US Open Media Day - Alcaraz reassures … he’s ready!

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1:16Matt Roberts: Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast coming to you from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York, less than 48 hours out from the start of the 2026 US Open. I'm Catherine Mitigrew. Alongside me are David Law and Matt Roberts and together we are the Tennis Podcast bringing you daily shows right the way through until the end of the tournament in 17 days time. We're coming to you today from a little spot behind the practice court so the thwack of balls in the background is coming from various players who are out on court at the moment having a sort of twilight hitting session at 6 o 'clock in the evening right now.

1:57Matt Roberts: And one of those is Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion who we've just been watching from about, honestly, 10 feet away, pretty much, hitting with Ben Shelton, both of whom we got the chance to speak to as part of Media Day earlier on today, where all the top players come through the media conference rooms and take questions from assorted media and TV networks. Alcaraz was understandably the most anticipated player of those that came for media day today for, well, for obvious reasons. It's been four and a half months since anybody's got the chance to speak to him. For most of us, it's been since Australia in January that we got the chance to speak to him.

2:39Matt Roberts: Last time I saw him in the flesh was boarding the flight home from Melbourne to, well, to Doha, and then he was going on to Madrid. So fantastic to get to speak to him, fantastic to get that experience just now of seeing him practice and Matt to kind of map out everything that he'd told us in the press conference room about where he's at with his game and his comeback, kind of map it out onto the, well, onto what we just saw right now in terms of the forehands and the backhands.

3:09Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it's an incredible vantage point that we get there next to practice court one. And, you know, it was very much going through the motions in that practice session. I think they're actually now playing points. I can hear a lot more squeaking of shoes and grunting than when we were out there. It was all pretty low intensity. But, yeah, really interesting to hear from him in the press conference. And I thought generally quite encouraging. First thing I would say is one thing he's been doing over the last few months is practicing his English. My goodness, he's speaking so fluently now. And when he said the words intrusive thoughts, I think he was pleased with himself for getting that expression right in English.

3:55Catherine Whitaker: It was fantastic.

3:57Matt Roberts: Has he spent five months doing Duolingo?

4:01Catherine Whitaker: And he said that because he was talking about how he can compare coming back from this injury to 2024, when he had the forearm injury that was a big part of his Netflix documentary. and he talked about how he was struggling to trust it and even though his coaches were telling him it was fine, he wasn't fully there and we saw some struggles that he had during that clay court season before he got to Roland Garros and, OK, I don't think he ever played his best tennis at that Roland Garros, but he won the title and he was talking about how helpful that experience has been for him because he has been feeling similar things.

4:40Catherine Whitaker: It has been, he said, in his head that the wrist injury is there as much as everyone's telling him it's fine and it is feeling fine, which was great to hear, it is an obstacle for him to overcome. So, you know, I was very encouraged by the fact that he's feeling physically fine. And I think my expectations are that the first match and if he wins it, maybe the first few matches, there might be some doubt, there might be some ups and downs in those matches as he rides this comeback and tries to get out of his own head. But basically what I wanted to hear was that the wrist is feeling fine and we heard that and that is just great news.

5:21Matt Roberts: Yeah, he confirmed no technical changes. He said if I needed technical changes to be here, I wouldn't be here, which big picture was very reassuring, I think. I didn't hear anything to indicate it's not going to be a very rocky ride early on. I think the Romans of Euland match is going to be fun. I think hold on to your hats. And I think for a round or two beyond that, if he gets there, it could be fun. But I also think if he can get there and grow in confidence in that wrist, there's time for him to grow into this tournament, potentially. I found it a very illuminating press conference, David.

6:03David Law: Yeah, I've probably been the least enthusiastic of the three of us about his return. First time ever. Yeah. And I think we're probably hearing some cheers for him and Ben Shelton right now as they probably finish their practice session. There's such a buzz around the place. And there was a buzz in that press conference room because we'd been in there for Jessica Begula and Coco Goff back-to-back, more of them later. and then suddenly more people came into the interview room and I said, well, what's happening now? And you said, Alkraus is coming in. And it was really noticeable the way the place filled up even further.

6:43David Law: I think, I mean, look, his conferences will always be popular, but I think just this scarcity of his availability is such that everybody wanted to hear from him, know how he's feeling, know how he's looking, just get a sense for where he is and where he's likely to be. I do think there could be incredible nerves in that first match against Sifulin. We've seen him get nervous defending the Wimbledon title and playing his first match back on the centre court at Wimbledon. And I just don't think he's immune to that anyway. I think that that could be a factor that Sifulin could take advantage of. But I've got to tell you, the draw was certainly not enough for me to change my opinion on anybody yesterday, as you know, because I still ended up with the same champions, despite Coco Gauff and Ben Sheldon having, I think, rough draws.

7:33David Law: But my sense of where Carlos Alcraz is or could be has changed quite dramatically in the last few hours because of what I saw from him in that press conference. He was reassuring to me, and I actually really enjoyed the way he spoke about referencing that previous layoff and comeback and using phrases such as, I need to play with no fear. I need to play normally. I need to play with my identity, not try and adapt, not try and protect anything. If it's not going to work when he's out there, he's probably going to have to stop or not play a further match at this tournament. but I feel sure that he's going to be sent out there with the message to go for your shots, to be you, and I think he, at least consciously, is intending to do that.

8:33David Law: Whether subconsciously he tightens up in the moment, we'll wait and see, but I thought, OK, here's a guy who is coming back at the right time. I really doubted that because of the fact that he pulled out of Cincinnati. I thought, well, what are you doing coming back for... You must just miss it so much, and he clearly does miss it, that you must be just coming back too early. I don't feel like that now.

8:56Matt Roberts: Yeah, and that timing was an interesting theme of the day because obviously Carlos Alcaraz was asked about coming back at a Grand Slam tournament where it's best of five sets versus best of three. And other players too were asked about Carlos Alcaraz doing that. And I actually think Taylor Fritz gave the most interesting answer about this and he said, well, what else would he do? he said he's fit to play so whatever is happening the week that he feels ready to play he's going to play it whether it's a grand slam tournament or not he said well what's the alternative he stays at home knowing he's ready to play and just watches it on the tv he says okay what's the worst that can happen here he loses first round that's the same as not playing it's worse than not playing because you you you haven't had the experience you haven't had the crowd love you have you know He's having a good time here.

