US Open Day 7 - Will it ever happen for Alexander Zverev?

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1:22Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast on day seven of the US Open Labour Day weekend. So here we are laboring away. I've torn myself away from Laura Siegman, double bagel watch, and Matt has torn himself away from Amanda Anisimova, all to bring you part one of this Tennis Podcast, because a lot has happened today already before we even get into the night session, the primetime session, which we'll of course discuss in part two of today's show. Let's start with the world number one, Yannick Sinner, who was for a while there in serious trouble before winning through in four sets against the ever unpredictable David Denis Shapovalov.

2:04James Gray: Yeah, I mean, you could have rewound to Wimbledon and for Grigor Dimitrov, read Denis Shapovalov because he was really pressuring Yannick Sinner. He was hurting Yannick Sinner. He was making us wonder, at least me, when it was one said all and three love to Sinner, and I think he had chances for four love, it was making me wonder whether an upset, barring a torn pectoral muscle, might be on. And then Denis Shapovalov reverted to the Denis Shapovalov who has, frankly, underachieved in recent years. I know he's talked about a knee injury and various other issues, but the old problems surfaced. But until then, and we'll come on to talk about those old problems, but until then, for two and a half sets, he was toe-to-toe with the best player in the world.

2:57And he was a problem for him.

3:00James Gray: He has a weight of shot. He was keeping his nerves under control and his anxiety and everything else. And Sina was nowhere near what we have become accustomed to. and it was intriguing to watch him in that situation working his way through it and I found it interesting in the moment I found it interesting in the post-match press conference as well but I do think that Denis Shapovalov had he made further strides with his sort of mental approach in that third set might have won that set and may even be in a different position right now no fewer strides have been made in mental approach than Denis Shapovalov from the third set of this match or midway through the third set of this match onwards.

3:48We'll come on to dear old Denis in a minute. Yannick Sinner said in the press conference that he thought he played well today. Maybe not his best, but he thought he played well. Do you believe that, Matt? Do you think he played well? No, not by his standards. I think his serve was massively off today, particularly the start of the match. Hawkeye had some quite good stats during the coverage of this saying that he was missing 61 % of the serves he was missing were in the net. And that was tallying with what Mary Quirillo and Colin Fleming were seeing in commentary about his ball toss maybe being a bit too low, his rhythm on that serve not quite being there.

4:30And his forehand was off as well. There was a lot of forehands in the net today. and frankly I think he can't have been playing well because otherwise he does not find himself in that position against Denis Shapovalov. As well as Denis Shapovalov did play for two and a bit sets here, he wasn't lights out. He wasn't like just blazing winners all over the court. He was steady off both wings. He's got big power off both wings. So he's a problem when he is playing like that. But a problem that Yannick Sinner, at his best, would have handled today, I think, more easily than he did. But, I don't know, I never felt that much jeopardy in this.

5:14Because, to me, the only jeopardy I would have felt was if Sinner looked unwell or looked injured or something. He didn't look like that to me. So I always thought, like, Sinner is pretty much the most reliable guy on the ATP Tour. he's probably going to come through this versus Shapovalov, who pretty much the least reliable guy on the ATV tour to actually sustain that level through a match. So, I don't know, I was intrigued by it. I see the Grigor Dimitrov comparisons, absolutely. It was a bit like that, just with more butt sweat for Yannick Sinner. But otherwise, I wasn't like, okay, this is...

5:58that was slightly more revealing of said situation. Yeah, and conditions to bring out the butt sweat. He said it again. But otherwise, I wasn't on huge upset watch for this. I think we've become so accustomed to Yannick Sinner cruising through matches that him having a slightly off day and him dropping a set feels like a really big deal. he was keen in the press conference to use this as a reminder that well in his words i'm not a

6:30James Gray: machine great it's a good quote yeah i think he was quite irritated by it by and i started it because i asked the first question and i said we're not used to seeing you in this sort of position yannick um what issues were you facing and what sort of challenges was he posing and he looked at me in that kind of quizzical what the hell are you talking about way and I think other players would feel very familiar with that even though they're not as good as Yannick Sinner I think it's the look that players tend to give to journalists when journalists are assuming something's going to happen and actually players think well you don't know how bloody hard it is to make it look like it does and I think he was he was thinking you know what this is really tough What I'm doing is amazing, and it isn't just an automatic development.

7:23James Gray: I have to work really hard for this, and it is normal, was his word, to describe the challenge that Shapovalov presented him with. And I think it is a useful reminder for us all, and yet at the same time, it's not normal for him, and it's not normal... I mean, I know he has lost to Shapovalov before, but it still came as a big surprise. given the way they're lined up. And it just adds an extra level of intrigue to the tournament, really. This little reminder that, yes, Sinner is not a machine. He is an incredible performer and reliable competitor. But I think it will have been noticed in the locker room by a few players who will think, well, OK.

8:11James Gray: Right. And while I think it's an important point and totally valid for Yannick Sinner to make it, do you think the fact that he dealt with that line of questioning the way he did with a touch of irritability rather than with levity or that dry sense of humour he quite often applies to situations like that, do you think that's at all revealing of possible? I mean, it's all relative, isn't it? When I say doubts, I don't mean like Denis Shapovalov doubts. I mean, Yannick Sinner doubts. I mean, I think what you have to remember is the last time we felt like this in a grand slam, he went and won the thing.

8:49James Gray: And I know that he was let off the hook and it was a lot more dramatic with Dimitrov, but he went and won the tournament and he beat Carlos Alcraz in the final. So everybody can have a bit of an off day. He may well just gather himself the way he normally does and just go win the tournament. I really don't. I think he's just genuinely a bit irritated with that line of questioning. He's just annoyed with David. Even though I think it is a perfectly valid question, I also get it from his perspective. He's just become so used to David asking about carrots. Exactly. He was caught off guard. What is this journalistic question from the tall guy?

9:28James Gray: Ask me something fun. There were carotter boys present today, but none of them were dressed as carrots. Yeah. I've got a real problem with carotter boys that are just men in orange t-shirts. Like, that's not anything. You want sort of credit for... If you want to sort of get the credit for the branding, you've got to be dressed as a carrot. And we enjoyed those orange t-shirts the other day that said, what was it, just call me a carrot. Right. Like, fun, leaning into it. An orange t-shirt is a Dutch fan. Corporate orange t-shirts that say Karota Boys on them. Yeah. Not for me. It's crap. Denis Shapovalov folks I don't want to be too scathing because this is this is Denis Shapovalov isn't it like this is everything we already knew about Denis Shapovalov a beautiful tennis player at his best with tremendous potential but not a mental colossus and not really a grown up mentally when he's stress tested on the court but I did I did think this was particularly disappointing and feeble.

10:40Hold on a minute.

10:41James Gray: He did get to one set all three love against the world number one. Yeah. And that is not insignificant, both in terms of his ability and his strength of character. But I think mentally that's a lot easier than the bit that comes after getting to set all and three love. I think the massive disappointment is that he did so well to get to that point. And for a long period. I mean, it's a couple of hours worth of holding your ground, going toe-to-toe with a guy of this level. And then he just threw his toys out the pram. And there was a warning sign of that in the first set, because he was up a break, and he gave that break away, and there was a foot fault in that game.

