Hi, this is Billie Jean King. This is Mary and Bartoli. I'm Matt Vellander. 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 day nine of the US Open. Another absolutely filthy day in New York City. You know yesterday when we were saying it was disgusting, give me yesterday. My kingdom for yesterday, yesterday was a dream compared to today.
And according to the weather forecast tomorrow and the next day as well. It's just about as disgusting as weather gets. But to mitigate all of that, I have some fabulous news for you listeners because we, myself, David Matt, are joined by five time US Open doubles champion and singles finalist and all around dear friend of the show, Pam Shriver. And dear friend of Daniel Medvedev this morning. We're going to join getting caught up on and getting your all's takes during this incredible run.
It's just non-stop nine days and it's great to hear voices that aren't your own to help you fill in the blanks. And you guys have been doing that again. Pam, we've got you for about 20 minutes before you have to go and do ESPN GT. I'm hoping you end on saying something quite controversial so I can send you on your way with the words, Pam, you are a piece of work. OK, so going back to that interview at like one thirty two in the morning with Medvedev.
And I really was too tired to have my act together. So I just, I don't know, just going to kneel both. Yeah, we were both disheveled. And then I just thought, well, I'm just going to ask him about the crowd that stayed. And then when he started to answer, and it wasn't like a, I wasn't trying to team up to hit it at home run out of the park as they say in the US halfway through.
I thought, am I going to have to take the mic away from him when he started talking about somebody's, the fans, girlfriend or wife and going to sleep. And it was just Panic's bill. And then at the end when he finally finished that flurry of syllables repeating itself over and over again that I didn't understand what he was saying, I realized I just needed to tell him how it is. He's a piece of work. It was epic.
And I feel like, I feel like Daniel's a sort of guy that would, would appreciate, would appreciate that for me. Well, I saw him in the hallway yesterday before his match and he was rolling out on one of the posters of a past US Open Champion with like a foam roller going up the side of the wall. And it's like, again, every time I see him, he's doing something different. He keeps his son on toes, doesn't he? Yes, Daniel. He's always, always, always fun.
Or they may be not tomorrow in the heat of the day against Andre Reblev. David's slightly dreading, commentating on that match. Well, listen, I mean, anytime I get to commentate on the radio, I end up enjoying it, but it, of all the matches that you could get between top 10 players describing on the radio, rallies between Andre Reblev and Daniel Mevadev that are pretty much the same every rally for several hours. It's a, it's a test. So it's not one that I've released the most.
It's called a final time today's the first day of, of quarter final action we got tomorrow as well. We've got the night session, obviously, to come. We'll cover that in part two. Just to really hype up the quarter finals over to Matt Roberts to explain why this is for him the worst round of any given grandson. Yes, I did say that earlier. And I do stand by it. I think that the quarter finals drag a little bit. Well, I need to do in. I know. I know. It's more to go. Hype man.
I just think you get these, you get these first eight days of incredible buzz. There's matches absolutely everywhere. And then suddenly you get to the quarter finals. And if the match is a bit of a dud and we've had one, maybe two today, suddenly you're like, well, there's nothing else for me to watch. And I don't think the quarter finals quite have the high enough stakes. Whereas if the match isn't great, the story can really carry it.
Whereas that's certainly the case in the semis in the finals. So I don't know. Maybe it's a hot take. Maybe it's controversial. But I do always get a bit of a slump during the quarter finals. Yeah. And I think we're just experiencing that a tiny bit in this moment because the two quarter finals that we've seen so far in terms of contests have not really been any good. A little bit of a flurry from Taylor Fritz in the third set, but never really felt like it would amount to anything.
Let's cover off the first match of the day first. Coco Gough, love and two over Yelena and Roster Panko Pam. You were caught side for this. I don't know how you're looking so fresh. My thoughts and prayers were with you when we watched in the European broadcast earlier on. And we saw you stood in the full sun. Only for a minute or two. I did move to the shade, I moved down towards the end of the president's box and listened a 20 minute first set.
Even I can survive in the heat, a 20 minute first set. Yeah. Love and two. Yelena and Roster Panko won seven points in that opening set, which, you know, the fact that she went on to win 35 points, I think. Well done, Yelena, because I thought that she, you know, might be under the 20 mark after the first set. But it was really bad for Mr. Panko today, wasn't it?
It was, it was the sort of performance that we see a lot from Yelena and Roster Panko, but it just happened to be on the biggest stage and against the biggest name left in the tournament. Who incidentally, I think Coco Gough played so smart today, wasn't perfect. It was never going to be a perfect match for anybody in those conditions, but it was cany stuff from Gough. It was, yeah.
David, you noticed, I think in the very first game that Gough was putting a lot more shape on her shots, the sort of red-gill but instruction from the other day. She was doing it today, you know. I hope he wasn't saying hit through it today. And not, basically not making it a hitting contest in a way that I think Yelena and Roster Panko fell into a hitting contest with, with Roster Panko the other day and got out, hit, outgunned, whereas Gough was not giving her the pace.
She was using her theses and her movement to extend the rallies when, when she needed to and the rest of the time. Roster Panko was doing a lot of the work for her with a sort of blaze of unforced errors. I mean, if you had to explain to a non-tennis person that this was the woman, you know, Roster Panko, who beat the world number one the other night, they would not understand that. But I think everyone within tennis, this wasn't a shocking thing to see.
Like, Roster Panko, you know, moves between being brilliant and being bad within a match, within a tournament, within a game. So I wasn't surprised by this Roster Panko performance, but I was a bit disappointed in it, given that she'd just beaten the world number one. You sort of want them to try and back that up and never came close to that.
