Jannik Sinner into semifinals, Americans advance, Swiatek ousted by Pegula | US Open 2024 | Podcast

Introduction hello ladies and gentlemen welcome to tennis weekly with Joel Kim and Chris on today's US Open quarterfinals catchup brought to you by fungie ball Fritz and TFO guarantee a us men singles finalist Draper channels Murray to make it to the final four and Jesse Pula makes her first semi after sending eagon Tech packing Chris today is the fifth of September and we are here to catch up on the quarterfinals of the US Open at tennis weekly HQ what a fantastic few days it has been particularly if you are a British or American fan Jack Draper is into the semi-finals without dropping a set after a regulation thre set win against Alex De Manor he will now go on to face Yanik sinner across the pond as well the quarters were dominated by us success as Fritz and tifo set up an All-American semi-final Clash at fashing for the first time in the men's draw since 2005 Jessica Pula also breaking into new ground a slam semifinal after upsetting eager schion and there was also wins for Emma Navaro who continued to march on and will next face Arena sabalenka karolina Muka also through Chris lots and lots to discuss as usual and as British fans British tennis fans I know we've spoken about The Changing of the Guard a lot when it comes to British tennis and the mail section but I wasn't expecting it to happen just this quickly wow I mean we are making a big deal of the bridg success but the Americans do have four players the half of the semi-finalists are Americans so we're holding on to our we don't normally get more than one but we get one every now and again uh we've had cam Nory we've had KL Edmund but it does feel like this was a bit of a long time coming for Jack even though he is so young because he's had such good form especially when we saw him last year UTS he was wiping the floor with top 10 players a different format but it has taken taken the year for him to really make the Breakthrough this is his first proper season and we're going to be delving into the Jack Draper success in the second half we're going to be talking as well about eager shch being upset by Jessica Pula uh looking forward to the semifinals with our previews and predictions but let's start with the quarterfinals from day n Taylor Fritz vs Zverev it was a bit of a it was a bit of a riot for the The Americans really because it was a great day uh To Be An American in the singles draws lots and lots of Victories great day also To Be An American in the mix doubles uh as well which we will get on to but let's talk about those men's quarterfinals Taylor Fritz and France's TFO setting up a semi-final first time that has happened all American semi-final in 16 years Wow first of all that feels that feels too long with we're going to get on to that in a sec but let's first talk about Taylor Fritz Alexander verev four sets Victory to Fritz 7636 6476 Chris what did you make of this because these you know these guys they have had they have history they have had beef in the past Morgan riddle included at Wimbledon um how did this how did this match go well you kind of stolen what I was going to say there Joel I was going to say all eyes were on Morgan riddle after the Wimbledon apology and the backlash that happened there about doing it for the girls well he did it for the girls again he really did I think he's got some sort of a hold over his ver now I think the scar tissue from The Wimbledon match seemed to be very much living on in V's mind but also for Fritz I think if he had have lost that Wimbledon match he wouldn't have gone into this as confident he really felt like he was never going to lose this match even in those moments where he did face break points or he wasn't taking his chances it felt like he was the aggressor more often than not and I think that's what I really liked about it is that it was a tail of Fritz that felt like he wasn't going to go away he felt like he was the more established player on the day whereas previously at quarterfinal stages he's had Nadal he's had later stages of slams jovic he's always kind of been the underdog that never really got going or never really delivered and this was the opposite story today because now he's made his first semi yeah and I think he's just such a consistent performer and um he's sort of just sort of like could say that consistency I think was lacking a little bit from Zev and I liked how you talked about you know Brits in this match it felt like naturally he was the aggressor he was the one playing the more aggressive tennis and I think there's an argument to say with Zev and one of the main reasons he does come unstuck particularly towards the business end of grand Sams is not just the the nerves of the the big matchup but is is there an argument to say he's too passive from the Baseline as well yeah he is too passive on some of those big points and I think the thing that's quite surprising I've just had a quick look at the numbers is that in terms of the overall winners there were more winners from verev he only actually hit two more Aces than Fritz but unfor Aras wise um the difference was he had a positive differential of 10 so zarif had better numbers he also had better Aces lower double faults but I think that's what's really kind of important here is that he's not great in those big moments he's really suffered at the slams this year where he hasn't been able to get over the line from winning positions because you talk about it he's not great from the mental side of the game and that's why he isn't a slam Champion right now that's why he didn't beat Dominic team he served for that match in 2020 served for a grand slam title and it felt like a a bit similar when you look at it that he is the maybe man because he had better numbers he actually almost won as many points as for it he just didn't win the points that mattered and that's happened so much in his career so far is there a worry from Z's perspective that he's just going to permanently be the maybe man because I feel like we keep talking about him coming to Grand Sams he's looking in good form I mean his ranking is up there you know he's he's he's certainly one of the more um you know in terms of his season it's it's better than a lot of the people around him but at the same time he's not making hey when it comes to the those grand Sam opportunities and he's still on zero he's still yet to break his duck do you think there's a worry that he's gonna end up kind of slams in his in his career or or we not at those stations just yet I don't think it's going to get easier if he is in those positions in finals again because it will be more and more of an issue um a bit like rub is quau a final trying to break that duck I think it's a similar issue the more you have those opportunities the more you really want to make sure that you convert them and the more you want it the harder it is to convert so it's not going to get easier and I think it's it really is kind of crazy when I think that I saw him age 17 at Wimbledon thinking wow he's going to be the new world number one he's going to take over everything and he said there's being predicted to do that and then there's actually doing it and he didn't count his chickens at that time and it's kind of mad to me given the game that he had that he hasn't taken those opportunities and I think as you as you've said he does back off um the second serve for someone who is as tall as he is is a concern he does sometimes putting a 133 M hour second serve because he's actually he gets less