US Open Day 2 - Alcaraz shows tennis what it’s been missing

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1:07Catherine Whitaker: From beautiful Marin County, California, this is Michelle McGinnis and you're listening to The Tennis Podcast.

1:24Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to The Tennis Podcast coming to you from just behind the practice courts here at Flushing Meadows, New York, on day two of the US Open. Today's show introduced beautifully there by Michelle McGuinness. And if you'd like the chance to do the same, then just head to the link in the show notes and become a friend of the pod at intro level. You can also get yourself a shout-out, and those will be coming at the end of today's show. And also coming up, we've got Ben Shelton's opener against Helen Greeks, Paul, to discuss. Igor Shontek and Naomi Osaka, too. That'll all be covered in part two of today's show that we'll be back to record after the night session.

2:02Matt Roberts: But as we come to you here in part one, it is 6.30pm and there's really only one story in town. And that is the return of Carlos Alcaraz, a winning return after five months nearly on the sidelines with a wrist injury. 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 over Russian Roman Tsefulin, every minute of which was confirmation of just how much tennis has missed him and just how much Carlos Alcaraz, too, has missed tennis. What, Matt, was the experience like of watching Karloff again after five months?

2:42Catherine Whitaker: Yes, he was introduced onto court as the two-time defending champion. No. Carloth. No. Alcaraz. Yes. We got there eventually. What was the experience like? Well, it included a lot more nipple than I was expecting. I will say that up front.

3:03Matt Roberts: You and the internet both, Matt.

3:06Catherine Whitaker: Yes. His fit for the day. Maybe not enough material. Yeah. Every time he went to hit his shot. Oh, there's his nipple.

3:17Matt Roberts: Yeah, if it wasn't one, it was the other one.

3:20Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. And it looked like it was irritating.

3:24Matt Roberts: It looked like there might have been a bit of chafing.

3:27David Law: Ooh. Yeah, we'll see what happens in round two. Yeah. So it was a sleeveless shirt, but...

3:33Matt Roberts: It was a basketball-style shirt. Obviously, we saw him in the mixed doubles, so we knew that was the type of kit he'd be wearing, but it was a different... It was actually brown, and I thought pretty disgusting. I think it's just been really well-established over the years that brown brown cannot that brown just doesn't work in in a athletically anyway i quite i quite like brown you know in casual wear but you know we've all agreed let's not do brown i mean you know you look better in brown than most people but bring back the vibrant purple i say and maybe cover

4:08Catherine Whitaker: up the nipples but the tennis well I'm forgetting that out the way Matt yeah I just thought we've got to mention it up front it's what everyone was thinking watching the match um I was braced at the start you know a little bit tense as as he took to the court and he was nervous too you could tell just as he did in the mixed doubles he double faulted on his first service point and in those early stages I thought he was a little bit tentative but fine you know a little bit rusty but absolutely fine and it quickly became obvious that he wasn't really protecting himself too much I think through the match his serve speeds were were down on on what we would expect from him you know he was hitting some first serves in the 90 miles per hour he can he can crank it up a lot more than that but generally yes a bit of a tentative start but he grew into it and was pretty good really I think had we not had the four-month break we'd have been looking at this first round performance thinking oh you know just a nice easy steady start for Carlos Alcarez to his US Open it was amazing how much it how much it looked like that after after so long off and And, yeah, there were these reminders through the match of what he's capable of.

5:30Catherine Whitaker: Even in the final game, we saw a classic Alcaraz point where he ran forward to get a dead net cord, hit a backhand smash, hit a bounce smash, followed it in and hit a drop volley. And it was like four shots that kind of no one else in the draw would play in the same point. And yet he strung them all together, gave the finger to the ear and generally was pretty comfortable, really, against a pretty decent opponent in Roman Cefiulin. and even when he went down a break at the start of the second, having won the first, he got it back straight away, which was a good sign, I think. Didn't allow it to become a tussle.

6:05Catherine Whitaker: Started unleashing on some forehands at points in the match, but generally was constructing points really well and methodically, and just looked like he was having a great time. The amount of moments where just a huge smile broke out across his face was really notable, and he was very upbeat in the press conference afterwards as well, and just a very good day for tennis, really, that after, what was it, 120-something days, Carlos Alcaraz is back, pain-free, we think, and playing pretty well.

6:38Matt Roberts: Yeah, he said it was a difficult day, but a beautiful one. He said he had forgotten how to do match days, he'd forgotten how to do his pre-match routine, and he sort of had to be reminded about it all. David, when Alcaraz announced, only a couple of weeks ago, less than actually that he would be making his comeback at the US Open having not been able to do so at Cincinnati. It was obviously touch and go whether he'd be ready for here. You were the most anxious of the three of us. I know some of that anxiety was alleviated by what Carlos had to say in his pre-tournament press conference. How much anxiety was alleviated by what you saw today?

7:18David Law: It was a further step in that direction. I was really taken aback by just how matter-of-fact he made his performance look almost as matter-of-fact as Coco Gough just walking past her path here just now by the practice courts because that's what it's like here. People just wander about going about their business, and she's off to the practice court. And Al Graz just looks as though, tennis-wise, he's never really been away, and that's what I was not expecting to feel. I thought today we would be gripping the seat as we watched him. I thought I'd be on edge, as you said, and it just didn't look like there was any stress that was likely to bother him the way he was hitting the ball.

8:10David Law: I did think he was rolling his arm over and playing within himself. That's the noise from the practice court just here, as probably Coco Gauff has just walked out onto it. And there's a huge gallery, isn't there? They have these stands overlooking the practice courts. She's one of the great features of the place here. But I just thought, you know, he's so in control of what he's doing and he's so in control of the match rhythms here and he feels like he's got this guy beaten. He's not going from 0 to 100 right at the start. He's going through the gears carefully to see where he is, I think.

8:48Matt Roberts: It was a very disciplined performance, I thought, from that perspective. Because he must have been just desperate to crack a monster forehand. To wow people.

8:57David Law: He loves to wow people. To get them gasping. And to then feed off that. but he's so good that he's able to kind of win within himself and he's sort of learnt over the years to do that to sort of construct rallies and finish them in a quite economical way and that's what I saw him doing a lot of today. I am already taken aback by how normal this all feels. It doesn't mean he's going to win the tournament. It doesn't mean that in the next round or two that he's not going to look very different how he looked today. But I don't think it could have looked any better than it looked today.

9:36Matt Roberts: Yeah, there was both more restraint in the performance and more freedom than I was expecting or fearing. Restraint in exactly the respect that you just described, David, of, well, the discipline of his play and freedom in that he didn't look like he was preoccupied with how the wrist was feeling. and he said in the on-court post-match interview that he was just so proud of his performance psychologically, tennis-wise as well, but psychologically because he had that experience of the forearm injury two years ago and it loomed large in his mind. It was psychosomatic for a long time after the injury itself had healed and he did confirm in the press conference afterwards, he said, I'm totally pain-free.

10:25Matt Roberts: He said, I don't know how it looked from the outside, but from the inside my feeling was that I was hitting normal. The arm, the wrist, everything felt great. And actually on this subject to the serve, that was picked up on by Owen Lewis actually, a colleague of ours. He put the stat about the service speeds to Alcaraz and he knew the service speeds were down today and he gave a really good sort of two-pronged answer about it. He said the serve is the hardest shot for me. He basically said it's not about, I'm not protecting the wrist. That's not why I'm not back up to full flight with the serve.

