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Identity theft protection starts here. Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Mayan Bhattori. I'm Matt Vylander. This is Mary Carillo. This is Pam Shriver. This is Janik Noah and you're listening to the tennis podcast. Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on day 10 of the US Open Part 1 coming to you. From the Billie Jean King National tennis centre from the media restaurant. That is the hubbub you hear and we're in the media restaurant.
This is where yesterday because somehow David, it got hotter. It did get hotter. Again, I think, look, I don't like these conditions at all either and I'm not running around. I know you really get affected by them even more than me, but it's looking at the players that is the tell. This is kind of as bad as I've experienced here, because players don't normally get their performances affected or get in them affected. That happened again today and it's horrible.
Yeah, I know some of you listening and probably thinking, stop bang on about how hot it is. There's actually a heat wave back home in the UK isn't there. I'm sure people listening to this somewhere are sitting in miserable whether thinking, stop complaining about the heat. But honestly, the conditions are so brutal. There is no corner of this tournament. It doesn't feel like they're affecting. It really is infiltrating every aspect, I think.
I know this tournament is defined and quite happily defined by its brutal conditions. The fact it's the last grand slam of the season. It is a real last man and woman standing vibe. I like that about it in general. It does feel like the cruelty element might be being taken a little bit far during this heat wave. I know it's Daniel Mephidoves. He take it with a little pinch of soul. But hearing players talk about death. On court isn't necessarily a relaxing viewing experience.
You can feel the discomfort in the air. Obviously for the players who are having to do exhausting physical activity. But the crowds as well, the vibe about the day. Hopefully it's different for the night session. Just as it was last night. Thanks to Blake Shelton. I've been getting it right all to Orneman. It's creeping back in again. Thanks to Ben Shelton. It's slightly less so Francis Tiafo. I hope there's a slightly different vibe to a report on in part two. But it's weird, man.
It's a weird vibe. It's very weird. I would go further than that and say it's deeply uncomfortable. I want you to know what these matches are. And honestly, the Mephidoves quote, a player is going to die and soon they're going to see. Yes, that's Daniel Mephidoves. Sounds like a springsteen lyrics, doesn't it? It sounds like potentially a quote of the age that we'll be looking back on in a few years. Honestly, the world has a climate crisis. So tennis has a climate crisis.
And I think we're not far off questions having to be asked about whether actually tennis can be played in conditions like we saw today and it's going to get worse. You know, temperatures are rising. And in five, ten years time, we're going to be playing an even hotter conditions than this. And it could be unsafe. And I think there were things that tennis potentially needs to look at because nobody wants this on a regular basis.
Yeah, just because they can and they just about can at the moment, doesn't necessarily mean they should. Nobody wants to remove the physical endurance element from the sport. But I equally worry about what this is taking out of these players' longer term and how it might impact the quality of the remainder of the tournament. I mean, this is killing these guys.
Well, we may get an insight in the second men's match just to see physically what was there of stable to put out after what happened to him two nights ago and the state he looked in. It does remind me it's probably ten years ago. It's coming up to ten years ago when we had the hottest Australian open run of days. That I can remember where it was low to mid 40 degrees Celsius in about four successive days. And it became that was the story of that tournament.
And I remember Muria Sharpe over walking around looking just the lyrics on the course. And it was so distressing to see her like that. And actually, I remember the doctor, the tournament doctor, I think it was came out or maybe the ITF's medical practitioner time came out and interviewed on BBC Radio and said that humans evolved with antelope on the plains of Africa. And he was saying all this and they took all this this heat then and they're used to it. And there's not going to be any tragedy.
Okay, fine. Well, he got, I mean, he got shouted down at the time. But, you know, this, it's the humidity element here. I think that separates it. But we should remember that the rules started to change in Australia after that. And the heat rule came in where they would suspend matches on outside courts. They would bring the roof over if it reached a certain wet bulb globe temperature with the heat and humidity combined.
And, you know, they've moved the roof over to the last couple of days to create shadow shade. And I think that is sensible. And they're probably going to have to evolve a heat policy in the same way, I think, as has been done in Australia in the end. Yeah. And I'd sooner rather later because it's, it's, it's, Matt says, only going in one direction. We all know where this is going. And you don't want to see something terrible happen before we end up at the inevitable destination.
The discomfort of people sitting watching it, you know, it's horrible for them. Yeah. And media sitting covering it. Let's, let's cover the mevative riblev match. Straight sets, extremely strange, slightly strange in ways that I wasn't quite expecting far more breaks of serve. I mean, I don't, I'm trying to work out why the heat, why these conditions seem to be leading to so many
breaks of what are usually impenetrable serves. I know mevative is having serving issues, but I mean, we're seeing sets of men's tennis between big hitters that are just exchanging of breaks, but like a relay being handed back and forth. And it's, it's pretty bizarre. I, I felt like mevative gave us a little insight into that in his uncourt interview. He said, after a while, I couldn't see the ball. I was just sort of, I mean, not, not
literally, obviously, you could see it to hit it, but he couldn't really focus. I think he looked, he was walking around, he looked like he was in a days, really. And so both of them did. And that's, that's this sort of delirious state these players seem to get into. He said, I've just running back and forth, chasing the ball, but I think a kind of ability to focus and think goes when they're that impacted by the hit. He said, the only good thing I see in
these conditions is that we both suffer. That's Daniel Medvedev talking about the godfather to install to there. But I get it, you know, he means it's it's a level playing field. He was very quick to talk about Tokyo, wasn't he? Yes, he, he was asked if they were the worst conditions he's ever played in today. And he said, well, joint with Tokyo. That was a scarring experience from an Olympics couple of years ago. I mean, it was a strange match.