9:49Matt Roberts: You can see that on the practice court just now. Everybody's telling him his wrist is fine. You're not risking anything physically by playing. All you're risking is losing in round one. That's not going to dent his aura. He's Carlos Alcaraz. It's not going to cause a crisis of confidence. He's ready to play. It's not ideal that that has happened to coincide with a Grand Slam tournament. But why on earth wouldn't he? It just sounded so simple and obvious put like that.

10:20Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and he seemed very clear-headed, I thought, in the press conference. And Medvedev debunked the idea that coming back in best of five will be tougher on the wrist. He said if there's any problem with the wrist at all, that is also going to show up in best of three. He was actually like, it's the legs and the glutes that are going to be hurting after not playing for four months and then playing best of five. and that's going to be something he's going to have to deal with, getting his match fitness back. And, look, I was really encouraged by the English portion of his press conference. I was, like, even more buoyed by the Spanish portion of his press conference because he was asked about his expectations and he had a little smile on his face and he said, odio perder, I hate losing.

11:08Catherine Whitaker: And he's like, so if I'm entering a Grand Slam, of course I have in mind winning it. He was like, I'm not going to put any limit on myself. I'm not going to put any pressure on myself. I'm not thinking about what round. But I am here and I hate losing. And he cited Federer and he cited Nadal as people who have had long layoffs and come back and done well at slams. And he was saying, we're going to try and show that I can do that too. You know, like, I completely agree with you about the first round and potentially the first few rounds. But if he can get through that...

11:44Matt Roberts: Yeah, if, if. And he's got those examples, and he's also got his own example. It was so... You've talked about that, Matt. Like, having had that 2024 French Open experience, I think is huge here. For his own... To reassure himself, to soothe himself when he's experiencing the anxiety and doubts that he's going to experience against Roman Cefiulian. He's going to play on Monday, isn't he? We know that now. And I don't think that's going to suddenly disappear if he navigates his way through round one. I do think we could be in for however long it lasts. Quite a fun ride with Carlos Alcaraz, this tournament.

12:32Matt Roberts: Whatever's coming, I'm so excited for it.

12:35David Law: He has given this tournament and men's tennis and tennis generally just the most enormous adrenaline shot in the last few days generally and particularly for me today. Just the reminder of what he brings, the frisson. He makes you just the nerve-ending stand-up. I think of tennis matches when he's playing because he's always looking to be explosive, to take a ball on, to make crowds gasp. There are other players that do that, but there's nobody who does it with quite such frequency as he does it and with such a glee and a determination to do that as part of his winning formula. And it's just a little reminder about how much the sport has missed him.

13:30Matt Roberts: In terms of the other men's players that came through the press conference room today, I wanted to kind of start off by talking about them all in terms of the opportunity, because that is the theme of this Grand Slam on the men's side, isn't it? And I mean, capital T, capital O, the opportunity, TM. It's Yannick Sinner not being here, and it's Carlos Alcaraz being, we assume, more vulnerable than the Carlos Alcaraz we've been used to, a totally unknown quantity at the very least. And these are two players that have had a stranglehold. They have been several levels above everybody else in men's tennis for the last few years.

14:14Matt Roberts: and various different members of the media in the press conferences today have found various different kind of delicate ways of asking these best of the rest guys, well, how much bigger do you think your chances are now that Yannick Sinner's not here and Carlos Alcaraz is coming back from five months off? And I found the answers really interesting. and that is with the caveat of not even knowing if they're true because you've had an assortment of answers to that variety of questions today. We've had Alexander Zverev asking if he's the favourite and he said, I feel like I'm one of 128 players in the draw who are the favourite.

15:01Matt Roberts: We've had Ben Shelton being asked if this is a massive opportunity And he said, I think it's disrespectful to all the guys in the draw to think there's no Yannick Senna. It's a massive opportunity. I don't know if this is just something that they're saying to us to downplay the pressure. I don't know if it's something they're saying to themselves to downplay the pressure. I don't know if that's something they actually believe. But it is not true. this is a frigging massive opportunity and you need to be taking it

15:38David Law: yeah I mean the facts don't support their synopsis that it's disrespectful to the other players because sorry Ben the vast majority of the time you run into one of those two and actually the fact that you ran into other people and lost is probably the most alarming thing at the French Open and Wimbledon. But, yeah, and listen, maybe in his case, maybe that's been quite informative, that he needs to be very careful about the other rounds. And, of course, they do need to be careful, because if you don't get to X, Y and Z stage of a tournament, you haven't got a chance of winning it anyway. But he's always been Mr.

16:20David Law: Reliable. That's what was so jarring about those losses. But there is no question that without Yannick Sinner here, some players' chances of winning this tournament have just rocketed.

16:33Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, and again, I go to Medvedev, who I think has an interesting perspective here because he has been in that situation where he's been one of the guys expected to take advantage of an opportunity in a draw. Let's think of, for example, for some times when Novak Djokovic was missing slams. He'd have been the guy who was expected to take advantage of that. and he's actually not really that guy right now because of his own form and he recognised that and he said, yeah, if you're an Art of Feast or you're Alexander Zverev, you're going to feel like it's different and there's an opportunity. So I do think Medvedev sort of gave an insight there of what it's like when you know you have an opportunity, even if the players who right now do have that opportunity are not prepared to say it for various reasons.

17:26Matt Roberts: And maybe in Shelton's case, he's trying to do it differently because in Paris and at Wimbledon, he was telling himself this is a massive opportunity and that contributed to his shock defeat. I get that. And I also totally understand why they're not going to always be totally honest with us in the press conference room. But I also... We still have to analyse what they say in there because it's all we've got, isn't it? We're not inside their brains. and I do find it interesting.

18:00David Law: Yeah, it is. And it may be a bit of a mind trick for themselves. It may be sort of politeness. The players do like to feel like they're being respectful to the whole draw and to take it one match at a time. But I wonder whether it is a defence mechanism to not get too wound up and wrapped up in the idea of this enormous singular opportunity.