tense doing a hard serve like that than he does trying to do a kicker he knows he might miss it so it's a very strange one because he should have everything he should have the world at his sort of fingertips given the game he has he moves so well now as well the physicality you can see his arms I mean he's stronger than ever but not quite getting it done so I mean it's toal opposites to Fritz who looks almost like he could just be your regular sort of guy physically but he obviously isn't he's moving better than ever as well so um forev I think you do have to think that's something he'll want to close quickly and to have come as close as he has done this year and with this opportunity I mean TFO in a semi-final to make another final that's a good draw for any yeah um think he was do you think he was feeling it from from that perspective I mean he said he played terrible he wasn't happy and he he said candidly he didn't deserve to go through do you think that was playing on his mind the fact that it like you know probably to Fritz as well that this is an absolute golden opportunity to to go to another grand slam final um From zarah's perspective and possibly go and win your first one yeah I mean to be honest I think you don't have to play that well to win a slam um we've seen that before you know the team match did he who deserve that one we've talked about it now but no one exactly and there are some matches Grand Slam matches where they aren't always the best matches but you get the win um for example Coco last year in the final I think she played a solid match sabalenka went off the boil Koko took the opportunity yeah and so I think saying you don't deserve it might just be because you didn't win the big points but when you look at the numbers um I mean Fritz had 13 break points and so you have to think it's more about the serving and more about the big points than it is not deserving it because although Fritz was the well the player who hit more of the highlights I would say there were still moments of Brilliance from Z it was really close but losing sort of those two tiebreak sets that is quite a strange one when you think about the fact that they are both great servers and Zev really should be pushing him to more than two and three in those tiebreak sets I I agree and I think you know you looked at Fritz's numbers as well he was what I think 60% on first serves through the match so was quite a lot of second serves there for Zev to attack and it felt only four opportunities to yeah I know and you felt like he was just sort of paying it safe and getting back into making sure he was getting into the rally whereas as I say maybe he needed to be more aggressive and be on and play more front foot tennis than he did because I certainly think that is what ended up meaning Taylor Fritz gets his first ever Grand Slam semi-final and Chris as you said he's going to play France's TFO allamerican Clash do you Frances Tiafoe want to have a I guess we've we've already said this a million times already 16 years since the last All-American male Andy Mari voice here male called clash in a semi-final at the US Open and can you tell me any of those players any of those players in that last in that last dust up American dust up so it's the first time since 2005 so that's going to be 19 years is that right must be I think it was hang on have I got my have I got my stats mixed up well let's go with it I think that there was an All-American semi-final in 2005 is what I've read um but I'm not sure who that was between it wouldn't have been rodic maybe the last semi-finalist was Andy Rod was it it was Andre Agassi and Robbie Janet uh who played in the US Open semi-final all those years ago in 2005 maybe I did get my maths wrong maybe no it's the first it's 16 years since an American man has been in the final I believe we'll give you that Joel right okay there we go there we go listeners so it was 2005 and you're telling me it's Agassi and Jan brii Agy and Janette Prix TFO Fritz TFO came through against grigor dimitro four sets uh sadly this one ended in a retirement for grigor Di dimitrov Chris what was the story of this match um with with TFO and and dimitro was this just a case of dimitrov's body you running out of him or or was just TFO was he deserved of the victory it was probably the least competent performance that we've seen from either of these players um I'm I think TFO is probably very pleased that he managed to keep the match going as long as he did and he was able to get over the line but I mean dimitrov did hit more winners but neither of them hit more winners than unforced Arrow so this was not clean tennis it was not pretty but as we've talked about previously it doesn't have to be that pretty it was also pretty cas from TFO in terms of having lots of opportunities not necessarily taking them all but I mean there's a lot on the line it's such a big opportunity especially when you know your fellow Countryman has made it there's an opportunity to make history I think as you said this be the fourth time there's been an All-American semi-final um in well this uh Century which is very exciting so I mean it's one of those matches where neither of them were able to play that well maybe the fact that dimitrov was struggling physically meant the level wasn't particularly high from either of them because obviously if someone's playing lights out you have to up your game and if someone isn't quite getting there then you can get dragged into one of those matches where you do make the errors and um it's almost uh to me to you when it comes to trying to get over the line yeah and looking ahead to that TFO Fritz matchup what do you think both of them will be thinking going into it because as as I say kind of Fritz has never been in this situation before um TFO has is that going to be a factor it's hard to know because I think it will definitely help having had the experience at this level I'm not sure that TFO has always felt like he's played his best tennis in those big moments that he's had um I think for him he's sometimes fallen on the wrong side of being content with not winning you know not winning the whole thing that semifinal result the first semi-final he made was such a big deal and we still think about it now as though got him into the top 10 got him into that really really high sort of level and right up there at the top of the game but then I guess we kind of just we don't always expect him to win it and I think he really has to start believing that he can win it whereas I think the fritz thinks he can and I think that's probably a difference in mentality is that Fritz has the the bit between his teeth he's taken out the highest seed in this in this well half of the draw and I think he really thinks he he can do it I mean it's a great draw that he's got now um still think the favorite might be from a different part of the draw but we'll talk about that in the second half um it is such a shame though for for the semi-final to end that way maybe that would also affect the way that TF will be able to play because I mean dimitrov's retired in the last two slams that he's played now Joel is physicality becoming an issue I sadly I think so which is it it's it's like a double shame because of how well he is playing at the moment the res think his yes it's his Resurgence I don't think the tennis is holding him back if anything it's it's taking him to to new heights or to Nearly New Heights and you know similar to you know Z thinking you know this might have been a perfect opportunity to break my grandstand duck for Grim