Reweweve had had leads in all the sets. And he came out firing. We've had one the first 10 points. Three love up in that set. Even that was weird. Yeah. If you'd ever said to me any scenario, that is the one I would not have come up with. Yeah. Then three one up in the second set, four two up in the third set and he lost all of these sets. And I think that as as Pam Schreiber, just I think she just blew us a kiss. She did just blow us a kiss.
Sorry. What was I saying? Reweweve was a wake up in all the sets. Several leads. But wasn't able to convert any of them. And it just I think speaks to an underlying mental age that Mevodev has in this match up. Like I think even when he was down in the score, he knew that he could come back against Reweweve and Reweweve knew that Mevodev would probably come back as well. And that was kind of the sense I got in this match. I never I never trusted
Reweweve any of those leads. Which is strange given that he's beaten Mevodev and he's beaten Mevodev quite recently and he's beaten Mevodev on a hard court. Like I felt exactly the same. He's clearly in his head. And that's that's more about the weird and wonderful place that is under a Reweweve's head rather than any actual reality of their match up I think. Yeah I mean I think it is a bad match up for Reweweve. Like I I think
Mevodev feels comfortable in it. Reweweve has to stretch to his limits pretty much to be able to keep up with Mevodev. But it's not Monfice Jock of it, is it? No but it was a grand sam called a final and that's a whole other thing that's also lodged in Reweweve's head. He's 0 and 9. Now Reweweve and Grand Sam Finals. First man ever to lose his first 9 grand sam called a final. Will he ever win one? No. Will he ever win that? I suppose if he can avoid
playing these players. He has very tough draws. He'll keep getting to them I think. There was one he lost to kill each other Frank Chope. He might reach a semi-fine. That was one that got away. I don't see him ever reaching a final. You don't think it could be this sort of thing where once he finally gets over that hurdle. I'm playing D'Avacic because I don't either.
It's a perfectly fair question. It's the right question to ask. I just feel bad saying it and it like he's made progress this year winning Monte Carlo you know beating Medvedeva a couple of times but at the Grand Slam's I mean that you're right that one against Chilich was the one
probably you know the final final set time. I should have won that and I just watching him today just trying to heave through the defence of Medvedeva who is clearly sure to his physical best because of these conditions and still losing in straight sets. I just don't see it. There was a point in the match where Daniel Medvedeva removed his shirt shoes and socks. So he was just sat there like he was on a French beach with a towel
round his neck legs out stretched. It was it was a very relatable scene. He had the doctor out twice receiving an inhaler. The second time the doctor came out with the train approach he gave him really strict instructions about how to take the inhaler with a little bit of edge in a voice. Yeah because the first time. You didn't do it right the first time. The first time. He got it all wrong. Right. Did you watch it happen? Did he say you've got to you've got to actually
inhale as you're pressing. Yeah. He didn't press an inhale at the same time. Anyway. He was like it is helping though. He gives himself 10 out of 10 for the tournament so far. Does Daniel Medvedeva going back to the Chris O'Connor match in Round 2? So tough scene for Attila Balash in Round 1
who he absolutely crushed for the loss of three games I think. But yeah he says 10 out of 10 since Round 2. I don't maybe that's some mind game knowing he's probably got to face his Bogeyman next and he can't afford to give any kind of edge away ahead of that match. I'm still really worried about his serve. I know I've been banging on about it all tournament but nine double faults today and some at some crucial time. He did. He's like he watched Ben Sheldon last
night. He's on a pirate website because he did back to back double faults didn't he? It's a new thing and he needs that serve. That underlines his game. It's the shot around which his game is built because it's such a good serve when it's firing and it allows him to race through service games which can be useful for applying pressure. And preservation? Exactly. Preservation and I'm just that shot I think needs to be ticking and firing if he's going to be the you know Alchres and Djokovic really.
Without that I'd give him such a slim chance. Now maybe he can find it in the semi-final. I do think the rest of his game has been good a lot better than it had been building up to the tournament. Although kind of hard to judge his last two matches just because they were so defined by the conditions they were played in and you know against Dimon or it was all about taking his legs away and against Rubelevic was all about those sort of mental battle out there as well as the physical
one of course. So I don't know I'm glad that Mephadev thinks he's thinks he's playing so well as he said it could be a mind game but that serve I think needs to be firing on a level that it hasn't fired out for a few months now. Did you have any more fun David commentating on this
than you were fearing? Yes I did because we had I think I think actually fun enough that the heat made it kind of interesting watching them deal with it and we were picking up things Medvedevers saying in the corner there through the the microphones and we had Kim
Clistas and Jeff Tarrango who were great conversationalists and it was just interesting to get their inside but there is still a metronomic sameness to the rallies and yeah that still applies and I just they're admirable those two but put them up against each other and it is pretty dull.
Nomiya Sarka was that court side watching this with her mum she's been in the house today she took part in a panel about mental health alongside multiple swimming gold medalist Michael Pholps and she's given a few interviews which give us cause for great excitement because she's talking confidently about how she's going to come back in at the start of 2024 in Australia. She's intending to play a full schedule of tournaments straight away she's going to be making a coaching announcement soon.