And you mentioned the other night, which is when the Schfiontec match was and what a crucial element that ended up being, because what, 40 hours later, playing 100% opposite conditions, because when Roster Panko beat Schfiontec, it was the last of the mild days. It was actually pretty cool still. I remember it's safe on the leaf hand. And then today, I feel like it was almost, when tennis balls get heated up like this, they almost become part super ball, hard to control.
And with the flat shots of Roster Panko, no shape that Gough clearly had. You could see you're right. Exactly. The forehand was going over the net by 10 feet, where Roster Panko was trying to hit it over by six inches, and she was missing so many line shots, because the line shorter. I just felt like she needed four more feet on her baseline that she wasn't going to get. And she doesn't know how to play with margins.
So the conditions were, and team Gough did a great job of pushing for the 12 o'clock match. And it was a surprise to Ostepanko. It would have been told she was going to be the night one. Ooh. Yeah. Ostepanko said in her press conference that coming off the court the other night of defeating Egos Fiontec, she was told that the next round would be at night. So she was prepared for that, and then she saw the schedule come out yesterday for today. And she said, I was surprised and not in a good way.
Well, what do we think about that? I mean, this has been going on forever. Pam, I assume this happened back when Martino and Chrissy were playing. A big name would push for a certain billing, and they would often get their way. I mean, there's a lot of things that go into scheduling, TV requests, fairness within the sides of the draws. But players do make representations to tournament directors. I've heard it with my own ears in the Queen's tournament director room for many, many years.
And they push. And very often, tournaments. They satisfy those requests, or at least consider them favorably, because they want certain players to win, because that's good for the tournament. Is that okay? Should tennis be better than that, and not do that? Well, I have a question for the rest of the world. Do they have the expression, home field advantage? Yes. So, I mean, this is classic home field advantage. Coco Gough from the United States.
I mean, ESPN, for example, is the domestic broadcaster in the US, they would prefer to have Coco Gough prime time every one of her matches, right? But that's not going to happen. They also want to really try and have her in the finals. So if it's advantage Coco Gough to play ostopenko day time, then ESPN is okay with that. If it means it's a better chance that she's going to be in the semis in the finals. So it's all a strategy. In the meantime, we've seen it in Australia, we see it in England.
Although England, I know sometimes with Murray being scheduled late when it's best for prime time, that doesn't suit him. So sometimes, I think this past year, he got scheduled a little earlier. Anyway, it's not that a surprise. It's sure I can understand how ostopenko being a little upset, but tough luck. Yeah, it's interesting when the interests of the various parties making appeals don't align. It's interesting knowing what wins out on any one occasion.
It sounds to me like on this occasion, ESPN were happy to make the trade off because ultimately everyone just wants Coco Gough staying in the tournament. All due respect to ostopenko, it feels like when Serena was in the tournament for those five days last year, doesn't it? If she were to go out at any moment, the whole tournament would reset and the vibe would reset and everything would feel different. Maybe not quite to the extent of last year, but...
Please understand, for some reason, Serena and I had a great night session in 2002 to help him get through that tournament. And I totally understand it. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it if I was a tournament, having been involved in one, but it's not like the luck evens itself out, is it? Because Yelena and ostopenko doesn't have a grand slam in Latvia. And I do think it does sit uncomfortably with me that there are forces within a tournament that she is playing.
There are actively trying to help her opponent win. But it's tip to scales forever, right? You get the money from the majors, the players who come from countries where majors are, get more financial benefit too, because the revenue, that's why the ITF with the development fund, they've tried to help balance it out with players coming up from whether it's Tunisia or I remember even Azarenko when she was like 16, got something from the ITF coming out of Belorussia.
So it's a tough one, but it's not all fair. Yeah, the roots of the unfairness are so deeply entrenched, aren't they? You kind of try and unpick it all, is a lot.
I mean, the roof was pulled across, head after the cocoa goff, Yelena ostopenko much, ahead of the no-butt jog of itch, Taylor Fritz much, and I believe the OSTA confirmed that the reason for that was to improve the conditions for players and fans, and it put the courts into the shade, which is obviously great news for no-butt jog of itch.
I mean, I know that Taylor Fritz was loving life in those conditions either, by the way, but, and I think fair enough to do that, but was the timing of that not a bit strange to not do it ahead of the first match of the day? I think that is probably, and I haven't read the exact rule book on this, but the heat rule was employed in that spell, because they actually suspended wheelchair matches on the outside courts.
I think that I'm not sure whether they introduced the third sex, break if it was necessary after one set or, but I mean, there is a heat rule, and I mean, it did surprise me at the time, because I was up in the commentary box, I suddenly saw the court in shade. Now, from a viewing experience, that is so much more pleasant. It's horrible to see a court divided by sunlight and shade. It's really hard to track the ball.
I wouldn't want to sit in it if I was a fan, if I was in the heat of the day, and it is, it was uncomfortable even watching Sinner and Rupin very ever last night, let alone in the heat of the day to day. But I think there are certain players who train for the heat, and if they were, I don't I think Fritz is probably not going to say this, but I think there are some players that might have said, you've just reduced my chances, because he doesn't like the sun.
I would imagine Novak would have politiced, or his team would have politiced to have that Rupin situation happen. So I was court side for the first match. The Rupin was the usual way the Rupin is. Obviously, Ostapenko is the non-US player in the women's match, doesn't have the kind of pull that Novak Djokovic does as the non-US player in the men's side. So listen, there's inequities throughout all of this.
But I was surprised, because when I went out to watch on the terrace right by ESPN's main broadcast booth, and I looked at the shade of the court, and I looked up and I saw how little of the sky you could see that they closed the roof that much. I was like, why didn't they do? It was always going back a little bit to the Australian open weekend when Wozniakki beat Halop, and that unbelievable three-set final, that heat wave that came in that final weekend, they played with the roof open.
