Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Mary and Bartoli. I'm Matt's Belander. This is Mary Carillo. This is Pam Shriver. This is Yannick Noah and you're listening to the tennis podcast. Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast on Labor Day. Happy Labor Day for those who celebrate. It's also Day 8 of the US Open. We've seen the day session, the night sessions, just getting underway. We'll cover off that in part two, as per usual.
But you find us right now as the sun sets over the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in our usual spot in the media garden. David's here. Hello, David. Hello. Hello. Isn't it a nice sort of sight to look at? And yet it's a bit too muggy, isn't it? I mean, it's disgusting. It's disgusting. You know. You know. I've just seen Dana Mevvelle is in Halea. And I think that that kind of sums up just how horrible it must be to run about in this. It is...
Oh, you know, when you try and breathe in, you don't feel like you're refreshed by the air at all. Yeah. I'm going to go with my soupy word again. That's exactly what it feels like. It feels like you're not getting in our foxer gin in your lungs. And we are literally just sitting down and having a chat. Having a beer. Yeah. And it's going to get worse apparently the next few days. Lovely. Matt Roberts is looking fresh as a daisy. Hello, Matt. Hello. I'm actually having an ace paloma.
Yes, due to cues for the main bar, which sells honey juice. Matt's had to settle for a... What is actually quite a traumatic cocktail for him, because I kindly bought him one in Indian Wells and he pretty much spat it out in disgust. And drinkable, he said, I drank mine and his. You've had about a quarter of an inch of it so far. It's better. It's definitely better. I can drink this one. I think you were dealt with Delta Darden in Indian Wells. Yeah, it was quite heavy on the salt.
Before we get into day session stuff, I'm going to tell you about our partners for this US Open. They are AO Travel. And they operate the travel program for the first Grand Slam of the season in Australia, in Melbourne, AO Travel. You can put on packages for you where they take carrier flights, premium accommodation, tournament tickets, and behind-the-scenes experiences, including the all-new AO Travel Lounge.
And it's to celebrate the launch of that AO Travel Lounge that we have our incredible competition on the go right now until Monday the 18th of September. The winner will receive two return economy flights to Melbourne from their nearest airport tickets to the Rodlay Verena over Middle Weekend of the Open for two people and three nights accommodation at the five-star Pullman on the Park Hotel in Melbourne, which I was told today has had a refurb since I stayed there. Oh, really?
It was very nice when I stayed there. So, lucky, lucky. Middle Weekend. And you'll also get two-day access to the luxurious AO Travel Lounge. You can enter the prize draw today by clicking on the link provided in your show notes. And as I say, you have until Monday the 18th of September at 11.59pm, New York time to enter terms and conditions apply very, very best of luck. My dad has already entered. OK. Have we informed him that family and friends are not permitted? Is that an official rule?
Let's discuss our fair, David. I'll tell you what my dad just wants to that is, which is, he's a paying friend of the podcast and listener like anybody else. OK. They just gruminate against him because of his service. He's in the draw. Right, onto the tennis. And if you include World No. 1, E. Gisheon takes last night to Elaine Rosterpenko, which of course we covered in part two of yesterday's podcast, we have now lost three of the world's top five players in the space of 18 hours.
And that is because we just watched Ones de Burr, lose out in two straight sets, de Junction, when 6264 and earlier on in the day, we saw Jessica Bagoula lose even more once, I did least, 6163 to country women, Madison Keys. And it's with that match and that result, I think we should start because we've just come from Jessica Bagoula's press conference. And I find this a really shocking result, quite frankly.
Not that Madison Keys has reached a US Open cause of final, we know she's got that blistering tennis in her, but 1 and 3, 1 and 3 from Jessica Bagoula coming in plain the tennis of her life, I'm shocked by that. And what are you shocked about? Are you shocked about her inability to meet fire with fire? Because Keys was on it today. And when she is on it, she is a frightened proposition.
Or did you feel like even if maybe she's out powered out guns, that there should be another way back into the match. What was your feeling on that? More so the latter. OK. I mean, when Madison Keys is on, Jessica Bagoula cannot match her for fire power, not many can, maybe just you lean across the penco, I don't expect her to be able to meet that fire with fire and that's fine. But she hit more than 20 on forced errors today.
There was very little resistance, there was very little, there was very little behavior commensurate with the world number three today. There was very little imposing herself on that on that match, or problem solving out there. And she might not have been able to solve the problem that Madison Keys' A-game poses when it's on. But there was so little resistance today. I found that quite bizarre.
I know she's a rhythm player and Madison Keys designed, did deny her any rhythm at all, but she looked so flat. And this was a huge opportunity for her and to come out and not perform, I think is worse than it's C, Jiburr, Wimbledon final chance to come out and not perform, I think is worse than to lose a match she had opportunities to win, as much as that hurts any different kind of way. Yeah, I think that's what I was saying.
There was something pretty telling, perhaps, in the as soon as this match was over, Madison Keys was back on the practice court. Like that's always a bit of a burn, I think, to an opponent, if you've just beaten them so easily. It was almost like Madison Keys didn't feel like she'd had enough of a test even, or enough to sort of go on to figure out how or even she was playing. And like I did think she played very well at Madison Keys. She was hitting the ball with a lot of depth.
