US Open Day 15 - Zverev wins, US wait goes on

0:00And we're back live during a flex alert dialed in on the thermostat. Oh, we're pre-cooling before 4 p.m. folks. And that's the end of the third time to set it back to 78 for 4 to 9 p.m. Clutch moves by the home team. What's the game plan from here on out? Laundry? Not today. Diswasher? Side-lined. What a performance by team California. The power truly is ours. During a flex alert, pre-cool, power down and let's beat the heat together. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the 14 500 use the service now AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, service now seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most.

1:00Learn how service now puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com. Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast our final daily tennis podcast from the 2026 US Open here at Flushing Meadows, New York. Today is the end of a long grueling thrilling three weeks for us here at the final Grand Slam of the season. If you're new to what we do, we are me, Catherine, we're together Matt Roberts and David Law. We produce shows at least weekly throughout the year covering the men's and the women's tennis tours and we travel to all four major tournaments to bring you daily shows wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. We try to be your one stop shop for tennis coverage and analysis or in the words of Jim Currier, when we stopped by the World Feed commentary booth earlier,

2:02you guys watch all the tennis so we don't have to. And the tennis we watched today was top seed Alexander's Vera winning his second Grand Slam title and first US Open title with a four set win over American Ben Shelton 63765762. A match with one of the weirdest endings I have ever seen in a major final. We will come on to that David. What was the story of this match for you? The story of it, I think, was a man in Alexander's Vera who played this to perfection in terms of emotional approach and tactical approach. And he also played very, very well too. I just felt the most important thing was that he just sucked all the life out of the the Arthur Asterium by not wriling people up by he shortened his services, service motions so that he wasn't bouncing the ball as much as he had been.

3:06He was sort of watching the clock. He got caught once. He got over time once, but he did everything within his power to not give Ben Shelton anything to get his teeth into to not give the crowd anything to get the teeth into. He did elongate things where it does make you a bit so you almost not off a bit, you know, and I think that that all worked as his favor. And he showed his maturity. He showed his experience in these situations. And I'm afraid from a Ben Shelton point of view, he did some things well, some things like he's done to get to this position of being in the final. But he did execute on the big points and time and time again, the few chances he set up to give himself the upper hand in a rally and to have to put away a forehand. It was absolutely imperative that when he had a forehand to put away that he could do it time and time again, he would he would blaze it long. And I'm afraid you just can't get away with that.

4:06You know, he fought hard. He it was a nice comeback in the third set. But I mean, I don't think he's he's okay with it. He's reasoned that this is part of the process. And I think he's right. But on the day, I think he will have regrets that he couldn't do what he sent out to do. I think in our anticipation and our expectations of this match, we all tried to factor in the Ben Shelton first Grand Slam final element to all this. Like whoever whoever it is playing their first major final that we really expect them to win. It has to be somebody pretty special, I think, to to feel like they're the favorite in a first Grand Slam final. And yet I think we all felt like Ben Shelton was was the kind of character. If there is one that might cope with it better than others do. Relative to expectations given all of that. How did Ben Shelton perform today for you? Look, it's it's really hard to say because I said on the show last night,

5:09I did not expect Ben Shelton to win. Like I did think that it would win this final. And yet I do think Ben Shelton fell a little bit short of how I thought he would play. You know, like the result is not a surprise to me. But I do think three of the sets and the way they felt were a little bit surprising to me. You know, I kind of expected the match to be more like the third set, which was extremely competitive. And Ben Shelton actually won that set. And I, you know, wasn't expecting him to win more sets than the very of today, but I expected it to look like that with Shelton applying pressure. And he did just about take his chance in that third set when it came. It was the first time he broken Alexander's very of serving something like 67 service games, if you include their previous matches. And it was the first time all day. But I thought he was pretty flat at the start.

6:11I mean, losing your serve in the, in the very first game of the match and in a manner that just showed up all the issues that he has in the match up against a lefty, you know, like he missed the forehands in that game. He served into the backhand and it came back. He tried the drop shot and Alexander's very of eats up the ground against him. If it's not a absolutely perfect drop shot. And then in the second set, it was all about him not taking the chances. They weren't big chances. They weren't like break points and stuff, but it was 30 all points and 15, 30 points. He wasn't able to apply the pressure. Whereas on the other hand, you had Alexander's very of who I think is showing just how much getting the monkey off his back and winning his first grand Sam Tietel has freed him up in grand Sam finals. You know, the best two grand Sam finals he's played by far have been the two most recent ones. The Wimbledon won that he lost and this one today, someone comfortable in the

7:14match up looking pretty settled generally and just playing at a level and forcing Shelton to bring it in big moments and Shelton just couldn't do that. But I can't say I was hugely surprised overall by how it went. As you say, very, very hard to win your first major title, playing someone who's already won a major, you know, like that's a really hard thing to do. And with yes, the support of the crowd, but also the weight, the pressure, the general fatigue of Ben Shelton carrying that mantle through the tournament, you know, a four set win for Alexander's Rarov is not hugely surprising to me, even if some of it played out a little differently to what I was expecting. Yeah, he did say in the press conference just now, I was tired before I took to the court today. He talked about the cumulative fatigue of the tournament, which was obviously just something he's never experienced before. That's not a fitness thing. He's one of the fittest guys out there.

