US Open - Federer, Carillo steal show as Day 1 beckons

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1:08Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast coming to you tonight the eve of the 2026 US Open from Newport, Rhode Island, or rather Kingston, Rhode Island, which is about 30 minutes and two bridges away from the town of Newport, which is, of course, home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where this evening we watched Mary Carrillo and Roger Federer be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. To be honest with you, I think all tennis podcasts from now on might end up coming from Rhode Island because we like it here so much we might not leave. Yeah, yeah.

1:50David Law: This has been a bit of an upgrade on what I was expecting, to be honest. I thought this would be a good trip. It's been an absolute belter. Can you believe that 24 hours ago we were in a McDonald's on the side of the road in Milford, Connecticut, which I'm sure is a lovely place, by the way. Someone messaged us on Instagram to say, I got married in Milford. and look we we made great memories there too different memories we did those chicken nuggets went down well yeah whatever chicken thing i had did not go down well but yeah happy memories nonetheless um but nothing quite like what we experienced today quite frankly um i'm still in a state of emotional and sensory overwhelm quite frankly about about what we experienced today at the international tennis hall of fame um so i'm gonna need some hand-holding to get through explaining the experience to our listeners quite frankly david yeah well i think it was significant above all else because the two people involved um on a very personal basis the fact that mary carilla was being inducted was the reason we were here i've never been to the international hall of fame before um and it was an absolute treat to come primarily just to see see that moment and to be granted by her a space on the fourth row of the the horseshoe uh where all the all the people that are invited and the people that have been inducted in the past are all sitting um and obviously being followed by roger federer who just sort of means so much to so many people and in so many different ways and his his own response to it that it was it was a very emotional evening and even the fact that we just got to see the hall of fame generally and walk in and walk around the museum and kind of compare it to to Wimbledon it was a similar sort of feel and and they have done the most marvelous job with with the place over so many years and then just the running of the of the event itself I just don't think they could have done it any better in terms of creating a platform for this celebration which in strict terms is is a little bit peculiar to us in Britain we still don't do that many halls of fames though they're more sort of there's more of them around but such a big deal made of this and yet when we were there I was completely bought into it I I I didn't have an ounce of cynicism in my body as I watched Mary Carrillo and Billie Jean King introducing her and Merka Federer, Roger Federer's wife, introducing him and then Federer himself speaking.

4:54David Law: The whole thing was wonderful and it was just done in such a good amount of time. I mean, we've just released a T-shirt. We'd cut the faff on it and there was no faff around this day. And I was braced for it, quite frankly. I mean, there was a stage. where there is a stage, there is so often faff. And, yeah, there wasn't any. And the whole thing was it was a TV broadcast. I mean, it was going out live on a lot of significant networks in big countries, obviously here in the US. It was going out live on Sky Sports. And, again, you know, I had in my memory the one-point slam at the Australian Open this year, which we all really enjoyed, but was diminished as an experience by clearly being a TV product first and foremost at the expense of the in-person experience.

5:49And to be honest, I think the fact that it was a TV product and they had that in mind with the production seemed to enhance the production to me in terms of the in-person experience because it was so slick and so smooth. It felt like there was a premium on cutting the faff. tonight um and look with that i'm saying that not having anything to compare it to this is our first experience of of the hall of fame but i had the exact you've put it perfectly david like my body is programmed as a as a as a brit and as a as lots of other things as well to try and find cynicism in things and i could i could find none tonight it was so pure and so so joyful

6:40Catherine Whitaker: and you know we had a lot of conversations with people who said things like have you ever been to the hall of fame before and we all admitted that no we hadn't and without fail they kind of all said well you're coming in an incredible year it it is not always like this it hasn't always been like this in terms of the amount of people that were there the amount of I think just effort and time that had gone into making this event as special as it could be and to therefore be there for the first time this year just felt incredibly special for us and you know I pinched myself the entire time that we're friends with Pam Shriver and we're friends with Mary Carrillo like friends with two hall of famers now and massive massive shout out to both of them for making this day so special we we had a lovely seafood lunch with with Pam and she showed us into the hall of fame and helped get us into the museum as well as Steve Flink shout out to him as well who also helped us and And the museum is somewhere I've always wanted to go.

7:56Catherine Whitaker: And we got to see a little bit of it today. It's made me desperate to want to go back as well and see more of it. And then the actual ceremony, the induction ceremony, Mary Crillo followed by Roger Federer. I mean, you know, like so special to have them as a duo. When I think of tennis and the constant that it's been in my life and the person I've most liked watching play tennis is Roger Federer and the person I've most liked hearing talk about tennis and get enthusiastic about tennis and hold tennis to account is Mary Carrillo and those two people are going into the Hall of Fame in the same year.

8:42Catherine Whitaker: It was so perfect and, yeah, it's going to take me a very, very, very long time to process it, I think. And, you know, I really appreciated how special it was, but it's going to be something I remember for a very, very long time. Yeah. For the majority of it, you were in tears, Catherine. Yes, I was thinking while I was brushing my teeth just now, I was trying to remember the last time I would have not necessarily cried as that much in public, because I definitely think that's happened a fair few times, but cried that much in public in front of strangers. And I think it might have been when I saw Titanic at the cinema.

9:32That's going back a bit. Yeah. Or, to be clear, one of the three times I saw Titanic at the cinema. Okay. Do you remember which time was the most teary?

