Transcript
Speaker: Hi everyone! my Hi, hi! Hi and welcome to the Tennis Bakery, your fan podcast for all things tennis. We speak about things that are happening on the court, we speak about things that are happening off the court, next to the court, on the benches of the court, between the people of the court, all things around the court. And us, that's being Christina Tsela, who's on the other phone. phone Hi there.
Speaker: And myself.
Speaker: carty anst Yes, we are talking about tennis today and we are talking about the quarterfinals of the US Open 2026, which happened the last two days. And we've been trying to record a pod every day during um ah the US Open.
Speaker: But since ah we were blessed with a first quarterfinals day of extremely long and extremely good matches and I was sick at home,
Speaker: I said to Christina, my dear friend, I'm going to watch all these matches. And so I'm afraid I cannot record a pod because I'm going to be catching up on tennis until about three o'clock in the afternoon hu or four o'clock in the afternoon um on one of the days. So therefore, no pod yesterday. Thank you very much ah because that let me watch all of these wonderful matches, which was great.
Speaker: um But now we've watched all the matches, all the quarterfinals, and we are going to give you our thoughts. And I can imagine that Carlos Agra's number one fan who's here in the podcast with me is itching to talk about the men. But would you let me talk about or let us talk about the women first?
Speaker: Of course. As I am dead inside, it doesn't matter how we proceed. All right. We will proceed with caution to not stir the forever resting.
Speaker: um The women as matches. So I want to say all bow down to women's tennis. That's true. Like I am such a huge women's tennis fan, you know, I'm a huge advocate for women's sports in general and for the fact that I think women's sports should get more attention. I'm a very proud wearer and owner of the Everyone Watches Women's Sports t-shirt, which I wore in the black version to the um last French Open final, women's final and my daughter in the white one. So we were a walking political statement or like sports political statement.
Speaker: And um yeah, and I just think this tournament is showing us once again the beauty of women's tennis. It's not the smaller brother or smaller sister of men's tennis. It is ah awesome sport.
Speaker: um And we were blessed with four quarterfinals. all of which went over three sets, so the full distance, so they were highly competitive. um All of which, except maybe one, were really compelling matches and all of which gave us a final setup in the semifinals of the seeds number one, number two, number three and number four entering the semifinals of the US Open, which is awesome.
Speaker: I loved these matches. I didn't watch them all. I didn't watch the Pegula, Emma Navarro one. um I watched the other three and they were awesome.
Speaker: I watched the um matches yesterday and because i I couldn't watch the other matches the day before. I just didn't have the time. Which ones were they? Yesterday Goff, Mira and Rebecca.
Speaker: So the second day ones, basically, not the day before that. The second quarterfinal day ones you watched. yeah Yes. Mm hmm. And I love them. I just love them both. I fell asleep though, yesterday night, I think when it was around the third set of the golf Mira Andreva match. Do you remember what score?
Speaker: Sorry? Do you remember what score? Not really, because I think I was already drifting into sleep, but it was kind of halfway through the set third set or something.
Speaker: Yeah, so did I, you see. That's why I was wondering. thought we'd maybe fell asleep at the same time. Yeah, maybe. So it was looking like Goff had this under control. Like, you have to say she brought it back under her control, right? Because in the beginning of the match, I was really like, oh my God, what's up with Coco Goff?
Speaker: So nothing really worked for her, right? Except for her lovely kit, which was a light yellow ah and also with the matching shoes. And I think the socks had little ruffles on them, which I loved. Anyway, I loved her outfit, um but she was starting um into the match really tight and somehow nothing was working for her. um And then she turned it around, like beautifully.
Speaker: And then she won. And it was really exciting. It was really, really exciting. I really love to watch that match. Yeah, I found... I mean, the first um the first set was over in 26 minutes and I didn't even see a single ball. This is the set that Mira and Dreva won um because i went for a walk.
Speaker: I went for my pre-bedtime walk um thinking I might miss a few games, but so what? everything's going to be fine. I'll catch up on the 10th. I'll be there for the middle of the first set. And I'm not even halfway through my walk and I'm like, oh, let's check if they if they're you know if they started playing already. And it was 5-2.
Speaker: and i was like what's going And I wrote your message. I'm like, what's going on? This is madness. I think it is also sometimes difficult to kind of move from a five-set set match like a five set world from the men where matches take don't know four five hours into the women's world where the matches can be over so quickly that you sometimes think okay I'll i'll join in whenever and then the match is already over because they are doing such quick such quick match matches such quick business sometimes that you really really have to be there to to watch it I also sometimes I mean you miss the beginning
Speaker: Yeah, but some of the women's quarterfinals this time were um longer than the the men's quarterfinals, even though they are five setters, theoretically, and women's three. But details, details. um No, I think it's completely unusual in any sport for men or female for a set to last 26 minutes. It's definitely a sign that someone has not really arrived on the court. And it went on like unlike that, I think, for the whole match, that there weren't very many situations, even though it was a good match, where it was like a constant...
Speaker: like a very long game. i think there was one game towards the end that was like six or seven minutes, but otherwise it was quite clear either in the one direction or the other. And Coco ended up winning. I felt really bad for her when she was um training behind in the second set.
Speaker: She was almost crying on the on the court and I hated that. There have been moments in the past where she's been so unhappy with herself that she has cried on court and it just, it's a terrible, terrible thing to see. It's a tough watch. Yeah.