It was unbelievably hot. The next day, the men's final, similar conditions, maybe one degree hotter, they closed the roof. And I feel like that was Federer's power there. So it's always existed. No, Novak Djokovic has heard your hat theory, David, in his head. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's it. Yeah, if the son had been going, he'd have had to put the hats on and then he would have lost. Just, we have to let you go, Pam, and we'll move on to talk more about Djokovic against Fritz.
Just staying on Koko Gough for a moment. Some interesting comments from her in the Post-Match press conference talking about how fresh she feels, particularly how emotionally fresh she feels. It's day nine of the final grand slam of the season in the most extended, grueling sport in the world, I think. I found that extraordinary to hear her talk about feeling fresh. Well, usually this grand slam is defined by who can just last that extra day or two longer than everyone else.
Everyone's on their last legs. Who's going to be the last man and woman standing, really? And she's talking about being fresh as a daisy. And I know she's, she's 20 years old, but she's 20 or she 19. 19. 19. 19. 19. I'm sure that helps. I can't remember, but I'm sure it helps. There are 19 worlds out there feeling nodded all fresh. They've played an awful lot less tennis than she has. I found that pretty extraordinary.
Well, first off, if you believe in sort of the gamesmanship through comments made in your press conferences, 100%, she should say that. Even if she's not 100% fresh or even a... Do you believe in that? Uh-huh. For sure. You don't want to let anyone know anything that you're not more than 100% and feeling good.
And also, I think at 19, given many events during the regular tour tournament week, when you play much more frequently, like you play six matches in seven days or five matches in six days, plus doubles, you actually do have more downtime during a major as long as you have learned to manage the emotions of the attention. The thing that I guess is the added element here is she was, for the first time, really, in the serious mix of two or three to win this thing going in.
So she said the pressure each round and now the favorite once the fiantic goes out. But if she's living in it comfortably, good on her. She also talked about how much more recently she's been embracing the fun parts of the sport. She said, she said, she wish she should embrace the fun parts of the sport a little sooner. Again, this is like hearing a 35-year-old look back on their career, isn't it? She's 19 and speaking with all this experience and wisdom.
She said, I thought to play and win, you have to be ultra serious and ultra focused, which that is true, but also you still have to enjoy it. I think that's what has been the change is that I'm having more fun. And she said that Brad's been a big part of that for her. And that was something that was in my mind as I was watching Taylor Fritz. Oh, me too. Throughout that match, just how little fun he seems to be having in that match off the court just generally. And that I get it.
It's unbelievable hard and grueling. But yeah, the players that find a way to find levity in it all stand out. And the body language element that you reference, Pam, is the complete opposite to what Taylor Fritz was showing. In the second game, his vibe, I was a long way away, but his vibe even from there was, oh no, it's all going wrong. And I thought, if you'll know that, Chuck, if you're just thinking, oh, there we go again, I've got him.
Yeah, listen, you got to fake it till you make it sometimes. A lot of it's bluff, especially when you're not feeling your best. And I feel like Coco is young as she is. She's a veteran now at 19. And she knows every element how to play it correctly, not every element, but a majority of the time, whether it's the intangibles, the X's and the O's. It's to me, it's looking more. I didn't pick her to win. I actually, I thought Shpiontec would win back to back.
I don't know why, but it's now looking pretty solid. Coco Gaufs got an amazing chance here. Would you pick it to win at this stage? I think at this stage, you'd have to pick it. I mean, obviously, Sabelanka, the fact that she played so well after knowing she'd gotten to number one and losing only four games, that what keys is playing great, Vandersova, I'm afraid with her shoulder, I'm really afraid what's happening there.
So Sabelanka would be the one that I would be most concerned about, but I think Coco Gaufs, it looks like she's the one. And the men's? Oh, boy. No, but I was looking like the dream final we want. I think Maraise will be on that worldwide in a final, even more than the big three facing off. And I think I'm going to go with Novak. And I know, and it wouldn't, I don't know why, I just. Well, twenty three. Twenty three. You won twenty four. You won twenty four. Pam Shiver, ladies and gentlemen.
Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Pam's going to go to ESPN. She's so in demand, you see. He's so in demand. And then Danielle. Danielle wants a chat. If the tennis court is listening, please put Pam on Daniel Mervadov's interviews. That'll give you somebody to look forward to during your commentary. Oh, cool. David. Yeah, no, but, jog of it. Six, one, six, four, six, four.
David Taylor Fritz today, David, you and we all agree, but you said par for Taylor Fritz this tournament was reaching that quarter final and giving a good account of himself against no at Jockevic. Did he achieve that? For about twenty minutes at the end of the match. Yeah, he was great in the last twenty minutes. But I'm afraid that's not good enough. That is garbage time, as they call it in NFL, when you're about to lose and then suddenly you start score points and make it look respectful.
I'm all about the NFL. I'm all about the NFL. I'm talking to my mom. I'm talking to my mom. Right. But I mean, Pam, my mom. I really feel sorry for Taylor Fritz. I genuinely do. And I don't want to just come down on him and criticise him, but the truth is he didn't do what he set out to do anywhere close. And he's no closer to being where he wants to be. Because he did take care of those four rounds. That's one tick job done. But he came into this match having lost to serve once in twelve sets.
And in the interview we did in the tunnel for this match, he said, they said to him, how do you, how do you get some hope here that you are actually going to win given you've played seven times in a loss seven? And he said, I've got to concentrate on what I've done to get here this week and take confidence from that. Makes total sense. One was he was broken in the first save of service game. And then the second service game. And then the third service game.