18:23Matt Roberts: Do you also think there's an element of, you know, Yannick Sinner is going to come back. Carlos Alcaraz at some point is going, well, we hope, is going to be the old Carlos Alcaraz again. They don't want to feel like they need those guys. As much as it might be the truth, they don't want to feel like they need those guys not to be there or not to be at their best to have a chance. You know, Taylor Fritz was asked about his final here two years ago. And in the couching of the question, it was a well-asked question. and Taylor Fritz took it well, he said he was asked about that day and his memories of it, and specifically his memories of walking out onto the court.

19:03Matt Roberts: And he said, other than the fact you lost, what were your positive memories of walking out onto the court that day? And he said, well, I thought I was going to win. So in terms of walking out, what I remember about that moment is it was kind of a perfect moment for me in tennis, and I really thought I was going to beat Yannick Sinner in that final as much as, you know, if you did a straw poll around the place, you wouldn't have been able to find anyone that was predicting Taylor Fritz to win that tennis match. And, like, I realise this is damned if you do and damned if you don't. Like, the line between self-belief and delusion in tennis players is paper-thin, if not non-existent.

19:44Matt Roberts: But I do wonder if there's a bit of that. You know, Yannick, Alexander Zverev, I think there's a monkey off his back to an extent that he has this Grand Slam title. But I do believe he still has a Sin or Al-Karra's chip on his shoulder. And it gnaws at him that he didn't beat one of those two to win that Grand Slam title. And I think deep down, he knows his chances are bigger without them being there. But he also is trying to convince himself that's not the case. And he is their equal.

20:15David Law: I mean, he does talk about it all the time, about being a big three, really, doesn't he? And I do think he's delusional, but I do think you have to believe that all the work you've put in on the practice court has made some difference that will catch you up to those guys. And it is still a fact that they might have a bad day anyway. You know, there's two players out there, and if you play to your very best, they may not, and you may win. That has happened. And so I kind of get all of it, but it is endlessly fascinating.

20:48Catherine Whitaker: And I do think we have had some examples this season of players who have maybe put extra expectation on themselves during this period and it has kind of crushed them a little bit. Like I'm thinking of Alex de Menor. I'm thinking of Felix Auger-Aliassine. Like these guys have talked about the opportunity that there's been. and haven't been able to sort of do anything that they hadn't done before. So I think it can go both ways. Like I think really talking about it openly and actually kind of putting the pressure on yourself might not be the best thing to do either. But I do also hope that everyone sort of deep down is seeing this as an opportunity because you want them to sort of lift and search and...

21:46Matt Roberts: Think, this is my time. It might not come again. Right, exactly. The time is now. Yeah. And look, maybe they'll do that on the court. They don't need to do it in the press conference room. But all we've got right now is the press conference room. Just last player I wanted to touch upon from the men's side, Francis Tiafoe. He was suffering a bit with his hip in the Cincinnati final, wasn't he? He was asked about that quite a lot today. And he kept saying, I'll be fine by the time I play on Monday. But I don't know what you thought of those quotes, Matt. He definitely wasn't saying, I'm absolutely 100 % now.

22:20Matt Roberts: It's in my rear view mirror. Like, I don't know. He's on fitness watch for me.

22:29Catherine Whitaker: Yes, agreed. Because the other player, and this is going ahead to the women, but the other player who had had a bit of injury concern coming in was Jessica Bagula. and she was talking about her injury very, very differently. She very much quashed it and said she's been feeling absolutely fine. It was a one-time match thing against Anisimova. Tiafoe wasn't talking like that. So, yes, I agree with you. I'm not, like, thinking he's going to pull out necessarily, but I'm just a little concerned.

22:59Matt Roberts: Yeah, absolutely. OK, that is it for the men that we've spoken to today. Novak Djokovic is coming to press tomorrow as well as a few others. So we'll bring you news of what he has to say in tomorrow's show. But we'll talk about what the women had to say in part two.

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26:01Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, where we'll run through some of the women's players that came through the media conference room today. We spoke to Coco Goff, Jessica Begula, Alexandra Iyala in the main room for the first time. That was really cool. I wanted to start, though, with the world number one and defending champion, Irina Sabalenka, Sabalenka, because I feel like I learned a lot from her press conference today, David, just like we all did from Carlos Alcaraz's, but in a very different way. I was already feeling pretty doubtful about Sabalenka's form and general vibe coming in here.

26:39Matt Roberts: I mean, by her own high standards, the results have not been resulting. This was a different Sabalenka today. The vibes were really off. And I actually went back to watch her pre-tournament press conferences at Wimbledon and at Roland Garros to kind of check that my feeling, my sense was right about this. And it was very, very different. And, you know, Wimbledon and Roland Garros, she was participating, if not leading the line, with the media boycott, and she was on the clock, and she was fielding a lot of questions about the boycott. So it was kind of quite tricky vibes at those press conferences, albeit she also definitely did have a feeling of sort of wanting to reassure the media, didn't she?

27:26Matt Roberts: She didn't hate us because she was participating in a media boycott and it wasn't personal. There was an element of charm offensive in those press conferences, so make of that what you will. But she was defensive today. She was quite sassy to some perfectly legitimate questions, I thought. And there was a very revealing answer to the question, do you feel as confident as you did here last year? She said, always confident in a very clipped way. And that's, you know, tell me you're not feeling confident without telling me, isn't it?

28:03David Law: Yeah, that is fascinating. I'm not hugely surprised because I think she does find all this really irritating at the moment she hates this she hates not playing well and she's not used to it she's used to being able to find it and recently she hasn't been able to find it so you end up getting asked about it all the time and that's irritating as well that all being said I don't think that means she can't win the tournament because I think it's in there somewhere. She's going to become really good again at some point in the next however many months. I think maybe it's not going to be this tournament.

