US Open Mixed Doubles - will the champions be invited back?

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Well hello and welcome to the tennis podcast or should I say the reimagined. Tennis podcast for one night only because we are here to talk about the reimagined US Open Mixed Doubles Championship, an official Grand Slam tournament, lest anyone need reminder. It is 1.15am and we're back at Tennis Podcast Towers New York because apparently tennis has designed a new format, a snappy new format that still finishes after midnight.

Well done, tennis. All of which is to say that edition number one of the reimagined US Open mixed doubles tournament is in the books. And Sara Irani and Andrea Vavasori have executed their plan to poop all over the USTA's glitzy star-studded party to chilling. Perfection. They defended the mixed doubles title they won 50 weeks ago in rather different fashion. So it turns out, David, that you can put them on the bloody roll of honour.

Yes, you can. Yes. Yes, you can. Although, you know, it's not the same, is it? Listen, I'm not going to get into all that again. I mean, that's literally what we're here for, to get into all of that. But I do love it. I mean, look, the thing is, I really enjoyed this whole thing. I really did. And I've got lots and lots of good things to say about it. But my God, did I enjoy the fact that they won it. You know, that is what I hoped for at the outset. That is what they, as you rightly put it...

executed so perfectly. I mean, not quite perfectly because they should have won it in straight sets and didn't, but they still won it. Oh, but don't you think it's more perfect? Oh, well, I mean, it couldn't have been more perfect because of what Sarani did. More of that later. but you know it was wonderful it was a wonderful occasion tonight we've been inside Arthur Ashe Stadium for the whole thing and

It was electric at the end when they were trying to get over the line there. And ultimately, real doubles players prevailed in the mixed doubles. And that's really cool. They beat Kasparu and Igor Svantec in case anybody didn't see it or didn't see the result. 10-6 in the match tie break. And it was thrilling, Matt. It was a thrilling conclusion to a... A wild night to open our 2025 US Open.

Yes, they started the night by introducing Caspar Rood and saying that he's desperately seeking his first Grand Slam trophy. At his fourth attempt. At his fourth attempt. And I thought, oh, okay, it's going to be that kind of night then. They're putting that alongside him against Carlos Alcaraz over four hours. Yeah, I mean, we know it's not a Grand Slam final because Egos Viontech lost. Does not lose Grand Slam finals. But look, as much as we...

As much as we enjoy joking about all this, the hard truth is we all had a great time. We really did. We've enjoyed the last two days a lot, and I was very... I was definitely intrigued by the event. I was sceptical about it, but intrigued. I didn't think I would be swept up in it. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I have done, I'll be honest. I even enjoyed...

Fast 4. I wanted Fast 4 in the final. I was so annoyed that the final wasn't Fast 4. So annoyed. Like, it should have been Fast 4. Like, I can't explain it. But Fast Fall really worked. I so much at that moment when you said that wanted to introduce you to yourself three days ago. I know. Well, it's important to be able to admit.

Your mistakes, David. Admit when you've been wrong. Yeah. We live in a climate where, you know, that's gone out of fashion. I was really wrong, just like I was wrong about the one-point slam. There are... Real parallels. And to be clear, I don't think we're wrong about Fast 4 the rest of the time. No, no, no. This is not a total positional shift. I mean, not yet.

It's not a capitulation. No. Well, I mean, it is a slight capitulation because I really would have died on the hill of leave the format alone. You said that it's the format that... is making this a joke ahead of time. I think the format was right at the top of the things that took away from the integrity of the event. I would now...

to switch my agendas, to drive a different agenda train. I would now say that the... 50% of the field being there by virtue of wild cards is the number one. Back to your other agenda. How convenient. Is the number one sort of integrity sapping element of this. tournament mine is the banishing of doubles players um entirely unless you know they they put they put irani and vavasori in because they felt they should

And actually that made the whole thing to me. But David, that... I mean, I don't necessarily disagree with you, but...

But the fact that you're describing a system whereby sort of individuals are subjectively selecting who gets led in and who doesn't, isn't that the issue? Rather than, is there fundamentally... an issue with having a tournament a doubles tournament alongside other doubles tournaments there are still opportunities for doubles players to compete in the men's and the women's and mixed doubles does only happen

at Grand Slams and Olympics. There is sort of a novelty element to it. It's not tour doubles like the tour doubles players are used to playing. Is there anything wrong necessarily with having a mixed doubles tournament at a Grand Slam? For which qualification is determined by singles ranking, combined singles ranking. No wild cards, no nonsense, but singles ranking. Well, I think that...