And there was one wobble that she had in the second set where Pogula got the set back on serve. And that was the moment where I thought, okay, this might turn. Like I've seen Madison Keys in enough big matches. And I know this wasn't the very latter stage of a grand slam where she tends to struggle. You know, she's very good in these sorts of rounds in slams. But it was a big occasion against a fellow American on ash.
And I thought there was a chance there for Jessica Pogula to apply some pressure and knuckle down and make it difficult for Madison Keys. And the opposite happened. She went away, she lost serve, and then the match was just kind of over. And it was definitely a really disappointing performance from Pogula. That's the thing. It's like what we've seen about Murray and Dimitrov the other day. Dimitrov played a dream against Murray. But he never felt under any pressure.
Mentally, I think if Madison Keys in Grigor, Dimitrov is quite similar players. Really, I felt like Jessica Pogula wasn't able to ask her the right questions today. To make her feel under any pressure. She felt comfortable throughout. And we absolutely know what Madison Keys can do with those weapons when she feels comfortable. But when she's made uncomfortable, she can really fall apart to greater and lesser extent. And I don't know, am I being too harsh? What do you think?
No, listen, I don't think you are. And I think actually it was quite telling in the press conference, the way Pogula seems to view it is Maddie can have days like that. And what can you do about it? And I felt which is totally understandable reaction. And it may be the right one. It may just be that there are some days that Jessica Pogula's top level is just not good enough to cope with the top level of certain players. And I actually think that is the case at the moment anyway.
I just don't think she's a really good player who some players have a higher level when they're at their peak. But at the same time, I do feel like that's letting yourself off the hook a bit. And I understand why you would do that. I'm sure I would do exactly the same in her shoes. But what I was looking for, and I had Pogula in my final. So maybe I'm just a little bit missed having missed out and blame her.
But I actually think what's going on here is that I thought she had levels that she could call on when she wasn't kind of maybe getting freaked out by the semi-the court of final ceiling. And I thought, here, this is why I put her in the final. I thought, it's a matter of time. She's coming into this now. She's won a tournament, a big tournament on the eve of it. Yes, she was exhausted and Cincinnati couldn't perform there. And that's fine. Now she comes out prepped, ready, her home crowd.
She's the one getting hype. But maybe not Coco, Kofkai, hype. But second in line, she's getting way more talked about the Madison Keyses because we've had a decade of Madison Keys sometimes doing well, but not actually doing what we all thought she'd do 10 years ago. And I'm afraid Pogula just had no answer, no gear, no acceleration. I think she probably just hasn't played that well all tournament. Really, if you look at her as her scorelines, she's found ways through. But I found that a shame.
And he was about that, David impressed, didn't he? He said, OK, fair enough. Maddie has a gear that I don't have, that very few players can match when she hits it. He says, does that motivate you to try and change things or find ways to raise your gears? Or to create new gears? To create new gears. And she pretty much said no. Yeah, right? She says you're always looking for things you can do.
But she was happy enough, certainly, publicly, to sign this off as Madison Keys being Madison Keys, hitting her straps and playing really well. But there have been too many of these. And because they're not all Madison Keys on fire, I felt she was very candid in her answer before that when she was talking about how three times this year when a match has gone indoors, she has not been able to respond. And her ball, she was explaining how her ball doesn't go through the court in the same way.
And she was kind of highlighting her own limitations. And I just found that really interesting. And maybe I have overestimated her own power as a disrupting force. But there's nowhere around it. I mean, I found it disappointing. And I wanted to break through because she thinks she's done so well to kind of produce more than I ever thought she would years ago. But now we've hit this ceiling and you can't be content with that. I don't think. Yeah, the conditions thing was interesting.
You know, it was surprising, I suppose, that the match was under the roof. Like I don't think anyone really had today down as we're going to have a lot of matches under the roof because of the forecast. But there were like the odd scattered chair in the forecast and the US opened up the decision to sort of preemptively close the roofs. Always a word that we struggle with on the show. I've been on the planet 1490 years and I still don't know what I'm supposed to say.
And therefore, Pagula played under the roof on ash. And absolutely, that is now two-round Sam losses in a row. My cat of Ondrocheva, Wimbledon, the roof closed half way through that match. And Ondrocheva got noticeably better. And Pagula didn't when the roof came on. And she struggled today in the conditions. And she didn't do very well with everything finals last year as well indoors. So I think that is a factor here, perhaps. Those conditions maybe do not suit her quite so much.
And she's not able to play her best. The thing I asked her about in the press conference was really picking up on what she said about always looking for ways to try and improve and try and do things a little bit differently. So I quite sort of tentatively approached the issue of doubles because I know she talks about this all the time. And I know she's been very, very clear. And I completely believe her that doubles has helped her singles. I totally think that is true.