28:46David Law: I'm not expecting her to win this tournament. I think of Yggis Fjantek winning this tournament when I was convinced after her press conference that she hated New York a few years ago. So I'm always a little bit reluctant to try to just read everything into these things. But, look, the results also go with it. The results tell you recently that she's just, she is off. And she's searching for the answers and she's pissed off that she can't find them. So, yeah, who knows exactly what has led to that slightly weird vibe that you've experienced today. But there's a lot of evidence around it that would make you think, well, it's probably because of that.

29:27Matt Roberts: You're right. Pissed off is kind of a good way of putting it, really. because we've talked often, haven't we, about how being well number one really suits Sabalenka in a way it doesn't suit everybody. Like, there are great tennis whose tennis is the best in the world but that actually don't like being chased and doesn't suit them to be the figurehead and the one that everyone's asking about being chased. It's always suited Sabalenka down to the ground. She's like, come and get me. I'll be the face of this sport. I will puff my chest out and walk with swagger and, you know, own it, all of it, lean into all aspects of being the best player in a sport.

30:13Matt Roberts: And, yeah, having to answer questions about being out of form and maybe not being the favourite for this title that she sees as hers, she's the defending champion and she's got number one next to her name, doesn't suit her at all, does not like it.

30:29Catherine Whitaker: yeah she was asked whenever someone at your level doesn't have the results people want to say you know what's wrong with arena you did say you look frustrated your last match in Cincinnati is anything wrong with your game and she replied maybe there's something wrong with people which is true I'm quite

30:51David Law: enjoying this sass I wasn't in the press conference but I'm quite enjoying the report

30:55Catherine Whitaker: reportage it's so hard with Sabalenka because there's not much difference between the kind of energy that she really needs to tap into I think to be a dominant world number one and the energy of when it's all going wrong you know it's a very thin line that she always treads and to me this felt a little bit on the wrong side it didn't feel like didn't give me more confidence in her coming in it felt like, oh, you're pissed off, I think is a great way of putting it. And I'm not sure she's necessarily going to play her best tennis if she's pissed off. But it's close to that energy when she plays her best tennis.

31:40Catherine Whitaker: Do you know what I mean? Like, it's hard with Savalenka.

31:44Matt Roberts: Except that she's got this psychological project going on where she's trying to make that not the case. And, you know, I've got this theory on the go that kind of that's the problem. To take away the weakness, she's also taking away her strength, certainly at the moment anyway. Totally opposite vibes in Coco Gough's press conference. That was everything I wanted to see from somebody who I've picked to win the title.

32:10David Law: Yeah, same here. Yeah, she followed Jessica Pegula into the press conference room and just owned the place, really. I mean, she received her award, didn't she, from the International Tennis Writers Association for being the most helpful female tennis player on the tour with the media. And she did that with wonderful grace and comedy.

32:32Matt Roberts: And she asked, she was informed when she was presented with the award that there was one for the men and one for the women. She said, oh, who won the men's award? And Simon Cambers, the head of ITWA, gave it to her. He said, oh, Daniel Medvedev. And she went, oh. Okay.

32:50Catherine Whitaker: We're getting the same award?

32:52David Law: Yeah, we're the same?

32:54Matt Roberts: Okay.

32:54David Law: But she exuded the vibes of somebody who's just sorted things out over the last year. And you, Catherine, asked her about the difference between now and a year ago. And obviously, you know, it was a follow-up to a question about the big overhaul, really, that she'd come into this event. And you asked her about sort of, you know, here you were practicing in the rain a year ago, practicing your serve. and now you've just had a title win in Cincinnati and she was so clear that she's not just trying to get the bloody thing in anymore. She's not playing with her sort of arm tied behind her back. She has always believed that she's got a serve that could be a weapon and it's like to the naked eye, you look at it and you think, God, when you hit that thing and really get it right, it's one of the most destructive serves in the world.

33:48Catherine Whitaker: The first thought I ever had about Coco Gauff was watching her in Juniors at Wimbledon and thinking, my God, she's a good server. Yeah. I never would have thought from that moment that we would have had the discussions we've had over the last couple of years.

34:02David Law: No, she just feels right where she needs to be, to my eyes, Catherine. And from that press conference, again, reassuring was a great word. But there weren't the same doubts coming into it. I expected it to be upbeat, but she just underlined that.

34:16Matt Roberts: Yeah, she said, she talked about how tough the whole experience of last year was for her, but she said she has no regrets about the timing of it. She said, I stand by the logic of that decision. I didn't want to wait another minute. And she was prepared for this to be a long journey. We talked about this, you know, how she stuck with that project, even when every, well, a lot of people were saying, well, it took like a week for Gavin McMillan to fix Zarina Sabalenka's serve. This clearly isn't working. Why are you sticking with it? And she trusts herself. She trusts herself.

34:54Catherine Whitaker: And she said that she put a lot of pressure on herself so that the outside still thought that Gavin McMillan was good. She was like, you know, everyone had this impression that Gavin McMillan is really successful, and she was like, well, if I'm the one that kind of let him down, People are going to start thinking madly of him as well. But yeah, I know he's good. He's given me good advice. I need to deliver on it. And yeah, it wasn't coming for weeks and months. But she stuck through it and is reaping the rewards right now. And she talked about how she feels like she's arrived at a place where she can not ride or die on her results at the US Open and try and take joy from being here and winning rather than just pure relief, which I think she has felt in the past.

35:41Catherine Whitaker: And that's always such a good sign, I think, when a player is talking about that kind of mentality. That's the sweet spot.

35:49Matt Roberts: It made me think of an answer Matt Futterman gave at the event we went to of his the other night to promote his book, The Cruelest Game. And he was talking about Madison Keys, wasn't he? And about it's not about wanting to win, it's about having permission to lose, giving yourself permission to lose. and it feels like that's... If it's about having fun, then you've got that permission to lose, haven't you? She said, it sometimes feels like I ride and die on my results because of how competitive I am. And, you know, like Carlos Alcaraz, I hate to lose. They all do. But she said, every time I've done well, it's when I've taken a step back and just tried to enjoy it.

36:35Matt Roberts: And she said that, she said, it's not always easy, particularly here, because being here in New York is a lot. But she's, I think, as close as she can get to that here right now.