9:45Matt Roberts: I think probably, well, I think, Matt, probably there's not much to choose between them. I cried a lot each and every time. I do remember the second time I saw it, I was crying in the opening credits because I knew it was coming. You knew it was coming. Yeah. So it came sooner, the second and probably the third time. And that was the problem here because I went very early with crying. I think I went in a montage, in an opening VT, and that was unfortunately a Rubicon crossed for me and it was, yeah, very overwhelming. I mean, as an experience, I think I probably, because of how well done it was and how deftly they communicated the meaning of the Hall of Fame, I really feel like I got it tonight completely And it's hard not to just walking, just walking in.

10:44I've seen pictures. I remember a few years ago when I was presenting the US Open for Amazon, the Hall of Fame is Greg Ruzedski won the title there when there was an ATP event there three times. And he really pushed to go to take some cameras to the Hall of Fame and produce a VT from there. I mean, he did, you know, I saw this VT so many times that I threw to it in every rain delay. Greg giving us a tour of the Hall of Fame. And I always thought, yeah, that looks lovely. But like I was I never thought, gosh, that looks like a place that would move me. And I felt I felt it immediately walking in.

11:27I mean, it is absolutely beautiful. It's really beautiful. um but i yeah so i i i i understood immediately the the weight of the occasion and what it all means but and of and of course i i found i found roger federer's induction very very moving and i thought mirka federer introducing him was was perfect despite the days and weeks of speculation about what A-list, glamorous, unexpected name it might be that would be the person to introduce him. Actually, I do think Mirka was the perfect choice. But it was for me, Mary, that made it one of the best days of my life. Quite frankly, she is such a special, important person to me and for me.

12:32that I can't really believe I got to see that this evening.

12:37David Law: Yeah, the speech she gave was a perfect combination of her humour and her ability to tell stories. And, yeah, it was a love letter to the sport of tennis that she's always been in love with since she first picked up a racket. as she was joking to sort of collect clams and crabs at the beach. You know, it was beautifully pitched, all of it. She had everybody in the palm of her hand. It felt like she was talking to you directly. But it did move you immensely, didn't it? What was it about it that moved you so much? David, I've been clear, I'm still processing my emotion. I'm not sure I can quite put it into words yet, but I do feel a very strong sense that I, not that I wouldn't be here without Mary Carrillo, because in all honesty, when I was beginning my career, I didn't really know about Mary Carrillo.

13:45You know, we weren't exposed to her in the UK at all. It wasn't until I was established working in tennis that I really became familiar with her work, but I don't think I would be the type of broadcaster that I am or even close to it without Mary, without the example and the pretty singular example of somebody that, well, to quote Mary, say what you mean and mean what you say and stand for something even when it costs you. There's a lot of people out there that stand for something, but only until it costs them something.

14:35And again, I'm just going to quote Mary in her speech because she said it all, but talks about the sport she loves with clear eyes and being prepared to hold it to account. again even when it costs you something um I don't think there's anybody else doing it like her there's certainly there's certainly no women that have ever done it like her I mean Trailblazer feels so tired and and trite so yeah I might I might be here doing something in tennis broadcasting without Mary Carrillo but I wouldn't be doing anything like this and I wouldn't have been able to find some of the things in myself that I'm most proud of, I suppose, without her.

15:26David Law: Yeah, she's an empowering presence and force, I think, within the sport. And also the fact that she was at the absolute top throughout her career as a woman in the men's game, which just was unheard of really um the fact that she she did that herself well i still i still don't there's still not enough of it happening but she actually kind of made it possible i think for other people because she showed everybody how absurd it is that you that you wouldn't be able to do that wouldn't have be able to have that situation by doing it and being the best yeah and to me there's something so powerful about the contributor category at the hall of fame which they have which is for people who aren't players because obviously like it's it's it's amazing the achievements that the players have and we all look up to them and they make up

16:30Catherine Whitaker: the vast majority of the people in the hall of fame but something mary talked about in her speech was how she had to kind of find a different path within the sport once she realised that she couldn't play it for that long because of her injuries and her knees. And her dream originally was to play it. She talked about how she just wanted to witness Wimbledon and be there and walk through the doors and she got that. She got out of her playing career, I think, kind of what she did want to, what she did dream of, but it wasn't a long career and yet she stayed in tennis and she knew that the sport was kind of her place and that she could give so much to it and it could give so much to her and i just find that so powerful you know as as people who are all carving out a life in this in this sport that but it isn't through playing it i think mary just paves the way in that sense as well like the care that she has for this sport and the love for it and the love that people within the sport therefore have for her as well.

17:42Catherine Whitaker: I just, I find very, very impactful. Yeah, and as much as I think it's tremendously meaningful for Roger Federer and all the players to be inducted, he's got roles of honour all over the world with his name and achievements on. OK, you know, Mary's got the 77 mixed doubles title with John McEnroe. And she's, you know, we saw we saw one of her Emmy Awards and her Peabody in the in the in the museum today. And, you know, I know she's not short of accolades, but it's not the same. You know, this this is so significant for somebody like Mary, just as it was for Steve Link, who you spoke to today, David and Richard Evans.

