US Open Day 3 - Top seed Zverev survives, barely

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1:31Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast coming to you shortly after 2am following the third day of action at the 2026 US Open, the final major of the tennis season. I'm Catherine Whitaker. Alongside me as always are David Law and Matt Roberts here in New York, bringing you daily shows right the way through this tournament and every Grand Slam of the season. something that quite often involves recording shows well into the small hours of the morning as we are right now. Moments after watching top seed, Alexander Zverev narrowly avoid adding his name to the list of only five men to have been top seed at a major and lost in the first round of that major, or rather four men because poor old Leighton Hewitt is on that list twice.

2:18Matt Roberts: as Verev has squeaked through 6-4 in the fifth over world number 89, Lorenzo Sonogo, in four hours and 53 minutes. And Matt, we have been at this gig a while now. We're no strangers to the late finishes that this sport is all too happy to cough up. But I can't remember a start to a Grand Slam quite like this. 2.02 a.m. finish on Sunday or rather Monday morning. 12.50 on Monday, Tuesday morning, and now 1.55am. Things are getting out of hand here, surely.

2:59Catherine Whitaker: Yes, we quite often talk about the whiplash that we experience going from Wimbledon to the US Open, and it's present in lots of different ways at the tournament. But this one might be the biggest. You know, Wimbledon is the example that there is another way to do this. It doesn't have to be 2am. And there's many reasons, many, many reasons why I find it so irritating. but the one I'm going to choose today is Lorenzo Sonogo has just played some of the most dazzling, electric, stunning tennis of this tournament and of his career. David can attest to that. We were high-fiving on the sofa as he was coming up with these incredible shots.

3:55Catherine Whitaker: There's no one in the stadium. There's no one there. There's no one seeing it. Like, how do you make Lorenzo Sonego a star of the sport if there's no one in the stadium to watch his best moments? I mean, what are we doing? Justice for Lorenzo, David. Make it big in America whilst they're all asleep. You know, it's unbelievable. But he was sensational tonight. I mean, there was a spell when he got broken. Was it in the 4-6? He got broke. He was two sets to one up and he got broken the fourth set. And we thought, okay, that's it. He's done. This will be easy from now on. And he reeled off a couple of games that had the word Alcaraz mentioned several times.

4:46Catherine Whitaker: It was like he was possessed. Yes. It was just ridiculous the way he was chasing balls down, retrieving them, manipulating them, passing Zverev just in the most unlikely way. And then he reeled off a service game where he hit three aces in a row and a backhand pass who shot winner straight afterwards. I mean, he came very close to knocking out Zverev. Two points away.

5:13David Law: Yeah, two points away. He was 5-4 up, love 30, two sets to one on Zverev's serve. And look, huge credit to Zverev for digging his way out of that because that's what he does. as well as anybody, I think, is stick around, hang around, find a way. But, yeah, it still does leave this sort of bitter taste in your mouth. I mean, the sound of the stadium, it's quite nice because it's almost more like Wimbledon in the sound because you don't have 20 ,000 conversations going on in the stadium because there are only about 600 people left. And you could hear a pin drop. It's just not supposed to sound like that world-class sport at the very highest level.

6:04Matt Roberts: And obviously there are, quite often, when we talk about the late finishes of this sport, it is pointed out that it's a global sport. OK, it's a really inconvenient time here in the US, but there'll be somewhere in the world where this is a brilliant time to watch tennis. But the whole experience is diminished by the fact that, as you say, there's nobody there watching. There's a reason why this is a 24 ,000 seat stadium, right? That is part of the US Open experience. And you're watching the top seed play a dazzling match in front of 600. But okay, yes, he's stuck around, Alexander Zverev. And as you say, like, that is an incredible skill for a tennis player to have.

6:49Matt Roberts: And he's about as good at it as anybody. but this is surely further evidence of what we've seen from Zverev over the summer post-Wimbledon. Of course, French Open that he won and Wimbledon where he reached the final. In fact, possibly Wimbledon. He played even better tennis in the French Open. Best form we've ever seen from him, but we haven't seen that since the grass. And tonight was surely further evidence that this is a guy out of form, quite frankly. yeah I mean he was quite punchy in the on-court interview afterwards saying this was the match I

7:24Catherine Whitaker: needed because his form had been bad and now he gets a lot of court time and he wins and he actually didn't start the match all that badly you know he he was leading and he seemed to lose his form midway through the second set and then was in all sorts of bother because of how well Sonico was playing he was creating a lot of chances through the match, he had an awful lot of break points and Sonico kept coming up with great plays to save them and I think that must have been very frustrating for Zverev but then as David said, he did respond well at the end of the fourth and in the fifth when he needed to but he was, I thought incredibly tense tonight You saw that in the ball bouncing that he was doing.

8:14Catherine Whitaker: I mean, he's not a quick player, Alexander Zverev. We're used to him taking a lot of time. But it was like he had Marin Cilic-esque yips on the ball bouncing before the serve. And he just couldn't release it properly to go into his motion. He was frequently, you know, between first and second serve, he was racking up almost 40 bounces to start a point.

8:39Matt Roberts: And that is something that's usually, you know, some players do it more than others. Obviously, Novak Djokovic is famously extreme with the ball bouncing, but it does tend to be something that's pretty consistent for players. They have a routine. You know, some players will always bounce the ball seven times before a serve. Like to see it spike that extremely is very unusual.

9:02David Law: Yeah, and it just, it really became apparent. It was almost awkward because you could see him bouncing it, bouncing it, bouncing. It was almost as though he's waiting for a trigger point where he can let it go and release it. So, yeah, there was anxiety there. His form hasn't been good for a while, and it certainly wasn't good here last year. He lost to Felix Ogier-Ausim, and he said afterwards, I didn't have any timing. So he may have played his way into form. but when I look at the stats of his match, they don't look like a man in form. You know, he did create all those chances but he's creating them against Lorenzo Sonega.

