US Open Day 5 - Stress, tears and turmoil can’t stop Coco Gauff

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1:18Matt Roberts: Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast coming to you from the Media Garden Come Wind tunnel at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre on day five of the US Open, a day that isn't quite done yet. There are a few matches still on court and one of those matches involves Amanda Anisimova. So David is here. Hello, David. Hello. Hello. Yeah, I'm here and all present and accounts for and ready to go. Never in doubt. Is Matt Roberts here? I hear you ask. Are you Kidding? It's Pride Night. It's Anissa Mova playing. I've got Faye. I've got Rosé. It's basically Matt Roberts' night at the US Open.

2:04I've torn myself away from Armstrong. You've got it on a screen for me. Yeah, we bribed him with his favourite yoghurt and a glass of wine. And we had a compromise. You are good people. It's like you've been upgraded to business class again. Except this time there is tennis to watch. Exactly. We let him have a set in person. I said she won.

2:22Matt Roberts: thank goodness yeah so a slightly distracted Matt Roberts on tonight's podcast but a slightly distracted Matt Roberts is still pretty much better than anybody else so we will take it on this occasion right um look there's only one place to start tonight isn't there as there's going to be I feel like every other night so long as Coco Goff is still in this tournament because tennis-wise, tournament-wise, it is starting to feel like the Coco Goff show, this tournament, and not because she looks like she's going to win this title, but just because of the all-consuming nature of her story and her aura and the way she is somehow winning the matches that she's playing at the moment.

3:14Matt Roberts: Straight sets tonight for her over Donna Vekic, 7-6, 6-2. One of the most horrific tennis matches I've ever seen, particularly that first set. One of the worst sets of tennis I've ever seen. Obviously, utterly compelling. Donna Vekic was injured. She had a medical timeout on her right upper arm before going out to serve for the set at 6-5. At this point, Coco Goff is in tears, kind of heaving with sobs. She goes out to practice her serves because, you know, that is an area of her game that's not going well at the moment. She practices her serves during the medical timeout. She ends up breaking back and somehow stealing that set.

3:56Matt Roberts: And then the second set is kind of less traumatic for everybody involved apart from Donna Vekic, but also a lot less competitive. Coco Goff has described this match, David, impressed just now as the worst I've ever felt on court. and I think she means that in an all-encompassing way. I think she means that in terms of her tennis, her emotions, her anxiety. It is absolutely unreal that she's coming through these matches.

4:24David Law: Yeah, I don't think there's anybody else in the world that could be doing it to feel as badly about her game coming into this tournament, to overhaul her team, to bring in the biomechanist by a mechanist who solved Irina Sabalenka's 20-something double faults a match issue in order to try to achieve something similar herself. Literally days away from the US Open, a tournament she's won two years ago. And one she has made it very clear over the last few days is one that brings its own anxieties, its own pressures to her specifically because she is such a big deal. She is the biggest name in this tournament in this country.

5:03David Law: and you know we may well get to the final weekend and and feel like an Alcaraz Ciner final is has become the story but that feels inevitable or as close to inevitable as you could get and actually the next sort of seven to ten days until that happens don't feel that notable by comparison to this because this is a player as I said the biggest name in the draw for America who in the second round has basically said she kind of had a panic attack on the court because she is so struggling to find a game she is so much struggling to handle everything that's coming at her just at the moment and yet she's still doing it that's what what is astonishing is she is finding a way to gather herself she's in tears in that set several times both when she's hitting tennis balls and and with a head in a towel um gives a very emotional post-match interview in which she cries again we see her shaking her hand shaking and and and she said i think it is anxiety in the in the moment and yet she's managed to gather herself and beat donna vekic now maybe an absolutely fully fit and fully firing donna vekic might have won today but vekic hit some good shots and they were still absorbed and she still won there's just nobody else like Coco Goff in that regard um but it is an ordeal to watch it I mean that first set it I didn't really want to look at it it was it made me feel awkward and weird yeah I was in the stadium and

6:42Matt Roberts: it was really really strange the atmosphere it was a it was a big night tonight here Coco Goff headlining the night session that makes it kind of always blockbuster here at the US Open it was also Pride Night and they had a lot of big stars from the LGBTQ plus community Andrew Scott was on the front row Cody Rigsby behind him Anna Wintour was there too like and yet I was expecting them to show all these celebrities on the Drumbotron you know at the change of ends as they do of them to do big elaborate waves to the crowd and for the crowd to go wild. And they didn't do any of that. And I think it's because it didn't feel right, felt appropriate.

7:26Matt Roberts: I actually think if that was a conscious decision, I'm assuming it was, that was really the right one because it was a strange vibe in there. And the stats are strange. Coco Gauff is the player having a total crisis about her serve, as big a crisis as you'll ever see, really, over one shot from a Grand Slam champion, maybe barring the period that... Didn't Saru Arani just completely lose her serve for a while and start exclusively underarm serving? Yes, she lost her ball toss. Right. Which is a real problem. Bit of a problem. There were Arani matches where she was aborting... Yes. I mean, dozens of ball tosses.

8:10Matt Roberts: So maybe apart from that situation, This is as big a sort of mechanical crisis as I think you'll see. And yet you look at the stats, Donna Vekic out-double-faulted her, 10-8. Her first serve percentage was way lower. You know, Coco Gough's first serve percentage was 69%. She was winning 64 % of the points. This all sounds quite good. OK, eight double-faults, but she'd assigned for that before the tournament. And yet there's just so much more to the situation than those stats, Matt.

8:42Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, exactly. I think the stat that jumped out to me was one in every five points in the first set was a double fault between them. And you were just constantly worrying about the double fault coming from either player or an error from the back of the court. It was just such an uncomfortable watch. I suppose what I'm wondering, because I wasn't in the Coco Gauff press conference like you were, did she say anything about how it might have been useful to get through this? Is she expecting to feel any better from here? Because it almost felt like exposure therapy today, where it was there for all to see.

9:26Catherine Whitaker: she had the tears and actually she played a lot better in the second set after she'd won the first and gone off court and I know you know that was also largely to do with Donna Vekic still playing really really poorly in that second set but it almost seemed to me like she came through something today but the way you're looking at me suggests maybe not.

9:51Matt Roberts: I think it's hope rather than expectation but I think there's also a part of her brain that says well I didn't play that well here and won the title two years ago like anything is possible for me like she knows she is different to other tennis players in terms of how she can win you know you texted the group after that first set that was the worst set of tennis I've ever seen so of course Coco Goff won it you know like she's different and she knows that but I don't think she's expecting the serve to suddenly click in the next match.

10:25David Law: Something she said that really struck home to me is, I don't do false positive. I don't just pretend. She says, and I was very clear with that, about that with Gavin, in regard to the person who's trying to help sort her serve out. She says, you know, if I'm feeling negative about things, I'm just going to go with that. I can fool myself or I try to put the best face on it during a match for obvious reasons but she's a realist I think but you still wouldn't completely count her out oh I don't I really don't I don't know how she does it no it's extraordinary there's a lot of tangible evidence out there of her winning big titles without playing anything close to her best tennis.

