QUICK SERVED: US Open Day 12 – Anisimova & Sabalenka Final Set & Men’s Semi-Final Preview

This episode is made possible by IBM. They're the official technology partner of the USTA. And this year, they're bringing the Open right into the heart of New York. Don't miss the IBM AI Sports Club, US Open Edition, September 4th through 7th at Madison Square Park. AI-powered ping pong, tennis trivia, and live match viewings. It's all there.

This is QuickServe brought to you by IBM WatsonX. Hey, everyone. Welcome to QuickServe. It is day 47 of the U.S. Open. We start. Props to Irina Sabalenka getting through Jess Pagula. But MVP of the day might go to Jess Pagula's picture with a honey deuce. With the caption, when you lose four points on your own serve in the third set. But still lose the match as Techie Sean just... She's hilarious. She's awesome. I think the entire stadium was pulling for her.

She's just turned herself into such a good player. But Irina Sabalenka is going to be one of the all-time greats. If your list is 10 players, she's quickly working her way. Up that list. Lost a couple Grand Slam finals this year, maybe exercising some of her own demons. And she will get the chance against Amanda Anasimova in a rematch of their Wimbledon semifinal.

Anna Simova is tough. There's no way around it. What she's gone through the last five, six years personally, losing 0-0 in a Wimbledon final and then coming back in... beating Shviatek, getting back to work, set down, like scrapping, clawing against Naomi Osaka, who is resurgent. And, you know, the cause for optimism for Naomi Osaka is obvious.

She's a champion. First time she's ever lost when she's made it past the round of 16, which is like Looney Tunes type stat. But Anna Samova is gritty. She is tough. She's in this thing for real. Like I think. Sabalenka is the favorite. And don't listen to me because I've missed every single pick on the women's side for like this entire tournament. But number one in the world, you know, is consistently there.

This is going to be a big one. Their match at Wimbledon went pretty deep. I think it was four in the third for Inesimova. I went into last night, and I remember saying to someone before the match started, I was like, We haven't had a ton of dramatic matches this tournament so far. None of the barn burners where it's late in the fifth set, late in the third set. They corrected last night. The ladies put on an absolute...

The men kick off at 3 p.m. Surprise to some that Carlos and Novak wasn't the night session. I'm assuming someone made some requests.

maybe looking towards a potential final if they win this match on recovery times. And Carlos and Novak are playing in the afternoon. I think Carlos is the favorite. I don't know that he's like a runaway favorite, though. I mean, the guy's won 24 grand slams in his... is playing great has beaten it beaten him uh obviously in the finals of the olympics last year uh on a surface that's not his favorite uh meaning novak and then we we kind of have

We kind of have short memories in tennis sometimes. And if you think way back when to January of this year, Novak beat Carlos on a hard court. So this one's going to be amazing to watch, obviously. The legend versus one of his successors. You know, that being Alcaraz and Sinner. Look for Novak. What he's been doing a little bit more during this tournament. He's been serving and following.

A lot is like a mix up, right? He has a really good little swing or serve on that deuce side. Open up the court. We'll see if he wants to make Carlos hit a bunch of backhand passing shots. He's going to try to. control through the middle of the court not let carlos work his magic from the edges right if carlos gets pulled this way to a forehand

It opens up the entire court because he has angles to the left, and then obviously he can bleed your line as well. I think you're going to see Novak a lot, as much as he can, because Carlos is Carlos, and there's only so much that you can control. depth through kind of the center of the court is going to be a comfortable place for Novak because even if Carlos hits great shots or is taking risks from there, you'd rather have him doing it from there.

than when he's extended or inside the court on the lines, right? Because then that brings in droppers, that brings in, you know, fire line, that brings in him able to kind of whip the ball. He has all those options available when he gets a little wider. When he's pinched towards the middle, especially on that backhand side, Novak has a better understanding of where he's going to distribute. Novak hits a deep.

Carlos is fighting for space. He's two, three feet behind the baseline. That's not one where it's going to be a good idea for him to take a bunch of risk. So look for that early. I think Novak is going to open up the shoulders a little bit more. And Carlos is, you know, I'm interested to see how much he wants to stress test Novak's physicality early. You know, he's the guy isn't.

absolute miracle worker at 38 to be doing what he's doing and he made the semis of all four slams this year so it's it's it's crazy but has been looking for air this tournament has been kind of First round, second round breathing, the physicality at 38 is obviously not what it's going to be at 28. So curious to see if Carlos goes and is just all out aggression or is happy to kind of get into those.

early exchanges and stress test the legs uh for for novak uh can't wait to see it like let's let's enjoy greatness while it's here novak djokovic has been unbelievable

So far, I think center rolls against Felix Ogialiazim, who deserves so much props for making the semis, beating two top 10 players. By his standards, he's not happy being ranked. 28 in the world or seated 28 in the world. You know, he's, he's bit up inside the top 10 comfortably before a couple of semis before, um, was someone that we were kind of looking at, uh, as a collective group of.

of tennis nerds is as someone who might be able to kind of enter that, that conversation with his variable as like the next tier, um, hasn't quite made it there, but I don't think it's for lack of intent, hard work. Uh, going about things, trying to improve. Sometimes you just go through peaks and valleys in your career, but it's nice to see FAA have a peak at this tournament. I'm not sure what he can do.

to affect Yannick's center negatively, that doesn't bring in just insanely crazy levels of risk, right? So when you see him missing a ball that he's going for, that seems like it's irrationally aggressive. that's something he has to do if he's neutral with center and starts letting center distribute that's like a slow death as opposed to giving yourself a chance

It's not in his comfort zone, FAA, to serve and volley. I think he's going to have to a little bit. He has to confuse Sinner a little bit. And Sinner might employ a little bit of what he does against Ben Shelton, where it's like, okay, let's not overthink this.

I'm going to pepper the backhand all day, and let's see if FAA could actually make inroads from his weaker side. Maybe he's more consistent, but his weaker side, and just pin him in that corner. Center's able to do that because of weight of shot. He can take that forehand line. He can obviously take the backhand cross. I think the strategy is a little bit more straightforward for Yannick's center. I think FAA has to take cuts on second serves.

FAA's first serve percentage needs to be up around like 65% to be getting through service games comfortably. He's going to have to take a lot of big swings on center serve. Knowing what you have to do is the simpler part. executing it for four or five hours against someone like a Yannick center is, is more difficult. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. I expect to see a center.

Alcaraz final, but I can't wait for this Novak-Kalitos matchup. Thank you for watching. This has been brought to you by our friends at IBM Watson X, who, by the way... I was arguing with, I thought the percentage for Anderson Mova was too high yesterday. What the hell do I know? This is quick served. IBM what's next. We'll see you tomorrow. This episode is made possible by IBM. They're the official technology partner of the USTA. And this year, they're bringing the open...

right into the heart of New York. Don't miss the IBM AI Sports Club, US Open Edition, September 4th through 7th at Madison Square Park. AI-powered ping pong, tennis trivia, and live match viewings. It's all there.