11:05Matt Roberts: It's just that that's my hardest, that's the most difficult shot for me. It's going to take the longest to come back. But he also said it was partly tactical today. He said there are some players that really enjoy pace on the serve and Roman Sifullian is one of them. So it was a deliberate tactic to take some pace off and focus on placement today. And P.S., I know we said this a few days ago, but my God, his English. Yeah. Is, I mean, yeah, he has to have been doing Duolingo in his time off or something. Or just watching loads of English movies or something.

11:40Catherine Whitaker: Something more effective than Duolingo.

11:44Matt Roberts: Yeah, so impressive, so uplifting. It was, yeah, it was just, it was such a boost. Such a boost to see that today. and it could have been so different. Like, it's weird sitting here having seen that performance because, like, of course, we're so used to seeing Alcaraz, you know, beat people in straight sets being a 6 out of 10 in early rounds of Grand Slams. Like, it feels so normal and yet a couple of weeks ago this did not feel likely at all. As you said, David, it could very easily have been a total nail-biter today and actually we're sitting on the row with the Spanish journalists in the media centre and as the Sabalenka match that was on Ash before our crowds, when she got the break in the second set and it became clear that that match was winding down, I could feel the atmosphere change on the row.

12:38Matt Roberts: There was suddenly so much tension about the fact that you knew that Carlos was coming and this was the moment of truth about what he would be like. There was a world that he went out there and cracked a few forehands and suddenly wrist pain was back and it was all doom and gloom. Like, we shouldn't take this for granted.

12:57David Law: No, and we still don't know what will happen to his body when, A, there is repetition of this, i.e. he has a day off or a couple of days off and then plays again. And we also don't know what happens when he gets stressed, when somebody pushes him and it's tight. Does the body react in the same way? He probably doesn't know either. fingers crossed for it because more of this please. I don't have massive bias about who wins tennis matches too much, but I don't want to see him injured. I don't want to see him out of the sport. And if he can build on this, I think it's for the benefit of everybody in the sport, even his opponents.

13:51Matt Roberts: the only other Alcaraz headline I have is that he he has given up golf for the time being I mean this injury he's had the inflammation in the tendon is sometimes known as golfer's thumb and I did you know he does play a lot of golf and quite often during tennis tournaments and it's great to see somebody I think it's healthy for tennis players to do things that aren't tennis but I think golf has gone on to the back burner for Carlos Alcaraz for the time being.

14:24Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, I think it has been important for him. He's talked about that, how much he's enjoyed the rhythm of getting away and playing some golf even during tournaments. But now's not the time for golf. We've got to protect the wrists. And I can imagine that it feels a bit different though coming back to tour after so long. He's probably not feeling the grind of it. You know, so he's probably OK being around the tennis more this tournament than he is in the past because he's just had a break from it for so long. I don't suppose it is weighing on him seeing everyone again and doing press and doing all of his routines.

15:03Catherine Whitaker: It's probably he's probably really enjoying all of that and being back at a tournament. So the goal from that side of things is probably less important right now from a from a mental state as well. I would have thought. And actually, I think there is a world where Alcaraz's freshness and his love for it all being back at a tournament ends up helping him at the latter stage of this event.

15:25Matt Roberts: It's a particular superpower here at this slam, because this is the jaded slam, isn't it? This is the slam where everybody is, you know, they're pumped. It's New York, it's Arthur Ashe Stadium, it's energy like no other. It's a major tournament. but they've been out there for eight solid months and it's a gruelling tennis season. Absolutely gruelling.

15:48David Law: No, it's a very well-made point and I think we do have the example of Roger Federer in 2017 as somebody who'd had six months off and just came out and was so free, so fresh. And look, Alcruz does not want to have this time off but it may end up helping him, you're right, in the tight moments as we go along.

16:12Matt Roberts: It's Jaime, Jaime, Jaume, Jaume, Jaume, Jaume, Jaume. What are we saying? I'm saying Jaume.

16:19Catherine Whitaker: Jaume. Jaume Faria. Not a Portuguese speaker but I know it's not Jaime.

16:25Matt Roberts: Right. Jaume Faria in the next round, tougher test.

16:29David Law: Yeah, I think so. I would like to see him play really, really well. A, because I actually think he's a really great story, a Portuguese player of whom there have been so few. Nuno Borges has really carried the flag in the last two or three years, particularly since João Sosa stopped playing. But Jair Ferreira, I think he has another level. It's a different kind of tennis to what Nuno Borges plays. He's a steady Eddie, really. I think giant Ferreira has got explosiveness. I think he carries real bite. I think he's quite confrontational as a player and as a man.

17:12Matt Roberts: I think his opponents do too.

17:13David Law: Yeah, and Nuna Borgias is not that at all. He's very easy to like and get along with. I'm not saying that Ferreira is not easy to like from a sort of spectator standpoint. It's very easy to get into his matches one way or another, either support him or cheer against him. but I think he might try and get in Alcranza's kitchen a bit and just make it show some intensity down the other end. Sifulin is a lovely player but he doesn't show any intensity at all and he doesn't, he's just sort of this matter of fact tennis player lovely to watch him hit balls but getting into his matches is a struggle because he doesn't give you much in the way of connection Faria will do that.

18:01David Law: And I'm curious to see what he's like on a big stage. I haven't seen him play on a big stage before. I've seen him beat Grigor Dimitrov in Roland Garros qualifying. And that was a pretty big stage back then. A lot of fans. And he won through. Seen him in lots and lots of matches upsetting opponents. But this is different, you know. So, yeah, another test, another step up really for Alcraz.

18:24Matt Roberts: It would be interesting to see what they do with that schedule-wise as well. Because obviously Alcraz, same half of the draw as Shelton, who's going to be in competition with Ben Shelton for the night session. I assume they'll both want it. ESPN, will they favour Shelton slightly? They did today. I don't know. It's going to be interesting to see how that shakes out.

18:43David Law: I would have thought they'd mixed that up. I could see some alternating going on between those two.

18:48Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it's kind of got easier for them with Novak Djokovic going out. Absolutely. I would say. There were three guys probably wanting that spot when he was in.

18:57Matt Roberts: Big time. That'll be in two days' time. So Wednesday, next time we'll see Carlos Alcaraz. We had a big shock today. The Cincinnati champion, Artifice, is out. Defeated by Stefanos Tsitsipas. 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-4. He led, did Artifice, by a set in 5-2. He had points for 4-love in that second set. In his own words, losing from that position was almost unprofessional. David, you are both the world's biggest Art of Feast fan and also the guy that kind of saw this coming.

19:32David Law: Well, I certainly thought there was danger. I saw danger in terms of his opponent in that Stefanos Tsitsipas is still in his 20s, late 20s, and he has been to finals of Grand Slam tournaments. I don't think Art of Feast is anything like the finished product yet, mentally. experience-wise, he used the right word. It was unprofessional what he did. From 6-4, 5-2 up, he managed to lose that match. And he didn't just lose it. He didn't lose it in five from two sets up. He lost the set that he was winning 5-2. And it just felt barely conceivable when you watched that first hour and a bit of the match.

20:22David Law: I thought the match would last an hour and 20 minutes. Artifis had won all five of his previous matches against Sitsapas. The last one he won 6-1-6 love against him in Miami. And this one he's leading 6-4, 3 love, points for 4 love, double break. Doesn't take them, but goes 5-2 up. And then he doesn't serve it out. He loses the tie break. he loses the third set 6-1, which, I'm sorry, is unacceptable. And it wasn't like Sitsipas was playing lights out of his mind tennis. He was playing increasingly better tennis. He's got Patrick Morotoglu in there, who I think is not my favourite person in tennis, but I think he's a good motivator, and I think he's good at making players like Sitsipas believe they're the best player in the world.

