Alcaraz & Osaka SHOCK Loses, Rybakina’s BIZZARE Withdrawal | US Open 2024

Intro the start of day four of the 2024 US Open was a snooze Fest no literally I was asleep during some of the first matches because they were so mid the seeg center and chion Tech were dominating and the seeds that did lose were not all that surprising but then we got to the night session and the tournament as we knew it was never the same hey my name is Christian basnight and welcome to Christian's Court where I cover tennis from all angles if you have not yet already make sure you subscribe and click that notification Bell to First on Christian cre and also so you're notified whenever I post more US Open updates throughout the tournament Carlos Alcaraz loses to van de Zandschulp and what some are calling the greatest upset of the decade reigning Roland Geral and wion Champion Carlos aradas was eliminated in the US Open second round and in straight sets 74th ranked Dutchman btic vanan Sloop beat the third seed 6157 64 in 2 hours and 20 minutes aladas did not look like himself at the start of this match in fact he hit zero winners in the opening SE which was truly shocking he just was kind of goofing off it seemed like just really wasn't as serious coming into this one I honestly think maell had a point in that he wasn't really expecting btic to obviously win or challenge him as much as he did now caritos did get his act together a little bit better in the second set and he cleaned up you know overall his play you know he actually had more winners than unforced airs I believe in the second set and he did well to recover from an early break deficit and I thought that he would from then on steamroll in four sets V zlo does not have a big serve in fact he did not hit his first a of the entire tournament until about 2/3 into this match but he did a great job of backing up his serve he got a lot of help though from alcaz being honest because even caros he's a typically strong returner but in this match in particular he missed a lot of returns which costed him it was a repeat pattern really throughout this match you had aladas with tiny openings in BK's service games and then once bolk came through all those tight service games you know it gave him a lot of confidence while alcadis was definitely shaken up from not being able to break the Dutchman serve and it quite literally took the win out of Caro's sales the most clear example of this was in the third set when aladas got broken for that first time in the third set to go down 3-2 and then he broke back immediately and Consolidated with the love ho and and he started smiling you know pointing to his ear trying to get the crowd into it and I thought that maybe it'd be another momentum shift in that car would do something that he never done his in his career before which was come back from two sets to love down he did push bolk to deuce in the following 43 game but the Dutchman survived it and really that was the last dagger in the chest of caros which was surprising you know he lost his next service game I believe at 15 and then bolk held at love to finish the upset I got to give credit to bolk though because he played absolutely out of his mind tonight especially when saving some of those break and game points it definitely you know hurt Carlos whenever you know he thought that he was able to get make an End rolls in the match but Bol just did never let his foot off Carlos's neck and that's something that's very uncharacteristic when you have these players who maybe be able to challenge like you know a top three seed sometimes they let their foot off the gas and just totally fade away at the end but BK never allowed that to happen then Isen simply played the perfect match tonight against alarz he did not give Carlos many freebies and unforced airs and he still kept the ball relatively deep with good pace and he's also one thing too bolk is an excellent mover out there on the court he got so many balls back in play and forced alcad into a lot of Errors because he did not allow the spard to hit through him which definitely angered and frustrated Carlos even more BK's net skills too were unbelievable he went up and took the net about 35 times and he won 80% of points when doing so which is a great feat especially when you consider how great of a passer Carlos is the serve was a big issue for Carlos too yes I got to give credit to bolk for you know getting a lot of returns back in play but the Spaniard serve was not potent at all and he only won 60% of points behind the first serve compared to bic's 78% success rate off his first serve I knew that Bic could provide challenges for alcadis I did not expect him to win this match but I knew it would be close he's a former top 25 player and he made the quarterfinals here at the US Open back in 2021 won however many people overlooked him because he had not had a lot of good form this season and he actually left the top 100 earlier in the year there were Rumblings that he was considering retiring at the end at the end of this year as well however I knew he was back in form especially when he dispat of Denis shaa volov in straight sets in round one and Shao have been playing pretty solid this summer too big UPS to bolk for this performance as well as his nerve of just closing out this massive win as I mentioned earlier he finished alarz off off at love this loss is definitely shocking for sure it is the earliest slam loss for alcad since 2021 where he lost in the second rounds of both the Australian Open and woman in championships people were saying that this might be amongst the biggest tennis upsets of all time it definitely once again is a shock and a surprise for sure but I don't think it's totally unbelievable and I would not rank it amongst the greatest upsets of all time I say this because not to mention uh bolk is a match I mentioned earlier a great player and then two I just really did not expect