18:31who we got the chance to chat to tonight. And there's something about the contributor category. I remember my dad always used to get really grumpy about knighthoods and damehoods. He would say, well, you're getting it because you've already got all the achievements. Why do you need the thing that says, well, you've got all those achievements? And like, I do see some logic in that, but like, not that Mary doesn't have achievements, but it's not the same, is it? She doesn't have those roles of honour that will stand forever and be studied and viewed in museums and poured over by historians. It's easier for somebody like Mary Carrillo to get lost or more lost than Roger Federer.

19:28Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, exactly. And now we'll always have as well her speech like that will be there for people to watch and learn from and see in front of them the brilliance of Mary Carrillo. I mean, once she got up on that stage, she just, again, to use a Marianne Corrello word, owned the joint. You know, like you saw her come to life and she was performing the speech in the most brilliant way. She wrote a poem. She wrote a poem about tennis rivalries that have sustained her and that she's enjoyed watching. And it was so funny. There was there was so many laughs during her speech. and oh it was it was incredible and and not to not to sort of constantly bring it back to us in our experience but she she talked she had that brilliant turn of phrase about how when sort of thinking about top top tennis players and other hall of fame inductees that were inducted for their on-court achievement, she said, well, all of their greatest moments were mine too.

20:43Yeah. Because I got to tell the stories and I got to talk about them. And, you know, that's us, isn't it? You know, we feel that too.

20:55David Law: It was a heck of a mic drop moment when Mirka stood up tonight, I thought because honestly, I thought Rafael Nadal was going to walk out. And when he didn't, and it was Mirka initially, I thought, oh, well, that's going to be a bit weird. And I mean, I really misread that. Me too. I thought that that was going to be underwhelming, if I'm completely candid with you. And I totally sold her short there. That's interesting because, had you told me that a couple of hours before, like before I'd walked through the doors at the Hall of Fame and experienced any of the ceremony, and you told me it was going to be Merkur, I'd have gone, well, that sounds crap.

21:47But by that point in the ceremony, I was so bought in and felt so trustful that whatever's happening here is going to be... I just felt like they're not going to let something underwhelming happen. Yeah, but I mean, ultimately, it's up to her to bring it to life, isn't it?

22:06David Law: Yeah, absolutely. And as she said in it, I mean, really, she's only ever spoken publicly in front of a tennis audience once. This is the first time since 2002, she said, because she doesn't do interviews and those sort of things. now I've heard her speak a number of times because I've spoken to her in various dealings I've had with her over the years um but that's the first time I've ever heard her speak publicly as well and I just thought it was the most brilliant speech it was so well timed and she wrote it she'd written it but she delivered it with real humor and and sort of kind of timing almost you know and and she knew what it was doing to roger who was pretty pretty emotional when listening to it but she just she just nailed it i thought i just thought it was really smart and um yeah quite quite funny and and i i thought actually that was kind of that's it sort of upstaged him in a way i mean his was notable because he was so emotional i mean he just kept having to stop every few minutes he had a couple of moments where he sort of went downhill and managed to to kind of start flowing in the way that his game used to flow um but then he would get stuttery again he would really be struggling to get through it and i mean which is lovely and endearing and it always has been with roger federer that he gets emotional and doesn't doesn't mind it accepts it and and doesn't hide away from it but crikey she was i thought she was really cool who cried more katherine or roger federer the big the big hall of fame question i cried more than mary's family no but i agree with you david i i felt like

24:03Catherine Whitaker: billy jing king was the perfect person to introduce mary carillo as she did because of what we've just said about how there would have been a lot of people at this ceremony today who might not necessarily have fully known Mary Carillo's career and reason why she was being inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame. You know, there's a lot of people there, largely Rocha Federer fans, you know, they put on a whole extra viewing party just adjacent to the main ceremony where thousands of people come in to watch the event on a screen. And that's the Roger Federer effect. So I felt like Billie Jean King in her speech did such a great job of summing up why Mary is so important and such a deserving person to be in the Hall of Fame.

24:57Catherine Whitaker: But you don't need to do that with Roger Federer. You don't need to explain to anyone why Roger Federer is going into the Tennis Hall of Fame. It's the most obvious thing in the world. And in that sense, Mirka was a great person to have do the speech because she barely talked about tennis and his career in terms of his achievements because we know all of that. She just provided this lovely insight into the man. And yes, the man that was a tennis player, but also has put his family first. And it was lovely. And I feel like you've got two people there who, you know, Federer couldn't have done what he did without the support of Mirka and Mary would not be Mary Carrillo without Billie Jean King.

25:51Catherine Whitaker: You know, it was kind of the two people that they couldn't do it without. And yet they both provided, I think, exactly what the ceremony needed to set up the two speeches from Mary and Roger themselves. Yeah, it was really special. And the air of mystery around Mirka as well added to it because we just, as David said, most of us just haven't ever heard Mirka speak before. So it was like, wow, what's this going to be like? And as soon as it started, it was great. It's really well put. The moment that got Catherine crying.

26:28Matt Roberts: Oh, for goodness sake.

26:29David Law: But, which also got, I think, everybody else in the place crying, was when Mirka paid tribute to Roger's parents.

26:38Matt Roberts: I just pulled myself together.

26:40David Law: And they were shown on the screen. And, you know, she provided such lovely context to how Roger's mother, Lynette, had been, who used to run their accreditation system in the Basel tournament. And I knew that because I went to the Basel tournament in 1998, when Roger Federer made his debut there. And sure enough, she was there. She gave me my accreditation badge. She was lovely. She's just such a lovely person. And, you know, just clearly such normal people, really. Just down to earth, normal people who just happened to have this wizard of a son with a tennis racket. And they couldn't, clearly couldn't be more proud.