If that is the way you're going to do it, I think that's a real shame because you are banishing the art of the doubles player. players who are clearly, and have proved again tonight, that they're better than all of these other single stars at doubles. And to not have them in because if you want a system like that, I don't want that. I think that what made this really good was watching these doubles specialists against single stars. That was the best part of the whole thing.

I agree with you and the stakes, I really believe the stakes wouldn't have been the same or felt the same had it been Kasparud and Igor Svantec against, well I know this was the semi-final, but against Pegula and... Draper in the final it would not have had the same edge you know Ruud and Shontek were in it and they were intense and you know they were competitive but it's just not the same it's not the same

But yeah, I do agree with you on that. But equally, part of what made tonight so much fun, and as you said, electrifying, was the crowd that were there. It was sold out tonight. The crowd bought the tickets because the names were there. Sure, but you can have both. You can have both. You can have, how many teams were there? 16 in total? 12 made of singles players, 4 of doubles players.

Take the Grand Slam Mixed Doubles champions from all the other Grand Slams, stick them in this, and your defending champions, there's your field. And that's really interesting. And the singles players, I think Svantec and Ruud were well aware of the magnitude of their challenge playing these... incredible doubles players, and they were given...

everything to try to win, to beat them, to show how good they are. I loved the intensity of all of tonight, but the most intensity and the most excitement was watching specialists against... far superior tennis players as individuals. And that is an intoxicating mix that...

should be traded on in this format. There's an opportunity here that the US Open has unearthed, and I think that they've done an incredible job of staging this event, and they could just... cap it all off if they would just allow the doubles players to have four spots for Grand Slam champions yeah I agree I really agree with that I think I think the

event would be way less interesting and way more exhibition-feely if it was 16 singles players. 16 pairings of just singles players. There's quite a lot of it once, really. A lot of it, quite a lot of it was. And I still enjoyed it. I still enjoyed it. But if you called it the Eisenhower Cup or whatever it was, how different would it have been? We see that at other slams. We see these mixed doubles events. And they are...

You know, they are just exhibitions. There's no stakes. There's no, you know, there's no edge to any of the matches. Whereas we did have that because of Irani and Bavasori. And if we keep... We keep just a little sprinkling of them in, as Dave is describing. I think it could grow. I think the singles players would want the challenge of trying to beat the doubles players. And I think the doubles players would want the challenge of trying to...

defend their territory. I think it could be fantastic. Yeah. No, I agree. I would sign up for that. It's just designing a system where the... The qualification criteria aren't subjective, where there's some sort of mechanism to give qualification integrity. And I like it. I like the idea of the Grand Slam champions at the other majors qualifying to...

to compete here. Although that would only be three teams. Yeah, I guess you used last year's... So you'd have the defending champions. Yeah, and look, if Iranian Vavasori sweep all of the mixed doubles titles and you haven't got four... lots of different champions, you know, maybe you find another way to get, you know, whether it be finalists or whatever, I don't know. I have to say, though, I'm almost 100% sure that's not going to happen, this idea that we're proposing. I think...

I think they double down. I think they double down on the idea that they've had. And they probably allow Rani and Bavisori to play again next year.

Oof, I don't know about that. I think it's possible. We're in Paul Harhouse winning the Royal Albert Hall Territory. We've been here, Matt. We have been here. And what did you do? He won it three years in a row. And then eventually they just stopped having the competition. Right, okay, so maybe... No, no, they expelled Paul Harhouse. They changed the rules. They changed the criteria so he couldn't play. And they made it more subjective. He was...

So backstory here is David and I used to work on the Champions Tour. For a while there, it was sort of trying to be a... incredible, you know, like golf has, a credible champions tour. And the year-ending, the equivalent of the ATP finals was this year-end event held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. And you qualified.

There were rankings. There were ATP Champions Tour rankings. And Paul Harhouse used to win this event. They had an event somewhere in the Netherlands. Yes, that's right. Every year. And he used to show up and win it every year. There you go, Eindhoven. And by winning this tournament, he would qualify for the Albert Hall. And this tournament was shown on BBC TV. They had quite a big deal broadcasting contract. It was a big deal.