11:17What really struck me tonight, and particularly in the press conference,

11:22Matt Roberts: was I was thinking back to my takes that I gave on the show and what my thoughts were after her pre-tournament press conference when she was incredibly open about this decision to hire Gavin McMillan and the timing not being ideal, but the feeling of it was now or never, he became available. I didn't want to play a Grand Slam knowing that I was going to make the change afterwards. It's like, you know, staying with somebody you know you're going to break up with because you've got a wedding and you need a plus one. No, I'd rather, you know, rather live my truth. And I really, really get that. And she ended up talking, or my takeaway from her pre-tornament press conference is, given all of that, I'm just going to treat this US Open as kind of a free hit.

12:08Matt Roberts: No expectations on myself. this is the right decision for me in the long term I can't expect anything from myself in the short term so free hit, house money and I really think she believed that in the moment and I think that's how she wants to feel but I had forgotten and underestimated just how big a deal Coco Gough is here like of course her home grand slam is going to be the biggest one for her but it's so much bigger than all the others so much bigger like she's everything here she takes up all the oxygen around this huge tennis complex when she's on the court and any day that she's playing any day that she's creating a story and I think it is just impossible to treat it as a as a free hit she wants this one more than other more than any of the others she wants to prove that two years ago wasn't a fluke which we all know it wasn't But that is how she feels and she can't change that about herself as much as she'd like to take the pressure off herself.

13:12Matt Roberts: I don't think that's possible. So I think that's the tussle. I think she knows she should be able to treat it that way. And I'm sure that's what the chat is behind the scenes. I'm sure that's what Gavin's saying. He's like, you know, this is the right thing to do. If it doesn't click this week, that's fine. You know, it's not about this week. It's about the long term. But when you're here and you're in it and the crowd are going wild and ESPN are just wanting to put you on their screens at every possible opportunity, she's bigger than all the other Americans put together.

13:44Jannik Sinner: Like, it's just different.

13:46David Law: She let us in a little bit on how she handles it. She said, I try to laugh at it. She uses self-deprecating humor in order to just sort of kind of relax a little bit. and it seems to work for her. She made us all chuckle in the press conference in response to Catherine's question about this new coach, this new technical coach, Gavin, about his age.

14:12Jannik Sinner: I didn't ask about Gavin's age, to be clear.

14:15David Law: No, she just said, though, that he's really honest because you get to a certain age, don't you, when you just don't care anymore and you just say whatever's on your mind. So I said, what's the threshold? What did she say? 50? She originally said 45. When she said 50, I found myself nodding. And then she started throwing her parents under the bus. She was like, I feel like that's where my dad is now. And I can hear my mum sounding more and more like my grandma. And then she was like, in a good way, in a good way. They just don't really care anymore. She's incredible how she can be that effusive when she's clearly in a moment of crisis and sadness about her game.

14:57Jannik Sinner: Like, there is real sadness in there that this is where she wants to be at her best, and she is unable to be. But I still think she might win the title. Like, probably not, but maybe. She's got Magdalena Frech next.

15:20I don't really have any Magdalena Frech takes. I mean, that much is clear from the silence. when I said her name. Matt, Magdalena Frech,

15:30Jannik Sinner: how much can she... I guess not so much in terms of her game, but can she be the player to cope with the Coco Goff show? And the force of nature that she is here? I don't think she'll be, like, massively overawed by it. I think she's, yeah, I think her thing is kind of approaching every match the same, really.

16:02Catherine Whitaker: She's a gritty competitor herself. You know, she's got way fewer weapons than Coco Gauff. You know, she has to constantly fight tooth and nail to win points and win matches. You know, she's a bit of a magnet for really long, drawn-out matches. So, stroke yourselves in. Even distracted by Amanda Ennis, I'm over. He's got Magdalena Frech takes. I'm already looking forward to round four, you see. That's what it is. Which would be, of course, Coco Goff against Naomi Osaka. Does that mean you've seen enough today in her 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Hayley Baptiste, David, to feel very confident that she'll get there?

16:45David Law: Well, yeah, it would be Daria Kasakina in the next round, who came dramatically back from a heavy deficit today. I think 5-2 down she was, and she won through 7-5 in the third. I do feel that Naomi Osaka in this form is going to win that match. Look, I've said she's going to win the title, and I did watch her today. I mean, look, Hayley Baptiste was short of her best. It was horribly blustery, windy conditions, and it's really windy where we're sitting right now, And inside Louis Armstrong Arena, there was a real heavy wind behind you from one end of the court, the end that we sit in our press seats.

17:29David Law: And you could see the players having to try to adjust to control the ball down that end. And Baptiste would play some astonishingly constructed rallies. She's got a really heavy forehand. When she really whips through it, it was knocking Osaka back on her heels. And there were some clean winners. And there's some lovely sliced backhands. and she finishes some points at the net with crisp volleys. But she was having to play really well to put those together and they were isolated. Loads of double faults as well from Baptiste. Osaka, she was solid today and she talked in the press conference about how she feels match tough now.

18:09David Law: And after all those matches in Canada, now a couple here. I think she's pretty much where she wants to be. The attitude was way better. she wasn't down on herself today, that the sound of her hitting a tennis ball is different. There's a sort of pop when she hits the ball. It's so crisp. It's so much out of the centre of the racket. And I remember that from when she was winning the Australian Open the last time. And I just think she's coming into form. So I think we're going to get Coco Goff against Naomi Osaka. and I really hope we do because that is what it's all about. David, are you invested enough in Naomi Osaka here because of your prediction to have learned what a labubu is yet?

18:55David Law: I've seen what it is. I've seen hers. It's that little sparkly whatever. She's got multiple. Yeah, she's got... Tell any listeners that don't know, for example, David and Ros Whittaker, tell them what a labubu is. Well, I don't really know what it is but looking at what she'd got, It was a sparkly little toy of some description. And a couple of nights ago when she was wearing her evening session outfit, which was all orange, the Le Bubu was orange. And today it was purple to go with her purple dress. And they've got excellent names. Billie Jean Bling. Billie Jean Bling, yeah. And Arthur Flash.

19:38I am a big fan of them. I'm not into LeBouBou's, but I do like the names. I'd never heard of them until two days ago because of her. No, that doesn't surprise me, David. No, there's a lot of things I've... No, a friend sweeping the world. I mean, some of the names you've told me about today I'd never heard of. But anyway, we're getting there.

20:00David Law: And yes, I'm encouraged for her, even more than I was at the start of the tournament. A man ran us over a set in a break-up. Matt Roberts breathed a sigh of relief. Are you ready to give some Svjontek takes, Matt? Let's do it. This was a real surprise. Unexpectedly good match. Yeah, I love it when a match does that. It wasn't a match I was really looking at on the order of play. Nobody was. And suddenly it took up quite a lot of my day.

20:31Matt Roberts: Yeah, from double bagel watch to upset watch. 614664 for Shiontech over the world number 66 Susan Lamans to set up a third round meeting with Anna Kaninskaya I guess the question here is could this be a match that if Shiontech does lose at some stage or not win the tournament we go back and look at and say well the signs were there that she wasn't quite where we thought she was or whatever it might be. Or was this more just about the depth, the depth in women's tennis and the fact that this, if someone plays well enough, then this can happen to anyone, including Igor Shontek. Or potentially a third option where...