alcadis to go deep in this tournament at all because for one he looked really out of sorts in Cincinnati and I know a lot of people expected him to kind of pull it together for the open but that was a sign of things to come that he was not 100% right you know physically and mentally to be honest I still believe that that Olympics loss to jovic in the finals was the most devastating loss of his career and I feel like he really truly has not recovered from it he really should not have played since at all especially with all the tenant that he has played this summer alone he won Roland Geral he won Wan he made it all the way to the final gold medal match at the Olympics that's insane and for him to still try to play a tournament in Cincinnati like that's unbelievable I think that was a really I hate to say it but stupid decision on him and his team's part of trying to play that tournament not to mention too the change in surfaces from clay to Grass to Clay to hardcore that's eventually going to take his toll I don't care if Carlos is the superum as many people might think he's this athletic specimen but he's human at the end of the day Carlos is supposed to play on the lab Cup in a couple of weeks time but really he needs to take an extended break and not come back until the indoor Wing to be totally honest that means skipping the Shanghai Rolex Masters and perhaps skipping a few of the smaller 500 like 500s like in baso and really I wouldn't be too mad at him if he just took off and not did not play the Paris indoors Masters we truly underestimate you know how grueling it is on these players this year especially with it being an Olympic year for one and two the changing in the surfaces that's why this loss isn't a big deal for me to be honest because it's kind of unrealistic to expect aladas to go deep here again with all the tennis that he has played I don't think we should read too much into this loss for sure you know aades of course he's only 21 years old and he still had a banner year winning two majors and winning uh or taking home the silver medal of the Olympics so really he has nothing to hang his head about here alad's departure of course opens up plenty of opportunity now especially in his little Medvedev, Sinner, etc. advance section Jack Draper is the only seat remaining here but he is a low seed at 25 I initially had Sebastian quarter winning this of course upsetting alcadis in the fourth round but he lost to Thomas makach in straight sets I could either see btic Jack or Thomas come through but I think I'm a sck with the Lefty Draper to make his ma major quarterfinal the section below alcad is also has a lot of opportunity with the straight set exit of Hubert herx to Jordan Thompson that result wasn't entirely surprising seeing as how the pole was still struggling with his wbl and miniscus surgery Alex De Manor meanwhile is still going strong after playing his first singles event since his injury at s sw19 on paper he is the favorite to come through here but I'm sticking with my pick of having Italian M onady progress here as he's looking great thus far not dropping a set denil MV moved past Fabi and moan in straight sets but he'll have a challenge next against 31st seed Flavio caboi who's been incredible all summer making the DC final and getting recent wins over Ben Shelton Felix H Alim and Tommy Paul Nuno borgas and yakob menic face off up top in a battle of the unseated Young Guns top seated yanic CER who only dropped six games to Alex mikkelson will be the huge favorite to make the second week taking on the unseated Aussie Chris okono next however the most impressive Gabriel Diallo spotlight result to me today was Canadian qualifier Gabriel Dio prevailing in the battle of the biracials versus Arthur Fe with a score of 75 67 64 64 in 3 hours and 29 minutes I know many casual tennis fans might not know of Dio especially before the US Open but he has had a steady rise on the pro tour Dio whose father is from G and his mother is from Ukraine did not make his Pro debut until 2022 and he played college tennis at the University of of Kentucky for his first three years Dio has been mainly grinding on the Challenger tour since going pro and it it was his Chicago Challenger title run from July where he had his big Coming of Age moment Dio had to qualify for this US Open and he's had to grind to even get this far especially in the second round of quali where he saved two match points Dio now plays 14 seed Tommy Paul which quite frankly will be an uphill battle with all the tenants that he has played especially too with his leg being strapped up regard regardless of what happens though this tournament will be massive for Dio's development ranked 143rd coming into the open he's now sitting at a live ranking of 103 so he will be bound to crack the top 100 very soon on the woman's side the most anticipated match of the day was between Naomi Osaka and Carolina mova mova took Naomi Osaka falls to Karolina Muchova the match 6376 and her winning was not a surprise to me in fact I picked her to take this match but I labeled this as a shocking loss for Naomi because of how she fumbled her opportunities to take a set or even win it all Osaka started off the match actually better of the two and she had an early break point at 2-1 and then she led 323 love on mova serve but mova served herself out of trouble and soon after hit her stride Naomi could have done a better job of Landing more her serves in and making more returns but mova applied a lot of pressure and she's simply played amazing tennis to close out the opening set before I complained more about Osaka I do have to give her her T and give her credit for not letting moova run away with this match because she saved three break points in her first service game of the second set this match could have definitely been more straightforward than it was so giving Kudos a small kudos to you Naomi still throughout