for grigor dimitrov he would probably have gone into this thinking this was a perfect opportunity to reach a grand Sam final for the first time um just shows I think the sort of the Jeopardy involved with with with these matchups and it's a shame I think with dimitro how it ended because up to this point yeah he was he was in a fight he he'd you know we just won't know now I think if he was fully fit whether as say he could have gone could have gone deeper yeah and that is such a shame because he's been playing such good tennis and he felt like he was due you know a deep run at a major he said he'd take a quarterfinal any day given the fact that he didn't have great form coming in obviously had the injury uh Wimbledon that made well such a big shame he's playing well there he to retire against meddev so very unfortunate for him but you know when it comes down to it age does creep up on you and it creeps up on people at different times he creeps up on everyone it up on well even no that jovic this year even no that jovic yeah he's human we found out didn't we but um yeah I mean Fritz TFO semi-final I don't think TFO will want to look at the head-to-head because it is 61 in favor of frit all their matches have been on hard courts as well and tfo's only victory was was their first matchup all the way back in 2016 so he's going to have to do it feels something pretty special to uh to stop that to stop that rck potentially he is I mean that's quite a long time ago so you just have to I will I will say though I will say though TFO in New York I think that's the that's the unknown needs to tell it's hist exactly um so yeah we'll we'll see but I mean Fritz has the chipot L sand so you know he it's he does it's still one of the funniest things in press when he was annoyed with render neck and then he was asked about what he eats what's his favorite sweet treat on site and he said uh Chipotle and I'm like wait what but obviously in his brand deal he can only say that I think when it comes to food so uh he can talk about Hugo Boss and chipotle um so yeah it was a very good day for the Americans because they had two players go through in the men's draw to the semi finals and Chris in the mix doubles Donald Young another American in his final tournament has made it through to the mixed doubles final I mean it's unbelievable the American success you have to feel like um especially among amongst the the men on that day so many great results were happening and Donald Young I mean remember when he burst onto the scene world number one everyone thought he was like a yes yeah I was gonna take it over we talked about Zea but at 15 he was winning I think it was like the Junior Grand Slams then it never really materialized reminds L Luke savil for Australia just a player who was so good in juniors but didn't quite go according to plan in the in the seniors it never quite happened I mean TFO townend and Christopher Eubanks have talked about the impact that he had on them doing so so well so young but I mean that's 20 years ago um when he first had that big ver on the scene he had some pretty good results Joel don't want to bring it up but he did take out Andy Murray at Indian Wales in 2011 he has look he has had some good results and um I think it's a shame that up to this point he has not been a t uh T level uh Champion um in the singles all the doubles so maybe this is his opportunity would that be fun mix doubles has these fun results right Joel the rule book and form book go out the window yeah I mean young in town they've got Irani and vavasori in the uh in the final but as you say I feel like can he handle the serve can can he handle the spin uh yes goodness I mean we'll see how that one goes but I mean success for uh Taylor in both competitions because she's also in the semi-finals with sakova Wimbledon winner herself and then I mean like Emma Naro is also winning so everyone it's just great to be American great time to be American we're going to be talking about those ladies quarterfinals from day nine in a second but we're going to hear a quick word from our sponsors fungible first of all our US Open Fungiball promotion coverage is brought to you by fungible fungible is a playto 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 opport un to craft unique game avatars to enhance their avatars proficiency users can engage in weekly online tournaments mirroring the professional tennis 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well as down additional fees May apply okay let's Navarro - Badosa talk Chris about the ladies quarterfinals from day nine BSA Navaro Jen sabalenka and yeah which one should we start with let's start let's let's continue the the American hype train let's start with Navaro BSA Navaro 6275 but we've got to talk about the second set particularly M DOA was 51 up was looking like she was easily going to be taking it to a third set with all the momentum and Navaro came back and won 75 um yeah complete I don't want to say choke I I don't want to say meltdown but um something just happened I don't know what it was um that yeah b b DOA just it felt like she switched off maybe mentally because I don't think NE Navaro necessarily raised her level um but yeah what did you make that second set I mean neither played well um really not well at all but I mean 35 unforced errors and just 10 winners for BSA in that match um a lot of them coming in the second set and a lot of them coming I mean all I when it rains it pours but I feel like we're not four points in the last six games is what BSA won it's a complete it is a meltdown unfortunately it's she combusted you know self combusted there and it's a very very big thing on the line especially given the fact that with the injuries that she's had she's over well not overcome but she's managing much better now she's getting herself into great situations again but we have seen this even when she was sort of physically at her sort of peak where she got absolutely hit off the court by I think in a quarterfinal um at the strain open potentially where could have been the fourth round maybe it was the fourth round against Madison Keys she doesn't always bring her best game the later she gets into these Grand Slams she's not a fixture even when she was at world number two she never made a semifinal so very true I think that's one of those situations where trying to get over that line and get that result I mean it is tricky I mean Tay Fritz found it difficult too he did manage to do it but it's such a big Accolade well she she looked like she just wanted to get off the court because I don't know if you saw in the match point Navar hit a drop shot and it looked like BSA could have got to it but she sort of just stopped running and and the match was over uh handshake it was very awward very awkward and you do think maybe something was going on that we didn't know about potentially um because it almost felt like um I'm not saying any way that she would have a match fixed but it's almost like the score had to be 5-1 and then she had to not win another game you couldn't have predicted that the form book would have gone that way it was so strange um and it mean very very hard to watch but a lot of things I've seen has been like amazing performance from Navaro and I'd say Navaro is beating the players in front of her but Koko hit 60 unforced erors 35 on unforced erors from Bosa she's getting help and I think we should acknowledge the fact that you can only beat the player in front of you but the players are sometimes beating themselves I mean nvar is having an incredible