11:20And he went over to the umpire and said, I've never hit a foot fault in my life. Very convenient for a foot fault to be called. And I thought, OK, that's the worst of Denis Shapovalov, thinking that something like that is against him. Look, it wasn't a conclusive foot fault when they showed the replay. I can understand frustration, but like saying it's convenient. And just like, you know, again, Colin Fleming and Mary Carrillo in the commentary box were citing his new coach. Michael Tillstrom. Michael Tillstrom, who'd said that one of the keys for Shapovalov is that he can't throw away games out of frustration.

11:59And there he was just doing it right there. He was then helped out by Sinner double faulting away that first set. But then, you know, so he did well to win that first set. He did well to hang with Sinner and go 3-love up. He was left 30 up in that 3-love game as well. But then kind of the same thing happened again on a line call. There was a line call he was really unhappy about, just as Sinner levelled it up in that third set. And again, he lost his head about it. And that immaturity has just always been part of his game, really. And I don't have massive question marks about, like, the game. I think there's a ceiling on it.

12:41You know, I think he hasn't developed massively. But we know what he is. He's got weapons and all that kind of stuff. And he displayed that today. But it's the questions over, can he bring it in the big moments? And he didn't really do that today. despite taking the lead and doing well for a lot of the match.

12:59James Gray: And I interrogated him about it. I mean, he came early to his press conference, so I asked the first two questions. I asked him one about going toe-to-toe with Sinner, and he went through that, and he was pleased with himself. But then my second question was, given you got to that position of one said all and three love, you then started to get upset. You started to have a lot of back and forth with your support team there. what was happening there and is that something you're going to have to get a grip on if you're actually going to make any further progress and he really refused to accept that as a concept and it was relentless all the way through that third set he was being sarcastic towards them he was blaming them for his serve going off and I just thought okay this match is over But, you know, the break had gone, so he's back to 3-2 up or 3-3 all.

13:56James Gray: I mean, he was barely winning games after that. And he just refused to accept that as a concept. He was talking about how pleased with his progress he's been over the last few months. He's got to keep going in the right direction. Sometimes he needs to get fired up and sometimes maybe he does need to not get fired up and sort of, you know, let it go. So he was saying one or two are the right things. but I got the sense that Tillstrom and that team, and he's a very smart coach who's dealt with a lot as a coach over the years. He's coached Gilman Fies for many years. I just feel like he's got a hell of a job on his hands if he wants to make material difference to this incredible talent because he's a nice lad, Denis Shapovalov, but it is like talking to a child when he's in that mode.

14:42James Gray: When he's in that mode, And I'm really not meaning to be harsh on him. I just think that's the truth. He's got to grow up and stop that stuff. However he gets there, I just think he's never going to achieve what he wants to without. Yeah, I'm not sure there's anything more limiting to growth or progress in any sense, tennis or otherwise, than failure or refusal to take accountability. and that I'm afraid is what Denis Shapovalov exuded today. When the chips were down, that was the quality that came out and it was tough to see. So Yannick Sinner through to the fourth round to face the winner of tonight's match between Alexander Bublik and Tommy Paul.

15:30We'll obviously talk about that in part two. Let's move on to talk about, well, two matches in tandem because it feels like they are a diptych here. Naomi Osaka's victory over Dario Kazikina, 6-love-4, 6-6-3. Coco Goff's straightforward victory over Magdalena Frech, 6-3, 6-1. Setting up Osaka versus Goff, round four. We'll have a yes, please, to that.

16:00James Gray: It's a delicious prospect, isn't it? That is the one that we wanted the moment the draw came out. It's one that Naomi Osaka would have known nothing about because she doesn't look at the draw, but which she is clearly very satisfied to have set up now that she is there. She describes that prospect as special because of the match they had here specifically six years ago, which you may remember Osaka won, and a very young Coca-Goff, who was tearful at the time, was invited and encouraged by Osaka to share the microphone with her in the on-court interview. It was a really memorable moment and a lot's happened since then for both women.

16:45James Gray: Goth becoming a two-time Grand Slam champion, Osaka going through a lot of mental health challenges and taking time away from the game to have her baby and to coming back to the sport and not managing to have the sort of comeback she's wanted today. And she said, I've wanted it too quickly and I've expected it to happen too quickly, probably. But here she is now for the first time into the second week of a Grand Slam tournament since 2021. I mean, it's a long, long time. And it was a really interesting couple of matches, I thought, because Goff did find the form that she's been looking for, certainly to make major strides.

17:29James Gray: She seemed so much happier out there today, didn't she? Daytime conditions, just four double faults, just a lot more security to her game. And Osaka was brilliant for a bit, and then not very good for a bit, and then good at the end. And she was helped out by Dario Kasikina, hitting seven double faults in the first two service games. So, you know, it's a tantalising prospect. I do think what's going to be interesting is that I felt like one of the reasons Goff was so much better today is that she was facing an opponent who doesn't really have weapons so she was actually very comfortable just rallying with her and and she said this in her press conference today she said that basically she wasn't thinking about rushing she wasn't thinking about you know having to go for broke on the ball she was comfortable to just trade and back her own physicality in those rallies and that's different to Tomjanovic who's so good at using pace and Vekic who's so good at generating pace in her first two matches which I think made her more uncomfortable from the baseline in those matches and Osaka is going back to someone with weapons going back to someone with that power so So as good as Coco Gauff was today, I think Osaka is a much bigger test of her confidence on those ground strokes.

18:53The good news is the serve was a lot better today. As you said, just the four double faults, decent percentage as well. It really does feel like we've come on since that first set of the Vekic match, since the Tomjanovic match. And look, maybe that's to be expected. She's working on that serve all the time and making little adjustments in between matches. So she's in a good place, I think, relatively to where she was a few days ago, Coco Goff. And I'm very, very excited for this. I do feel like we're due a Goff-Osaka classic. I don't know, I feel like we haven't really had one yet. Like, they had a good match in Cincinnati quite a few years ago now.

19:36But otherwise, they've tended to be pretty one-sided. and the last one they played was just getting going when Osaka had to retire during the match at the end of last year in Beijing. But maybe there's a reason we haven't had a classic. Maybe there's something about the match-up, something about the shared history that they've had that makes it not quite the classic that we just on paper think it's going to be. But I really hope so because it's such an intriguing match considering everything going on with Goff's game and considering this much better form that Naomi Osaka's in. And if Osaka can win it, she then reaches that point in the tournament where...

20:19Where she'll definitely win the title. Right, because she's never lost in the... David can get the champagne out there and then. You know, like the fourth round has been the one. If she gets past the fourth round, she's gone on to convert all of those into titles. Now, just because it's happened before doesn't mean it will happen again. but as much as I would love to have Coco Gauff in this tournament, I'd love to have Naomi Osaka and just test that theory, whether she's still that big match player that she always was. I'm excited about it, but I don't want to lose either of them either. It's quite early to have this match.