9:45David Law: With all due respect, that is not a player you're meant to have much trouble with. He's beaten him six times out of six before tonight. His first serves in were only 66 % which is probably 12, 14 % lower than it normally is. He only served 12 aces in nearly five hours. He was out-aced by Sonigo.

10:09Matt Roberts: He was not... I mean, he had a great night tonight, but even so, he's not one of the world's great returners, is he?

10:16David Law: No, no. I mean, look, the thing is, Zvereva's got a pretty tame draw overall. This was... I did think on paper this was one where I could see Sonigo having this sort of night. I didn't think he'd push him this close. I mean, he very nearly beat him. Didn't think that would happen, but I thought he's irritating. This is not somebody you want to get riling the crowd up. Obviously, there weren't many people left by the end, but he was still creating a vibe. But, you know, he's probably got a couple of rounds now where he can work his way into the tournament, and that's what he's referencing. But there's a lot of work to do on that form, I think.

11:00David Law: And it's not impossible. I think he can do it. I think players can work their way into tournaments and win them when they're as good as Verev. But I tend to think of him as somebody who needs to be playing well from the off. I don't really think of him as that guy who can start like this and play five hours and just look as scratchy as he was and then just suddenly find it. But maybe he can.

11:26Matt Roberts: And now he's got five hours in his legs. and he's also potentially now in sort of the rhythm is set for his tournament. If you start off with a 2 a.m. finish, and it's going to be well beyond that by the time he's done his post-match duties and warm downs and, you know, he'll be staying in the city, so he's got to get back into Manhattan. He'll be getting to bed at 5 a.m., something like that. I mean, he'll probably have to be scheduled night session in two days' time. just doesn't seem fair not to. And if he keeps winning, you just get stuck in that rhythm of the tournament. It's Medvedev at the Australian Open a couple of years ago, isn't it?

12:08I mean, that's another potential handicap

12:11Matt Roberts: that he doesn't need now.

12:14Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, indeed. I suspect it wouldn't shock me if we see him on the night session on Armstrong in a couple of days, given he's had his Ash slot here. And there's a Taylor Fritz on this side of the draw, isn't there? But yes, I'm sure he'll be pushing for night session unless he wants to try and get out of the rhythm as soon as possible. And maybe he would want late day. I don't know. But that is something we see often. That's one of the many gripes we have with the late finishes, how actually unfair it is on the players that are affected by it. And it does accumulate. And yes, you can probably survive one.

12:55Catherine Whitaker: You can get through it. But if he has another one like this, I think we'll definitely see the, you know, the toll.

13:02Matt Roberts: It's Conte-Alice next for Alexandre Zverev, the agricultural Frenchman.

13:08David Law: And I'd say Alice is probably having the best year of his career. I think he's been really good this year. He's won a lot of matches and he did get a set-off Zverev at the French. He's a good server. Yeah, he is. What I would say is if Zverev doesn't get it going soon, he could find himself in just sticky matches and just start draining himself because Elise got a set when Zverev was playing really well at the French Open. So, you know, it's... And there's Popperin who's also had a really good win today against Grigor Dimitrov and looks in good form and he's a potential third round opponent. You know, again, somebody that Zverev pretty much always beats him.

13:56David Law: He's lost the one set, I think, but he always beats him. But that's when Zverev's playing well. Now, he may be the one who's right. He may have just played his way into form, but he'll need to play better than he did tonight.

14:09Matt Roberts: Over on Armstrong, on the night session tonight, we had Alexandra Ayala playing the women's match. We'll talk about her in part two of the show. we also had Gael Monfils saying not tonight for his final Grand Slam match. We know this is his final Grand Slam tournament. He received a wild card here today, or rather yesterday, was his 40th birthday. I believe he had requested pre-tournament that he play on his birthday. Obviously, the draw had to fall for him to be in the right half for that to happen, but it did. Scheduled to play on his birthday, I think that was a real kick for him. And he won in quite some fashion.

14:50Matt Roberts: First set aside, which was a bit of an abomination, but in the end, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-love over Daniel Adolfo Vallejo, who David didn't have any particularly complimentary words for throughout sets two to four. But Monfils put on a show tonight on Armstrong, 100-mile-per-hour forehand, jumping forehand cross-court winner, no less, which is doing the rounds on social media and quite rightly so, a total gasp inducer, followed by a bow to all four corners of Armstrong Stadium. It was wonderful.

15:28David Law: And, you know, I have to be honest with you, I wasn't really paying any attention to that match in the early stages of it. I was watching the other matches. I kind of went into this thinking I'm not really into the Gale Mourn Feast sign off here because I've seen him earlier in the year at the French Open in particular and it was a really tough watch like he looked in a terrible state loses the first set six two here I didn't take any notice but started to realize as it was going along blimey Galmon Feast is playing well and it just got better and better and better he had no down moments and as you say Vallejo, oh my word he stunk the place out in sets two to four, terrible

16:13Matt Roberts: but the Guillermo Feast show continues unfortunately for David the Vallejo show does not a wonderful touch that I mean could have been total coincidence but a female umpire was assigned to this match because unfortunately what Vallejo is most known for is having a crash out after he lost at the French Open and blaming there being a female umpire on his match and saying that female umpires shouldn't be allowed to umpire men's matches. So if that was deliberate, then doff of the cap to whoever made that decision.

16:46David Law: Absolutely. And it was Lerner-TN, isn't it, for Monfils next? And that is a lovely thought.

16:53Matt Roberts: Where would you schedule that, Matt? TN against Monfils, the likely end of Monfils' career? or Grand Slam career, certainly. I mean, you could go Ash.

17:07Catherine Whitaker: If Monfilsis looked as good as he has tonight physically and played that well against an American, I think you could justify Ash for that. Except that Ash is not where you get the atmos.

17:23Matt Roberts: Like, Ash will come on to this in part two when we talk about Coco Gauff, but Ash is not the place to go for atmosphere at the US Open anymore.