21:16David Law: And giving them one or two little tips. I saw him telling Sitsabas to step up to the ball on his backhand and just sort of flat-bat it almost with his backhand rather than trying to take these big swings. I think he did a good job of taking Fies' time away, but I'm sorry, the third and fourth sets from Fies were unacceptable, and where I saw it coming, or at least what thought the danger was, was that this is a guy who hasn't been beyond the second round of this tournament before. It's the first time he's come in having won a massive tournament and being expected to do stuff at a Grand Slam. We were all thinking, you know, this guy is supposed to be having a deep second-week run having just won Cincinnati, because everybody does.

22:00David Law: If you win Cincinnati, you're the guy.

22:03Catherine Whitaker: Yes, first time since Stefan Edberg in 1990 that the men's Cincinnati champion has lost in the first round of the US Open.

22:10David Law: And that's pressure. It may not be the... I think the biggest thing, it was pressure in his own mind. It looked like it was having no effect on him, Catherine, between 6-4, 5-2, he looked like he's playing within himself, he looked like it was easy, frankly. I think he got a bit stressed and a bit nervous, he thought about it, and then he exhausted himself with the nervousness in the moment, and it's not good enough.

22:35Matt Roberts: Look, it was an impressive press conference, I thought, in that he totally owned that defeat. He was pretty disgusted with himself, I think, but also at a bit of a loss to explain it. He said he doesn't feel like it was pressure. He said he felt like if it was pressure, he'd have played poorly from the start. He said he felt a real energy dip at the end of the second set and he was unable to get it back from that point. And he doesn't know why. He was at a real loss to explain why that was. He said the hip and the back, perfect. I very specifically asked him. so absolutely no pain in the hip or the back.

23:19Matt Roberts: He said, no, they're perfect. You know, taking total responsibility for that defeat, as I say, he called it borderline unprofessional. Look, it's very difficult to delineate what's pressure and what's not, right? It's not as clinical or binary as that, but I also do think if he felt like... I felt like he would have owned it if, in his heart, he was feeling like the pressure had got to him a bit, But, I don't know, it can affect you in kind of insipid ways that you're not necessarily explicitly aware of.

23:53Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and look, big picture. Artifee saying, my hip and my back felt perfect a year ago. We'd have absolutely taken that. And even a few months ago when he couldn't play again. I guess my question is what do you think is next in his development in terms of trying to improve this Grand Slam record is it just a case of putting himself in this position again where he's playing well on tour and he's going into a slam with some pressure on and just experiencing it and dealing with it naturally the improvements will come I mean I was totally shocked by this loss totally shocked i i thought he'd done the prep for this slam and he was ready do you know what i mean i i didn't i didn't see this coming at all well i think the thing is

24:50David Law: he's played so few grand slams in his career you know he's built this ranking of what fifth or sixth in the race and 11 in the world in the rankings without even playing two of the other three Grand Slams this year and only winning one. He's won one Grand Slam match in 2026 and he's 11 in the Worlds. So he's not used to Grand Slams and I'm not trying to give him an excuse or a pass here but he needs to learn from this specific experience and I actually think it will make him better because I think he'll be embarrassed by this. He was. I don't think he'll let this happen again. I think he'll now listen to people like Goran who will tell him in very blunt terms, what's what.

25:37David Law: But I think the one thing you mustn't overlook is he might get better from it, but he might not get a better chance than having Sinner not in the draw and Alcoran's returning and Djokovic out of the draw. You know, he's missed out on a massive opportunity here. I think he'll have many others. He may play way, way better than he did today, but not get the results because of who he ends up facing. But that's the way it goes. You know, it's done now. He's got to wait months for another chance at a Grand Slam. In the meantime, he's got to try to get back on the horse, really, work hard, try and get a position in Turin because he's got a chance.

26:19David Law: You know, he's right there in the race and he's never experienced that event before. So he should be trying to do it and break new ground at every turn.

26:28Matt Roberts: Just before we get into the women's results from the day's session today, a few more significant men's results. We've just seen the end of the Grand Slam career as Stan Werenka. 7-6, 7-6, 6-love. The third set for Matteo Berrettini over Werenka. Probably should have won the second set here, David, and made a bit of a match of it. He had the vibes, he had the crowd, he had the game going for a bit, but can't sustain it anymore, and that's why the career is coming to an end.

26:58David Law: Yeah, and he had the scoreline too. He was serving for that second set at 5-3. He was the better player in that second set. Had set points, didn't take them and then just lost his way in the tiebreak. I think he was just running out of gas a bit emotionally, physically, whatever. But an amazing atmosphere. Grandstand court is pretty big. There's a lot of seats out there. You couldn't find one anywhere. The stairway leading up to it was full of people trying to get in on the one-in-one-out sort of system and there were people sort of craning their necks around other people to get a look at standing room only.

27:39David Law: To get a look at the shirt, probably. Yes, he was wearing a fully buttoned from top to bottom shirt, almost like one of those sort of Hawaiian shirts you might think.

27:49Matt Roberts: Like a darts player? Yes. Yes.

27:53Catherine Whitaker: It was giving already retired. Yeah.

27:57Matt Roberts: He was like, this is what I'm going to be wearing for the next 40 years.

28:00David Law: And, you know, it's funny seeing him after I'd watched Sitsapas earlier. And, you know, all credit to Sitsapas. Maybe he can find a way back and build something in his career again. But my mind did go back to that French Open match that you stood on the edge of the court for. Magical clash between Vovrinka and Sitsapas. what, seven or eight years ago now. Stan at his kind of peak and sits the pass with it all before him. And, you know, time moves on. But I've loved that Stan has had his chance to get out in front of this crowd. I think he's, he deserved that wildcard and he's vindicated.

28:40Matt Roberts: Last men's result I wanted to pick up on from the day session. The world number 731, Sebastian Gorsny from the US, one of the US wildcards, saved five match points to beat Raphael Collignon in a fifth set tiebreak. David, you went to his little press huddle afterwards, Gourgeny, learned a bit about his story, and it's a pretty incredible one.

29:04David Law: Yeah, he walked into this little huddle freezing cold, shivering with goosebumps because he'd just come straight out of the ice bath after those five match points that he'd saved and that incredible win he'd had. but yeah it doesn't take much research on Gorsney to discover a pretty extraordinary story which he elaborated on in this press gathering that seven or eight years ago when he was just 15 16 years of age at Kalamazoo the junior tournament he played a match and woke up in the middle of the night feeling really bad and his mother took him to hospital and it they believe he would he'd been bitten by a mosquito which had given him a brain infection and a kind of meningitis and he was put into an induced coma for four days and he was given by the doctors a five percent chance of surviving and thankfully he did survive and was able to make a full recovery and a full comeback but um his friends set up a go fund me they raised more than thirty thousand dollars for his medical bills you know which would have been extreme um and he gradually worked his way back into the sport he says he doesn't really remember too much about it because he was in this coma he doesn't you know he said i had to have some sort of non-seizure medication for a while, but he was able to get straight back into training, more or less, and has been at the University of Texas playing college tennis, one of the top players in that system.

30:45David Law: He's really proud to have been able to come through that system and end up at a Grand Slam level. He earned his wild card in the playoff that they have in the USTA to get into this main draw, and he's got a win over Colignan. Absolutely fantastic stuff. And he's sort of 6 '3", 6 '4", big strapping lad who likes to be at the net. And, yeah, it's a great story.

31:13Matt Roberts: I don't know whether you could hear that, by the way, while David was talking those eruptions of cheers, but we think that that is Stan Mourinka getting his final send-off over on the grandstand court, presumably doing his trademark thing where he points to the four stands demanding cheers from them, a bit like a sort of musician on the stage. Yeah, really cool to see and hear that one last time. Last men's result I wanted to mention or event from the men's draw I wanted to mention today. Giovanni Mpeshi Perikar lost a six-love set to Yuri Rodionov.