20:50It feels early. I'm sure that's how an ESPN feel as well. And on that, I'm seriously intrigued about where they schedule this match because it obviously feels night session. you know it feel they they call it prime time don't they it feels prime time but it's going to be monday and monday's labor day here it's a it's a public holiday coco goff will be wanting for it to be day session uh i don't quite know what the broadcast situation is but don't they don't they put it on another network as well as espn on the weekends yeah i mean certainly

21:26James Gray: ABC is the one that ESPN's coverage goes on at the weekends. And I would assume that's the case on Monday. I haven't checked that, but I would assume so, given it's a holiday. I think there will be a clamour from the broadcasters to want that in the daytime when they can maximise maybe their audience. Well, certainly Europe, you know, that would you think be the biggest international audience. I know there's no Europeans involved, but I don't think there'd be too much pushback against that if that was what the domestic broadcasters wanted. And that sure would be Coco Goff's preference, right? Day session?

22:06I'd have thought so. I mean, given how comfortable she looked out there today, given generally we talk about, you know, just take this tournament out of it, we talk about how good she is in those daytime conditions. I'd have thought so. I'm just curious, what did you see from Osaka today that Gough might be able to exploit? Because the bits I saw of Osaka were the good bits, you know, like suddenly she found her shots down the line, down the close and started pummeling winners again. But like what went wrong in the middle, I suppose, is my query.

22:45James Gray: Well, for a start, she really struggled with the shadow. when the shadow was coming across the court her game went to pieces and she lost four games in a row in the second set she was 6-love and she got a point for 1-love and she just hit a screaming backhand winner down the line and I said to Charlie Eccleshire from the Athletics sitting next to me I think this might be a double bagel because Casa Kina just couldn't get serves in at all she hit 8 double faults in the first set and seven of those were in the first two service games and then it's 14 minutes and it's for love and suddenly Kazakina started to make her play more she hit a couple of winners and Osaka just suddenly lost it and was getting anxious to me it's actually that it is you've got the biggest, best, big match player in the sport in Cocoa Golf who manages to win matches playing really not very well against somebody who really struggles not to not to kind of get down on herself and get frustrated and and is is out of practice of winning big and I think that that is the big test is because I think toe-to-toe the better tennis I've seen has been from Osaka and I think she can hit heights that golf won't but can she actually win a big match like this against such a strong mental opponent like Goff?

24:18James Gray: I think that's where the match lies to me. I actually think it was helpful for Asal for the match not to have continued in the same way that the first set went and for it to have ended up being a battle out there today because it's pretty hard to see. I mean, I suppose there's a scenario where if you told me it's going to be a one-sided match, in a couple of days' time, I'd probably think, well, the winner will be Naomi Osaka then. Like, if somebody's going to hit somebody else off the court cleanly, that's probably going to be Naomi Osaka. But chances are, like, Coco Goff just has a wizard-like way of turning things into a tussle.

24:57The chances are Naomi Osaka will find herself in some sort of tussle. So I think to have had those competitive juices stimulated a bit today and to have come through it, I think, is no bad thing. I still think, you know, juice is flowing or not, Coco Gauff is a better competitor than anybody else in the world.

25:20James Gray: But at least she's had those emotions and found a way through them. Exactly. So, Coco Gauff won on Ash, Osaka won on Armstrong. Before Osaka on Armstrong was the Italy off between Lorenzo Mazzetti and Flavio Caballi with Muzetti beating up the shattered remains of his best friend. What a spectacle, Matt. No, no. It's this Muzetti run and, you know, I've been to all of his matches. They've been early on Armstrong, all of them. They've been quite a convenient time to get to and watch pretty much in full. it's very much reminding me of Jack Draper's run here last year where like he's doing well but everyone that he's playing against is just sort of falling apart in front of him.

26:15You know, Pesci Perikar couldn't return. David Goffin is 20-25. And Caballi had had 10 sets in his legs and his arm was falling off. Sorry, slight tangent. Just speaking of it being 2025 and you mentioning Giovanni Impessi-Pericard, do you know who his doubles partner is here? I saw this and I've now forgotten. I've blanked on it. It's someone that's had a retirement ceremony. It's Nicolas Maude. Yes, it is. It is Nicolas Maude. I saw him in the area earlier. I was like, what are you doing here? He's literally been in the coaching box this tournament. Yep. he was he was out there with Medvedev on on Armstrong night with Benjamin Bonzi yep yeah anyway as you were yeah so it's kind of been a little bit hard to gauge just how well Mazzetti is is playing here because I feel like he hasn't had a really true test yet you know like he's doing some good things he's trying to get his forehand into play a lot more.

27:27There was a moment in this match where the Italian journalist in front of me leaned back on his chair after a backhand winner and whacked his head on the back of my laptop. He seemed annoyed with me about that. But, like, that just shows you, like, some of the, you know, some of the shot-making is still there. He's still enlisting those sorts of reactions. Of course he is. He always will. But I guess I'm just waiting for that test. You know, this is now his best ever run at a hard-court major. Fourth round off the back of a summer where he could barely buy a win on a hard court. There's no doubt this is a really good tournament for him.

28:02But actually trying to gauge the level I am finding a little bit tricky. You've got Jaume Munar next who is having this really, really strong season. And he actually leads the head-to-head against Mazzetti. He's got a win against him on clay. And he's got a win against him on hard court this year. Back at the start of the year in Hong Kong. I think that's going to be the test. I think Munar is going to bring it. He's a pretty good draw in the fourth round of a major, you'd have to say, but he's going to force Mazzetti to keep it up the whole match, I think, in a way that none of these opponents yet really have.

28:40And this one, I'm not even sure we've mentioned, ended in retirement in that third set.

28:44James Gray: I heard one nice bit of analysis that I'd not really thought of before from Colin Fleming in the coverage, who said Mazzetti has stopped trying to be a hardcourt player in his attempts to overcome the surface. He said you could see that he was trying to stand up on the baseline and do what hardcourt players do. And he stopped trying to do that, and he's just being himself now, happy to stand a bit further back, be creative, use his whip and his spins and all that sort of thing. And I thought, that's an interesting observation. And I like the sound of it. I wonder what happens when you come up against a really good hard-court player who is going to stand up and take your time away.

29:32Well, we might find out. Would we call Jaume Mouna a really good hard-court player?

29:36James Gray: No. But he's playing good tennis. He's become a good hard-court player this year, I would say. I'd expect Mazzetti to get through that personally. and then he's eventually going to run into one, isn't he? Yeah, Yannick Sinner. Definitely very good. There you go. What else have we got? We've got Karolina Mukova. I've never been so pleased to be proven wrong by the incredible Karolina Mukova. 6 '7", 6 '4", 6 '2". She's unreal. How she picked herself. I mean, frankly, how any tennis player picks himself up after losing a set like this first one, this first tie-break set. I would just go, do you know what?

30:15I've thrown everything at it. It wasn't quite enough.

