Djokovic REVENGE, Osaka back in style, Thiem + Collins out in Round 1 | US Open 2024 Day 2

Fungiball promo our US Open coverage is brought to you by funi ball funi ball is a play to earn fantasy tennis game that seamlessly combines the thrill of professional tennis with the transformative power of blockchain Technology allowing tennis fans to collect trade and compete with digital cards representing professional tennis players each card is unique adding a layer of excitement and interaction for both fans and players fungible users have the opportunity to craft unique game avatars to enhance their Avatar's proficiency users can engage in weekly online tournaments mirroring the professional tennis schedule they can also utilize the fun ball Marketplace to collect and trade digital cards featuring their preferred men's and women's players fun bible already has 250 tennis players and counting that are officially licensed on the platform through their collaboration with the professional tennis players Association including Alexander Zev Jessica Pula Felix Ali and a mystery top five tennis player is joining the platform this US Open with more players to be announced each week as the oncore performances and results of real life players fluctuate throughout the tour season the skills ratings value and Rarity of their corresponding fune ball nfts also shift so what are you waiting for Join the Revolution in tennis gaming go to www.f fun. to sign up now the link is in the description cryptocurrencies and nfts are unregulated in some markets including the UK nft profits may be subject to taxation such as capital gains tax the value of Investments is variable and can go up as well as down additional fees May apply hello ladies and gentlemen welcome to tennis weekly with Joel Kim and Chris Intro on today's US Open round one catch up brought to you by fungible jovic wins to avenge his brother's losses Coco kicks off New York victory in style and Dominic team and Danielle Collins Grand Slam careers end Chris today is the 27th of August we are here to catch up on round one action of the US Open at tennis weekly HQ there's already been quite a lot going on out at the court at Flushing Meadows in New York it's very exciting the final slam of the year is well and truly underway and we've got loads of results to sink our teeth into already and it's not even the end of day two as we're recording this uh before we get going properly we do have just a little bit of business to attend to though and very excitingly that is the news that we are on video so if you would like to watch us then do head over to our YouTube channel at tenis weekly pod or just search tennis weekly in the search bar on YouTube uh we'll be doing all of our US Open episodes as video episodes throughout the fortnite so don't uh forget to check us out on YouTube as well and remember to like the video if you're watching us on YouTube and you are enjoying it and subscribe to our Channel if you aren't already you can also become a member of our Channel and any support that we receive from our members uh goes to supporting the podcast and keeping us doing what we're doing so we really appreciate all the support absolutely and Chris I'm ever so sorry to start with this episode's lead Sloane Stephens story because I know it's uh a grueling matter for you and you know listeners if you're not over on the YouTube now you can kind of see for yourself how upset Chris might look because Sloan Stevens Chris was a set and well six love three love up I think it was and she lost to claraa barell in three sets uh how how did you feel when you kind of when barell finally got that that match just you know what was she doing I just what you think I think it's a a case where if you're a Sloan Stevens fan like myself you you have to prepare yourself for some truly um heartbreak and I mean downright very unfortunate losses because we've been we're always going to support her when she's playing well it's a joy that first set was a joy but the last two sets were anything but a joy in terms of the quality of the tennis unfortunately and I mean Sloan really has kind of as soon as she won that title and I was thinking will she win the French Open which I mean was definitely a bit ahead of myself in that respect um she's completely her form's disappeared so I'm hoping there'll be a reset heading into next year and maybe the Asian swing will be more beneficial for her but I mean there's no excuses for not getting it done like that and maybe the moment got to her and you know the further you are down in your career um sometimes the harder it is to finish those matches yeah it's just I think when anyone loses from being you know so dominant in the first part of the match it's always a bit you know if they could just go back to when they were you know six love three love and and change certain things but I just thought of you I felt for you cuz I know you're such a big fan and I would like to send you a cinnamon bun or something across to Denmark although I'm sure you've got plenty of them there that a lot nicer than here I'll treat I'll treat myself to one I'll pick one up tomorrow morning so it's a good excuse yes but something Naomi Osaka Ambush x Nike that did lift my spirits Kim uh I've Just Seen nomia Saka walk onto court and what can only be described as the outfit of the US Open I think of the year not just the US Open it's definitely the punchiest isn't it it's almost tennis weekly green I was thinking Kim yeah it's I don't even have words to describe it I mean I'm not very good at Fashion I don't feel like I'm a very fashionable person but it's basically like a frilly lime green sort of skirt and then there's a tin giant green bow coming off her white jacket it's a lot it's very um bow heavy it seems like it wouldn't be the best outfit to play in like for me I would feel there's a lot of material going on flapping around bit distracting bit heavy maybe but I'm sure Nike have designed it with you know comfort and and Style Both combined did you see the headphones Kim even the headphones are custom Nike with bows on yeah like frilly bows on the headphones so listeners uh and viewers on YouTube just go and Google it if you haven't already seen it because it's we can pop an image in the YouTube video if you needed an incentive to come and watch us there we will put an image it's will it I mean will it be like Stan's shorts from the time he won the French Open because at the moment it's it's doing her well she's a set and 52 up on osto she's actually got a match point on y the first round so maybe all she needed was a frivolous outfit to finally you know give her that that boost and she's come back at the start of the Year well I remember she did say didn't she when it was austral that she was kind of annoyed when she went out early