17:33David Law: If I was Monfils, I would want to be back where I've just played that match because you keep the noise in. And it's, yes, listen, there is chatter. It's not that there isn't. It's the same people for the majority. Maybe it isn't. But there is, you know, there is chatter. But when you get good tennis moments, you really hear them. You really hear people exclaiming at the right times and in the right way. And he loved that court.

18:03Matt Roberts: Same court where we saw another Flavio Odyssey. Or rather a new kind of Flavio Odyssey, because Flavio Caballi has never come back from two sets to love down in his career until today or yesterday. 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 over Francisco Comissania. Four hours and 13 minutes. Most of this match played during a time when there was no play on the outside courts because it was raining. And the last thing they needed was Flavio Caballi occupying four and a half hours of time on one of the two courts with a roof. But Flavio said, this one's for me.

18:45Catherine Whitaker: I disagree. I think it was exactly what was needed. I mean, for the Armstrong crowd, it was wonderful. Well, and the grounds pass holders, because they can get into Armstrong. True. And they packed the place out and suddenly they had tennis to watch.

19:00Matt Roberts: I guess I'm thinking in terms of them being potentially able to have added an extra match to the schedule, although they had the opportunity to do that on Ash. And they didn't. More of that later as well. Yeah, if they'd filled the three hours and 20 minutes of intentionally blank, we might all be in bed. by now. Who knows? Good old Flavio as well. He gave the global tennis-watching public to enjoy.

19:24Catherine Whitaker: And they saw all the Flavios. Awful cabali to begin with. Half asleep still. So much so that Matt Futterman used the first question of the press conference to ask, do you like mornings? Because he was so bad at the start. The stats flashed up. He was down a set and a break. He'd hit 18 unforced errors and only six winners and 15 of those unforced errors were off his forehand wing which is his best shot just couldn't get it going at all and went down two sets to love comissania is is a really nice player he's it was a nice matchup actually they're both they're both a nice amount of flashy and fragile it just made it quite compelling but Kabbali did get himself together and found his range on his forehand in particular as this match went on and Komasanya didn't have a huge amount of resistance in the in the third and fourth sets a little little flurry to get the fourth set a little bit closer but it went into a fifth but then it was like Komasanya had saved himself for the fifth and the fifth was electric and a real battle and Kabbali was in trouble here.

20:41Catherine Whitaker: He definitely could have lost this match in straight sets had he not got himself together and he could have lost the fifth. Comissania with a huge hold at three all in that fifth set. As Kabbali was throwing everything at him, Comissania was responding. The crowd was very into it on Armstrong. but it was almost like that was comissania's last burst of energy and he did hold but then he had nothing left and caballi kept his his foot on the gas and kept pulling the trigger on the forehand and i managed to get over the line and you know i don't think well maybe i'm wrong i don't think any of us are like hugely high on caballi to win this tournament just because of the year he's had and the and the amount of tennis he's played and how how flat he looked at the end of cincinnati um and then how flat he looked starting here but i'm very impressed that he at least got through this one and didn't embarrass himself and gave the Armstrong crowd a lot to enjoy on a very wet, miserable morning and afternoon at Flushing Meadows.

22:02Matt Roberts: Including in the on-court interview where they got the full Flavio Caballi experience where he mentioned the toilet, which is I mean... It's one of his favourites. It's Caballi bingo and he mentioned changing all his clothes in the toilet. He said, I went to the toilet and I changed everything because maybe it's unlucky and turned out he might have been right and a brilliant press conference as well the US Open have put out a you know Caballi core video I'm glad that New York is getting because it's been a big feature of men's tennis this year the emergence of Flavio Caballi is this proper threat when he's on he's also a proper threat to throw in a stinker and lose in first rounds still but a proper threat when he's on and a really charming character um and i'm glad they're experiencing that here too yes and you know he's a very good personality really for the modern way of consuming

23:10Catherine Whitaker: sports, I suppose, and culture. You know, he's clippable. He's memeable. And that matters, I think, in terms of creating a fandom. And, yeah, I think it's right that his... I mean, actually, again, being in the stadium, I was in the stadium and I couldn't hear the encore interview. It's crazy. The acoustics are so bad, I couldn't hear what he was saying. I had to go back and watch it. And it was great. You know, the guy was saying, oh, you're so dynamic, you're so fun. And then he was like, you forgot. I'm also so crazy. It's just a great line. And then in the press conference, he's got this real thing going on at the moment in terms of describing something as an opponent or a friend.

23:50Catherine Whitaker: And abstract concepts he thinks of in terms of opponents or friends. And he was like, yes, I was feeling the pressure. I was feeling the pressure of a first round with a bit of expectation on me, big crowd. He said, I've got to learn to see pressure as a friend rather than an opponent. A privilege, no less. Right. You know, it's just very charming when he speaks in his slightly broken English and funny. And he knows he's funny. He knows if he says this stuff, it's funny. And his eyes light up, don't they?

24:22Matt Roberts: Yeah, absolutely. Taylor Fritz on Ash today. An hour and 40 minutes, 6 '3", 6 '2", 6 '4", over poor old 18-year-old American wildcard Darwin Blanche, who's had another chastening wildcard experience, but Fritz was damn good today, particularly on serve, where he felt pretty impenetrable, really.

24:46David Law: Yeah, he said that he felt he played okay with the rest of his game, but that his serve was really good. And that is a little bit... I mean, he's not meaning to be unkind to Blanche, but he said, look, he didn't have a good day today. and so I didn't have to play that well, is what he was saying, really. But he's also, for the most part, a really reliable player, isn't he now, Fritz? We were in a chat earlier on about how Artifices' loss reminded us of Taylor Fritz losing to Brandon Holt, Tracy Austin's son, a few years ago, and that being the sort of nadir of Fritz's kind of pro career after he'd kind of made all the breakthroughs and thought he was going to do something big and then lost.