31:54David Law: I mean, what is he, 6 '8", with the biggest serve in the world? How does that happen?

31:58Matt Roberts: How does that happen? No one can say, because nobody watched it. But just the scoreline is worth commenting on. On to the women's draw. Rina Sabalenka getting her title defence off the ground today. 6-2, 6-4 against Camilla Osorio in the first match on Ash. Not a whole lot to report from this match. It was an absolute peak. Sabalenka didn't need to be peak Sabalenka. I mean, there could be a certain amount of confirmation bias going on here because I really have my doubts about where Sabalenka is at with her game and her mentality at the moment, all of which is, of course, linked. But she didn't seem to be having a whole lot of fun out there, Sabalenka.

32:44Matt Roberts: It seemed like she was battling herself. It took a while for the break to come in the second set. and I was thinking, well, it's going to come. You've got so much more game than her, but she seemed really frustrated and annoyed with herself that it wasn't coming. But 6-2, 6-4, comfortable enough. But again, Matt, in the press conference room, it's this combative, thin-skinned, defensive Sabalenka that we're seeing. Tennis is a brutal sport. You're entitled to rough days, is we are not as charming as you might be. We all are. But it's what it's indicative of in terms of where she's at, kind of confidence-wise and mentality-wise.

33:35Matt Roberts: And it just all feels off to me, Matt, really, really off.

33:43Catherine Whitaker: Yes, because usually her press conferences, you know, maybe don't have the most depth to them, I would say, but they're normally a pretty good time, a Sabalenka press conference, certainly when she's winning and playing well. Today she was asked about all the off-court stuff that she has to do before the US Open, and I totally understand why players are potentially a little bit defensive about that, because doing off-court stuff doesn't necessarily mean not concentrating on tennis. And I think women especially suffer that in terms of people just assuming that just because they're doing a fashion shoot, they're not focusing on their tennis.

34:28Catherine Whitaker: But that was not the way the question was phrased. It was well phrased, I thought, and it was quite obvious the point that was being got at. And, yeah, she sort of got a little bit defensive about the suggestion that she wasn't focusing on the tennis and that everything she'd been doing had been some kind of distraction or getting in the way. And I just think Sabalenka, at her peak, just wouldn't have reacted like that. And look, maybe we're reading too much into it, but it does feel different.

35:01Matt Roberts: Yeah, all I can say is that's how I am when someone's touched a nerve. maybe maybe it's indicative of something different for her but

35:11David Law: that's what I saw in it she's a bit vulnerable I think she's feeling a little bit vulnerable by her standards and she's thinking about things maybe rather than just it flowing in life and yeah I get it

35:28Matt Roberts: very different vibe in Amanda Anisimova's press conference Matt let me tell you birthday girl Amanda Nisimov 6163 for her against Aisling Kruger today there was a bit of a she came early to press hot off the heels of Carlos Alcaraz and there'd just been an exodus out of the room after Alcaraz and she arrived before her name had been announced so she arrived to an empty room it was just me pretty much because I was slow to leave the room after Alcaraz and she was like oh well this is embarrassing she said i don't want to sit at the desk and twiddle my thumbs waiting for people to arrive so she sat off to the side and just chit-chatted with people as they were drifting into the room and then was with was faced with some quite not not difficult questions but some quite hard-hitting questions early on about Rick Vlisau is her current coach and her former coach.

36:25Matt Roberts: So she was with Rick Vlisau as the Dutch coach throughout her hugely successful year last season. She split with him early this season, had a period of time with Sebastian Sachs over the summer very unsuccessfully. I think it's fair to say that was not a match. Absolutely. lots of aspects of her game seemed to kind of fall apart under Sebastian Sachs and then before the hard court season she got back together with Rick Vleeshowers and she never really told us at the time where she split with Vleeshowers and this was the first time she'd really been asked about getting back together with with Vleeshowers and she didn't she didn't exactly say what happened but here's what she did say she said I feel like there were a lot of things that I did wrong towards the end of our partnership earlier in the year.

37:18Matt Roberts: And maybe at times I was a bit too hot-headed. So I feel like I've been able to reflect on that and work on myself, not necessarily only towards him. She said, I think it was just my whole demeanour going into the year with tennis and results. It sounds like it was a lot for her at the start of this year to try and back up what she did last year. It was a completely different complexion on 2026 to 2025. And it sounds like maybe she panicked a little bit when the results weren't quite resulting. And there was a lot of stress there, which we saw on the court. And it sounds like maybe Vlis Howers was a victim of that.

38:02Matt Roberts: But very impressive to go back with what sounds like maybe tail between the legs and say, I was a bit rash there, what we had worked. but also let's not just get the band back together and resume what we were doing, but, like, let's try and be better and do this differently and all, you know, hold hands and learn and grow.

38:24Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and good from everyone involved, I think, as well. Like, good from Vleeshowers to not be like, no, you ditched me, I'm never going to work with you again. Like, I think they probably both knew that they were onto a good thing there, and it was very different for Nisimov approaching this year with expectation. I'm sure she was putting on herself that there was outside expectation because she didn't really play a slam last year where people were expecting a lot of her. And I even say that about the US Open because she'd just had that experience at Wimbledon, losing 6-0, 6-0 in the final. I think everyone thought, oh, that might take her a little while to get over.

39:02Catherine Whitaker: So kind of both finals were a bit of a surprise in the way that they ended up happening. But then she started the year in Australia and all eyes are on her because she'd been so good. in 2025 and you know this is someone who found tour life very difficult for a very long time and it sounds to me from that quote that she just maybe got out of some of the the routines and rhythms that had helped her enjoy life on tour and it had all got a little bit too much and it she almost took it out on on Bleashowers and that partnership thinking that that was something that needed to change when actually that was probably the constant that needed to remain and it was dealing with the pressure and the expectation that needed to change.

39:44Catherine Whitaker: And, yeah, she also had a little time with Nick Saviano over the summer, someone who'd worked with her previously and, you know, I think helped get some of that forehand technique back that had very much gone over the summer at Wimbledon. And the game is just in a much better place now. I think there's still a long way to go in terms of getting back to the absolute peak that she was at last year. She's not had many tournaments, really, where she's just strung it together. But the signs are good, and she absolutely crushed.

40:16Matt Roberts: I saw you getting very excited, Matt. Well, you know me.

40:22Catherine Whitaker: She crushed Kruger today. The backhand winners were flowing. The return winners were flowing. Even little moments of pressure that there were, she dealt with well and didn't get stressed. I do like that match-up for her, though. like someone who's just kind of an inferior version of her, really, and she was very comfortable in it. But great start to the tournament.

40:43Matt Roberts: A couple of other results to touch on from the day session before we wrap up part one, because Matt's getting upstaged by the Arthur Ashe Stadium pregame show, I think, over there. Tell us a little bit about Jung Chinwen beating 16-year-old Christina Lutova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

41:04Catherine Whitaker: I loved this match and I don't know whether my takes are really influenced and biased by the fact that I had what I think to be some of the best media seats in tennis those ones on court 17 that we're so lucky to sit in down in the front row where you're kind of lower than the players you know, like it's those seats are a little bit sunken below the court but I've never sat there and thought this match is bad When you're that close to the players, you just have an appreciation, I think, for how good they are in terms of their ball striking and their movement and their intensity. And this one was awesome.