season first Grand Slam seminal she's up to eight in the live rankings career high ranking um yeah do do you what is it about her game that is taking her to these levels it's not all just you know her players aren't aren't performing is that partly due to the the brand of tennis that Navar is bringing to the court yeah I mean she's a great tennis player she's reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon she played a lot better there I have to say when she took out Coco go and um I saw some great tennis from her in those matches maybe the conditions aren't as good for her here but I mean lots of lots of very top pundits are singing her Praises I remember um you asked Patrick morogo who was going to be the next new female slam winner and he could still be on for a i me a great result here because Kika won Wimbledon she' already was a slam winner so I mean maybe he saw the future Patrick he's a very wise man and I didn't know he paid that much attention to women's tennis but clearly watching Emma novaro so I yeah I did enjoy I I saw a stat on social media that said uh the first American Billionaire's daughter into the semi-final is it Jessica beula no it's not it's Emma Navaro so uh yeah jpeg just getting beaten to the billionaire versus billionaire could be in the in the final I believe they're on opposite opposite halves but that would be great it would be great but still I mean she got the job done I think she's going to get some more Stern tests as she goes through um for sure yes it doesn't feel like she's gonna get the gift of a sabalenka off day um in the semi-finals I mean sabalenka came through chin Wen xang this was a repeat of the Australian Open Aryna Sabalenka final and Chris this was even more one-sided in favor of sabalenka 61 62 uh you know sabalenka at this stage she's so I feel like she's just very very consistent you know what you're going to get and uh she really is a force to be reckoned with going into the the deep end of the US Open um will you expecting this to be a little bit closer than it was given you know Jen's performances at the Olympics for example um she been playing well the donovic match was was brilliant I really thought that was um a great match and the level was good I thought she'd found her rhythm again but it hasn't really materialized in those big matches I think she was you know it's very similar in the way that she was sort of dismantled in that Australian Open final so could be a case that she doesn't like to be out hit or she isn't used to playing against someone who you know does hit the ball as hard as she does um sabalenka is really thumping it out there I've actually seen that she hits Top Spin for hands quicker than Carlos alarz was one of the stats that I saw this week so she really is thumping the ball in um Quin Jen is a big takeback she likes to have some time on the ball so it could just be one of those like um we talk about like bogey women or bogey men when you play against them it could just be a really bad head-to-head but she wasn't happy with how she played and Ro federo was in the crowd as well uh and sabalenka said I saw him there I saw him on the big screen and I was like okay I have to play my best tennis so he enjoys it um so maybe she was that rising to the challenge a little bit of uh having one of the one of the goats uh in in the crowd well you don't want him to leave during your match do you and I think she said that he was probably there for maybe the Tio match so she wanted to make sure that he stayed and put on a great performance so um credit worth credits due the numbers were a lot better she completely outplayed I mean the Olympic champion which is I mean it's very impressive and on the form book right now you'd have to say that that was a pretty um standout win in terms of sending sort of waves through the locker room because um I mean she just was hitting winners for fun at times and again did get some help but hopefully the matchups will get later in the tournament will live up to the hype because we are slightly missing on the women's side obviously we had the veic um chiman Jang match but I would like a really sort of Epic day match to sink our teeth into um because we haven't we haven't had that and we didn't have that true it's it's very true actually it's all been yeah yeah we're sort of waiting our still for like a sort of a big bang moment later in the in in the rounds I mean it could come in the semi-finals because it it is Sabal Len Navaro and Chris the interesting thing here is that Navaro defeated sabalenka on hardc court earlier this year in Indian wells in three sets um sabalenka has defeated Navaro since then they're 1-1 in their head-to-head that was at the French Open but the fact that Navaro has beaten sabalenka on a hardc court will that give her confidence that she could she could spring an upset of course I mean it can't not Crow as well on home soil that was where she got her win as well at Indian Wales that was probably the time when we all did take note of Emma Naro because sabalenka was coming off the AO win she was playing great tennis again so that was when nvar already announced herself I think probably to the American audience and now she's announcing herself in a much bigger stage she will be the underdog I think that might help her but ultimately I think if sabalenka plays her best level it is far above Emma novaro I would say oh okay well you heard it here first we shall see but we're going to take a quick break now do join us though in the second half where we will be taking a look at all the quarterfinals action from day 10 in New York city so do not go anywhere welcome back to the tennis weekly podcast and our US Open quarterfinals catchup brought to you by Fun Ball and we're going to move on now to the quarterfinals action from day 10 and Chris we must start with Jack Draper Jack Draper through to a semifinal at a grand slam for the very first time just breaking new ground so casually uh this season and he's still not dropped a set straight sets against Alex zor 63 75 62 yeah talk talk to me about this match because and talk to me about Jack draer because into a semi-final um as I say Andy Murray part passing of the guard passing of the bat on changing of the G I'm getting my metaphors mixed up cuz I'm so excited um yeah the hype is real the hype is real he's such a big talent and I think he's s also such a nice guy and I think it's all um come together this season as you said right at the start it is his first full season and I think definitely adapting to life on tour and be able to Peak at the right moment is something that he is learning and I think sometimes it's a bit easier when you don't have the pressure of wimble B obviously Andy Murray had his big breakthrough here in 2012 all of our listeners who don't know Joel was there Joel was the lucky charm I'm hoping he's going to get a flight to watch Jack Draper in the semifinals but um I'm not sure he can be tempted this time but I mean such a great result he's playing great tennis but you do have to have a little moment for Alex dear here because he did take six weeks out after that horrible hip injury where you almost heard it on court he played just one doubles match in the leadup and that was um with popper in at the Olympics and he could not really move to his left side on the backand and Jack played a very assured match he really did exploit that particularly with the Lefty forehand dragging diar out wide but even that tactical shift that Jack made just shows that mentally he's so rock solid as well as his game being