US Open - The Big Preview

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Hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast and our final preview show for this year's US Open, the final Grand Slam of the 2025 season. You find us in the Media Garden in the... eves of the arthur ash stadium in what can only be described as a wind tunnel it is 5 30 in the evening it's pretty warm but not thick and sticky in the way it often can be in New York at this time of year and we are here to give you our last gasp hot takes.

ahead of the tournament. And by we, I mean myself, Catherine Whittaker, my co-host, David Law and Matt Roberts. And for today's show, we are also joined by The Athletic's Charlie Eccleshare, buoyant after a 5-0 Arsenal win. Had it gone a different way, we might have cancelled your invitation, Charlie. Yeah, good news for everyone.

We all remember last year. In fact, that's the most annoyed we've ever seen you, I think, day one of the US Open last year. That and being messed around for an interview yesterday that David witnessed and said he just saw all the signs. He spotted it. He could see.

from my body language from my face yeah well it's very good to have you and we've got a lot got a lot to get into I feel like we increasingly I mentioned this yesterday increasingly media day isn't really a thing is it it's two days it's a period of time and you know we have had you know we've had Shiontek in today Osaka, Fritz Draper, Alcaraz. Yeah, we normally refer to those coming in on day two as the stragglers, but it's too high profile a cast to call them stragglers. They're actually...

some of the main contenders to win the tournament. It's been a pretty even split hasn't it? Yeah. Often this day is like two or three. big names works better like this doesn't it yeah i think so dividing it up so you know everybody gets a bit a bit more oxygen really yeah yeah and the stories you sort of spread out the stories a little bit and actually we have i feel like we need to cover this off We have had...

As a result of Novak Djokovic's press yesterday, the Serbian section of that press conference, some quotes have emerged from that and been translated, suggesting that Novak Djokovic might be poised to hire Monica Sassi... as a coaching figure for this US Open. He said there are initial discussions. It's more about emotions than a long-term collaboration. It would mean a lot to me.

And that would be entirely in keeping with Novak Djokovic's career to date, if you think about it, because this is a guy who has so far in his career hired Todd Martin, Mark Woodford, Boris Becker. Andre Agassi, Mario Anchic, Radek Stepanek, Andy Murray. Pepe Imaz didn't get a mention. No, I'm afraid not. I mean, obviously the standout was his long time.

coach whose name has escaped me. Marion Vider. Marion Vider. Sorry Marion. But the fact is that I think, and I really believe this was part of his hire of Andy Murray, it's just curiosity. And it's somebody he's always admired. And he'd look at Monica Seles. I mean, aside from the fact that she's an incredible tennis mind. who won so many Grand Slam titles and was such an amazing player when he was a kid and would have looked up to her.

I imagine he just wants to hang out with her and find out everything she's thinking and was thinking and thinks about him. Yeah, well, like you said, it's an emotional thing. I mean... U.S. Open starts pretty soon. I mean, thinking about, like, we know something I might be doing. Coco Goff's rebobling and retires. Yeah, maybe get this sorted. Yeah. I mean, he wants... He literally plays on a team tomorrow. He wants...

She's in the box. He wants to look up on the court and see someone there that he wants to impress. That's it. That's a great way of putting it. Somebody cool. It's added motivation. And look, I know he still does have the motivation. at the slams but I do get the sense that this one is the toughest for him still like if he had to pick one not to play it might be this one just where it falls in the season I mean after Wimbledon we did

speculate about whether he would even show up here. I think we all thought he did, but it occurred to us that he might not. Though I do actually think in some ways this... I know we felt the... Conventional wisdom was that either French Open or Wimbledon is his best chance. But I think really what it comes down to for him is where...

His two big rivals, who are so far ahead of him, and Sinner and Alcaraz, can be diminished in any way. And I think the fact that Alcaraz just isn't the force he is at the French Open and at Wimbledon, the fact that there is the possibility that he could go out...

before he has to play Novak in the semis. I do think that does make quite a big difference just because ultimately, if Novak has to play them both, he's just not going to win a Grand Slam. He's just not. He basically admitted that at Wimbledon. I think the only way he can win one is if one of them... gets beaten, possibly even two. And so I think for me, when I look at where his best chances are, I'm thinking, well, where can someone do him a favour? And I think here...

and the australian open that's where that's most likely to happen that's very interesting and i suspect now he's seen his draw yeah as well Maybe it was after the draw came out that he picked up the phone to Monica. Monica! I've got a chance here, Monica. Yeah, I mean... We're on! I certainly think that, in theory, what Charlie says there is true.

I'm not quite sure in reality it does feel like that. Like Sinner feels incredibly fresh to me at this time of the season compared to what he might have felt if he'd played a really... arduous, gruelling season and obviously had those three months off. I think Sinna's got a lot in the tank and Alcaraz was in press today talking about how much better he feels at this US Open.

compared to last year's for example when obviously he had the Olympics like I don't know I think the US Open so often has been the one where there's been more variety of winners. And we talked about it yesterday in terms of for them to actually play three successive grandstand finals against each other in a season, Alcraz and Sina, that would be a historic thing. So chances are there could well be...

an upset, it just doesn't feel to me like we're primed for a big upset. Do you not think there are doubts over Alquaz here in the way that there aren't?

Certainly at the French Open and Wimbledon. Just the fact that since winning it, he's had quite disappointing exits. I know that last year was like... a bit of an outlier but i i don't know i just feel like he's got a little bit more to prove here yeah well i think he's got more of an edge over a lot of players on clay and on yeah on grass like those surfaces can bring out so much of the

amazing aspects of his game. I think last year, you've talked a lot about this Catherine, I think we will come to view that Baltic van der Zandt lost very much. It's the weirdest thing that ever happened. Right. And very much through an Olympic lens. I think it was so to do with how he was feeling after that. In 2023 here...

He obviously lost to Medvedev. That was a weird one, wasn't it? And that was a weird one. But Medvedev was unreal for that match. That's the best match Medvedev's played in... in years, and it took that performance to beat him. So I do agree that there is more of an uncertainty around Alcaraz here compared to the French in Wimbledon, but...

Like, would you right now be predicting him not to get to that semifinal with... No. Maybe Charlie's in a polka guy. Yeah, no, I wouldn't. I wouldn't make that prediction, but I also wouldn't be sort of like... crazily surprised if it did happen. Just because most people can play on hard courts. I don't think he's going to face many people who are just kind of so unnatural on either clay or grass. Did you take a lot from that?

Alcaraz press conference in terms of what he said about how much better he's feeling compared to last year because it seems obvious to me that he would be feeling better than he was last year and yet... Carlos Alcaraz always comes into press and says, I'm feeling great. He's just never going to ever say, oh, you know, life's a bit crap at the moment. He's Carlos Alcaraz. Or I hope he never comes in and says that. I've never seen it before.

Yeah. That's just his vibe, isn't it? Like, great to be here. I feel great. Let's go. It's always really hard, is it? Because I wonder... I'm trying to think back to a year ago, and I remember...

what we were talking about was the fact that because he hadn't lost a grandstand final at that point the Olympics was the first sort of really big loss he'd had and how he was going to respond but I did think we also thought well maybe you know now he's got that out of the way and we'll see how he responds like I don't

I can't remember specifically, but I don't imagine that this time a year ago we were saying, wow, he looked flat, he looked knackered, he's going to lose to Bottich van der Zandt. Watch out for Bottich. I can confirm we were not saying that. We did a whole part one of a podcast in which I failed to mention.

and immediately put Alcrest through to the next round. Some people more than others were specifically not mentioning him. Yeah, I mean, I remember how crazy that was when, after Jack Draper had... won his match to get into the third round and you know all the questions to him after were you know how what's going to be playing Carlos Alcraz how's it going to be playing Carlos Alcraz and someone I can't remember it was said half jokingly like should we even should we do like a

Bottic? It was honestly laughable. You know how normally you say to a player, can you give us a word on both of your opponents? Didn't even bother with that. Draper was impressed today.