8:15It's just something you can't really prepare for. There was some analysis from Jim Currier and the World feed broadcast at the end of the second set when things were just getting tight. It was still on serve at this point. And he said, I'll tell you what's Verova's thinking here. Verova's thinking how passively can I get away with playing? And I tell you what the answer is very. He said, Verova is in error extraction mode here. And it's probably going to work. It just struck me that today was kind of a perfect symphony of the right tactic, which was that that's being described there by, by Currier. And it was the right tactic. It was a tactical masterclass really against, against Ben Shelton. But it's also the way that Verova is most comfortable playing. That's his default setting, like it was perfect harmony of those two things today. He just seemed apart from the end of the third set when he got tight

9:21and got broken by Shelton for him to take that third set. Apart from that moment, it felt to me like Verova was really comfortable throughout this match. Yeah, I'd agree with that. And I think he, he, most for the most part, I totally agree. That's where he is most comfortable and he sort of developed this other side of his game this year to be aggressive and attacking him, kind of play like I think most of us have thought, well, why don't you try and do that more? He's developed that because of sin or an alchemy. And against the vast majority of players, he doesn't actually need to try to do that. It's more of a high wire act anyway. And if you're a bit off, you may end up a load of unforeseen errors against the vast majority. He can be a backboard and use his pretty extraordinary movement and reach and dexterity. He is actually a really good player and probably a lot better player than I realized he was going to be and sort of suffocate these opponents, draw the errors

10:24out of them. And yet today, I think he was playing well. That's the difference is it's taken him a long time in this tournament to play well. And he was very close to going out to the first two rounds. A couple of points against Lorenzo Sonnego. Today he had the timing. He was able to hit out at times when he when he decided to and those those moments stung Shelton a little bit. But yeah, he he's used his experience. It was a master class. And I'm just a bit surprised that Shelton didn't have more from the start. And and and on one hand, I thought, given that he lost the first set, six one of the tournament and he lost the first second two other matches, that element wasn't necessarily surprising. I just thought by the time he got to the final that he might, he might be a different beast. And then you've got the factor that it is a final. It's his first grand sound final. So maybe that's asking a little too much.

11:26And it's and it seemed to affect him more than anticipated that. I also think possibly and I don't think anything we said about Ben Shelton's return game up to this point has been wrong about the strides that he's made on it on it. If you go back and watch Ben Shelton from what was it four years ago, three years ago when he first made the semi finals here and he looked so raw and it was all so built around the serve and he barely had a return game. He has made tremendous strides on it, but we were drawing a lot of conclusions on the basis of matchups against Francis Tiafo, not one of the ATPs best servers and a Carlos Alcras who was serving way below the speeds and the levels that we saw pre-rist injury. It was a it was a different kettle of fish against Alexander's very of today and the returns were shown up as a lot of good players would have been facing that that serve. Yeah, in that sense, it didn't feel like Shelton had actually closed the gap,

12:29you know, it looked like him returning Zverev serve as in their previous match shots and as I said, he only had that one break that was any his real chance really. He wasn't getting to break point even and Zverev was winning an extraordinary percentage behind his first serve and it also, you know, it flips the dynamics for Shelton because he's so used to being able to be comfortable in his service games, but when he plays Zverev, some of his own strengths on the server negated by the matchup and by the fact that Zverev likes to hang back, so he can make more returns and Shelton's natural angle of attack is going into the Zverev backhand and Zverev has one of the very best backhands in the world, if not the best, on the men's tour. So that's tricky for Shelton and I think for me, you know, this is quote going around that Alexander Zverev gave on the SPN where he's where he's calling out

13:33the tactical mistake that Carlos Alcarez made in Francis Tejafo made by he said he said against Ben, you don't need to be aggressive all the time. The more pace you played to his backhand, the better he plays. I think that's the mistake Carlos and maybe Francis made. And look, it said something I think about his ego that he is prepared to, you know, say that about some fellow players, one of them being Carlos Alcarez, but I, you know, I do think the analysis is probably quite good there in that what struck me most about Shelton against Alcarez was how well he stood up to the baseline, it's changes and, you know, it obviously wasn't peak Alcarez, but there were times where it felt like Alcarez was throwing everything at him and they were having these quick fire exchanges and Shelton was often coming out on top. And we just didn't see barely any of those sorts of exchanges today because Zverev didn't allow them to happen, you know, like there were times where he would take the forehand

14:38on up the line, particularly in the second set tie break, he did step up his aggression there Zverev and really wrenched that from Shelton after a long tight set. But a lot of the time he was not having to play all that aggressively and he was hanging back and he was forcing Shelton to come up with the shots and shrinking the court with his movement and suffocating him with his depth of strike, doing all the things he's very, very comfortable doing and that happened to be very good for this matchup. And Shelton was not able to solve that over the course of the match. The ball bouncing maybe wasn't as big a feature of the match as we were expecting, it wasn't not a feature in the words of Shelton in his post-match press conference. Everyone wants that to be the story and he didn't say, look, it's not the story. He didn't say it's not a thing. He did talking quite a lot of detail about the challenges of returning against somebody

15:38that is playing at the pace that Zverev is playing at. But it definitely is, you've said, wasn't egregious as it has been in previous matches. There had, I think, been an adjustment on Zverev's part. Yeah, I think so. I think he was aware of the fact that this had gained traction and was becoming a talking point and he didn't want it to be won. You know, he wanted it to be an irrelevance really from the outside and I think he made a conscious effort to keep his eye on that clock because sometimes he came to the line when there were only like 10 seconds to go and he was releasing the ball after like seven bounces because he knew he hadn't got much time left. So he showed he can do it. It's become a thing. He's become aware of it.