because she said this is a great outfit and I really wanted to wear it more times so maybe she's learned from that and she's like right I've got to get this done I've got to get the win and um it looks like she's just about to which would be a huge win for her but I'm not going to count my chickens too early because I've done that before with that eish real on Tech match and she was match point up there and it didn't quite pan out so um we'll have to wait and see yeah and even just from Sloan Stevens the other day we know not to get ahead of ourselves and assume Victory is in sight so I think we'll let asara do what she needs to do in that fantastic outfit and let's look back at all the action from the first day of the US Open because we did get a complete Day of Play yesterday lots of um action going out on the courts I mean let's start with I guess Mr Novak jovic because he had he has begun his bid for Novak Djokovic a record 25th Grand Slam singles title you know he's com in off the back of finally getting that Olympic gold medal but he's back here on the hard courts of the US Open and he had a pretty seamless kind of first round match really um 62 62 64 over Ru Albert I think exactly the way he would have liked to have opened his campaign would you say Chris well he's had a bit of trouble sometimes in the opening matches and Flushing Meadows previously and I mean this was very straightforward I was also going to ask you Kim before we get into the did you see that he actually wore his Olympic gold medal um on to court in New York not for ahead of the match but on one of the the days of warm-up days previously where there are these sort of events that happen these fan events um what did you make of that do you think it's a I haven't seen Quin Jen with hers no I would have thought is it a bit risky I would have sort of wanted to sent it my house and locked it away unless it's like a replica or he just doesn't want to part with it because obviously it's so special yeah but I I personally would have sent it home to my trophy cabinet to be safely kept if do you have a trophy cabinet I do not um neither do I I'd have to build one any I don't have any trophies to win sadly um well the slam spoon of Shame Kim could be something you could win well maybe I haven't won it yet no true I've got a whole cabinet full of them here uh but yeah I'm not so sure I would have done the same as Novak but I you know it just does show how tangibly how much it means how much it meant it's that he wants to have it still and and show it off and it's it's fantastic really you know it's he's definitely I feel it's given him that motivation and Mojo I guess I think to to carry on with his year I think it's just been pivotal and I that's why I think he's going to win this title I think that's why we've all predicted him to win this US Open and yeah playing against Ru albot um very comfortable Victory um I thought it was quite interesting that he said before the match that he wanted to avenge his uh younger brother's losses to Ru Albert uh Georgie and Marco have both lost to him in the past and well he definitely did avenge their losses didn't he yeah I mean he said I feel like there was so much at stake I feel like there was revenge for my younger brothers and I'm just thinking I mean he's never played him before but imagine if you're you know Ru Albert you'd think I didn't know that jovic has had something against me I never thought the world number one would be this motivated in a round one match against me um but turned out he did the wrong thing by taking you on the jovic brothers and coming out as the winner in those matches but it certainly added a little bit of fun to the whole narrative around was quite a straightforward match as you've said and do you think Kim this is a renewed novat jovic it seems like having got well having completed tennis do you think the motivation that maybe was a little bit wavering in that wimon final and and probably I'd say um at the Australian Open as well is it back has he as he said has he got his mojo back I think so and I think you know he's got that Olympic gold medal and and now he really is targeting I think sole ownership of having the most you know Grand Slam singles titles because at the moment he is tied with with Margaret cour who's also got 24 Grand Slams so if he was to get 25 that that makes him you know Head and Shoulders the individual at at the with the most so I think maybe he's got kind of got back into that swing of things like I just want to you know carry on getting record record after record because I'm you know I'm still fit and healthy I've kind of got over that little knee that knee thing yes um got my Olympic gold um here we go I mean some of the other top seeds at the moment aren't particularly doing so well and we'll get onto those in a bit so I think it's as good a tournament as any for for novat jovic bit of a shame Ru Albert wasn't able to get the hatrick of wins over the jovic family but not a surprise there and Novak will go on to play llo Jer fellow Serb in the second round tomorrow um I always feel when he plays fellow serbians they kind of maybe they're too much in all but I never feel they give him a particularly strong fight so we'll see what J sometimes they do get the edge but I was going to say something that we should probably mention on the jovic side of things I think he's found a white knee sleeve I've actually seen him practicing in New York with a white knee sleeve I'm not sure I didn't manage to catch all of the match um he did actually I think he did wear it as well for the match so um having I mean almost unb New York has better shops than London then he can get different colored knee sleeves in New York he could wear any color in New York but maybe that was um sticking it to the Championships after all because uh or maybe it took maybe it was the one from that took a while to be delivered most likely maybe what career is he using I'm not going to use that one could flown over couldn't he well from one grand samam champion to another though and Dominic Thiem Farewell well Grand Sam Champion from 2020 at this uh tournament Dominic team who was playing in his final ever Grand St match final US Open match uh yesterday against Ben Shelton it was in the end a straight sets win for Shelton I think in our preview episode we we were wondering whether the team maybe would get a set or you know how he would do but again very similar to the jokovic scor line just 64 62 62 straight sets but I think that the real kind of I guess story of this match was just the fact that it was Dominic team's goodbye and he did get you know a standing evation from the crowd and and sort of it you know was marked that this was his kind of farewell um what did you make of of the sentiment out on court yesterday Chris for that