And it had that BBC contract because John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg and Yannick Noah played. And Paul Highhouse showed up. He beat Jim Currier in the final. The first year on the big launch of it. And then the next year he beat Goran Ivanovic and then he beat him again the next year. Took out John McEnroe, I think, in the group stages. And then they changed the rules to get rid of him. And I...

I think in that third year he was asked to throw it and refuse. That's what I heard anyway. He was told we're going to lose our BBC deal if you don't piss off. And they did, yeah. Well, I wasn't expecting so much Paul Harhouse chat at 1.30am before the US Open's even properly started. He'd have been good at this. He's good at double split.

I suppose my feeling is that they're very keen to call themselves an official Grand Slam tournament. If they go the other way and they just make it all singles players... To me, they're going away from that. If they go in terms of involving some other mixed doubles champions and doubles specialist teams, I think you could actually make the case that that would be the strongest.

mixed doubles field out of all the grand slams if you've got enough good mixed doubles teams plus your single stars who are your best players that would actually be like the most impressive grand slam to win I think, because exactly as you said, a lot of the other mixed doubles draws are a bit of a random mishmash of players. You know, mixed doubles draws are not...

That strong. They're not that impressive. I totally get... Most of them don't have a million dollars on the line. Right. I totally get why the US Open wanted to revamp it. I totally get it. But I just think... If they go all in on the singles players who don't really give a shit, who don't need the money, I think they would devalue actually a...

a pretty incredible event that they might have hit on here. Yeah, I don't just... There is lots good about trying to do this. Recognising how much fertile... unploughed territory there is in the format of this sport where men and women play together is important. And how it has been so unplowed, underplowed for so long is a mystery to me, really. But, you know, trying to do something about that and maximise it and put it to the forefront is a really...

Good thing. And that crowd, I mean, it was packed. By the time they got halfway into the evening, they got to about 8.30, 9 o'clock, there was... barely a seat that you could see in 24,000. It was less full for the ceremony. I mean, the ceremony was something they needed to attend to because they tried to build it. Well, they did. They built a stage.

after midnight when everybody was leaving and it was it was almost empty by the time they'd finished so the ceremony was a shame but the crowd absolutely loved it Some of the exchanges, we saw some incredible rallies tonight. Half a dozen. really spectacular points where you could see and hear and feel the crowd hanging on every every stroke that's being played and and every get that's being made and every incredible volley and rundown and it was wonderful

To hear that, to hear that engagement and buy-in by this crowd. My sense was that this was a crowd that... was getting to come to the US Open and watch tennis rather than absolute hardcore tennis fans. I think you get a lot of that at the US Open anyway. It's not just people who love tennis all year round.

They were reacting to these spectacular rallies and they weren't being cynical about any of it, you know, which was great. The US Open and the USTA really judged that well, I think. They understood. how to make this thing work. But these tweaks, I hope they go in the one direction. I suspect, like you say, they will go in the other.

And they need, as you said, they need the singles stars. The crowd were there because of the names, the singles stars, and the crowd elevated the event and brought a buzz to it. It was great. It was really great. But I fear that they're going to go the other direction and the novelty will wear off. And then it will just feel like...

I think it will feel more like an exhibition event. It'll be a competitive, fun exhibition. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that would still bring good crowds. They'll still get that element, but... It won't have what we had tonight. It was notable tonight. And look, I had a good time throughout the evening other than the...

The lull midway through the first set of the final when I was just annoyed that it wasn't fast four. That was the funniest moment. And I feel like we should say why we think it was weird. for it not to be fast for. I think it was because, you know, at that point, we were starting to get quite late in the evening.

Okay, they've only seen two matches, but they've now got to invest themselves in a third match. I just felt like it was primed and ready for it to happen all quickly. And there was a big gap. much bigger gap than there had been between other matches. There was more FAF tonight than there had been yesterday. It just felt like the whole thing of the event was getting on with it and quick, fast, sharp, and just felt like we slightly lost that. It did turn into a...

really good final and the the comeback in the second set was why generally I like longer sets you know because you had you had time for it to to turn and the momentum was swinging all that kind of thing I just I wasn't in the mindset for for that type of tennis because we'd had Fast four the whole way through. It did feel a bit weird shifting. I wasn't watching any of the other matches thinking I wish this was normal format.