27:23I quite like the way Roger called Robert Federer the real RF. Yes. That was good. Yeah, that was his... I mean, he did a brilliant speech, Roger Federer. It was wonderful, and seeing him be so emotional and...

27:44David Law: Flustered as well at the start. He really struggled to get the first words out. It's very powerful seeing him be so emotional and own that, you know, seeing one of the greatest male athletes of all time like that and having that visual, which I'm sure will go everywhere. It's a very powerful thing, I think. But I found the most powerful thing seeing this man that is known for his poise, this man who we've spent years watching do something so, watching a man, a human being more in their element than any human being has ever been, you know, just knowing that you're watching someone do the one thing that they should be doing on this earth.

28:37Matt Roberts: that's the state in which we're used to seeing Roger Federer so to see him flustered and ill at ease in any way and ill at ease is probably a stretch but he was very clearly extremely nervous and you know I think that's a compliment to the whole experience and the honour of being inducted but I found that a very interesting experience seeing Roger Federer in that state. Yeah, it's kind of disarming. Yeah, very. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it was. And there's certain triggers, I think, that got to him.

29:15Catherine Whitaker: You know, I've always been struck by whenever Federer talks about Peter Carter, just how emotional he gets. You know, I think, you know, Peter Carter, one of his early coaches and when he passed away, I think that was a real wake up call for Federer in his career to to realise that he actually needed to start working harder and better. And I think he still carries it with him that maybe Peter Carter didn't see the version of Roger Federer that he then became. You know, Peter believed in him and believed in his talent and saw some of it, but never, never got to see the true heights of it. And it was kind of at that moment in the speech where I think he first got a bit tearful Federer.

30:02Catherine Whitaker: And then from that point on, there were lots of moments. and yeah he he but he handled the emotion so well and was funny with it and um you know he said oh god now the murka section's coming up because he knew he was going to get tearful through that bit as well and yeah the the whole thing like even the way the light just dropped through the evening it was like the 2008 wimbledon final you know by the end the lighting on on on fedora gave it this sort of cinematic effect and yeah very special anything further to add about about this evening no i've enjoyed this road trip and now we better start a grand slam tournament folks

30:45Matt Roberts: what are we doing uh the the the said grand slam tournament will be starting in just over 11 hours from now. And it's a what, four hour trip back? Yeah. Okay, so that's seven hours. We've got to have some sleep. Yep. We haven't finished this podcast yet. We haven't finished this podcast yet. It's not up yet. That's it for part one. Newsletter's not done. Oh my God. That's it for part one. We will be back in part two to talk about the players that came to press today, including Novak Djokovic. In a world where AI is changing every role in every industry, knowing who actually has deep expertise matters more than ever.

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33:56Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast. I mentioned Novak Djokovic, one of the players that came to press today. He actually didn't have a whole lot to say, really. IME got asked about his documentary. Wolf in Wintery got asked about playing his 20th US Open and that career milestone. All nice stuff, all sort of interesting stuff. And in terms of sort of previewing the tournament, I don't think we learned a huge amount from Novak Djokovic. He did talk about or certainly mention how much of a meal he's made of early rounds of slams in recent years and kind of tipped us off to expect it to be the same.

34:39Well, he was kind of saying, I hope it won't be. I hope I can navigate that a bit more smoothly. But it didn't sound wholly convincing that he thought he would be able to. So hold on to your hats for Djokovic against Navone tomorrow. Who else did we have in press today, David? Artifis?

34:57David Law: Yeah, and he is an interesting story at this US Open because he's just won Cincinnati. he's he's been drawn in the section that could end up putting him up against ben shelton in the last 16 but you know if he's going to get that far he's first of all got to get past stefano in the first round so he's quite an interesting character beyond he's quite an interesting character just beyond sort of my interest in him uh at this tournament maybe maybe for one of the first times really because whenever he's got a run of form going in the past he's he's ended up getting injured and not being able to play the grand slams he's played hardly any of them um but yeah in this in this press conference he was asked about his what he was most pleased with with cincinnati and the title there and he said mainly the serve i said he said i felt my serve was really functioning well.

35:56David Law: It was causing trouble to the opponents. He said kind of the rest of my game was almost medium. He said, I don't quite know how to say it, but it was, he was talking about high floor stuff, really, that he was able to provide a good solid level without playing spectacularly well and still win the title. So that was quite an interesting element. And just on Shelton, he was asked about his sort of friendship with Shelton because they've been pals really for three or four years now. He said, we're just really similar. We've got similar energy. And he said, you know, he's beyond a colleague to me.

36:34David Law: He said, he's somebody I could go on holiday with. And they could be playing against each other in the fourth round. So that really would be something if they ended up doing so.

36:45Matt Roberts: Please tell me he said pals.

36:47David Law: No, he didn't. That's just my, you know, I like the word pals.

36:50Matt Roberts: I do too. And I'd love to hear Art of East say it. But alas, maybe one day. I was going to say the Taylor Towns and Naomi Osaka of the ATP tour. Yes. Going on holiday together. Yeah, who actually have multiple times, I think, been on holiday together. They have, isn't they? They have. Yeah. Well, I don't know that. Somewhere, I think, tropical looking. Somewhere beachy. Cool. Yeah. Get yourself an Instagram, David. It's all happening there. It's Damarinka. came to press today. What rollercoaster of a week he's had. Yeah, he's done more travel than we have. He's been back to Switzerland and was in the Swiss mountains when he found out he had a wild card.