one I think it was it was really nice and what I really liked about what team said is that he obviously won his title here in 2020 which was the year when fans couldn't be there so for him it was a really um nice way to end his Grand Slam career because he was able to hear and see the fans and he was able to you know share those words with fans in the stadium because that is a big thing that we don't think about obviously it counts as a slam um he will always have that but he will not always have the same memories that some of the players have had who won it since or who won it before so that's why I think it was particularly nice that it it did come full circle he did get a wild card I think quite often you know these Victory not sorry these retiring sort of um fan fairs can go on quite a long time but I do think that if You' won the title you definitely deserve a special moment and he got a special plaque um of photos of him playing in New York so he's been playing there for 10 years and I think it's um very nice he was able to get the send off that he deserved yeah and no that jovic also had some really really nice words uh to Mark the occasion um you can probably get the the full script we're not going to read it out it's it's quite a lengthy uh lengthy kind of speech I guess that jovic um you know gave in in press and just really nice to sort of honor the career that Dominic teams had and also acknowledge the the injury that you know Afflicted him when he was you know top three in the in the world and how he's had to struggle with that and yeah it is I guess you know Dominic team is going to play on I think he's planning to retire fully in in Vienna at home so we still have a few more tournaments hopefully where he's going to be competing but on a big stage yeah we won't be seeing him again which yeah it's a real shame it just goes to show how injury can really you know severely impact um a career but I mean maybe we'll see him in a different capacity in tennis um in the future I would like to see that um so yeah let's wait and see on the women's side uh yesterday we did have some opening uh wins for well Arena Sabalenka sabalenka who's obviously one of the the favorites for for the US Open she was up against Priscilla H um straight sets Victory quite comfortable quite confident in terms of her performance out uh on uh the you know on court yesterday sabalenka finalist last year um Chris what did you make of her Opening match I think she got it done um I I think that was what was important for her it feels like she really is on a mission to write the wrong of the final last year she got so close and she did waiver in those big moments and I think we saw that quite a lot of the slams last year obviously she did win Australia last year she won Australia this year but she did make it so I think she made the semi-finals at every slam and so many of those matches she could have won so I think for her it's about putting herself back in those positions she obviously missed Wimbledon there's going to be a bit more focus on this slam then potentially there would have been had she got some ranking points and a good result at Wimbledon um but the serve wasn't quite where it was in Cincinnati would be the only thing that I would say uh she did win 72% of first serve points and she made 60% of first serves um but she wasn't quite as aggressive as you might have thought of the return um she only actually um had seven break points but um her opponent actually um only made 49% of first serve so it seems like she needed to get the job done and we've seen from eager today that we'll talk about a bit later it is just about getting the wins in the first few rounds just got it done there's room for improvement but job done when your opponent's not serving gray and serving those numbers it lets you off the hook a bit doesn't it so it's you just got to be the better player in terms of the two of you out there um saen obviously coming in from having won the Cincinnati Masters just recently she's um well she's the the third um she's the third player on tour on WTA tour that has kind of the most wins on hard courts this year so she's in the top three do you know Chris who the top two above her are um I'm going to guess eag obviously twins eont yeah she is one of them she she's got 25 wins on hard courts this year sain's on 24 but there is a player out on top with 26 wins any ideas can you give me a nationality give me a US USA is it can't be is it KOCO it's not no me it's Emma Navaro is it which surprises me yeah but I imagine that comes from some sort of low events she plays a lot on the tour so yeah maybe consistent right some surprising absolutely uh yesterday we also saw Qinwen Zheng - Anisimova Olympic champion Chim Wen Jang uh come through she had a really tough opener against Amanda and isova who obviously has been in really good form uh on the you know us hardcore swing recently um getting to the Toronto final just a few weeks ago uh but Anissa MOA some of us had predicted her I think to go into like the quarterfinals here go on a bit of a run but she did lose from a setup uh to Jen so yeah Jen kind of proving that her her success in Paris may be you know continuing somewhat here uh onto the hard courts what did you make of this one Chris were you surprised of this result or did it kind of go similar to maybe what you thought bit of a you know three set battle I did think that Inova wouldn't be able to play the level across three sets and I think that's a little bit what happened here she played so well in the start of that match I think she went 5-1 up she was painting the lines um Jang said afterwards there's nothing she could do against her and Anissa MOA is that sort of shot maker where she can take the ball away from you you can completely have the racket taken out of your hand but what's impressive about this is that she was able to turn it and find a way to get herself back into the match to make it uncomfortable and to impose ourselves so coming through 62 in the third set there was a bit of a risk injury potentially for Anissa mov which might have helped but either way it's these sort of matches that she wasn't winning in Paris at Rob who won in Paris but I mean in Roland garos and at Wimbledon so hopefully she could have another Deep Run here because when she is playing her top tennis we've seen her beat Shon Tech we've seen her beat top players and it's great to see so I'd love to see her really push forward again and make the quarterfinals or further here again yeah it that would be fantastic but um I mean Jen looking at her she you know has only actually won one hardcore match coming into this but she's the Australian Open finalist from earlier this year so we know her form on a hard court we know that she now knows that she can go deeper at slams and