25:34David Law: And these days, it doesn't really feel like that's ever likely to happen. Yeah, in particular, it was the post-match press conferences

25:43Matt Roberts: that really reminded me. I remember after that, that defeat, Taylor Fritz came in and said, I feel like such an idiot. I thought I could win this thing. And I've just gone out in the first round. He really owned it and was completely lost. It felt like a rock bottom moment that he channeled in the right way. And obviously, we hope the same is the case for our defeat. Speaking of Arters, Lorenzo Mazzetti manhandling Arthur Ferry, really 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. A lovely match, like a really stylish match. Very played well here, I thought. It was hitting the ball really well, obviously coming from a final run in Winston-Salem, but just didn't have the weapons on this surface to punch through.

26:25Matt Roberts: Mazzetti got broken a lot six times in three sets. Mazzetti, he said he was shaking, serving for the match. He said, not playing my best tennis, not feeling really well the ball. And he admitted to feeling really nervous. We're seeing a lot of that and a lot of owning it, owning up to it, particularly in, I'm sure everyone's, you know, tennis, it's first round, Jessica Pegula talked about it too. But I do feel like in the men's we're seeing a lot of this And I feel like it is going to be a feature of this tournament. It's the size of capital T, capital O, the opportunity, isn't it?

27:08Catherine Whitaker: Yes. And I think for Mazzetti, there's always some nerves because on a hard court, I think he has to take some time to get his game going. and he's seen what it can be when it clicks, like at the Australian Open, and he was leading Djokovic two sets to love and then he gets injured. And that, I think, is still locked in his mind. He's still overcoming all of that. Plus, as you say, just the nature of men's tennis at the moment brings more people into the equation who I think feel like they have a genuine chance to either go really deep or even win the thing. I was out on grandstand for the first set of this match and it was low intensity I thought it was nice but there just wasn't a bite to it and Ferry actually double faulted twice in a row to give up the first break of serve and that seemed to just be the moment where Mazzetti was able to release a bit and I think from that point onwards he did start to do his great shot making a bit more and came up with some fantastic back and down the lines on big points and kind of schooled Ferry really for this match.

28:30Catherine Whitaker: But I do think Mazzetti can pick it up even from the level he had today.

28:37Matt Roberts: It was a slightly strange atmosphere on the outside courts, wasn't it, today? Because it was so heavily rain interrupted. I mean, that match got started a lot later than would have been expected. And, you know, when the tennis did come, it always felt like there was water in the air threatening to rain at any moment. Like, it was just a strange one.

28:59Catherine Whitaker: And I think that was probably part of the reasons for the nerves that Mazzetti had as well at the end because, I mean, they put the covers across the TV studios at that time. Like, everyone knew a big downpour was coming. It was just a matter of when. And, you know, Mazzetti, the last thing you want is to be about to serve for the match and have to be rained off and come back tomorrow just throws your whole rhythm off. And I could imagine that he was seeing the clouds forming and suddenly started shaking and lost his serve as he as he went to serve for it. But he broke straight back, didn't he?

29:33Catherine Whitaker: And then and then served it out at the second attempt.

29:36Matt Roberts: Yeah, it was already it was already raining by the post-match interview. He was pretty drenched by the end of that, much like Matt Roberts after his journey into the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre. It was bad. He needed new socks.

29:51Catherine Whitaker: I had wet feet at half 11. That's no way to start a day, is it? Just didn't see the puddle.

29:59Matt Roberts: And here we are 15 hours later, Matt, but at least your feet are nice and dry. Okay, that's it for part one. We'll be back in part two to talk about the women's matches today, including Coco Goth.

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32:00Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast. Let's talk about the women's tennis that we've seen today. And let's start with the tournament favorite Coco Goff. 6-3, 6-4 for her over the Turkish player Zeynep Somers. Matt, you were inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium for this. Tell us about the Ashe experience and the Goff experience tonight. yeah well starting with the tennis a very impressive performance i think for coco goff

32:31Catherine Whitaker: especially when you compare it to a year ago and how tricky those first few rounds were for her as she was fighting to find her game and very upset on the court she started this one with such authority had a couple of aces in her first service game got a fairly early break in the set and won the first set very, very comfortably. Sonmez, my goodness, she played well in the second set, really raised her game, started coming to the net so much. And from a breakdown, suddenly had break points to go up a break, did Sonmez. And the second set became a real battle with some of the highest quality tennis I'd seen all day, all tournament, really.

33:15Catherine Whitaker: And credit to Sonmez for doing that because she changed her tactic. She mid-match suddenly thought, I am going to get to the net here because I'm not winning this match otherwise. And it was really good to see. And Goff had to respond to that. And of course she did. And that was fantastic to see as well. So I was very impressed with both players. And I think it's a really nice start to the tournament for Coco Goff. In terms of the Ash experience, I've been up in the media seats in Ash for the last two. first night session matches, Ben Shelton, Coco Gough, the big American hopes at this tournament, two of the biggest names.

34:01Catherine Whitaker: And I know it's not an original thought, I don't think. There's been an awful lot of chat for a long time about Arthur Ashe, is it a good place to watch tennis? And there's so much talking, it's so loud in there. But I do think there's been a bit of a shift, even this year with the Ash experience in a way that to me, as someone who is obviously there for the tennis, to me, it just feels like that balance has just shifted a little bit towards there being more people there for whom the tennis is not all that important. And I'm trying not to be really snobbish. And I think we see a lot of that. we see a lot of people just say, oh, it's all influences.

34:51Catherine Whitaker: And that is a bit of a term that I think has become a catch-all term for people who aren't necessarily there hugely because they're big tennis fans, but just because it's an event to come to. That doesn't necessarily mean you're an influencer, and that doesn't necessarily mean that all influences are bad. It's a much more nuanced conversation than that, I think. But what has happened with this Ash renovation is that they've added 2 ,000 extra seats in the lower bowl, priced them up. They're lovely seats. It's nice to give more people a great view, the great seats down low in Ash. But with those prices up, with a lot of hospitality now as well in the first sort of half of Ash, it's all really expensive seats or hospitality.