She says there'll be a coach joining the team soon she even she took some questions after that panel took place in the press conference room just along from here she even was talking about how she's started to look at Serena and Venus and the longevity of their career and she can see that for herself she said you know the early days of her career she never ever thought she would be that kind of player playing deep into her 30s but neither did Serena or Venus famously and she now seems to have a
completely different perspective on it all and goodness me that makes me excited. Oh yeah and it was it was really lovely to see her I went into the press comments where she was having that mental health discussion with Michael Pholps up at the in the panel and I thought both of them spoke so well I found that really uplifting that they are showing their vulnerabilities
sharing their experiences for people to to realise that it's okay to talk to people and it all help and I loved that and I didn't know they'd done that she'd done interviews afterwards and that does I really hope the best for her person on a personal level a human level don't know
but I hope the best for her and for the sport of tennis she would be such a boost she she gives so much to the sport if she's happy and playing and contributing competing because she's just such an amazing watch and I think she means a lot to the to the sport I think she's a really there's so many people that can get behind her and want to support her and relate to her and
I hope this is a comeback I hope she can make it all work. Yeah I even got excited just in that press conference the first question she was asked she answered it with um honestly for me and I was like we're back. Yeah thank you Naomi you've given us a lot to look forward to and you've given me the opportunity to say that if you would like to travel to Australia to see Naomi a soccer play in the Australian open AO travel can sort you out of course the tennis podcast throughout
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today by clicking the link provided in your show notes you have until Monday the 18th of September at 11.59 pm at New York time to enter and terms and conditions apply very best of luck now onto the first match of the day that we saw in the arthoracian stadium six one six four four new
world number one arena sabbelenca over junction when this was her fifth consecutive grand slam quarter final and she's only played six in total I say only I mean five of the six have now come consecutively she's never lost one it it's incredible how consistency David has become such a
pillar a arena sabbelenca's career yeah it is it's it's a lovely point of difference from the sort of before and after becoming a grand slam champion and yet we still have these question marks over what happens when she's in the semi final and we're going to forget to find out but I do find
it impressive I like the fact that a world number one knows she's going to be crowned and what does she do steps up and gives a performance like that helped by an opponent who's still pretty erratic I think and doesn't know what to do against the pace when it's coming at her like that
one of them was secure one of them wasn't but she's such a pro sabbelenca she's a real professional player she turns up and she just knows what she's doing she executes she didn't I mean yes she's she sometimes gets wobbles that have derailed her but I love the fact she just keeps turning up
at the latter stages of these big tournaments it's great for the game yeah I think interesting that consistency has become such a defining feature of her and also showing up in majors like again talking about Naomi Osaka interesting that Naomi Osaka we're coming sort of back into a
tennis world where sabbelenca is a is a grand slam force because she wasn't really only a couple of years ago okay I know she reached a couple of semi finals in in 2021 but that was that that was the start of it there was a time in sabbelenca's career what a long time where she would constantly
lose in the second third fourth round of slams and I always think of her match against the Sark at the US Open here which I think was in the fourth round in 2018 sabbelenca had won new Haven Hunt she coming in it was hot right and everyone was sort of circling that match as okay
the winner of this could could go on to win the title and of course the Sark did win she did go on to win the title and she became the player who always shows up in majors and sabbelenca was having her more success on the tour and yeah it's that sabbelenca has turned herself into a player who
well she switched to semi finals of all four majors this year which is such a hard thing to do and yeah today I think completely equiped David it was amazing the way she was rushing Junqin when like Junqin when it was almost as though she'd never experienced anything like that before how is
this ball getting to me so quickly and it took her a set to even start feeling the ball on her racket and she she did quite well at the start of the second set Junqin went to make it close but sabbelenca was in control she said that you know she trains in Florida so she loves these
conditions and yeah just a very very dominant performance and a very very dominant tournament so far but again as David said it feels all about the semi final for sabbelenca that is the hurdle that yes she's got over once all do you respect her magdalinet it was magdalinet and that was a
caliber of opponent that was lower than some of the ones that she's lost and will be lower than whoever she meets in the in the semi final she's going to be facing either a kind of some finalist in keys or a grand sam champion in vandrosha so she's for sure a big piece of that match tonight right
I think I think if vandrosha has fit enough and she people have been saying she's been serving okay absolutely because vandrosha of her fully fit is a blown in nightmare for so many players but you know she could just beat everybody again you know she's done it once when I certainly wouldn't
have thought she would and now that she's won one as well I yeah six grand sam called a final so far and sabbelenca's career and she's never lost one she's won all six of them which obviously is an incredible record ESPN put this into a graphic and on that same graphic was Chris Everett
who won her first 48 grand slam quarter finals 48 I'm still I've been processing this all day I can't I'm sure frequenters of the Wimbledon Library probably know that stat Drummer all at recess you did did we ever have that stat probably remember Matt I've definitely
heard that stat before I mean I think it actually came up uh Wimbledon where at Wimbledon where sabbelenca reached the semi-fano and and had won her first five grand sam called five because I think that was quite an impressive achievement as well and you know she's she's
getting this she's slowly working the way out 40 to go I mean honestly I cannot I sorry David 42 okay no funny terrible man come on guys the trainers we were almost right I mean yeah I can't think of another stat where there's such a such an outline you know like a rage even like even
the dials 14 Frank Chopin's which is I think the tennis achievement of all tennis achievements like that's about to diss it someone's closer to that than they are to yeah relative to terms yeah what about an adult consecutive weeks at the top 10 hasn't Martina got more Matt's all over no doubt I think hasn't Martina got like I think she's got the modes doesn't she wowser sounds sounds right yeah that dissing the dial I didn't mean no didn't think that's right that's the big