30:18James Gray: I'll leave it. Yeah. Comes back and wins the next two. And look, the risk definitely remains an issue to some extent. She's still being cautious about hitting the two-handed backhand. But as we keep saying, her slice is a heck of a shot. And she, not quite to the extent of Ash Barty, but a little bit like Ash Barty, has lots of different versions of the slice. She has lots of different things that she can do with it. So it's not a sort of predictable shot in the way that, you know, a lot of sliced backhands, sort of improvised sliced backhands can be. And just in terms of, you know, how I interpreted her body language after her previous victory, also an epic three-set win when she was, you know, clearly extremely tired.

31:10but I thought her slight downcastness might be due to concerns about the wrist. But actually there was a translation of the Czech portion of her press conference and we have verified this with some Czech journalists that this is an accurate translation. She was asked to explain what happened at some point during her previous match. I think in the first set of her previous match when she seemed quite distressed on the court and she said it wasn't tennis related. I don't really like talking about it but opposite my bench my ex-boyfriend sat down he sometimes shows up at events where he shouldn't be that startles me a bit I told him to leave he didn't but later he did go it was hard to focus in that moment boy um I mean yeah absolutely absolutely grim that that is something that any woman or tennis player is having to deal with quite frankly and all the more astonishing that she's that she won that match that she's won today that she's set up a fourth round with Marta Kosciuk who beat Dan Parry today 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

32:21Mukova, Kosciuk's a good match.

32:23James Gray: Yeah it's fascinating isn't it against somebody with such creativity who plays aggressive tennis but without just brute power against one of the most gymnastic, athletic players in the sport who, you know, has had a bit of a rough patch for a while and is coming back strong now. And that's a great comeback from her today. So, fascinated to watch it. Yeah, I predict a long one. Muković's gone three hours in her last two matches and Kloschek just loves to go three hours. She'll sign on the dotted line for that. Andrei Ryblev through to the fourth round with a five-set dramatic win over Hong Kong's Coleman Wong.

33:016 '3", in the fifth, Marit Safin in his corner. You might not recognise him because...

33:09James Gray: We don't. He doesn't look like an ex-professional tennis player. But he's here and it's just a cool angle on Andre Rublev, isn't it? Absolutely. It's 25 years since Marit Safin won this title in 2000. It looks like it. Yeah. but I mean I think he's I think he's helping Rublev in many ways and you know there are lots of things that Rublev has needed to deal with and is trying to deal with and has been very open about and the help he's tried to get for himself and you know wish him well and I definitely feel like he's making strides certainly what you see out on court pushed again today I did think maybe this is the tournament where he can take care of lower ranked players a little more efficiently huge credit to him for winning anyway but you know I I wonder where the limit is I suspect it's coming yeah I mean the I went through his recent Grand Slam results and sort of par for him used to be quarterfinals didn't it you know that's the the Andro Roblev ceiling he there's been no by no means a Medvedev style decline but par has dropped from quarterfinals to round of 16 so you know it's Verev or or Felix or Jay Aliassime next, we'll tell you in part two.

34:29So that's the test, isn't it? That's the test of where he's at. Last result from the day session, Leandro Reedy through by retirement. Not much to say here. Kamil Meyershak injured, retired in the first set, but Reedy, I need to start learning about Leandro Reedy, he's into the second week of a slam, has almost doubled his whole career earnings this tournament alone.

34:53James Gray: So cool. Yeah. What a story. He plays the winner of the match currently on court. A thriller, actually, currently between Alex Domenor and Daniel Altmyer. By the way, I walked past Meyer Chak earlier, having a one-on-one with Rob Maul of The Sun, which I thought was surprising, to say the least. But then I realised that Meyer Chak, have you seen this story? He's been at the centre of being nice to a kid. Oh! because he gave his, he tried to give his towel, I think it was, to a little kid in the crowd the other day. This has become quite big. It has, and this guy snatched it away. Grown man, yeah.

35:33Grown man snatched it away from the kid, and you see the kid following it and looking really, really devastated. He sneaks it away into his bag as the kid's sort of, probably everybody listening has seen it. It's pretty horrible. Yeah, and I think in the moment, Maja Chak didn't realise that that's what had happened. But anyway, he met the kid. today did Meierczak and he gave him a little gift. It's all coming together with Rodmore. So I imagine that's why the son wanted to speak to him. I did do a double take. So that means the son put in a win-lose, win-slash-lose-slash-retirement due to injury request for Poland's Kamil Meierczak.

36:16Meierczak was like, sure. This is what happens when all the Brits are out. Yes, yes, exactly. OK, Amanda Ranisimova needs you, Matt. We're going to send Matt back to Grandstand to bring her home and we will be back in part two to talk about the rest of the day's matches.

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38:48Welcome back to part two of the tennis podcast. It is now midnight. We're still here at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. And tennis, you'll be surprised to hear, is still happening. Tommy Paul and Alexander Bublik are thrashing it out on the Arthrash Stadium. and over on Armstrong, Beatrice Haddad Schmeier and Maria Sakharie are just getting going. They are still in the first set, having started at 11.28pm. It was scheduled that match to follow Alexander Zverev's match against Felix Auger Aliassime and predictably that match was fairly lengthy and here we are. And it's just, it's another illustration of how equality is not equity because technically they do treat the men's and women's equally here in terms of billing on the main stadium courts and they alternate who heads up the night session, who gets the first slot and who gets the second.

39:44But they play different formats of the sport, therefore the implications of the scheduling are entirely different for men and for women. So treating them equally does not equal equality. and you have two tennis players coming out to play an incredibly important match at nearly midnight to a half-empty stadium. And it's a tough scene and an entirely preventable one. But let's talk about the match that hogged many an hour on Louis Armstrong Stadium tonight. The first night session match, the defeat of the number three men's seed. Alexander Zverev is out, losing in four sets It's 4-6-7-6-6-4-6-4 to Felix Auger Aliassime, the biggest Grand Slam win of Felix's career and further evidence that all you need is a little chat with David Law.

40:42James Gray: Yep, tennis podcast meets on the eve of the tournament and we chatted about how three years ago he was world number six and Davis Cup champion and a US Open semi-finalist and here he is now down at 27 in the world and 25 years of age and we had a good chat about that, available to listen to if you'd like to and it seems to have acted as a springboard for this fantastic performance. What do Felix Orgelius-Emen, Arturinder Kness and Karolina Mukova have in common? There literally is only one answer to that other than their professional tennis players is that they all had a chit-chat with David Law before the tournament.

41:22James Gray: Yeah, I mean, those are the facts. Look, he was sensational tonight. I've never seen him play that well. He lost the first set and he was edgy. Zverev was serving quite well. But even in the first set, I mean, he actually got broken immediately for two love and he broke immediately back. And I actually thought then, OK, he's already proved to himself that he can get on to the Alexander Zverev serve. Yes, he's had a problem with his own getting broken and it got broken again. And he was the underdog. He was, I think, wary of Zverev. But I think Zverev was wary of him if he played well. And what happened in the second set is that Felix Augerliassime started to hold serve comfortably.