35:46there's a real disconnect between what's going on on the court and where we are

35:51Catherine Whitaker: up in those media seats and where the, a lot of fans are up in the top. I could not hear the ball on the strings. You know, I just couldn't hear the players hitting the ball and that's a very odd experience. And I found it pretty unsatisfactory really and dissatisfying, you know, not that enjoyable the last couple of nights. And I think what happens, as we've seen, is that as the evening session goes on, the crowd thins out and you actually end up with the people who really want to be there for the tennis still in the stadium making a lot of noise and it being great. You can hear the ball on the strings again.

36:28Catherine Whitaker: Oh, but now it's gone midnight and half and the stadium is barely, barely full. And it's, I just don't feel like you, certainly so far this tournament doesn't feel like there's been much of a balance of loads of people in there focused on the tennis, loving it, and it not being super late. It's a, yeah, it's a weird experience in Ash at the moment, I think.

36:58Matt Roberts: Yeah, the golden hour is kind of between 11pm and midnight, isn't it? It's late, but... It's not crazy. It's not crazy late. 11 p.m. seems to be when the people who, the non-hardcore leave, and you're left with about 6 ,000, enough to make a big noise, and sometimes they move the people in the cheap seats down to the lower seats. Like, it still feels like the main court at a grand slam, but everyone's engaged with what's going on. That's what we've been seeing between about 11 p.m. and midnight, and then from about midnight onwards, people go oh my god I've got a we've got lives to lead we've got work to go to in the morning and even the the hardcores start start thinning out considerably but yet it does feel like I have the same caution as you if we're talking about this because it's been a big topic on on on social media and conversation around this US Open there's a there's a clip going viral of an influencer having a light on you know a professional light on doing a video or a photo shoot in the lower bowl you know in the eyeline of the players during a rally and and there's there's been some comments on her video and she's gone back at them and clearly not understood what the issue is and that's you know inflamed a lot of people and you know rightly so but that's not necessarily indicative of the big picture of what's going on here, as you say, like the word influencer is a real catch-all term being used here, but it does feel like a Rubicon has been crossed and they've lost as much as some of the uniqueness of Ash was that hum of constant noise the low level chatter and the fact that it was so different to Wimbledon the whiplash of another sense of the whiplash change from Wimbledon to the US Open where you have pin drop silence on center court and here it's all about noise and it's all it's all brash and in your face but it also was always a vibe here like I first this was the first slam that I the first tournament I came to outside of the UK my dad brought me in 2004 and I just remember feeling electric on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and feeling like somebody had run an electric current through my body and it doesn't feel like that it doesn't feel like that's possible right now on Ashe it might very well evolve as the tournament goes on and as the matches grow in significance and weight and import and the crowds will be different as well.

40:03Matt Roberts: So we'll keep an eye on it and we'll approach the conversation with caution, but it's definitely a feature of this tournament, unfortunately, and I think it's right to talk about it because Goff was kind of the test, wasn't she? like if this is still happening during a Coco Gauff match then we really do have a problem here

40:26Catherine Whitaker: I think yeah and I got the sense I actually left so I couldn't stand it I left after the first set and and went to watch back in the press room and listen to Mary Carollo's commentary I got the sense that as the match got better the atmosphere got better as well but you kind of want the atmosphere to to be there from the start for especially for a Coco Gauff night session that as you said it's not it's noise there's always been noise it's not electric it's just this this constant distracted noise that takes away from the viewing experience and you want it to

41:08Matt Roberts: feel like noise that you know will fade away when attention is yes you want to feel like everyone there is okay chatting away but they're on alert for a moment and a point or a game that requires the attention and that always used to feel like the case with the noise doesn't feel

41:29David Law: like that no it feels like several thousand people who've gone to a bar together to have have a drink and a good conversation whilst the tennis match happens to be going on. And look, that's... And that is part of the experience, but it's not how I want to be experiencing it myself.

41:56Matt Roberts: Armstrong does seem like the place to be, doesn't it? Because you get that sense of occasion. It's a big stadium, big crowds, but it does seem to be a lot more it's it's more of the upper bowl of arthur ash vibe in terms of the crowds that are in there and it felt like the absolute perfect place for alexandra yala to play her opening round match tonight 6-1 6-2 against the uh american qualifier mary stoiana in 78 minutes. I mean, this is a woman with, you know, the pressure of a whole sport and a whole nation on her shoulders. And she just played one of the best matches I've ever seen her play, David.

42:41David Law: Yeah, she doesn't look as though it is a pressure, really. She doesn't come across as though any of this is hindering her or making her anxious. She just embraces it. And she played bloody great tennis today as you say her opponent not somebody i'd ever seen before nice slice back end occasional occasional combinations that that were effective but it just kind of showed you the difference between somebody who's a professional at the top end of the game and somebody who's who's a good shot maker but way lower down the pecking order and aniala was just able to handle her game and throw stuff at her that she just wasn't expecting left-handed she uses that style so well um she's she's one of the stories not just because of the attention she gains but because it feels like she's now come into the US Open as a threat for the first time at a Grand Slam she's a threat to the very top players I don't think she's in the mix to win it I don't think I'd probably be surprised if she won the tournament but she also makes you think that anything is possible which is an interesting feeling to have as well a fun feeling to have yeah i am really impressed by how quickly we've got to the point of iala

44:22Catherine Whitaker: just being able to win matches at a grand slam 6-1 6-2 and okay there's a big gap in experience and ranking to the opponent she played today stoyana but still like it wasn't that long ago that i was thinking more about the holes in the alas game and the serve and that kind of thing now i'm thinking about the possibility of it and as you say that word the threat of it and i'm i'm i'm plotting her route through the draw and thinking who's who's the first player she's really gonna come up against that she can ruffle some feathers you know like she's that player to me now and that that has happened quite quickly i don't think i was thinking about that even going into wimbledon and then at wimbledon she obviously was that player beating igas fiontek in the way that she did so so incredibly it's tantalizing having her in the draw when we know as well what a filipino community there is here and and the noise that they can generate

45:24Matt Roberts: the guy in the uh the laundry room the the well the incredible laundry dry cleaning service that they have in the building here that saves me from having to wear dirty pants in the second week of the u.s open uh he is from the philippines and he is very invested in alexandra ayala and we've had quite a lot of chats about alexandra ayala and it's been absolutely lovely not a tennis fan but very much an Alexandra Iala fan and tuning into all her matches and the answer to your question Matt about plotting her route through the drawer and who's kind of the first top player that she could be on a collision course with it's very much Coco Gough isn't it we are all circling that potential fourth round meeting with Gough and I think is it Evie Jovic maybe in the third round

46:18David Law: which would be fascinating in itself but yeah I mean bottom line is if she did play golf, that would be the biggest match in the tournament.