16:39I think he was clever today. I think he was really clever in the way he kept the crowd out of it. Yeah, I mean, I do think Shelton made a very good point about how he was getting a couple of soft warnings from the Empire about not being ready when Zverev was starting his service motion. So the Empire is judging that the shot clock stops when Zverev starts bouncing the ball. I.e., the service motion begins when Zverev starts bouncing the ball. Shelton is saying, I'll be ready when he serves. Like I am playing to the service place even if I'm not ready when he starts bouncing the ball. And I think that is, I think that's a very fair point. Yeah, and he mentioned the difficulty in, you know, if he's in his ready position, which is, you know, crouch down in his proper grip, focused on the ball, probably, that's, you

17:45can't be doing that for 20 plus seconds every single time. Tiring, you know, he's in a, he's in a crouch position. That's going to put tension in his leg. So he was, he was kind of standing in a, you know, pretty loose manner at the back of the core until, you know, right up until Zverev was about to serve. And then the other point he made was that there's no shot clock between first and second serve. And that was something that really frustrated Shelton, I think, you know, it's, it's all very well on the, on the first serve. And, you know, I guess technically most of the times Zverev was, was within the 25 seconds. But then he's taking a very long time between first and second serve way longer than anyone else. And, you know, I think, Shelton was, I think, quite rightly calling for there to be some kind of wool change. I don't have the answer. I don't know what it is, but there needs to be some sort of regulation because it's not good for fans either, you know, when, when it's taking so long for the next bit of action to, to happen. It, it is a real drain on a match like that. It will surprise nobody that I'm totally with him on that.

18:47I think time between first and second serves is, is an under reported crime in tennis. I mean, Laura Seaman, sorry, sorry, to bring it back to the worst defender, but, but she is, I mean, it's, it's criminal what she's doing between first and second serves, but, but she's not alone because it's not, there's no, there's no real rule about it. Should be a tipping point. Yeah, absolutely. Should we talk about the last game? How the match ended? I've never seen anything like this, David. We see, we see players forget the score. We see, you see it in a tie break quite, not often, but it's not that unusual to see a player not realise quite what the score is, not realise it's a change of ends. We'll stand on the wrong side to receive serve, you know, not, not realise what the school within a game is. I have never seen a player serve for a grand slam title and it become evident immediately after winning that game that they did not know they were serving for a grand slam title.

19:50No, I don't remember that either. I remember the slight awkwardness when Federer hit an ace in the 2017 Australian Open Final and there was a Hawkeye challenge and they had to go through the whole sort of process of that and stand at the net and wait, but this was different to many. He won the point and he sort of just turned round ready to go for the next game. And Shelton's walk into towards the net, the crowd are kind of, you know, remarking the moment of victory. I mean, they're obviously disappointed, the vast majority of them, but they were applauding and you know, the whole match is, the score is being announced by the, by the umpire game set in match. I was in commentary at that moment saying, well, there's very little title, he doesn't appear to know it. And so the whole thing was just a very straight situation and I think his support team was shouting because he'd be walking towards them and the support team was shouting, no, no,

20:50you've won and he's like, oh, have I? He'll be trying to win. Yeah, he'll be. No clue. And I think, but I think that that tells you what a trance he'd got himself in for this match to not be bothered by external elements. And I think, I don't think I've seen him do that any better than he did it tonight. Like you think of all the times that he has got ratty or he has got irritable with somebody in the crowd or something that an opponent's doing or something the umpire has called. He wasn't even getting upset about line calls, you know, he'd managed to get himself into the zen like state where nothing was bothering him and he wasn't, he was just as focused as I think you could possibly be on a tennis court and it was kind of jock of it, Jim, in that way, when jock of it gets into that mindset, you think of that 2015 US Open fire against Federer when the whole crowd was against him and he just took them all

21:53on and he just took them all out. And I think that that's where we were tonight, which is very, um, and yeah, to the point where seemingly you didn't even know he was about to win the tide. We could have asked him about it in the press conference, but he was now a late to that. Yeah. How long did he sit in the room waiting for him? We sat on the front row. I sat on the front row for 30 minutes and eventually just thought, okay, I've had enough of this and left the room because we needed to record this show before the last bus goes and then he was another half an hour late after that. So, um, people were leaving all the time, frankly, from the room, but there we are. I've just seen the, uh, WhatsApp group with the new time and I saw that someone's done an eye roll reaction to the new time and I thought, which, which legend is that? Catherine, where to go, everyone? I can't believe that I'm the only person I would appreciate that. I feel it's lonely out here.