wasn't he? What did we make of what he had to say? He had quite a lot to say, didn't he? I feel like we learnt a lot about where Drek Drake is at today. I don't know about you, I wasn't entirely convinced about the fitness of that arm because when he gave his... first answer i mean look watching in the mixed doubles the other day i thought whoa look how he's hitting the ball on the first day um and then i read a couple of

tweets and a couple of messages and reports of people saying he was running around the forehand hit the backhand and so I thought okay well when he was describing the details of what he'd had done and and the have you got the specifics catherine of what the problem was bone bruising to the to the humerus in his left arm which is the

It's the funny bone, isn't it? Yeah. And basically, he needed to rest it, didn't he? Yes. He said if it wasn't addressed, it could have become serious. He'd been playing with pain for... quite a long period, started feeling it midway through the...

clay court season he said he went a full month without hitting serves and he went two and a half weeks without hitting ground strokes he was still able to do other training and he did sort of confirm that he really put some time in in in the gym which is sort of visibly visibly evident um he did say there's still some pain but he said i won't be holding back yeah well yeah exactly i just didn't see how those two things could follow no the way i asked the question was

was because he said i'd been playing through it at wimbledon kind of managing it and i said are you still playing through something here at the moment how is it affecting you with your strokes and I just got the sense that that you know when they when they give you an answer and they they elaborate more than somebody who's fully fit would yeah if you're fully fit you just go I'm fine yeah I feel great

Whereas he just gave chapter and verse. And by the end of it, I remember thinking, well, that ain't standing up to scrutiny. And also it totally stands to reason. He doesn't want to say that, you know, he doesn't want to give his opponents that. you know, lift by saying, yeah, I'm massively playing through pain. But yeah, I didn't really see how that stacked up. And also the fact that he was asked, well, at Wimbledon then.

you never mentioned it and would that explain a little bit why you did struggle and again he played that down which i think was I'm sure a lot of that is just out of respect to Marin Cilic. He doesn't want to come in to the interview room and be seen to be saying, yeah, I was injured and that's why I lost. But I think it also just speaks to the fact that players don't like to blame these things.

Yeah, I didn't come out of that press conference reassured. And if it is more of a problem than he's prepared to explicitly state, then kind of big picture, that's a... massive worry for him, isn't it? Because he's just taken a month off, you know, a month without hitting serves. He said I had a longer time off than I even had in pre-season. Like, if that hasn't sorted it out...

and it continues to bother him, when's he next going to be able to have a long month off? If this is a chronic situation that he's managing and playing through, it's hard to see this getting better. time soon and he kept on coming back to the mantra of I'm just desperate to compete which kind of underlines the suspicion that maybe that desperation is a big part of the the decision making. And kind of interesting how within the same press conference he was obviously asked a lot about his new...

Clothing deal. Yeah, by Charlie. Charlie's a clothing guy. Very much so. We'll come on to that in a moment, Charlie. We do very often talk about, you know, pressures on players to play. And, you know, he's just signed this new deal. He literally said, I'm the face of that brand. He is all over Manhattan.

It really struck me how much Jack Draper there is around Gramercy Theatre, where we did a live show the other day. Not a Tennessee part of town. Jack Draper's face appeared a lot. And I'm not saying he's only playing the US. open because of that new brand but like those small pressures that players have to deal with in terms of of playing if you are managing an injury

and it's a question of whether you play or not, that might be the sort of thing that pushes you to play, and it might not be the best thing for your career overall. And defending a lot of points as well here. Here, for sure, absolutely.

You've been asking, you're obviously working on a piece about... clothing sponsorship i assume charlie unless it's just a personal interest just trying to get a sponsorship myself and i'm hoping if i put myself out there enough in press conferences you've been asking a lot of a lot of players about that element of kind of off-court stuff and

he was interesting on it draper wasn't he like he did pretty much explicitly say because obviously he was with nike before and now he's with this relatively unknown brand he's now big fish in a smaller pond rather than a smaller fish in a bigger pond and he said That was a big deal. He didn't want to be playing third fiddle to Sinner and Alcaraz anymore. That was an interesting...

psychological insight. Yeah, Tiafoe said something similar yesterday and he made a great line. He said something like, yeah, Nike have one or two decent players or something. It was really well put. Yeah, I think that does make a big difference to players. And he also, Draper, I was interested to say like...

When you're playing against a guy wearing the same kit as you, it's not great. That was a dig. Obviously, I don't think he's going after them individually. We know that's a thing in tennis. I think a lot of players... It's become a bit of a trend and moving towards lifestyle brands. And obviously, Jack talked about it. This sort of thing is really important to him. You mentioned there's billboards and things like that.

It must be for these players. When you've got Sinner and Alcaraz dominating the tour like they do, you might think, well, at least I can go and be... the guy for this other brand and he did talk about that so clearly that does mean something to it tennis twitter thinks that nike have sort of lost interest in tennis don't they interesting is that is that the impression you get

It's certainly striking that the number of players who have changed. I mean, Nike used to be so, like, the brand. I mean, it was kind of like between Nike and Adidas, and now you've got lots of different players. I get, like, there's... Inevitably, you're probably not going to... Because even if you're the biggest tennis player, but you're with Nike, you are, if you care, probably conscious of the fact that they've got bigger athletes than you on their roster.

And it might not be like their biggest priority. So I don't know. Like it's definitely, I don't know how bothered. they would be a brand that big because they do have all these absolute superstars. But certainly in tennis, it does feel like a trend. I think they want to narrow it down. In the men's game, they've got the two biggest ones.

in Alcraz and Sinna and I think that they'd rather have a couple of absolute household names. They always used to, their strategy always used to be making sure they signed up any kind of potentially prodigious talent, sign them up young, get them, and then drop them if needs be, if they don't make it good. But that always used to be their strategy, but it does feel like, just give us...

Give us the big ones and we'll, yeah, that's kind of all we're interested in. But it does feel like kind of slightly nicher brands are having a bit of a moment. You know, Coco Goss with New Balance, like, okay, that's not niche, but it's not Nike.

Yeah, and I mean, like, and I think the sort of fashion-y crossover, like Taylor Fritz is with Hugo Boss. You know, that sort of thing is quite unusual. Tiafos with Lululemon, like, you know, that, those... lines are being blurred a bit between kind of like the fashion culture tennis space which is why I think it is quite an interesting subject just because where tennis and culture intersects certainly for our readers is often kind of

quite grabby yeah lululemon is the one i would pick i think it's so clearly better quality than all the others If you could choose. If I could choose. The fabric is sweat wicking, folks. Why do more brands not seem to realise the importance of that? But I am interested because a couple of the players, I mean, Coco Gauff was talking about it yesterday and how Anne Francis as well.

they feel it does make a really big difference. Less from the like, you know, I mean, less the kind of like press release stuff you get about how, you know, the wicking is... does xyz more just from a like i want to look really cool on court that makes a big difference to like how much because tennis is so much about this kind of me versus you 1v1 but if i can feel like

the guy as I go on court. Tiafoe was certainly suggesting that does make a difference. Are you ready to talk about an on player, Charlie, or too much trauma? Yeah, sure.

Let's talk about Igor Shantik. That was a reference to Charlie's exchange with Ben Shelton in press yesterday. Yeah, he didn't like... the suggestion that on wasn't as big a company as nike and adidas um don't like that question yeah i would suggest that's incontrovertible did you did you read anything into his chippiness like in terms of where his headspace is at or did Do you think it was just kind of a touch of... Yeah, I don't know. It's always hard to say. You never know what's going to...