most of the second set she struggled Osaka did to make inroads in the mova serve but at for all she got more returns in play and she outlasted the check in those Baseline duels to finally break I was not holding my breath though because you know it's not a true break and you hold and and consolidate your serve however when Osaka raced out to a 40 love lead with three set points in tow while serving out the set I was already drafting my tweets and looking ahead to the decider but then Naomi made some truly shocking mistakes in addition to a double fall on one of her set points Naomi made five unbelievable forehand mistakes to give mova a Lifeline I was truly shocked at all of these misses especially on the break point which Osaka ultimately handed moovo the break back she totally choked away that sit her forehand and I simply I still have no words kolina and Naomi each held one additional time after that to bring us to a deciding tie break of the second set where Naomi yet again choked she was in Prim position to win the breaker leading it 4 to2 and then she double faulted at 42 and lost the next four points to go down two match points Osaka she saved her first match point and then on the second one at 5'6 it was just truly the most shocking Miss of all I simply have no words for this simply no words that Miss right there just sums up why Naomi has struggled to have a stand out result since this maternity comeback looking at the issues of the match for Nomi first moova was a much more efficient server than Osaka yes mova served well but it was Naomi's return that really did her end and it's been a clear Achilles Hill for her throughout this comeback and it was a issue for her here you know it's just she's not getting enough returns back in play and mova once again she served well giving her credit serving I believe seven Aces but still she had no business acing it on me as much as she did sometimes because Osaka's reaction time she just was flat flooded and just was flat on her feet just didn't know what to do now there was a discussion going on on EX forly known as Twitter about whether Osaka's game style is outdated we all know that Naomi is a big ball striking player and a lot of times it's balls to the wall fire um you know pound pound Pound I do believe one dimension is a better way of describing Naomi's game you know I honestly am kind of tired of us running into the same old issues with Naomi and her kind of overplaying on balls and shots that she has no business over playing on and just not you know being patient sometimes and some of her erors and misses are truly erratic a lot of times they aren't even anywhere near close to the lines or close to the court you know I did not get my hopes up after she beat yena ala Peno in the opening round yes it was a good win it was her first top 10 win in over 4 years but I know that noomi she does just fight against her fellow big hitters but it when it comes down to playing players who have a little bit more craft and who are consistent but yet still can finish off you know relatively routine shots that's when she has you know big problems we saw it and at won where she lost to Navaro and then here at the US Open mova has a somewhat similar game to Navaro and she beat her in straight sets I think it's interesting too when I thought back to Naomi's recent two recent slam wins at the 2020 US Open and at the 2021 Australian Open how most of of the opponents that she played there were big hitters she didn't play many crafty players like a mova like a Navaro so I think that you know now that there are more players who are introducing more you know variety into their games that's when she's kind of having a little bit more problems so I think we could say oh it's a decline but maybe if Naomi played like she did back then now she might still be having these early losses I don't know I think there's a combination of that and also still trying to exercise some demons from The Comeback today simply though the big thing was just the mental let down all those opportunities to win the second set gone like that simply cannot happen going back to where she could improve I think the Nomi needs to take notes from her Sports marketing agency and evolve her gang you know incorporate more spins have higher Riley tolerance and also coming to the net more but I'll save all that stuff for my highly anticipated na mosaka Deep dive video she did play better this tournament you know it might be her best tournament since the since the maternity comeback but she really does not have much to show for it losing in the second round I also think we should give Naomi a little bit more time not everyone is to Serena Williams and can come back and make two St finals months after giving birth to their child It's Different Strokes for different folks and Naomi clearly needs a bit more time I think it's more time as well as different coaching Serena was able to kind of adjust better because she had more of a complete Game it wasn't kind of self- imploding like Naomi often does in these losses I think looking forward with Naomi she needs to definitely try to grind it out in the Asian swing in the you know indoor swing wherever else and I hope that she does figure things out a little bit more about herself and how she plays then the last time she played the Asian swing she had success in 2019 so hopefully this would be good for her you know I do want to see her seated seated for the Australian Open I I think that's where she can be a true slam Contender now Silver Lining of this whole thing at least we got to see both her day and night US Open kit so you know that's a win in itself to be honest now focusing on the tournament now mova Swiatek, Pegula, etc advance now gets Anastasia poova the Russian and fit seated Jasmine palini is into her maiden third round and flushing after Carolina pishkova retired two points into their match due to an ankle tweak the