23:01Folks, if you were, I mean, lots of, um, lots of broadcasters have their own commentators on this match. A lot of people will have had the world feed commentary, Mary Carillo, Jim Courier, Robbie Coney, Courtside, with the, with the world feed commentary team for this match. It, it is great world feed coverage that they do at this, this tournament. It's, it's fantastic. I mean, Lindsay Davenport, Jim Courier, Andrea Peckovich, Laura Obson. I mean, I could, I could keep going. There's a lot of, a lot of great commentators. Obviously all led by Mary Carillo, who is the best of the best. She's a Hall of Famer for a reason. Mary mentioned during the first set of the world feed broadcast, the two women, Oliya Shripper, and Brenda Pataya, that have accused Zverev in the past of domestic abuse and violence. He denies those allegations as Mary also stated, on the broadcast, to my knowledge, no other TV broadcaster is bringing this information to the

24:04attention of audiences. David, I know you did in your BBC Radio commentary today and look, it's up to the audiences what they do with that information, but it is our belief here among the three of us that audiences should be made aware of the full context of what they're watching and who they're watching. And while there is legal framework that we all have to operate within, that can make it delicate to raise as a topic, it is possible to do it. If you think it is important enough, which Mary Carillo does to her great credit, but she is increasingly David and outlier, certainly in the broadcast world. Yeah, that's right. And it is more than two years now since Zverev's court case, which was settled out of court. And I know there are absolutely people out there and fellow broadcasters, colleagues of ours who believe that it should be left now, you know, and

25:07time to move on and things like that. Personally, I don't think that. I think it's particularly with the nature of this particular set of accusations, two sets of accusations, one of which went to court, one of which didn't. I think absolutely it's important that audiences should be told what the backdrop is, what the context is, what the history is, it is, and absolutely be told that he's always denied those accusations and that no verdict on innocent or guilt was ever reached, but that they are out there, that they were out there and that they weren't proven either way. To me, that's important because we're required, and I think it's absolutely right, that we're required to also tell the story of, say, Alexander Zverev's type one diabetes and the insulin that he's injecting and things like that. These are all part of his history known history in terms of the fact that there

26:17was a court case. I think that that should be communicated to people so that they can get a picture of who they're watching and decide where they stand on it, what they feel about it, and no, I'm not going to just pretend those accusations were not made and that court case didn't happen. Yeah, and I think especially when Zverev's just been in a Wimbledon final for the first time, and that for a lot of people in the UK who only watch Wimbledon, they may have been very unaware of Alexander's Verov before that tournament and that final. I think the viewers deserve to know who they're watching and their history and same here. He's been in a US open final before, but it was before those allegations were made. Again, there could well be a new audience here. I feel for the individual

27:21broadcasters, in a way, I think some probably don't care and they're probably quite pleased to not mention it, but I think probably lots do and may well be being told by producers that they shouldn't mention it now or people hire up, and it takes a lot to defy that and say something anyway. So I think all power to those broadcasters like David and like Mary, who are saying that? Absolutely, that is it for part one. We'll be back in part two to talk about the big picture, throw forward to 2027. Ralfs.

28:35Nobody wakes up thinking, I really hope I get to talk to some AI today. They want their flight change, their bill fixed, their problem solved. That's the point of Parloa. Our AI voice agents make customer conversations feel natural, personal and helpful. Because when AI works, the customer shouldn't be thinking about AI. They should be thinking, well, that was easy. Parloa, AI agents, real conversations. Hear the difference at Parloa, P-A-R-L-O-A.com. As a small business owner, you're the CEO, the marketing team, and the customer service rep all at once. I was recently talking to a shop owner who told me their worst nightmare isn't a slow day, it's the vanishing act. It's that moment your inches away from a deadline and the Wi-Fi just disappears. We've all felt that pit in our stomach when the connection flares up right when it matters most. Your business is only as strong as your connection. AT&T business is the reliable provider built for that exact brand of hustle. So you can stay focused on the work that builds your legacy. Powered by AT&T business. Built to work. Get AT&T business

29:39at business.ATT.com. Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, the part two, where we ask, what does it all mean for the future? Alexander's Varov is now a two-time major champion. He's won both those titles this year. He's won more this year than Carlos Alcras. All Yannick's inner, he has been fit for the whole year, which Carlos Alcras and Yannick's inner have not. He leads the race. He is on course to end the year as the world number one, something which he has stated as a massive goal, which is no great surprise. It's an incredible achievement, assuming David. I know this is a big assumption, especially given what we've seen this year, but let's assume that Carlos Alcras and Yannick's inner are fully fit for the duration of 2027. Do you expect this year, and what Zvarov has achieved this year, to change the complexion of how he fits within

30:46their duopoly in the future? No. I do feel like he is closer. I feel like he has made major strides this year. I thought the moment he played the match he did against Alcras in Australia, that we were looking at a guy that had got something else. Had got something else on top of what I thought he'd got. I realised Alcras cramped in that match, but I also think Zvarov hurt him at times with his game. But to this point, he hasn't beaten either of them this year. He has lost several times to Sinner, and mostly quite heavily. I do think the Wimbledon final was a bit of a moment. The fact that he got ahead by a set, and that he played so well, and he played absolutely the right way I thought that day, and he wasn't far off. I'm absolutely fascinated. I hope that they come in, obviously fully fit for the year. I hope he can bring his best level, and then we can find out.