balance shade um just quickly last question on on June today obviously you know I get it that was her first grand sam called a final she is facing the sort of opponent that takes and getting used used to it's there's no shame in being man-handled by a wimbledon sabbelenca but she does have
a glaring weakness in her game a glaring technical weakness do you expect junction-when who has a cracking coach in a corner in wimpers set knows what he's doing knows how to make champions do you think she's going to come back from the office season next year in Australia where you
can go to with with a travel if you like um with a new service motion or an adjusted service motion yeah it's it I tell you where it gives me hope that it is possible I mean I think sabbelenca is a great example for a start the way she managed to eradicate the double fold so had you told me two
years ago when she was having to serve undram because you couldn't get the serving I would probably have said no but that she didn't actually change that much technically she she developed the yips on the serve really I know she says she employed a biomechanist and all of this and I'm sure there's
changes she's made which are less perceptible to my untrained eye but we're talking about a whole different category of change required for June I think yeah the other one I would have hope for based on his jockewitch because he's changed it dramatically under Goran and
various other coaches I mean he's really worked on it and it's been a long period of time as I suppose to get to where it is for the last three or four years do you have to bear in mind he's just a heck of a lot more talented than the vast majority of players and maybe she doesn't have
the ability to to properly learn a new technique that is reliable and one of those that is repeatable no matter what the conditions and stress levels and so I mean I'm just not I don't know enough to to be able to confident the answer that but I do think Winfacehead is a very good coach and
I hope that she takes enough time in the offseason I hope there is enough time to properly try and do something rather than just trying to cram more events in or something you know which a lot of players do so I just I'm not completely convinced how good she is yet because I don't feel like
a scene or enough conditions yet this is this is a good run and I think we get some information out of that but would like to see much more of her but I actually something came close to said today in our commentary was now she's tasted what it is like both at that level of a tournament and that
facing that level of an opponent who picks for a grand slam somebody likes Habalenko it's it's easier maybe to establish what what the bare minimum needs to be to combat that and something Jose Higerras was saying in commentary last night during the the Shelton Teofa match as he said
when Shelton was knocking the yourselves down like crazy he said players get used to pace quite quickly they they can adapt if it's coming to them that fast and you said after a set Zheng was starting to to get to a few of them and they can handle that it's the other elements of
the game that be moved around hidden the spots those are often the hard of it's but so it's it's it's a it's a good start isn't it I think for it not that confident that she will be a relevant horse you don't sound it I don't feel it I don't feel like I know her enough as a player
and I do feel like if somebody's talking about a hitch in a serve at this stage that's a concern while we're on serves and hitches and serves I've just been reminded of a conversation I had the other day with Luis Atomas the freelance writer who had recently done a profile on a baseball
player about the Yips and she was saying there's a conclusion from that profile and all the conversations she's had with people in sport is that you don't ever fully get over the Yips like they are always there and you are always managing it and they might they might come back at any possible time
which perhaps sounds a bit scary for Rina Savalink's future you know that but also makes me think even more just how impressive it is that she's managed to become so consistent and perform so well at big levels because it's quite possible that she's sort of having to do
things to manage them and we might not even know about it at the moment she is she's sort of quashing them but they're there like those those demons are so fascinating and and checks out actually thinking about my experience on the Champions Tour seeing players in the lowest possible
stakes situations imaginable with their all demons manifesting themselves I've watched Gaston Gaudiou underarms of this random tournament in Columbia I thought what am I doing my life a few other headlines for you from the day session Coco Goth and Jessica Biguila are out
of the women's doubles they lost in three sets to the reigning Roland Garros Champions, Wang Jin Yu and Shait Su Wei they will play Gabi Dubrovsky and Erin Routlif who won yesterday so revenge of sorts for Laura Seagland who's gone around further than Coco Goth in the women's
doubles I'm I'm reaching here but you get what I'm doing I'm just comforting myself because we've been denied the rematch but Seagland and her partner Vera's Wanna Raver beat Victoria Zarenka and Bitcha's had Dad Meyer to make it through to the semifinals they will face Jenny Brady and
some player Louis Staphane so his various Wanna Raver could be the first time I've seen a US Open Champion match and in the mixed doubles the semifinals are currently on court and they are the one currently on is Ineshibahara and Matte Pavic against Anna Danielina and Harry Heliavara and
it is Danny Lena and Heliavara they're currently a set up the other semifinal is Taylor Townsend Blake Shelton no oh god this is it you've got the yips on that name and you've cost them for six months but they're back so good Matt thank you um it is Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton against
Jessica Biggula and Austin Cricheck so proud of you for the last six months of coming over those yes and now the last four seconds because you got it right at time yeah Austin Cricheck's going to be the new men's doubles world number one on Mondays isn't he yes that was that was yesterday's
stat in the newsletter that all four number one positions are changing on Monday it was the first time that was the first time that's ever happened yeah thanks to lots of good people at the WTA and ATP for confirming that that was the first time ever yeah amazing stat so that's what's going on let
you know what happens in those mixed doubles matches and anything else significant around and about in part two will also of course a wrap up the last two singles matches of the day on the Arthur Arstadium I'll get a Von Drescher against Madison Keys for the chance to take on Arunis
Abel Encher and Carlos Alcaraz against Alexander's very for the chance to face Daniel Medvedev we'll see you in a few moments think identity theft won't happen to you think again there's a new victim every three seconds in the US over 15 million this year alone and many don't even know their victims