Well, I mean, obviously you have some sense, but I guess you wouldn't do... You know, sometimes you ask questions and you're slightly bracing yourself because you know it's a delicate topic. Others can kind of take you by surprise. That definitely took me by surprise. Yeah, lobbing up a... Would you like to talk about one of your sponsors? question is usually really safe territory in the press conference room yeah and i think it's like sometimes as well the way you i learned this with

And Postacoglu, because he's a great one for one wrong word and he's on you. And you do learn, like, sometimes you can say one thing and that takes a... a player thinks you're asking maybe a different question to what you're asking so you do have to be mindful of that um i don't know like there's obviously there is a lot of pressure on him he comes in here

as a high seed, really, for the first time. You know, he's always been... Previously, he's been in that bracket of, like, on his day, he could... He's got this really high ceiling, but he's not necessarily thought of as one of the tournament favourites. I think this year, for the first time, he maybe is outside of those two who are so far ahead. But other than that, I don't think there's anyone...

massively ahead of him. The locals, the Americans, are expecting him to deliver. And he's a guy that needs to be loose. Yeah. I think. And think how many commitments he's going to have had. I mean, like, you know, they...

There is a lot asked of these players in this week, especially, you know, at the US Open, there are so many sponsors, like it's so much razzle-dazzle. Goff said, I couldn't play the mixed doubles because of the volume of sponsor commitments I have here. Exactly. So I think like...

I'm sure he, you know, everyone's wanting a piece of him. And, yeah, you know, that's a lot for a player. So, yeah, I guess we'll see in his early rounds. Because they often talk about it, don't they, players, that it's those early rounds that can be quite stressful as well.

that's quite terrifying the idea of an early exit when you know everyone's kind of just assuming you'll get to like when Andy Roddick went out to Gilles Muller in 2005 and he came in off the back of this massive ad campaign with American Express which was all built around whether Andy, whether anybody could find Andy's mojo because he'd lost it on a plane.

as though it was a physical thing. Like an Austin Powers. Exactly. And it was trying to poke fun at the fact that he's about to go roaring through the US Open draw room. faced Roger Federer and beat him in the final. I mean, he was world number one at the time, lost first round in straight sets to Gilles Muller, three tie breaks. Fresh from a Wimbledon final, wasn't he, that year? Yeah, that's right.

They kept running that ad for a couple of days. Then they pulled it. Igor Shontek, fellow on, on sponsoree. The difference in her. We've all been in a lot of Igor Shontek press conferences. This year, she's a different person. It's incredible. It is. I mean, I was expecting her to be relaxed. We've seen it. You know, we saw it in the mixed doubles. She loved that. She very clearly loved that. You know, she's won Wimbledon. It's all going great. There's no reason not...

to be that way, and yet it is still, I think, incredibly striking how loose her demeanour is. Yeah, and especially because, like, players, including her, you know, they talk so much about the process, etc., etc., but then you see... seemingly she's been transformed by the results and the outcomes. And I don't know how I feel, because that's kind of how it should, you know, winning Wimbledon should be this amazing lift.

I don't know, it's also just kind of scary in a way because clearly and why wouldn't it be as much as players talk about the process and I'm not going to be defined by my results, they are. and we're seeing a really visible you know and i know she's talked obliquely about kind of other and she kind of referenced that today she said she worded it slightly oddly but she said like

She started the year well and then there were other perspectives or something? Yeah, she said the season got a bit more complicated from other perspectives. I think she meant kind of outside of the court. Exactly, yeah. And, you know, so maybe it's... those things have all kind of resolved and what have you. But the main thing seems to be she won Wimbledon and she looks like she's floating. She also sounds as though she's seen the results of her hard work. The question Matt asked her about...

training for faster court surfaces really got an effusive answer from her, I thought. She seemed almost pleased to have been asked about that because, and I think that that is something that happens sometimes, it's, oh, finally, I've all this work.

have been putting in with Wimford's set, and now I can see what it was all for. Yeah, it just struck me, because if you'd said that after a long title drought, Igor Shantek would end it by winning Wimbledon... and then go on to win Cincinnati that that would have felt like an alternative timeline you know a year ago or so considering her

Real success came on clay or came on you know some of the slower hard courts like Indian Wells for example I know it's quick through the air there, but it's a slow court high bouncing court That's where she's had so much of her sort of dominance And it was just notable to me that these winds have come on quicker, lower bouncing surfaces. And she referenced back to the start of the year, the off-season in Australia, where, think about it at the time, we were...

effusive in our plays and how well Igor Shontek was playing. It's easy to forget that, she was thrashing plays. She was brilliant and she played, okay she had a she had some

bad moments against Madison Keys, but generally she played a really good match against the eventual champion. And she had a match point. She had a match point. She could have won the Australian Open this year. It wouldn't have been sort of preposterous to... you know for that to happen considering how well she was playing and yet you know it does really seem like she was happy with all the work that she'd done there she implemented it in Australia and then things just went well

As she said, things got complicated from other perspectives. Things went really wrong through that portion of the season that is traditionally her stranglehold on the season. The Middle East swing, the clay court swing. But it feels like... At Wimbledon and at Cincinnati, she's been able to implement those things that she worked on in the off-season again, and she's thrilled about it. And yeah, absolutely, as you said, it was a...

Really uplifting actually to see Fiontech like that. You know in her first answer she said positive, excited, happy. You know, and so often Igor's film tech press conferences have got off on a note where you think, oh, OK, she's not feeling that well here. And you sort of tread her a little bit carefully. This was just open and... Just a really, really nice, relaxed vibe to it. I do think a big part of it, like she...

I think by her own admission is someone, and I know people close to her have spoken about it, she's not someone who will just easily let people in. And I do think it will have taken Wim Forsett quite a lot of time to kind of earn that trust.

And she even mentioned it, you know, even now that she, you know, she kind of needs proof of concept when he asked her to do stuff. So I do think like over time, it feels like she's kind of trusting him a bit more and the dams burst a little bit. And now it's like, okay.

we're on to something here and that there's this kind of positive feedback loop she's now getting with results and I think that's made a really big difference whereas early on it is I think there probably was an element of like is Is this working? Is this the right thing? And good for her for sticking with it. Yeah, exactly. Because, you know, after the French Open, it felt like, how long is this going to last? And just on the French Open there, yeah, you mentioned about her opening.

and just thinking back to Ronald Garrison, her first press conference, and that was when Matt Futterman asked her, like, oh, do you get a lift from being here? And she gave that really snippy answer, like, well... do you like and I said well I'm not a four-time champion but like that was where she was at that time you know it was really you know like it felt like anything you said and I and I remember when I did my voice note of you guys from Madrid and

You know, talked through one of those press conferences and it was really uncomfortable. Like the contrast in a few months is incredible. We said Naomi Osaka. David, did you feel like you were in the press conference of the future champion? Yeah. Told you. What made you... What reassured you? Well, honestly, what went on in the press conference had no bearing on it at all. I don't understand why people are so outraged.

up in arms about the the fact that somebody might think that a twice champion of the past only in the last few years who's won four grand slams on a hard court might win this tournament um who reached the final of her previous event yes compared to some of your predictions it's actually quite measured i tell you i mean i just listen i i i think

With her, it's so on a knife edge because her best self can win this tournament, can beat everybody. You could literally line them all up and her best self could beat them all.

Or she could lose in the second round to Hayley Baptiste. You know, those are perfectly foreseeable possibilities in my eyes. But, well, I just think she will have... her moment and so i've gone for it this time but you know i did i did find it interesting i asked the first question of the press conference relating back to what happened in canada and

asked how she'd sort of processed it in the in the days that followed and i don't think she can maybe i didn't phrase it that well she immediately went to the the speech and the kind of um the out outcry about that when actually when I came out of the room Catherine you mentioned to me

would have almost been more interesting for her to assess what happened on the court before the speech, i.e. where her form went and why she seemed so rattled on the court when the crowd were going. And I must say, I didn't push that in that direction. and I kind of wish I had because I'm more curious about that now. It was a difficult scenario, I think, for you to do that.

That's also an example, though, of, as I was saying before, you ask a question, they interpret it a certain way, and if you don't get a follow-up, it's quite hard then to reel them back. I am... I'm finding it frustrating, though, because I think they talk about the speech and the aftermath of everything that happened with the speech, you know, sort of issuing the public apology and...