That she is a better player because of the skills she's learned in the doubles. Because it actually maybe suits her rhythm to play some doubles on off days and recover from losses by playing doubles. And maybe it's fun. You know, she likes playing with Coco Gough. And the tour is difficult. And if she's able to have some fun, that's a good thing. So I absolutely think that doubles has been a huge benefit to Jessica Bagoula. But the point
is I think she has played over a hundred matches this year. And for all that she can say, and it's probably true that, you know, an hour of doubles isn't that physical. It's still something you're thinking about mentally and emotionally. It's still taking up headspace away from your preparation for singles. Factor in all the issues that you get to do with scheduling as well. And maybe not quite
known when you're going to play and waiting around. She's got more going on in her head, Jessica Bagoula, than her singles rivals who've won the other slams this year, you know, for the most part. You know, Sabahlenka, Shfiante, Rebecca, they're not playing doubles. They are focusing on singles. And so I just sort of wanted to know, is that something that you will consider in the future of changing. You've talked about changing and trying to find new ways. Or are you going to keep playing
the doubles forever? And I would, you know, would sort of understand if you would. And it sounded to me, like she's really seen the Olympics as maybe a little bit of a goal. You know, she wants to play the Olympics with Gough and get to that point. And then maybe there might be some reassessment. That's my view perhaps generally. She made the point that she wants to win slams in doubles.
As well as in singles. And therefore, why should she sacrifice those doubles slams? And that's a fair point too. But the point is not many players win singles and doubles slams, playing so much doubles. But I've already created over the other year, total outlier. I know Serena Williams has done it, but she's not playing doubles and Venus, but they're not playing doubles all year round as well. They're not...
They're not playing mix. I know they have won so twice, played mix, but to play all three events regularly. So I'm absolutely not saying just Gula needs to ditch doubles. But I think it was an interesting insight into her mindset that kind of for her, maybe a double slam would be just as great as a single slam. And that's fine, but it does make me maybe think about her a little bit differently as a singles player. Because I was like you, David. I had her going all the way here
to the final in singles. And I don't know, I always say I think I'll learn for the next predictions and never do. But it feels like now it would be becoming very hard to pick Baguela going beyond the quarterfinals. There's so much evidence now. Yeah, I had a very similar reaction. I thought what she was saying in her entity, which was fascinating, was yes, it might be a bit of a trade-off. It might be a sacrifice.
I agree with you. It's improved her singles game and we're always urging players to be more open-minded about doubles, particularly in their developmental stages. I think it's great that she's played so much. But there has to be diminishing returns there in terms of developing your game. Her game is pretty developed now. I interpreted it as her saying, I realised that I could be making some sacrifice to my singles with this commitment to doubles. But I know what I'm doing. I'm doing
that mindfully and it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. And I tap into respect that. It's her career. Nobody at the Olympics thing I 100% get in support. You do you, Jessica, right? Like, so long as she's doing that in full knowledge of what a sacrifice it might be, cool. Fine, you're doing it with perfect information. But I did think this is going to change what I do with you and my predictions from now on. It does change how I think of you just a little
bit. Great player. But I don't want to do a Steve Redgrave here. But if you see me picking out for a Grand Slam final again, you have my permission to intervene. In your lifetime. But I mean, yeah, I think the only thing that I wonder on her behalf in years to come, and I don't think she's really the type. So I don't think this will happen. But if she decides never to sacrifice doubles because she wants to play it, will she ever wonder whether
that might have made a difference? Even though she thinks it wouldn't because you haven't tried it, you don't know for sure. And personally, I love the fact that she plays doubles and mixed too. And I think it's, it's just a message to everybody else that you can. At the moment, that's what it is. But by the look on your face. Well, by the look on your face, Catherine, your view would be well, yeah, the evidence doesn't back it up today. I think if you're somebody that
that is absent, champions don't make that sacrifice, right? Champions aren't. I mean, you know, the best are the best here. People that leave no stone unturned, they'll prepare to throw themselves into a brick wall. Yeah. I mean, the things these tennis players do to give themselves just a chance at success. And what Andy Murray's doing. I mean, one of countless examples, they don't knowingly make those trade-offs. And it's absolutely fine
to do that. It just makes you a different kind of beast to those champions. It is almost as though she's champions. Well, she's just clearly prepared to not troll that dice because she doesn't want a sacrifice or doubles. And I, I respect that. If that's how she feels, fair, fair play. You know, it's your life. And, you know, she's having a great career. And if that's the way she wants to run it, I really understand that. But I do think you're right. It impacts maybe given
because there's not no evidence that she's about to get over the hump. It does impact whether you think she will end up getting over the hump. And actually, a point that she made in that answer to me was that she didn't play doubles in Washington. She then goes over to Canada, plays one doubles match, pulls out of the doubles tournament with Gough. And she goes on to win the singles. You know, all while talking about sort of little ways that she thinks she might be able to
improve and get better as a singles player, that was why I asked the question about the doubles. So, yeah, if she's absolutely happy with it, then totally good luck to her. I really support her playing doubles. I really, really do. But you're right. It does, I think, just tell you something about her sort of DNA. It was a tennis player, I suppose. Yeah, absolutely. So, that was Pagula going. Madison Keys. Madison Keys will play Marquetta Von Drowschiver in the quarter
finals. That after Von Drowschiver took care of Payton Sterns in three sets. Six, seven, six, three, six, two, this one over the NCAA champion. She was struggling with a shoulder injury Von Drowschiver during this. I mean, incredible hustle from her. Her serve speeds were way down. She can generate, generate much pace off the ground, but she's one of the few players that can win matches. Has has enough tool in her arsenal that she can win matches in spite of that. A lot of