He did not hold serve in the first set. He did break Jokovic's serve once. He had a break point in the first game as well. So he had chances on the Jokovic serve. But he instantly told Novak Jokovic, or Novak Jokovic told him maybe that your serve is not good enough to keep me off and to stop me from just having my way. You have to be able to hold serve against Novak Jokovic. And that's twice. That's two first sets in a month that he's won one game totaling.
And I'm afraid you're just, you've lost already you've lost. I don't, you are not going to beat Novak Jokovic from a set down if you're toad of Fritz. And if you lose it like that, the, the damage you've just done to yourself mentally feeds into the second set. And he had his spurred in the third, it honestly you could have written it based on past experience. I feel sorry for him because I would love it to be different.
I'd love him to have come out and really done himself justice and hurt Jokovic at times and forced him into the deep waters of the match. And he just was unable. And that maybe because Jokovic is just simply too good. But I mentioned the body language of Fritz.
You can't in the second game be telling somebody at the top of the stadium like me that, oh, no, it's all going wrong, which is what I was getting from him every other point, every misshot throwing the arms into the air as though it's all going against me. What's wrong, you know, you can't do that. It's tough to argue with that.
I mean, I always get worried when someone comes into a match against Jokovic with a stat like they've only lost serve once in their previous four matches because I just always think, yeah, but Jokovic's return is just on a totally different level. It's almost completely irrelevant like serving against Yakovensik is a different sport to serving against Jokovic.
And ATP had a line today that his four opponents through the first four rounds hadn't won a single tour level match on a hard court before the US opened this year. Tate Fritz's draw through four rounds was as easy as you can get at a grand slam. And suddenly he's got his absolute nightmare matchup, which is Jokovic. He's never come close to even troubling him. Unless he's has an aptair in Australia. That's the only time he's won sets from him.
Yeah, so I think all of the other matches, as you said, straight sets. And it is a terrible matchup. Fritz does everything worse than Jokovic. I can't think of a single element of Fritz's game that I would want over Jokovic's. And I agree there's certain, there's absolutely certain things that Fritz can do, right? I'm trying to counter some of that. And mainly it feels like attitude wise, that is something you can control. But it ultimately, Jokovic is just way better than him.
And we've seen that from... I can think, I can reel off so many names who have similar games to Tate Fritz over the years. And you think, maybe this is the time they can do something against Novak Jokovic. And it never happens. Thomas Birdick. David Ferrer. Yeah, so many. Jokovic will just beat them. And yes, I would have liked to have seen a better attitude from Fritz today. And as Pam said, fake it till you make it a bit more belief.
But ultimately, I think everyone was kind of deluding themselves if they thought Fritz had much of a chance against Jokovic today. He did have break points though and he should have taken more of them. And the words of Jimmy Eris in commentary, and there are some cracking lines from him. He was alongside Mary Carrillo on the World Feed and it was just such a fantastic listen. And in the third set, he said, one thing we can say about Tate Fritz, he knows how to get to break points.
And it summed up that whole first set perfectly. He was two for twelve for break points for the match. Yes, I agree with you, Matt. There's no world in which he's going to win that match, but there's also a situation. I think if he plays his best, he can get a set. That would have been giving you a good account of himself. He played so horribly on those key points, tightened up, overthought it, picked the wrong shot, picked your poison for Taylor Fritz. And that's not a good sign.
No, no. Look, I hope that he can figure something out to be more competitive, but it is a nightmare that you have for him. And it was quite interesting when we were talking about it in the commentary box about of the three Americans, which one might cause the most concern. And Jeff Tarrango reckoned Shelton because of the unknown. And because Shelton has got no limits on himself, he's got no baggage. He's the most inexperienced, but also the Jockevic team doesn't know that much about him yet.
And they just know so much about Taylor Fritz. Well, quite a lot about Francis Tiafo too, but Tiafo is a different character at least. Yeah, I certainly hear the argument for that for sure. This win means that Jockevic has now taken sole ownership of the record for most Grand Slams semi-finals reached in the men's game, going one better than Roger Federer, who reached 46, and this is 47, and counting. No, that's not true. I mean, I do. I do.
This is awful, but I glaze over a bit when I hear these numbers, because they're just so ridiculous and it's all shouting all the time. Yeah, and he's taking him off, isn't he? Yeah. And he also overtook Federer today for the most seasons reaching the semi-finals of all four slams. Wow. Federer has done that five times, did that five times. I don't think he's making a comeback. I can put Federer in the past tense in tennis terms. And no, but Jockevic has now done it six times.
That's a great little line as well. Unbelievable. I mean, he did not enjoy the conditions today. That was another thing. Sorry, I know this is being really harsh on Taylor Fritz, and we all feel for him. This is the most brutal of sports. It's not like we don't have sympathy for him. A lot of sympathy, actually. I have for Taylor Fritz, but this is the sport. This is, you know, the marker, the parameters within which you're judged.
But there were moments there where Jockevic was there for the taking. Not just physically, but he looked scrambled. His head was scrambled. There was one particular point. I think it was to set up a break point in the third set where he completely had a brain freeze and left a ball that was clearly going in and sort of got stranded in no man's land, scrambled back and dollied up a forehand.
It was just a very, very bizarre point and a real gift to the opponent of this guy's head is all over the place. If you can just get yourself together, he's there for the taking, but Fritz can get himself to it. There were definitely openings that certain players would have taken, I think. And I think one of the limitations I saw in this match was Fritz anywhere off the baseline.
As soon as he comes into the forecourt and they get involved in a cat and mouse, he just looks like he has stiff hands though he doesn't really know what to do. And actually Jockevic used to be that in about 2006. And now is a master around in it in the way he's able to manipulate the ball, his touch and feel and dexterity and understanding of what's required.