41:45Catherine Whitaker: Lutova, the 16-year-old who won Memphis in her first tour level event, carried it through qualifying and meeting fellow qualifiers, Jun Chin Wen. And Lutova takes the first set. And honestly, I was blown away by her level. She's 16, but she's such a different profile to what you might expect from a 16-year-old. I think you might think someone is really dangerous with a lot of weapons, but maybe a little bit hot-headed and not quite able to manage a match. You know, that's something that I expect from 16-year-olds. But she's not like that. She's pretty composed. She doesn't have a big weapon, but she has amazing control on her shots.

42:28Catherine Whitaker: She's able to move the ball from side to side, go down the line with such ease. No real weakness in the technique, I don't think. She was able to handle Jung's loopy balls and heavy topspin balls by taking them on the rise. I thought she was brilliant and she was giving Jung all that she could handle for two sets, really. Those first two sets were very, very competitive. But I must say I was very encouraged on Jung's behalf as well. This is someone who has played on the tour all year, really, but it's just not been happening, the comeback from injury. She hasn't been able to get much going, but she qualified here, and she had huge support on court 17.

43:10Catherine Whitaker: I felt a bit for Lutova. I felt like telling everyone, she's going to be an American citizen probably soon. She's going to naturalise. But she's got no flag next to her name. At the moment, she's representing Russia. And it was full of Chinese fans, and they were really into it for Zhang and she grew into this match. She was overheating a little bit at the start but found her range and, yeah, dare I say, she is one of those dormant volcanoes, Zhang Xinwen. I'm not saying that she's going to erupt here and win the tournament or anything like that. She's in a tricky section of the draw. But you're saying she might.

43:47Catherine Whitaker: But I'm saying that... You're telling me there's a chance. I'm saying that that level, I've missed seeing it on the tour. Yeah, me too. And there was a little bit of it today, the intensity, the aura that she has, the heavy topspin forehand. There's no one else like her? No, and I think one of Yutoba's relative weaknesses at the moment is probably movement out wide, and Jung, with the heavy topspin, can exploit that and kind of did as the match went on. It's exciting to at least see the level, because she was forced to produce it today against a really good opponent, two and a half hours on court.

44:28Catherine Whitaker: And the first thing Jung did in her on-court interview was credit Lutova. She wasn't even asked about her and she said, I just have to say how well she played. And there was a lovely moment of respect and handshake and hug at the net. Afterwards, Jung hugged her.

44:44Matt Roberts: And a real recognition there from Jung, I think, who sometimes catches some strays or in the past has caught strays from other players on tour who have found her a bit cold. Personally, I've always really felt for Jung over that. I think that's...

45:00Catherine Whitaker: Been an other player problem. Yeah, exactly.

45:02Matt Roberts: And a sort of misreading of Jung. And, yeah, I've really felt for her. But Jung, I think, really understood this is a 16-year-old that's never been in the situation before, will feel like she should have won this match.

45:16Catherine Whitaker: Because she left the court in a kind of mix of tears and...

45:19Matt Roberts: Sort of smiling, maniacal tears. Yeah, there was a lot of emotion going on there. And Jung, and this was a huge moment for Jung. She might be an Olympic gold medalist, but I actually saw a clip of her match point and celebration after she won through her final round of qualifying the other day. And it was a bigger, more emotional celebration than when she won the Olympic gold. She has been through it, Jung. It has been a tough old time trying to just make a go of things back on tour. So this was a huge moment for her and for her to still recognise and have the empathy for what was going on with Lutova, I thought was lovely, really special.

45:59Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, great match. So many, like, epic games in it. And just when you think Jung had Lutova and she was going to race away with it, Lutova's resistance to the usual pools of momentum were amazing for a 16-year-old. Yeah, it was a really, really good match.

46:16Matt Roberts: Yeah, so Jung carrying on in the tournament, as is Linda Nozkova, looked a bit dicey.

46:22Catherine Whitaker: It was a less good match.

46:23Matt Roberts: Weird match. Very weird. Dicey for her in the opening set, but the Wimbledon champion threw in straight sets against Katie Volinets. Mukova, very comfortable, the Wimbledon finalist. She beat Sinja Kraus for the loss of just three games. Sara Bejelik, another name to go today. She lost out 6-1 in the third to Christina Bookshire. So the rumours of a tennis podcast meets curse do still linger, I'm afraid. And on that note, we'll wrap it up for part one. We'll go and watch the night session and we'll be back to tell you all about it in part two.

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49:00Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of this tennis podcast coming to you on day two of the U.S. Open, or rather day three of the US Open as it is now. It is just a few minutes before one o 'clock in the morning. Play has just wrapped up on the Louis Armstrong Stadium. Francis Tiafoe finally getting the victory over countryman Martin Dahm. Three hours and 48 minutes, five sets, six four in the fifth Tiafoe with the win. And over on Ash, just minutes before Naomi Osaka winning over Anastasia Zakharova 7-6, 7-6. What are we doing? One o 'clock in the morning. I can't even remember what time it was last night.

49:43Matt Roberts: What is this sport? Is it going to be one o 'clock in the morning every night? I mean, things are getting out of hand.

49:53Catherine Whitaker: They've been out of hand for a while, I would suggest. But yes, I sort of realised that tennis is the only sport that thanks its fans for staying. It's like you've paid money, you've planned to come, and yet we're inconveniencing you so much that everyone, commentators, players, always feel the need to thank fans for staying. What a concept.

50:24Matt Roberts: Yeah, it is absolutely bonkers, isn't it? And tonight has been a bit bonkers, hasn't it? Quite a lot of the tennis we've all watched together has been quite bad, or at the very least sort of quite weird. But it's been a very compelling night.

50:43David Law: Yeah, I think there were moments where we thought, oh, well, if Naomi Osaka goes a breakup in this set and Francis Tiafoe goes a breakup in that set, we could probably start the podcast, really, because nothing particularly eventful is likely to happen. And yet both matches just kept drawing us back in. And, I mean, that is the beauty of it. Yes, it wasn't the greatest quality from anybody on show at all. They all tried their absolute hearts out and made it compelling. And, yeah, I've enjoyed it. I mean, I would probably have preferred to have enjoyed it about three hours earlier, but there we are.

51:22Matt Roberts: No one tried their heart out more than Martin Dahm. No. Whose name we've been mispronouncing for the entirety of his career. And you've been mispronouncing his dad's name for several decades, it turns out.

51:34David Law: Yes, that's not an exaggeration. It is nearly 30 years that I've been pronouncing Martin Dahm Senior's name incorrectly. Now I'm doing it right, so all's fair. but the moment of the night, maybe the moment of the day was when his son celebrated towards the end of the third set, was it?

51:56Matt Roberts: He was winning the third set after a marathon game to serve it out where he had to overcome some nerves, should we put it that way? I'll say. It was a choked and won anyway, or certainly won the set anyway. It was a nervy old affair, finally got over the line. And, of course, the crowd are there for Tiafoe. And, you know, quite rightly so. Tiafoe's given plenty of evidence to New York crowds that he's the guy to buy a ticket for and to show up for and to support as a potential contender for this title. But Martin Dahm was like, I'm American. I'm a bit of a hot shot. I can confirm that. I'm a Martin Dahm guy, it turns out.

52:41Matt Roberts: and so he wins the third set and he not only puts his finger to his ear but he does it in a sort of stooped position towards the crowd and he says, I can't hear you I loved it so much I was in, I'm in now, I'm a Martin Dahm guy Catherine's one point slam moment in Martin Dahm terms He's, everything about him is unexpected. You do not know what is coming off his racket. He seems crap at the easy stuff and brilliant at a lot of the hard stuff. Can't make a second serve return, but he's picking up Federer-esque half-vollies off his tippy toes, you know, routinely. Certainly was tonight.

53:34David Law: It's very Catherine, really, isn't it? can conducts live TV with no script and massive pressure, but then drop a coffee down a shit.