No, exactly. It had worked. But I did think that I would get to the final. And you may remember yesterday, we'd heard on ESPN yesterday that both the semis and the finals were going to be... to six games that was clearly that was wrong i i got that wrong um but

I think a lot of players walked out onto the court not knowing the format, David. I don't think you're alone. But it was interesting. I was convinced that that was a plus point, that it was going to be longer today. Yeah, me too. And actually...

Being in the stadium, I don't know how it felt watching on TV. Being in the stadium, I really wanted all the fast four elements of it. It just worked. It just felt like there was a little moment in the final where the crowd had run out of energy a little bit. They got it back.

At the end, when it got spectacular. Yeah, I mean, that was very much my trajectory. I ran out of energy. I got it back big time. Expended it all on Saru Rani's underarm serve. I can't believe it's taken us so long to mention the underarm serve. Can we go through this? Sure. It was just incredible. So this tiebreak's happening. And Vavasori and Arani, they've led by a set. They were 5-3 up. They served for it.

Vavasori served for it. Vavasori served for it and he did choke. And look, Shvantec and Rude played some unreal stuff to get... to get it back they were giving all their singles powers in order to to come up with the goods and and then it you kind of knew that as soon as they they got that back that

Irani wasn't going to hold on. Whereas the previous Irani service game, she'd been love 30 down, and Schiontek and Ruud had missed three returns in a row, and then Ruud had shanked a four-man. That was astonishing. It was unbelievable. They hit four. clangers in that game and you're like I can't believe they're this good and they're hitting shots that bad and then it goes into this tie break and right at the start of the tie break I mean Vavasori at the start of it looked

like he'd seen a ghost. He looked so... edgy and nervous because i mean the guy has got half a million each for them on the line here he's he's he and irani have already said that they're playing for doubles players everywhere in this tournament and they've dominated the whole tournament, suddenly they've blown it. And they're in a 10-point tiebreak, one set all against the world number two in the women's game in a...

former champion, and Kasper Ruud, who's reached the final in the singles, and all the momentum's with them. And suddenly, they won one point. And Vavasori was back. He was. And he was leaping around the room. Doing his jumping jacks, his sprints. It was Arcturindeknesh stuff. And they went three love up in the tie break. They then went eight four up, I think. And there was this wonderful moment where...

Suddenly the realisation is, oh my word, Irani's got two points on her serve to win the title. And bear in mind, the fastest serve I saw her put in all tournament was 77 miles per hour. And she'd hit several in the low 60s. She got to match point. She hit a... And in our little media seats, a conversation started up between Matt and Catherine. I want to see an underarm serve. Well, I wondered if she would, because...

She's done it before. She's got form. You know, she hit one en route to winning the gold last year. And she hit one, I think, against Igor Spiontek. In the Billie Jean King Cup. Match point. In key moments, she has underarm served in the past. But she hit a normal first serve. And it was like, oh. And then she missed. And we're like, oh. What's she going to do now? I mean, that serve was about 64 miles an hour and it missed. Second serve, she motions as if to hit a serve, a normal serve.

And then she went under it with the undrama. And before the crowd realised what had happened, Catherine just made a noise that I can't reproduce. It was very loud and it was very high-pitched and it was completely involuntary. And everybody around us just sort of jumped out of the seats. And then...

The rest of the crowd cottoned on. Oh my word, she's hitting under half serve. And then we're into a rally and they're going all over the court. And then a forehand sat up for Rorani to finish it. And then it was volleyed back at her and then she couldn't get the ball over the net. And so the chance had gone.

And they had a second match point. It should have been the winning point, shouldn't it? It would have been even more perfect than it was. But they won it on their second championship point. And it was fantastic. The problem was that because I was... primed and anticipating a potential underarm serve, I reacted a split second more quickly than the rest of the crowd. It was incredible. There was a cacophony of...

of response and noise a split second after my high pitch screech, which I think will have been audible both on the court and on the broadcast. Because you made it when it was in complete silence. Still. That was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. You knew about the underarm serve. Second in the entire room after Asara Arne. It was incredible. She is incredible. And I went back to have a look at the... Statement.

that Irani and Vavasori put out. Do you remember this? Back in February, when the concept was announced, they criticised the format as a pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show. A decision made without consulting anyone which we can do nothing but accept. We see it as a profound injustice that disrespects an entire category of players. Putting money above tennis is never a good idea.