on top top form yeah and I think it's it's you know it's so exciting to see I mean Alex Deo is such a fierce competitor and yeah maybe he was hampered a little little bit by injuries but um as a British fan I guess yeah I'm still very very excited and you know just just talking about Draper and and this success that he has had um in the Grand Slam Arena this this season getting to a a a quarterfinal and now a semifinal here were you expecting it to come this season you spoke about you know finding your feet on tour this being his first full season you know is it is it surp is it still surprising or is the level of Draper and his talent is it just coming to the the four naturally and we expect to see him in these sorts of environments well I was blown away by his level when we saw him in London last year I did predict him to make the semis in Australia I really did think that he would immediately push on having had such a big lift at the end of the season obviously he's now won his first title and big breakthroughs they don't all happen like Raku that all happen when you're a teenager when you were in your first year on the tour and I think there's a lot of pressures to adapt to especially because the British number one mantle suddenly was upon him at Wimbledon so the fact that he studied the ship and he's kind of made it to the semi-finals here I don't think many of us were thinking he would make it he was in alcaraz's quarter uh quarter of the draw which would be a very the most of it he is making the most of it so I think a good draw and playing the level that we know Jack can play at he looks so confident and I think confidence is the thing that when you hit as big as he does you have to have it otherwise you start missing so is it a surprise I'm not surprised by Jack's level but I think the fact that he's done it having maybe had a little bit of a a a bubbling under the the surface slowly building season yeah I didn't think that it would happen in this Us open and what do you think's the one thing that has got him through to the semi-finals as I say not dropped a set he's played up against some really informed players like uh Thomas machak in in the quarters Domino's had a Stell season yes I it's been the derailed a little bit by injury but what would you say he's been the backbone to his success in in in New York City and don't tell me Carlos alara's going out in going out so early on I think I mean it's I always say this it is about whether you believe that you can do it and I think the confidence you get from winning those getting off to a good start at a slam he's had a few slams this year where he hasn't got off to the best of starts know the French Open just brings to mind a match that he probably should have won um and if you are playing well and you are feeling confident on the surface it's a quick surface helps the serve um to be honest I do think it's a confidence game with him I think he really does believe if you watch him play and I watched his last match he is fully dialed in his eyes are almost wider he's seeing the ball um almost like a football and I think that's something where when you're dialed in and you're as focused as he is it's almost like he believes he can win this title and if you don't believe it you're not going to do it and we talked about that with TFO and just talking about the The Changing of the Guard I feel like this is a new it's a new hot term in in British tennis because as you say Andy Murray retired he has retired he had his final Grand Slam at Wimbledon to think we've gone from that to another Brit into a semifinal and announcing himself on the grand Sam age literally in the next major um it's it's been so I want to say seamless and almost like it was planned are you again are you kind of surprised or or that you know is it just how have we got to this point where you know we're not there's no delay or there's been no Gap it's just been like yeah Murray's retired dra's ready to to take it on it's giving a bit of the Henman Murray cross that we had as well where they were both playing on the tour there was kind of this um whole period where Mario was almost like the the air elect you know who was going to be coming in so I think it's not necessarily um kind of a a strange situation normally there is a Great British player coming up you know I think it's a bit more unusual when we do have that lull bit surprising obviously that KL Edmund wasn't able to with all his injuries unfortunately he did make that semi-final we should mention in Australia so let's just pray with this one that Draper's able to keep going because I mean from the level that you've seen Joel can he win the title oh that's going to be tough I think you know I think the real acid test is going to be in the semi-finals against yanic sner because I think this is going to be his first proper test I actually feel like he's been you know you tested in he's not been tested I think so far not lost a set yeah not recovering from a set he's not even had to yeah face a test so yeah I still think you know with Yanik s he's gonna need to find another level but I do think that he's going to be able to handle the moment handle the the pressure um and hopefully he can just let his his tennis to the talking I mean it's going to be a fantastic matchup and I know we were talking and getting excited about you know draer versus alarz in in round three but I'd Jannik Sinner vs Medvedev happily take a a draper sinner and who knows this could be you know his kind of introduction I think into that upper echelon of really good Juniors who are playing uh you know light out tennis on the tour at the very top of the rankings and you know this could maybe be an opportunity to subit a new rivalry that maybe fans weren't necessarily thinking about 12 18 months ago because they were all kind of focused in on on C alats move over hul garuna we do have to also say though that we might talk about a new Junior but Jack drit is about three months in age difference from Yanik sner so isn't that just crazy when you think about how established yanx is at the top of the game and I mean yanx did come through what people were thinking might be the biggest match of the tournament given the players who were still in he took out Daniel medev that that match we'll talk about that now Joel it was a case where neither of them were playing that well in the first few sets talk us through what happened it was a bit of a yo-yo yeah very very odd 62 1 6 61 the first three sets and then it was a little bit more competitive it's giv 64 yeah I didn't I didn't want to I didn't want to say that but as as you have said it I I'm I'm now going to be able to set love those score lines it felt like such a yo-yo such a yo-yo score line and yeah Yanik sner is into the semi-finals I mean we'll talk about the match in a set Chris but is sinner now the is he like the favorite is he the is he the clear favorite left in the draw he has to be he's done it before this match he played not great tennis but he did beat the number five seed someone who really thought they could take home the title um I think he's got a point to prove after the doping situation that happened um I think he's really done a a good job mentally to stay really focused on what he needs to do here and you'd have thought that maybe he'd have had a few more demons to be dealing with than alcaraz potentially in his lack of form and Yan and the more the tournament goes on the more the doping attention will be there because there are a lot of question marks that still exist for people now that some