Speaker: when someone's When she gets so frustrated with herself and you just want to give her so much love and um I feel like she said in her in her match interview afterwards that then she always looks at her box or at her people and wants to see them not being frazzled while she's frazzling.
Speaker: And I was thinking, oh man, that's quite a pressure as well to, like, especially they be her mum and be sitting there and, like, keeping it all together watch it when actually you feel like everything's falling apart. Yes. um And so I felt like, yeah, it was a really good... um But she did a great job and turned around. her Really good that she got her her game back together. And I think with Mira, it did a bit of the...
Speaker: um teenage antics came back out, which she's done so well in putting back together. But yeah, I felt like she wasn't in the headspace to even to turn that game back around at all.
Speaker: All right. I would say let's move on maybe to the next. I mean, it is not a chronological order, right? Maybe we'll do it backwards. Maybe we do it backwards. And that would be the match with Rebecca in it, right?
Speaker: Yes. i think that was the one before that, right? Yes. and And I watched the whole match and I i really liked watching the match, um even though...
Speaker: I like it if the matches are a bit more dramatic. In what way? Because it was from the scoreline and from like how the points were going, it was dramatic. What do you mean? Yeah, I mean, somehow I think Rebecca is just such a...
Speaker: I mean, she she freaked out in a beginning, right? So that it was hard for her to get into the match. It was a bit similar, I think, to the Goff-Andreva match, right? So in the beginning, she was really, really, really struggling.
Speaker: And she also complained a lot, right? She was discussing with her box and being annoyed and angry and angry at the world and herself and stuff. And then she kind of found her way in and turned it around. And I always like it if like players openly kind of celebrate, you know, kind of,
Speaker: cheering themselves on and yeah she bringing them back into the game and, you know, kind of doing these fist pumps and cutting reeling the crowd.
Speaker: I really like that when when players do that, but I think it's just not very much on Rebecca's character, right, to do something like this. And so she was very kind of ice cold efficient.
Speaker: She kind of finished the match once once she turned it around. And i would have loved to have a bit more like We've seen the downside, like her low emotions, basically, the anger and the frustration and everything. But I would have loved to see also some more you kind of expression of joy from her the other way around, and yeah i mean which doesn't mean that she wasn't joyful. right It's just that she's a bit more of a calmer character, which doesn't show it that much. i mean Can you remember what she looked like when she won the Australian Open?
Speaker: Yeah, like similar. Yeah. This is why I don't enjoy her as a player. Like I was saying this to you the other day. i don't i don't seek out Rebecca her matches because of this. I don't look forward to Rebecca in her matches because of this, because she doesn't ignite anything in me.
Speaker: And um the only thing I was thinking again when I was looking at it yesterday from my couch was um you can't tell on the TV how tall she is. When I saw her in Berlin this year, um i was lucky enough to be sitting like in the first row behind where the players serve, which in the Berlin Tennis Open isn't that high up. It's quite low down. So you you're basically on the same level as the players right behind them. It's awesome. And you really get a feeling for like all kinds of facial expressions and everything.
Speaker: And she is so tall. And I'm a tall woman, yeah, but she is like, she is tall, tall. And I always find it amazing. Now when I see her on TV, I'm like, yeah, wow, she's so tall. But somehow there's this thing about cameras that you can't really you can't really tell how tall is. She's massive.
Speaker: Like she's so she's so tall. I was thinking about that and I was... really not liking the interaction she had with her her coach after the first set. I mean, she said afterwards, this is what she needed.
Speaker: She needed to have this. She said she needed to have like a discussion, but it was when I was watching the Ben Chilton match, which we'll come to later, Ben Chilton Alcaraz match yesterday or the day before.
Speaker: No, yesterday I watched it from the couch. the um i was just it It just struck me so many times that when there was like long rallies that Ben didn't win and they like showed his mom and his sister and all these other amazing women that sit in his um in his box or around his area.
Speaker: And you could hear them and they were like going like, good job. You've got this. This is so good. Good job, Ben. Good job. Even though he just lost like this epic point, but they were like building him up. That was the only thing they were there for was to be like, you've got this, like you have this, like go, go, go. You're doing really well.
Speaker: And then the stark difference of watching Rybakina's coach when he was speaking to her and he was just like, you're doing this wrong. You're doing that wrong. Why aren't you doing this? You should be doing that. Don't tell me that this doesn't work. It does. It was so like negative and so like pointing out her flaws and not really supportive. Yeah, no. And I understand that that's sometimes people need constructive feedback. You can't sugarcoat everything like that's obviously you need to also point out things that people are doing wrong.
Speaker: And the worst thing is what happened kind of gives, um, how do you say that points towards him being right because she ended up turning around the match, but it just wasn't a nice vibe.
Speaker: No. Like, even if that's how I win, is that how I want to win? Is that how I want a man to speak to No, it just feels so harsh, right? And oh yeah and and almost like your team's against you, which, oh God, they should be supporting her all the way.
Speaker: The only thing that i that I liked was that she wasn't just standing there just taking the hits. She was like, no, she was complaining back. Right. She gave him a look when she walked back onto the court and like look back and like, but so that was like, okay, she's not just taking a beating. She's standing up to, to this man. But based on the fact that he was banned from all WTA a tournaments for over a year, because there'd been reports of ah I think verbal abuse um of him towards her. um
Speaker: and This is a man where, but she chose right away to to stay with him as her coach and to carry on working with him. She never doubted their collaboration. um ah So it just always has this weird.