42:11James Gray: He started to roll through service games. Love service game after love service game. And he was struggling to make much of an impact on return until they got to about five all. And then he just absolutely hit the heights. He was in the zone. And really, he should have won the set more straightforwardly, in my view. He could also have lost it. It was a very close second set tie break. But he deserved to win that second set. And from there on, Ogi Alia seemed absolutely dominated Zverev. He took him apart. he did what all the players that have had wins over Zverev have done over the last several years in the big matches stand up to him he tries to bully them with his game and kind of with his presence and it takes somebody to stand up to him and give it to him back and actually try to take it to him and the whole thing that Zverev has been saying all summer long is that he wants to be brave in the big moments and it was Orgelia Seem who was brave in the big moments and he hit best part of double the number of winners that Zverev hit tonight and it's yet further evidence of the fact that Zverev is limited as well as Orgelia Seem returning to the the heights of his career from three years ago and maybe it's a one-off but I really have never seen him play this well maybe it's the start of something because he was absolutely brilliant and it's very well he he looked what i believe him to be somebody that won't win a grandstand title what i find so incredible about this is that you mentioned tennis podcast meets and the impetus for that was seeing orge alias seem just a few weeks ago against yannick sinner in Cincinnati put in a honestly terrible performance.

44:10Yeah, I agree. He could not find the court that day, and we were talking about it and comparing that performance to his previous record against Yannick Sinner. Okay, I know a less good version of Yannick Sinner than the current one, but still, it was so stark how, frankly, bad Augele Aliasin was that day, and it sort of made us want to speak to him and just find out kind of what was going on. Well, what a weird sport tennis is, because honestly, like a few weeks later, I agree with you. Certainly that is the best I've seen him play outdoors. Like there was that little run he had when he kept winning all those indoor tournaments.

44:51I know they were much lower level than this slam, but he was awesome helping Canada to the Davis Cup. Maybe the other matches that would come to mind would be that one against Medvedev at the Australian Open, which he lost, the one against Nadal at the French Open, which he lost. These were other good performances at slams, but they were three years ago now, and we've not seen anything like that from him since. Normally, when I watch Orjali Asim, I wince a little bit as he goes to line up a backhand. You don't trust it to come out the middle of the strings. It could go off at a bit of an angle, and it could be a bit too close to him when he strikes the ball.

45:26But today, he was really middling that shot. He was using the slice quite nicely as well, but the forehand, the intent he had on the forehand, the intent to hit it, to get round the backhand when he could and hit the forehand, I think he ended up with 23 forehand winners to Zverev's three. Just absolutely stark contrast in their approach to one of the main shots in the sport, the shot that people attack with from the baseline, the forehand. And it was Urjali Asim who was going after it. I thought he was brilliant. There was also a part of me that thought, is he going to get nervous here down the stretch?

46:04And that didn't happen either. He continued just middling the ball. That is, yeah, you said it, the best I've seen him play in years. And off the back of that Sinner performance just a few weeks ago, credit to him because that could have been chastening, what happened to him against Sinner. and I know you're not able to play necessarily like he did tonight against Yannick Sinner. He takes your time away from you more than Zverev does but it wasn't really about that against Sinner. He was just awful. He had no form it seemed but he's turned it around and put in that performance and it was a very, very special atmosphere on Armstrong.

46:46The crowd were with him. He was a little bit emotional in that on-court interview as well. I thought with Blair Henley he said something like I've been coming here a long time but I'm still young which kind of perfectly summed up his career and yeah I'm just really really happy for him to be honest Yeah it's hard to believe that the guy that we saw play Yannick Sinner in Shrink a few weeks ago a handful of weeks ago was the same guy we saw standing in the middle of the Armstrong court tonight soaking in the applause from the crowd the raucous applause from the crowd and asking for more putting his finger to his ear asking for more.

47:24That is not the guy that I think of Felix Auger Eliassine being. And that isn't the guy he's been for a long, long time. I don't quite know where this has come from. He said that, you know, this has been coming and building for a long, long time. And I suppose we're always talking about process, not outcome. Process, not outcome. If you keep doing the right things, then it'll come good eventually. The results will come eventually. and maybe this is that or maybe this is a flash in the pan. Only time will tell. But I've never really loved watching Felix Orgelia see him. I've never quite got it, even when he was being really hyped when he first came through and there was a lot of excitement around him.

48:07His game always left me a little bit cold because it just looked quite mechanical and quite meat and potatoes to me, like a really good Steve Johnson.

48:19you know, serve forehand, weak backhand, almost a bit of an out-of-date style of tennis. He's obviously, you know... Good movement. Incredible movement. Which I'm not sure you would say about Steve Johnson. No.

48:36But I loved watching him tonight. I loved his tennis tonight. And the movement is something that I think it's worth picking out because I think his forehand was able to be that good because his footwork to move around it, to be in the perfect position, not many can do that. There were so many forehands that he was middling tonight that would have been defensive shots for other players or certainly not clean winners like he was able to turn them into. He's an incredible athlete and I'd love him to keep this up. I don't know if he will, but let's see. And that skipping around the backhand thing to play the forehand is something that, you know, I think anyone who plays tennis to a certain level knows that when you skip around your backhand to hit your forehand, you actually do go after it with more intent because you've got to because you've given up a bit of court position, you've got to hit that forehand hard.

49:35It's something that Zverev doesn't really do. He's so content because his backhand is so good. He's so content to just sit in that backhand corner and trade with it. But if someone is prepared to skip around their own backhand and get forehands into play against him, he lets them do that. And I think Zverev's forehand would be better if he moved around his backhand more and hit it from that position. Because you have to go for it there. It's a mindset thing. And Zverev hasn't really got that. And I just don't think you can win the biggest tournaments, the slams, without that. There will always be someone along the way who has that capability to rip the match from him.

50:18And whether they can actually close the match is what we've been questioning over the years. And that, I think, is why Zvere has found himself so deep in so many Grand Slam tournaments. He's been outplayed by guys willing to outplay him. They've not been able to close. But the guys against him this year have closed.

50:36James Gray: 16 of them. There are 16 different players who have beaten Alexander Zverev this year. Sinner, Tien, Sarundolo, Fies, Komisana, Griekspoor, Berrettini, Mazzetti, Muller, Djokovic, Fritz, Medvedev, Rindeknes, Hatchinov, Alcaraz, and now Ogier Eliassime. For the world number three to have lost to 16 different players, I mean, he is living a charmed life at that ranking, and he's not going to be at it for very long. I mean, we actually, they didn't hold a formal press conference, tonight um they had a huddle in a corridor um to which katherine and i both attended and and i i put it to him that he'd spoken a lot since wimbledon about his conversation with tony nadal and rafael nadal about how he needs to impose his game and be brave in the big moments and i said that seemed to be what you you were doing and building towards in canada and in Cincinnati and you were coming to the net did you not feel able to do that here what and why not and he said he said I was I didn't feel the ball well all tournament long and my backhand didn't feel right um he didn't seem to know why that he couldn't get any timing but that that was what he said um but I'm afraid that's just not good enough you know and and it's proved because you just lost and the third round.