that she's won a big title so those two things really in her breakout year which has really announced herself at the sort of Latter it's not a bad year is it ends and higher stages yeah it's a great year will she be able to make it even greater by doing something magical here at the the US Open let's wait and see but yeah bit of a shame for American fans that Anissa MOA wasn't able to kind of back up her recent form but you know coming up against the number seven really tough draw it is a tough draw um outside Court Holger Rune action from yesterday I guess one thing Chris to kind of when my eye is drawn as I was kind of looking through all the results and I'm really sorry because this is a bit of a home favorite for you where you are based in Denmark but hogar Runa losing in straight sets to Brandon Nakashima who you know is playing at home in front in front of his home fans um what did you make of that and and the nature of the defeat 62 6164 it it wasn't good was it and I think it's a a real sort of problem result for hogga I think it really cements where he is this year he's 74 at the slams and he hit 30 on for stas to 19 winners and made just 39% of first serves I mean this is really not good he did say that his leg wasn't necessarily um feeling great for this match but I think it was his knee he said actually but you have to you have to think if you are not fit to play then you shouldn't be playing you've got to try and Peak at the big tournaments and that's what he was talking about so much last year and that's not what he's done this year at all he's not been past the fourth round so I think with all the changes and The Chopping and changes that have been in his camp with his coaches with his mother playing a different role I do think it's a bit of a sitop pass situation where I don't think it helps her always being there and I think he actually does need to get himself a proper team a consistent team a team that he can rely on in those moments because it just feels like whoever's making the decisions from a business perspective is telling him to play too much and then when he is on court his mother and his team are not necessarily keeping him calm or giving him the reassurance that he needs so it's a long and Far Cry away from being considered in the same bracket as Sin and alcaraz which I think some people thought we would be um but I mean what would you say based on this do you think that he does need to go a bit back to the drawing board in terms of his setup or in terms of how he plans his Seasons yeah I think less is more and I think a change of environment maybe doing some some deep diving some soul searching into really what isn't isn't happening and I think some you just need to take a bit of a pause to be able to really analyze what's happening for you when you're very much in the midst of it you can't always get that perspective that you need to reflect so I think actually maybe having an early loss here will force him to take some time out and to look at that so it could be it could be a blessing in dis disguise um we've often seen players have yeah abysmal performances at slams go out really early and then they've kind of turned it around so I think hopefully for whole garuna and his family and his camp and his fans they'll be hoping that Something Good Can can come from from this because yeah it's not not going particularly well at the moment um you mentioned six to pass as well Chris he's actually lost today in four sets to tenasi konakis uh many people were looking at this match it's quite an exciting first round but were you expecting kakis to get the win today or you surprised by well I think in some of done very close matches sit to pass defin doesn't have the best record of getting it done um not sit passor konakis um lost a lot of epics I think when it comes to sit pass's form in New York he's actually 67 he's now 68 he's actually lost more than he has won at this slam I think it's the nature of the balls and the court it it doesn't work for his game at all but I mean if you look at his season he's only made the quarterfinals at the French Open apart from that he's had a fourth round a second round first round so someone else is's in a very similar situation to hul garuna but further down in his career later on in his career so you have to think with this team change it would have been a lot for him to come in here and put in a fantastic performance but I guess now for both of them it's about setting themselves up for next season and those big tournaments and getting the right team the right structure in place so they can have another great result because I think for both of them the tal Talent level is so there um and for konakis it was a pretty good seed to draw in round one and it does give you the opportunity to then grow into the draw because that's obviously a seed who was predicted expected to make it to the fourth round but in a tough section of that draw but something else I was seeing is there's an upset alert at the moment Kim yanic Sina is a set and a breakdown to McKenzie McDonald I mean yeah 62 one love I I saw that McKenzie McDonald was a break up in the first set I think C managed to claw it back and then McKenzie has you know broken straight back taken that set that would really be a turn up for the books if McKenzie McDonald could get this win I mean it would be you know the biggest win of of his career I guess it would be Mammoth for the draw um for sure and and collector set and collector set uh I mean I haven't got sin going to the quarterfinals I don't think so you haven't you were the only person who didn't predict that and a lot of people I didn't predict round one though I wasn't thinking he'd get go out now you didn't have to predict round one did you apart from in collector set no I think we might be getting a bit ahead ahead of ourselves though um because it is still early days so we won't Panic just yet um just looking over at other results from yesterday also a terrible result for Maria sakir um who I think retired from her match so um obviously not great for her she's just had a again her slams just a lot of Woe for her in in slams especially uh we hope she can kind of catch a break it at some point Lulu's son also retiring um she got to the final I think in was it Monteray last week yes and obviously physically she's you know not the racist so I know Joel had predicted her to I think uh go pretty deep I think to the quarters maybe here um we also though for the Brits uh we had a win for Harriet d uh yesterday which was great over Chloe P Katy Bolter has come through today over sasnovich so two British women into the second round uh but we did have a loss for Yan chinsky um against RCB kabay Bay in the fifth set yesterday so a bit of a shame trinsky coming back from two sets taking it into a fifth