She told us today that she spoke to Mboko privately as well. I find that, it's not that I don't find that interesting, but in terms of Naomi Osaka and this tournament and how she might possibly fare, I find it... a real red herring actually it's not totally irrelevant but the speech was a symptom of something else that was happening I want to know why she fell apart so drastically

in the match, why the crowd got to her so much when she's been in that sort of situation before, how it could go from kind of 100 to 0. in the space of about a game and a half. That's what I really want to hear about. And I wonder if maybe sort of life imitating art, whether the...

The hoo-ha around the speech has actually occupied the same bandwidth in her mind and prevented her from addressing the reasons behind what happened on the court. Like, I just feel really frustrated by... I think that's what I was trying to get at in the question is how have you processed the aftermath and that's where her mind went really I think maybe it's because she was trying to interpret exactly what the question was but

Yeah, I suspect that... And by aftermath, she interpreted that as what people had said about her. Yes. She said, I haven't seen anything people have written. I've been made aware that people have said... People have had... People had a lot to say about it. Obviously, you know, agents and so on would have said...

look, Naomi, this hasn't gone down well. I think you should think about saying something publicly. She was very worried, wasn't she, about Victoria? Yes, absolutely. And she talked about, you know, the... The shame she experienced over it and worrying about potential impact it had had on her. Well, because also she knows what that's like. I mean, she was on the other side of it. So I'm sure she would have felt acutely guilty of being seen to be, like, stealing.

Absolutely. But it is interesting that that is where her mind kept on going. And I wonder if that is... proving an unhelpful decoy for everybody to what the real problem is. Yeah, because it's a much harder thing to face up, you know, the speech thing you can just write up. Like, that's got a very sort of clear solution.

you know it's like well next time don't do that whereas all the stuff that came before it is a lot more complicated and probably is a lot harder to untangle I suppose for her the hope is that well that was the first like really big match she'd played in a long long time so maybe she can tell herself well you know next time it won't feel so alien it won't feel so unfamiliar and you'll be able to handle the moment better

But what if she plays Coco Gough here and the crowd are against her in a New York way? You know, that's... But then, yeah, I mean, I guess the hope is that you can apply some of... Unless it has the negative... But you'd hope it's like, well, you know, remember last time? And surely they would have talked about, well, if this does happen again, how are we going to approach it? I'd hope so. I'd hope so. Unless, as you said, they are just focusing on the speech.

She is really interesting, Osaka, because she's never... If she's got to a quarterfinal of a Grand Slam, she's won it. And in her comeback, she hasn't got to a fourth round. I'm really fascinated just to see what happens because I think our sense slightly is like if she can sort of get to that second week, which she hasn't been able to do in her comeback, then...

Does that sort of single-mindedness kick in? She's been an amazing converter. To have won four slams from only... getting to foreground same courts finals is an unbelievable record she had a lot of interesting stuff to say about thomas wikorowski today didn't she in both english and well in the japanese portion but she gives the answers in english so we were able to Yeah, it was really interesting. In the English portion, she described him as someone who cuts to the chase, which...

Thinking about who her previous coach was, you know, I don't know how Patrick Moratoglu coaches, but he's a guy who's got a lot to say. you know like generally i can imagine like it's just a different form of giving the message i think um she also described him as an encyclopedia of tennis but it was actually the answers in the Japanese portion of the press conference which were

really deeper on Thomas Witkarowski. She said that she wanted someone with a lot of knowledge. She doesn't like questioning if someone knows what they're talking about. And I thought that was interesting when you look back at her history of coaches.

It does strike me that she's someone who goes after... kind of super coaches you know people who've had a lot of success it's almost like it's almost like she's not thinking about what can they do for my game but like what have they done for someone else's game which and that checks out with how she would talk about Patrick

and constantly referenced the fact that he coached Serena. Right, and if you go back earlier in her career when she had Sasha Buy in, he had been in Serena's camp as well. Win for set had obviously had a lot of success before working with Osaka. whereas I just felt that that's a big contrast with some other players who I know go on kind of...

really painstaking processes of figuring out the right coach based on chemistry and really based on what you can do for me. I think it was an interesting sort of insight that Osaka gave there in terms of how she likes to pick her coaches. just had a little bit more detail in terms of some of the stuff that they've been doing. She talked a lot about how it's not technical stuff at this point in the season because tournaments are happening and...

He doesn't think that now is the right time to work on technical stuff. So she talks about how it's a lot of tactical stuff, court awareness, picking the right shot at the right time. She explained how he... draws little sketches of tennis courts and puts little markers of where of where she should be hitting her shots and I think Again, that was something that we did see a little bit of in Canada. We talked about how her movement was a lot better, but also I think...

Her shot selection was better. She wasn't always pulling the trigger. She was building points a little bit better. So I think there have been some, she described it as simple fixes to her game in a short amount of time. And she said it's kind of been mind-blowing to her how simple some of those fixes have been and how effective they've been. So I thought from that point of view it was a really positive assessment of...

of Witkarowski and I'm really big on that as a reason why we should be feeling good about Osaka here. I think there is something different about her coming into this tournament. I'm just not going all the way because like you I don't feel like we've... had the full breakdown of what happened in that Montreal final and that to me is still such a big thing blocking me from predicting her to actually win the tournament here.

There are some positive signs, even if at times the press conference had a bit of a sombre mood to it because she was talking so much about... the speech and the shame that she felt and how bad she felt. It wasn't a really upbeat, fun Naomi Osaka press conference, which they can be. It's been a while, though. It has. It has. Um...

You know, there were little jokes in there, wasn't there? She was lovely talking about Gail Monfils. Yes, that was a nice moment. That was really nice and how much she appreciated playing with him because she remembered queuing up to watch him play in Miami when she was a kid. I bet that answer made Gail feel old.

Except when I was 10. Yeah. Morpheus and Songa, she would go watch at Miami. Yeah, it was a lovely answer. Really lovely. So that was kind of the main runners and riders that came through the...

the main press conference room today. We also did a few one-on-ones for tennis podcast meets. You haven't mentioned the runner and rider. Who have I failed to mention? Taylor Fritz? Amanda Anissa Mova. My apologies, Matt. What did we learn? Not that much. No, well... We actually had a chat about what to ask her, and you said, I'd love to know whether she would like to play Igor Fiontek again. So I asked her, you know, how keen is she to play?

Igor Fiontech again, you know, and have a new experience after the Wimbledon final. I had to slightly tread carefully because you don't want to give away a player's draw if they don't want to know it. And obviously Fiontech is in. Anissa Mova's quarter but I thought she'd referenced the Wimbledon final enough that it felt like a question I could ask and she said yes she does want to play her again that is something that I think she's keen she said I want to

I want to play her when I'm myself. Which I thought was quite a good line, quite a telling line. She knows she can trouble top players. She literally beat the world number one before facing Egos Fiontech and yes match-ups are a thing but it's not... that much of a match-up problem that it was six love, six love. She was not herself in that Wimbledon final and she's done a lot, I think, to try and get over it and learn from it. She said that's the big thing.

is nerves, you know, whereas I think in her post-Winwarden final press conference she was kind of keen to downplay nerves. She talked a lot about how tired she was. Here she really mentioned nerves and stress. She said that that final, you know, hopefully is going to prove to be a lesson in terms of how to deal with those nerves and that stress and playing Ygrish Fiontech would be another way to help try and get over it.

You know, I've probably done a disservice there to a press conference. I think we maybe did learn quite a lot from it. Yeah, that sounds really interesting. Actually, it was an interesting press conference. She was relaxed, she was loose. It wasn't very well attended. So I think she was kind of able to open up to the questions that she was asked. It was a busy time of day, wasn't it? It was, there was a lot happening. The area was... It was all happening. ...was teeming. I had a great time.

I was in there with Avalice. I was there with Sitsapass. It was funny actually, I saw on the interview list there was... The Athletic with Sitza passed, tennis podcast with Felix Ogiali, and I was like, okay, we've both gone down the same route. These are two players occupying a very similar space. Huge in 2018, 2019, now.