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a cast identity theft protection starts here. Summers just around the corner so give your body the carrot deserves with Oceia's best selling Andaria algae body oil created by infusing Andaria seaweed in barrels of botanical oils at least skin silky soft and glowing plus it's clinically proven
to improve elasticity and deeply moisturize without feeling greasy it's safe clean vegan skincare get 10% off your first order at oceamalaboo.com with code GLO plus free shipping on orders over $60 welcome back to part two as per usual we are back at tennis podcast hours and very much not
as per usual it's pre-midnight it is a mere 11 55 pm thank you to the genius of Carlos Alcaraz 6366 4 tonight if Alexander's Verive who of course was physically depleted after his exploits against Yannick Sinnerty night to go but frankly I don't think Carlos Alcaraz played all that
world tonight and he was just a different class yeah I mean if there is any depletion in Alexander's Verive which I think there was it is offset by the fact that Carlos Alcaraz was well short of his best and yet you're still seeing the chasm that exists between the two and it's long been known
I think really because one of them's got two grand sun titles at the age of 20 and the other one hasn't got any at all and look when you when you see them play one another there's verives of really good player he's really good and he hits the ball but I'm in heart and he he moves incredibly
well for his size and he's got this big serve but Alcaraz is playing a different sport when he's really on simple as that yeah I mean it's funny isn't it there were so many points this evening where I feel like we all had a Carlos Alcaraz experience you know there were there were lots of
moments in there but a match as a whole it wasn't anywhere near what he's capable of really I thought his forehand was all over the place today and he never seemed to get the strike quite right or the timing on it quite right it coughed up a lot of unforestation there is nearly 20 unforestation
there is just on that wing right wow the backhand was great he was really solid on that shot and actually we we really noticed how he was stepping in on the second serve return with the backhand and taking it early and that was that was you know winning him a lot of points and he played well
when he needed to he he saved all the great points he faced he took all the great points that he had accelerated away at the end of the first set winning the last eight points of that and there was lots of lots of little fun moments in there and by the end he was drop-shotting his very
of a lot more and coming forward it was I think a fine performance overall but not at the level that we're kind of used to seeing from from Carlos Alcaraz and yet it was still just way too good for whatever's very had left yeah I mean I almost think gosh what great timing to get a get
a subpar performance out of the way because he is a streaky a player than a no-vat jokavitch I think I mean jokavitch does tend to warm up his way into slams he rolls through the gears but it's rare that he'll go up and down I think throughout his slam whereas Carlos Alcaraz does
you know he'll go up and down more throughout him actually is a looser player he will I can't quite remember which one of his opponents it was this week it was one of his early round opponents describing the challenge of comparing the challenge of facing Alcaraz to facing
jokavitch and he said you can convince yourself that you're more in it against Alcaraz because he's just a different type of player he's taking a lot more risks you're getting more from him but actually you're not more in it because he's always it's always within his power to knuckle down
and turn it on when he needs to but that I did find that an interesting kind of mental mental comparison it felt like that tonight you know looking at the stats there's not much to choose between them same number of unfolds there is handful more winners for Alcaraz Alcaraz
actually covered more distance between more distance during each point but there was a chasm the stats just don't don't tell you what it felt like to watch that match which was that there was an absolute chasm between the two of them I think as well the the backhand that Matt's referring
to is it feels new for this year to me so it feels new even for the last few months I felt like he was doing that at Wim in the Wim in the final and that's a couple of rounds suddenly he's developed a shot where he can reliably middle it off of 130 mile an hour serve and move forwards
at the same time and I think we still we're just getting started that's the that's the thing that you talk about these the ups and downs but it's absolutely there I think in two three years time he won't be doing that as much it's part of the 40 percent that Alistair was missing from Alistair and it led to some lovely reminiscing about the saber didn't it earlier on the evening at tennis podcast hours, we really look back fondly on the 2015 Roger Federer's Saber debut.
Sneak attack by Roger. The one where he starts running towards the service line before the service even been hit. Half o'leary in Kevin Anderson's serve in Cincinnati. I remember that so vividly. Kevin Anderson, who at that point hadn't had the best results of his career, I mainly, at that point just thought of him as a big server. And there, Roger Federer was half-following his only weapon. And then, do you remember him, then he sort of stopped doing it? You kind of did
well, I think the US Superfinals against Jockovic. Yeah, I do. That final kill. Because he tried it a number of times in that final. Yeah. Every time Jockovic was wise to it and ended up winning the point. And then he put it away really, didn't he? Yeah. He didn't really use it again so much in his career. Bit of a shame. Yeah. But it's been revised. Curious gave it a bit of a run for a while as well. But I don't know. The way Alcrashe just starts galloping towards it as if he's hunting prey.
Oh, he's amazing. Yeah. And probably playing is very of not bad preparation for playing Mevvedev in terms of taking advantage of the court position. I mean, I always say this with Alcrashe Mevvedev. Unless Alcrashe has a horrible day, I can't see Mevvedev getting the better of that match-up. And he was asked about Alcrashe and his press conference today. At this point, he didn't know. He definitely would be playing Colossancrashe. But he didn't bother with the whole,
well, we don't know if I'll be playing Colossancrashe thing. I think, firstly, because he's got no particularly low frallix on his Varro Pazis. There's no reason for him to feel generous. And also, he's just, you know, he's pretty straightforward with these things. And he was asked about how he'd said it on the court. And we discussed this earlier that he'd wrote himself 10 out of 10. He said, yeah, I'll need to be 11 out of 10 against Carlos. And he said, look, I'll just need to be extra
precise and hit the baseline with my ground streets and serve brilliantly. And yes, he will need to do all those things. But I think this sport is about match-ups. And I think if Alcrashe's a tall at the races, even if he does those things, it doesn't work. And maybe Mevvedev does have a new game plan to trial against Alcrashe. And he just didn't want to tell us about it in press. And that would be completely understandable if not advisable. I certainly hope he does.