46:29Matt Roberts: It could be the most watched tennis match of all time. It really could be. It really could be. Yeah. Other women's matches that we've seen today. Elena Rabatkinner, comfortable today against Thea Froden, the American wildcard, the college player, famous, of course, for being Serena Williams' body double. That doesn't sound right, does it? She played... I think that is right. Yeah, she played a young Serena Williams in the tennis scenes of the film King Richard. So she had a lot of attention on her because that's a cool story, isn't it? It's a certainly cool line for a story. And Rebecca had a lot of attention on her because a week ago she could barely walk.

47:15Matt Roberts: You know, she's carrying this ankle foot injury. We've seen a lot of practice footage of her pretty much limping, certainly barely able to push off of that foot, particularly on the serve. And look, she looked significantly better than I was expecting today, David. I thought there was a world where she was, you know, she didn't even look like a professional tennis player, quite frankly, out there. She looked a lot, a lot better than that. But equally, she wasn't tested, was she? large portions of this looked like a practice session.

47:50David Law: Yeah, the ball was being hit back to her very nicely into just the right spot for her to tee off on it and not have to move much. I mean, look, some of that is because Rebecca obviously starts points incredibly well with a serve and a return that puts her in a good position. Actually, Fredyn was able to hit many more aces than she hit. She's got a heck of a serve. I think she hit 11 or 12 aces in this match in a 6-3, 6-2 defeat. But look, she's so green, so new and so inexperienced. And she was just feeding the ball really to Rebecca and she was having her way. But there were some moments where she was moving out to a right in particular, I noticed with Rebecca where she either let the ball go or at least just couldn't really get there.

48:45David Law: So I think it is extraordinary that she's actually able to play, given the state she looked in a couple of weeks ago. But Jessica Boutas-Maneiro in the next round, I think is a player who is going to ask questions that she wasn't asked today. Yeah, she'll get her moving in a completely different way, I would have thought.

49:06Matt Roberts: Madison Keys opened Ash today, 7-5, 6-4 against Elina Corneva, the talented young Russian got very dicey at the end for Madison Keyes, Matt.

49:20Catherine Whitaker: Yes. She was asked in her on-court interview how she, you know, how did you manage your nerves? And she was like, I don't think I did manage my nerves. You know, 63 mile an hour second serve double faults as she was trying to serve it out. Just an absolute horror show from Match Point up from Keyes. but she did break in the next game to win it and squeaked through in two. And, yeah, it's that point you made. Like, it's fascinating how someone like Madison Keys, who has done this so many times and played so many first rounds at the US Open and is now a major champion, can still feel the nerves of the first round.

50:03Catherine Whitaker: As an American on the Arthur Ashe Stadium, it's a lot for them to deal with. And she also was playing quite a dangerous opponent. in Corneva, who's had a real rise this season and I thought played quite a nice match in terms of bringing out some of that nerves that Keyes was feeling. She wasn't overhitting Corneva. She was making Keyes come up with shots. I think Corneva's serve herself has got quite a bit of work to do and can improve. But yeah, one for Madison Keyes to get through because she did not get through the first round last year against Zara Zua. And that was a disaster for her in terms of the number of unforced errors in her game.

50:47Catherine Whitaker: And I think the nerves she was feeling that day as well. So hopefully she can now just settle into the tournament. But I don't think her game is quite there at the moment. There's a lot of errors.

51:03Matt Roberts: Mira Andreva, the French Open champion, no struggles for her, 6-2, 6-2 over Janice Chen. And just wanted to mention Maria Sakharie, who came from 6-2, 4-0 down to beat Robin Montgomery. I know Sakharie is known for losing from ahead and winning from behind. But even for her, that's pretty extreme. And she celebrated like she'd won the US Open. It was incredible scenes out there. And the last women's match we absolutely desperately need to dedicate some time to is Yulia Putin's savers win over Belinda Bencic. 46 7663 Matt described himself as the Pied Piper of the media room earlier going around telling everybody, drawing everyone's attention to this match that was going on Public service Matt Roberts offered.

51:53Catherine Whitaker: Yeah well I was like well James at the Athletic the tennis editor he's definitely going to want to know about this and then I bumped into Simon Briggs at the Telegraph and I was like did you see what happened in Bancic's Putin's saver and I knew he was going to want to to write about it and the thing is it was it was one of those matches that i had on my on my radar at the start of the day i thought you know court 17 that could be fun to you know personalities benchich and putin saver they're they're not versed a bit of aggro either of them so i put it on my on my screen it was one of the four matches i was keeping track of and then And with Benchik's upper set and upper break, just out the corner of my eye, I saw her after she'd lost that break in the second set, hit the ball away into the crowd, Benchik, petulantly, recklessly.