And now they're millionaires. They split 200,000 last year when they won the title and they split a million this year. I mean, it is just...

Perfect. It's incredible. It is absolutely perfect. It is the perfect conclusion to this mixed doubles thing. You think they'll be invited back next year, Matt? Oh, they have to be. I'm not convinced. Oh, I think they will be. They can't risk this happening again. Oh, this was not a disaster for the US Open. This was...

I don't think so, but I... I think they'll be pleased with it. I don't think the USTA are happy with this outcome. Oh, I don't agree. I hope I'm wrong. I don't think they're happy with it. I think they've got drama out of it. Yeah, and they kind of lean into the sort of drama that they've created. I think they've had their cake and they eat it too. They have lent it too. They've had all the names. They've... They've had a full house. They've...

Everybody's loved it, really. Most people have anyway. I'm sure there are some of our listeners who just didn't like this whole thing at all and didn't want to know. I understand that. I respect that as people who are more into tennis than I think the people in that stadium were. on the whole. So they achieved their goals. They got ESPN TV. They got this massive show. It was all over in two days. All the players were happy with it. They don't feel like they've been overextended.

They've had compliments and now they've had two players who've made a big noise and have made it extra competitive, made it dramatic and gone and won it. And that shows the legitimacy of it, really, if you like. If they wanted to prove that it's a real mixed doubles tournament, well, they've just kind of proved that that can be a thing.

My concern is that they will invite them back because of all that, but that they won't have anybody else. And if they then don't win it next year, then they won't be back. I mean, Sarah Rani is... 37? Yeah. I mean, you have to wonder how much longer she's going to be able to play. continually at this level. It looks like a pretty evergreen game. It does. I mean, she can under-abserve when she's 67, probably. I... Oh, I really hope...

You're right. I just worry that the USTA view all this really differently to how we do. I think so. I think so. I think we, like, we are... You know, we're ironists, aren't we? Like, we've had a lovely, silly time tonight. The USCA didn't want anyone having a silly time. Like, we've loved it, but we haven't loved it in the way that they have intended people to love. You know, they're ironically saying the word reimagined.

All the time over the, you know, the MC is delivering the word reimagined. So much. And the Casper Rude going... for his first Grand Sam title at his fourth attempt. I mean, I'm sorry. I wonder whether that was being said tongue-in-cheek, but I don't think it was. That did tickle me. Listen, I hope that they get it because they've actually... by mostly design and some fortune, stumbled upon a fantastic situation here. And they could make it even better. It's massively elevated.

Fan week, you know, which I think was their goal. And I would like to see some tweaks. I think the way it sits in the... in the tennis calendar was a big problem you know like it starting a day after cincinnati finishing was a yeah was a joke. I mean, credit to Igor Shiontek, I have to say, for playing as she did. I mean, that's partly Cincinnati's fault. It is Cincinnati's fault. Finishing on a Monday. It's Cincinnati's fault. But I would like to see that just figured out for next year.

so that we're not in this situation again, because that was a problem. I think some of the entry, you know, people backing out and repairing and whether you can repair or not, I think that was all a bit... It was all a bit messy, you know, like the process of the various different entry points and all that kind of thing. I found that a little bit messy through the year. I think that could be tidied up.

I think the big fear they would have if they did any more doubles teams is that they might end up with a semi-final line-up of Vavasori and Arani. Collins and Harrison against Vavasori and Arani was already pushing it a bit. think for yeah but i think there's absolutely no way they go towards what we want yeah i think they might this is a moot i think they might let irani and vavasori in

once. Yeah. Until they lose. I really worry that they won't. Yeah. I really worry that they won't. I also think there would be, like, there would be a lot of interest for me to have a Sinna Siniarkova type pairing. a top singles player and a top doubles player. Okay, maybe not a top doubles team, but I think there'd be scope for a lot of those sorts of pairings. Shelton didn't do well, did they?