but not able to get the job done and complete the comeback sadly um but yes a whole load of other results I mean win for Kika wien Champion as well so hopefully she's got some Lego to reward herself uh for each win she gets here um to to make her way through funny enough I was at a friend's house on the weekend and they like doing Lego and they had a lot of um Lego sets including one of the Statue of Liberty and as soon as I saw it I thought oh I wonder if barbora has tried that one yet so let's see um but we're going to take a very quick break now but do join us in the second half where we'll be looking at all the action so far from day to and we'll be also unveiling our own collect asset predictions so do not go anywhere welcome back to the tennis weekly podcast and our US Open round one catch up brought to you by funall uh let's take a look at the action so far um that we haven't already looked at Coco Gauff/Ben Shelton because we had Coco goof opening her title defense with quite a comfortable win 62 six love over vivara greva um really good performance actually from Coco golf um she said it's the best tennis she's played in a while which is you know fantastic for her as a defending Champion just over an hour out on Arthur Ash um but actually Chris before we get into the the actual um complexities of the match although perhaps there weren't so many complexities as it was quite a you know straightforward match um there were some comments actually made by Ben Shelton um about Coco goof and I thought they were quite interesting because he was saying that one of the reasons she's so popular or such a big name is because she's got that name Coco it's it's bit of like a brand bonus benefit to her um you know it's an iconic kind of name you just know her as Coco um and you know you know when you made it when people were referring to you just by your first name you know Madonna for example she's just Coco yes um but also another interesting comment he said that she plays a bit like a male player and that is also somewhat um responsible for why she's quite popular with the fans what do you make of of that um aspect of the comment that Ben Shelton made well I think he was asked in quite like a a laid-back environment and maybe he didn't really consider what he was saying before he said it because you know saying she's charismatic such a great athlete so many qualities out there on the court that you know resemble a male player the way she moves the way she can defend and I think he's trying to pay her a compliment here but I do think it doesn't come across in a great way because saying that she is so well liked and so popular because she resembles a male player isn't really a glowing testimony of women's tennis it's more just saying because she plays like the guys do she's therefore much more watchable and much more liked and because she's got a fun name which I'm just like well maybe she just really good at tennis and she was so good so young that she's actually a story that people have followed and willed her on to be successful because of just how much promise she showed in that first Wimbledon and what she's achieved you know being top 10 for so long and she's only just 20 and then winning the slam on top of it so I'm hoping that when she said resembles a male player in terms of like potentially a male sort of counter puncher someone who can defend really well I think we see some of the best defensive games are on the men's tour quite often I think her game is quite rare on the women's tour to be that good at defending but then at the same time if it's saying charismatic and a great athlete like a male player then I've got a bit more of an issue with it but I mean what's your take is it is it borderline on the misogynistic side of things or is it just a bit of a flippant comment gone a bit wrong I can definitely view it in like through a sexist lens um when he's sort of saying I mean to give Ben Shelton his due you know he has said that she's you know a great athlete and has said that she's you know I think he's obviously really a big fan of hers and and you know values her and and what have you but maybe he hasn't worded this in the best way when you see it written there on paper because yeah saying that you know she resembles a male player and the way she moves the way she can defend saying that as in terms of like her qualities it's it's almost saying that's the ideal that's the ultimate to to be like a male player resemble not even better than yeah attribute it's like saying the male player is is the default and then if you're a female player you're you know you're other you're deviated from the default and you should try to be as much as possible like the default when actually you know you should just be yourself and embrace who you are and it it's just yeah looking at it through I guess a male lens um as simple as that and I I just don't think it was yeah so a bit toneless maybe it's not helpful is it the audience in his defense the only thing I can think of is I know that Bianca andrescu when she was coming up on the tour her coach actually made her watch so much Challenger men's tennis from the lower levels of the tour and that was so that she had a more complete game because he well her coach at the time said that this is where you really have to learn how to win and you're fighting for every point and I think that was something that he didn't believe existed quite so much at some of the lower levels of the women side of the game I think there's a lot more plan A sometimes being executed um whereas I think there seems to be the retrieving skills you can see there is something maybe in that that bian's got a lot of variety she plays with a lot of pace spins slices Drop shots lobs um and that's actually something that she actually did try and emulate that sort of style of play um obviously it did get her a slam but since then it hasn't been quite as successful with the injuries that she's had but maybe there is that element that could be kind of giving the benefit of the doubt in this case Kim but I mean probably Ben and his like PR and agent would just be thinking Ben why you have to say said that leave gender out of it she just because she's the the best person that you know or just say something really like nice in that moment because there are so many glowing sort of reasons why I think she's so popular I mean why do you think the story became so popular um obviously winning the US Open at home helps doesn't it Kim yeah and I think the fact that she broke onto the scene so young we've already known her for what five odd years um she's becoming a household name and a lot of people I know who don't really watch that much tennis they do know who she is because she has also been quite active outside of the tennis space as well um but I think that