning. I hope you do understand. However, we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network and delighted to be so. And before we go, we do want to remind that if you're an NFL fan, The Athletic has something really exciting this week. The Athletic Live presented by Google Gemini. It's a brand new YouTube watch along on NFL game days, which start, by the way, tomorrow with my, well, later today, with my beloved Seattle Seahawks in action. So I might get involved in that as well. It features the biggest and best beat reporters The Athletic has to offer.

1:02:39You can even become part of the show in the interactive chat on YouTube. And it's all about to get underway. So enjoy it.

1:02:47David Law: Matt, I think we better get to bed. It's five in the morning. The rest of the tennis, the next batch of matches starts in six and a half hours. Yeah. I mean, look, we've had an amazing day. Obviously, it goes without saying. It's insane that that match was happening after three in the morning. Insane. Yes, but we've still enjoyed it and we hope you've enjoyed the tennis podcast. We'll be back tomorrow. Make sure you're with us.

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