37:42He'd been in New York, I think was expecting a wild card, certainly hoping for one. Obviously didn't get it. outrage, off he goes back to Switzerland and then he gets one and he comes back to the tournament. So, you know, hardly ideal preparation.

38:02Matt Roberts: Does make his initial magnanimous statement after not receiving a wild card all the more impressive, given that he had unnecessarily travelled to New York and was presumably typing that out from the flight back to Switzerland. I would have been so pissed off. Well, I think he probably was as well, but he was trying to be the bigger man. Well, I'm very impressed, very impressed with that. We had, who else did we have? Iga Svantec, impressed today. Again, I don't think one where we learnt a huge amount other than she seems to be in a good place. She did reference post-Wimbledon having been a real reset for her.

38:43Matt Roberts: She said she finally got a training block with Francisco Roach. She actually talked about the year generally as having been pretty much her hardest year. But obviously she's had this tremendous optic recently. And yeah, I think she's somebody that needs that stability. I think, doesn't she? It makes sense to me that having a training block and a reset and a chance to settle in away from the hamster wheel of the tour with a new coaching setup would serve her particularly well.

39:21Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and she's such an interesting person, I think, at this tournament, Svantec. I would say for someone of her standing in the game and her quality of play, I think she's kind of underperformed at the hardcourt majors in her career. you know like she's won so many titles on the tour on hard courts and she obviously has won the us open which is fantastic but she's not even had like that many other near misses she said she had quite a lot of sort of early second week or second week exits at hard court majors and i just think that her career kind of deserves better than that and it does seem like this one is well set up for her i think she's talked in the past about you know it's it doesn't come naturally to her i don't think new york and everything that goes with it she does seem to be embracing it quite well at the moment she's been to two broadway shows she she said in her press conference think she's been having a good time but it's not easy for her but she's coming into this one in a very different place to the last couple.

40:35Catherine Whitaker: I've thought at past US Opens she's been pretty burnt out by this stage of the season. One of those years is obviously post-Olympics and I think that all kind of caught up with her at the US Open in 2024 and then last year was coming off the Wimbledon title and I think going into US Open last year I thought she was in a great place. She'd won Wimbledon, she'd won Cincinnati but by the end of it I think you could kind of tell that she was running on running on fumes and she didn't play very well okay she won a title in Seoul I think but she didn't play very well at the back end of last season this time she's had that training block she's worked on her game she's played two really good tournaments in the lead up it feels like a chance for Igor Sviontek to put together in a deep run at a hard court major again that I think her career deserves.

41:30So she's one of the players

41:32Catherine Whitaker: I'm most interested in actually over the next two weeks to kind of see how it goes.

41:38Matt Roberts: Anamanda Anisimova, she was in press today. Sounds in a good place. She's been hanging out in Central Park. With Priscilla Holm? I think so. I can only assume that. Presumably. Splitting her time between Mukherjee and Isamova and anyone else on the WGA tour who just wants to hang out she's seen the memes yeah she was asked about the memes she gave a great answer a picture of what that means, what sort of memes the expressions that she pulls in matches you know she's a very expressive person and she plays a lot of very dramatic matches and those two things come together to create lots of amusing for people on the internet facial expressions and it gets clipped up and you know she's a kind of yeah she becomes a bit of a meme i feel you amanda but she talked about how she used to find that hard to deal with and she didn't like seeing that side of her when she was

42:43Catherine Whitaker: a teenager coming through and realizing that she was like that on court but she's kind of learned to embrace it and find it funny along with along with everyone else

42:54Matt Roberts: good for you yeah Amanda Elaine Rabachner was in today talking about the ankle foot injury saying it's better than it was but

43:07Catherine Whitaker: there was quite a lot of like mixed messaging in there and by better than it was

43:11Matt Roberts: it means all how it was was she was unable to walk on it at all so I mean it needs to be a heck of a lot better than it was for her to be even remotely competitive at this tournament. I mean, it sounds improbable to me that she would be competitive. Pretty fanciful.

43:34David Law: She said it's pretty amazing that I'm here at all, that I'm able to do what I'm doing right now. I walking about, running about, hitting tennis balls, but I'm in the state she was in a week ago. um but between her her injury and anissa merva's um acceptance of memes i sort of think of of katherine today walking on the stony gravel outside barefoot um and me videoing it and then katherine still posting it on the instagram which i thought was most marvelous it's just undeniably

44:12Matt Roberts: good content isn't it you thought the pod comes first the pod comes first before my dignity it's been established many a time you've been paddling hadn't you yeah i went for a little i can't resist i can't resist open water when it's there to be sampled um so i went for a little paddle but then i hadn't thought through the logistics of the fact that i was wearing trainers and socks and, you know, sand sticking to feet. There was no, you know, it was quite a rustic beach. There was no tap or shower or anything. There was no rinsing available, so I had to raw dog it back to the house. And that had gone fine.