his comments about what her parents named her you know um as if it's sort of always being this sort of long-term branding game that's why they've sort of like nicknamed her Coco and stuff yeah call me Coco yeah yeah it's it's I gu you know I can see where he's coming from with that but I don't know I think you can kind of analyze it and sometimes people just have that kind of star quality as well which I do think she she has she does in bucket loads and I think the whole Triumph against some of the results not coming and a lot of people saying they weren't going to come I think even us at times maybe were doubting that she would necessarily get the slam after some of the results she had last year and she proved everyone wrong and I think that's also that sort of character that really means she is so loved because she was able to do it despite people maybe not thinking that she would he said all the haters fueled her fire so maybe not saying Ben's a hater but maybe this will fuel her fire because she was doing a Victory lap yesterday on court Kim when she took out G Cher and that was a pretty straightforward match for her and I mean she definitely did defend very well she moved very well and she did play like a great athlete um to get that result but it seemed like she was super super focused out there but also what was quite nice is that she acknowledged the fact that it had been a bit tough but she saw a Tik Tok Kim that gave her her US Open perspective so this is also why I think she's so liked because of these candid comments that she makes and how much she is I mean she is genz she is of that generation you know she's very relatable in that sense that she said she saw a Tik Tok um someone commented on her Tik Tok saying you've won in life literally and figuratively and there's no point in piling pressure on yourself on a Victory lap um and so she said she's just treating this tournament like a Victory lap not like there's something to defend um because she's already won something and that's what defending means what I think that's great and I think it's actually quite refreshing to take a complet different perspective from trying to live up to the hype of last year and actually just enjoying being back yeah I think that that line she said about If you defend something that means you won something and it's s of reframing it to put a bit less pressure on yourself and actually to just appreciate that that that success from from last year and you think yeah I've already won it so let's just you know go out there and and see if I could win it again but not sort of be too daunted by and and we saw like Von juser at Wimbledon the the pressure and the the excruciating pressure that she felt to to turn up and and defend and try to put herself out there when she wasn't ready and similar thing you exactly and it's just actually quite a refreshing attitude and Vibe coming coming from from golf and I think we saw that in in the victory on court that she you know was so much better than what we saw from her in in the Olympics Cincinnati Toronto like she's not had that form she's really struggled lately but hopefully being able to reframe and it might just be yeah some something simple like a comment on a Tik Tok has made her think differently so yeah it just goes to show that yeah sometimes social media does have an impact and you know this was a fan leaving a comment so you know I guess you know she's got many fans and so many comments are coming people do read the comments yeah they can be really helpful um so yeah let's see how she will do she's got Tatiana Maria in the second round um so let's see if Coco can keep the uh performance levels up for that and Beyond um we're going to look at what's happened today so far as we're recording this there is still a couple of hours of action still in Flushing Meadows to go uh but today so far Chris we have already seen Felix OJ Alim go out in straight sets uh We've also seen EIG fion have a bit of a battle on Arthur Ash earlier on to win uh we've seen Danielle Collins lose so this is also her final US Open we thought she might be able to go further um and we've also seen Naomi Asaka I Naomi Osaka think has finally won she has 63 62 she came through it's her first top 10 win in four years what an unbelievable result for her um and I have to say I was looking at the scores whilst we were recording so if my attention looked like it had dropped if anyone's watching this that is why but what a performance um she won 80% of first serve points 75% of second serve points 19 winners five unforced errors and a banker didn't play badly 21 winners 21 forc erors that's pretty tidy but nine Aces zero double faults this feels like theom Saka of old in many ways I mean not she's not old obviously but um what a fantastic return for her because I think based on some of the results she had recently people thought this would be a step too far the draw will now open up for her slightly I think she is in a tough section of the draw we did talk about how tough this draw is think actually I'm taking that back it's Muk next I believe so every single round it's such a tough opponent so I guess it's a match at a time but this has got to be hugely promising for her beating I mean osta Peno in an hour and four minutes yeah I mean maybe it's the outfit it's doing its magic already so um I look forward to [Music] seeing her bow there we go oh dear that's a bad one Chris but I'll give it to you um watch this back however one player who has struggled a little bit to come through today is eagon uh she did come through in straight sets but she did have to Iga Swiatek save three set points in a second set tie break over Camila rakova who's actually a lucky loser um so yeah not not smooth sailing for eag shont uh she did go out to fall love lead initially but Rakim overa who I think has had some recent you know decent kind of results of late uh she she pushed her hard and uh yes Shion getting through but in terms of like first rounds I don't know you gonna put your money on shont for this tournament or sort of showing some early early worries maybe Chris it definitely wasn't great uh I tuned in and saw some of that second set she did serve for it and then she wasn't able to close it this is obviously a lucky loser and sometimes you do to see these inspired performances from people who already thought they've been you know eliminated from the tournament and they've literally got nothing to and playing against the world number one I mean less than nothing to lose it's everything to gain um the only time where I really thought that the performance did dip from rakova was actually when she was 63 up in that tie break with three consecutive set points um I think Eagle looked pretty relaxed in those moments she looked focused and it didn't look like she was