Not so much. I mean, for me, they are forever tethered, actually, because the first tournament I covered on site for Amazon Tennis was Indian Wells 2018. And they both had a bit of a breakout. tournament there and everybody got totally giddy on it and started making predictions about how many Grand Slam finals they would inevitably end up playing against one another and it was just sort of sign and seal.

that would be happening. And now here they are, you know, what room, I'm doing inverted commas, which doesn't work on a podcast, but, you know, Sitsapaz wasn't even in the biggest bit of the area today, was he? No, I mean, I think one of the most... Well, one of the elements of the media days I do find interesting is it's a really brutal way of showing where a player's at. Absolutely. You go from, are you in the big interview room?

obviously that's kind of where everyone wants to be and then it sort of goes i mean tennis is so hierarchical in every way and then before you know it you're in interview room six doing a one-on-one And that's it. And Paul Garuna has to draw you a map of how to get there. Yeah. I mean, that was Sitsabas today. I had a one-on-one with him. He didn't do a press conference because there wasn't enough interest. I mean, you know, this is a guy who would have previously been...

you know one of the bigger players and medvedev didn't do any media because presumably he wasn't requested i mean how crazy is that we're talking about a former champion and a former world number one like how quickly you slide into in averted commas irrelevance in

you know, the eyes of the kind of wider tennis community. And it must be, you know, I'm sure a lot of them are like, oh, great, I don't have media commitments. But for a lot of them, it must be quite a blow to their self-esteem being like, you know. So what are my media commitments today? Yeah, none. No one's requested you or like no one wants to talk to you. Did you ask us about your locale? How bummed out are you? It's a bit low rate.

talking to me because this is the low point of your career the thing is my sense is whenever I've escorted players in that situation or when I've seen them escorted their reaction is usually oh well this will be quick then and i can just go about my day but do you think they believe that i i think in the moment they do believe that but i think if somebody pointed out to them

Are you aware that this means nobody thinks you're up too much anymore? I think somebody, like, sits a pass. I think he's noticing and tracking that stuff. I think it depends if it feels like a...

a one-off. Exactly. I think that would be great if you're used to having to do tons of media commitments and then you're like, oh wow, I've dodged a bit of a bullet here. If it's a trend that closely reflects your on-court trend, then I think you're... you're noticing it and we've seen it with players just in the scenario where they are brought into the big interview room and for whatever reason nobody shows up.

I mean, some players handle that well, but some of them, you can tell it's hurting their ego. And you've got the moderator off to the side sort of desperately fluffing them and saying, oh, it's because, you know, the announcement wasn't made or you've clashed with Carlos Alcaraz or...

whatever like these are egos that notice things I think that's why I liked Ludmilla Samsonova at Wimbledon when she just said you know I'm fine I don't get to find out who I'm playing next on Twitter because nobody's interested in commenting to me about anything And Marketa von Droshevin not being upset that we were all she had at Wimbledon. Oh, and even more than that, she was delighted to be in interview room six.

two years on from winning the title rather than main interview room as the defending champion. Like that genuinely suited her personality I think. But then I feel like someone like Krychikova has... maybe bristled a little bit at the fact that even as a Wimbledon champion, you know, there's still not a huge amount of interest. Will Tsitsipas ever get back in the main room, Charlie? That's a good question. I mean...

I kind of have to believe that a lot of it depends on the injury, I guess, which he's talked about, this back problem that he's been carrying for a couple of years. The talent hasn't just gone.

do think he will get back you know somewhere like top 20 um maybe even pushing the top 10 but it is hard to see it but that that's kind of the nature of tennis i guess when you have these dips but then things do change incredibly quickly i mean how many times have we seen that this year that you have one good week and i mean then you're suddenly thrust forward you know complete your space in the

kind of food chain completely changes so i wouldn't rule out him having i mean even this year he has had like the odd very good week goran said he should be top 10 no trouble Zverev said it yesterday about both Tsitsipas and Medvedev that they should get back in the top 10. I mean, yeah, I think he will. He'll have another hot streak. Okay, that's it for part one. We'll be back in part two with some punchy predictions.

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Welcome back to part two of the Tennis Podcast, where I'd like to get some punchy predictions from you all. David... Haven't I done my bit? I gave you a title yesterday! Yeah, we've got... We've got the champions and the runners-up, I think, from David and Matt from yesterday's show, unless you have the right to change your mind on the basis of anything that was said today in the press conference room. No, you're going Shontek, you're going Sinner, Matt.

Correct. Sinner to beat Alcaraz in the final. Bold. And Shontek to beat Sabalenka in the final. Also bold. David, just to balance that out, is going for a Sarka to... beat who in the final? Who did I get? Was it Rabakina in the end? Osaka Rabakina and you've got Al Karaz beating Sinner. Correct, yeah. Charlie, over to you.

Look how serious he takes it. He's not going to go out on a limb like that. Normally he likes to palm his predictions off to his mum. Yeah, this is a man that used his mum as a human shield in order to not make predictions. That was for the wider predictions. I'm more than happy to make...

To be fair, Charlie has made some excellent predictions on this podcast. Absolutely. That's why we want them. Yeah. I was very, throughout Wimbledon, I was very clear and before that Alcres wouldn't win it. This time... I don't have such a strong sense on that. And given I don't have a really strong sense of it, I think I've got to go for a Cine Alcraz final. But I wouldn't be surprised if...

Djokovic got there. As the kind of third man, I think he's kind of ready to pick up the pieces if someone takes out Alcarez. I don't know if it'll necessarily be Djokovic, but I think, yeah, I'll go Sinner-Alcarez. And then on the women's... The thing with women's Grand Sams is they are often illogical. So trying to apply logic is hard and that's why... It's better to do what I did. Yeah, but that's why I'm going to go Sabalenka to win it because...

Like she should have won one already this year and she hasn't and so I kind of feel like now when she's coming in and there are more doubts about her than there have been at any of the previous three Grand Slams and going further back than that. But really, everyone is suddenly like, wow, she could well end the year without a Grand Slam title, which has...

That's never been a thought I think anyone really entertained. It's gradually become, got to the point where it almost feels likely. So I'm going to go her to win it. The runner-up is so hard. I'm going to go Madison Keys. Yeah, I'm glad Key's got a mention. She's lurking. She's not my prediction, but she's just nagging. Nagging at my mind. A little bit like Lars with Pagula getting it. I don't know, I just feel like that could...

And that would be, I mean, it would be a great story to repeat the Australian Open final. Nice ring composition to the year. I think I'm going Shontek. I mean, she's just in such a good place. Logically, it should be, but just for her to win two Sams in a row, I don't know, that feels like... Very rare on the inside. She's not done that yet before, has she? I'm certainly not taking her against the field. Yeah, she won... No, she can't have done, because the only other...

She won the French... French in the US. In the US. Yeah, she can't have done it consecutively. I mean, when was the last time anyone... Osaka it would be, wouldn't it? US and Australia. What, 2020 and then 2021? Osaka, you say? Yeah, so that we're talking more than four years ago. It's very rare. I think I might go for Rabakina to take out Sabalenka. I think I might go for a Shiontek Rabakina final.

And I'm going to be bold and go Alcaraz Sinner. Yeah. And who's winning? I think I'm going to go Alcaraz. I think Sinner will win. I just can't bet against Sinner on a hard call. Like, until... I always go for Alcaraz, don't I? Whereas I think increasingly Sinner to me feels like the kind of default pick. Yeah, I think you're right, actually. I think I probably need to revise my policy. Yeah, just feel just like and I know we do over index that.

Burtic lost but I just feel like he is the more likely to be upset in a way that Sinner it's really hard to see don't you think the the point I made a few days ago when And I know Senna was really ill and had to pull out, but there was something about Alcaraz. that wanted to prove a point i thought that week and i think that that stands now and i i don't think that's nothing i think you know how we we talk about he's going to have to go out against radio palca super focused

I kind of feel like the whole tournament is that now because it's not gone all his own way. He's lost to Wimbledon final. And I think that that will focus him. No, I think that's a really good point. And even like the Cine final in Cincinnati, like... Of course, Sinner was really compromised. But there are plenty of opponents who Alcaraz could have played who was compromised. And he would have started. I mean, even Zverev.

the day before and he would have missed seven serves in a row exactly but the fact that it was Sinner meant he was locked in enough that he wasn't going to start doing silly stuff so no I do think that's the point I mean that's when If you can find a way to get him fully focused, then that would make him almost unbeatable. That's his biggest weakness. So that will be interesting that he's got an element of revenge.