Speaker: Yeah. And you have him on watch, right? It's always like, we we've got you on watch. we We see how you're behaving. Totally. And I remember that I was telling my my my kids yesterday when we were watching and they were watching this discussion and I was explaining to them how ah how I felt about it. And I said, ah remember remembered how weird it was that this year for the first time, the Australian Open um introduced a new prize, not only for the player that wins, but also the coach of the player that wins. And no one had ever won this prize before. It was a new thing. It was big league. It was announced super big that there was going to be this extra stage for the for the coaches.
Speaker: And who's the first person who wins basically Coach of the Century Award spotlight? This dude. It's hard. It's so harsh. And it's kind of like you want to say like...
Speaker: Elena blink three times if we're supposed to get you out of there. Yeah. Yeah. That's the vibe. That's the vibe I get between those two. And that just adds to the whole thing. Like I don't, I, I, I miss the positive emotions from her, the energy, like her giving any energy to the crowd in any kind of way. And I have this knot in my stomach anytime there's an interaction between the two of them, which mostly goes like we just described. So all in all, I don't enjoy her matches. Yeah. And um I also have to say, we we always talk a lot about kind of celebrating the highs whenever they are there. Right. Because you never know in life if they're not. Yeah. If the next law is around the corner and it feels like there's
Speaker: like the she's on a huge high, right? Because she not only won this match, but she also has the chance to win the US Open and she will be world number one, like female tennis player on on Monday, right? yeah So I think that's enough reasons to celebrate, right? italy but But it feels like she she gave room to the negative emotions, but the positive emotions, they were just not, at least not visible from the outside, right? That doesn't mean that she doesn't feel them, but It feels like, come on, go. You you really have you really have to celebrate now. It's such a huge win on so many levels.
Speaker: So, yeah, the positive emotions were a bit lacking. They were. And um I realized that she changed her outfit. She no longer has that weird asymmetrical one that she was wearing that was so terrible, but it's still the yellow. Oh, God. And it still has like a bralette underneath, which... I don't know what's going on there. The outfit is really bad. But speaking of outfits, that takes me... if unless you want to Oh, no. I mean, we have to say Zhang Sheng Wen, not allowed to forget her. she you know um The opponent, Rebecca's opponent, who who lost but did so fantastically. She played since qualifying.
Speaker: So she played the seven matches you normally need to win a tournament or even eight. Eight. She played eight. So she won as many as you normally need to win a Grand Slam. And she played awesome in all the matches. So think so well done. And she played awesome there.
Speaker: I thought she played well as well. Yesterday, it was just when Rebecca turns on and she finds her stride. There's not many people who can stand up to her. I think it's also good for her. She's jumping up super high in the rankings from former 100-something to around the 60s, I think, in the WTA ranking. I think she's going to climb even further because she's such a great player. I think it's just so good to have her back.
Speaker: Totally. And all also because Coco Goff had me thinking about this, it's so nice that hopefully, I mean, she's inching towards the top 10 again. i think she'll she'll always be around the area to have more ethnic diversity, like in the players, um like with an an Asian woman, a Chinese woman um so high up. It's just nice that tennis can show so many different backgrounds. But yes, ah besides um celebrating the fantastic woman that is Zhang Shen Wen,
Speaker: Speaking of outfits, I thought the outfit fail of the entire quarterfinals was Noskova. Yeah, her outfits are always a bit um basic or like, well, boring classic. No, I mean, that would be okay.
Speaker: Like, what's not to like about classic? Okay, I mean, you could go a bit special for for a Grand Slam, but I don't mind a classic piece or a basic piece. You know, I'm not very big on fashion anyway. If you just wear... She was wearing something beige together with something white. Yeah.
Speaker: It like did not look great. match the skirt. It didn't fit properly. She tied it in a knot at the back, that the top, which she does. And I mean, you don't have to care about fashion just because you're a tennis player, right? you could like I'm not saying everyone has to love getting all dolled up or invest time in that, especially if you don't like it. She had neon yellow nails. So apparently she does have some kind of interest in getting something done, but it just all is not cohesive. And I was just thinking...
Speaker: It's such a wasted opportunity for for brands. This woman won Wimbledon. This woman is or she's a tennis superstar.
Speaker: Tennis player. She, you know, reached the quarterfinals here. She is so good. Yeah. And I feel like people should be, it's again this thing of like, why is she not getting the attention, the outfits, the the spons sponsorships that go in line with the quality of tennis that she plays? Yeah.
Speaker: No, I agree. I also didn't like that. I didn't watch the match because, as I said, I didn't have the time. Was it a really good match? That was an awesome match. And what is she played against Sabalenka.
Speaker: And Sabalenka won. And I was so proud of Sabi ah because she, along with Svitolina, by the way, is my my favorite female player. And i was so proud of her because this year, so often, Sabalenka has unraveled.
Speaker: She is unraveled and she hasn't been able to get herself over the line in matches, especially when they go to the third set where she just completely just loses it.
Speaker: And this was starting to happen at some points in the match. And then you could really see her like breathe. She breathed. She composed herself. And I was literally screaming at the TV, Sabby, get your big girl panties on You can't lose this one. You know, like be the grown up fantastic woman you are. Get over your crap and get this done.