going to hit an unforced era she wasn't going to give it to her opponent she's way too good for that and um a few sort of sprayed errors that happened a miss return an unforced error and then um actually another unforced error led to the fact that eager was able to turn it around in that big moment I think she'll be pleased she to play you know a third set but she did say afterwards she will be looking to get more Rhythm as it goes it's good to get a word on Arthur rash it's good to play on Arthur rash it's such a big Stadium but she will have to up her level and I mean at times in New York she has seemed a little bit more vulnerable than at some of the other slams a bit like in Australia but again like with sabalenka always good to get the win always good to make it through the early rounds and now she improves her record to 21 and one in first round matches so she's she's pretty handy and in those moments you can see why she's still back herself absolutely and she will play Ana shibahara qualifier from Japan uh in the next round because shibahara came through against Daria saval in a last set tie Break um earlier today so that was a close match there um in terms of other big names from women's game Danielle Collins losing to Caroline dollarhyde so fellow American in three sets uh a really I guess disappointing for home fans because I think people were really hoping DC would go on a bit of a run here yeah um and she looked like she kind of wanted to get off Court quite quickly she didn't really want to wait around for you know nice little kind of retirement ceremony which was again a real a real shame she obviously felt that she was expecting herself to kind kind of go further as well here yeah and it's a big shame she started so Danielle Collins well it's very much like slone Stevens she raised to that first set 61 and then she found it a lot more tricky her opponent did up her level dollah high she's a good player she's just probably just outside the seeds here um she's had some good runs at tournaments I mean last year she made the final of a 1,000 in guadara which was a big big result for her but it's not the way you want her to bow out she normally plays so well in front of Home crowds this year she won Miami she won in Charleston that was her home tournament and I think potentially the frustrations are just getting to at this point it's been a really intense year a lot of focus there's been a few results that haven't gone the way that she might have wanted to um including the Wimbledon match against Kika that was a tough one and then after that there's been a number of other results um that I think potentially she hasn't been playing her best tennis in those moments um so maybe it is a case that you can want something to go too well and maybe you have to ride the wave and she she the wave happened for a bit early in the season than it was now but I mean it's not not a great luck when you're being chased to try and give you the flowers by the tournament director um who want to say a few words about your performance you ran off the court that's not good I mean you've got the tournament director Waiting there the big bouquet of flowers you know farewell gift you walk off um it really isn't good for the fans the tournament do you think Daniel Collins is going to regret that moment and how it looked you know to the sort of to the nation or whoever was watching I just yeah I mean she wears her heart on her sleeve and I do think that that's one of the reasons why she's so liked and I think that a lot of times she said that people expect women to behave a certain way and she doesn't subscribe to that at all so I kind of there's part of me that thinks you know what she she wasn't feeling it she didn't want to do it at that moment she's playing the doubles maybe she' do something nice after that when there's been a better result and she also have the camaraderie of whoever she is playing with um but at the same is she playing with Caroline Garcia I think I think she is two one of Joel's f one of your F they're both out of the singles gar I was gonna say has Garcia lost yeah to Zara um so that's a bit of a shame for not a great result but as we said she was in Portugal she was in Portugal yes she was having a nice time at a hotel um so maybe they'll do better in the doubles there'll be a story there but it's not a great look because sometimes you don't get your best result and you still have to have a ceremony I mean Andy Murray lost to what was it John Pear and rinky hijikata yeah and um and that wasn't the best performance and you have to have this whole Fanfare but I mean depends on where you're minded I think it's very Danielle Collins and I think that's actually kind of an iconic moment when to director is chasing you out because you run in your own time and I think maybe that was all part of the plan she wants to go out on her in her own way and that is how that's the Legacy yeah no flowers maybe she's allergic to flowers and didn't take her anamin I mean she could have grabbed them and just like whacked them the would going everywhere that could have been a scene I would have quite like to see that in a funny way exactly um but a couple of other I guess uh maybe surprising results I mean I don't know Felix OJ losing in straight sets to yakob meni I thought Felix had was you know on for something here potentially because he had a better Olympics you know he's bit of bit of a better results lately but yeah straight set it's easy for yakob menik by by the sounds of it um disappointing I think some of us had thought he would go further me um I did Kim yes it was some of us was lit hide your shame there yeah yeah exactly um it is a shame isn't it I think Felix is one of those players who can play the best rally you've ever seen and then miss the easiest shot in the world and in this match I mean he didn't even make it competitive which is a big shame I think there's going out in a tough first round and this not really showing up to the races and it does feel like this was one of those results because we all know how good he is and that is the frustration is because he does have these great results he does have these fantastic moments but these are not the norm at the moment um and I just think they are few and far between few and far exactly um but Mariano naone he's recorded his first ever hardcore win US Open against Daniel altm uh see David gan's won over against tabilo as well so that's nice for Goan her has showing straight sets today um and yeah Muka through to face Asaka as well as we said um yanx in update he's a break up in the second set so I think crisis may be averted um people listening would have been screaming at us being like it's not over or they will know the result probably they'll know the result by now so yeah oo um but we've still got