21:19I should have run the two options by you, but you were busy watching Amanda Onesimova, so here we are. Potentially a third option where it feels a bit like the Katie McNally match at Wimbledon, which was also in the second round, the only time she dropped a set in that tournament. And you looked back on it. I didn't look back on that necessarily and think, well, that was all down to how Katie McNally played. I think she did well that day.

21:44Catherine Whitaker: I think she was impressive. But we didn't end up looking back on it either in terms of, well, that was a warning sign that she wasn't going to win the tournament because she did go on to win the tournament. It just happened to be a match on the road to the title where her level wasn't as good as the other times. And I think part of that was what Susan Lammons did. I was quite impressed with her. She was really, well, I used that word earlier about freck, but I'll say it about Lammons, like gritty. Like really prepared to rally, prepared to make life difficult for Igor Sviontek. What happened to Sviontek, though, or my sense anyway, was that she lost her serve in this match.

22:27Catherine Whitaker: and her serve has been such a fundamental part of her game in the last couple of months or so since her form has really picked up. Not only has it, I think, instilled some confidence in her game, but actually it's been such a good set-up shot for her. It's set-up rallies, it's set-up so she can take charge. She wasn't really able to do that today. She was having to grind it out and Lammans wasn't giving her an awful lot of pace. She was standing really deep in the court and it was a struggle to get the ball by her and she sort of lost her forehand a bit as well. And it did make you think, wow, if Iga Schvante had a drop shot, like, that would be such a game changer.

23:05Catherine Whitaker: And, you know, even for a six-time major champion, I feel like it would kind of reform, you know, just revolutionise her game and take her to an even greater level. Because opponents really would be stuck in terms of what to do against her. But she had all this court space, but she wasn't using the drop shot at all. And therefore she was ending up in a lot of rallies and she wasn't quite feeling the ball on the forehand. And, yeah, she lost her serve a lot in this match, at least five times. I've got here my notes broken five times. I don't think there was another time, but still, that's a lot.

23:41So that was my sense that she just wasn't really playing quite as well today

23:47Catherine Whitaker: through that second set. She lost her serve and things sort of went away from there. But I do think maybe a few months ago she would have got more stressed out by that. She got it together in the third set. She wasn't quite able to properly stamp her authority on it. She went up a double break and immediately got broken back again. But she won it. She closed it out. And given everything we've seen from Shvantec in the last couple of months, I tend to go the way of seeing this is probably a little bit of a one-off. I hope not a sort of trend to you know the serve being an issue again but it has added a bit of intrigue to Igor Svantec and now she plays Anna Kaninskaya who is more in the mould of opponents that I would be on a little bit of alert for Svantec against you know Lammons is not a big power player and those tend to be the ones Kaninskaya is not a huge power player but she's a very clean striker of the ball she's one of these smooth flat hitters exactly

24:48Matt Roberts: she just doesn't quite have the power of a of a rebachina. Right, but she can be dangerous and she's playing really well here, I think. She's got a great dog. I saw Bella today. Yeah, Bella's here. Yeah. She Oh, you saw her with your own eyes? Yes. She is good in the flesh? She's a delight. She's tiny. Teeny tiny. She's a miniature Dachshund, David. A sausage dog. Oh, right. Blonde one. Like Neville. Yes. Very different in appearance. She's a long-haired blondie, whereas Neville is brown and tan. but yes, same vibe equally cute she's a lovely dog and I hope she'll be courtside for that match with Igor Shvantec because if she is, Catherine will be too you'd go with Matt's option 3 on your Shvantec takes?

25:41yeah, I think so I don't disagree with Matt too often game set match with a backhand winner Oh, we're talking about Amanda Nussbaum, folks. Who does she play next? Jacqueline Christian. Now, she is in my fantasy team, but I would call that a good draw for week two of Islam. I wouldn't disagree. I think we're on Blonde Watch again. And then it's either Zachary or Hadash Meyer to get to the quarters.

26:12Catherine Whitaker: And then it's Eguysfiontech and we can forget about it. Okay.

26:18David Law: I mean listen about Canon Sky I just feel it does depend which fianta you're going to get if she's at her best it's not going to be an upset simple as that best match of the day today certainly the best women's match of the day I know you two watched the the climaxes of a couple of thrilling men's matches but the women's match of the day surely goes to Karolina Mukova's defeat of Sarana Kastea 7-6 6 '7", 6 '4", over on court 17. It was just a wonderful match.

26:53Matt Roberts: I mean, incredibly emotional, exhausting to watch, more exhausting to participate in. It looked early stages, like Mukova was really struggling with her backhand, but actually with her wrist and subsequently the backhand, it did seem to improve over the course of the match, but she's still not hitting over the backhand as much as she usually would. The default, I would say, is the slice. Luckily, she's got an incredible slice backhand and she has so many tools in her arsenal. She's able to cover up for this deficiency, but it is a deficiency at the moment and she knows it. She looked utterly exhausted in the on-court interview and I went to her press conference hoping that she might have, you know, had some pasta and got some electrolytes on board and had a shower and perked up a bit and she looked just as exhausted.

27:48And I do wonder if there were a lot of questions about the wrist from me and from Charlie Eccleshare. And I think there's reasons to be positive longer term, but I don't think she's that positive about her progression in this tournament. I asked her about Juan Martin Del Potro's run here in 2018, and he was largely slicing his backhand after wrist surgery that sort of really compromised his game on that wing. And she said, no, I didn't really watch that run, but he is somebody that I've talked to. But I sensed from her answer almost a little bit of sadness, actually. She was kind of like, that's not what's going to happen here.

28:35like today was great but I'm trying to think big picture well that tallies with my experience of talking to her on the opening weekend it hurts me a bit to say because I'd love to get carried away about Karolina Mukherjee especially having seen the scenes that I did today on Court 17 which were absolutely epic the way she a lot of people would have arrived on that I know she's a two-time semi-finalist here

29:00Matt Roberts: but she's still not somebody that a lot of people coming to the tennis here would see the name of and go oh I want to see Karolina Mukova a lot of people showed up there even not really knowing her or the name ringing a bit of bell a bit of a bell and they'd have walked away just having fallen in love with with her game that's what she does to people so I'd love to get carried away but she wasn't she wasn't giving me a whole lot of reason to so I'd say that's pretty good news for Linda Nozkova that she faces in the next round who got through via a retirement for Eva Lise today, which is tough to see.

29:35She was suffering with her back, took an extensive medical time out in the opening, so actually came back and played really well for a short period afterwards, but ended up retiring three love down in the second. So tough scenes there. And Mukovovart to play Nozkovovart in the third round. I prematurely mourned the Brazilian vibes yesterday. You forgot about the OG.

30:02Jannik Sinner: Well, it's because Beatrice Hadajmay has not been doing a whole lot recently,

30:07Matt Roberts: but here she is in round three of a slam to take on Maria Sakharie. Tennis podcast meets alumni from Wimbledon. Who also hasn't been doing a whole lot recently. Hadajmay beat Victoria Golubich 6-1, 6-4. She'll take on Sakharie. One of these two is making it to week two of a slam. It's a huge deal for them both. OK, it's only been a year for Hadad Jumayah since she did that. She did it here in 2024. But it's been a tough old year for Hadad Jumayah. And for Maria Sakharie, the last time she reached week two of a slam was Australia 2022. Three and a half years.