Speaker: And she heard me. She got herself together and that for me was so reassuring because I haven't seen her do that. Like she's been playing lot of good tennis like in the last months, but whenever these moments came where, you know, she could have choked or things were unraveling and she didn't like it. Sometimes, like I said, already in the first game, if something goes wrong, she'll be like, Oh my God, you know, like can completely dramatic.
Speaker: She was locked in. She got herself focused. She got it done. And I am, I was so proud of her because that was a hard match. Noskova was bringing it. She was bringing it. So those two, it's a cool matchup. I think if I ever see those two um again on a schedule, I'll definitely make time to to watch it because it's a nice matchup.
Speaker: It's a nice duo to watch. Yeah, it's fun to watch those two those two play each other. And um yeah, no, so I'm really glad she won that one. And it gives me high hopes for the rest of the of the tournament because I really think for me that was like a turnaround moment for Sabalenka.
Speaker: Yeah, and um maybe gives her like the energy that she needs to really go up until the very end and even win that thing. Right. This will give her confidence.
Speaker: Yes. How about the other match? Pegula Navarro. Did not watch it. Pegula won. I also didn't watch it, but I was really, really, really angry about an article that I read that was related to the Carlos Alcaraz match, but had a sentence in it where I almost threw up.
Speaker: And that was related to the big Ula Navarro match. It was a press release by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a really big German newspaper.
Speaker: And ah the title was um like it was a German title, of course, but trying to translate it. So Algras fails in a really exciting match. in the night at 3.33 or that finished 3.33 in the night. And then I kept on reading the article and then it kind of um referenced also quickly the other matches that went on on that day. And the one sentence about the Pigula-Navarro match was...
Speaker: I'm trying to translate again. and In the duel of billionaires' daughters, Pegula won against Navarro. And then it said like the scores that Pegula won.
Speaker: So ah apparently Pegula and Navarro are just billionaires' daughters. Yeah. Oh, nice. I thought. i mean, you could have called them very many different. that Even if you're not creative, right? You could have said...
Speaker: American duel, you know, that that would have been enough and sufficient and properly describing kind of what the two women are. And of course, they are billionaires' daughters. I mean, it's not that it's not true, but it just has this edge of, oh God, you know, they're just billionaires' daughters. They are spoiled little girls' daughters. Daddy's paying them like all that they have. And for them, it must have been easy to kind of reach these levels because, you know, you can be everything if you're a billionaire's daughter. And in the end, all of that is thanks to the billionaire who kind of made them what they are. I think this kind of…
Speaker: that rings along with this sentence. And I thought, come on. And the way he talked about, it was a man like that that wrote this article. I think I don't have to say that, but it was a man. And the way that he talked about Carlos and Ben, I mean, that was full of admiration and kind of telling all their hero war stories and all of that. Right. So of course for them, it's all about them. And for the two ladies, yeah, it's the billionaire's daughters.
Speaker: Thanks for nothing. Yeah, I find Pegula's really um having to endure a lot of interesting press. um I mean, she's the, um her I don't know where Emma Navarro's family gets their money from. Pegula's father is, amongst others, the owner of the Buffalo Bills, which is um one of the most successful um NFL franchises there are. um So huge sports family. And I kind of also think that if you are born into such wealth, it's so easy to not,
Speaker: try and compete in anything and just chill. Yeah. Just travel around the world, right? How many billionaires or millionaires kids do you see that do exactly nothing with themselves? Yeah. And, you know, and rather than endure this, that what she endures. No, what I was seeing was there was a, someone tweeted,
Speaker: I've been ah watching lots of tennis and I am now completely sure that Koko Gov and Eva Jovich are the future of US American tennis, not in quotes, mummy, justss piggo just And Jessica Pigoula tweeted under it and she was like, I don't know where you get the idea that I should be the future of women's tennis. I'm 32. Okay.
Speaker: I thought that was so cool. It was so cool. cool She's just awesome. Yeah, because she is, I mean, she's for a woman, 32 in tennis is already beyond yeah where most of them. already older, right? It's already older and she knows this and she's just so consistent this year. She is.
Speaker: She is super consistent and very strong and and great for her that she won. um And that's not to say that obviously it's also easier if you're a billionaire's daughter, right, to kind of play that sport because it is still expensive to travel around the world in the beginning, especially, right? So it is obviously a difference and and maybe easier to step into this world, but still...
Speaker: I would say, I don't know, 99.9% still comes up to how much energy you put in it, how hard you train, like how much you wanted, like your emotional state. And all of that is not kind of influenced by by the money that your your father earned or earns.
Speaker: ah what i just I just was so angry at at this article and so annoyed about it. Yeah, i understand that. But yeah, she's through. She is through to the semis. um And who who have we not spoken about yet?
Speaker: Have we spoken about them? think on the women's side, we spoke about all four matches now. Yes. So we have fought that the four top seeds in the semifinals. so um And they're going be playing later. And maybe we can speak about our ah bets on them later on um in the show. But we will have Sabalenka against Pigula on first today. And then we'll have Goff against Rie Bakina.
Speaker: What a cool matchup. Yes, this is going to be nice, right? I think it will be from midnight or later than even midnight, right? That the women will start their semifinals. Yeah, no tennis. So we will watch it tomorrow morning.
Speaker: It's only a night session today. yeah um They apparently do this because one ah pairing of the women just played, right? Yeah. So, um as we just discussed, my baer they already played. So to give them more time for recovery, they put it into a night session, of course, for anyone in Europe. That means this evening, no tennis.