time has passed people are deep diving into it and I think it's not going to go away and if he does win this slam it's actually only going to create more questions um given the nature of this whole year and the fact that the suspensions didn't kick in the way people thought they would so very impressive from a mentality perspective but from a tennis perspective I think Jack Draper's numbers he was hitting winners for fun and not making many errors this another one another messy one Joel S was hitting unforced errors for fun I mean meev was also hitting unfor similar numbers to Coco go at 57 unforced errors Yanik S I mean also Yanick sin 38 unforced errors that is also not cner like numbers though I will I will say cner was impressive um at the net he won 28 of 33 uh points at the front of the court so um yeah maybe that was a bit of a a straty the tactic do you think that got him through I mean I'm I'm envisaging it now I'm imagining uh Daniel Mev was six feet behind the Bas line in the SS returning to might as well have been in the sand so certainly coming to the net was a a strategy that made sense and uh it paid off um for Yanik sinner but yeah still quite a scratchy ugly sort match why why do you think why do you think that is why was it so why was this match so yoyo because I feel like we expected it to be a lot closer from the get-go and that just didn't materialize until the fourth set we're seeing a lot of this this US Open where the matches aren't quite hitting the Heights from uh a play perspective I think it's because they've actually sped up the court slightly there's a lot of talk about this from the tournament director they wanted to be mid fast but actually the number um in terms of the speed rating of it is is well into the the 40s so it's a scale up to 50 so a clay Court would be somewhere in the 20s could be high 20s if it's a particularly um fast clay court so it's a very quick court so with these sorts of Courts you're able to get more momentum changes and also you get less time on the ball um so it's a bit less in terms of the Wimbledon side of things where you get um harder to break players in this one it's actually harder to time the ball I think and harder to to kind of stop the ball from flying long so that might be why but at the same time it does mean you get some fantastic winners um and these matches although they are going quite long we're not getting necessarily all of them going you know to I don't know six hours just Dan Evans is going that long but I mean you don't have to play well to win and I think we've seen that kind of across both of the the quarterfinals that happened kind of late night as well yeah yeah definitely and for yanx sinner he has now reached the semi-finals of all the grand slams he's one of four active players to do this and I'm using Chris I'm using active in the in the loosest sense because he joins Novak jovic Rafal Nadal and Marin chich right who as I say active player um uh in in that list so yeah a very good performance from him I mean he's 53 and five on the season in terms of his win loss that is I yeah not even thought about just how good that is at such a young age but yeah certainly very exciting to look forward to sin versus Draper we're going to be previe previewing that at the end in our predictions but let's move on to the women's quarterfinals karolina muker and Jesse Pula were our Victors on day 10 they have set up a tantalizing semi-final Clash now the way they have done that let's start in the day session karolina Muk 6164 against Hadad Meyer uh 1 hour 25 Karolina Muchova minutes Chris is it fair to say I feel like one hour and 10 of those minutes was Carolina MK off the court with stomach issues yes I've not seen this before really um I think she was she was she was apologetic very much about it she was um what can you do when you got to go you got to go I guess I don't really know how it how it works and what the rules are because um I guess if you are unwell I guess she had a time limit she had to run there run back back um and thankfully there wasn't a toilet that was too far away from the court as well so very unusual because you don't expect when you see that sort of score line you think wow she played so well she blew off you know the number 22 blew her off the court um when actually she actually blew herself off the court had to run off court and run back on court so none of them were mid rally though Joel she didn't have to like hit a shot run run back I was sort of maybe expect like anticipating it at one point yeah exactly but um we won't talk too much about it she didn't want to talk about the embarrassing nature of that um but I mean Testament to her that she was able to get it done despite that um and maybe it did sort of upset the Rhythm a little bit of Hadad meire because you are sort of then thinking if I hang in here maybe it could go my way um but still I mean fantastic to see her back in the semi-finals um she hasn't won a match out well at the slams coming into this the last time that happened was I believe um Jennifer Brady who then had that stand out to the semi-finals so I think that's quite interesting also when you look at the year that she's had it's almost similar to the Zev story where he had that terrible injury um in the semi-finals very true of the French Open and then a year later he made it back to the semi-finals so very very impressive and I think we can all say that we're so pleased that she's back at the top of the game because she we did we were kind of denied that um because she really was coming into Peak form and challenging for majors and then it didn't quite pan out because she had you know one of the worst injuries of her life so it is brilliant to see her back in the semis and Chris you wenten on the the Pod when I I asked him about this and and I I don't know if you heard I had to break out the the swear jar for the for talking about the big three and I just wanted to ask you as a as a as a WTA stand you know if karolina muker was fully fit or had a fully fit season do you think we would be talking about her in the context of as as I say a big three with shant sabalenka reako as well do you think that's the level that she can play at or do you still think she's got a point to prove I think everyone who follows tennis will know how good she is um she can do everything and I'm not sure that there are players who have that level of variety she's almost ashb like in that way um great serve great off the ground um great shot making she throws in the slice so I think she definitely has top three potential she should have been eager in that French Open final I do believe that but she also shouldn't have won the semi-final against savena so she's been so close to a slam before um I wouldn't be surprised if she did win um I really wouldn't because the game is there it's more like can she produce that and stay fit and healthy at the same time yeah um and that's always the question with m is it is always the question and you just hope question you hope that we can see her have a full season because she she's not saying she's getting on but um she does need a really good season next year and maybe need a string of matches she needs a string of tournaments it's it's it's very I mean as I say to her achievement it's incredible to think how stop start you know this last 12 months have been and and for her to go on a run like this yeah that is very very impressive and she will face Jessica Pula in the semifinals and Pula jpeg defeated eion Pegula vs Swiatek Tech 6264 to make her first ever Grand Slam