44:54Matt Roberts: I think I'd done that pretty elegantly until we arrived at the gravel driveway. And I thought, oh, God, I've come this far. It's only 20 feet. no big deal but someone's always got a phone out haven't they these bloody phones well Catherine I'm very

45:17Catherine Whitaker: sort of envious and inspired by that spontaneity to just go in the open water because I'm always thinking about the logistics and I'd have been thinking oh that's going to be a nightmare to get back on were you thinking that when I was in yeah I was like she's going to have to do a very strange walk home but like it was great you wanted to get in the water you did and like it held me back so

45:42Matt Roberts: you know and i was thinking about the sharks yeah only one of us is on the internet waddling well that's it go have a look at it folks i still wanted you to put annie lennox walking on broken glass over the top of that just would have been perfect i've had so much content to manage today matt I couldn't post it quickly enough. Anything else to say about the players that came through press today? Maybe not the players, David, but the administrators. We've had a Craig Tiley press conference, and less so an Eric Buterak press conference.

46:19David Law: Yeah, I mean, look, I suppose it's not really surprising in that Craig Tiley is the incoming USTA chief executive, president, I'm not exactly sure what his title is. But the tournament director of the US Open is Eric Buterak. Now, in the past, Craig Tirey had both of those titles at the Australian Open and for Tennis Australia. And, I mean, people are used to asking questions to him. That just is how it is. And, like I say, he's new. So virtually all the questions were going to Craig. And, I mean, to be fair to Eric, any time one came to him, He was quite happy to just sort of almost block it back and then just say, yeah, happy with that.

47:08David Law: And, yeah, Craig did all the talking. And as usual, he's got plenty to say. He was talking about the prize money and made it very clear that he's always been a player-oriented tournament director at Tennis Australia, that this had been going on before he arrived big big increase in prize money a year ago but he was also referencing the perks that they've given to players on top of the sort of headline prize money figures they've given all the players um a$1 ,000 american express card credit to use during the tournament they've given them all$2 ,500 worth of uber vouchers um it's it's clever it's clever a way of using your sponsors, getting them as part of the narrative.

48:00David Law: I don't know that it is Craig that's done all this off his own back, but it is classic Craig Tiley to make the players feel that they're getting more out of things. And I expect that's the direction they'll continue in.

48:16Matt Roberts: Was he asked much about ticket prices, overcrowding? a lot of the issues that are being talked about among fans and spectators coming to the tournament.

48:31David Law: Yeah, he made the point that they are desperate to find a way to make more opportunities affordable for spectators, but he also pointed to Fan Week as an eight-day extravaganza of allowing people to walk in free. and they're reaching extraordinary numbers of people through the doors for that. He wasn't hiding away from the secondary market pricing problems, but I don't think he's got an obvious solution to that at this stage. I mean, he's been here very little time at this stage, but that has raised itself, hasn't it? The mayor of the city has laid on 1 ,000 tickets at$100, I think, for New Yorkers, which is a nice touch.

49:27Matt Roberts: Mum Don has done that, yeah.

49:28David Law: He was there today. But it still feels like a drop in the ocean, really. I think that they've got a systematic problem there that needs fixing. I mean, that's sort of damning for the USTA, isn't it,

49:41Matt Roberts: that the mayor is having to step in and do that? I mean, that's not the USTA that's doing it. It's great that that's happening, but...

49:48David Law: Yeah, no, it's a fair point. And then he was asked about Stan Wawrinka's wildcard and paid tribute to Patrick Kipson, who actually ended up not being able to play the tournament and opened up that wildcard for Wawrinka in as much as... You know, a lot of players would just get to the start line and pocket that money, and he didn't. but he also said that they'd kept in constant contact with Stan Vafrinka but it turns out Stan's then told us he went home so I'm not exactly sure where that little breakdown in communication happened we'll we'll never know so WhatsApp just weren't going through because Stan was in flight mode

50:37Matt Roberts: Oh, the mystery. Okay, let's call it that for part two. We'll be back in part three, though, to talk through our day one order of play. 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. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at ServiceNow.com.

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51:57Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's tennis podcast, our final preview pod before play starts in earnest. Not tomorrow, folks, but today the clock has just ticked over to midnight. We're so back. We are so back. Do you know how the US Open is getting itself back, David? It's with what I would call quite a soft launch. Okay. I don't know I just don't like a Sunday soft launch If we're going to I don't know

52:31David Law: Give us the details Have you got Kasparud again Catherine?

52:35Matt Roberts: No Well look Okay I'll read out the order of play And you tell me if you think this is a belter We start on Ash at midday With Jessica Bagula against Elena Gabriela Russo Fine Yeah Don't mind a bit of that Fine Then we have Daniel Medvedev against Hugo Gaston, which could be really fun. I will enjoy that match. But as an Ash, Arthur Ashe Stadium, 2026, that's not blockbuster, I don't think. I don't think ESPN are frothing at the mouth for that. Former champion. It's more like a match that we'd be interested in than what ESPN would be interested in. Wait till you get to the next one on the official day session schedule on Ash.

53:22Matt Roberts: Intentionally Blank. There we go. Our favourite. Were they the inventors of Intentionally Blank? I can't remember. I thought it was somewhere else. Me too. It was here or Australia. It's been drafted into another Grand Slam. Certainly Paris were late adopters of Intentionally Blank, but they very much embraced it with open arms latterly. To me, this is genuinely, this is actually quite interesting because we've had a lot of day sessions on the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the first week of this tournament in the last few years. Now they've changed it to the 12 o 'clock start, but two matches that have been over at about half three, four o 'clock.