And he's just become so complete Jockevic and the serve that he just rolls over now is though it's nothing and yet it's pinging off the racket at 125 into the corners. What a player he's become. And now he gets to do his warm down and put his feet up and subject to whatever cable provider, the family that he stays with, subscribes to. He'll be able to watch Ben Shelton and Francis Tiafo take some lumps out of one another this evening drinking a water and lemon.
He told us in his post-match interview also sung the Beastie Boys. I used to like the Beastie Boys. Still processing that. And I was at university, I used to know all the stuff. I thought you were going to say until an hour ago when no bad Jockevic sang it. Do you think that was anything at all to do with the fact that Colossar Choirs did some singing on that court earlier in the week? I don't know, maybe. Pretty unusual, they do rivals of both done unexpected singing.
It is becoming a bit of a thing of doing something a bit showy with Coco Gough doing her massive nerve hack Jockevic is coming up and now to some of them. Which felt like a bit of another, a bit of a burn at Taylor Fritz. The American number one didn't even get introduced to the crowd. It was in a good mood though at the end, Jockevic. He was so pleased to get that done in free. Because he was bubbling. He was getting in there.
There was those horrible moments where the crowd started plording, just clapping when he does a fault. You could just a message to anybody who is coming who is an American tennis fan against Jockevic and the next couple of days don't applaud his faults. It will come back and bite you. He will get better. Wind him up, he will be coming and he will be improving. As a direct result. You've been told by Dennis Law.
That was what David was introduced to the world as earlier on today and rather incorrect. David decided to lead into it and live his best life for 30 seconds as a football legend. Absolutely right. How made the most of it? That's our favourite moment of the day. There are two more singles quarterfinals to come though. There's doubles going on. At the moment as David said, the heat rule has been introduced for the wheelchair matches which are kicking off today.
Their first round matches in both the wheelchair and the quad events doubles on court. At the moment, David Townsend, Leila Fernandez. Been an incredible final set. They were four-one down Fernandez and Townsend and Double Breakback. They've got it back to four all. Then lost their serve and in out-of-date tennis news, the Rolfski and Routliff serving for the match. To facing breakpoint.
Townsend did one of my favourite ever celebrations earlier when she hit a beautiful lob over the head of somebody. And then, as David said, did like a thud, a high knees to run and then followed by a lawnmower sort of celebration. It's fantastic. Keep talking, David. And I can let the ball. They've got the breakback. Are you going to say? It's five all. We'll let you know the result of that in part two, which is just moments away. Well, welcome back to part two.
It's now 35 minutes past midnight. We're all back at tennis podcast towers. Seven hours since we were recording part one. And when we left you, Taylor Townsend and Layla Fernandez won the brink of an epic comeback. They were unable to quite complete that comeback. They lost out to Gabi Dorowski and Erin Routliff in a deciding set tie break, which means the double for Taylor Townsend is off, but she is still in the mix.
And the double is still on for her mixed partner, Ben Shelton, because we have just watched him reach the men's singles semifinal courtesy of a full set win over Countryman, Francis CFO. And we are as much as we love Francis CFO, we are basking in the reflected glow of Ben Shelton. It's quite a place to be. Yeah, he's exhilarating. And he just makes me smile when I watch tennis all the time, all the way through that match against Tiafone. I agree.
I, and there's certainly some conflicting emotions because of what Tiaf had brought a year ago, what he brings all the time. He didn't bring it tonight. He was the supporting act tonight. I mean, he wasn't very good for a start, but also it was Shelton who brought the emotion, the atmosphere, the personality to that match. And it was all on his racket too. That was the other thing. It was surprising how, on one level, to see Tiafso unable to influence the match.
It was, if Shelton pulled the trigger and he that made these shots or didn't. And he's just got so much more to his game than I thought, really, when I saw him in Australia. I thought he got a great service motion, but I thought it would take three years to get to this level. Yeah, I mean, the return was so unpolished in Australia, and that's probably been flattering, isn't it? I was exposed in that quarterfinal against Tommy Paul. I mean, I agree.
I thought it would take years, maybe not ever, get to the stage that we've just seen it at tonight. And where they will be able to replicate that against no other joke of it, in T-night time. I've got no, but it's really nice time, isn't it? I've got no blim and idea, and I don't quite care right now. I just love that they're running some highlights on the screen in front of us, and I'm completely distracted by them, I just love so much. What is the show we put on for us tonight?
Yeah, he, as David said, he kind of stole Tiafos thunder. Like, our thrashed stadium last year was Tiafos caught, and he was the one making the plays and getting people out of their seat. And I hadn't really considered the element that they both want to be that guy, and who would be able to beat it. And that was essentially the match. And I kind of assumed it would be Tiafos, just because of everything we saw last year, but right from the start Tiafos was flat. Really flat.
And Shelton was the complete opposite. He was, he was Bugs Bunny, as Tiafos himself described Shelton the other day, and he had more energy, and he had more vibrancy in life. And he was the one putting on the show and the shopmaker. And yeah, I was really surprised by that. I thought that Tiafos would find it through the match, and he even though one the second set, he didn't really ever become the Francis Tiafos that we saw last year's US Open.
And the third set was then a very, very weird experience where they kept breaking each other's serves and slightly sort of jostling to see who might take the advantage. And then it was all about this crazy wacky tie break, which I think will live long in the memory, because it seemed like Shelton was going to win it. And then on his set point, he double-faults, and he double-faults again to hand Francis Tiafos set point.
And then, well, in Shelton's words, he closes his eyes, shuts off his brain, and hits a 105 mile an hour forehand return winner from deep, you know, from near the back fence, just an absolute rocket down the line sort of swerving away from Tiafos. And that was it. From that moment on, the match was kind of over. Tiafos was deflated for the rest of the fourth set, and Shelton served it out without too much trouble. It was just a very surprising match, I thought.