53:42Matt Roberts: Yes, thank you. Yeah, it was very on brand for me to become a Martin Darm guy and then for him to proceed to lose.

53:50Catherine Whitaker: Yes, you haven't yet seen him win a set as one of his guys. No. After that third set, he then did lose the next two sets. Maybe it's you. But yeah, he's a big serving lefty. and he takes a lot of risks. I mean, they brought up the stat on the ESPN coverage that in the first couple of sets, he was taking 30 % of his shots inside the baseline. In the third set, he upped that to 80%, a jump, a huge jump in a set. And he kind of seemed to maintain that for the rest of the match.

54:25Matt Roberts: He's returning sort of 80 mile per hour second serves.

54:28Catherine Whitaker: Stepping way back.

54:29Matt Roberts: From basically in the stands. it's a yeah it's a swashbuckling brand of tennis

54:36Catherine Whitaker: he's rough around the ages but tricky he's awkward to face

54:42David Law: and a heck of a competitor and a heck of a competitor to Tiafoe because he was in trouble there and as he's been telling us he's not been feeling his best I mean he's got an injury he had a surgery to remove a cyst the other week but there's there's a bit of an injury there and he sort of pulled himself over the line and maybe he can loosen up and feel better as it goes along i hope for his sake he can because he does he does bring something really sensational to these tournaments really interesting day for the american men

55:18Matt Roberts: because i mean look that they've all all the main all the main ones have got over the line Tiafoe and Ben Shelton who we'll talk about but it's Tiafoe and Ben Shelton who have struggled this evening whereas Tien, Nakashima, Mickelson all incredibly comfortable convincing winners and okay maybe none of those are contenders for the title although who knows quite frankly at this point but yeah it's Tiafoe and Shelton that we're all looking at and they've they've been a bit ropey

55:51Catherine Whitaker: this evening yes and i think tiafo because probably of this physical issue that he's got and an opponent who played very well against him and really brought it shelton i think was nerves big stage nerves he's the night session the main guy the headline act and he completely laid an egg in the first set one of the best serves on tour he got broken three times in the

56:20David Law: opening set and huge surprise that to me you know that he we were talking about how he'll stride out there and be the guy and love being the guy and i don't doubt that he may well end up feeling like that as it goes along but to come out like that and freeze i wasn't expecting that at all yeah he is his game plan was first strike tennis only you know he's pulling the pulling

56:47Catherine Whitaker: the trigger on shots and had absolutely no rhythm, no consistency, no discipline in his game. He was really all over the place. Fortunately for him, he was playing Talon Greekspore, who often plays his worst tennis when he's in a leading position, and then proceeded to do exactly what Ben Shelton had done in the first set and the second set, and lose all sense of control of his own game. you know greekspoor in the first set done just a nice job of getting the ball in play and letting shelton beat himself but the role was completely reversed in the second set and you know the two sets were over in a flash and neither of them had played well at the same time it was hard to gauge where the level was it picked up a little bit in the third set because it was closer and there was some scoreline intrigue to it but it still wasn't a particularly compelling match you know the games were zipping by and, you know, the rallies weren't all that compelling.

57:48Catherine Whitaker: But Shelton did improve a lot because in the first set he was terrible and I think there was a world there where he didn't get it back, you know, and he let the evening and the occasion consume him. But he steadied and he did look more like himself as the match went on. But I don't think he ever hit his top level tonight. But he managed to get through it.

58:11Matt Roberts: How much does that worry you from a Shelton perspective that he, not that he felt the nerves, but that they manifested like that, especially in the context of what happened to him in Paris and at Wimbledon?

58:28David Law: yeah i do find that a little bit jarring because i just didn't expect it and maybe that's me being naive and actually having heard jessica bagula describe her first round nerves that she always has and it sounded like it was a real it's a real job to to get through them really and to be able to perform at all maybe it maybe it's just a little unfair to just assume people can just walk out there cold and be okay when they've got especially when shelton this is kind of the first time he's been the guy and actually not just the guy for american tennis but he's kind of one of the favorites for the whole thing there are people idiots like me who are saying he could he can win the thing and he hasn't even started yet so it's a it is a lot but i also think he now he's got this out the way i think it gets easier on that score maybe the challenges get harder but And actually, I think he'll handle the occasions more easily now.

59:27Matt Roberts: So that match finishes on Ash. Then there's some faff. And, OK, it was faff with Roger Federer. So Federer fans are going to come at me. But it was faff, folks.

59:39David Law: It was lovely. It just shouldn't have been held between two competitive tennis matches when the other one featured two players backstage who've been waiting for hours and are now going to have to go on at 10.25 rather than 10.

59:51Matt Roberts: Yeah, it's 10pm and they're rolling out a carpet and putting up a lectern and introducing six separate people onto the court for this Roger Federer. It was sort of an extension of the Hall of Fame induction. And it's a lovely thing that they make that part of the US Open and it's giving him the ring. And I know that's a big deal. Like, as you say, no issue with that thing happening. but there was three hours of intentionally blank in the day earlier when it could have been happening or it could have happened at 7pm before the start of the night. There's just so many ways it could be done that aren't that.

1:00:33Matt Roberts: It felt disrespectful to Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Zakharova. It felt disrespectful to the viewers, really. I don't know. Like, it just...

1:00:44David Law: Federer had to rush it. Yeah. I think he was conscious of, and probably the tournament by that point, we better just, we've said we're doing this now, but we better do it pretty swiftly. Remember the same happened maybe a year or two ago.

1:00:58Catherine Whitaker: Last year, yeah.

1:00:59Matt Roberts: But it's like everyone's surprised by tennis taking more than an hour and a half. Tennis almost always takes more than an hour and a half. It quite often takes five hours. like that's not unusual anymore like tennis acting surprised when things take two hours or

1:01:22David Law: two and a half hours i mean the australian open do a lot of these things before a night session as i recall you know they'll often have people lined up and do a presentation and that works you know but you maybe just don't eat into the actual playing time i suspect tv is part of it but

1:01:42Matt Roberts: But yeah, it just doesn't, it seems nonsensical to me. But anyway, out comes Naomi Osaka and Anastasia Zaharova. And this is a really bitty match. Again, kind of compelling, but there's no rhythm to any of it. Naomi Osaka is having a bad time playing Zaharova, who, much like my guy Martin Dahm, what a competitor. What a gritty competitor. she was never ahead in this match was she but she just would not lie down she was a real pest to Osaka and it was very much two players with with one mode of playing tennis yeah a lot of

1:02:26Catherine Whitaker: seaball hitball going on and Osaka I think felt rusty anyway because she hadn't played for a few weeks having chosen to take Cincinnati off so she probably wanted a match to try and find some of her rhythm and this was this was not that by any means she was a breakup in both sets and got pegged back and ended up in tie breaks and did play a very good second set tie break you know having having failed to serve out the match she then regrouped I thought really well and served well in the tie break to close it out. But, yeah, she didn't seem comfortable out there. But I do expect her to improve as the tournament goes on.

1:03:18Catherine Whitaker: She's got a slightly tricky next match, I would say, actually, against Sinniarkova. That's someone who can, again, a great competitor, Sinniarkova, and just can be a bit awkward, I think. but we did talk about Osaka being in a good section of the draw generally big picture so there is an opportunity for her to work her way into this tournament.

1:03:43David Law: Can I just ask what did you think of the Osaka outfit today when she walked out?

1:03:52Matt Roberts: Yeah, dramatic. She was styled by Law Roach, wasn't she?

1:03:57David Law: Yeah, I don't know who that is but I don't know who any designer or fashion person is.