54:03and it's been several hours before the night session starts and Ash has sat there empty and people have poured out of Ash and created so many people around the grounds because there have been no matches to watch on Ash. There's still loads of people there because they've only seen three hours of tennis and it's created enormous crowds and overcrowding. I actually think it would be good if they get more in the habit of trying to fill two or three hours on ash before the night session with another match and i i don't know whether that's the plan but the fact that that is there on the on the schedule with a with a tbd suggests that maybe they're looking at doing that i do think that would help ease some of the the crowding problems at this tournament is that what What intentionally blank is, a TBD?

55:01Yes, TBD versus TBD is what it says, intentionally blank. What I should say is that it's very possible that Medvedev gets himself involved in David's favourite phrase, elongated drama, and there actually isn't a gap. It doesn't necessarily feel like a problem so much for tomorrow. It's been a problem in the past when it's been like Sinner winning in an hour and a half and Shontek winning in an hour. Intentionally blank is usually Yannick Sinner's fault. and Daniel Mephedev you can pretty much bank on getting himself embroiled That's how much I'm into tomorrow's order of play I've spent the entire time talking about intentionally playing

55:36Matt Roberts: The night session starts with Novak Djokovic against Mariano Navone He's warned us that we should expect elongated drama What's your problem with this order of play? Second on in the night session is Sofia Kenin against Venus Williams Oh yeah, I've got a prediction in that one. Check out the newsletter. In the newsletter, yeah. Yeah. It is, I should say, we have the, we'll save it for tomorrow to preview it then, but we have the show called Order of Play for Monday as well, and it is women's matches after men's matches on Ash both days. Don't love that. It's the other way around on Armstrong, but I just don't think you should have women's matches after men's matches.

56:21David Law: Yeah, in the night sessions, because of me, you're looking at what 10 o 'clock earliest start yeah that's what you look at i mean it's the

56:29Matt Roberts: perfect example of equality versus equity isn't it like it is not like it shouldn't be balanced balancing it isn't equality because it is not the same for women to play second after a men's as for men to play second after a women's anyway it's too late for me to be getting into that sort of nonsense. Louis Armstrong Stadium tomorrow opens with Jasmine Paolini against Making her comeback. We haven't seen Paolini for a little while. She's been out injured. She's playing the world number 106 Veronica Erijevic Erijevic As you can tell I'm very familiar with her game

57:14Help me out

57:15Matt Roberts: someone What do you think we know about her? Oh, I would have stepped in if I could. So that's first on. Second on is Coleman Wong against Tommy Paul. And third on is intentionally blanking.

57:33David Law: Yeah, I see where you're coming from. I love Louis Armstrong Arena, but I'm not massively into what I've just heard.

57:42Matt Roberts: Svitolina against Solana Sierra first up in the night session. and then Alec. Who can sometimes be really good. Yeah, I quite like the sound of that one. She can sometimes be bad though.

57:52Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, big, big difference between floor and senior. Yeah. We've decided to not go cynical, haven't we, after tonight?

58:00Matt Roberts: That is a statement of fact, David. I've commentated on that player be bad this year on a hard court. She also is sometimes really good, but it is a fact that she is sometimes bad. relatively speaking, of course. So, Svitolina against Solana Sierra, first on. The second on is Alexander Bublik against, well, it's saying Jay Wolff on the official order of play. Now, I assume this is the same man that I know to be JJ Wolff. They're trying to make Jay happen. Okay. But it's definitely the man we know to be JJ Wolff. Okay. He's rebranded. It's either a mistake or a rebrand. We'll find out for you tomorrow when we're nodding off during these matches.

58:52Matt Roberts: This is our hype show.

58:58Matt Roberts: Grandstand tomorrow. You will Hetchker against Pablo Karenja Busta. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough, isn't it? Martin Kostjik against Storm Hunter. I quite like that. Second on. Yeah, instant. Yeah. Third on Mimi. Mir Ketsmanovic against Denis Shapovalov. And finally, it's Lois Boisson against Emin Evaro. Oh, I'd quite like to say that. Yeah, that's not too bad. Barbora Krojikova opens court 17, stadium 17, they call it, against Kamila Rakimova. Zhang Shui against Leila Fernandez, second on Jaime Farrier against Jenson Brooksby. And then Alex Mickelson against, is it Federico Sinner? Yes, it is. Federico Sinner.

59:47Yeah. And Farrier Brooksby is like low key, a match I'm quite interested in,

59:53Catherine Whitaker: especially with it being the Carlos Alcaraz section.

59:57Matt Roberts: Winner of that to play, either Carlos Alcaraz or...

1:00:01Catherine Whitaker: Roman Cefiulin.

1:00:03Matt Roberts: Roman Cefiulin, indeed. And we do know, teaser for Monday or tomorrow's show, So Carlos Alcarez will play day session on Monday. Yeah. Against Roman Sifulin. Court five tomorrow opens with Talia Gibson against Donna Vekic. And that is why Pam Shriver is setting off for New York at 6am tomorrow or today. Go on, Pam. Farewell, Pam. Luka Van Asch against Cameron Norrie.

1:00:34Catherine Whitaker: This is brick court now.