Because I don't want to see the match that I saw at Wimbledon and the match that I saw at Indian Wells. I don't want to see it again. I was shocked by how much their match at Wimbledon looked like their match at Indian Wells. Indian Wells made sense to me. A high bouncing court that's slow Alcrashe was able to push Mevvedev off and take advantage of all the space. It wasn't a hard court and Daniel lose a specialist. Exactly. This is a hard court.
Mevvedev is very, very good at the US Open. We know that. So I think the conditions here suit him the best out of their three matches that they've had this year. And honestly, if Alcrashe plays like he did tonight, that might be a level of Alcrashe that Mevvedev can make closer, I think. I still think there's a huge match-up problem, as you said. But if Alcrashe plays like that, I think Mevvedev pushes him. I don't think he wins. Is he likely to twice in a row, though? No, probably not.
But I think there were little glimmers of hope there for Mevvedev in that Alcrashe performance tonight. I tend to think that Mevvedev's ball is easier for Alcrashe to just hit than Sverev says. Because Sverev really does. He hits the ball incredibly hard, Sverev. And so I just feel as though he'll get more opportunity to do the stuff he wants to do. He's so easy for him to hit the drop shot off the Mevvedev ground stroke, so he means he isn't it.
Look, we've got tomorrow evening, then we'll mostly be talking about the women's semi-finals, but we'll also have opportunities to look ahead to the men's semi-finals. So, won't deep dive on it too much, but I am going to turn the tables on you, Matt, because you asked me a sticky question earlier on, and I'm going to put it back to you. On the call. Who has a better chance in their respective semi-finals? Ben Shelton or Daniel Mevvedev?
Who would you be less surprised to see in Sunday's men's final? I would be less surprised to see Daniel Mevvedev in the final. David? Sorry. I think it's more likely that Alcrashe doesn't play at his level, and Mevvedev can live with him, then it is Shelton has a level over five sets to beat Novak Yokovic in a grand slam semi-final. Yeah, I'll go with that. Okay. I think it's maybe more likely that Shelton scares Yokovic in a set and makes it fun,
and Alcrashe beats Mevvedev in three. Maybe those are the most likely, but in terms of actually winning, I think it's the opposite. I think Shelton rocks Yokovic a few times. If you want to put it in boxing ponds, I think he nails him a couple of times and has him wobbling.
One of those crisis moments that Yokovic is an absolute master at weathering, I think he has a couple of those with the crown given it to him and him getting upset, probably a set going, the whole place is up, it looks like the upset's on, but actually to know that Yokovic is just regrouping and doing what he does. Very, very plausible scenario. All right, I've brought into that. Madison Keys is a three-time US Open semi-finalist.
She beat my ket of Andre Oshiva tonight, 6-1, 6-4 to set up a meeting with the Reena Sabalinka in tomorrow night to night, so most of you are listening to this semi-final. And I have an apology to Madison Keys. I keep underestimating her. I keep both within matches and outside of matches. Yeah, I don't give her enough credit. I was waiting for her to blink in this match. There was that game in the second set, was she faced how many break points? Nine?
No, was she saved nine break points in the match? I can't. I think there were about five in the game. I think it's about five in that one game. And she really saved most of them. Yeah. She really did step up and raise herself, raise her level. And I'm so impressed with how she did that. There were a couple of dodgy moments. She missed the most, the easiest overhead, the sort of overhead that pros just don't miss. And there was another dodgy backhand into the net.
Wasn't there any thinking, well, I was thinking. Sorry, I don't want to drag you to into my apologise. I was thinking, oh, this is it. This is the moment that all the demons and all the baggage and the lack of fangs. This is the moment that that all comes to bear and it didn't. And I'm so pleased, right? I did not see this coming and good luck to her. Yeah, I mean, that you've got plenty of years of evidence to make you feel like that. And understandably so, I feel.
And that makes her achievement all the more impressive because she's got to deal with that. And she just managed to fight through it against a very tricky player who doesn't look 100% fit. But even so, it's still a woman champion and is still an absolute nightmare to play against. And particularly for a player like Keyes, who is occasionally just making some really bad choices and coming in on a chip backhand to the four-minute vendris server and getting passed.
But by and large, the most impressive thing was that she was hitting hard, but within herself. She wasn't flailing away and it balls spraying all over the shop. She was playing like the player that you always thought or I always thought she would eventually develop into from this audacious ball striker. And it's kind of never really happened to the degree I thought it could and should. So, who knows, maybe this, it's never too late to try again.
And maybe this is just the moment it all comes together for her. Who knows? Yeah, I was really impressed tonight just to floor this first set. One, the big point in the second set. Is it possible that we still haven't seen the thing that we've been waiting to see from her? Like, I don't know, have you gone too early with your apology? Is what I'm saying? Because like, she has reached a lot of... Well, I do think she's really... ...same as I am semi-finals.
If that's your question, I still... I just don't know whether we've seen anything from Madison Keyes, this tournament that we haven't seen before. I take the point about like, there was a bit more control about the game tonight. And it looked really good and she's... Blum in tough for poet. Yes, but one who I don't think was all there. And that's it. If Keys is really pushed and she comes through it, that to me will be a point of huge difference.