36:48Catherine Whitaker: And now her mum has taken away family dynamic stress over tickets with an epic Instagram post, which, you know.

36:57Matt Roberts: Have you seen this, David?

36:59David Law: She was asked about a lot. I mean, I heard Coco Goff's account of it, but what was the gist of what her mum actually posted?

37:06Catherine Whitaker: Her mum basically posted that people, and Goff explained it was kind of distant family members who don't communicate with her throughout the year, the US Open rocks up, and suddenly they're getting in touch and asking for tickets. And Goff's mum basically put out a post being like, stop doing that. rather than individually replying to them all. She's just done a post and nipped it in the bud there and there.

37:35Matt Roberts: And this wasn't at Coco's behest. Coco did not know she was doing this.

37:39Catherine Whitaker: I mean, she supported it. Fully supportive of it. Especially as the parents and the agents

37:45Matt Roberts: are the ones mostly fielding these requests. My theory is that Coco Goff is going to get a lot more happy birthday messages this year because her benchmark for whether or not you're in the mix to receive tickets is whether you wished a happy birthday.

38:03Catherine Whitaker: She mentioned that a few times. Several times.

38:05Matt Roberts: These people that didn't even wish me happy birthday asking for tickets, you can jog on. So, yeah, great vibes in the Coco Gough press conference. It was Jessica Bagula that was in the media conference room just before Coco. How did we find her? How was Matt's pick for the title?

38:24David Law: Well, I asked the first question of this press conference, which was about her health. And you touched on it earlier on, Matt. And I was concerned, having seen her in Cincinnati kind of pull up and also fade a little bit in the final, admittedly against a very good opponent in Cocoa Golf. But I thought she was unconvincing compared to what I'm used to. She played so many matches. Is there an actual problem that she's managing here? she put my mind at rest 100 % because she was emphatic. There is no problem anymore. I did feel something, but within a game or two, the pain of whatever I'd felt there was gone, and I didn't feel it for the rest of the tournament.

39:09David Law: She says, I feel like I've had a good few days to kind of recharge and refresh, and I'm just ready to go. So I think if you want to be reassured that your long-term pick, Jessica Bagula, is in with a chance of winning this title, it's going to be down to her tennis and the moment now. I don't think she's going to be having to nurse anything here.

39:34Catherine Whitaker: It's all coming together. Pissed off Savalenka. Pergoula have been fine health.

39:44Matt Roberts: Feeling good, Matt?

39:45Catherine Whitaker: Feeling good. Yeah, feeling good. Why wouldn't you be?

39:49Matt Roberts: Who else have we had today? Alexandre Iola.

39:51Catherine Whitaker: Oh, by the way, just on Pergoula. I did enjoy how much she was throwing Taylor Fritz under the bus for the mixed doubles performance. And then Taylor Fritz himself did own it.

40:02Matt Roberts: And to be fair, Fritz throwing himself under the bus, he was like, I can't be getting my serve broken twice in mixed doubles. But he did also reiterate, I am still a mixed doubles specialist. He was like, three Ty Breaks Tens titles speak for themselves. It was fantastic. Yeah, it was a very tough review of Taylor Fritz as a mixed doubles partner.

40:24Catherine Whitaker: He was like, I will be back next year trying to win it.

40:27David Law: Just not alongside Jessica McKiela, by the sounds of things.

40:31Matt Roberts: Alexandra Iala, Matt, in the main press conference room, I think for the first time.

40:38Catherine Whitaker: Certainly my first experience here with her in the main press conference room, and she's so composed. Yeah, and smart. Smart and thoughtful and engaging. And yeah, she's on the list of, you know, great press conference that you need to go to, really. And, you know, I love the way she was talking generally. She was, you know, she said the phrase, I have a baseline of belief in myself, which I thought was just a great line. Like, it's always there. She said it can fluctuate a little bit how much the level of belief is, but I always carry some with me. there was an exchange in the Philippine portion of the press conference, which, as I've discovered today, people in the Philippines mix Filipino and English into their answers.

41:34Catherine Whitaker: And so I'm sort of understanding some of it, but not all of it. But she was asked something about her serve, and I think it was framed in terms of it being a weakness. And she sort of bristled at that in a very nice way, but she was saying, I love my serve.

41:49Matt Roberts: She's really proud of her serve.

41:51Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, she said, I call it my little brother. She said, it can work for me, it can do things for me, and she doesn't want it to be talked about as a weakness. She said, I still want a better serve, I can improve it, but she's not marking it out in a way compared to the rest of her game. I think she's seen the effect it's had on some top players this year, and look, maybe that will change if that record gets worse for her against the top players, and if people do start to take advantage of the serve. But right now, she's kind of happy with it. And, yeah, it was a great press conference. She gave a great answer to you, Catherine.

42:28Yeah, I asked her a question about...

42:31Matt Roberts: I mean, obviously, she gets asked a lot about her status in the Philippines and what she's doing for tennis in the Philippines. But, of course, that is all true. But she's changing the sport globally. and I asked her how aware she is of her impact on the sport and how she experiences that because it's really hard to get this across. We are seeing media outlets put... This is an attention economy. We are all operating within an attention economy. Nobody is immune to that. But we are seeing media outlets put Alexandria in their headlines and titles of things to an irresponsible extent, I think, in a really craven, pretty grim way, I think.

43:21Matt Roberts: And yes, that's a sign of the times to some extent, but it's also irresponsible at best, I think, and quite dehumanising to her just to use her as a lightning rod for clicks in that way. And I worry about that for her. and yet it is so huge that it must be impossible for her not to be aware of to some extent. And you were in that match. She gave the most incredible answer to this question. I mean, long story short, she is aware of it, certainly to an extent.

44:01Matt Roberts: But she tries to view it in terms of the context of the sport and the deepening knowledge of the history of the sport, which she spoke about, Matt, in a way that... I mean, it's sadly pretty rare to hear players speak about, quite honestly.