No, they didn't. I mean, the fact that they lost to Collins and Harrison, because Collins is not fit. No. It would not surprise me if she pulled out of the singles. Oh, I don't think she'll pull out. I don't think she'll get very far. She's desperate to... Cash the check, as she says. Take the first round. She's unapologetic about that. She wants the money. And, you know, fair enough. She's earned the money by ranking. I don't think she's pulling out.

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our discussion of the reimagined US Open Mixed Doubles Championship, an official Grand Slam tournament. I'm going to pick up where I left off yesterday with just some quick fire questions. Okay. About it all. Maybe not quickfire sort of one sentence, one word, but, you know, pithy stuff. You know, not finishing after midnight type stuff. Snappy format. I mean, it is 1.52 in the morning, but spiritually not finishing after midnight. Get on with it. Okay. Right. What worked?

Let's list the things that worked about this thing. Fast Four. Yeah. God, life comes at you fast, doesn't it? Doesn't it? We're Fast Four people. Yeah. Most of it worked. Most of it worked. I loved yesterday. But the headlines, if you're doing a feedback form, headlines, what worked? Yesterday, the nature of like... It taking up the whole day. Matches everywhere. Two courts. Two courts. Split screen. Split screen on ESPN. Proper commentators on the courts.

passing it over to each other. Yeah, the buzz of it, like seeing all the different pair, like we were suddenly presented with 16 fun pairings. I thought that was great. That really worked for me. Okay, what didn't work? The stage. And this is not unique to mixed doubles. No, that was ridiculous. The erecting a stage. Yeah, crazy. The indulgence of it. Just totally unnecessary. But just so highlighted by...

doing it after midnight when you could see all the crowd dispersing. Everybody just took one look at that and said, oh, I'm not waiting for that. Honestly. The bloke sitting to our right who had lost his mind when Irani and Vavisori... won a crazy point in the tie break. Not even to go match point up, not even when they won. It was to go 7-4 up. Right, to go 7-4. I mean, he...

And everybody in our section of the crowd was staring at him. And for the next point, I was actually watching him and not watching the tennis because he... Like, I mean, he could have done anything. He could have streaked on the court. And that next point was Igor Sprantek double faulting. Right. And he double fist pumped. Oh, he double fist pumped that. Yeah. He did not stay for the ceremony.

No. He was more hype than Arani and Barasori. Jasmine Paolini was thinking and not staying, I think. What else didn't work? Kind of, as I said earlier, I thought, like, the whole situation around... Sinner not being able to play, Sini Arcava being in, but then her not playing, and then it being Harrison and Collins. I thought that was... I don't think that worked. I mean, the entry requirements.

Everything to do with entry requirements. The fudging of it all. The subjectivity of it all. Eight wild cards. That was too many. I think there's room for a couple. You're okay with one-eighth of a competition being wild cards? You think that's compatible with integrity? There's a lot of wild cards around in the terrace. I know you don't like them, but they're everywhere. They've always been there. It ain't going to change. But the more you have of them, when you've got...

The more you have of them, the more they compromise integrity. I do think the dilution of them matters. Yeah, I mean, I'm okay with one or two. By the way, I thought being in the stadium tonight, and I wouldn't have noticed this on TV, the DJs really work. The way they fill the gaps and they are part of the entertainment and part of the...

the staging of the countdown. Okay, the countdown into a VT didn't work as well for me. I would rather have that into suddenly the players appearing in the tunnel. But I really enjoyed the DJs being a high profile. I enjoyed the DJs too. But they are covering up for faff. There was some unnecessary faff tonight that there wasn't yesterday. But it just felt, it kept energy levels high in there to me. Yeah, it did. I was constantly dancing.

Things could have been... We're in the what didn't work section, David. You had your chance to bring up the DJs in what works. I'd forgotten that bit, so I thought I'd just make sure it was there. Yeah, bit too much faff.

Yes. And at least there was a DJ. And overall, over the course of the two days, I thought it was really pleasingly faff-free. Yeah. The speed, even down to Sam Querrey in the interview, saying, right, you are going to be... on here again in four minutes time you know right at the end of the interview which I just thought marked everybody's card we're getting on with this okay and so yeah I think they did that well another thing that didn't work quite literally was the video

review yeah that was terrible I mean this is not I feel like that could have happened in any match mixed doubles or yeah whatever like tennis is not sorted itself out with this video review thing. Jessica Pegula seemed to think there'd been a double bounce, so she'd patted a winner away, but she'd hit it whilst over the other side of the net, basically. Because she thought the point was already over. So she got pulled through it. Rude and Spiontech.