31:50Because it is compelling to see this guy who's trying to close the gap, and who seems to have added, and has broken through, and won two grand slams, which certainly I didn't think he was going to do. So all power to him for achieving that. But now I want to see if you can do it when they're there. Because so far he hasn't shown that. That's what we've got to find out. I still think that they are another level above him, and I think they always will be if they're fully fit. But he's quite welcome to go and bring me wrong. So let's find out, shall we? Matt? Yeah, and look, I agree with everything David said. I think the ranking situation is quite interesting, because if he's going to be one or two for a significant portion now, that means that he only, he doesn't have to go through both of them.

32:52He's not necessarily. He might be able to win slams by only beating one of them. Picking up the pieces maybe after that piece. They've played each other exactly. So I think that's important for him. If I'm plotting a grand slam route for Alexander's Rariv that includes going through Carlos Alcarez in the semis and Janik Sinner in the final, I don't think he's made the strides to be able to do that. I think that is still too tall in order for him. But given how close he was in that fifth set against Alcarez in Australia, given how well he played in the Wimble and Final, I think he's shown that he could be a threat to them. But I wouldn't be predicting it. I don't feel like he's better than them. I think he's won his slams because they've been injured. You know, I, and I, look Sinner wasn't injured at Roland

33:57Garos. He lost because of the heat there. And Alcarez wasn't injured here. He, he lost to Ben Shelton, but he was undercooked. And I think he's going to need that going forward. He's going to, he's going to need one of them not in the draw or them to take each other out or something or not have to play either of them. Like, like, it's happened at his slams because, you know, they're different. They're, they're a different level and they've shown that repeatedly over the last few years. So it, to me, it all depends on whether Alcarez and Sinner are back as a combined force, you know, like if, if one of them's back, but not the other, that's a world I think was very of a can still win majors. But if they're, if they're both back and both at full Pelt, like we saw in 2024 and 2025, to me, they shut very about.

34:58And I do think he has a, I was very understandably a bit of a chip on his shoulder about the fact that he's not beating either of those two to win that Grand Slam title. As much as he'll tell you, that doesn't matter. I think it doesn't matter to him. I think he wants to prove that he can do it beating at least one of them along the way. I have my doubts about whether he can. But I certainly think that's a, that's a goal. Do you know what? I think it is a goal. I think he does want to beat them next year. But I don't think he has that chip on his shoulder. I think he believes that he is one of them now. And I think there's kind of, I think there's, I think his brain does, but I think there's a very deep rooted insecurity there. Not sure I do. I think he looks at people who are saying that and wonder what their problem is. Why aren't they giving me unfettered praise here. But do you think that the amount that he brings them up and sort of mentions

36:04makes the, I don't know. I think he thinks he's part of a big three. And he mentions it because we're part of a big three. That's my sense. I don't know. I just think there's a, I think there's something deep in there that knows that him. A lot of, a lot of very arrogant people are also very insecure people. You know, the two things tend to go quite hand in hand. Well, it certainly be a way to shut everybody up if he goes and thrashes them all next year. Good luck with that. What about Ben Shelton? You know, he, as you said, David, he, he darts very surely. I thought it was a really good Ben Shelton press conference after, after this defeat. And he did talk about this as, as gutted as he was as part of the journey. You know, he said, I'm a late bloomer. I've always been a late bloomer. I don't think I'm anywhere near the level that I want to be right now. But he believes he, he has a lot more level

37:11in him. You know, I think the title of the part a couple of days ago when he reached the final is, is Ben Shelton the guy, you know, i.e. the guy we've all been waiting for to be part of a big three. The very thing, it's him, but assuming if you're not accepting that it's very of, do you still think it could be Shelton? Is this part of a journey? I definitely feel like there's more improvements for him to make. He's young enough, 23. He has made bigger strides than I expected over the last year. I think his backhand has been revelation. Even today, I think it was pretty good. The forehand let him down, moments let him down. So I think, I think he's got more, more improvement to make. I still thought he would do better today, but absolutely I take the point that he's probably going to get better as a result of this, but I still don't think he's, I don't think he's going to be part of a big three with those two.

38:15The same way I know things very of this, they are, they are so much better than all of these guys, really when they're at the best. They've proved it time and time again, so there's a lot of proving for everybody else to do. But I definitely think he can keep becoming a factor and maybe, maybe more than that. And I don't, I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up winning a grand sum title because he's, he beats Alchraves this, this fortnight, even if it was a diminished version of that man. But we don't know how fit Alchraves is going to be going for it. So there are going to be opportunities out there, I would have thought. Yes, very, I've gave it the classic tennis we lived. You will win this title one day. I would put all my money on it and I was thinking, oh no, don't, don't say that. The thing is, again, completely agree with David. I think what 2026 has made me realise is how much more fragile