obviously the night session still to come so I know many people listening to this this will already have happened so we are previewing something that's already happened um we do have Bianca on dresu against Jasmine palini that's a really really fantastic uh encounter Carlos alcaras against two as well uh to finish up on Arthur Ash and then Louis Armstrong we've got Sono Paul followed by Rogers Pula so yeah loads of Americans in action on Louie Armstrong um this evening Chris any thoughts on um the remaining remaining remaining matches I've just made up a word well we've got another retiring player in Shelby Rogers this will be her last tournament I believe as well um so I don't think she's necessarily going to be competitive in this but it's very nice they have given her um that moment on I believe that she's on Arthur rash as well so that's a very nice K of flowers lined up for her then as well well someone might need to say you need to take it or maybe jpeg could take it except on her behalf we could do one of those that they have an award sometimes or they might just give her DC's flowers um at least see she didn't collect them or maybe the tourn director is going to put them up in her house instead because you can't give them away to someone else I imagine um but no I think that could be a nice moment I think alarz will come through quite comfortably and I do think that um in the matchup of sonar and Paul I think obviously sonico is coming here with the title normally the week before it doesn't always translate to a fantastic result so we'll have to see I think Tommy Paul will probably still be okay in that sort of environment but the big one who's going to win former Champion andrescu versus two-time Grand Slam finalist and Olympic doubles gold medalist Jasmine palini Yeah It's Tricky I originally I was thinking palini but I think andrescu 6476 might come through can't remember what I said though I can't remember what we said and I've tossed and turned on this I think I put Pini coming through on my initial thought but then I always have that moment same with aaka when you start watching those Champions play you just think you know get the form book out bin it it's about those moments who can raise their game and I think if she can do it she does have the game to do it in those moments so looking forward to that and also looking forward to seeing Emma radani later yes she's up against spia Kenan first round action I think it's going to be about it's quite late British time isn't it so like the night match on grandstand The Unofficial night Collect-a-set match The Unofficial night match so former Champs in action um yeah we look forward to those final results of the day um we do have some announcements as well uh in terms of collect a set before we sort of finish up for today so thanks to everyone who's entered good luck with all your predictions I wish you all well um thanks not too well we don't want to beat us Kim yeah does need to be a winner at the end of it so um I hopefully someone especially will do will do well but we do have our own picks to uh reveal and we will be sharing Joel's as well because he's not wasn't able to join us today um so yeah should we do our our picks Chris um we've got C bartini TFO Pula palini and veic yes um actually so palini I think we've all I think we've actually I just looked at this we said I wonder what's going to happen but I think we're just Believers aren't we but um yeah we have our yeah but I think we've all may as well start with palini then I think we all thought she wasn't going to do what she did at the French Open in Wimbledon because Joel has a going out in round three I have her going out in round two and I've got her going out in round four round we've got her beating on drcu in that case so see yes so we need to stick to that with Pula uh I actually think that Pula might go out to ranu so I put her out in round two and I think Joel put round four and I have round four as well so I'm with Joel on that one I can't remember who she's losing to in round four but did you put round four for everything that would have been quite an easy way of doing it uh I've put round four for quite a lot of them actually um veic so our other female pick I've got her going out in the third round uh Chris I went quarterfinal but I'm pretty sure that Joel put quarterfinal but then in his predictions he actually put her going out before the quarterfinal so he's doing what we sometimes do where you headed your bats one thing for collector set one thing for our predictions yeah uh what about Yanik sinner then who's you know struggling a bit so far um I've got him going out in the fourth round uh I think to Tommy Paul I think that was that's the earliest loss I think I've gone quarterfinal and Joel's gone semi-final okay and bertini I know he's won his first round already uh but how far do you think he's going I said the second round that's not very optimistic I think Joel said the second round as well but he does Play Taylor frit so there is I do forgive you that and I went for round four because I think bartini is going to do a run here well he did get to the semi-final here before yes he did whenn 2019 so you know he has form uh and Francis TFO finally last but not least I've got him going out in round four I think I have the same and Joel has round three so we actually quite similar across the board none of us have really gone no one's predicted a final for any of the players and no one's predicted a winner only one semi-finalist in yanic sinner so we will have to see I think we have had a tendency to go a little bit too optimistic in clle Des set and we're hoping to learn from the errors of our ways don't have much Faith this time around but let's see H but thanks everyone who's uh submitted your predictions already good luck uh the winner will get a very very special tennis weekly prize so lots to play for um and yeah good luck everyone uh I think that brings us to an end of our round one opening catch up uh listeners I do hope you've enjoyed our latest episode of the tennis weekly podcast remember to subscribe to stay up to dat on all the action over the next couple of weeks from Flushing Meadows we are on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube and all major podcasting platforms out there so if you like what you're hearing then do make sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple podcasts or Spotify plus like And subscribe to us on YouTube and hit that notification Bell so you don't miss any future episodes from us you can also follow us on social media or email the show we're on Facebook Instagram Tik Tok and x and remember we will be on video and we'll be sharing Clips on order of those channels you can also purchase our tennis weekly 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