Turned it on her and challenged her shot. And basically, the stadium had no idea what was going on, who was challenging what, why they were all standing around. I don't think they even knew there was a challenge system for that kind of thing. And the umpire tried to... Bless him. But the screens weren't working. None of the replay systems worked. It was a bad seven minutes. Yeah. Anyway. And actually, you mentioned Sam Querrey in the interviews.

the sound system in Ash. I mean, again, not specific to the mixed doubles, but it doesn't work. I mean, players can't hear questions that are being asked. There was a fantastically awkward interview yesterday with... Pergoula, Draper and Sloane Stevens. And on TV you think, well, what's the problem? We can hear you clear as day. Because they've got broadcast quality mics going straight to the TV. And yet...

The players who stood right next to each other can't hear each other. And all of us in the stands, it's just... You have to really tune in to try and hear what's being said. I can't tell what anybody's saying. Yeah.

So that doesn't work. But again, that's not specific to the mixed doubles. No. Anything else? Next question. Do you want to do this again next year? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. It's great. I think I want all the slams to do it. Would we come out a day earlier again to cover it in the way we have this year? I don't think so. I mean, I don't regard it as a news story next year. I mean, I enjoyed it and I want to watch it again.

And if they did have the doubles teams that we're talking about against the singles players, I would want to see competitively who wins. I'd be interested in that. But as entertainment... and and competition but you know personally i'm here early because it's new okay last last section proposals and amendments. Again, it's a feedback form to the USTA. What are your three key proposals or amendments that you would put forward for the format?

Well, I mean it really is those doubles teams, the champions from the other mixed doubles tournaments. Don't lose that because that was the best bit of this. Stage. Stage, definitely. And yeah, it's just a few tweaks. I think they did a brilliant job. I really do. Matt?

Not much to add, really. I think we're on pretty much the same page. Yeah, I think I would like to see... I think one of the things that, for example... the united cup does really well is seeing a lot like seeing a lot of the interactions within within the team and i kind of think that maybe there was more to like maybe they could have got some more content out of the fact that we had these pairings. So yes, we saw them interacting on court, but maybe they could have given us some more...

practice sessions or... Like the Runa Anisimova content that we so enjoyed. Which was great. And they did a little bit of that for some teams, but it wasn't like consistent. Where they failed to high five. And they stream the Raducanu Alcaraz practice. Yeah. But, you know, I just felt like, just get even more out of those little... Because it's built for that. It's built for it. Yeah. We would eat that up. Yeah.

We would. We did eat up the Runa leaving Anna some overhanging for a high five and her having to style it out. Watched it three times on a loop. Even more of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good point. Okay. It's been fun. Really fun. I really did have a fun night. There was a lull and there was quite a long queue at Eataly for dinner.

because we discovered the media restaurant closed at eight o'clock. Seven o'clock? Seven o'clock. Seven o'clock. At the time that matches, well, they didn't even start at seven because it was faff. But yeah, Media Restaurant closed at seven. A lot of things closed. Yeah. That's probably a little bit of feedback. Very good. Keep stuff open, folks. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay, but...

But fun has been had. Fun has been had. We hope you've enjoyed it as well. It's been a good kind of loosener, hasn't it? To get us into the US Open. Oh, absolutely. I feel so ready. And yet also so worried that nothing can possibly compare to that. Sorry, Ronnie, under-arm serve moment. It's the one-point slam all over again. I've peaked too soon. What are we going to do? What we're going to do is come back and do daily podcasts from Friday onwards.

folks. That makes it 14, 15, 16, 17 daily podcasts from Friday onwards. We have two previews and then it all kicks off on Sunday with 15 daily podcasts from the final Grand Slam. At the 2025 tennis season, we have our live show tomorrow or today. Later on today, how much sleep will we all have had? Who can say? There's going to be a PDF dropping in my inbox. 10 hours yeah but we're we're pumped for the live show and to everybody that's coming we we can't wait to see you

We really can't. It's going to be great. Folks, we have our mascots, of course. Hello to Phoebe, Maisie and Roger. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Are we going to have shout outs, Matt? Have you got it in you? Yeah, it's been a fun show. Yeah. Off you go then. We have Lee Ferguson. Hello, Lee. Right, Lee. Who is from Kent.