44:22Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, she said, kind of, I'm only in a position to be able to have that kind of effect on a sport because of the people that have come before me who have put the sport on the map and said compared to them I'm a drop in the ocean in terms of like the big picture of tennis and its history and how she's just standing on kind of the shoulders of everyone who's come before her and said that playing with Venus this year has really made her learn about Venus and she's learnt about Venus's role in getting equal prize money at Wimbledon and it seems like she'd really taken the opportunity to play with Venus but also learn about Venus and kind of do her homework on what Venus means to tennis so that she recognises how big that moment was for her to get to share the court with her.

45:12Catherine Whitaker: It was an incredible sense of perspective. And, yeah, you kind of want to show that answer to Billie Jean King. Can you just imagine Billie Jean King being so proud of someone on the tour talking that way?

45:25Matt Roberts: And it was just really... I mean, yeah, it was so wonderful to hear somebody talking about the sport in that way, but also reassuring. it made me feel like you're going to be all right. You know, this is going to be a lot. I'm sure there'll be moments where it feels like a lot and overwhelming, but I think you're going to be all right with this somehow, which is a good feeling to have for somebody with that much on her shoulders.

45:51Catherine Whitaker: She also said that out of her and her brother, the brother is the nice one. Imagine how nice he is.

45:57Matt Roberts: And she said...

45:58Catherine Whitaker: Because the others are delights.

45:59Matt Roberts: She said, I think if I were the older sibling, I wouldn't be anywhere near as nice as he is about it. About being the older one.

46:10David Law: Also, I mean, about having a younger sister who's one of the most up-and-coming, most famous people on the planet. The way it feels just at the moment. I mean, there are a lot of dynamics going on here. But that's lovely to hear. I wasn't in the press conference, So I was really fascinated to hear your take on how she'd been. And that's lovely.

46:34Matt Roberts: Yeah, David's been doing Tennis Podcast Meets Work today. That episode is coming to Friends of the Tennis Podcast over the next couple of days. Still some finishing touches to be put to it. But David's doing some great work.

46:45David Law: Two lovely chats today. A little tease. I had two lovely chats today. One with Tatiana Maria. And one with a player who's virtually half her age. in Sarah Bielik, who obviously had that incredible run in Cincinnati beating Madison Keys and Irina Sabalenka and Barbara Krzykova. You know, it's just so fascinating to get these insights into people that are so different in terms of their stage of life and yet playing the same sport in the same draw at the same tournament. So, yeah, I hope everybody enjoys those chats.

47:22Matt Roberts: That'll be up for Friends of the Tennis Podcast in the next couple of days. If you'd like to become a friend of the pod, the link is in the show notes. We've still got more to talk about on today's show. Some interesting stories coming out of qualifying, which concluded today. And we'll talk about that in part three. 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 Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows, and AI, connecting every corner of your business.

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48:53Matt Roberts: Welcome back to part three of today's show, where we will talk now about the qualifying tournament, which finally concluded today. It was supposed to finish up yesterday. As we know from being on stage when it happened, there was a storm yesterday. It rained all afternoon, wreaked havoc with live shows and qualifying matches everywhere so everything finished up today the qualifiers were placed in the main draw let's get the tough stuff out of the way early and by that i mean bianca andrescu who is a set in a breakup on the former french open semi-finalist tamara zidancic a friend of the pod hannah was out there watching and was reporting that it dare I say it, looked like Andreescu of old.

49:42Matt Roberts: Coco was in the stands with her parents, you know, it was she was looking confident and look, conditions are tough it is very, it's not the highest temperatures you'll ever see here but it is very humid there is no shade out on a lot of the courts, certainly not on court 7 where she was and look, I think she got very stressed as well she's not been in situations like this, qualifying for this tournament would have been an enormous deal for Bianca Andreescu sadly given where she's at in her career and I think all of those things interplayed and she had the doctor out on court midway through that second set and frankly tail spun from there onwards ended up losing in three I mean really tenacious stuff from Zidanecek I should say who really played the right way and gave Andreescu the run around but it was an absolutely brutal Andreescu scene.

50:39Matt Roberts: She was cramping out there. She was clearly having an existential crisis. And then just by, well, I was going to say chance, but it doesn't feel like the right word. David, you and I were confronted with the image minutes after this match of Bianca Andreescu collapsed on the floor of the corridor just inside the walkway where the players return to the locker room. And there she is. She's got the medical team sort of circled around her. Her parents are there clutching little Coco, her dog. And then eventually a wheelchair arrives and Bianca is heaved up into the wheelchair and there she is sort of convulsing in sobs as she's wheeled away.

51:27It was absolutely devastating.

51:31David Law: Yeah, because this is a player that has gone through so many of these type of incidents over the last seven years since she won this title. And when she won this title, I think she was the most exciting young player in the world, certainly one of them. And I thought we were in for a future world number one and a multiple, multiple Grand Slam champion. She beat Serena Williams in the final. She'd been the dominant player in the summer that year. And it just, you couldn't imagine how it could go wrong, really, for her. And time after time after time, she has suffered terrible injury, missed significant periods of time out of the sport.

52:13David Law: The pandemic obviously came at a time that, well, it affected the world. And from her position as a tennis player, it took all the momentum away. and you know she's obviously had a lot of a lot of mental health challenges as well and just really had a difficult run of things and this felt like maybe one of the chances to get something going winning two rounds of qualifying losing just six games as you told us many times Catherine the last couple of days because it really felt significant it felt like she was she tapped into something that the form was there then she goes and wins the first set today and it looks all there for her and that's how she must feel.

52:54David Law: And then suddenly, bang, she can't run about. It's just, it's pretty heartbreaking.

53:01Matt Roberts: Yeah, it was. It was extremely tough. Staying with the sad stuff just for a moment longer, Kei Nishikori's career came to an end today, lost out to his countryman Sakamoto. And just, again, by chance, which is once again the wrong word, we saw sad Kei Nishikori. charging back to the locker rooms after this match, didn't we? He'd had a little retirement ceremony on Court 17, which was a nice touch, but he was so close to getting into the main draw.

53:34Catherine Whitaker: He was, yeah, just one round away. Was it definitely his last match? Is he going to play Tokyo? Is he? I don't know.

53:41Matt Roberts: David, you were in the press conference, were you?