39:19a two at the top is than a three at the top that we had for so long in men's tennis and a four with Andy Murray. You know, like it doesn't take much for these tournaments, these, these fields to suddenly become a lot more open. You know, once you've only got one of Sinner and Alchraves in the draw, anything can kind of happen, you know. And therefore, I do think Shelton's in a good place to potentially nick a slam over the next few years. And I've changed my mind on that. You know, if you if you'd asked me a few months ago, we'll bend Shelton when a grand slam. And I said, no, probably not. But now with everything we've seen in 2026 and multiple slams in a row without both Alchraves and Sinner, maybe this will be the outlier, but I have to think at some point over the next five to ten years that the bulk of Shelton's career here, it's going to happen again. We're going to have these sorts of draws again. And I think he's shown enough Shelton here

40:23to show that he can step up, you know, and he's really rebounded well from what happened to him at Roland Garros in Wimbledon. And he has made enough strides in his game. And that point about him being a late bloomer is a is a key one. You know, I've seen footage of Ben Shelton playing as a as a sort of early teenager. He is nothing like the cast Alchraves that you see playing as an early teenager. Ben Shelton's more like my mates playing when they were teenagers. You think God, he's made so much progress in 10 years and he's behind a lot of these other guys and he is playing catch up. You know, he's he's the he's the answer to the question, what happens if you give the quarter back a tennis racket? He was an athlete first and a tennis player second. And we're finding that out. And he's an amazing athlete and he's now catching up with the tennis skills and he is improving all the time. And I do think here he's going to continue to be a real threat. And he's already reached a semi-final a few years ago, a final now. And he's got that home slam and I,

41:27yes, I think there was some home slam pressure today, but I think generally he rose to that really well and carried that really well. So look, I definitely think he can, I wouldn't say you definitely will win the US. I don't know if I'm going to think he can win the US open, but to the wider point of where he fits into Sinner and Alka as if they're both fit and healthy, it's just hard to see Shelton being there with them in a similar way to its hard to see his very being there with them. They're better. And that's that's the reality, I think. Just before we move on from this match, this final to talk about a couple of other things. David, how'd you get on with identifying celebrities in the crowd today? Not very well. No, no, it was a bad day on the old celebrity identification. Who was the most famous person you didn't recognise? I mean, there could have been loads of them before, I know. I couldn't tell you they were. But I mean, there was a moment where

42:29two celebrities were shown back to back who I did recognise and they got a good cheer. And then the third one got shown who got a way bigger cheer and I had no clue who it was. So there we are, that's kind of how it went. Michelle Obama was back. Oh yeah, I know who she is. So, yeah, I saw Pink again. Yep, some New York Knicks. Yes, you know them. I know, I've forgotten his name now, Jalen, but anyway. Bronson. Yes, that's it. Catherine's now that, yeah, Matt Futterman seemed very excited about his presence. And I did see some of the NBA finals. So I saw how good he was. So yes, I know him. But apart from that, it didn't go particularly well. What can I say? Did well in all other respects, David. Okay, that is it for part two. We'll be back in part three to wrap things up and talk about a couple of other bits of business. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the 14500

43:33use the ServiceNow AI platform. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at ServiceNow.com. Hey, everyone. It's Chris Kaleboh here host of the Side Hustle School podcast. This episode is powered by AT&T Business. In my early days, I did some of my best work in part cars or coffee shops. But when I landed my first big contract, I realized I couldn't bet my future on a public connection that cuts out if someone turns on a blender. As a small business owner, you're already wearing at least 10 hats. You shouldn't have to be your own IT department as well. That's why I rely on AT&T Business. They keep your connectivity reliable so you have one less thing to worry about. Powered by AT&T Business, built to work. Get AT&T Business at business.att.com.

44:43Welcome back to part three. If today's tennis podcast are final tennis podcast from Flushing Meadows for 2026 before we run to get the bus. One last time. Are we up for that? Yeah. How much choice have we want to go home? Just before we do that, a real good news, uplifting, heartwarming, positive bit of tennis news today. The story that came out of Austria. The first professional men's tennis match between two openly gay players took place in Austria today. It was Switzerland's Mika Bruno facing Brazil's Jwell Lucas Reyes de Silva in the final of the Touloune Challenger. It was Bruno who won in two straight sets, six, four, six, three. Bruno was the second player to come out in men's tennis. He followed Jwell Lucas Reyes de Silva and he talked about that in his speech on the court. He said, one year

45:50after you're coming out, I did mine and you were a big inspiration for me and I'm really proud of us. He said, we can be role models for so many people who struggle with their sexual annulities. Thank you so much and good luck for your future. It feels so wild and regressive to talk about, to even use the words openly gay. That is where we are in men's tennis, isn't it? This, sadly, given where we are, this is a massive deal. An incredibly uplifting story today. Just an example of why representation is so important. There's something very, very heartwarming about the fact that Reyes de Silva came out a year before Bruno and anyone who's ever come out will have someone that they've looked up to who's done it and you've

46:52thought, oh, I wonder if I could do that and maybe I could do that. Maybe I could be that. I want to be that and it's amazing that for Bruno, Reyes de Silva is one of those people and now here they were sharing the court together. Very, very special and definitely something that should be celebrated right now. In his Instagram post, which was last November, Bruno, when he came out, he said, it means, he said, this is where he said the line about we can be role models for so many people who struggle with their sexuality. He said, it also means dealing with things that most people never have to think about. The fear of not being accepted, the pressure to stay quiet, the feeling of being different, but I've grown and I'm proud of who I am today. So congratulations to Bruno and all power to both he and Reyes de Silva and I hope the positive response to