30:45David Law: Yeah, before we sat down, we were joking at my expense about how I've taken an interest in almost the lost gen. We were referencing mostly the men's side. But actually, when you mentioned those two, there's a couple of players that have had significant results particularly Maria Zachary a top 10 player who's reached a Grand Slam semi-final who's just not been a factor in a long time and maybe she won't be here but one of those two players is going to get a real run at things and it's nice isn't it it's nice to see them having some results again and look they do bring fans with them I mean, the Greek fans come out in force whenever Zachary or Sitsapas are playing.

31:31David Law: Hadajma, you know, she really embodies the Brazilian spirit of sport. And I'm never unhappy when she wins. Matt's Greek double could be back on. Sitsapas 3-2 in the fifth, currently over Daniel Altmaier. Imagine. On serve. Let's not get too carried away. Greek double for getting to the second week is the revised. Yeah, big prediction. Big prediction. We'll keep you posted on Sidsapass. You'll probably hear it, actually.

32:02Catherine Whitaker: Just by the way, given it's that section that Hadash Maia and Sakari are in to play either Anissimova or Christiane in the fourth round, just on the Anissimova joint match tonight, first time I've ever seen Maia Joint's eyes. It's a bit of an Anna Wintour situation.

32:20Matt Roberts: Yes, she's always wearing the wraparound sunglasses. Excuse me, Matt, I have seen Anna Wintour's eyes. I know you have. It's my biggest claim to fame. What are they like? Pretty, like, shrunken into her head because they never see the light of day. Oh. OK. My joints are not like that. I'm glad to report. But, yeah, it just made me realise that I've not seen her in, like, a night session environment before. She's always playing in the day and always has the sunglasses on. She started the match well. She went up a break. She served for the first set against Sinister Mova tonight. It staggers me that more tennis players don't play in sunglasses.

33:00No, me too. It staggers me. And there's an awful lot of retinal damage that I see in ageing tennis players. Yeah. It's an under-talked-about issue. Agreed. It's not for now, but, you know, maybe a friend's show. That's not really enticing people to become a friend, is it? Laura Siegmund. She can't stop winning. Round three of another slam. Anastasia Zakarova, her victim today. 6-4, 6-2. She's got Alexandreva now, which I kind of think is a bit of a dream match-up for her. I'm seriously fascinated by that conflict. Yeah, and the winner of that plays Svjantek or Kalinskaya. Intriguing section. All very intriguing.

33:47I want to see Svjantek Siegmund. Yeah, I do as well. Diane Parry won a match that gives Mukava Castella a run for its money in terms of match of the day, deciding set tie break for her over Renata Zarizua.

34:02Jannik Sinner: Of course, Madison Keyes' conqueror. Both David and Amelie Maresmo were watching.

34:07David Law: Yes, we were. I certainly was anyway. And yes, reports that she was in the crowd. Amelie Maresmo, I did see her around.

34:15Jannik Sinner: Finished post 7pm.

34:17David Law: Yeah, I saw that earlier on and I did think, you're sure you can stay up this late for a women's match? But look, it was the most incredible atmosphere. And we've said that a lot about matches in the first four or five days here. So many players from nations that don't have a huge number of tennis players have had big moments. This tournament, Indonesia, the Philippines. um now here we are with mexico and and i was actually standing next to the arthur stadium and heard this roar and i was with a couple of people at the time we were thinking well where has that come from the hardly any hardly any the matches have left because it was the end of the day session suddenly realized it was just little court five over there which had got thousands just packed in and many hundreds also just sort of standing on stairways and and standing on hedges and looking over fences in order to get a look at this match and poor old diane parry she basically had amelie maresmo and about four other people cheering for her because the rest of them were cheering the player from mexico si se puede they were saying which is yes you can yeah Something like that.

35:39David Law: And it was magical, really. And she fought her heart out. They went into a tie-break. She went 8-4 down in the Champions tie-break, the match tie-break. Got it back to 8-7. And fair play to Diane Parry. I've seen her really tighten and crumble in some of those moments in the past. And she held it together. Even though there was one aging rally, she managed to win it to get to 9-7. And then got over the line. And I thought, fair play. And it was also great to see Zara Zua's reaction at the end where she's clearly disappointed, but she's also realising that she's going to remember this moment probably for the rest of her career, no matter what.

36:25She plays Marta Kostiuk for a place in the second week. And the winner of that faces the winner of Nozkova Mukova. So lots of opportunity out there. Last women's result to bring you. I wanted to mention that Venus Williams and Leila Fernandez

36:40Matt Roberts: won their opening doubles match as wild cards and they beat the sixth seed, the Mila Kitchenock and Ellen Perez, 6-3. Sorry, 7-6, 6-3.

36:52Jannik Sinner: I'm here for it.

36:53Catherine Whitaker: Oh, it was great. It was great. Venus described Fernandez as her best ever partner aside from Serena. and Fernandes loved that comment. I'm thinking, how many she had? Yeah, it was just really good vibes. And Venus said we matched each other's competitive energy. Like they were down in that first set and Venus was like, I don't want a partner who's giving up on a set just because we're down in it. Let's come back and try and win it. And they did. It was really fun. Fernandes doesn't give up on anything, does she? Absolutely not. And just finally, in doubles news today, Yelena Ostopenko and Barbora Krojcikova lost their opening match.

37:35And after a long delay, word eventually filtered down that Yelena Ostopenko, despite being requested to come and speak to the media, would not be coming to press due to illness. She has also deleted her final Instagram story from yesterday, the one which explicitly referenced the accusations of racism. She hasn't said anything further on Instagram. I think that sort of sequence of events kind of speaks for itself. One person who did speak on it today, though, and lots of different players were asked about it, including Naomi Osaka. There was kind of a little pause before she answered the question.

38:20I sense kind of deciding, do I pull the trigger here? and she did in an extremely gentle, measured way, but with her economical use of language, she did pull the trigger and she said, it's one of the worst things, this is a reference, of course, to what Yelena Ostopenko had to say to Taylor Townsend after their match yesterday, accusing her of having no class and having no education. She said, it's one of the worst things you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport if I think it's ill-timing and the worst person you could ever set it to. And I don't know if Yelena Ostopenko knows the history of it in America.

39:02That is it for part one. We'll be back in part two to talk about the men.

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41:13Jannik Sinner: Welcome back to part two of the Tennis Podcast. On day five of the US Open, and we turn our attention now to the men's event, and we should probably start with Yannick Sinner. 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 over Alexey Popperin today probably counts as a tough test for Yannick Sinner.

41:31David Law: I watched midway through the second set of this match. Alexey Popperin put together one of the most impressive rallies I've seen this tournament. 31 strokes, going toe-to-toe with Yannick Sinner. He threw every shot he'd got at him, and he actually outlasted Sinner in this rally. And Sinner, at the end of it, as the crowd were going wild, put his hands on his knees, and he just sort of heaved for a while as he was trying to regain his breath and his composure. And I thought, hello, this is interesting. This had sent Sinner set in 3-2 up, but break point down. Suddenly the door is ajar. And you've got Wayne Ferreira in the Alexi Popperin coaching team.