I draw a lot of parallels in my mind between Madison Keyes and Grigor Dimitra. We know about the ball striking. We know how... I bet she's awesome in practice. Absolutely awesome. That sweet, sweet ball strike. You find out what they're about. In terms of, you know, winning slams, in terms of the real... ...sharp end of things, when they're under pressure. And there were moments tonight, when she was under pressure, those five break points saved. She showed us something there.
But consistently throughout a match, these last two wins... ...we haven't seen anything like the pressure that Irene Sabel-Ancher is going to... Yeah. ...put her under. Unless Sabel-Ancher semi-finals all over the place. That record is so interesting, because I hadn't really... ...landed with me that the one time she's got over it was against a player who is just really a surprising semi-finist. I'd forgotten it was Magdalene.
All I can remember is Sabel-Ancher against Rebeccaner, as the... ...as this... That's the Australian Open memory I have. So, to me, that was all upside. And I know that sounds really rude to Magdalene. I don't intend that because she played brilliantly to get to the semi-finals, but it's a great draw, really, compared to what it could be. And all the others, she's lost. So... ...it is fascinating to think now we get another semi-final, another big test for Sabel-Ancher.
World number one now, and this is a great test. Hmm. Absolutely. I can't wait for it. It's absolutely fascinating. Yeah, and it does mean, by the way, they... They shouted this out on ESPN earlier. That's three Black Americans of the eight singles semi-finalists. That... I mean, that is... That is the William Sisters legacy right there. Not exclusively.
There have been other extremely trailblazing Black players over the years, but none is prominent, and trailblazing as Venus and even more so Serena Williams. And it's just so uplifting to see the legacy before your eyes, isn't it? In the Arthur Ashtadium, it's quite something. Yeah, it is. And I think probably even more so now, because it's only recently that Serena has stopped playing.
And yeah, you get to look back and realise just how long they kept their careers and that example and that opportunity for people to follow in footsteps with. I mean, it's two decades worth of tennis and more in Venus' case. And yeah, that is really something. And you had Clervian Gunu sitting there watching Madison Keys tonight. That's the next generation coming up behind her. Lindsay Davenport was... We sat there watching Madison Keys as well.
She's obviously still, she's not an official coach, but she's still very much a mentor. Her official coach is her fiance. If you want a Fritangelo. That's right, yep. I am getting a bit frustrated with the amount of narrative there is around the men behind the successful women. I find it a bit infantilising. Yeah, well, I mean... I've talked about Brad Gil, but as much as anybody, but I think I am going to stop now because I am fed up.
Yeah, I think generally too much credit ends up getting given to coaches as part of a narrative generally. And most, the vast, vast majority of all the coaches are men, including in the women's games. So you do get that. And it's... I do think sometimes we... And we probably should take the lead from the players, who in Coco Gough's case is telling her coach to stop talking and also doing the complete opposite. And then Madison Keys today is saying, thank her, couldn't hear a shit.
What are you saying? It's a great name, isn't it? It's a great line. And listen, I'm not trying to do him down as a coach either, because she's in the semi-finals, he's part of the team and all the rest of them. But I do quite like the moment when the women just slightly slapped that down a bit. Yeah, absolutely. So what's happening in these semi-finals, then Matt's gone for muckover in the news letter. Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to give away the newsletting positions.
You're supposed to sign up in order to get that info. That's just little tease. And also because we haven't said how many sets. Yes. I think it's direct retaliation for Brad Gilberk claiming that Coco Gough does not know who Bruce Bingstein is. And what did Wayne win there? Yeah, that's two members of the backhand list. Yeah. Who don't know who Bruce Bingstein is. I suppose people contain multitudes, don't they? Yeah, we've got to be great, I've seen about this.
Yeah. I mean, we don't use his list. He can be every, every, every bit as childish as he likes about it. So what do you think, Matt? Who are our finalists? I'll go with muckover as I have done in the news letter. We do not know whether Caroline and Muckover are in this have a link with Madison Keys. No, he Bruce Bingstein is. I feel quite comfortable about a muckover. She travels with a guitar, she likes music. I'm pretty confident about Sevalenka.
I think she could belt out some of his stuff very well. Oh, I'm less confident. We'll do some heart-hitting journalism tomorrow, Matt, and find out. Arena, first question, but do you know who? genuinely not ruling it out. Sorry, Matt, onto the serious stuff. It's hard, it is hard because Sevalenka's semi-final record, as David has just laid out, is lodged in my head there. What's the number? One wins six defeats or five, I think. Five, yeah. And the nature of those defeats has been so similar.
You know, it's been sort of on her racket and then an implosion, really, of flurry of unforced errors in so many of them. Muckover being one of them. Exactly. Laila Fernandez. Yeah, those two were the worst. But I, how many said that? I will go with Arena, Sevalenka. And yeah, I don't know, I'll just go with Muckover. I think Muckover's just such a close-up player, and I thought she was brilliant. Yesterday, was that against Castella?
And we were talking about the influence of the crowd, and whether that will get to Muckover. And we sort of all concluded, no, like we think she's got a great temperament. I think Coco Gough will have obviously a huge amount of support. But I don't see it being really hostile and a difficult sort of atmosphere to play in. Agreed.
I think it will be just very positive for Coco Gough, but I don't think they, I don't think Muckover's going to be, you know, Laura Seaman, being it up there and getting them all on her back, you know? And so I think she'll be able to play her game. And Gough has played a lot of three set matches in this tournament. Like, there's been opportunities for her opponents. So I could, look, it's a bit of a coin flip really.