47:55the story. I'm yet to see anything about it on ATP channels. There's still time, watch this space, that is a shame and a terribly missed open goal you'd have to think, but I hope that the positive coverage that this is receiving elsewhere can empower. Are the tennis players in a unfortunately very difficult position still? And that just about wraps up our coverage for the 2026 US Open. We have a few very important thank yous if you'll allow us a moment of indulgence as we always do at the end of any grand slam because they are, they are such a huge undertaking for us and the whole team. There are absolute favorite things in the calendar. We love coming to these things. We love doing them. It is a privilege and a thrill to be here, but it's a lot. It's a lot. We couldn't do it without everybody else involved in the project and those people, those heroes are jib. Are ready to jib in the Philippines and his trusty companion pan pan.

49:01Ray, Ray for jib and pan pan. Yeah, jib's been editing the pod, uploading the pod and also like organizing social tennis events in the Philippines and getting people involved in recreational doubles. We love jib so much and I do think a real all-time pod highlight was when David and I had done the show at God knows what time it was the other morning and there was no bus so we had to we had to track down an uber and while we were in the uber back to Manhattan jib had edited and uploaded the pod and I just cannot tell you how much of a life saver that feels like in that moment and how without jib that would have been David or I editing and uploading that pod when we got back to the apartment at sunrise. And not that long ago that is exactly what it was. Yeah jib has now done a kind of slam of helping

50:06us with the slam. We love him. Thank you jib. Same also applies to Hannah to Vicki to Gorona. I don't know where to start with with these three Hannah who captains the barge does all sorts of things on social media for us Vicki too. They work as a team with Gorona as well our designer. It's wonderful to see everybody working together kind of more than ever before. It's so heartwarming for us on this time zone in particular we get to wake up to about 100 messages if they're more discussing all the work they've done while we're asleep. Yeah they've just picked it up and sorted it all out and then suddenly clips are on Instagram and quote graphics are everywhere. The newsletters already ready to send it some believe it. Yeah one of the things about being in the US when you're from the UK is that when you wake up you always feel like you're catching up. You know you wake up and you've got a load of messages but you know I would see the WhatsApp notification with 165 texts and yet I knew that it was fine. I knew that it was it was Hannah Vicki

51:12and Gorona chatting away and getting the work done and having a good time and making us look good and yeah that we genuinely could not do it without any of them and we love them all very much. Here here there are there are core team but we would also like on this occasion well always we thank our friends at the athletic. We missed Charlie this time around but it was wonderful to have Matt and James and Ava and everybody else on that team Lucas and Oscar they're great company they're great colleagues and we're very glad to have them. Yeah it feels like they're part of the wider team really and I hope they feel the same way about us Pam too we love you Pam we love how visits to the to the media centre. Always iconic. Incredible Pam Shrivers here my favourite thing and on this particular occasion we would like to thank Mary Carillo and the Hall

52:12of Fame for starting this trip off in in the most memorable possible way. Yeah that is a lifetime memory for I think for all of us and just a total highlight of all the 23 years that I've been covering this event had the fortune to come to New York but that one is something that will always stand out and I feel really touched and privileged to have been invited to attend. I loved the fact that Pam was with us kind of show and us where to go and getting us into places we probably shouldn't have been it was awesome so yeah the tournament has been quite challenging in some some ways I think so much because of the late nights have just been I've taken a bit of the rhythm away from the tournament but the high points have been really high for this tournament. Yeah I have felt like I've you know been on battery saving mode on your phone which sort of

53:15shuts down certain apps and just gets your phone through it I felt a bit like that this tournament from a very early on but like yeah the high points have been have been magical and nothing more so than our trips in Newport and getting to Celebrate Mary who deserves to be celebrated and sharing that moment with her was was so so special. Yeah thank you Mary in terms of our plans David can you bear for me to talk about future Bob. Sure if I leave you'll know it's gone over the edge if we pass David. We have a US Open review show we haven't had time to meet about when we're going to record this it's usually in a couple of days after we get back we're flying tomorrow and I we land Tuesday morning I'm I'm going to float Wednesday out there as a probable day to record this show maybe Thursday. I'm going to float Thursday. Right next year we do. Wednesday or Thursday this week folks if you're a friend of the pod you'll be getting our final

54:19grand sum review show of 2026 they are really special shows it gives us an opportunity to kind of reflect in a more considered big pitch away on the tournament which it's quite difficult for us to do in the moment when we're just as Matt says on power saving mode and reacting to everything and that's a special thing in itself just being present and in the grand slam moment but it's also good to take a step back and reflect on it in a different way and we do that with the help of voice note messages from our favourite people and some of the best the very best voices in tennis we haven't asked anybody yet but we usually get Mary Carillo we get Pam Shriver we get team athletic Matt Fotteman and we've not had chance to speak to them much this time so it makes me all the more interested to see how they viewed this tournament so yeah the review shows well we'll get to do that absolutely can't wait for that we also have six more live YouTube shows for friends