players would have been out for the count. That being the case. But she, she problem solved out there and found a way around it, but it is a worry for the quarter finals for Von Drowschiver. A big worry. She pulled out of the doubles, which was wrenching for her because she was playing with Barbara Stritziver. It's her farewell year on tour. She's basically ended Stritziver's career
by pulling out. Stritziver, incidentally, is incredibly understanding of that, but there was a a gut wrenching backstage video that emerged of Stritziver giving Von Drowschiver's upset because she knows what she has to do and Stritziver is comforting her. And it's all the emotions. All the emotions. And Von Drowschiver, she went asked about the injury and managing it. She said, the balls are very heavy and the season is very long. And the balls are a tough
with conversation. Even without Ashparty here, the US Open Balls remain a topic of conversation. And it did, I'm sure there was way more input from other players, but it did feel like Echishfjöntek last year was the one leading the charge to change the US Open Balls. She won tournament. They've changed the US Open Balls. She's out of the tournament this year. It sounds
from Jessica Pagula, like they're considering changing back to the other ones. It sounds like there's some players who have in addition to Von Drowschiver made the point that these balls that they're using are heavier, potentially causing injury. Players have said that. So we'll see what the situation is next year. I think at the time of recording, Stritziver is still in the mix doubles. So she's still got that. I felt like I'm really rooting for her now. I'm also rooting for
Ben Shalton and Taylor Townsend. The whole mix is a mix of emotion. I'm rooting for Jessica Pagula. You know, like all of this. Lots going on. So I was impressed that Von Drowschiver, as you said, found a way through that. Not feeling her best. You're absolutely right. She's got stuff to fall back on. If plan A isn't working, she's got so much in her game. She's got such a good tennis IQ. She's able to manage that mid-match and make adjustments. She started using her slice a lot more
and causing Peyton Sterns. I've been really impressed with this tournament. Started causing her problems as well. She had top-sense player, I think Peyton Sterns. Yeah. First time I've watched her today and I was impressed. She's got a sort of slingshot form. Kind of a bit like Carolyn Garcia. And you mentioned Jennifer Brady the other day. I can see that. There's just something else on it.
So Von Drowschiver's keys is one of the quarter-final set-up today. The other will be the winner of the match currently on court that will chat about later between Arena Saberlenker and Daryl Kazakina. And Jun Shin Wen. Her first top five win and her first grand slam quarter-final. She'd be on Saber 6-2-6-4 and yes, Ones battle today. Like she has in all of her matches so far. But that fight can only make up for so much when the game isn't there. And frankly, the game just wasn't there today.
And it hasn't been there all tournament really. Of course, there are moments. She's on Saber. She's a wizard with a tennis racket. But so inconsistent are those moments. Well, I have felt on edge watching her throughout. And that's been a very alien experience for me. And Jun was just so aggressive today. And that's a real trademark of Winferset's players, isn't it? She's very happy to finish points off up at the net, which I think is a real sort of benchmark
for players. You see a lot of really talented players that just haven't got that figured out yet. And she does seem to have. And we've known about her talent for a long time, but it does feel like Winferset might be the jolt that she has needed. Her serve still looks a bit chunky to quote Simon Briggs. But when it's on, it's it's a really effective serve. It's a big serve. It just looks like there's an awful lot that can go wrong there. It's certainly not a text
of my any means, but her ground strokes of both wings are absolute bullets. Raking, aren't they? I haven't seen a play a lot in the last year or so. And I am mindful that she was up against a sub-parge of her today. But still, it's still a difficult game to combat. And she just blasted it off the court, really. Her ground strokes to my eye. And I should be very clear that my eye is not a trained seasoned coach, but they look a little unreliable. They look spectacular and powerful,
but I'm not completely sure she's got control of them all the time. But that's why I want to watch more of her, really. And I'm so really fascinated to see how she comes up. She was mentioning in the the on-court interview with Blair Henley, who puts her that she's being known as Queen for the element to her view. Queen when? Queen when? And she really liked that. She liked it, didn't she? I mean, I too would probably like it if I had a nickname involving the word Queen. Yes, great.
Yes, a Junction went through to a first quarter final. We'll talk about who she plays in part two on to the men's matches that we've seen already today. And the match currently on court between Daniel Mervative and Alex Demenore, where Mervative is looking even by his standards, spectacularly
disheveled. The winner of that is facing André Rublev in the quarter finals. Rublev having beaten Jack Draper 6'3", 36, 6'3", 6'4", pretty much the match that I was expecting here in that Draper really showed what he's about and showed that when he's a hardened tour pro with a bank of fitness and match toughness and match fitness under his belt, he'll be a match for André Rublev and
better players than André Rublev quite possibly, but he's not there yet. He's completely undercooked in both in both ways and you know it is totally to André Rublev's credit that he didn't doubt his fitness for one moment out there. It was disgusting on Armstrong. Absolutely disgusting. Made worse by the sheer number of people of course. So many people they did, the roof was closed and they do have a sort of air conditioning unit on and in his press conference Draper described it
as being quote, cold, which I would like to really? He was complaining about the air conditioning being on all the way through the first round. I think there's a sort of spot on the court that the air conditioning is directed at where you like sort of get a blast of cold maybe but it was not it was not blasting towards the press seats. Let me tell you that. Did anyone follow up and say I did a face, Matt. I felt like the face covered off the floor. Can we just park that air conditioning
next to Catherine? Yeah, it also say it was horrible. He said like the humidity, the humidity kind of cancelled that out. He just said it was really really hard to generate pace and hit through the court because of the the cold in combination with the humidity. And he did go a break up in the third set when it was one set all but the second he lost that break it felt like he was holding on at that point and he held on valiantly but Rubellev just keeps
coming. There was more relentless. There was more great examples of mic-tub coaching teams because Draper was going into the corner James Trotman is coach was giving some, I mean first of all some really good tactical advice of on the backhand he was saying middle then line, middle then line as to what he wanted very simple and that really changed the trajectory of the second set.