Who will be the first top 10 seed to fall in the men's and the women's? Is Holger Runa a top 10 seed? No, 11. Oh. Because he's got Bertic. Although Bertic's in form, so that's a problem. I think Emma Navarro is vulnerable on the women's side. She's really struggled for form.

went to play this week didn't she rather than play the mixed doubles she went to try and get some matches and some form and that didn't go too well I think she's got Yafan Wong in the first round but Katie McNally is lurking her in the second round I've been quite so quietly impressed with McNally since her comeback she played great against Fiontech at Wimbledon for example she was the only one to get a set off Fiontech at Wimbledon so I think

Navarro is a definite contender. David? It's between Mazzetti and Draper. Mazzetti's a... a good pick, isn't he? Because if we were doing an old school Wimbledon thing and adjusting the seedings for the surface, he probably wouldn't be seeded on a hard court, would he? I'm going to go Draper because I really do think he is short physically. I mean, Mazzetti jumps off the page to me.

The fact that even he's got Teshi Perikard in the first round, I wouldn't be amazed if he lost that. I know Teshi Perikard's not in good form. But, I mean, Hatchinov is the number nine seed. I mean, I know he's on... He does come in off the back of that final. I was looking at him, massive already. Yeah, and we've seen so many times this year that the good run at a lead-in tournament can massively go one of two ways, and so it wouldn't be a huge surprise. And in the women's?

Navarro is... Yeah, Navarro is the one... When you look at the 10, she is the one... I mean, A, she's the lowest rank, but she's also the one in the worst form. I think I probably would. I mean, and this would have seemed... Goff, Tomlianovic, anyone looking at that? Goff? Yeah, and, you know, Tomlianovic is, you know, she was the one who finally beat Serena when Serena, in her farewell... uh tournament and kind of you know was able to handle that ash crowd i mean this i'm not gonna say her

But Pagula is in my thoughts in a way, and you guys were talking about this the other day, like she's suddenly in that place of being like, I don't really know what I'm going to get from her, which for a player who's stuck in trade for a while was guaranteed quarterfinal, even if she didn't go beyond it. She was Miss Consistency, as Hans-Jabert alluded to in the note that she wrote during the French Open talking about the women's tour.

That's kind of been her stock in trade. That's gone. But I think Navarro and Mazzetti, for me, would be the obvious ones. Davids? You're down on Mirand Draven. She's got Alicia Parks. Yeah, I was about to joke about Jasmine Paolini, but I won't do that. I've saved you. Yeah, I do think... Andreva's gone from being the player I was the most up on a few months ago to really...

feeling unsure about. Only in this pocket of the season, I don't have any long-term concerns at all. She's been injured, hasn't she? And she's taken a couple of tough losses. I wonder whether she's a little bit burnt out.

we forget how many greats all-time greats would get to this portion of the season Jim Currier would always flame out at the US Open he had one good run to the final but every other year when he was dominating the tennis circuit he would get to the this tournament he would just look like he got so little left and yet he he would seem to be the perfectly configured player for this environment and surface and so forth it's a long season and she's had a lot of wins in the in the springtime

And she just looks like she could do with a long holiday to me and start up again in January. I mean, that's what, and I'm looking into this for a piece, but... What I think is so interesting, even on the men's side, because a lot's been made of the fact that on the women's side there have been lots of different winners, but that's also true of Wimbledon. Whereas on the men's side, the US Open...

is a massive outlier in that no one has dominated this event in the last, coming up to 20 years. I mean, Federer was the last man to retain it. That was 2008. That feels... crazy and there have been so many different winners here compared to all the other slams you think of all those one-time winners cilic team medvedev del potro and so what i think is interesting is you've got

The ultimate chaotic slam, meeting Yannick Sinner, who is like, apart from some of the off-court stuff, but on-court, he is so unchaotic. And like, can he be the guy to like tame this major in a way? Can he finally be somebody who can come along and defend it? Because you wouldn't have thought kind of...

chaos and sinner would go together but maybe he can just block all of that stuff out and just focus surprise package you can have you can either pick a man and a woman or you can Just pick one. A name that's jumping out to me in the men's draw... Given what we've just talked about in terms of top seeds who we think are vulnerable, we've said Mazzetti, we've said Draper, so I'm thinking who in that section might be able to take advantage of it. And look, it's not a...

It's not an absolutely wild name. Certainly tennis podcast listeners will be very familiar with the name. But, like, your average tennis fan is not going to know too much about him. And that's Diallo. I actually think he's in a section of the draw there. where he, like it wouldn't shock me if he is Sinner's quarterfinal opponent.

You know, Mazzetti, Bublik, Draper, Caballi, you know, kind of all in that section. But I think maybe Diallo might come through. I think he's got a game which is just beginning to... to sort of hurt some top players and just beginning to flourish a little bit. So there we go. 31st seed Diallo. I think that's strong. I'll accept a low seed as a...

as a dark horse or surprise package, however you want to put it. David? Well, I put Mboka in the semifinals and yet I don't feel as though that's anything left field anymore. I will not accept that as a surprise. She was in the main room today, David. It has to be somebody that would be in the area. I did see Diallo in the area, so he's safe. So that counts.

I think it's been more of a building process than out of left field. But I do think Caballi could have a heck of a run. You're a big Caballi guy. I do think... I think his top level is seriously scary and I mean in a section of the draw where he's in with Mazzetti

I love watching Mazzetti. I love how that's where everyone targets. Where's Mazzetti? He's such a beautiful player to watch, and he was wonderful at the mixed doubles the other day. Reminders in there, but they're due to meet in the third round on paper. And I'd go into that probably thinking Cabali wins. And then he's in, well, he's in the Diallo and Draper section there. He could end up playing against Yannick Sinnoh.

could Caballi in the quarterfinals. And I really wouldn't be surprised if that's what we see. I like it. Charlie? It's difficult, this. I mean, I want to... I wonder if there are so many Americans in both draws. And I just wonder if someone could kind of catch a little bit of momentum, become a bit of a thing amongst the fans.

Looking at someone like Ethan Quinn, I mean, he's got a first-round match that he could well win. Then he would play Nakashima. I think, you know, Nakashima's a good player. He's a consistent player, but... I think that's one he could come through. He would then have to play Taylor Fritz in the third round, which would obviously be very hard. But even that, I mean, getting to the third round for someone like that. If I'm going on Charlie's American theme, just looking at the women's draw.

potentially like a McCartney Kessler. Yeah, there it is. Go on, Meredith. But if I do that, I'm underestimating Jasmine Paolini. Yes. Because they're due to me in the third round. And we don't do that. Well, we all know Brad Gilbert is picking Aisling Kruger. It's his dark horse. He's seen on ESPN the other day. Pam asked him for a dark horse and Ashlyn Kruger came out and Pam didn't know what to say. I mean, could Paolini be one of those players who we assume...

We'll do well. No, I just mean from the like... This theme this year, or certainly at Wimbledon, it was a theme of have a good lead in an event, have a bad Wimbledon. I don't know, just because I thought when we were naming the top 10, when we were going through the top 10, I didn't even consider Paolini really, because in my mind I was like, oh, she's kind of immune. She's just had a really good run in Cincinnati.

I don't know, maybe that could go the other way. Ivi Jovic, I mean, that would be an exciting second round match. Yeah, it would. She's got talent. She packs a punch, yeah. This one's mostly for you, Charlie. Like, the story you'd most like to happen, a story you'd like to write this fortnight? Well, I mean, just player-wise, just building on something David said there, I mean, Mboko going all the way would be pretty spectacular.