Very good. Like Lee Child, the former British tennis player who's now involved at Queen's or Wimbledon? I can't remember which one. Is Lee Child an author? The Jack Reacher novels. I don't know. Is it the same person? No. He's definitely a tennis player, Catherine. Big sir, but back in the day. I'm telling you. Lee Child. Yes. Well, Lee Child is a pen name, I think, for the author. Okay. Can we just confirm they're not the same person? Yes, so Lee Child.

Singular is the writer. Lee Childs. Plural. Yes. See? Or, not plural, that would be Lee Children. Anyway, child with an S. is the retired British tennis player. Yes. Thank you, Mads. Well, thank you, Google. No, thank you, me. Thank you, David. I beat Google to it. Thank you, David. Following match victories in 2000... Charles was hailed as the future of British tennis. Wow. And how did that future look? He famously defeated Nikolai Davidenko at Wimbledon in 2003, Wikipedia says.

Correct. He then lost in the next round to 17-year-old Rafael Nadal. Wow. In straight sets. I remember that. I'm feeling Charlie Ecclesham. I've been at that match. Of course he was. Lee, thank you for taking us down this long and winding... Rhodes? Yes. What a treat. And for the purposes of this episode, he reached the third round of Wimbledon Mixed Doubles in 2002. Who with? Stand by. Elena Val Tatcher. Oh, bless. Lee, a truly long and winding road.

that i have enjoyed uh thank you for that and thank you for being a friend of the tennis podcast that was only our first shout out we've got two more we've got tony corbett hello tony who is from newcastle australia Yes, and Tony works in tennis. I know this because Tony's been in touch with us on email in the past and, yeah, works in tennis. So, hi, Tony. What does he do in tennis? She.

It's a man, actually, Derek. No, it's not. No, that's a famous clip. Oh, is it? You know. Oh, yes, I remember. It's my favourite of a clip. This thing can't get any better, got it. Tony, I'm sorry. And that probably happens to you all the time. And I really am sorry to be part of the problem. Continue telling us about what Tony does in tennis. I can't quite remember. Tony says, been going to the Australian Open since well before it was popular.

A standout year was when we bought tickets to the Australian Open Ball. I remember dancing on the dance floor beside Martina Hingis. Wow. Wow. Okay. Now you could buy tickets to the Australian Open Ball. Gosh. I always have a bit of a memory of that coming up in the shout out before. Is it just first come, first serve? Sorry, I don't know how you would possibly be able to answer that. No standby from that this time.

Tony, again, thank you for taking us down this long and winding road. Absolutely. And thank you for being a friend of the tennis podcast. And finally, last but by no means least, we have Dawn Sawyer. Oh, Dawn. Hi, Dawn. I think Dawn's coming tomorrow night. She is. Or tonight. Yes. Yes, Dawn, a long time. Yeah. Of the pod. Yes. I'll strengthen our stay. Really a core supporter. Mocker's mum. Mocker's mum. Yeah.

We're very grateful and it'll be lovely to see Dawn tomorrow night. Any tennis Dawns? It's going to be Dawn here soon. Very good. We've got Sawyer, like former Australian tennis player Mary Sawyer. Oh. A two-time winner of the Irish Open who defeated Maria Bueno in the 1977 final.

Wow. That's good. I think Vicky might have come up with that for us. Very good. Thank you, Vicky. Thank you, Dawn. Thank you, Tony. Thank you, Lee. Maybe Dawn came up with that herself. I'm not sure who to give credit to. I'm going to give credit to them both because they're both excellent. They're both excellent. They both definitely could have come up with that. Exactly. Whereas we couldn't. Not at 2.08. Dawn Tony Lee. Thank you ever so much for being friends of.

the tennis podcast. If you'd like to become a friend, the link as always is in our show notes. We are part of the athletic podcast network. We will see some of you tomorrow for our live show. We will speak to all of you on Friday and for the next 17. days thereafter welcome to the us open 2025 we will speak to you soon

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