And then in the third set when Draper was clearly in a bit of a hole and he's got a physical dip because he was going through these waves you know he's never played five sets in his whole life before and he's such a novice over these longer durations of matches and of course he comes in
with an injury and he just undercut but he's there and he was I think 1540 down at about two three in the third set and he's struggling to keep up and and James Trotman says said to him come on now just hang in there I back you here like this and it was you just saw Draper just walk away with a bit more of a spring and he's stuck and he went and served out and held it held to three all. That is like receiving a David love voice note isn't it? I was thinking exactly the
same thing. Walked with a bit more spring in your step. But I mean I just so like Jack Draper the player and the person from the little I know I don't know him well. Yeah he's easy to be poor.
You know he's got a lovely way about him really solid handshake look you in the eye always says a low doesn't matter who he's with you know he's not some players some people in the past I've had they'll say hello if they're with the right company but if they're not then they'll ignore you and he's not like that and and I just feel like if he gets a run at his fitness he is going to be a top 10 player in the future and and and Andre you've told me Andre Rubler thinks he's going to be a
top 10 player and he's well. No one's a bigger hype man for Jack Draper and Andre Rubler. I was going to say to you know who else likes Jack Draper Andre Rubler. Yeah in all the sort of ATP videos that they've done this year where they get players to predict who they think will win on play or on hard or who they think will have a breakthrough. Rubler just always answers Jack Draper so that question and yeah I think he's beating them every time every time they've played.
Mind you I seem to remember Pete Sanfress and Roger Federer are sometimes complimenting opponents that they've got about an eight zero record again. Oh do you think it's an Andre Rubler mind game. I don't really know I don't think it is either. He's got it in. He's absolutely lost his mind in the second set. I mean he didn't resort to hitting himself but oh he worries me sometimes
but he's still managed to get it back. He got it back and I like him too. Speaking of people we like Carlos Alcarez beat Matteo on Audi 6364, 644 yet another just kind of trademark early round Carlos Alcarez, not early round but you know early-ish round Carlos Alcarez match that made me think of well many passages but I picked out one from Sally Jenkins piece in the Washington Post about Carlos Alcarez today which is absolutely definitive. It's a it's a fantastic piece if you get the
opportunity to read it and I've picked out the issue. I enjoy the rampant overflow of a young champion who at times when he should come and deer a match instead turns dreamy and plays games with such scoloping tactile touch that he doesn't mind dropping a set because it's a constant in a dialogue for him. Is it better to end the point quickly or go to the circus? And he did in drop a set today but I felt like Matt you watched every point of this. I felt like in that third set
he was prepared to in order to go to the circus. I had so much fun watching this match like and Catherine I completely agree with you when you always say you know you want jeopardy. Now that is that is really what we're after when we're watching tennis match especially when there's so many to watch you know my eyes are invariably drawn to the most dramatic match the
most tight match and yet Alcarez to me is the exception to that rule. I will watch him straight sets Matteo Arnaldi in two hours and have the best time and not regret a single moment of my decisions because he was awesome today there were so many highlight real shots and yet they did actually
feel like the right shots to be playing you know it's so instinctive for him to hit the drop shots to come in and hit the touch of all these to to lob it back over Arnaldi's head he had it all going on to to hit rocket forehands which really knocked you back even when you're in the crowd you're
like well someone has hit the ball that hard how it was just an absolute treat to watch him and it was it was especially so because he came out and I was a little bit worried because he had he had a tape on his leg for the first time autonomous and if there's one thing they am a bit worried about
with Carlos Alcarez it is the fact that he's had little injuries through his career and he is so physical and I do worry about that I asked him in the press conference and I believed him when he said that it was it was mainly preventative he says he has felt a little bit of pain in his left
leg he made the point that that is going to happen in slams in tournaments it didn't affect him at all today from what I could see but then Arnaldi who I thought played really well and you have to be good to bring out the sort of spectacular in Carlos Alcarez you know like like Dan Evans did
the other day it was almost a compliment to Dan Evans that Alcarez did played so many spectacular shots it was a compliment to Arnaldi today as well like you have to be so incredibly talented to win what 10 games off Carlos Alcarez today like Arnaldi did fine I've been impressed with him
he just doesn't have the weapons to be able to hurt Alcarez he's got a slightly funky serve as well but yeah maybe something to monitor as this tournament goes on that's strapping on Aralcarez's leg I don't think there's anything to worry about at the moment at all but if it were to get worse
obviously it would be so hopefully he sort of nipped it in the buds immediately by putting the strapping on and not making it any worse by playing today the tennis gods wouldn't take Carlos from us oh Catherine no I mean they would they've done far worse yeah there was another line used
by Sally Jenkins and an anecdote about Carl one Carlos Faroe banning him from using the drop shot to the match because he's great he got a couple of games in and he just points points she wrote that he couldn't resist sending a hummingbird hovering over the next they just dropped for a
clean winner and he turned around and he says I just couldn't help it yeah it's a it's a wonderful piece give it given you know why sometimes feel anxious about covering Alcarez on this pod because you're like how do you how do you sum that up you want to just say go watch him go
and watch him and experience it but that's not we come to a podcast for and also not everybody I do realise not everybody's lucky enough to get the opportunity to to watch him live or even on the tally and we we really don't take it for granted trust me so I hope we can with with the help