And I interviewed her today. And there is something incredibly convincing about her. I mean, because she was talking about, you know, the... I said to her, like, you know, was it kind of weird? You know, you beat all those Grand Slam champions.

And, you know, a lot of them, including Osaka, were players that you would have looked up to, did look up to. You know, was that, did you have to kind of rewire your brain? You know, we've heard so much about players who've seen it, you know, freezing against their idols.

And she was kind of like, no, not really. You know, once I'm out there, I kind of, you know, I feel pretty confident, whatever. And then I was just like, do you fear anyone? And she was like, no, basically. And I was just like, God.

that fearlessness and you know we saw it with someone like andrescu here sometimes that's when you're at your most danger like i know it would be a huge huge shock but for the first time i thought i wouldn't totally rule that out you've got someone who is just brimming with confidence is fearless isn't going to overthink it

that's a pretty good concoction to have. And, you know, we always assume, and generally it is the case that, like, experience is really helpful and you build and you build and you build, but it doesn't always have to be like that. I remember Tracey Austin saying that actually it was those... really early on in her career before she kind of had much experience that was when you know it's kind of most natural I like it

So that would be an amazing story. I think people would get so engaged. You know, we saw what happened in Canada. Obviously, that's her home tournament, but I think the US Open will go wild for her if she gets on a run. Final question in this section, and this one's just for you, Charlie, because David and Matt already know the answer. How much does a lobster roll cost in the food court?

I mean, it's going to be high, the fact you're asking. $35. $39.50. Wow. I mean, New York never ceases to amaze. Yeah. The price of stuff. Yeah. And yet that did amaze me. We all... I don't think we're naive about New York prices. We all stopped in our tracks when we saw that. Did you get one? No. Not made of money, Charlie. It's almost an entire Friends subscription. Yeah, absolutely astonishing. I kind of want to get one to know how big they are, how much lobster's in there.

That's gotta be a damn good lobster roll. Work out the price per gram. Yeah.

Yeah, bring your wallet if you're coming to the US Open. That's it for part two. Join us in part three. We'll go through tomorrow, Sundays, day one. Order of play. From prying eyes to improving defenses to peace of mind. Take your company's cybersecurity to the next level. Transform the everyday with Siemens.

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Welcome back to part three of the tennis podcast where we have an order of play to go through. In fact, we have three orders of play. We actually know who's going to be on the main show courts for both. For all three of the round one days. But we'll do this day by day. We've got daily pods. We've got plenty of time to go through Monday and Tuesday's order of play. So let's stick with Sunday. And opening the Arthur Ashe Stadium on day one of the tournament is Ben.

Shelton. Big assignment. Your mate Ben. And he's playing Ignacio Busa. How are we pronouncing that, Matt? He's from Peru. He's from Peru. He's ranked 136 in the world. And that is the extent of my boost or boost knowledge. I became aware of him this summer. I think he got to... a semi-final on tour in one of the you know death zones or borscht yeah i think it might have been gestard um i think he might have lost to

One man well, Sir Rudendolo. But he's been doing a lot of winning on the Challenger Tour. I think he's much more comfortable on the clay. And I'm going to use the words good draw for... Ben Shelton, I think. But, you know, like, Shelton, I think, would like a vibes-y slot. And first on Ash is not really that. He had that last year in his first round as well. Played Dominic Thiem.

But you're right. God, that feels like... Yeah, I know. I don't know what that feels like, but it's sad. Punchy predictions here, please. We were going Shelton in three? Yes. Yeah. I mean, I just learned of the existence of Ignacio. So I'm getting Shelton in three. That is... The first match on Ash Day Session. Second match is Irina Sabalenka against Rebecca Massarova. Sabalenka in two. Yes. They've played this year, haven't they, those two?

I'm sure I have a memory if I'm going to check that. But yes, I would predict Sablan could win that. And night session on Ash. We might get some interesting punchy predictions here. Novak Djokovic starts against Lerner Thiem. And Tian, rather. And I've got Dominic Thiem. Tragedy on the brain. And Jessica Bagula against Maya Sharif is second on. Maybe Djokovic loses a set. Yeah.

I could see that. David. Yeah, I'd go the same. Four. That could be fun. That's a fun... That should be really fun. Yeah. Like, I want to watch it. Yeah, the rallies are going to be great. I think the crowd would be really into it. There'll be lots of shots that TN hits, slice backhands, etc, that make the car go, you know, because it's just gone hovering over the net within an inch and stayed in.

But I think that that will only last so long. Yeah, Djokovic in four. I'm going Djokovic in four. Because he lost... a set in both of his two rounds of the Australian Open and one was against Basper Reddy and I remember that he lost the first set actually there I can imagine it being a similar type match to that

Like, lose the set, but never really in much danger. I think if Bath of Ready and Tien is a real sort of duo. Yeah. I'll be following them both closely. And Sharif against Pagula. I do think Pagula will win, but, yeah, I wouldn't...

I consider it such a foregone conclusion like I might have done previously. Yeah. She's got a lot of pressure on her final points to defend. It's been such a... different year for Pagula she doesn't feel reliable in the way in the way she used to and she said in her press conference which was yesterday she was one of the first top players in just like It did feel a bit weird having the mixed doubles so early. She's already played in front of a big...

night ash crowd. And I think she had a slightly weird time with Jack Draper, didn't she? Yeah, I think that would be fair to say. I don't think they're, you know, going out for dinner, are they?

But yeah, she nodded down. She's like, you have that kind of... Like she's had a high. Yeah, you've had the high, you've had the adrenaline, all of that. And then it's like, oh, then you're back into like... cooling your blood pressure your temperature and you're just like warming up again to get high again so that is and none of them have ever done this before Armstrong opens with Emma Adekanu against Ina Shibahara

What do you think about Raducanu, Charlie? I am interested to see how she does here. She comes in with more form and more match time than she has done at a major for a long time. So I think she'll win that one. And I think she could play Sabalenka in the third round again. Rabatkinah. Oh, no, Rabatkinah, that's it. Rabatkinah third round. I think she'll get there. Yeah, I think she will, yeah. She's done, I mean, that's kind of...

what she's been doing at the slams this year and that's i think why she brought on roig like she's talked about it she's been solid she's been getting to a certain level but it's can she push on beyond that is it potentially kuda matova in the second round for her like it's not it's not easy yeah

draw, even to get to Rebecca. I think Shiba Hara is a player who's obviously more known for her doubles. She's really made a thing last year of trying to become... a singles player i think even the fact that she's in a slam is is kind of a you know pretty good sign for her singles she's gonna throw variety at you she's gonna try and come forward i actually

I think maybe that's not the worst thing in the world for Raducanu. I remember seeing what she did to, like, Vondrosheva at Wimbledon, for example. I think I worry a bit more about Raducanu where there's a big power. problem of power discrepancy, I think that's an okay matchup.

Emilia Nava against Taylor Fritz is second on Armstrong during the day. Fritz will be fine there, won't he? Yeah, I would have thought so. And Armstrong night session opens with Jasmine Paolini against Destiny Ayava, the Australian. And second on is Daniil Medvedev losing for a second slam in a row to Benjamin Bonzi. He's going to turn the tables. Medvedev's going to win this time. Yeah? Punchy set prediction, please. Four. Charlie. I mean...

massively on upset watch to the point where I guess how even big an upset would that be? Is it even an upset? Yeah. I really struggle with that one. Maybe... Medvedev in five. We're going to be here. Well, we're going to be somewhere very late watching. Daniel Medvedev looked dishevelled against Benjamin Bonzi, aren't we? That's what we get. That's my prediction. Grandstand is Jakub Mensik against Nicholas Jarry. Tennis Podcast's coded match-up first. What a day session, that is.

Matt has stopped mentioning Nicholas Jarry. And that clashes with Fulham. Yeah. Alexandra Ayala and Clara Towson, second or grandstand. That's a fun match. That's the match of tomorrow, I think, isn't it? Emma Navarro against Yifan Wong. Wong Yifan is third on Grandstand and fourth on is Jesper de Jong against Brandon Nakashima. Court 17, Shevchenko against Davidovich Fikino. Then Marino, Rebecca Marino against Leila Fernandes.