52:01James Gray: And they're slipping by these tournaments. He's getting older. And, you know, if that isn't going to work, what is? So it'll be... Felix Orgelia seemed to take on Andrei Rublev for a place in the quarterfinals. Let's party like it's OG next-gen finals in Milan. It's a great opportunity for these guys, isn't it? Daytime. You know, it's been a bit of a running joke about how I've sort of had an interest in that generation of players that we've sort of kind of had pass us by in the last few years. But it is something I love about the sport. You know, you do kind of move on. They're not as exciting as maybe we thought they were going to be.

52:50James Gray: And they've been completely overtaken by Senna and Alcraz. And they're now in the mid-20s. And yet here they are still plugging away. and suddenly it comes together for Rogelias Im tonight. Suddenly, Alex Dimonor is still in the tournament and Andrei Rublev's found a way through today and now they're going to face each other and there are opportunities out there. It is a beautiful thing about the sport but maybe it isn't too late for them. Yeah, Alex Dimonor getting through over Daniel Altmaier by retirement, another retirement. There have been a lot. I feel like that's probably something that we need to be discussing big picture, you know, and it'll inevitably come back to men playing best of five.

53:37And should men still be playing best of five? And that kind of feels too much to get into right now. But it is it's hovering there on the radar because we've had another two today, Maershack and Altmaier. So it'll be Alex de Manor against Leandro Reedy for a place in the quarters. The winner of that to face the winner of Rublev against Felix. And I assumed my favourite position out on court 17 for that first set of de Manor against Altmaier and took that in. And it was brilliant. There's people around me, I think, discovering Altmaier for the first time. He's kind of a bit of a secret, I think.

54:15He's got a wicked game with that single-handed backhand and the big top spin. And yet, if you were to poll 100 people here at the US Open, I think not that many would actually really know who he is and certainly not have seen him play before. So the crowd were loving him. But even though Dimonor lost that first set on a tie break, and he said this in his post-match press conference, he knew that he had the edge physically because Altmaier had played so many sets in the first couple of rounds here. So, like, it was one of those where Dimonor lost the first set, but he'd done a lot of the work by pushing it to over an hour.

54:49And it's interesting, Dimonor, like, saying in his press conference how he has been a little bit annoyed about his scheduling and how he's been out on court 17 a lot. And he sort of thinks that, you know, he's a pretty high seed here. And, like, not once has he got, like, a bigger stage than that. And I just, I don't know, I feel like he's playing a little bit with that on his shoulder. I'm quite enjoying that energy from him. And look, he's got a tremendous opportunity now to get to the semis. I mean, there's obstacles in the way. If Ujali Asim plays like he did tonight, if Rublev plays like he can, you know, there are absolutely, it's not a given, but I think this is kind of his chance to get to that stage.

55:36And well, then it might be Yannick Sinner and we don't speak of that matchup. In terms of the women that we've seen this evening, Igu Sviante beating poor old Anna Kalinskaya. 7-6, 6-4. Weird old match this. Really, really weird match. Kalinskaya was 5-1 up in the first set. Served for it three times. And, well, let's be honest, got a touch of the Jan-Lenna-Strofs in each of those three service games. and it was kind of a tough scene for them both, actually. Like, incredible competitive spirit from Svantec and incredible front-running. Like, when she got her teeth into this match, you felt like she was going to win, kind of in spite of herself.

56:23But the tennis wasn't great from Svantec. No, really poor, actually, I think. You asked the other day whether the performance in the second round against Susan Lammons would be a one-off or should we be a little bit concerned about the form that Svantec had there and led to her getting involved in that three-set match? And my feeling was that it would probably be a one-off, but this was worse, actually. I think she played worse today. Maybe the switch from day session to night session, she talked about finding that quite stressful. It's not an eager Svantec atmosphere, is it, out on Ash at night, where everyone is talking.

57:07She wants to be able to focus and, you know, go through her process. Well, it's just so distracting out there. But she really didn't play very well. Her first serve percentage in particular was, you know, by her standards, pretty woeful, down in the 40%. And that just kind of put her on the back foot. Her backhand, which is the reliable wing, it's the one that she doesn't normally miss, was missing a lot. and how Kanan Skaya didn't win that first set. I mean, Kanan Skaya is probably one of the very best players on the WTA Tour not to have a title to her name and she's been in a couple of big finals and not quite been able to win in those tight positions and there's a little touch of the Alejandro Davidovich Fakinas about her in terms of it's less obviously sort of going wrong in the big moments and it's less dramatic but there's a little bit of that in terms of like oh I don't really trust her to close that here.

58:15She's got a service motion with very low ball toss and there's quite a lot that can go wrong and her ground strokes are a bit jolty. You know she hasn't got really clean technique on them. She hits a lovely ball, but you just feel like everything under pressure is a little bit wired, a bit too wired. And it was really tough seeing her leave the court. They have those cameras in the hallways and they lingered on her and caught her stopping in the corridor after leaving Ash and being really upset. It was a very tough watch because I think she knew that she let this one go. Honestly, Shontek was there for the taking at times tonight.

58:59And, you know, she put herself in that position and then couldn't close. And that's just really tough. Yeah, mixed feelings about that, the shot of her in the corridor. On one hand, I felt like it was almost kind of important and very powerful because Kalinskaya is one of those players that's accused of, you know, not caring that much just because she happens not to be demonstrative on the court. And it was a moment of really profound insight into everything that's swirling around internally out there. But then there's also, on the other hand, it does feel a little bit intrusive. I suppose the players do know that there are cameras there, but even so.

59:42She now plays Alexandrovich, who didn't quite double bagel Laura Siegmund, but so nearly double bagel Laura Siegmund, who was dreadful today. It was a weird performance from Siegmund. She didn't really try and junk up Alexandreva that much. And it's like, well, you're not going to beat her from the baseline. So what are we doing here? Stop wasting my time. But there I was out on court five having my time wasted. Alexandreva was great. She's got those big flat hits that sometimes Shontek can be troubled by. I think she'll need to be fairly on her game. Shontek, which she hasn't been, certainly wasn't tonight and wasn't totally convincing two days ago.

1:00:26I think Shontek will win, but I don't feel quite as sure about it as I would have done projecting forward to that match at the start of the tournament, maybe. Matt, Anisimova corner for you. Three sets for her over Jacqueline Christian and more good news, She plays the winner of the match currently on court between Beatrice Adajmaja and Maria Sakharie, which is a tremendous advantage for Anisimov, isn't it? It is, yeah. I mean, we talk about it all the time, don't we? Once you get, you know, once you start playing these really late matches, it interrupts your rhythm. It's hard to get back in the flow.

1:01:05And, yeah, Anisimov finished, oh, I don't know what time it was, half seven or so, something like that. You know, a good, it's going to end up being a good five and a half six seven hours earlier and she'll be able to get to bed at a proper time she'll be on her usual routine so definitely an advantage she's not playing that well like i think she i think all of her matches this tournament she's won because she's better than her opponents not because she's playing her best tennis if that makes sense you You know, there was 5-1 up in the first set, gets pegged back to 5-4, loses the second set with 24 errors in that set, goes up a break immediately at the start of the third, and you think, OK, she's settled.