of Sally Jenkins and others do our best to to bring that experience to your doors what we try and do here on the tennis podcast what I need to go and try and do is getting some air conditioning well there won't be a pot too we are I'm feeling very down in my breath we're melting away here folks
it's not even that hot is it it's just disgusting yes it really is unpleasant bring back the weather it two days ago that was nice wasn't it okay I'll do that on Friday thank you very much David right we'll be back pot too in just a moment welcome back to pot too and
to tennis podcast towers where while we've been sat in the lovely lovely air conditioning all evening some of the fittest athletes on the planet have been struggling fading succumbing to some of the most brutal conditions in sport we've just watched four hours 41 minutes between
Alexander Zverev and Janik Sinner the remains thereof Alex Demenor road runner Alex Demenor his legs went against Daniel Medvedev on the Armstrong court earlier I mean these are some of the fittest tennis players out there they are not players that are generally prone to cramping
and they've they've they've they've gone they're absolutely gone it is it is taken down the best of them this evening and this is set to continue for the next three days yeah and get hotter this is the tournament the city the climates that made us realise that Roger Federer does sweat
several years ago when he lost to John Millman and it was a very very similar night that one um this that was maybe more shocking because it was him but this was more brutal in terms of what we've just witnessed for the last five hours worth of tennis between Janik Sinner and and
Alexander Zverev the cramping of Sinner the complete fade of Zverev where he looked like he was sort of walking on holes or something as though he's legs didn't really work they they're the most brutal conditions of all I think I think it's worse than Australia where they
they get very hot but it's the humidity just does something to play as it makes them a bit delirious and and it makes me worry for them really and I mean I'm sure it's only temporary but car I mean if you get through what's it do to you for the next one yeah horrible conditions to play in
horrible conditions to be dressed as a carrot those carotter boys did they deserve to go through to the quarter finals really from tonight don't they because they remained dressed as full carrots and I don't think that was a breathable fabric that those those carrot outfits are made
out of all god damn evening watching them and just I mean the ebbs and flows of the physical struggles tonight were I mean uncomfortable to watch quite frankly just as just as one of them sort of push through the tunnel him is coming out the other side suddenly the other one would be
bent double and they were kind of taking it in turns to just be right on the brink of collapse for both of them that's that's as close as you can get I think without without retirement and staggeringly without the quality of the match really falling off all that much there was the
odd total brain cramp moment and the odd you know super unforced there are four hand dumped in the net or whatever but by and large an extraordinary quality of tennis I thought I was astounded by how high the quality was considering how bad they were clearly both feeling they their ability
to still hit the tennis ball incredibly sweetly was just evident and you know some of their movement in the rallies was still good even if they could barely walk or breathe outside of the rallies uh Alexander's very in the final set to win the match volley the best I've ever seen him
volley and covered the net generally I don't know where he's learned to do that or when he's learned to do that but he looked like a completely different man I put the net in the last few games of that match and I think it helped him win he was he was you know taking advantage of the
fact that Sinnoh was standing so far behind the baseline to return his serve and he was sort of using that space and it was it was good tactics and yeah that's a fifth well five is last six losses now for Sinnoh in slams have been fifth sets and all sorts of types you know he's he came he
played an amazing match last year and lost match point against Alcarez he's lost from two sets up a couple of times or once he's tried to come back from two sets down and then lost in a fifth he had that match against Altmeyer where he was really crossed with his attitude in that
match and then he said this one today which was just so physically grueling he is in why do I lose all the close match matches territory it's it keeps happening to him and it's you know on the one hand it shows how damn good he is that it takes those sorts of extraordinary performances from those
people to beat him but cumulatively by now I feel like he should have come through one of these matches and he needs to start coming through one of them if he's going to make even more progress than he already had yeah five and seven I think now his best of five set record and it's it's
his double as sword isn't it I mean he did staggeringly well to get that match into a fifth set we thought he was going to be retiring after two sets for two and a bit sets we thought he was down and out when he went two sets to one down to get it into a fifth was a monumental effort for
which he deserves extraordinary credit but equally I do think he has a bit of a problem David as Matt said it's all different types of of losses in close matches he needs a lift or elevator if you will ride with David Law what would you say I'd say sure Simon up no what would you say to
Yammy oh okay you know I was I was thinking when you were describing those five set defeats about pre-Henman British players at Wimbledon when I was a kid and the amount of times they'd they'd fight her only and get it into a fifth set and then lose but they'd still get good headlines after
and and there's a bit of that in sinner really he was incredibly brave to and and persevere to get into that fifth set but he lost and the winners don't you know that that's the truth and he's got a proof that he's a winner the winners don't lose David yeah but you know it's those kinds of
matches you know everybody loses matches but those kind of matches you've got to win those that if you're going to make the next step he lost the one against Algrace that's okay I mean he had a match point but then you've you can't keep doing it and I I mean look it's still a young lad
everything else down K Hills there he's got his team they're working on it he's still lost to Alexander's very often I thought he would win and and it was a weird weird night they're not all going to be like that but but but I just feel like well I'm coming up with