52:50Catherine Whitaker: And the thing is, the camera angle of it wasn't very good. You couldn't really see where the ball had ended up, but you knew that it had gone into the crowd crowd or where the crowd should be, where someone should be sitting. And Bengtich knew immediately what she'd done. She turned around, there was a look of real horror on her face, and she apologised and walked to the chair for the change of ends. And, of course, Putin's saver was pointing, being like, well, that's the default. She has hit the ball into the crowd, and there followed then this exchange that Putin's saver had with the umpire Arno Gabba and the umpire said yeah she hit someone but it wasn't intentional and Putin-Sever said but she hit someone and the umpire said the person was fine and Putin-Sever said but the person Djokovic hit was also fine coming up with the receipts from the 2020 US Open and look it was one of those that that was hard to comment on because as I said we couldn't really see what what happened with the ball it was kind of all up to what the what the players were saying but for me if that isn't a default then literally the only thing that will be is if someone actually gets hurt which I think is a really bad situation to be and that is not acting as a deterrent for the players they should not be hitting balls into the crowd no matter how frustrated they are and i think putin saver had every right to be quite annoyed and quite aggrieved and of course she she made her point loud and clear as she does and then because benchik hadn't been defaulted the rest of the match had to be played out and there was just this incredible simmering anger to it you know putin saver at the occasion and And Benchik's, frankly, at her own game as it was slipping away from her.

54:52Catherine Whitaker: She was getting very angry towards her box. And in the end, Putin's saver ended up coming back to win it. And there was this kind of troll moment at the end where Benchik's lost her serve in the third set, hitting three double faults in the game. Putin's saver, who is not one of the sport's biggest servers, has a kind of direct reaction to those double faults. then hit three aces in the game to hold immediately after that and end up winning the match. And the crowd were so into it. Someone at the end shouted, finish her. You know, it was absolute scenes out on court 17. And, yeah, cinema, really.

55:38Finish her was, as a moment, that's going to take some beating.

55:43Catherine Whitaker: This US Open. Yeah, Hannah on the bar was like, it was as though it was WWE. yeah you're right i mean there is there is a there are a lot of incidents like this

55:56Matt Roberts: in tennis and i think 90 of them would evaporate instantly if you made incidents like that a clear default like people are doing it because there's no deterrent from doing it people are absent mind there's no there's no intent in it but people are absent-mindedly doing this because there's nothing in their subconscious holding them back saying, hang on a second, you're going to be out of the US Open if you do this. Like it's an absolute nonsense situation. And at some point something really bad is going to happen and tennis will do something about it. But it feels like until then we're just going to sleep.

56:37David Law: And the problem is that they are adjudicating it with that in mind. If something really bad happens, we will default. If it doesn't, we'll let it go. And that's just not the point, is it? Yeah, quite exactly. Okay, that is it for part two. We'll be back in part three to look ahead to tomorrow. Today.

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58:37Matt Roberts: welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast it's just ticked over to 3.01am folks what are we doing with our lives our first 3.01 show of the week probably not the last david what have we got to look forward to later on today this is your day four order of play we are gonna start with the round two matches but we're also going to continue with the round one matches because a lot of them didn't get completed today. A lot of them didn't even get on the court today. So it's bumper tomorrow, folks.

59:12Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and it's complicated. Brace yourselves for people being through to round three before people have played round one. Yeah. That's just where we are. We're just going to have to accept it. 11.30am, we start on Ash with the All-American clash between Jessica Bagula and the wildcard Sophia Kennan. Second on is Ben Shelton against Hubert Hercatch Interesting one I mean Hercatch hasn't been at his peak for quite a while But he remains a dangerous player with weapons

59:42David Law: Yeah you'd have to say both of those two matches on paper have threat I mean Sofia Kennan has won a Grand Slam and Jessica Begula hasn't And yet that doesn't really feel like that's going to be that close Whereas Hubert Hercatch because he's got this ability to just quietly serve lights out and go to the net and finish things off. And he can stay with you on the scoreboard. I don't know what sort of form and fitness he's really in. That's the thing. It's been a bit up and down. But Shelton's nerves the other day really stopped me in my tracks. Of all the people, I wasn't expecting a bit of stage fright from Ben Shelton.

1:00:26David Law: So fascinated to see what the difference is this time.

1:00:29Matt Roberts: Night session on Ash is the top seed defending champion Irina Sabalenka against the Russian qualifier Polina Iachenko, world number 160 Iachenko. And second on in the night session, Jaume Faria against Carlos Alcaraz. And we're expecting a match there for Carlos Alcaraz. Even if the... I think given what we've seen of Faria recently, even if it was last year's Carlos Alcaraz, we might be expecting a match because he's a serious player as Faria. So expecting a fun one there. Over on Armstrong, we open with David's new fave, Sebastian Gorsney. Oh, yeah. The American wildcard. He's taking on Daniel Medvedev.

1:01:20And second on is Marta Kostrick against former champion Sloane Stephens. Nice session.

1:01:27David Law: That is a good match. I mean, this is the one thing you get as a result of rain is a lot of matches, a lot of attention-grabbing matches. And obviously, there's a whole new day's worth of matches too. Kostjaak Stevens, you know, the coming player of the year up against a former champion here who is just having a little bit of a comeback in her career. I'm looking forward to that one. Yeah, me too. Absolutely. night session on Armstrong tomorrow starts at 7pm with Ray Sakamoto who's a good player he's 157 in the world but he's a better player than that he's on the upward trajectory and Francis Tiafoe I think is going to need to be dialed in it'll certainly be a test of whatever hip injury he might be carrying.

1:02:23I'm looking forward to this match, 7pm tomorrow, for Sakamoto against Tiafo. And then second on, it is the Wimbledon champion Linda Nozkova against the Thai player Lanlana Tarudi. Grandstand tomorrow is, there's a lot going on here, folks. Brandon Nakashima against Alex Mickelson, first on, that is a second round match. Then Emma Navarro against Katie McNally, so four Americans to open grandstand. Then it's the young American Eva Jovic to finish her first round match from today against Magdalena Freck. They're at four all in the opening set. Then we go back to round two in the men's, Dino Prismic against Tommy Paul.

1:03:03And then we're back to round two women's with Alina Svitolina against Maya Joint, who famously beat Serena Williams in her singles comeback match at Wimbledon and has now drawn Serena Williams again in the doubles here at the US Open.