1:04:02Matt Roberts: He's famously Zendaya's... Oh. I think he does other bits and bobs, but he's basically full-time Zendaya's stylist. And her styling is a big thing, and he's become a big fit thing. She does this method dressing. You across that?

1:04:19David Law: No, no. I'm only across whatever Naomi Osaka's doing when she walks out onto the court. But this is probably the first time that I've really watched her come out of the tunnel and actually go and do the the coin flip you know with with the outfit on i thought it looked really cool but i don't know what the hell i'm talking about

1:04:38Matt Roberts: but i mean it's fashion isn't it it's it's avant-garde fashion so i don't think it's about i think it's whatever you whatever you want it to be isn't it it's her form of self-expression And I do like her iteration of the Nike basketball kit. There are some iterations of it that are less successful, I think. But I thought she looked really cool in that, in her playing kit.

1:05:04Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, she said Nike said they're going to do basketball. And she said, well, I'll show them basketball then. And she's really styled herself on Allen Iverson and really pulled off that look, I think.

1:05:17Matt Roberts: Yeah, agreed. So Osaka safely through Shviontek. We should probably touch upon Shviontek 6-2, 6-3 against the world number 80 Wong Ziyu. Matt, you had eyes on this.

1:05:31Catherine Whitaker: Yes, and she played well, Sviantec. It was the kind of matchup that I thought she'd be comfortable in. Wong Ji-yoo, a lefty, plays with heavy topspin and that just suits Igu Sviantec because she's able to play in the way she wants to play, you know, with hitting spin herself and constructing points and not being too much under pressure. She served well, Svantec, 74 % of her first serves in tonight. Yeah, there wasn't much jeopardy in this one. It was comfortable, but I think it was Svantec playing in the right way and kind of what we've seen, really, throughout the last couple of events. So, yeah, more good news for Svantec, but much, much bigger tests to come, I would say.

1:06:26Matt Roberts: OK, that is it for part two and you'll wrap on results for day two of the US Open. We'll be back in part three to look ahead to day three. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 percent of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform, While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com.

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1:07:45Matt Roberts: Welcome back to Part 3. of today's tennis podcast. Now, just before we get into a look at tomorrow's order of play, a bit of news that dropped earlier on today from the USTA, the US Tennis Association, announcing a new brand partner of the US Open, Kalshi, who you may or may not have heard of. They have been unveiled as the official prediction market partner of the US Open, the first ever prediction market partner. It's an exclusive multi-year deal. What is a prediction market? I hear you ask. Well, I didn't really know either. I did quite a lot of research into this today. A prediction market is a platform on which users can trade on the outcomes of future events.

1:08:34Matt Roberts: Anything really from election results to baseball games to what the subject of an Elon Musk tweet is going to be, what the content of a Donald Trump speech is going to be. They've become very, very popular very quickly and they are a very controversial alternative to traditional sports betting. It's a binary thing where you bet yes or no on a certain thing happening, essentially. Calci are the largest prediction market company in the US. They're currently valued at$22 billion. dollars. The USDA CEO Craig Tiley said in the press release about this announcement, we're relentless about keeping tennis at the cutting edge of global sports innovation and fan connection.

1:09:25Matt Roberts: Partnering with Kelshi gives us an opportunity to pioneer that next generation of fan engagement while ensuring the integrity of the sport, of our sport rather. And mentioning the integrity of the sport is quite a bold thing to do because, I mean, look, tennis and sport has had a complicated and grey and often very troubling relationship with sports betting full stop for a long time that raises a lot of questions about the integrity of the sport. But prediction markets are particularly controversial. They are, Kalshi are currently being sued in 20 states, red and blue states, over whether they should be subject to state betting regulations.

1:10:14Matt Roberts: Last month, 44 states in the US signed a letter attacking the platforms, Koushi, and their rival prediction markets as, quote, a new form of casino preying on young people. So currently they're not subject to state regulations as betting companies are. And that is a state of affairs which is promoted by President Trump, who has declared that he wants prediction markets to thrive under his leadership without state oversight. And Kalshi hired Donald Trump Jr. as an advisor in January last year. And his compensation included more than$300 ,000 in Kalshi shares, which have mysteriously multiplied in value since then.

1:11:05Matt Roberts: And this is all from reporting by The New York Times, who have done very significant reporting on this for many months. There have been multiple cases of insider trading on the Kaushy platform. A White House teleprompter operator recently won$100 ,000 by betting on what Donald Trump would say in his speeches. and in April three political candidates were found to be betting on their own races and a number of politicians have been given lifetime bans from the platform. John Wertheim, our colleague, called this partnership a moral failure. He was incredibly punchy about it on Twitter earlier. He described it as a platform predicated on profiting from insider information, being welcomed into a sport with a known match fixing problem.

1:12:02Matt Roberts: And of course, beyond that, a problem with players, particularly female players, receiving extensive abuse from people on the wrong end of the betting industry. And this is an extremely opaque, anonymized way of doing betting, which will only, I think, provide a hotbed for more of that kind of activity. The ITIA, the International Tennis Integrity Agency, was asked for comment by John on this new partnership and it was a surprisingly weak statement. I suppose they're playing the political game on this, but they said they are working closely with our funders, of whom the USTA is one. They said we're working closely with our funders on the identification and management of the risks.

1:12:53Matt Roberts: I mean, look, maybe my issue here is with capitalism, late-stage capitalism, rather than with any particular symptom thereof, but this feels like a particularly bleak ethical development to me, David.

1:13:11David Law: Yeah, they just don't feel like an appropriate fit, and yet they are paying money. and yeah I came across John earlier today and he was giving me a little bit of understanding of what Calci are and what they do and I didn't know too much about them but he was really bothered by this and that comes across in his tweets he said it was an irresponsible decision lucrative sure but totally devoid of soul content and integrity. I mean, that tells you exactly how he feels, and he cited the point you made about players, and particularly women, receiving death threats and all this sort of abuse from the betting, you know, from people who bet on tennis matches and getting into bed with these sort of organisations.

1:14:13David Law: It just doesn't feel right to me. and I'm concerned too.

1:14:22Matt Roberts: Yeah, pretty bleak stuff, quite frankly, and the timing of that press release doesn't feel accidental.

1:14:31David Law: Yeah, right in the middle of the tennis when everybody's attention, and maybe just coincidental, of course, but it doesn't really feel coincidental. It feels like it might have been put there so that people won't bother be talking about it too much.

1:14:45Matt Roberts: And I did request or at least see if the USTA wanted to provide comment in response to the criticism. And they pointed me in the direction of Craig Tiley's statement in the press release. OK, on to tomorrow's order of plays, starting at 11.30 on the Arthrasch Stadium with Madison Keyes, the 22nd seed at this tournament against Alina Korneva, the very talented young Russian who's been starting to put together some impressive results as a senior after really struggling with injury upon her transition from the junior to the senior game. So that's an interesting one. Similar dynamic in the next match with a well-established player player against a very young player.

1:15:37Matt Roberts: But I do fear for Darwin Blanche when he takes on Tey de Fritz. He is still at a very early stage of development, Darwin Blanche. And I hope it's not a chastening experience for him because sometimes those wildcard experiences can be. So wishing him well. The night session on Ash tomorrow is Coco Goff first up, a women's match first on. Coco Goff against Zeynep Sonmez. Should be maybe a good match, that one, Matt?

1:16:07Catherine Whitaker: Yes, I think so. Sonmez is a nice player. I don't know how she's punching holes, really, in Goff's game. I don't think she's quite got the weapons. I think she'd have to hope for Goff to have a bit of an off day. But, you know, like maybe Goff will be nervous as well. You know, we've seen nerves be a bit of a factor today. Gough is more experienced. She's a major champion. But, you know, those Arthur Ashe night sessions are no joke. So I'm looking forward to that one.