excuses for him really they're aren't I because you've got to just go win find a way he was he was close he we he's bloody close and I think he will get there but until he does there's always a question mark um Alexander's very in his own words I'm back back in a grand slam quarter final
unfortunately he did look like an exhumed corpse at the end of the match and he now has to play Carlos Algrace so who's at a lovely afternoon he's briefly back yeah I mean staggering effort it is worth remembering that he is a type 1 diabetic isn't it so I mean that is absolutely
no inhibitor to being a a top level athlete at all thanks to incredible modern medicine and he obviously manages that condition very well but it is an extra factor for him and yeah it extraordinary really that that feats physical feats like this evening are possible Daniel Medvedev we didn't
have the opportunity to watch loads of his match against Alex the North frankly after that first set that he lost so one sidedly to Domenore 6-2 we thought there was going to be a lot more of that match that we could watch once we got back here to the air conditioning but actually what happened
is Daniel Medvedev went into total lockdown mode studied drilling laser like ground strokes and stopped missing and just watched Alex Domenore's legs slowly disappear from under him it was clinical by the sounds of things vicious yeah I edited part one of the podcast and then headed
it out to Armstrong to watch what I hoped would be you know Medvedev on Armstrong fun fun vibes out there and honestly the setting a bit that I saw Medvedev was just in total control he was pleased afterwards when he found out that Domenore's legs had gone you know he I think he took some
some real pride in that in a way that he managed to sort of induce that by locking his game down and extending the rallies he also really improved his serve I think it was letting him down in the first set and he was able to rely on it in the next three and shorten some of the points because
he was also feeling feeling it himself he said in his post-match interview with Blair Henley that the conditions tonight reminded him of Tokyo we did not have a good time in Tokyo not to enjoy Tokyo and I actually went back and had a look at the quote he gave he said who will take responsibility
if I die I felt like that at about 3 pm on Armstrong in the media seats so you lost about will David and Matt sue the USDA off to my dad you you you lost about eight minutes so yeah it was it was a sort of combination of you know improving his own serve to protect himself a bit but also
being prepared to take Alex Domenore into the trenches in in some long rallies and it really worked and yeah a completely sort of drama free end to the match after he'd been using an inhaler in the first set quite the turn around it all goes to my point that the more dechevaled he looks and
yep boy did he the better he plays and now he plays the godfather to his daughter Andro Rublev and it probably take his legs away as well and and smile on his face so yeah that was an interesting one meant for David in his press conference afterwards had a real athletes they're just like us
moment when he was saying that he wanted to be able to watch Ben Chantney and Francis Tiafo tomorrow night or probably tonight as you're listening to this but he said due to the spectrum Disney fiasco he no longer has access to ESPN in his hotel so he was going to seek out an illegal
streaming website in order to be able to watch it so for anyone out there that is a victim of the the spectrum Disney fiasco mevara is in the same boat as you if that's any comfort at all appears you have his blessing yeah tweet him and I'll send you the link
Arena Sabalenko made her 2023 Arthrashtadium debut tonight as the pre-annointed new world number one and she utterly dismissed Daryl Kazikina it was a real statement of a performance I know that's a dodgy match up for Kazikina she can get as much as her her weapons are beautiful and so such
craftsmanship she she can get blasted off the court she is vulnerable to that I didn't realize a serve is now in the 60s a lot of the time I mean you can't do that and beat Arena Sabalenko no and she didn't really interesting quote I thought from Sabalenko after the after the match
talking about achieving world number one and the way she achieved world number one she said she was gutted to see Yigashviontech lose and in her mind she was thinking about one world number one it was her target for this tournament but she was just assuming that Shviontech would reach the
final and she would have to beat her in that final in order to achieve it that's the that is what she was manifesting for this tournament and she wanted that she wanted to physically directly take it off Yigashviontech now I'm sure I'm sure in in the course of time that feeling
will fade and she'll know that she earned it to three three six five ranking and all of that and we all know she's earned it but I I can understand that and I do really like that attitude I love that she she really wants to prove it against the best of the best she does want an easy
ride anywhere I love that about her she wants moments as well she wants yeah the dream I suppose and I do think there's probably a bit of a that is looking for ways to properly believe that she really is world number one and there'll be moments like when the ranking list comes out Monday and
she can log on to the WCA website if it's working and and and see her name I've been lights as a world number one you know maybe they'll do some sort of presentation that that is a trophy or something like that there are just little things like that that I think you're looking for
and the ultimate would have been as you say meeting Shviontech in the final knowing that she'd she'd got all the way and beating it that would be the ultimate but well you you take what you get and and she is a very worthy world number one I mean she has worked so hard the last few years and has achieved this goal in the Australian open and has been consistent throughout the year.
Junxin went next for her of course Concrete of Honours Jabir early runs so those are the quarter final line-up set tomorrow we start in earnest with those quarter finals and interestingly the schedule looks thus Elayna Rostra Penco against Coco Gough is first stop at midday and we understand
on the rumor mill given that Coco Gough isn't in doubles action tomorrow that it was a request from Coco Gough to play at midday in the day session in the full heat of the day because she believes and probably quite rightly that she can cope with that better than her opponent and probably better than any opponent tomorrow so Gough was the pen go at midday followed by Novak Djokovic against Taylor Fritz in the full brutal heat of the afternoon.