42:14David Law: You're hearing him say, right, here's your chance, Alexi. You've set it up. Let's go. And Popperin's getting himself pumped up. He lost the next three points to lose the game and go 4-2 down. He then got broken to love. So he's 5-2 down. Then he didn't win another point in the set. And now he won one. He won one in the final game of the set. And I don't say that to disparage Alexey Popperin, but actually at the moment that Sinner kind of looked finished for the set, it was the other way around. It was that point that I think just broke Popperin. That's what it took to really hurt Sinner. And the way Sinner just gathered himself and just did it all again.

42:58David Law: I mean, the guy is a machine and it takes something else to beat him. so yeah it was a match where where I thought there was potential threat there was threat of some degree because he's a big shot maker popper in but he was made to look like a pea shooter really by comparison to to what Sin had got I know that Hannah wrote a brilliant column after

43:24Catherine Whitaker: Wimbledon when she was talking about you know her experience of watching Sin alive and and how she felt like the Djokovic comparisons had maybe been slightly overplayed. It was a really brilliant column. That quality, though, is such a Djokovic quality. How often would Djokovic lose a great point and then just win all the next points to render that one pointless? You end up almost leaving with a greater impression of the opponent because he's the one who's done this crazy thing and pulled it off. But Djokovic, or today Sinner, just absolutely slammed the door shut. And I went out and watched the first set of this one in the stadium.

44:13Catherine Whitaker: He was unbelievable, Sinner. Like, so uncomplicatedly brilliant. Like, every return was going back deep on Popperin's backhand. and then Sinner was just taking over from there. And Sinner spoke about how he didn't serve quite so well today, but he just felt like he was just absolutely crushing it off the ground. And that's absolutely what it felt like. There was one moment where Popperin ran around a second serve and leathered a forehand return. I thought, wow, Sinner just flicked it for a winner. And it was, you know, everything we said yesterday about Alcaraz, I think we're probably quick to use words like phenomenal, dazzling, amazing about Carlos Alcaraz.

44:55Catherine Whitaker: Some of the stuff Sinner was doing today was quieter, but just as impressive, just as high a level of tennis. It's staggering to watch him like that. And he's now on this little streak, isn't he, in terms of trying to correct some head-to-heads. Because we talked about the Felix Rochelle as-seam one. He'd had some wins against pre-2023 acceleration Sinner. Poparin was the same he'd beaten Sinner and now he's got Denis Shapovalov who's also beaten a past version of him and it just feels like all these guys are coming up against him and being like oh I've stayed more or less the same and Sinner has just zoomed past me he's gone into Galactic and I really think Denis Shapovalov is about to have the same experience that Poparin and Orjel Aliasim have just had Yeah, when Yannick Sinner was asked about Denis Shapovalov in his post-match press conference today, when he was asked vis -à-vis the head-to-head what was tough about Denis' game, he said, well, he's unpredictable.

46:11I'll say. Yeah. Over to Armstrong and the place that Matt started his day, Lorenzo Mazzetti and David Goffin. I watched so many Italians today. Comfortable in the end for Mazzetti, 6-4, 6-love, 6-2. But Goffin did at least prove that it's possible to generate break points on the Mazzetti serve, proving Matt's doubters wrong. My haters. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, they're out there. Dan Evans is one of them. I've upset portions of France and Dan Evans.

46:49Some of France is with you, though. You've had some support from the French media here. I have. And I've had it out with Dan. That's continuing. But no, I mean, David Goffin, yeah, he had breakpoints in all three of Lorenzo Mazzetti's first service games. And actually, the first set of this was close. And arguably, arguably, Goffin was the better player.

47:11Catherine Whitaker: You know, Mazzetti was really having to struggle in his service games. But he got through them. I kind of like against Mpeci Perica, once he got ahead, he opened up and he freed up and he hit some absolutely astonishing shots. There was just the most incredible backhand down the line early in the second set, kind of off one foot, falling away. Just absolutely awesome from Mazzetti. He lost his last match against David Goffin on a hard court in Shanghai last year. So, you know, David Goff ran in the year 2025 to make round three of a slam where he's never been further than that on a hard court slam.

47:50Like it was a decent draw for Mazzetti, but I thought he played well.

47:54Catherine Whitaker: And he talked in his post-match interview about how he is trying to be more aggressive and trying to use that forehand as a weapon. It's just that in the matches I've seen so far, he hasn't really come on to court being able to do that. It's taken grinding it out and getting the lead somehow to be able to allow him to sort of free up and play like that. I think he needs to start a match like that if he's really going to make progress. But yeah, you know, a nice win. And he now gets his good friend Flavio Caballi in the next round. Yes. What is this match going to be like? because generally I don't like it when friends play one another.

48:36Catherine Whitaker: No, they were last seen at Kings Island water park. I'm worried about the display of fangs that we'll see in this match. I'm not worried about the display of tennis and style. Flavio Caballi, incidentally today, just an absolutely incredible match. He beat Jenson Brooksby in four hours, 31 minutes, in a deciding set tie break, a match that Matt watched, as did two men wearing orange pretend I'm a carrot t-shirts. Yeah, they've won the US Open. And they were sitting right behind Kabali in the front row of Court 17. So they were constantly on camera and Getty Images picked them out. It was really, really fun.

49:24Yannick Sinner was playing at the same time. And they obviously didn't have Ash tickets. Or maybe they did. And maybe they just chose to go and watch Fabio Ghali. They wanted Cabali. Ten sets in two matches. Yeah. And look, I did watch a lot of this. I had a lovely time. I rarely go out and watch that much of a best of five set match early in a slam

49:43Catherine Whitaker: because there's just so much else going on. But I do love those media seats on 17 down so low. He's so immersed in it. And I had the afternoon sun just hitting me. I just had a great time.

49:54David Law: We're actually beneath the court, aren't we? Our head is basically court level and the rest of our body is below the court. Yeah, it's a pretty stunning position to get a certain perspective on the match. And look, really fun to see Jenson Brooks be back and playing well again and playing in front of this home crowd who were going with him. They were pretty, well, obnoxious at times, I would say. But, you know, it was a good atmosphere out there on court 17. I felt that Caballi always had more game. you know always felt like he had the injection of pace you know Brooksby he doesn't really swing he just pats the ball on the backhand and just bunts it around but can put you in some really awkward spots he uses angles well but Caballi I thought he was going to win this in four but he lost his way

50:47Catherine Whitaker: in the fourth set and allowed Brooksby back in but when he was going after the forehand and when he was taking charge of rallies he was the one who I always thought was going to win it but he had these match points in the fifth set and brooksby saved them in the most remarkable fashion the first match point saved from brooksby in this match i would urge everyone to look that up absolutely stunning rally and winner from brooksby it ended up in a in a fifth set tie break and having saved those match points it was a case of brooksby having worked his way back but could he come all the way back and you know i think i think it's hard when you've saved match points and suddenly feels like you might be able to win it.