Yeah. Of all the scenarios I thought for tonight, Tiafos looking like a bit of a shell of himself wasn't what I had considered. But I'm now thinking back to which quite a lot of the ESPN build up to this match, both at the start of the day and ahead of the match this evening, or in between the women's singles and the men's singles, and they were really going with this big brother, little brother vibe between them. And they're both embraced that narrative as well ahead of the match.
And I've read some articles about siblings that play sport, both professionals in sport, and it always tends to be their exceptions, obviously, and I'm sure I'll get added with all of them. But generally, it tends to be the younger sibling that has bigger fangs, sharper fangs, pointier fangs.
And certainly, if they're playing against one another, it's easier for the younger sibling to be the one to go out there and put their finger to their ear the way Ben Shelton wasn't to puff out their chest into a roar in celebration because when the younger sibling does it, it's kind of cheeky and fun. And you're the underdog and you can get away with it when the older sibling does it, it's bullying.
And I'm not saying that was in any way a conscious thought for Francis Tiafo, but just somewhere in there, the dynamic was different in that way for each of them. It was a freer hit for Ben Shelton to go out there and be the guy than it was for Francis Tiafo tonight. Yeah, I think that's fair, and he's also had a heck of a lot less to lose. Tiafo's supposed to win. And last year, he wasn't supposed to be Raffa and the Dowl, so it was all upside.
I think it was probably maybe a bit constricting for him in that sense, emotionally. But also his tennis just wasn't there, and I said, as we went into the second set, I thought whoever wins the set wins the match. Tiafo won it and he didn't win the match. And I think that that's actually really quite disappointing from his standpoint. I think he will have a lot of soul searching to do and a lot of analysis with Wayne Freire and looking at what on Earth happened out there.
Yes, I'm playing this guy who is extraordinary, physically and emotionally, he's pretty unique. I actually think that Shelton is Alkaraz' like in terms of his physical capabilities. He makes you gasp in a similar kind of way. They're built differently, but he has probably the closest ability, physically, to Alkaraz that I've seen.
But yeah, that will hurt Tiafo and he's going to have to try to find solutions and that will be really tough for him to look over it, but it's going to be necessary because that was a terrible performance. I can't stop thinking about seeing Ben Shelton throwing that football in Indian Wells.
And that's what I'm getting at is we all were jaws on the floor watching that and there have been several moments over the course of this last week that have reminded me of that throwing at the football because nobody else was doing that. Nobody else could do that and that's what Alkaraz is like too. There's just certain things you just think, well, I've never seen that before and we've been watching the sport a long time.
And it's that reaction, isn't it, David, that made you say we were, you were on site a bit later than us tonight on BBC Radio Gt and we were discussing, I think this was after Ben Shelton on the first set and Tiafo was just looking shell shocked by the performance
that Ben Shelton was putting in in the explosivity and you obviously were just reveling in it because I mean we're all loving it but we could just tell that that kind of performance was pressing all the David Law pumped buttons and you said yeah, of course I'm loving it, he makes me feel young. That was just such a wonderful line. Well, I mean, I just felt, I said he makes me smile.
He makes me think of my kids and I think having met his dad at Wimbledon and spent 20 minutes in his company, that also has just really stayed with me. I can't stop thinking about that conversation that we had and how much I respect him as a person just from that little snapshot and the way he's trying to rear his son and raise him and develop him as a tennis player, being his coach.
It's a wonderful seeming relationship and I just, I do, I feel so invigorated by watching Shelton come out and do things that I'm not expecting. I don't know what's coming next and I'd love that. And that shot of your brain closed your eyes and just swing line that he just gave to Brad Gilbert in the on-call interview in explanation of how he got himself out of trouble in that tie break and how he pushed through the tense moments. He made that sound so easy, didn't he?
But there are so many players in the sport in the world, I include myself in this, that you can't shut off your brain. You can't close your eyes and just swing. That's the secret source right there. And maybe he won't always be able to do that. It's blissful, naivety and inexperience and it all being new and fun. Maybe we'll be able to. There are diamonds out there that are able to keep it going for a whole career. I just don't know.
But yeah, it's funny how casually he said that, but what Taylor Fritts would give for the ability to shut off his brain and just swing? I thought as the match was progressing of two examples that he reminded me of from my tennis watching life.
One of them was Boris Becker winning win-win at age 17, similar physical, stature and authority out there and just dynamism and kind of breathtaking power that nobody else has and fully grown men at playing these guys and like, well, I can't deal with that. I don't know how to stop this. And look, he could do a Boris Becker. I mean, I know he's three years older, but it wouldn't be that far off if he win a one-this-thing from here, given the opposition.
And the other plenary reminded me of was Mark Philippousis in the 1996 Australian Open who faced off against Pete Sanpras in the third round and Sanpras had just won Wimbledon and the US Open and comes in as the world number one and the overwhelming favourite for the title. And Philippousis knocked him off the court in straight sets like he was a superhero coming in and just picking him up and throwing him around.
And it was like we were watching somebody from another planet just coming onto this one and everybody's just there, their centre has gone. What's happening in the world? This is supernatural. And look, that's the sort of task that faces Shelton now because Evu is playing next in no-backed Jockovich and I just think that's the example that makes me think it's possible. I think David just said that Ben Shelton might win the US Open, Mark.
Yeah, where does that fit into our quest winning the next 12 slams? David's an in the moment kind of guy. I still think I'll cross or win the next 12 grand slams but I don't think it's beyond the realms. I mean look, the guy, he's only got to win two more tennis matches and look at it. Look what he just did to Francis Tief. I must say, I was loving Ben Shelton tonight. I was also having the thought that if I'm no at Jockovich with my lemon water, I'm not that worried about either of these two.