I think Novak Djokovic is going to want Gough Osterpenko to go on for as long as possible so that yes he'll be playing in the heat he can't escape that but he might be able to escape the direct sun so he doesn't have to wear the hat and I do think it's sun which really bothers no at Djokovic just heat as well but sun seems to stress him out and make him feel bad when he's when he's exposed to it in such a direct way and the shade does come across the Arthur Asteradian
during the afternoon. Oh we know it's hard to miss. Yeah. So serious shadow issues. Exactly so I think he's going to be hopeful for some shade but it does feel like a does feel like a big factor in that range. Night session is Veronica Stey against Kerrini and Mukiver and then Frances Diapo against Ben
Shelton which Daniel Medved will be watching on a dodgy stream somewhere. That's a lot for today folks we will give some coverage to the doubles events and the wheelchair events which are well some of them are getting going some of them have been very much going in earnest. I know that Taylor Townsend of Ben Shelton have been causing a big stir haven't they in the mixed doubles and Taylor Townsend is also on for the doubles double because she's still in alongside Leyla Fernandez they play
tomorrow in a quarter final against Dabby Dubrovsky and Erin Routcliffe. There you go that is on Armstrong tomorrow if you're in town and want to go to that. Oh as is some player Louisis de Farni. Yes. What a player she is. Which court? Armstrong. Excellent my favorite course. With Jen Brady. Okay. Yep. Right so that is tomorrow tonight I need to say hello to Willow. Lovely lovely Willow
our US Open mascot. Our mascot's Maisie Zenia. Not Maisie we didn't do so well today. I thought when when Dim and all was a set up I was feeling really confident Maisie that then Medved have decided to play out of his mind. David's a very in the moment kind of guy when he's watching tennis. And Matt has Darwin feel like you got points today? No we we're losing all the close matches.
Billy Jean is sponsored by Billy Jean King and Alana Klaus. We have of course our epic executive producers and top folks Jamie Hannah Andrew hello to you and we have shout outs. We have Shane Clifford who is from Kerry in Ireland but currently living in Tanzania. Wow. So cool. Right Shane. Hello Shane. Shane Anun like the physical trainer of Andy Murray. What a shout. Wow. Look I've done Shane. Shane was sort of the breakout star of resurfacing.
Yes he was. He was indeed and he's a lovely chap. He has a documentary. He always says that. I hope Shane from Kerry you'll agree that David Law has done you proud there. This is why we don't shout outs on days when David's not around. Given that I have been really struggling not to nod off here to I am. I don't quite know where that's come from. On with the next shout out Matt thank you Shane. Next we have Dallas Nelson who is from West Jordan in Utah. Wow. Dallas from Utah.
I was just hoping you were going to tell me he's from Texas because I know somebody you called Austin from Texas. Which is epic. But Dallas from Utah is also quite epic. Wow. When Matt and I were driving from Palm Springs to Las Vegas what a sentence. In March to see Taylor Swift we were staggered that Salt Lake City in Utah was featuring on road signs just you know to indicate how far away it was for people that might be driving there despite the fact it was what 700,
800 miles away. Yeah way too far to drive. But this is America and people do. So there we go. Thank you Dallas. Yeah thanks Dallas. I don't know any tennis players called Dallas. I do know an American footballer called DJ Dallas who plays for Seattle Seahawks. My team. Should I do the final shout out? Yeah. Yeah. We have Jacqueline Martin who is from Exeter in Devon. All right Jacqueline. Like Jackie Martin. Isn't Jackie Martin something that did something funny
in lockdown? The yes like the local camsler or something. Yeah. Is that who I'm thinking of? Is this her? I don't think so. Where's this Jacqueline Martin from? Exeter. Hey. Look I'm going to have to do some googling here. You are. I am but nothing's coming up. I feel like I could have got this wrong. Great radio. You're falling asleep. Someone home me out here. tennis Jacqueline. Well this Jacqueline says that she loves hearing David's 90s tennis anecdotes because that was the
era that she loved watching. Yeah. Go on Jacqueline. I can't talk. I can't even give you any 90s. I'm afraid. No it's not Jacqueline. Jacqueline. Jacqueline and all Jacqueline says is all like I think of his top Martin. Oh well. She's done it for us. She said so looking forward to what you come up with. I think we've done it for our Alberto Martini. Alberto Martini. Who was in the box of Andre Rublev today alongside Fernandes Vicente? New coach. Was he? Yes. New co coach.
First Wimbledon match. Thanks for the match. Martin. Martin. Yeah. First with the match every watch the live with Alberto Martini. Against Andy Rodic. Corte 18. I see. He looked Jacqueline again. I'm sure he'd agree David is really pulled something out the bag for you there. At 2 11 AM. So apologies for whatever nonsense we've been spouting but we're doing our very best and we're very grateful to all of you friends, shout out
friends, intro friends, mascot friends, just general friends. We're very grateful to have you. You're the reason that we're here and spouting nonsense at 10 POS 2 in the morning. So why don't we do it all again in 24 hours time. We'll be back. You'll be back and we'll speak to you then. Jackie Weaver. Weaver. God, it was just a dream. What did she do it herself? She was the one that said. She was a quote here out of chaotic viral council zoom meeting.
He's so retaping. What do I think it was about?