51:27Catherine Whitaker: Just like the pressure shifts again. And Caballi freed up and played a phenomenal tie break. There was one forehand down the line that he absolutely smoked for a winner. And now he comes through to play Mazzetti. And I'm pleased because I wanted to see that match. Like just two guys, just such great shot makers. I'm a little bit concerned about your feelings on this match as well. Might all be a bit nice. Yeah, but I think they both know it's an opportunity. And look, Mazzetti's talked about being desperate to get to Turin this year. And I think, you know, he knows that it's a genuine chance here.

52:07Catherine Whitaker: He's into this tournament for the first time on a hard court, you know, in this little period of the season. And Mazzetti did once beat an Italian child, love and love. Yes, Luca Nardi. I think they'll go for it. I think they will. Who has more fang? Mazzetti's got more fang hasn't he oh I don't know

52:25David Law: I don't know about that yeah you think Caballi's got fangs I think Caballi's developing it he's so young and new to this you forget when I see him play Zverev and I saw him play Djokovic I doubt those things Catherine I really think but isn't that the test

52:41Jannik Sinner: that's the litmus test for fang

52:43David Law: but I think he's developing it I do think that that's possible I think it's in him I think winning these five set matches it's not ideal he should be well he should be more efficient than that against these players i think he's better than them but at the same time he still won them and like it doesn't seem as though it's detracted from him physically i don't i don't think he's going to come out against mazzetti and be feeling the effects of those two five set matches he looks super fit and strong and ready to go and i just think he's learning as he goes and he's getting more and more dangerous okay I will reserve my judgment I'm going Kabbali to win it David's such a Kabbali believer love it he was also a Karan Hashanov believer though after Tennis Podcast meets and he lost from 5-2 up in the 5th today to and I quote David Law here the man with all the consonants in his name I'm still waiting for the Kamil Mayer-Chak-Thomas-Mahach match the commentators are going to struggle.

53:47Yeah, another one that went to the deciding set tie-break, won by Marshaq's 10-5. Kasanov had five match points, David. Yeah, five match points. I didn't know that.

53:57David Law: Three of them in one game when he was serving for it. And then at that point, because I was in the media centre with Catherine, it was 5-2, and I'd given up on this match. Suddenly, there's a break back, and it looks like it's going to go into the tie-break. And I just bolted out of the media centre over to the court, same court that Ostapenko and Townsend were on, so I knew where to stand to get a good vantage point. When I got there, it looked like the tie-break wasn't going to happen because suddenly Hatchinov's 6-5 up and Majacek's trying to get into this tie-break and he's facing match points again at this point.

54:35David Law: Majacek manages to get into the tie-break and he really took over at that point. I was surprised by Hatchinov letting that go, But it actually felt, watching the tiebreak, that Majacic doesn't really allow you much chance. He goes for it. And it will be Majacic against Leandro Reedy for a place in the second week of this slam. Who also had a long win today, didn't he? Yeah, the world number 435. He has been a lot higher than that. He's been kind of on the brink of the world's top 100. but he's currently 435 in the world. Beat Francisco Sarundolo today from two sets to love down. Riedi against Meierschak for a place in the second week.

55:21And I really was brought to press today for the Swiss media. I wasn't there in the press conference, but I saw the Swiss media coming away from it. And they were going, oh, he was really nice, which was obviously lovely, but also indicative of the fact that not even the Swiss media really know Leandro Reedy. And that is a huge opportunity. What a weird tournament Francisco Sarundolo had, by the way.

55:50Jannik Sinner: He won from two sets of love down in the first round. He lost from two sets of love up today. Yeah, and his win from two sets of love down was the first time he'd ever done that.

56:03Wild tournament. Andre Rublev trucking along. Four sets for him today over Tristan Boyer. And he now plays. Kind of continuing the theme that you talked about earlier, David, of players having success from less prominent parts of the world in terms of, you know, tennis legacy. Coleman Wong from Hong Kong became the first player from Hong Kong to win a Grand Slam match when he won his first round. Well, he's won two in a row now and counting. beat Adam Walton today 7-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and he plays Andre Rublev in the third round did a bit of research into Coleman Wong

56:43Jannik Sinner: he's on a five match winning streak including qualifying he must be feeling hot right now we all know that he trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy that he's very close with Alexandre Ayala and they really support one another and they've kind of broken through at the same time He moved there at the age of 17. The favourite thing I learned about him from my little bit of research was that he started playing tennis by accident at the age of five. His older sister, Ilana, was meant to take a private lesson at Victoria Park, which is the home of the Hong Kong Open, the ATP tournament. I've been there.

57:22Jannik Sinner: But Ilana fell ill. She's OK, I think. You know, she got a cold or something. and parents Bruce and Dora didn't want to waste the money that they'd already spent. So in steps Coleman and takes the tennis lesson for her and the rest is history.

57:40David Law: That's great. And he has got some of the best post-match celebrations of anybody on the tour. He's so overwhelmed by the emotion of what he's achieved and it's just written all over his face and he really lets you know. So it's match point.

57:56Jannik Sinner: Sit to pass. Has he done it? He's not done it. Altmaier has fended it off. Like, sit to pass absolutely striped that return and Altmaier sort of blocked it and ended up drawing the error out of sit to pass. How far away is Grandstand from here? I mean, you can hear the roars. We will hear it. We will absolutely. It's a long way, isn't it? I think the listeners will hear it when that match finishes, no matter what happens. Provided it's within the next 10 minutes or so, looks pretty destined for a match tie break. It's a good 100 metres away, isn't it? But we'll see. Alexander Zverev, straight sets for him over Jacob Fearnley.

58:344-4-4. A real, like, last gasp bit of inspiration from Jacob Fearnley in this match. He was clearly struggling with his right arm throughout the match. I think he's been struggling with his arm all summer and kind of playing through it. But yeah, he got inspired at the end of this match and he got the crowd with him.

58:54Jannik Sinner: He was a double breakdown, got one of them back, had break points to get the second one back. He was, he had Zverev looking a little bit stressed, actually. And at the net, Zverev said, where'd that come from, mate?

59:07David Law: Yeah, I thought that was a really shitty comment, to be honest. Because, yes, Fernie did play really well, actually. And 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 is not really the match that I was watching. I think he was trying to be funny but I thought, crikey, that's a bit disparaging really to this guy and I definitely don't think Zverev is playing in the first two rounds the way he was in Cincinnati he's reverted to type so far he's gone in his shell and he's winning matches on the back foot and surviving that isn't going to get it done in this tournament like I said, he should be getting to the semi-finals at least with his draw but he's going to have to play more aggressively than that.

59:52Felix Auger-Aliassime next for him, who you've become a believer in because of Tennis Podcast Meets.

59:58David Law: Yeah, we had our little chat. I had my little pep talk. And it's one that fascinates me because they've played several times. Zverev has a handy lead in the head-to-head but Auger-Aliassime has beaten him at Wimbledon. And I know this is different but what an opportunity for him to show how he's come on. I mean, he played Roman Cefiulian today, beat him in straight sets. It was a bit dicey in the third. He was a breakdown.

1:00:28Catherine Whitaker: Played the big points well in that second set.