biggest lost rankings wise on the woman's side this tournament thus far was Elena rakina but she did not even take the court the fourth seed withdrew from her second round match against qualifier Jessica punet raka made a statement through the WTA saying unfortunately I do have to withdraw from my match today due to injuries I did not want to finish the last grand stamp of the Year this way but I have to listen to my body and I hope I can close out the remainder of the Year Strong thank you to all the fans who have and contined to support me and I wish all the remaining players good luck this whole raka situation is weird I'm sorry I just have to be blunt because this is the seventh time this season alone that rakan has either withdrawn or retired from a tournament she could not defend her Indian Wells and worm titles due to either you know illness or fatigue and it's that's kind of underst understandable I gave her a pass because she did well at the early part of the season winning two 500 titles at the time before those two tournaments but after she after she made the woman in semi-final she pulled out of the Olympics due to bronchitis and only played one tournament between then and um the open which was in Cincinnati losing early in the first round to Leela Fernandez now what's causing me to read a little bit more into this withdraw in particular is first the vagueness of it all you know that statement she said it was injuries that took her out of the tournament but she didn't explain exactly what was wrong with her then you know days before the US Open began she split raka did from her longtime coach stefanov vukov who she had been with for 5 years I honestly didn't even expect raka to play this tournament because we hadn't seen her practicing on site until the tournament was like a day or two from starting she did win her first round match against Destiny Iva in straight s and she looked okay but you know there has been speculation about the vukov split and how that might have something to do with rakina as with dra there is a tennis Insider wherever you want to call him Craig Shapiro who said that vukov might be banned from the WTA in terms of coaching so you know I'm not going to read too much into that right now cuz we don't have the details but that's something to keep an eye out on there bottom line though it is unfortunate that rakina isn't able to take the court because she is such a talented player and this really could have been she should have won a slam this year I have to be honest I think womaning was a huge Miss opportunity for her but with all these Miss withdrawing from tournaments and stuff like that like I was a fan of hers but I had to kind of revoke my like fan card cuz this is too much I fear for the current reaka fans cuz y'all are God's strongest soldiers it sucks too because weakan had a good draw here you know now there's a good opportunity for all these players in this section to make a fourth round including former runner up or two-time runner up Caroline winaki who now plays ponette anak khin skaya was my initial pick before the tournament to come through here and I'm going to stick with her even though she does have an interesting third round coming up against Bia hadat Maya Jessica Pula a solid title Contender secured her 11th win in 12 matches after sitting off Sophia Kennan in straight sets I thought this was an impressive win from Pula Kennan played very well in this match but Pula was the storm well and just was too solid in the end and is definitely proving why many people believe that she can come through and maybe win her maiden slam title the biggest threat here in this section will definitely be princess Dan Schneider who now gets Sarah Irani and Irani eliminated um Caroline doah Hy who took down Daniel Collins I'm sorry but that kind of pissed me off cuz how are you going to send home Collins and lose to Irani doah Hy like what the heck come on now anyways and lastly OS fian she had a far easier time on court compared to her opening round only dropping one game to Ina shibahara I expect her to be more tested though when she takes on 25th seed anag Pavia chova another Russian SE L samova survived a Stern test from Marie Bova and she now gets 20- old American ashon Krueger who eliminated mea Andrea 6164 Krueger hadn't won a slam main draw match before this open so it's been a dream tournament for her and Mir she did not play well at all in this match but definitely for credited astion for how she was able to have composure in the end and close out the biggest win of her career to be honest looking ahead Top Day 5 matches to the action on pack for day five all the ash matches are bangers kok opens things up against Felina followed by Big Ben versus big foe jovic takes on poin for the third time in a slam third round this year and then sabalenka faces 29 seated Russian in Katarina alexandrova then on Armstrong em rer and mon kuk will be a good one for sure and on grand stand rublev and Le heska look to bounce back after playing tough five Setters the round prior giving my winnner picks I'll have gol Shelton poin yes I know that's insane y'all jokovic fans y'all go ahead and roast to me for it I don't even give a I don't care Ro me I know it's crazy to say this but I believe paprin will win sabalenka will win Navaro and then leka that's all for this wacky day four of yours open and let me know in the comments how you y'all feel about the aad has lost and its place amongst the greatest tennis upsets in history will Naomi be able to get it together in time for the 2025 Australian Open and is rak's injury withdraw simply that or is there something else going on beneath the surface make sure you all subscribe again and click the notification Bell so you all are notified whenever I post my day five recap and breakdown thank you all so much for watching and for your support and I'll see y'all next time here on Christian's Court