1:16:45Matt Roberts: Second up in the night session, Alexander Zverev against Lorenzo Sonogo. What percentage chance do you give Sonogo there, David? 20.

1:16:57David Law: look Zverev should win but it'd be interesting to see what would happen if Sonnega got into it because when he gets into a match he becomes a better player because of an atmosphere because if he gets into it the crowd will get into it they'll get into him and I don't recall him having a real moment of that type at this tournament and that would be very interesting and then to see how Zverev reacted to it. But, you know, you would expect Zverev to win.

1:17:28Matt Roberts: Armstrong tomorrow opens with Flavio Caballi against Francisco Comissagne. I won't ask anybody for any Caballi-based predictions. That would be too much for hospital bars. Be prepared for anything, folks, including watery shits, as is Flavio's way in round one of Grand Slams sometimes. Second on Armstrong tomorrow, Mirandreva, the reigning French Open champion against Janice Chen of Indonesia. That should be a good match. Excited for that one.

1:17:59Catherine Whitaker: Yes, they played very recently in Cincinnati and first set was a bit of a blowout, but second set was a tie break and Andre for one hit in straight sets. But Chen got into that and kind of learned a little bit about the matchup, I think. So you'd hope for her sake that she takes that into this match.

1:18:20Matt Roberts: Yeah, she's a nice player. Guillaume Orfis playing what could very well be his final Grand Slam match. First up in the night session on Armstrong. Tomorrow he plays Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, who got himself involved in some controversy at the French Open earlier this year. Following on from those two, it is Alex Ayala. I've been hearing some things about how much tickets for Alexi Arla tomorrow night on Armstrong are going for on the ticket resale platforms and it's a lot. Unsurprisingly, she takes on Mary Stoyana, the American qualifier. Grandstand tomorrow is Thea Froden. Am I pronouncing that right, Matt?

1:19:09Matt Roberts: Froden? Froden? Depends how French she's feeling. She takes on Elena Rabachner, who is very much on Injury Watch tomorrow. And Thea Froden, she is the girl who the act, well, actress, are we calling her actress? Double. She certainly got an IMDB profile. She played young Serena Williams in King Richard. Oh, right. David. That's very interesting. The film for which Will Smith won a very famous Oscar.

1:19:44David Law: Yeah. Yeah, that's very interesting. And I do think the most interesting story of the day, really, is going to be Elena Rabacchner. Seeing, you know, this is a woman who could become world number one if she reaches the semifinals of this tournament. Can she even get through a match? Based on what I saw from her a week or so ago in Cincinnati, Natty, it's hard to believe that you can make a recovery from Nat as quickly as she would need to. But, well, eyes will be on her, that's for sure.

1:20:18Catherine Whitaker: I think we should say she did the tennis scenes in King Richard. She wasn't doing the acting beyond that.

1:20:26Matt Roberts: I do think she still has an IMDb profile. Yes, I think so.

1:20:30Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. I suppose she will, but, yeah, she's not an actor.

1:20:35Matt Roberts: Right, yeah, OK. She was just being herself playing tennis. Yes.

1:20:38David Law: A bit like Dom Inglot in Wimbledon. That's very good, David. When he was Paul Bettany for the day.

1:20:48Matt Roberts: That was before Dom Inglot was a thing, wasn't it?

1:20:51David Law: Yeah, it was before Dom Inglot was Dom Inglot. Yeah.

1:20:55Matt Roberts: Second non-grandstand tomorrow, Arthur Ferry taking on Lorenzo Mazzetti. Stylish match that. Eva Jovic and Magdalena Frech third on. And Alex de Minot is fourth on against another Italian that I've not heard of. Andrea Guerrieri. The Italians just... I know, there's always another one. Just overflowing with Italians. They are... Talk about depth. Extraordinary. Putin-Sever, Bencic first on court 17 tomorrow. Kazakina Bedosa. Rafael Hodder third on 17 tomorrow against Sanasi Kockianakis and Marcus Girone and Ignacio Busse. Ignacio Busse, the Winston-Salem champion, is last on court 17. Lots of other fun stuff elsewhere too.

1:21:43Matt Roberts: Boteck van der Zand's group, last on court five, if anyone fancies that. That is... No, nobody? Okay. Basavredi, school Kate, school Kate, court 11, Tatiana Maria against Yelena Ostapenko. That's an indie pick, isn't it? Lots of fun stuff happening tomorrow. And we will be here at the end of it with our day three tennis podcast. Let's say hello to Leo, who was ready for some Al Karazmataz today. Weren't we all Leo? Leo is our US Open mascot and apparently he knew primetime at the US Open called for something special. So he traded his tennis balls for a sparkling green bow tie and brought his most dapper look to the tournament.

1:22:29Matt Roberts: Unlike so many of the players today, I think today has been net an absolutely shocking day for tennis kit. Shocking. Notable exceptions, but overall, dire. So well done, Leo. Of course, this level of sophistication required some serious negotiations, which were paid entirely in his favourite grilled chicken. Leo knows how to live, that is for sure. So hello to Leo. Hello to our mascots, Bodie, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. We salute you and we hand over to Matt for some shout outs.

1:23:12Catherine Whitaker: We start with Bobby, Connor and Luke Murray from New Jersey, who are three brothers who love tennis. Oh, that's so lovely.

1:23:25Matt Roberts: How great is that? Bobby, Connor and Luke.

1:23:27Catherine Whitaker: Yes, and they say, our dad is always watching tennis or listening to your podcast too.

1:23:32Matt Roberts: Oh, but they didn't want to include him in the shout out.

1:23:37Catherine Whitaker: Just in the little extra bit.

1:23:40David Law: Bobby Reynolds, Connor Nyland and Luke Jensen.

1:23:47Catherine Whitaker: Incredible work.

1:23:49Matt Roberts: Wow. I was going to say...

1:23:52Catherine Whitaker: And their surname is Murray, by the way.

1:23:56Matt Roberts: Sorted. Samantha Murray Sharon I was going to mention Darwin Blanche having two I think two brothers that also play tennis one of whom I know is called Ulysses and I've just googled them and the other brother is Dali and then there's a sister called Crystal so sort of tenuous link three brothers there you go Connor Luke and Bobby Yeah. Thank you ever so much. We love that.

1:24:30Catherine Whitaker: And finally, we have Ash Jamieson, who is from New York via Sydney. All right, Ash. And Ash says, I was at Roland Garros this year with some friends, and we saw David hustling over to court Simone Mathieu for Mickelson Hodder.

1:24:47David Law: That's right, yeah. Ash says,

1:24:49Catherine Whitaker: it was like seeing a celebrity in the wild. Yes, he really is that tall.

1:24:59Yep

1:25:01David Law: Don't know how to answer that But it was lovely to meet you Ash And yeah I remember that day very well Love that Ash like Ash Barty

1:25:07Catherine Whitaker: Yes and Ash would also like to shout out Ash Zabalenka's cute puppy

1:25:13Matt Roberts: Oh Ash You beat me to the Gosh I've lost my powers You forgot the dog I didn't go dog first Wow

1:25:24Catherine Whitaker: It's all right. We know Ash Barty lives rent-free. Yeah, absolutely. And the what could have been.

1:25:32Matt Roberts: So we have New York and New Jersey today for our show of tats. We do. Very appropriate. Ash, Bobby, Connor and Luke and your dad, thank you ever so much for being friends of the Tennis Podcast and for listening. Thank you for listening. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network and we, of course, will be back tomorrow. We'll speak to you then.

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1:27:13Catherine Whitaker: Thank you.