I think it's so even, but I'll just, just give the age to Muckover, but I've been wrong a lot. David. I'm going Gough against Sabelenko in the final, and I think that, I think there are no limits on what Karen and Muckover is capable of doing. But I think that Gough in this environment will scrap and be inspired and find a way.
In the mixed doubles, Danielina and Helio Varad did go on to win the semi-final against Shibahara and Pavic, and in the final they will face Jessica Begula and new men's doubles number one, Austin Kreicheck. They beat Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, the Salson reports from that match that Ben Shelton was not holding that. 10-3 in the match tie break, Pagula and Kreicheck one. So yeah, that'll be the mixed doubles final.
Tomorrow, you can probably imagine what's happening tomorrow, but I'll confirm it for you anyway. Coco Gough and Karen and Muckover first semi-final at 7pm, followed by Madison Keys and Arunet Sabelenko. He got men's doubles semi-finals, Beparnar and Ebtan against Ebermaew first on Armstrong at Midday, then Rajeev Ramajay Sals being an event-dodic and Austin Kreicheck. So Kreicheck's on for the doubles double. You've got Wilchem men's doubles action Senada and Houday against Huitt and Reid.
That is also on Armstrong. You've got some junior boys learner TN. I feel like he's someone we know something about. We'll try and learn more about him for when we cover the boys and girls in more detail later in the week. I can hear Matt Googling, but we'll save it. We'll save it Matt. Right, that's a lot for today except for the formalities. People stay for the formalities, don't they? Hello to Willow. I love Lee Lovely, US Open mascot. Hello Willow.
I must put a picture of you on Instagram that is going on my to-do list. For tomorrow, we have our mascots. David, you've got Maisie. Right, Maisie and thanks very much for the birthday wishes. Maisie went early but the birthday wishes. I got an email and a photo. It is now officially your birthday David. It's been your birthday in England for five hours but Happy birthday to you David. Thank you very much. We won't do an Alcoraz slash Jock of itching to you. Oh! On a live broadcast.
On live broadcast. I have got Zenia. Hello Zenia. Matt has got Darwin. Hello Darwin. Points today. Points today for Darwin. Hasn't been able to say that too many times. No fortnight. This year. Billie Jean is sponsored by Billie Jean King and Alana Kloss. She's been struggling in the heat wave in London. Billie Jean is still about 15 degrees cooler than it is here. But thinking of you Billie Jean, we have our executive producers and top folks Jamie, Hannah and Drew. And Matt, we have shout outs.
We have Andres in Dallas, Texas. Like Andres. Like Andres. Exactly. All right Andres. Hello Andres. Dallas. You see, you get singing. Dallas now makes me think of all the angry people that when I was promoting the WTA finals going to Dallas last year informed me that Fort Worth is absolutely not the same place as Dallas. People were kicking off. It was a whole thing. You two didn't know that thing too. And I just hung there. Well, I see what it seems. The Dallas team.
But only assumed you didn't know. No. No. See, loads of listeners are still coming along now. Who do know? Thank you Andres. Am I in your mind what co-ho-goth is to me now? No. Not in Bruce Springsteen. He was disappointed in me. No, I'm not. Dallas and Bruce Springsteen are not cultural equivalents Matt. Dallas hasn't really had much of a mention for the last 40 years in most people's world. By the way, best wishes to Bruce Springsteen. He's had to cancel all his September shows.
He's not very well. Right. So we're thinking of Bruce. Yeah. Extrash out to Bruce. Sorry. You're appreciated. We've also. Imagine if he slid into our DMs and so thanks for the shout out. No. Must be Dream of that. A dream is a lie if it don't come true. As you were, Matt. Sorry. Alison Lamar is our next shout out. We've had Alison Lamar before, haven't we? Yes. Alison is living in New York City but missing London where we raised our children. New York's pretty good to be fair, Alison.
Alison, felt like the sea? Lamar? No. Oh. Sorry. I thought you were talking about Alison's felt like the sea. You're too. Lamar, L-E-N-M-M-A-I-R-E. Okay. Like the Mayor of London. Like the French Mayor of London. Yes. Like the Mayor of Bordeaux. To Luce. Yeah. Alison, like Luce. We got there. Hello, Alison. And thank you. Yeah. Thanks very much, Alison. And finally we have Chris Capacella, who is in Seattle, Washington. Oh, Chris. Like sensation, Chris O'Connell.
And I'm- He played Daniel Meperev into form. I'm so delighted that we've got a Seattle resident on my birthday. And C-Hawks fan, maybe? Maybe. Well, what we do know is that he is lucky enough to have completed the fan Grand Slam. Good work, Chris. It's one of my favourite things. That's some effort, isn't it, to do the fan Grand Slam? Yeah, congratulations, Chris. Thanks for your shout out. Thanks for being a friend of the pod. We're approaching the end days of the US Open 2023.
And if you're worried about post-US Open with Dural, then becoming a friend is the best way to deal with that because we have Bocco. That's what Bocco's for, guys. Is that again? Bonus content. Oh, yeah. Everyone knows by now, David. My mom's a bitch. I've made it. I've shaken her head. The link to become a friend is in our show notes, as always, as is the link to subscribe to the newsletter. And also you'll find the details for how to enter that extraordinary AO Travel Competition.
We have four more of these to come. Tomorrow is a special David Law. Stay pod, we'll speak to you then.