semifinal Chris EIG Tech is out jpeg is through the summer of jpeg continues the summer of American success continues as well they've got four players left across the men and women's draws in the semi-finals yeah Jessica Pula were you expecting regardless of how well Jessica Mula has been playing across the summer were you expecting to wake up to to this result and it to to to be such a kind of routine formality like um score line I mean I wasn't expecting it to be this one-sided especially sort of that first set um Jesse's been playing great tennis but EA's also been playing great tennis it felt like she was playing herself into the match really well um not into the match into the tournament for eager so when you look at how emphatic her victories have also been coming into this after a bit of a tricky sort of first encounter you do have to think that this was more one-sided than you would have expected but having said that the head-to-head on Hardcore eager is not the same as if you play her on a clay court for sure um and if you play her outside of the slams so is this that surprising I was going to ask you do you feel like this is an upset in many ways um eager's not been um past I think the the round the quarterfinal since she won the title here and she's not been past the quarter final a major outside of Roland Goos um since uh since winning that title in 2022 so it's it's hard to tell because also there was the the big thing of Pula of breaking that semi-final duck as well so lots of work I think yeah to me that is uh you know that's so great for her you we talked about rublev still not been able to do that Fritz has been able to do that he he broke it in in the men's section so following up from that for Jessica Pula is fantastic I guess from her form point of view it's not as surprising and I think also if you look at her head-to-head and matchups against kind of shon Tech like she has victories over Shion Tech in the past and so she's gonna have experiences to pull upon um to get the the job done and I think you do look at sh can think that it is a kind of like a either I'm going to win it or I'm going to go out before the before the semi-finals so there was a little bit of a a hoodoo there I think so that worked in the favor of of of Jessica beula and I think she is playing great tennis at the moment I think you know I watched the highlights of the match against Fon I thought she was returning very very well I thought her depth on the coure um you know her rally shot was very close to the Baseline and it kept Shion kind of P towards the back and um big hitting yeah very big hitting and I think that that was probably one of the the big things is that Jesse is able to impose her game on you especially when you're not serving well that first set I think eager only made 36% of first serves um and quite a lot of errors on the Baseline so it does feel like the match kind of got away Ching her in a Coco golf yeah it does I think um again very surprising numbers from the world number one but she did say afterwards that she's won tournaments serving badly so she wasn't too concerned at that point um and I think with Jesse actually getting it done would be the tough point because if they did go to a third set I think we all would think that potentially eagus font Tech would have won that but I mean Pula is so good when she wins the first set she barely ever loses um when she does get that first set done so I mean great she so mentally strong isn't she she just continues and doesn't you don't necessarily associate her with just having lapses of concentration either no doesn't overthink very keeps it very simple and yeah into into a semi-final Chris just on eish fion Tech you you mentioned that you know she hasn't been past the Does Iga need to play better outside RG quarterfinal of a grand slam not rol on garos of the French Open uh since winning the US Open in 2022 why why do you think that is and you know should be should we be Road I feel like you know we're getting to a point where I know she's got that solitary you know Victory outside of Clay on on harda in New York City as I say in 2022 but at the moment I don't know I don't want to say eag is just a French Open Merchant and that's yeah but but certainly if you look at the Timeline there is a case to say that there is um it's undeniable and if you look at the the results he's not even reached semi-final or final um of of another as I say Grand Sam yeah we're we're talking about you know Yanik competing the semi-final set um ego has done it at three of the slams that the one that she hasn't done it at is Wimbledon she's one round off there it's very strange because I feel like she's more dominant now outside of grand slams than she was when she won two grand slam titles and made the semi-finals in Australia in 2022 so that is something that's quite confusing especially when you look at we also had another sort of the fifth major in the Olympics this year and she came up short against kman Jen as well so yeah um I think that maybe the record what's going on the record you should be chasing are the slams and I think putting in the time whether it is to improve your grasscourt game or to improve the other aspects of your game when it comes to the leadup to some of these bigger tournaments um she talked about it before not always having the best leadup to tournaments like Wimbledon I think sometimes it is coming off the slam win that can be a problem so that slam I think kind of makes sense um Australia is a big question mark for me because I do think she plays well down there so you can have some upsets rebec is no I mean that's a tough loss in the round four in 2023 Nosa was a big upset potina was a big upset um and there's no real shame in losing to Jesse Pula who's playing well so you know you can't win everything I think she will win um Australia for sure I think the bigger question mark is around Wimbledon um but I'd like to see more of her ranking points coming from slam than coming from the 1000s what do you think just before we move on to looking at the semi-finals what do you think she will be thinking about her 2024 season because round three Australian Open Champion French Open round three at Wimbledon and then quarterfinal at US Open I I think that's I think that's uh I don't I I think that's below satisfactory if I'm if I'm Mish fiance yeah I do think so and she was one point away from not getting the French Open you know if Saka had taken her out in that second round she would have had third round second round third round quarterfinal so obviously that's not the case and you don't know what could have happened other slams had she have gone out early maybe should have won Wimbledon but she's definitely beatable and I think maybe the the rest of the field is really up for the challenge if I was eish fch she wants to be the greatest of all time I'm sure voim to caros alaras in that respect she also doesn't necessarily want to be you know a clay Court specialist to be considered like that and she has won more matches on hard courts than everyone else this year just not at the times when you really want to win them so I think she will be channeling that into next year and I really wouldn't be surprised if she was able to to win a slam outside of um Roland garos next year yeah I agree I definitely think she needs to look at next season and be like how do I get my game up on the alpha Court surfaces and make it leveled out with how I perform on Clay because there is a bit of a gap a bit of a disparity at the moment but let's move on and look at the