1:00:35Matt Roberts: His second on. Katie Bolter is third on. and Jacob Fernie? It's so late. Is his first name Jacob? Yes. Correct, Catherine, yeah. Jacob Fernie. There's another Brit on court. Ten tomorrow. Toby Samuel second on against Thomas Mahatch. Look, there will be good matches tomorrow. I just don't exactly know where they will emerge from. Yeah. Look, I think David's right. I think the Ash schedule is actually pretty good. They're not necessarily matches that would be on Ash if it was a two-day start for the first round. But I think they are quite interesting names and matches. I think it feels like quite a soft launch because it's not really backed up by loads of interesting matches.

1:01:27There'll be great matches going on on the outside courts. There always are. There's just not many that are jumping out to me

1:01:34Catherine Whitaker: as being like really potentially consequential for the tournament or they're not the round one matches that I was circling when the draw came out, you know. But that means that a lot of good stuff's coming over the days after that.

1:01:50Matt Roberts: Exactly, Matt. That's the spirit. The hard launch. Exactly. Folks, that is it for today's show, except to say hello to Leo, our US Open mascot. Kara says, what makes Leo truly special is not his charm, his humour or even his endless energy. It's the way he loves, fearlessly, completely and without condition. This is going to make me cry again. For goodness sake, I've just pulled myself together. Fearlessly, completely and without condition. No adventure is too daunting. No friend is unworthy and no amount of affection is ever too much. He has brought immeasurable happiness, comfort and laughter into our lives.

1:02:31Matt Roberts: Quite simply, Leo brings me the purest joy I have ever known and is my faithful companion through every season. Leo is also very excited about day one and is trying to decide which outfit to go with. And my goodness me, what a choice. Outfit one involves a bonnet, outfit two involves a bow tie and outfit three involves a bandana and some sunglasses. Absolutely extraordinary Leo scenes. Which one do you think is best capturing the day one vibe? Bonnet, I think. I think bonnet, yeah. In fact, it's a slam dunk for the bonnet. It's not my favourite, but I do think it's appropriate for tomorrow. Yeah.

1:03:17Matt Roberts: Yeah. Save the bow tie for Alcaraz, maybe.

1:03:24Catherine Whitaker: Oh, I was thinking the sunglasses for Alcaraz. Yeah, fine.

1:03:27Matt Roberts: Who gets the bow tie then? Who's playing on Tuesday? Goff? Yes. Great. There you go, Leo. Hello to our mascots, Bodie, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. I was so expecting to scroll down and it say, we'll save shout outs for tomorrow, but it says shout outs. Well, I have some, but we can also save them for tomorrow. No, let's do this thing, Matt. Okay. Strat yourselves in. I don't know which way this is going. We have Todd Dunn from Little Rock, Arkansas. All right, Todd. Hello, Todd. Little Rock, I can tell you, is the capital of Arkansas.

1:04:09Matt Roberts: And Todd, like Todd Martin, that we all saw tonight. Yeah, and who shook hands with me and who I told some little stories about, which I'm not going to repeat on the podcast. And I should say, they're all positive. Todd's a lovely bloke. Yes, he's very, how do I describe it? A very decent man, Todd Martin. Good guy, Todd Martin. What do we know about this, Todd? Todd says, I've been listening since around a year before student Matt entered the pod world and have listened to every episode since. Thanks for providing me joy and relief from daily life for at least eight years. And we've just done another hour of that.

1:04:52Matt Roberts: Thank you, Todd. That's extremely nice. Really, really nice. Todd remembers the student Matt days. Those are the days I mean this Matt's good too Student Matt's the first incarnation of Matt you knew Yeah absolutely Why am I talking about myself in the third place

1:05:15Matt Roberts: Thanks Todd You can see why you're so into it Todd And finally we have Rachel Jones Hello Rachel Hi Rachel Who is from near Zurich, but originally from Wolverhampton. Oh, well. But does admit to being a Wolves fan, David. I'm quite sure I've said

1:05:36David Law: about that in the past.

1:05:38Matt Roberts: Well, Zurich is very appropriate because Switzerland.

1:05:41Catherine Whitaker: Yeah. Mary told a great story in her speech that involved Zurich.

1:05:47Matt Roberts: Absolutely. And it is, it's all over the internet. Good. Go and seek that out. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely sensational. I hope you're enjoying Raul Jimenez back at Wolves, Rachel. And Rachel has been listening to the pod since about 2012. Wow. God, these are long embryo, Matt, days.

1:06:11How old are you in 2012, Matt? Oh, you're making me do maths. 16.

1:06:18Matt Roberts: GCSE, Matt. You were just turning 16 when we launched the tennis pod. podcast. Yeah, that is right. Now look at you. Lounging on a... We've come a long way, baby. Lounging on a corner sofa. We're not going to get a pee body, are we, with this work?

1:06:42Matt Roberts: But no regrets. It's been a heck of a night. Rachel, thank you ever so much for being a friend of the Tennis Podcast. Thank you, Todd, as well. If you'd like to get yourself an intro, a shout-out, any of that jazz, just become a friend of the pod and get access to all of our bonus content. Some of it's considerably better than this.

1:07:02Catherine Whitaker: Most of it, I'd say.

1:07:04Matt Roberts: The link is in our show notes, folks. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. It has been an incredibly special day for us today. I hope you'll excuse our being a little indulgent and talking about it on today's show because it felt appropriate to do so. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow when the US Open gets underway. Let's do this, folks. Thank you for listening. We'll speak to you tomorrow.

1:07:53Thank you.

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