1:01:49It just breaks herself, and suddenly it's won all again, and she's having to fight. Encouraging, though, the way she's serving. You know, I talked a lot about her serve at Wimbledon and how that was probably the one shot that was maybe not quite firing. She said herself, I've got to the Wimbledon final with an average serve. I think she's worked on that in the few weeks. Her percentage is up. She's hitting fewer double faults. She's hitting a few more aces. And it really came in handy for her down the closing stretch of this match. It really helped to get over the line because she was stressed today.

1:02:25You could tell. There was a moment where on the big screen on Grandstand, they flashed up her face and you could just see the stress on it. And the crowd responded to it. They realised, gosh, she's in a bit of a state here. We need to try and help her through this one. And they did. I think the US Open's a bit stressful for her. This is now her best US Open run. She'd never had a top 100 win here before this week. She's figuring things out at this tournament. I think she feels the pressure of playing at home a little bit more and wanting to do so well. She's got a load of people in her box with her.

1:03:03so I don't think she's playing as well as she was at Wimbledon but we know it's in there the level she just needs to needs to find it's a real pep talk it needs a David Law pep talk I would I would I would encourage it but no look she's had a decent draw so far arguably that continues in the fourth round and then if it is Fiontek in the quarters well everything changes Yeah, pray for Matt on that day if we get there. OK, that's it for part two. We'll be back in part three to look ahead to tomorrow. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85 % of the 14500 use the ServiceNow AI platform.

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1:04:48Welcome back to part three of tonight's tennis podcast, where we look ahead now to tomorrow, a day which sees Arta Rindeknesh take to the Arthur Ashe Stadium. What a moment for Arthur and for David. We start on Ashe at 11.30. Yeah, it is an 11.30 start again. Jessica Begula against Anne Lee. And second on day session for Carlos Alcaraz against Arta Rindeknesh.

1:05:18James Gray: Yeah, big. big yeah i i mean i i'm fascinated to see how how al cross continues this momentum really from his perspective because what we've seen so far has just been the highest level i've seen at this tournament and i just i'm sort of waiting for the the letdown match the the one where he's scrappy or the one his mind wanders or something like that. But, you know, it might not happen. Maybe this is the one where he just sort of roars through and plays the way he can all the time. But I think Rindy Kinesh will give a decent account of himself but probably get nowhere near in terms of actually winning the match.

1:06:04Yeah, on Nalcras' form so far, he'll probably give a decent account of himself and lose like one, two and two.

1:06:09James Gray: Well, yeah, I think that's not an exaggeration because there are good players out there who hit good tennis shots at Carlos Alcaraz and he can make them look ridiculous. Night session on Ash is Novak Djokovic against Jan Lennard-Struf followed by Elena Rabatkinner against Marketa Vondroshova. That's not where that match should be. It's disappointing to see that match, well, any women's match scheduled after a men's, to be honest, but that match deserves better. I'm excited for that, really excited. And if you have tickets for tomorrow, it's a national holiday here on Monday, isn't it? Everybody stay.

1:06:46Stay to watch Rabakina against Vondroshova. And of course, after I've made that plea, Vondroshova will be inexplicably terrible. Let me down. Armstrong tomorrow starts at 11 with Adrian Manorino against Yirila Hetschka. My predictions are going so badly, I might need to go back to the Manorino well. He's the only guy that's brought me points. I can't do it without Adrian Manorino.

1:07:13James Gray: Yeah, I've gone to Paolini and Sigmund to mess me up the last two days. Sigmund today was a new low feeling. Actually, no, I had Gaboli today who was barely human. DNF. Yeah. So Manorino, my guy Manorino against Uri La Hetchka. Then it's Barbora Krojcikovic against Taylor Townsend. Oh, yeah. What a match. Then it's Thomas Mahatch against Taylor Fritz. Matt, how are you feeling? I'm pumped. Yeah, big check energy on Armstrong tomorrow. Three of them in a row. And finally, Rina Sabalenka against Christina Bookshare. I didn't think Sabalenka looked thrilled to be on Armstrong the other night. So I wonder if she'll be similarly not thrilled tomorrow.

1:07:59It's interesting there's no night session tomorrow on Armstrong, is there? It's just one match after the other. so a bit of a different feel to it.

1:08:08James Gray: I can tell you that Christina Buxer is going to be quite disappointed herself because I went to see her yesterday after she had her win. I was the only British or English-speaking journalist in the press conference and the Spanish journalist did look at me as if to say, what are you doing here? But anyway, in I went and she was very nice and answered my questions but she did say, you know, at that point we didn't know who she was going to play but she knew it could be Sabalenka and she said, well, you know, if it is Saar Blanca, maybe I get to play on Ash. And I do get that. I think if you're like a Christina Bookshire level player, like collecting all of the main stadiums at the Grand Slams would be like a great thing to be able to do.

1:08:52Like you want to play on them all, don't you? And yeah, I can understand why she'd be a bit annoyed about that. So the bad news is it's both the world number one and not on Ash. there's no chocolate oranges there are there that's it for singles tomorrow we're at that stage of the tournament there's fun doubles all about the place if you've got a grounds pass tomorrow Alexandrovian doubles action with Zhang Shui and Sara Irani and Jasmine Paulini taking on Americans on grandstand that one's second on they take on McCartney Kessler and Peyton Stearns that'll be fun yeah lots of good stuff happening tomorrow and I think it'll be a great Atmos does tend to be around Labor Day weekend, doesn't it?

1:09:36I keep looking for mixed doubles on the order of play. I keep seeing Michael Venus's name being like, oh, cool, Venus Williams in the mixed doubles. That's A, not how you display tennis scores, and B, forgetting the fact that the mixed doubles has already happened. Feels like a long time ago. Okay, that is it for today's tennis podcast, except for the very important news of our mascot, Gia. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Owned by Clarissa Tita Manel. What a collection of names. Gia is looking at me here with, dare I say it, a little bit of the Billie Jean about her. Clarissa says, I would like to feature Gia, my aunt, Tita Manel's sheepoo.

1:10:27Hang on. I would like to feature Zia, my aunt. Who is Zia and who is the aunt? Is the dog called Zia? Help me out here, Matt. I would like to feature Zia, my aunt, Tita Manel's sheepoo. I think there's a row of comma between aunt and Tita Manel. Right. I would like to feature Zia, my aunt, Tita Manel's sheepoo. I think you're I think that's exactly right this is the downfall of everybody wanting me to react to the mascot photos live on the show which I am doing but I'm also totally fucking up poor old Gia's moment in the sun right feature Gia my aunt Tita Manel's sheepoo which is a shih tzu poodle cross as pet mascot on her birthday this isn't what you had in mind is it oh dear happy birthday hang on is it Tita Manel's birthday or is it Gia's birthday oh no anyway whoever's birthday is it's today Sunday August the 31st happy birthday happy birthday Gia and or Tita Manel maybe they have the same birthday Gia is quite the sassy jet setting little bundle of energy she loves going to doggy daycare at PetSmart where she enjoys socialising with the other dogs she did not get tennis at first but over the past year, she's learned to stay up at ungodly hours to watch tennis happening across the world with her dog mum.