Like I just think Jockovich will kill that vibe. I think he might. Yeah. That's what he does. It's what he does. He's always done it. That's what Pete Sanchez used to do. But then he got thrown about by Mark Phillipus' for three sets. Yeah, and I take that but I don't know, 23 majors is even more majors than Pete Sanchez one. We've got two full days to think about that match up and build up to it because of course I'm starting the fight. I mean semi-finals are on Friday night.
We're going to talk about the MOOC of a Castell match in just a moment. But first I'm going to tell you about AO Travel because of course if you've been listening to our podcast throughout this fortnight, you'll know that we are brought to you throughout this fortnight in partnership with AO Travel who operate the travel programme for the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, in Melbourne, in all its lovely Australian hot without humidity glory. Oh, how I've yearned for it today.
What AO Travel can do is lay on a full package for you, take care of your flights, premium accommodation tickets, the tennis, plus behind the scenes experiences which include the all new AO Travel Lounge.
It overlooks the road labour arena and grand slam oval which is pretty much the perfect spot in Melbourne Park and it's available exclusively to AO Travel guests and to celebrate the launch of that AO Travel Lounge we have the incredible competition prize that we've been telling you about for the last week. One lucky tennis podcast listener is going to win an AO Travel premium lounge package for themselves and a friend to visit the Australian Open in style this coming January.
You'll get two return economy flights to Melbourne, tickets to the tennis over the middle weekend of the open for two people on road labour arena. You'll get three nights accommodation at the five star Pullman on the Park Hotel in Melbourne and I remember the other day that they do a fabulous cheese and shall cutery board in the bar. Provided menus haven't changed, don't want to make that promise but they always used to. And you'll also get two day access to the luxurious AO Travel Lounge.
You can enter the prize draw today by clicking the link provided in your show notes and you have until Monday, the 18th of September at 11.59pm New York time to enter terms and conditions apply good luck. Now then, Karen Inamukava will be the opponent of Coco Gough in the US Open semi final.
She got the better of Sauronica Steya, six love, six three tonight and yes there was a little rally from Sauronica Steya in the second set but frankly there was only one player on the court out there tonight and that was Karen Inamukava. She is one of the best players in the world, quite frankly.
Yeah, I know she's, she's world number 10 isn't she, maybe nine in the live rankings that obviously could go higher depending on what happens in the latter stages of this tournament but let's look at the last six months. She's one of the best five players in the world. It is, it's no longer a surprise that she's having these results and she's putting in these performances on the biggest stages.
Yeah and she's doing it fully fit or at least fit enough to play and that is the difference because we've just never had chance to see that before. She's never had chance to explore the limits of her talent because of it. I can only say this, she is probably my favourite player to watch in that tournament. She's a joy to watch, she floats around the corner. Was it you Catherine who once compared her to a figure skater in the way she moves?
Yeah, the likeness, the fact that she seems to be cushioned in a way that others aren't, I was chatting, my mum was up in the middle of the night watching Karen Inamukava tonight and she just loves her and compared her to Steffi Graf in her heyday in terms of the combination of the athleticism with the elegance and grace. It's a sublime combination. I think what she showed tonight, just a little snapshot of something maybe I haven't really thought about as much is the back and down the line.
She was pulverising that shot against Castella. We talk a lot about how she's quite happy to hit her slice, but that thing was just unplayable when she was really ripping it. It was a shot, I remember her hitting well at Roland Garros, a member thinking, wow, I didn't realise Mukaver really had that shot because we seem to like the slice is more natural for her than the two-hander, but I think it's really come on and the word that just comes to mind whenever I think of Mukaver is blend.
It all just fits together when it's working her game. She can mix in slice and feathery touch drop shots, but she's also got, as you said, plenty of power to flatten out the shots when she needs it. There was a big scare when she walked onto court today because she had some tape on her arm for the first time this tournament. I just thought, oh no. She's toying with a smug.
But then she comes out and plays three of the most perfect games that started the match to go up a double break, and it was stylish and wonderful. And then the match really, or certainly the first set, there was this epic, I don't know, it must have been 20-minute game. I think Castella had nine break points in total and Mukaver saved them all, five of them with winners.
And then one through that first set, six love, it was a different, you know, a different six love to the golf, Oscar Panko, of the first match of the day. I think we said Oscar Panko won seven points in that set and Castella won 123, which is almost enough to win a set. You need to win 24 technically, sort of. Well, yeah, the minimum you need to win a set is 24 and Castella won 23 points and yet lost it, six love.
Well that was a bit weird, but then, you know, the resistance that Castella put up in that second set at the start was soon outdone by Mukaver's brilliance. And I cannot wait for golf Mukaver. We had it recently in the Cincinnati Final. Mukaver was not physically right, she played so much tennis. That's not to take away from golf because golf was awesome, but I also remember being really annoyed by that final because it was so hard to track the ball on the screen. Do you remember?
It was so bright. It was so bright and I don't think the camera was racked quite right. Sorry, that's a technical term and I don't actually know how to translate it or what it stands for, but it was blown out. Like it just didn't look right. Couldn't pick the ball out. Yeah, it's literally couldn't see the ball. It was at the court in the sun.
And I remember it really impacting my enjoyment of that match and I think thinking about it, they just, it feels like it should be a wonderful match up, you know, because they're both great athletes. Golf's defence versus Mukaver's variety of attack feels like such an interesting battleground and I cannot wait for it. I think this is a 50-50. I really do and I just look, I keep saying it. I picked golf for this tournament. I'm still picking golf for this tournament, I think.