55:20of the pod coming in 2026 plus two more editions if tennis relived loads of other bonus content and benefits to being a friend of the podcast if you want to become the friend that a friend the link is in our show notes and for everyone else our weekly show we'll be back next Monday you've got a week David and until then we sleep some of it on the plane yeah and then I'll get asked I need to go somewhere dad can you take me sure no problem but crucially David it won't be it three o'clock in the morning no that's right yeah I hope not anyway exactly so those are our plans over the coming days and weeks there is still lots more to come from the tennis podcast in 2026 in terms of the US open we have the very important bit of business of saying hello one last time to Leo a dog whose work has been recognised by Mary Carillo that dog she said to us

56:26earlier on today to mark the end of Leo's incredible run as US Open mascot for which we owe him and Cara a huge debt of gratitude here are not one but two final photos and trust me if you're not looking at these photos right now you want to be subscribed to newsletter the link in our show notes there on our Instagram you you want to see Leo folks Leo the legends um he's been raising the bar the whole way through for mascot photos and I I knew he'd have something up his sleeve for the final day and yet still my jaw dropped the floor when I saw what Leo had for us today here he is with a trophy and with a champions check for five million five hundred thousand dollars dollars made out to Leo champion mascot just incredible stuff and here we have Leo posing posing in front of a sort of makeshift hall of fame podium with the rackets and everything and a sign that says tennis history

57:32Mary Carillo Roger Federer Leo and I can tell you Leo that Mary is very very pleased to have you alongside her in the hall of fame can't speak for Roger but he would be a monster if he felt any different he likes his jokes frankly we love you Leo hello to our mascots Bodie amazing and Roger hello to our top folks and executive producers Greg Chris and Jeff Matt some final shout outs yes we have Joe Buzkovsky Roger hello Joe is this a contour or a soul's brain soul's free yay yeah J.O.E then yes he him Joe says got you my partner Emily and I got our first live tennis experience at the US Open women's semis and final the year cocoa one we've never experienced anything so electric wow those semis were

58:35incredibly well the final was awesome too wow that fluorescent yellow high low to pen outfit that goth had was that that year am I misremembering that I feel like in the final she was wearing red yes that rings about okay Joe sorry but she has worn that yellow Joe says a bit of tent bit of trivia he shares a birthday with cockenakis wow okay and he's he's four days older than Roberto Beltings to a good I really enjoyed these niche facts a good start I'm really pleased that Joe's found an appreciative audience for those niche niche facts you're welcome Joe thank you very much being a friend of the pod and finally we have Mark Hillman

59:36who says I'm from just outside Philadelphia and also from the predictions he sure is yes I stole well didn't steal but I sort of borrowed Marta Kostyaik all right you're giving him back I managed to convince Mark to sell Marta Kostyaik to me in the fantasy and yeah she's performed brilliantly so thanks Mark I don't know if Mark knows this but there was a time during the the darkest hours of Matt's journey to Chicago that he was thinking that that wasn't Mark one of your accommodation options uh Mark's parents Mark's parents Mark know that I don't know Mark had said right if you get stranded consider my parents as an option and it was a comforting thought in those dark dark hours trapped on the trapped on the plane on the tarmac yeah yeah and we've had lots of

1:00:40good tennis chats with Mark over the years and he's always brilliant company in the in the predictions chat and yeah shout out to everyone in that in that chat this year as well it was it was a lot of fun yeah thank you Mark you're a you're a legend and it's been great to chat to you to chat tennis with you and for David it's been particularly great to have you yeah I've got to glow I'm still top on it so I've not had a very good year soap and but still I had plenty of room to play with what a mic drop and that is just about it except to say that of course we are part of the athletic podcast network and while the US Open may now be over formula one fans still have two races who look forward to in the US in what really looks like it's going to be a thrilling 2026 title run in this weekend the drivers took on the brand new madering circuit in Spain and you can catch up on all the action there which I need to do because I have no idea what happened today you can check out

1:01:42our stable mates the race F1 podcast the race F1 podcast like us they're always on site in the thick of the action covering all the stories that matter as a gripping for me the one season edges towards its climax so you search for the race F1 podcast to subscribe on YouTube Apple Spotify and everywhere else folks we are part of the athletic podcast network it has been our great pleasure and honor and exhausting thrill to bring you daily podcasts throughout this 2026 US Open Next Lamb is January in Australia we will be there we will be there every day of every slam in 2027 and we have plenty of podcasts coming your way between now and then we are all we try to be your one stop shop for everything tennis we're going to get on a bus then we're going to get on a flight then we're going to get home and then we're going to start making podcasts about tennis again but not before we sleep thank you for listening we'll speak to you soon

1:02:45and This episode is sponsored by Hagen. Hagen turns a script, photo or presentation into a polished video of you. In minutes, no camera or crew required. It's how real estate agents, financial advisors, attorneys and creators show up consistently on every feed and build a brand that brings in clients without spending their whole week making content. Rated the number one AI video platform for small businesses on G2 with the most realistic AI avatars in the industry, trusted by a community of over 30 million people and 85% of the

1:03:49Fortune 100, and built to work in over 175 languages. So you can reach your audience in theirs. Here's a wild part. Record yourself for just 15 seconds, and Hagen builds an AI avatar that makes professional videos for you on demand. So you can post everywhere your audience is. As yourself, without filming every time, your first three videos are free at Hagen.com