Speaker: No tennis for us this evening. It's really sad. It's really sad. But, you know, NFL season just started yesterday. So I'm kind of glad that I got an opening to watch a different sport. Even though, and I got to complain about this, I'm not safe from anything. You know, I hide from spoilers, not only in tennis, I hide in spoilers from anything that's important to me. Amongst others, the season opening of the NFL, which was last night.
Speaker: didn't spoiler anything. No, you didn't. But you know who's spoiled? The tennis podcast. So I listened to the tennis podcast, which is called the tennis podcast. And they spoiled the result of yesterday's NFL match. I'm not going to repeat it just in case someone's listening to this who doesn't want to know who won. pissed.
Speaker: I'm pissed. like I'm not safe anywhere anymore. I'm already like... You have a rock. I mean, it's rough times now. We have Champions League going on. We have the NFL starting. We have a Formula One this weekend. And US Open this week for for people like me.
Speaker: We have to live under rocks. Constantly. Because can't watch all of this at the same time. You have to like squeeze it into off time The other things that are happening. Like always a TV running next to you like a screen somewhere. Oh man. Speaking of which, I now also get some ads when I watch Yeah, it is really kind of... The Sports Europe app is just the biggest mystery, I think, of humankind. Definitely. Because on the app on my iPhone, I saw the German commentary, as I would have expected also on my iPad app.
Speaker: But there, I still see only English commentary. So it's not possible for me to watch any German commentary on my iPad. So it is just... I i don't know. But I've given up. It's just the forever mystery. We only have...
Speaker: Six more matches to go. So yeah we will we will manage. um The men's side. So let's quickly get out of the way. The duds that were the matches from yesterday. so the second um night of um quarterfinals for the men. Well, that's unsurprisingly the less exciting one. We knew this. We've spoken about as Sverev's half. We've spoken about the fact that there are unusually unexciting people and with him in the rest of this half. And it ended up with one match being stopped by Blocks retiring in the third set after less that losing the first two. And then also the match to Khachanov.
Speaker: karonoff You know, yesterday on the TV, they kept on saying Kachanov. So I don't know. um Anyway, so he will be playing Alexander Sverev in the semifinal, who won um against Botic Van der Sandskulp.
Speaker: And both matches were just boring. What you think? Is Zverev going to win against Khachanov? This we will discuss tomorrow. Okay. When we speak about the preview, so to say, to the men's semis. I didn't watch any of the men's matches. I only watched the highlights of the Zverev match this morning. And yeah like even the first three um rallies that you saw on the highlights were so boring that I thought, okay, if you have to think this is a highlight, then yeah you don't know what the catch like. I didn't watch the first one at all. And and um the Sverreff match, of course, I i watched um this morning, but
Speaker: No, boring. borish boring bor Boring. Boring, boring. Boring. And so we move on to the men's semifinals, quarterfinals of the first evening, which were, as were the women's in those that day, they were spectacular, if nothing else.
Speaker: This was popcorn tennis par excel excellence. This is why we love tennis. This is why we love tennis. They were amazing. And I'm so glad that I got to well, that i that my body chose to be sick now of all times because I had entertainment. I had entertainment. Oh my, I had entertainment. You get to choose where start.
Speaker: Well, obviously i want to start with the Carlos match so because I have to get this out of the way because I need kind of a... Like i I was really like lost yesterday all day because I would have really needed to discuss this with you. like but i would have needed a personal therapy session after that.
Speaker: And then we couldn't record our podcast. And I was like, this is the one time where I really, really, really, really need to discuss this with you to kind of process all the emotions and the feelings. Yes.
Speaker: And god this was a match. Yeah. It was really and interesting because my body chose to wake up, I think, quarter to five that day. So really, really, really early, even for me. And I thought to myself, OK, I will not try to go to back back to sleep now. I will just get up and see what the Carlos Ben matches is doing. Which should be at about set end of set two.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what I was expecting, yeah at least. And um when I checked, it was like 10 minutes before the official start of that match.
Speaker: And I thought, okay, that's really cool because I will be able to watch it from the first ball. This was because all of the matches of the day, so both of the women's matches and the um other men's match, which was the um TFO match, um they all went the full length.
Speaker: And therefore, they were just way too late by the time they even started. But oh, too late for the USA, perfect for Christina Teller. Yes, it was perfect timing because it gave me the chance to watch this match from the first ball to the last. Also, that I was able to see the last balls was a miracle in itself because I was in the Deutsche Bahn, so in the train. And this is normally a situation where the internet is more patchy than anywhere i think you can be in Germany. So you would never know how your internet holds up. And I was basically sitting in the Deutsche Bahn and the deciding set tie break. So tie break, like a 10-point tie break at the end of the fifth set, so deciding set.
Speaker: was going down. And I thought if the internet is leaving me now, this would have been God. I would have screamed, but it didn't it didn't even stumble. like It was no problem at all to watch the whole match in the train.
Speaker: Who would have thought this is possible? Who would have thought this is possible? That's mad. So gods were with me. yeah I thought, okay. um I was actually, up until the last seconds, I was completely convinced and confident that Carlos will win this match.
Speaker: I really thought he would because he always kind of does these crazy things, right? Where everybody says or thinks that it it's possible, he can't do it. But then, you know, kind of he turned around matches that were like, oh my God, so much in favor of the ah of his opponent.
Speaker: And um when he was like, he was really for two sets, he was really struggling physically, right? He even threw up in his towel. um So the poor guy was really down. But then kind of he came back from this and felt better and better and also was playing like, oh God, amazing rallies.