And there's an all-Canadian clash here at a Hetchker against Borna Chorich, who is apparently staying in the hotel that Matt and David stayed in a few years ago, where Matt was checked in as Matt Lobbert. Happy memories. And I had to check out of that hotel three times. And they were confused every time. And Belinda Bencic is last on court 17. And playing...

Zhang Shui, which I think is really interesting. A year ago, we were on longest losing streak watch. She managed to end that just after the US Open. I'm pleased that... I think she's qualified here, hasn't she? And I really thought that... her career could be over you know this time last year so it's actually really nice that that she's back in the draw here so yeah I'm really looking forward to that one

Thomas Mahatch is on court five tomorrow. He takes on Luca Nardi. God, remember his last match here. That disaster class against Draper. The egg leg. So bad. And his reward for that is to be scheduled on the court that Holgerina posted a map to on his Twitter. Wasn't it Court 5? Yes. It's actually...

It's really close to us. It's really close to where we are. It's a nice call. Very easy to get to, Holger. I'll tell you what, he'd be annoyed to be in the area. Yes. Although, I think that's where he certainly wasn't in the main room. Anyway. I mean, it's quite a busy Sunday day. It doesn't, I mean, like... Do you think? Well, I think they've gone big on...

The show courts, they've got really good names like Shelton, Sabalenka, Djokovic, Pagoula, Raducanu, Fritz, Medvedev. To have Djokovic on a Sunday feels very unusual. I remember Australia did it, I'm sure Australia did it with Sabalenka and Djokovic. Sabalenka's always on Sunday. Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Djokovic-Pryzmic was a Sunday, because then Sabalenka played after it.

and it was really really late i think they did like a defending champions they didn't have a sunday start at that point i think that was the first one wasn't it in australia anyway well yeah well my slight issue with the order of play is that they're not using that many outside courts and i think it's going to be packed i think it's going to be like hard for It's hard for fans to see the matches they want to see if they're not spreading it out.

among all the courts and that's what Australia got wrong the first time they did a Sunday start I think they corrected it just a little bit worried about that and also with Ash only having two day session matches you get that thing where Ash finishes early everyone pours out and wants to watch matches on the outside courts this is something that

I feel like we get a lot of messages about people who come to the US Open and experience that sort of fan experience. We're a little bit shielded from that. Yeah, but it's important. It is a thing. I'm just a little bit worried about that. Yeah, and you do worry that it's not something the organisers are factoring in really at all. Maybe I'm wrong, and the proof will be in the pudding.

tomorrow. What else have we got? We've got Marketa von Drosheva is on court seven. As is Korintan Mute. As is Korintan Mute. That's where David will be. Tom Greekspore against Adrian Manorino. It'll be interesting to see. it feels it it's kind of crazy this is the us open's first sunday start like yeah feels like they They are the sort of slam that would have been one of the front runners. The idea that last year the Sunday was like a free day.

That's just like, when does that ever happen? And obviously they were like, what are we doing? There's loads of money to be made. We could be making money out of $40 lobster rolls. And that is exactly what they'll be doing tomorrow, but not from us.

We'll be buying slop in the media centre. We'll be very grateful for it. We'll, of course, be back tomorrow with a podcast and each of the next 15 days. Thank you, Charlie, for your... for playing along with the predictions. Appreciate it. I know it's painful for you. No, no. Great to be here. It was those big predictions. I found like the quarter fight, like predicting a quarter final. I know. Is just so hard.

Yeah, it's hard. No one said it was easy. As I've hinted at, we've been doing Tennis Podcast Meets interviews over the course of the next couple of days. And that show where we have collectively spoken to Karen Hashanov.

That show will be going up later today for Friends of the Tennis Podcast. So if you'd like to become a friend and get... chance to listen to that and it really is worth a listen there's some fascinating insights from those players in there then the link to become a friend will be in our show notes and the last thing I wanted to mention is that we have a live show in Wrexham Wales. We've played New York. Now we're going to play the New York of Wales. Correct. Which is what

Everyone calls you. Everybody calls Wrexham. We'll be there on October the 22nd. Our live show in New York this week was... Truly one of the highlights of our podcasting lives. It was incredibly special. And we can't wait to do it again in Wrexham.

And that is exactly what we'll be doing on October 22nd. We'll put the link to buy tickets in our show notes and we'll hopefully see you there. Unfortunately, Charlie's got a... football cliches live show in Glasgow on the same night so tis the season for podcast live shows it would seem yeah absolutely we're competing competing for an audience with football cliches

Right. Hello to our mascots. Hello, Phoebe. Hello, Maisie. Hello, Roger. Hello to our executive producers, Greg, Chris and Jeff. Let's have some shout-outs, Matt. Are you ready, everyone? Yeah. We have Christine Marlowe. From St. Helens, Merseyside. Hi, Christine. Hello, Christine. Hi, Christine James. Christine Truman, as was. Yes. I used to have a... Christine Everett, presumably. Yeah. Stunned into sight, I'm guessing. I used to have a friend in St Helens. I got totally ghosted by her.

It keeps me up at night still. This was a long time ago, I'm over it, but yeah. Laura. Would anyone like to know more about Aunt Christine? Yes, please. You just don't hear about St. Helens a lot, do you? It's rugby league. Yeah. Hotbed. Yeah. What can I say about Christine? She says, in my school days in the 50s, Wimbledon was the only tennis shown extensively on the TV. Through my working life, I always said that if I won the Pools, the lottery, I'd apply for Wimbledon debenture.

No success. But when I retired, I realised that I could afford to try my luck, and with a friend who I'd met as a co-member of the Tim Henman Fan Club, I crossed my fingers and applied. We couldn't believe it, and we were successful. So she was able to attend the championship. every day for the last 15 years every day no yes if you have a if you have a debenture you can go every day so cool

Wow. Can we hear more about the Tim Hemman fan club? More slash everything. The rival fan club to Charlie leading the Greg Rosetsky fan club. We used to host the annual, well, hang on, we were present at the hosting of the annual Greg Rozeski fan club meeting at the Royal Albert Hall. Because we worked for the tournament, not because we were that bothered about the fan club bit. So, Christine, please let us know everything about the Tim Henman fan club. Thank you. We've also got Daniel...

Tam or fam I'm not sure right Daniel Daniel Evans Daniel Nestor comes out of Charlie Eccleshaire's mouth the Canadian player that's so up your He'd have been winning the mixed doubles if he'd have been allowed to enter. Daniel is from Sweden and is celebrating his 10-year anniversary of listening to the podcast. He says, I remember I started... at the US Open in 2015. When Catherine was walking into a tree. Is that 10 years ago? Probably.

Or arguing with the bus driver, one of the two. What a decade, Daniel. Hope it's been good for you too. Thank you. And finally, we have Grace Thomas from Mason, Ohio. Hi, Grace. Hello, Grace. Grace says, last year you guys weren't able to think of a tennis player named Grace. After a quick Google, I found Grace Min.

She's an American player who turned pro in 2008 and reached a career high of 97. We'll take it, Grace. Thank you very much, Grace. I really appreciate it. We'll take that. And Mason, Ohio, of course, where the Cincinnati tournament actually is. Exactly. And Grace has been a listener since 2020. Oh, I bet Grace has been to Kings Island. Hope so.

What a place. Jean Grace Min has. Career high 97. I do not. Grace, thank you very much for your support of the Tennis Podcast. Thank you, Grace. Thank you, Christine. Thank you. Daniel. Daniel of Nesta fame. We are part of the Athletic Podcast Network. Do check out...

Charlie's work and Matt's work and all of the stuff on The Athletic over the coming fortnight. It's going to be an awesome fortnight. We can't wait. We also can't wait to get out of this wind tunnel, though. So thank you for listening. We'll speak to you tomorrow on day one of the 2025. If you've used Babbel, you would.

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