semi-finals and the matchups that we do have across the men and women's drawers let's start with the the ladies because we've got ladies semi-finals day coming up um the usap in New York Emma Navaro Arena sabalenka Jessica Pula Carolina Muk um right what are we where are we looking at we' got two Americas we've got the prospect of a battle of the billion the billionaire daughters Battle of the billionaire daughters in the final do we think that's a do we think that's an actual possibility that's a very big question I mean it has to be because there are only four players left in the draw Joel but very true in terms of who I think is going to win the semis I think that sabalenka will have enough Firepower to get it done um I do think it could go to three it could get a bit messy I'm not sure it's going to be the cleanest of tennis Amaro hasn't been playing the clean of tennis but I do think that the experience of being at this level previously for sabalenka and not getting it last year she does seem a bit laser focus so I think now sh techs out as well exactly so I do think that it could be a sabalenka Pula or a savena Muka final I wouldn't be surprised by that but I would be surprised if it was an Naro final yeah it feels like as I say it's it's now with SH Tech out it feels like it's it's uh Sabal leners to lose and I think she'll be looking at the rest of the draw thinking obviously she can't under underestimate or or or get complacent or anything but certainly she's in that yanic sinner position I think of of looking at the rest of the field that's left and thinking there's not there shouldn't be anything here to to frighten me um and I should be feeling confident um yeah about my chances of of adding a US Open title to my trophy cabinet it would be very interesting wouldn't it if uh sabalenka ended the year on two slams and eager on one that would be surely a form of motivation for Shon Tech in terms of the Pula M of a clash they played recently actually I was quite surprised that they played so recently um they played in Cincinnati and that was a really tight three sets 5 seven 64 62 to Pula so that's very much a Level Playing Field as long as Muka is feeling better I think um she hasn't got much time to recover from a tummy buug so I'd have to say at the moment Pula for me has the edge because of the fact that Muka might not be physically feeling as well as she has done previously and might not be able to train and practice as much in the leadup okay well let's look at some predictions for the men now sinner Draper britz tifo they've got a little bit more of a a a recovery time we'll see these matches on Friday ukuk Friday night Friday Saturday morning possibly depending on how late things go as say C Draper Fritz TFO let's start with Fritz tifo the allamerican matchup what are you thinking about this one because as I say earlier britz 61 in the head-to-head it's going to have an impact for sure and the fact that Fritz did beat you know the top seed in in the in the half that remained uh that's going to be a big form of confidence for him I've said it I feel like I've said it so much this this podcast but it's a belief game and I really think that the people who have it in their eyes at the moment are Taylor Fritz and Jack Draper okay I don't necessarily know that we'll translate into a win for Jack because yanx sin's level is so high but for Fritz I do think we'll see him in the final there might be forets um probably is foret because it is such a big deal getting over the line he does get a bit nervous in some of those moments which is fair but so does France Tio so what are you calling I'm going to go with I'm gonna go with Fritz I think Fritz will over best of five get ultimately get the job done I do think um C Draper is a bit trickier um head to head I'm I'm looking it up at the moment I can tell you it's one nil Jack Draper wow it is one nil ja J they played at um Queen Club Queen's Club a few years ago and that was a big upset that was um quite a lot of fun actually so how much you read into that 2021 wasn't it yeah not a lot grass caugh as well um yeah I'm not sure I think you got to go with I think you've got to go with yanx sin he's been the form player he's um been hit on that before he's going to feel motivated I mean they're both going to feel motivated but I feel like the Draper's going to need to go up a level or two um to uh to to get the upset I'm gonna go out there and just say the Jack Draper that I saw I think he can definitely make it competitive and if he is able to really take the ball away um take the ball on and kind of take the time away from Yanik that's a very different Prospect to medev um but it has to be plan a and plan a has to be working for Jack Draper to get that result um for sinna he obviously the favorite going into that Jack's got absolutely nothing to lose and people can be so so dangerous in those moments so I think for me I'm trying to flip a coin as to which way I'm going to go I believe Jack can do it but I do think in those key moments yanx C might be a bit too Rock Solid right okay I'm G to give you the matchup now I want winner and number of sets Okay and we're gonna end the episode there right Navaro sabalenka sabalenka 2 sabalenka 2 Jesse Pula karolina Muk poua in three m in two okay Fritz tifo I go Fritz in four th thit thit you can't go for both of them uh I go I Fritz in Fritz in three God that's a that's a tongue twister in three sinner Draper the big one I think it might be cner in five I think it's really going to be an W okay I'm going to go cin four I think yeah I think that sounds about right but I think Jack Draper he gonna he's goingon to Showcase what he's all about I could also see Jack in three I have no idea going down in a blaze of glory yeah who knows I mean we've not spoken about Emma ranu and uh the the sort of fairy tale that was a few years ago and is Jack Draper on a similar fairy tale I mean there are some parallels there not dropped to Jack Draper yes didn't come through qualifying but both not dropped a set um all the way through well the Americans I mean Jesse Pula hasn't dropped a set yet either but when the Brits make it to a semi-final well well well we certainly we certainly play we live in hope we certainly live in Hope but uh we will have to see ladies semi-finals coming up today men's semi-finals tomorrow but we're going to end our quarterfinals catch up there listeners I hope you've enjoyed our latest episode of the tennis weekly podcast remember to subscribe to us to stay up toate on all the action to come as we head into finals weekend at Flushing Meadows we're on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube and all major podcasting platforms out there and if you like what you're hearing then make sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple podcast or Spotify plus like And subscribe to us on YouTube and hit that notification Bell you can also watch this a video episode on YouTube as well as follow us on social media and email the show we're on Facebook Instagram Tik Tok and x and the handle for all those is tenis weekly pod we have an Etsy sale on at the moment we have 25% off our merch and that's at etsy.com / shoptennis weekly podcast you can email US Tennis weekly pod gmail.com or do check out our website tennis weekly. co.uk and we will be back on Saturday morning at tennis weekly HQ for our semifinals catchup of the US Open brought to you by funy Bol so I hope you can join us for that but in the meantime it's goodbye from Chris goodbye and it's goodbye from me we'll see you again soon