Speaker: I just think there were like, like the whole match was a highlight reel, basically. ah It was. It was just... the craziest shot making. And it was so, so exciting because Ben Shelton also played ah mate amazing.
Speaker: And there were times in that match when they both played really well. Maybe Carlos not at his absolute peak, but played really well. And Ben maybe at his ah absolute peak. So he was playing so well. And obviously Ben's strength is his serve and kind of his serve speeds.
Speaker: Why would you even try to get these balls back? You have to hide if they come. The Ben Shelton serves. Ben Shelton serves. Did I say Carlos? Sorry. No, Carlos was getting them back. But it was the Ben Shelton serves. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, there were...
Speaker: ah A slow serve for Ben Shelton is somewhere like 130, 135 miles spent per hour, right? This is a slow serve. And this is kind of the top, top, top serve speed from all the male and tennis players. It's crazy. It's, I don't know exactly, but something around 230 kilometers per hour or something. It's just a bullet.
Speaker: It's just a bullet. And Carlos not only brought them back, but then kind of many, many times also kind of managed to kind of really bring it up. And there were a lot of kind of break points, break opportunities happening. And it was just so exciting. It was a true thriller. It was so great to watch this match. I loved it.
Speaker: it Yeah, it was an awesome match. It was a really awesome match, especially the first and the last set. So two, three and four were always a bit one sided to the one or the other. But in sets one and sets five, they were both playing some of their best tennis at the best at the same time.
Speaker: And that's what made it like especially compelling the whole thing. And yes this is a matchup where I've always said, like whenever I've seen them match up, I've always been like, oh, this is going to be fun. yeah And it's never been fun.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true. we I actually watched them play live against each other at the Lever Cup when they were here in Berlin. I don't know if you were there that day. but they No, I don't think so. Also that, it was just like, in the end, it was always one-sided Carlos. In the end, it I don't know. it And it also wasn't Ben at his peak, right? And so it was never it never lived up to what I always hoped this could be. Except for this time.
Speaker: They're both such fun players. They're so... you know they're They're known for their shop making and you always think, well, if you put them together, that's going to be awesome. And it just and it never happened. And it did this time because did Ben was at his best and Carlos was just not quite at his best. Because I think if Carlos is at the at least the former version of Carlos at his best, then Ben's just not as good.
Speaker: But that put together just made for this. It was just perfect. It was perfect. And the deciding set tie break. I was watching, as I said, on the train. And I was like, up until the very end, I was thinking Carlos will turn this around. No problem. He's got this. He will win it. Yeah, I was just convinced. And when the final ball, like the match point...
Speaker: was going in the favour of Ben. I was like a statue, a frozen statue on the train. I looked around and people were behaving normally. i was like the world was going on. How how can the world keep like turning? what but Have you realised what just happened?
Speaker: Carlos lost. i was I was honestly so sad because obviously I picked him as a winner for and the tournament. So i and my whole prediction is now riding on Zverev.
Speaker: Like, honestly, my whole prediction is riding on Zverev. He's the last one standing. And I was just so sad. And this was kind of the really predominant emotion for quite a while, and up until the moment when kind of the reels or like the content came in. um Because oh also I switched off.
Speaker: like the app or You did not see the joy. the second i In the second that he lost, I switched it off because I didn't want to see Ben's celebration. I didn't want to see all the happy faces in Ben's box. I didn't want to see the disappointed faces in Carlos. I just switched off and said goodbye to the world. You didn't see the joy. i did not see the joy.
Speaker: i did see the joy, but only hours later when i did when I had my keynote and was back in the train on my way home, then I started watching some social media content and saw not only that Carlos was super happy, but also also that he was like in a press conference, just being so genuinely joy joyful about the ability to be back in the game, to play again and being so thankful that he went so far. And grateful for his body being able to kind of play that well for this evening. So he kind of, that was like therapy for me because it also turned around my emotions. And I thought, okay, actually he's he's right, right? He's back.
Speaker: He can play again and he can play well. And I'm sure this will be even better the next um tournament he plays. I will most likely see him when I'm in Turin for the ATP finals. And I thought, okay, things are all right. Things are all right. So that was my,
Speaker: personal therapy session. But I have two more things to add on Carlos. Can I? Oh, I have some as well, but you go ahead. First one is he again wore a new kit. That was super um similar to Ben's.
Speaker: Yes, it was. Like supplier, but but basically same kit. Yeah. So sometimes on my little iPhone screen, it was hard to tell who's who. Yeah. and But he has a new kid. I also did not like that one. It was very grey, black, kish. And i i just didn't I just didn't feel it. But I think it's interesting that we're entering a world where also male players kind of change their outfits from from match to match. yeah So I think that's, at least I can't remember.
Speaker: I mean, there must have been other men who've done this, but I can't remember. But who's the Naomi? Like who's going to be the Naomi on the men's side? who's yeah go to whiney Who is? Yeah. I don't know. I don't think there is one right now. Yeah, we need one. Musetti could. He has the fashion sense for it.
Speaker: Or also Berrettini. He could do it in a very elegant way. But I don't know if they give three shits about it. But they were the one they're the ones who have the swagger and the the style to do it.
Speaker: And the sponsor in case of Berrettini, right? Yes. think Boss is his sponsor. Yeah, well, will they do such wild things? They should. A bit more fashion forward? He could be stylish still.