1:00:30David Law: Absolutely. Look, he has got a fairly basic game. He's built around a serve and a forehand and movement. And look, I don't think he's going to get a whole lot better than that. but if those three are functioning well, he can win big matches. He's got to believe in them because he's got a chance in that match. Tommy Paul, I think, has won in the second night session. No. No, he's in a fourth set. He won the first two. The big roar you heard was for Nuno Borges. Was it? Yeah, I was shook as well. I didn't even fact check the roar. No. I just assumed that would be for Tommy Paul. Are the Arthrush Stadium getting into Nuno Borges as we speak?

1:01:15It would appear so. Maybe they just wanted more tennis. Winner of that plays Alexander Bublik, who ended the Tristan Schul-Hatte fun. And in fact, the Tristan Schul-Hatte fun was already over because the umpire today was boringly professional. He just said school cake. And knew how to pronounce Tristan school cake. Damien Dumassoir, I think it was. Right. Damn him. Bublik's quietly looking quite good, though. He's looking a lot better than I thought he would. He looks awesome to me. Yeah, he seems to have just carried on the form that he had a few weeks ago. And, you know, he hasn't played on the hard courts.

1:01:52And yet, here he is, not worrying about the surface, just doing his thing. Do you think that rule was for Nuno Borges? It is quite difficult to discern. Which one's the one for Sitzapas and Altmaier? I think that might have been for Altmaier. He's got break point at five all in the fifth.

1:02:08Jannik Sinner: Okay, right. That's it for part two. come back for part three and we should be able to get the Sitsapass Altmaier result in and some soon to be out of date Nuno Borges updates.

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1:03:07festival tickets to both nights, and more. Whether you're planning your next adventure or your next concert experience, visit iheartradio.com forward slash ihrmfxbooking.com to enter now. No purchase necessary. Open to legal U.S. residents age 18 and older. Ends August 27th, 2026. Limit one entry per person, email address, and household per day. Two winners will be selected. Void where prohibited. See official rules at iheartradio.com forward slash ihrmfxbooking.com. Welcome back to part three of the Tennis Podcast,

1:03:30Jannik Sinner: where while Matt watches the closing stages of Stefanos Sittapas in a fifth set against annual Altmaier. I will whiz you through the order of play for tomorrow, day six of the US Open, and hopefully David can give some takes. It's a good tomorrow. It's good tomorrow. It's really good. Especially the women's matches. Yeah, we open on Arthur Ashe Stadium at 11.30am with Carlos Alcaraz against Luciano Darderi. Djokovic had the early spot, now Alcaraz has it. I must admit, that must be the earliest I've ever seen an Elk Rass play. I think he'll like it, though. He likes everything. I certainly think he'll like, yeah.

1:04:10Jannik Sinner: Do you know what he doesn't like? How quickly his hair grows. Really? Yeah. Yeah, he said it makes him angry. I'm unable to appreciate a good haircut, he said. He said in a few days' time, you'll see a different hair.

1:04:26Jannik Sinner: So that's first on Ash. Second on Ash is Jessica Pegula against Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka.

1:04:32David Law: Wow. I saw them play at the Australian Open a couple of, two or three years ago and Azarenka won.

1:04:37Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, that was a real chance at the time, wasn't it, for Pagula to break her quarterfinal problem that she had. But I think she's a big favourite tomorrow. At night session is Novak Djokovic against Cameron Norrie. Be interesting because... You've got a feeling, Catherine.

1:04:56Jannik Sinner: I don't have a feeling. I've got a desperation for a hail of... Mary to get some points. Catherine may have done a Cameron Norrie thing. I surprised even myself. It hasn't been sent yet. She might change her mind.

1:05:12David Law: But look, I stand by what I said the other day, yesterday, I think this is the chance for Djokovic to find some form and he needs to. The deadline is there, the pressure is there, but I also think night session favours him now. that he wants to be under the lights. And first matchup, that suits him down to the ground. I remember in the spring, he played Cameron Nury, didn't he, in a tournament before the French Open.

1:05:41Catherine Whitaker: It was a bit of a grind. It was two really tight sets, and then eventually he came through. But then he played him at the French Open, and he absolutely crushed him. I think he realised that he's got to just, as you said, David, let it fly a little bit against Cameron Nury. He doesn't want to get involved in a gruelling physical battle against him. This is the one to try and just hit Norrie off the court. Second in the night session on Ash is Taylor Townsend against Mira Andrava. Second in the night session. I mean, even if that's straight sets, that's probably coming on post 10pm. Yeah. It could be coming on at midnight.

1:06:25I think the best hope for that match is that people have needed a few drinks to get through Djokovic's nori.

1:06:34Catherine Whitaker: And they're loose. And they're ready to bring an atmosphere for Andre for Townsend. You know what I'm saying? We might be doing that. Yeah, absolutely. But it does feel a bit hidden away. I thought that match would be on Armstrong. Me too. I thought that would be the 7pm slot on Armstrong. Yeah. Me too. Armstrong starts tomorrow with Elena Rabacchino against Emma Raducanu. Again, feels like that could have had higher billing, but I know that British TV will have been really pushing to get Emma Raducanu in an early slot, and that does make total sense.

1:07:13Jannik Sinner: Anyone, you've maybe done a Raducanu thing in the newsletter. Who could say? Sign up for the newsletter to find out. I do feel like Raducanu has been progressing and working her way to having a big win. Feels like the next step, doesn't it?

1:07:31Catherine Whitaker: It does feel like the next step. And I suppose it's a question of whether you think Rabatkin is going to be at her absolute best. Because I think if Rabatkin is at her absolute best, it's going to be tricky for Raducanu. But I don't know, I just think I've got a feeling for Raducanu tomorrow. second on Armstrong day session is Ben Shelton against Adrian Manorino Manorino the only the only player that has brought me any points so far in the predictions competition I thought about going back to the world tomorrow but I thought don't be silly Catherine and the night session on Armstrong Shelton will be alright is Leila Fernandes against Arena Sabalenka and second on is Jerome Kim another unexpected Swiss player against Taylor Fritz.

1:08:21Live news from Grandstand, Matt.

1:08:25Catherine Whitaker: Stefanos Tsitsipas is out. Altmaier has served it out, and now they've had words at the net. Oh, my. Altmaier is not happy with something Tsitsipas has said there. Turned his back on him and walked off. And we have heard a bit of booing, haven't we? We're a few moments behind on the feed. goodness me I know that Apostolos sits past got a warning earlier in the match for coaching which is pretty good going given coaching's allowed I don't know exactly exactly what he did but something out of line Apostolos it's just like it just shows how he's just walking past Apostolos literally I manifested him which I think means that sad Stefanos is about to walk past us, so let's all brace ourselves for that.

1:09:20You know, I think it just shows how, you know, look,

1:09:24Catherine Whitaker: Altmaier's a very good player. You can lose to Daniel Altmaier, but I think it shows how sort of deeply embedded the sit-to-pass problems are. Like, he talked the other day about feeling revitalised and suddenly having all his confidence back, but you just can't get back from the depth he's been in in one match, I don't think.