53:44Catherine Whitaker: I don't know whether that was mentioned,

53:45David Law: but definitely his last major match. He was quite reflective about things. and, you know, he's quite dry, is Ken Ishiguri, the way he delivers his answers. He said, you know, in the future, I would like to be able to help my part of the world in tennis development. You know, I think it's, he kind of said, it's pretty sad that there's not more players from my region of the world at the top in men's tennis right now, and he'd like to help, but not right now. I think he wants to have a break. I mean, he's, you know, I don't look at his career with the same sadness as I do Bianca Andrescu, even though she's won a Grand Slam and he hasn't.

54:28David Law: I just, I mean, I know he's had a lot of injury problems, but I also feel like he's had a lot of chances to also be part of big moments. And I think she hasn't.

54:40Catherine Whitaker: Yeah, it was interesting, actually. Players were being asked about Kane Ishikori today. And I think one of them was Alexander Zverev was asked. about him and he said, well, without injuries, Nishikori could have been like Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka with multiple major titles and maybe, but that's not my read really on Kane Nishikori's career. I do think he was impacted by injuries. Also, without injuries, Andy Murray

55:06Matt Roberts: would have had more major titles. If we're taking injuries away...

55:10Catherine Whitaker: Right. But I always felt there was a... Well, actually, I thought Nishikori would win a slam coming off the back of 2014. I thought he was so good but actually I think I was predicting a period of time where Federer, Nadal and Djokovic faded and that just did not happen and there was this ceiling on his game maybe with the serve I think always but he was he is a very important player I think in the sport's recent history I think it's hard for us to comprehend just how big of a deal Keanu Shikori is in Japan and when he came through it was all about Project 45 and getting ranked higher than the previous Japanese men's player who'd been 45 and he has pushed that boundary so far and I associate him kind of most with this tournament because it was where he reached his major final and kind of perfect that he ended his career.

56:05Catherine Whitaker: OK, it would have been nice in the main draw but against a fellow Japanese player, Ray Sakamoto, who is a really exciting talent. I saw him play Medvedev earlier this year in Miami, and he talked about how he grew up watching Nishikori, and he joined in in that ceremony afterwards. And, you know, if Nishikori couldn't get through, it's kind of nice that there was a bit of a sort of baton-passing moment, and it was Sakamoto who took advantage of that. And, yeah, watch out for him. He's a fun player.

56:36Matt Roberts: In bed, well, certainly in less sad news, Jing Chin Wen lost only one game today, I think, on the resumption of her match. Six love in the third. She's qualified for the main draw. Good on her. It's been tough going since her injury comeback. Jing Chin Wen, obviously, she has received some wild cards, but no joy here for her. So she's having to do it the hard way, and she's been well gone and done it. So I'm chuffed to see her make the main draw. Christina Lutova, the Memphis champion. she has qualified to make the main draw which makes it her Grand Slam main draw debut I think Matt

57:15Catherine Whitaker: and who does she face? Jung Kim Wen the two qualifiers facing off and yeah 16 year old hadn't played since she won the Memphis title you know she's not playing that much because of her age and so she's now on like a nine match winning streak having won Memphis qualified here and she needed a couple of three set matches in the first couple of rounds of qualifying, but she won in straight sets today. In the very little I've watched of her, a little bit in Memphis, she seemed very mature for her age in terms of her shot selection and I think knowing her own game quite well and doesn't make many unforced errors.

57:56Catherine Whitaker: It's going to be interesting whether Jung is consistent enough with her power game to actually hit through her. So that's definitely a first-round match that I've circled.

58:08Matt Roberts: Tasty. Nishes Basavaradi just stormed his way through qualifying, cleaned Arta Jaya's clock today, and Jaya was the top seed in qualifying. Basavaradi is a potential second-round opponent for Flavio Cabali. Obviously, that's assuming he comes through the first round. He's a qualifier. He wouldn't necessarily be favourite to do that.

58:29Catherine Whitaker: He's got fellow qualifier, Tristan Schulhatay. It's the one-year anniversary of Schulhatay. Tristan Schoolgate.

58:36Matt Roberts: I wandered past his court when he was playing his second round qualifying match, and I saw that it was the very professional James Chiothafong in the chair, and I just knew that he wouldn't do any kind of comical pronunciation of Tristan Schoolkate's name, and I was a wee bit disappointed. OK, so Bassaretti Schoolkate, the winner to likely play Flavio Caballi, if Flavio Caballi doesn't Caballi it up in round one, which is also absolutely not a given. Four Brits through qualifying, which is, we're reliably informed by Simon Briggs, a record. He said it's going gangbusters in qualies.

59:17Catherine Whitaker: Popping off.

59:19Matt Roberts: They got Harry Wendelkin. Nine hours he spent on court, Wendelkin. Nine sets, nine hours. Toby Samuel, Harriet Dart, who beat Heather Watson today. And Fran Jones, who beat Joanna Garland today in qualifying. Incredible effort from Fran Jones. She qualified here last year too, didn't she? Fran Jones, tough for Joanna Garland, but she's getting closer. Keep going, Joe. And they also, the Brits, got Jacob Fernley through as a lucky loser. So that's five, technically five, coming through the qualifying. They've placed all the qualifiers, as Matt's hinted at, into the main draw. Grigor Dimitrov faces Alexey Poporin in round one.

1:00:05Matt Roberts: Shintaro Mochizuki, fun Japanese player. He got in as a lucky loser. He faces Jakob Mensik. We've got Ugo Gaston, the qualifier, playing Daniel Medvedev, which just feels like it's going to be funny.

1:00:20Catherine Whitaker: If it's not, I'll be really disappointed. It has to be funny.

1:00:24Matt Roberts: Ugo Gaston. Toby Samuel's got Thomas Mahatch, which honestly I think is a good draw, given Mahatch's form. I really do. Coleman Wong from Hong Kong. He faces Tommy Paul, who didn't even get a room for his pre-tournament press conference today. He was just in an area.

1:00:42David Law: Oh, goodness.