Speaker: But please don't. Anyway, okay anyway on so that was the first one. And the second one was, i was ah reminded again, i forgot about this, that Carlos is actually so superstitious that he tries to avoid stepping on the lines.
Speaker: like not obviously in between points, then he's stepping on the lines, but when he's leaving In points, during points, you mean? During points. he Yeah, not during points. yeah Otherwise he doesn't. Oh, I didn't know that. Once he walks to the like to the bench to sit down when there's the breaks in between, he's not stepping on the lines. And I forgot about this and I saw it again yesterday.
Speaker: i thought just I think it's always so lovely when players are superstitious, taking the ball again that won an amazing point for them or like behaving in a certain way. I also always loved this Rafa thing where he kind of adjusts his bottles and all of that. So i really love that. And um yeah, I think it's cute.
Speaker: ah Simone Biles was there. She was. Queen. I don't know if she stayed till the end. What an honour. Right? have this goddess in the crowd. Definitely. All kinds of people were there, as always. All kinds when gotch out of goddesses, right?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. No, that was cool. um Since um ah Sport Europe gets so much shit from us, I thought I'd give them some love because I thought the German commentary for this match was awesome.
Speaker: Did you have the German one then? I'm confused. Yeah, on this one I had it because I watched it on my iPhone. You did? Because, I mean, it's hard, right? This person who was commenting this match was commenting alone. i don't know his have looked it up. He was commenting alone for, he had to, like, what was he doing with his emotions? Yeah, really, that poor guy. but He has to be in the match. It's a ridiculous hours of the morning in in in Germany, right? He's going to have been up all night. It's like the end of the world. And he was he had just some amazing quotes. He was really managing to bring across the um how special this match was in the commentary.
Speaker: And my favorite line from him, I'm going to say it in German, then translate it was after one... amazing rally. um was schbaers and siiez is in v piece de carvia from shrocolog it was ah ah If it hasn't happened yet, in this moment, the VIPs will have you know lost their Kaviar because it flew from their laps when they jumped up in joy for the last point, but like put in a much shorter, more pointed way. And it was just it was just so fitting. It was just so true because it was just, everyone was just up. And you really realized, because, I mean, we have to i mean we don't need to talk about this because it was just bananas. The match went on until past 3.30 in the morning.
Speaker: um And at some point, they open up all of the seats to everyone. So there's this point in the match where it kind of, these very late finishes, where it kind of tips because everyone from the upper...
Speaker: cheaper seats goes down all the because there's so little people there and they want to fill up the the bottom ranks and then I always think and you really realize because like also especially drunk people and all kinds of joyous people come down from the top and these are people who I mean any ticket at US Open is expensive let's not ah ah fool ourselves but they did not pay for the second row and then suddenly they're in the second row of a match i like this can't watch this thriller of a match right And be like right there by Ben and Carlos. And you can just see the faces. They're just like the vibe. They're like, oh, yeah, I get that. Like it's such a gift. to Rightly so. Because I mean, it's three in the morning and these people are still there. Give them the give them the good seats. God damn it. And they do. And then so everyone poured down from the top. And then while the match was still on, they had the cleaning crew.
Speaker: start working on the upper ranks because they had to get ready already for the matches that were coming the next day. This is bananas. They're like duking out this huge match downstairs there's this cleaning crew running around up at the top but cleaning the cleaning the the the area.
Speaker: i mean, good for them, right? Good for them because while they did the cleaning, they had the chance to watch this amazing match. They got some good match. Yeah, totally. If this match had not happened, I'm pretty sure we would have said that the other men's match, TFO, Mikkelsen, a US-US battle, there was so much in there that could have made that the match of the day.
Speaker: But little did we know that this other one was coming up. but This was also an absolutely epic match. TFO ah was down two sets. He lost the first two sets quite cleanly. And he was behind a break in the third set. And Mikkelsen was serving for the match, which is super straightforward.
Speaker: He was leading 5-3 in the third set and he was serving. And to I mean, you turn around that much and you end up winning it. Holy smokes. That is a feat. That's like the turnaround. Drop to TFO. It's the turnaround of the century. It is amazing how he got back that match. Not of the century. I would still give that to the Roland Garros final between Yannick and Carlos. Oh, yeah. A year ago? Two years ago? I don't know. ah know a year ago, i think. a year ago. Yeah, that was awesome.
Speaker: I have to sneeze. So you talk about what you know about this match first. Yeah. Yeah. I did watch only an hour of it because I was like on a business meeting that evening and I didn't have the chance to watch so much. So you are the one that has to tell us about the match itself.
Speaker: But um in the end, just unfolded the loveliest scene, um which I found A, heartbreaking and B, heartwarming and C, kind of exactly the energy that this world needs right now Yeah.
Speaker: because um tiaf for i mean you can you can tell them maybe because you watched it like live when it happened Oh, so ah epic fight ah actually ends up then in the fifth set. It's not like TFO just like took over the match and won. It ended up in a deciding tie break in the fifth set, as did the Sheldon Alcaraz match. I mean, like popcorn.
Speaker: So they're in the deciding tie break. TFO ends up winning the deciding tie break and just erupts. Because I mean, of course, if you turn around a thing like that and you end up winning it, it's just like all the emotion. And he's in the middle of this huge roar. And at the corner of his eye, he sees his opponent.
Speaker: um Like I said, a fellow American and I learned later on that they get on quite well. They're they're quite close. And he stops his celebration and runs over to the guy and gives him a hug.