But I just, all this golf being the favourite stuff, it does just make me win some a little bit because the World No. 1 still in and Carolina Mukaver is a serious, serious threat. This is, I see this as a 50-50 at best for Cocoa Golf, really. I've kind of gone with her for the title because it just, just feels like it might, the script might be written somehow and that is why I fail at predictions because that's the most illogical, stupid thing I've ever said. You do better than me, mind's out.
This is why David writes, head not heart in all of our pole vault tweets and everybody just ignores it exactly like I do. Not that my heart would be disappointed with Carolina Mukaver being in the US Open Final at all because she's one of my very favourite players to watch as well, David. She's, she's sublime and we'll get to the Iron Action again in two nights time. I do think that is one of the best matchups on paper in the game. There's so much to enjoy on paper about that.
I mean Mukaver's matchups do tend to look really good because she's so unusual, generally, she's getting a contrast of styles with her. Mukaver's Sabilenker. Yeah. Great matchup. Mukaver's Chavante, like it all works because she's bringing the variety. Don't tend to have a raft of unforesterious from Mukaver like you did with us to Benca today. So you'll probably force Gough to move and Gough moving is another one of the great sides in the sport.
Tomorrow folks, this is what you've got Junction when against Arena Sabilenker from midday that's followed by Daniel Mevadev against the Godfather of his daughter, André Rublev. 7pm, Vondrosia for keys that's all about whether Vondrosia for his fit. I think really hope she does for the sake of that contest.
That match is followed by Carlos Alcaraz against Alexander Zverev, Coco Gough Jessica Beguiler, go in the doubles tomorrow against Wong and Shay Ezarenker had dad Meyer in the doubles against Seagmund and Vondrosia for today that Gough Seagmund rematch is possible if they both progress in the doubles. I'm just keeping an eye out on that for you folks, don't you worry. And Pierre-Rouga Beard and Nicolamau are back and they're into the men's doubles semi-finals. They've been missed.
They've been missed and that's another one that I'm keeping an eye on. Mo's been partnered with all sorts of people and it's not felt right. It's all been wrong. The world's been off its axis and you have to think that they're thinking about Paris Olympics. They've always been thinking about Paris Olympics I think.
Yeah and look, I would love them to engold the Paris Olympics but we did decide that Alcarazan and Nadal are winning gold at the Paris Olympics in doubles together earlier on tonight because I saw and I haven't had the chance to fact check this so I'm not reporting this in any kind of journalistic way but I saw reports that David Ferrer was telling people that Nadal was hitting and planning tentatively for a Davis Cup finals come back in November. Ooh. Yeah. Okay. Will fact check.
Will fact check and confirm for you before anybody gets too excited. That's your lot for tonight folks. Wardenite it has been I feel I feel buzzing. I'm going to struggle to sleep tonight. Yeah. Incredible. Really, really fun night of tennis and we get to do it all again tomorrow with our US Open mascot Willow, hello Willow, hello Zenia, no points but we don't need any because we predicted you'll ain't not to take a bit eager to say. David's got mazy.
Yeah, we did need some points and we didn't get them mazy so not to worry, yeah. And Matt has got Darwin. Yeah, no points. No at your conviction three was right there but we didn't go for that. So no points. Billie Jean is sponsored by Billie Jean King and Alana Klaus. There's a wee bit of Billie Jean content on our Instagram at the moment if that's your bag. We have our top folks and executive producers Jamie, Hannah and Drew. Hello to you. And Matt, we have shout outs.
We start with Phil Noon in Brisbane, Australia. Right Phil. Hello Phil. Like Phil Dent, father of Taylor Dent and player in his own right. Very true from Brissy. I like Brisbane. Yeah, well my parents lived in Brisbane for a couple of years and they've been very well. But Limba. They didn't actually live in Blimb, but I have forgotten the name of the neighborhood they did live in but it was very near Blimb. The Falga Street is where they live. Okay. Very granular. Very nice spot. I don't know.
What number house? The shout outs are nothing if not occasionally very granular. Thank you Phil. We've also got Sylvan in what Rivier Canada? You're a French speaker Matt, why did you struggle with that? I don't know, but I didn't know how French to do it I suppose. Do it really French, gone Matt. Sylvan, 3 Rivier. Yeah, now it's talking. No, obviously it's stuff. See, I couldn't do that. That wasn't a cable cause accent though. Oh, we're not doing one of those. All right Sylvan.
Sylvan is a radiologist who loves tennis and the podcast. Oh, isn't there a Sylvan? That tracks out, yeah. Bruno, who was formerly the coach of? And rescue. Yes, that's it. Very good, I was going to result to Sylvan Wiltaugh. That's horse, horse, horse, horse, horse, horse, horse. I didn't think there were any tennis Sylvan's, but it turns out there are. Thank you Sylvan. And finally we have Rob Sophie in Chicago. Rob?
Rob says, as an American who's become interested in English football recently, I decided to support as my club, full of West Brom and Reading. Hopefully that's allowed. It's so welcome. It's not advised, but it is allowed. Yeah, you got team in each league. You're going to just get three times the disappointment. Cheers Rob. Thanks Rob. I feel like I've burdened you. You have. I feel like I'm going to have you load. My team's going through financial ruin as well, so welcome Bob.
That's real kinship. So welcome Rob. That's real kinship Rob. We're leaving that in David. Thank you Rob. What has gone wrong with me? It's 1 o'clock in the morning and we're high on bench. It's been a good day folks. And we're going to do all this again tomorrow of David's still standing. Thanks for listening. Tell your friends, leave us a review, become a friend, all of that. Subscribe to the news that's, and we'll speak to you tomorrow.