1:11:59Zia is Tita Manel's lucky charm and favourite travel companion in the last three years. I'd love to know where Zia jetsets to. It's a lot easier to jetset if you're an American dog. They've got far more, well, forward-looking policies about dogs on planes than we do in the UK. Billie Jean's dream of a holiday on a Greek island feels pretty distant. I'll break it to a gentleman. But not for Gia. I mean, Gia looks like a jet setter. What a face. It's quite Billie Jean-y, that face, isn't it? It's very Billie Jean-y. Also a little bit Yahtzee-ish. Yahtzee is Denis Shapovalov's dog, and I do think Yahtzee is the best tennis dog.

1:12:45Closely followed by Bella, Anna Callenskaya's dog. So some silver linings for some losing players today.

1:12:53James Gray: And there's a ranking. Yeah, I think about it a lot. That should be your list. Tennis dogs. Yeah, you should have banned an intensity list. I think I've got that ready to go, actually. I can't get the it with the dogs, can I? I don't think you'd feel good about bumping dogs off the list. No, well, I've got a weird situation with Coco Andreescu because she's just not around. But she's on the list. She is on the list, but she's not a number one at the moment. She's just not round enough. She's not bringing anything to my life. Yahtzee. I'm getting a lot of Yahtzee content. Like Willow, Federer, great dog, not enough content provided.

1:13:34Anyway, Gia. And by the way, I have realised, so Tita means aunt. Oh, God. Tita means aunt in the Philippines. Oh. Yeah, so our editor, Gia, listening to this now, has probably been... Head in hands. ...pissing himself laughing for the last five minutes. I thought it was a bit like Tia in Spanish. Right, you've just looked it up. I suddenly realised the aunt thing. So I think it's Clarissa's aunt, Manel. Right. Not Tita Manel. We still don't know if it's Manel or Gia's birthday today. Correct. Happy birthday to everybody whose birthday it is today, Sunday, August the 31st. Good save. Thank you very much.

1:14:19Hello to our mascots, Phoebe, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Geoff. We've missed the 12.30 bus, so let's have some shout-outs, Matt. We have Ben Olsen. Hello, Ben. From Winter Haven, Florida.

1:14:37James Gray: Ben Shelton. Sadly, no longer in the tournament. I bet Winter Haven isn't very wintry. Certainly not wintry, as I understand winter. to be, which is foul. Winter Haven, Florida, knows how to do winter better than London does. Any other Ben? Do we have any Ben still in the tournament? Probably not.

1:15:05No, okay. We tried, Ben. We failed. Ben says, since I became a big tennis fan, my favourite players have been Sloane Stevens and Kana Shikori. Like it. He's worried that, you know, both of their careers are coming to an end. Yeah, I think he might need to find some new ones. Yeah, he's looking for suggestions. Oh. David, your suggestion? Of people who are a bit like Sloane Stevens and Kana Shikori. Well, I'd go with Art of Fies if I were you, Ben.

1:15:36James Gray: He's epic. As being like Kana Shikori? No, just like being a legend. Well, he's inactive at the moment. Well, exactly, just like Kana Shikori. okay that's a fair point touche thank you Ben we've also got Brian Errands hello Brian like Brian Shelton yeah will the third shout out be a Blake to complete the Shelton set Brian says I don't know of any tennis Bryans other than Brian Shelton and the Brian brothers who all sit on a different pew Brian Vahali because this is Brian with an I for Hayley for Hayley maybe yes who is a significant figure in the running of this tournament he's not tournament director is he but it's something of that ilk he was here the other night yes I mean I'd hope he's here a lot yeah but he was front and centre the other night on pride night right okay I hope he's here now he's just skiving off the rest of the time Brian thank you And I think Brian Verhali, that's the correct spelling, I think?

1:16:49I think so, yeah. I think that's a good shout. Thank you, Brian. This Brian, our Brian, says, My first live tennis experience was as a 10-year-old at the 1987 Davis Cup tie between Canada and Ecuador.

1:17:02James Gray: Oh, wow. Who won? Andres Gomez beat underdog and hometown favourite Andrew Schneider in a five-set marathon under the hot July sun. So cool. for life. Oh, I see. Also burnt to a crisp, he says. I've spent some Champions Tour time with Andres Gomez. Yep, me too. Back in the distant past. Thank you, Brian. I remember when he beat André Agassi in the 1990 French Open final. Out of the blue. Everybody thought Agassi was going to break his duck. And I was firmly cheering for Andres Gomez. And sure enough, he won his one and only grandson title. That's where the pep talk started, you see. And finally, we have Mario Rivera from New York City.

1:17:56Hello, Mario. Hi, Mario. And I've met Mario. Oh. I met Mario at Wimbledon and then a few days ago, I met Mario's son, Logan. That was... Yep. The incredibly wholesome photo that we posted on our Instagram. Yep. How lovely. In fact, Mario has two sons who play tennis, Grayson and Logan, and they both listened to the pod, and I met Logan the other day. That's marvellous. He was lovely.

1:18:24James Gray: And Mario, like Mario Anchic, former player who once beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon, the year before Federer went on his domination of the tournament, and Mario Anchic now works in the city in New York as a sort of banker type. As a sort of banker type. Yeah. I saw him here a few years ago. Lovely bloke. I was front row for that Federer and Schich match, having queued up overnight. Oh. Yeah. Mario, thank you. Cheers, Mario. And thank you to Logan as well. That was a lovely, wholesome photo. We had a high five. Oh. That's good stuff. Good stuff. Thank you all. Thank you to all of our friends of the Tennis Podcast.

1:19:12Becoming a Friend is the way to listen to the latest edition, all editions in fact, of Tennis Podcast Meets, to find out what David Law said to these people.

1:19:22James Gray: Yeah. You should have heard what I said off there. It gets you access to all of our bonus episodes. We produce tons of them throughout the year of all different kinds. It gets you access to The Barge, our safe community platform. It gets you ad-free listening. What else does it get you, David? It gets you Tennis Relived. eight editions per year. It gets you Grand Slam review shows straight after each Grand Slam. We have voice note contributions from wonderful people like Mary Carrillo and Pam Shriver and all our favourite people from The Athletic. We obviously have Tennis Podcast Meets. Anything else that I've forgotten?

1:20:00James Gray: Hannah's Column. Hannah's Column. We do monthly Q &As or live shows on YouTube of some sort. you get access to pre-sale windows for live show tickets the pre-sale window has gone for Wrexham but still come to Wrexham if you're quick you might get in if you're slow you might get in as well come to Wrexham everyone everyone who wants to come will get in get a ticket link in the show notes folks we are part of the Athletic Podcast Network it's been a fun night at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre and we'll be back tomorrow

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