Speaker: And you could really tell he thought that he was they were just going in for a hug. And then the guy didn't let him go. So Alex Mickelson didn't let him go. and he let him not let him go. and he just stayed with him. And Alex Mickelson started sobbing on his shoulder, on TFO's shoulder. And he gave away his moment to his friend in that moment, right? This was the moment where in him there was everything to like erupt and explode and celebrate. but he let his friend have that time from him and stayed with him and held him at least for like quite a few moments for a really prolonged hug while he sobbed because of course, oh God, and we just need more men crying open in the public, right?
Speaker: Yeah, he was wearing his emotions on his sleeve and then, yeah, he went off and then of course, um TFO celebrated um And yeah, it was just it was just beautiful to see how um how important it was to both of them, how they ah they appreciated each other. And um there was a lot of commentary I thought was interesting during the match. Because Becca was commenting and he was commenting on how good he thought Mickelson's coach was coaching him.
Speaker: Like he was a really, he was super present. He always had eye contact with him. he I think from the second set onwards or something, he always stood whenever between points. He stood every single time and kept his eyes on his player until the player briefly looked at him. Then he nodded and he sat down like he was in it. It was as if they were together on the court. At least that's the feeling he was giving him, right? Like we're in this. I got you like we're in this together. And it was just um it was nice. It seemed like he has it seems like that guy's in a really good place and he has a really cool team around him. So would be cool if we if we see see more of him. But no, otherwise highlights from the TFO match before him turning around was obviously the Mio Mio set that his girlfriend was wearing.
Speaker: That was nice. Like cowboy hat included. It was a cowboy hat and matching two piece, ah which looked like it was maybe made out of linen and it was like a cropped linen top and then a little cropped and then a short skirt.
Speaker: And it was just fine, fine, fine, fine. And the other thing that I think one has to note is, do you know how many shirts TFO used during the match? Did you catch up on that?
Speaker: I have got no idea, but I will have a wild guess and say it was, I mean, it must have been many you mention it like that. um Six. 25.
Speaker: What? 25 shirts. Do you even have 25 opportunities for changing your shirt? He had a pile behind his bench.
Speaker: ah Hopefully he gave them all away after listening to the crowds. Piled up of this shirt. I mean, like, respect to Lululemon for supplying him with that many shirts.
Speaker: I don't know, was some bought in between? was this Because I mean, I know I thought he was going to play four and a half hours, but of course it's an option. And he sweats a lot and he doesn't like it when he has a sweaty shirt on. There are some players that don't mind. Zverev, for example, he often plays in really sweaty clothes and it doesn't seem to bother him.
Speaker: But Tiafoe is a guy, when he starts sweating, he likes to change his shirt. So he knows that he needs lot shirt. But 25 and have exactly the same one. Like he did not change his outfit. I remember when Zverev was playing Halice, the French guy, i think round two or round three.
Speaker: He... had an awful kit. It wasn't really a kit. It was completely mismatched trousers. My husband actually said, it looks as if he's forgotten his trousers and has just called around in the locker room and be like, can anyone borrow me a pair of shorts? And not, and because he changed the short three times and each time it was also a different short.
Speaker: So it not only did not match the top, but every single time it was a different one. it's really like he's like, oh, my luggage, with my shorts didn't arrive. Can who can spot me some shorts? And one guy was like, oh, you can take one of mine. The other was like, you can take one of mine. then the third one. So it was the exact opposite of that. He had 25 identical, at least maybe he had 30 in there. God knows. Lululemon T-shirts there.
Speaker: And he used them. And there was this massive pile behind his seat of the Lululemon T-shirts. Crazy. Yeah. What a time to be alive. So the quarterfinals have been giving quarterfinals vibes, except those two duds of men's matches that we had yesterday. um And yes, move it tonight it's the women's semis. It's the women's, right? So still, I think I would love to hear your prediction for these.
Speaker: It's hard. Do you have a prediction? I don't know. i ah Am I qualified to comment on this? I think Sabalenka is winning the match against Pegula because of what I saw in her. in the in the past match and
Speaker: I have no idea who's winning Goff Rybakina because I kind of think Coco if she gets the crowd going but Rybakina ice in her veins does she even even care i have no idea what do you think I think I'm going Rebecca just because I think she will be hopefully on a high.
Speaker: So she has not let out those positive emotions at least. So they must be still in her. so they might fuel her for the next match. um And I'm also going Sabalenka. I think she will be able to do this.
Speaker: Yeah, she's going for a three-peat. So she's actually, she not only won last year's US Open, she also won the one before. And three-peat is really a huge feat in tennis. Like that does not happen a lot. i mean, it happen a lot in any sport. Yes. And I also think given her performance and kind of her not winning a slam so far this year, she also has earned it.
Speaker: But then of course, Begula has also earned it because she also played awesome. so yeah And she's never won a slam and i mean I mean All of these four are awesome And any matchup in the final would be awesome A kind of a rematch Sabalenka-Goff would be Fun Yeah Like if I could choose I would choose Sabalenka-Goff But I don't know if it's going happen
Speaker: that's We will see tomorrow. Exciting. exciting We will see tomorrow. And, yeah So thanks for hanging out with us. We hope ah you had as much fun catching up with the quarterfinals as we did.
Speaker: And um we will be back tomorrow to discuss the women's semifinals. Let's see what they give us. See you until then. Bye. Bye.