1:09:47David Law: No, and listen, he said that to me in the press comments, and I felt like he was trying to manifest it into reality by saying it. And he was two sets to one up here, and he'd just won two sets, 6-1, 6-4, and he'd gone one love up in the fourth. I turned away to Catherine and said, oh, Sitsabas is really starting to fire here. Came back to the screen, ten minutes later, he's 4-1 down. you know it's

1:10:16Catherine Whitaker: and he kind of did that against Muller didn't he in the fourth set he kind of thought he's going to close this easily and suddenly he's in a tie break

1:10:23David Law: he shouldn't be losing from two sets to one up like that not the guy he used to be no alrighty then back to tomorrow's order of play on grandstand we have Eulah Hetchka against Colignan the guy that beat Kasparudin

1:10:39Jannik Sinner: I've already forgotten his first name it's Raphael there we go with a PH yes the Belgian guy. Got a big game, actually, Conignon. He takes on Lehetjka tomorrow. These are round three matches, of course. Second on Armstrong tomorrow. This is one of the ones. Jasmine Paolini against Marchetta Vondrosheva. Can't wait. I've got this in the newsletter predictions, and I'm not going to tell you who. David's broken the... Well, what I consider to be the golden predictions rule, which is to never make Varketa Vondroshova predictions. You did break it once too. You talked me out of it, I think. Oh, you're welcome.

1:11:21Whereas I've just stared it down and I've said, come on then. Third on grandstand, Francis Tiafoe against Jan-Leonard Struff and fourth on is Barbora Krojcikova against Emma Navarro. I'm very intrigued by that one. All French tie between Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rindeknes

1:11:39Jannik Sinner: first on Stadium 17. Bookshare Mertens, obviously Mertens aiming to set up the big Sabalenka upset in round four. Priscilla Hahn against Anne Lee. If that actually happens, Hannah is going to have so much material to come out of it. If that actually happens, we're going to start putting money on Yulia Niemeyer to win Wimbledon one day. No one's forgetting that prediction, Hannah. finally on 17 tomorrow Hugo Blanchet against Thomas Mahatch what else have we got tomorrow no comment my goodness me it's all doubles it's all doubles and who is Carrie Leeds and why am I what are these matches that's what I was talking about yesterday I find it really annoying that they put those on the official order of play it's like all the juniors and qualifying for juniors, and yet you see them on the order of playing, and you think, what are these matches?

1:12:41Oh, no.

1:12:42Jannik Sinner: Yeah, boys qualifying singles round two. Yeah. That should be on a separate page at the website. Absolutely. Okay, I think that is all the headline stuff that you need to know about for tomorrow. How's Nuno Borges trucking along? Two all in the fourth with Tommy Paul. Folks, please forgive us that we're not going to drag out this podcast long enough to tell you whether Nuno Borges comes all the way back. But in the words of Matt Roberts, there's always another podcast. And there's Google. And there's Google. Yeah, that too. So, yeah, we'll let you know tomorrow if you can't bring yourself to Google what the result was before then.

1:13:24Jannik Sinner: We have a mascot for today's episode. That mascot is Rusk. I like that name. Rusk is owned by Katie. Rusk, oh my goodness, look at this picture. It's another big tongue, David. Oh yeah, I like those. It's another very big tongue. In a sea of lavender. It's a very beautiful picture. Rusk is a 12-year-old red heeler boxer mix, or at least that's what the shelter told us, says Katie. He lives with me, his mum, in Austin, Texas. My sister Sarah picked him out after I begged her to let me adopt a dog. We were roommates at the time. That's lovely. We brought him home at eight weeks old on February the 13th, 2013, and he's been the best Valentine for the past 12 years.

1:14:07Jannik Sinner: He was an excellent hiking companion for a decade, only slowing down in the last year. He loves getting long walks while I listen to the tennis podcast. He could not care less about my spare tennis balls and often gives me disdainful looks when I'm cheering or pacing during a particularly tense televised tennis match. He's perfected his judgmental look over the years. He loves a puppy, helping raise two of my best friend's puppies. That is truly adorable. As well as his doggy cousin over his many years. He insists on a peanut butter filled Kong every night. And will huff and stomp around if he believes you forgot or are late.

1:14:44Jannik Sinner: Most of all, he's brought me such joy over these past 12 and a half years. On our many adventures and cuddles on the couch. That is absolutely lovely, Casey. You've basically described everything that having a dog is about. What an incredible companion. What a good boy. He's absolutely lovely. So thank you, Katie. Thank you, Rusk, for being our mascot for this episode. Hello, of course, to our mascots. I received Phoebe content today sliding into our DMs. Anything from Maisie? No. All right, Maisie, send me a picture. But it's always welcome, as is Roger content. The gauntlet has been laid down by Phoebe, who, just a lovely picture of Phoebe arrived midway through the first set of goth veckage when I most needed a pick-me-up.

1:15:31Jannik Sinner: When you really needed it. Very welcome. Thank you, Priyanka.

1:15:34Catherine Whitaker: By the way, I've just discovered that the tete-a-tete at the net between Sitsipas and Altmaier was Sitsipas unhappy about an underarm serve that Altmaier did. Get in the bin, Stefanos. No time for that. Absolutely none. Come on. We have our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Let's have some shout outs, Matt. We have Francis Wynn. Hello, Francis. Like TFO. Yeah. And Francis says, everyone calls me Fran. I have two small children, so don't get much time to watch the tennis these days. So the pod has been my lifeline since 2018. Oh, when Matt Roberts came on board. Just was searching for some Karen Hachinov takes.

1:16:30Fran liked Fran Jones. Yeah, very good. We like Fran Jones. We do. And we like Fran. We've also got Marty Betton. Hello, Marty. Right, Marty. Like Marty Mulligan. Yeah. we've had Marty before haven't we and I've said Marty McFly yeah and I reckon I've also said that Marty is an abbreviation of Martin that only exists in America Brits just don't go for Marty do they it's too it's too it's too fun we're not like that Martin you've got to be Martin you've got to wear a tie

1:17:21like martin dam like martin dam and martin dam jr say marty dam would work do we know marty is

1:17:29Jannik Sinner: is originally a yeah it's not for anything else really martha oh

1:17:39but i was enjoying all of that so much i didn't want to i didn't want to stop you in your flow Tennis Martha's. Let's go. I don't think this Marty was probably expecting a load of Martin Dam parallels. But we're on a bit of a roll there. Martha.

1:18:00Jannik Sinner: Marty, we will let you. I'm sure Pam will be in touch with some tennis Martha's. Back in the Donovekich box tonight was Pam. Yes. Marty thank you and sorry for the Martin Dam Jr. content that you didn't want and finally we have Jessica Schaefer oh we know Jessica Schaefer we do Jessica is from New York and Jessica says 2025 has been a rough year in all things except tennis fandom and I'm so grateful to have the pod and the

1:18:35Catherine Whitaker: barge as a place of refuge.

1:18:39Jannik Sinner: We love having you on the barge, Jessica. We do. Like Jessica Bagula. That's right. Who plays Victoria Azarenka tomorrow when we will be back with our Day 6 tennis podcast to wrap it all up. We are, of course, part of the Athletic Podcast Network.

1:18:54Matt Roberts: Nunez Borges is breakpoint up in the fourth. Who knows what could happen? We'll be back to tell you about it tomorrow. Thanks for listening. We'll speak to you then.

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