1:00:43Matt Roberts: Tommy Paul. They saw the video, obviously, where he picked someone else for the title, didn't back himself. Storm Hunter qualified today. She had about a year off with injury, didn't she? She qualified and now faces Marta Kostiuk. Alexandra Iale's got to qualify. She's got the American Mary Stoyana, who I don't know too much about, but that's interesting. Iala against an American, very keen to see where they schedule that. Fran Jones plays Magdalene Nett. And Robin Montgomery, the American, who I think is very talented. I think we all quite like Robin Montgomery's game. She faces Maria Zachary.

1:01:25Matt Roberts: So there you go. That's your qualifying roundup. We will be back tomorrow and every day, as I've established. and the show tomorrow will be coming from Newport, Rhode Island, folks, because we are road tripping there, well, soon. We're hopping in the car as soon as we hit stop on this recording, pretty much. We're road tripping to Rhode Island for the International Tennis Hall of Fame induction ceremony tomorrow, mostly to see our friend Mary Carrillo be inducted into the Hall of Fame and less so Roger Federer. he's a bonus. Roger Federer is a bonus, but we're there for Mary and we are...

1:02:08Catherine Whitaker: Can't wait to celebrate Mary.

1:02:09Matt Roberts: ...shoffed a bit to be able to celebrate that moment with Mary tomorrow. So that's where we'll be doing a show.

1:02:19David Law: Let's do this. We'll have lots of experience

1:02:22Catherine Whitaker: to tell you about. Never been, have we? Yeah, it's a real bucket list place for me to go to. The museum, the library, the vault. A new tennis library. So we're very excited about that.

1:02:32Matt Roberts: New museum, new library. Yeah. Keep across our Instagram, folks, and we'll have a show for you tomorrow to tell you everything about our experience. But that is it for today's show, except to tell you about Leo, our lovely US Open mascot. Cara says tennis balls are the great passion of Leo's life. Few things make him happier than retrieving one, proudly carrying it in his mouth and squeezing it contentedly for hours on end. An avid tennis fan in his own right, he enjoys watching matches and listening to the podcast where he has become known for his strong views on late night scheduling and his world-class side eye whenever anyone engages in a bit of unnecessary faff.

1:03:16Matt Roberts: Leo is our people. Come on, Leo. Yeah, we love Leo. Here he is on a beach with a tennis ball. just looking fondly at the world. Lovely stuff. Hello to our mascots, Bodie, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Geoff. Let's have some shout-outs, Matt.

1:03:40Catherine Whitaker: We have Sarah Lewis from Sevenoaks in Kent.

1:03:45Matt Roberts: Hello, Sarah.

1:03:45Catherine Whitaker: Hi, Sarah. Sarah says, this is challenging. You can run out of things to say when you've been having shout-outs since they were first offered. Go on, Sarah. I've been trying to work out when I first started listening. and I really cannot tell exactly when it was, but I'd say it was mid to late 2010s. There was an article about the best podcast in a newspaper, Glossy Magazine, which listed the tennis podcast as one of the best sports podcasts, and I started listening immediately. I even went back and listened to earlier ones as well, such as Andy Murray winning Wimbledon.

1:04:19Matt Roberts: Oh, David loves it when people go into the vault.

1:04:22David Law: Yeah, you know, there's somebody on the barge who's gone back to episode one and is sort of chronicling the experience for other barge goers.

1:04:30Matt Roberts: There's another podcast I listen to. They have two terms for the two types of people that have listened to all the episodes. There's a wanna, which is people that have been with you since day one, that were there with us in 2012, David, in your parents' dining room. Not literally, but spiritually. And then there's a retro wanna, which is somebody that's gone back, discovered us later at whatever point, but gone back and listened. Those are the mad people, I think. I love those people. That in 2026 are going back and listening to our takes, our bad takes from 2014. They're all legends in my eyes.

1:05:06Catherine Whitaker: I think I might be a retro one-er of the tennis podcast. I should hope so. Yeah. I wasn't there for episode one. Too young. But I definitely went back and listened when I did discover you.

1:05:16David Law: When did you start then?

1:05:20Catherine Whitaker: you would have been on about episode 20 or so right did you at any point think what are these like banging on about probably like i still do now

1:05:31Matt Roberts: uh sarah i'm sure we said sarah ball well before i'm sure we sure we said chris lewis i'm sure i've said something nonsense about seven oaks sarah balick there we go very good David. Coming up in Tennis Podcast Meet, Sarah.

1:05:45Catherine Whitaker: Excellent. Thank you, Sarah. And finally, we have Hassan. Hello, Hassan. Who is from Fren in France. And Hassan says, no tennis Hassan, but lately I discovered that I share my birth date. Not birthday, birth date. As in, born the same day of the same year, with a very TTP coded player. And it's like the universe, after The creating me saw my pathological need to please and say sorry to everyone. And so it said, well, let's bring balance to that on this very same day. And therefore the universe created Laura Siegmund.

1:06:26Matt Roberts: I was absolutely hanging on what play you were going to say there.

1:06:31Catherine Whitaker: Born the 4th of March, 1988. Yeah.

1:06:34Matt Roberts: Show me not a people pleaser. Yeah.

1:06:38Catherine Whitaker: It's Laura Siegmund. That really tickled me, Hassan. That is a great contribution.

1:06:44Matt Roberts: Like Tim and Tim Hemming and Greg Rosetsky having the same birth date. No, they're a year apart. I've got that wrong.

1:06:52David Law: Yeah. I've got the same birth date minus one as Greg Rosetsky. So, you know.

1:07:03Matt Roberts: And I think Tim's is plus one.

1:07:06David Law: Yes, he's just one different year. Yeah. but the same birthday.

1:07:12Matt Roberts: Oh, you're one day apart from Greg. Yes. Yeah, okay.

1:07:16David Law: Yeah. And the three of us couldn't be more different.

1:07:20Matt Roberts: Hassan, thank you very much for being a friend of the Tennis Podcast. We're part of the Athletic Podcast Network. We will be back tomorrow from Newport, Rhode Island, which is where we're going to drive to now. Speak to you then.

1:07:38Thank you.

1:08:09Thank you.

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