1:03:20Catherine Whitaker: Amazing. Serena's sort of basically only played Erin Routliff and Maya Joint this year. Draws are so weird. Stadium 17 tomorrow. Taylor Townsend against Taylor Preston. Two different spellings. But I'm expecting the internet to throw up some quirky, boring stats about how often players with the same name play one another. There you go. Brace yourselves for that, folks. Then we have Daria Kazakino against Paola Bedosa to resume from today. And that's to resume, I think, with Bedosa about to serve for the match. Yes, it is 6-1-5-4. Terrible time to get rained off, but it really was hammering down at the time they called it quits.

1:04:07I think it was about 10-15 this evening. So, yeah, they had no option. Then we have a round one singles match that hasn't even begun. third on 17 that's Raphael Hodda against the lucky loser Yun Chao Kete Bu then we're back to round two action Katie Bolter and Karolina Mukhova the Wimbledon finalist and then we've got Stefanos Tsitsipas against Lloyd Harris it continues to be chaotic everywhere else around the grounds Jasmine Paulini opens court five this is a very overwhelming sight at three o 'clock in the morning looking at this order of play and there is some rain hanging around in the schedule tomorrow.

1:04:47Not as much as today. It's not going to be like it was today, I don't think. But it could be... Hold on to your hats, folks, for tomorrow. We certainly will. And we'll make a date to see you again at 2 o 'clock in the morning. Just pop it in our diaries for the next... How many days have we got left? 12 more days at this tournament. It is fun, though. There's nowhere else we would rather be. And we are here. Be still my heart for today's Leo photo with our US Open mascot, Leo. And let me tell you, folks, we've seen some mascot photos over our time. I always look forward to scrolling to the bottom of the agenda and revealing the mascot photo to myself.

1:05:33And I try to be restrained and not let myself see it until the moment that I'm reading it out. But believe me when I say today's photo is the best I've ever seen. It is. Do you know what? It's not even close. It's not even close. I'm looking at a picture of Leo in a cut the faff T-shirt and a tote bag that says underdogs are my type and a large tennis ball toy. It's just absolutely epic. It's just everything I want to see in a photo. They cut the faff agenda being pushed, a funny tote bag, a dog, an adorable dog, a tennis ball. It's just, be still my heart, Leo. Yeah. He has my heart at three o 'clock in the morning.

1:06:32David Law: And all of you listeners thinking, oh, I wish I could see that photo. Well, you can. You can. It's on our Instagram. and for everybody that sees it and thinks, I want to look like Leo and wear a Cut the Faff T-shirt, you can do that too. And we'll link to buy the T-shirt. And in our newsletter, it'll be there. I'm wearing my latest Cut the Faff. I've got it in all the colours. I got mine today. We had a new shipment here in New York, didn't we? The agenda will be pushed, folks. We're all going to be wearing them. Cut the Faff. Absolutely. Leo included. Leo's a bit unsure about taking three days to get through round one.

1:07:12Aren't we all, Leo? Hello to our mascots, Bodie, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Matt, do you have shout outs in you at this hour of the day?

1:07:28Catherine Whitaker: Let's do it. Let's go. We have Trip Johnson from Washington, D.C. Hello, Trip. who says, my government name is James. Government name? Is he a spy? Who can say? Official name? He's used the word government name and it amused me. It's a great name. James is a great name, but Trip is sensational. I'm so confused. Is that normal to have a government name and a fun name? I don't know if it's normal. but Tripp's doing it. Have you ever given yourself another name? Well, I'm already living in identity crisis because I'm Kath, I'm Kathy, I'm Catherine. I once tried to get Rocky. But I don't know what the government thinks I am.

1:08:25What? Sorry. When I was little with my sister, I was a massive Rocky Balboa film fan, and I tried to get my sister to start calling me rocky how did that go didn't really take off how old were you oh i was pretty young you know 12 or something but i do remember also then looking in the mirror and thinking i'm not really a rocky

1:08:57Catherine Whitaker: my sister works with someone called rocky is that their government name It's too late for this. And yet I want to hear so much more. Oh, my sister's got stuff to say about Rocky. Okay. Trip, thank you for opening these assorted can of worms and thank you for being a friend of the tennis podcast. And finally, we have Carol from Bromley. Right, Carol. Hello, Carol. Do we know anything about Carol? What's her government name?

1:09:38Catherine Whitaker: Carol says With this just a few weeks before my Labour Day weekend trip to the US Open I'm remembering when I used to enjoy watching late evening doubles matches on Ash Late evening That was a while ago When is that? I wonder whether Sweden Venus will get her You know I wonder what their court assignment will be We've got to swap that into this case But that could be some late evening doubles on a show call to come. Yeah, they've got a lot to fit in with Serena Venus doubles and the essential three hours of intentionally blank that we must all endure. Carol, thank you ever so much for being a friend of the Tennis Podcast.

1:10:25Like, Carol... Echo Chair. Very good. Fellow friend of the Tennis Podcast. and mum of our friend Charlie Eccleshire. And Carol is a friend too.

1:10:38Catherine Whitaker: Absolutely. We're missing Charlie very much at this US Open. We are, yeah. It's a lovely reason that he's not here. We've got over it. We understand. I am missing the chats. Yes, yes. Charlie would have loved the Benchich Putin saver alert. He'd have been very grateful. Carol Trip slash James thank you ever so much for being friends of the tennis podcast if you would like to become a friend of the pod and get access to all of our bonus content and all the other benefits of being a friend then the link is in our show notes as is the link to subscribe to the newsletter which is one of the places you can see this incredible picture of Leo and you can also get Matt's daily stat which he was working away at well actually several hours ago now at a fairly reasonable hour of the day but I remember thinking God that's good work to be he was doing maths I saw him with his calculator out on his phone at about midnight was it?

1:11:36Catherine Whitaker: Yeah something like that the calculator part didn't actually end up making the final step so it was all nonsense but it was part of your process an important part of the process Matt and don't let it all be in vain, subscribe to the newsletter folks, we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network Thank you for listening. We'll, of course, be back tomorrow and we'll speak to you then.

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