Sloane chokes BADLY! Gauff's BOLD Claim, Djokovic & Sabalenka Cruise | US Open 2024

Intro stand hey my name is Christian bass Knight and welcome to Christian's Court where I cover tenis from all angles if you have not yet already make sure you subscribe and click the notification Bell so you all notified whenever I post more US Open updates as I'll post them throughout the tournament every single day and also so you join Christian's crew we' love to have you and help me reach my goal of making it to two 20K subscribers yes the 20 24 US Open is Sloane Stephens chokes to Burel here yes and of course I got to talk about SLO Stevens's major collapse in the US Open first round to Clara barell now I was surprised that Sloan even got the opening night slot on Arthur Ash I know that she is a former champion and she won the tournament back in 2017 but she is currently ranked outside the world's top 60 and her opponent wasn't even seated or very well known I thought that maybe Sloan was going to announce her retirement before the match and that's why the tournament gave her this night time slot because there were definitely some other matches that could have been better fits for that slot but at last she came out and she looked great she steamrolled her French opponent to get a six love three love 3015 lead she got broken in that game but she broke back to go up six L 41 with a double break Advantage but she started playing mad sloppy from there on out while Burell stepped her game up and started going after her shots more Sloan had a chance to serve out the match at 5'4 in the the second set but she got broken at 15 and did not win another game in the set Steven still had another opportunity to serve off the match at 54 this time in the decider but it was unfortunately the same story that we saw in the second set where SLO just completely faded away handing her opponent the love six 7575 win I understand that Sloan was low on confidence as she hadn't gotten a whole lot of wins leading into the West open and she definitely got a little bit nervous and shaking when it came time to close and her opponent giving credit to clar barell she definitely stepped up and played a lot better than in the early part of the match and I think that was from Burell I think this was her first time playing a match on Arthur as stadium and she likely got Star Struck especially with this being you know the nighttime prime time slot so for sure it took her some time to get settled in and once she did get settled in of course she made it a great match however I think this is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking losses in Sloan's entire career and she's had quite a few it's really indicative of her entire career you know she has shows flashes of greatness but she still is just not enough to where she can push and Excel to where we know that she can Excel to it's so sad because Sloan really has all the talent in the world and I just feel like she really never truly capitalized on her strengths like her surf or really even her athleticism she should have at least five slam titles under her belt No Lie at least really two or three rolling girls titles under her belt but it just seems like she will end her career with that one still you cannot take away being a grand slam champion from her of course once at a lifetime achievement winning that US Open but again you can't help but think about how much more she could have achieved in this Sport and it's just really it's it's lowkey sad to think about I'm sorry Sloan is 31 years old and she's married and she might want kids so there's really no telling how much longer that we'll see her out there competing on the court and on on the tour I hope that we will at least get to see her play the US Open at least one more time because ending her US Open career like that would be pretty would be pretty bad to be honest now the Maria Sakkari exits early again biggest casualty of the day was ninth SE Maria sakur who bowed out in the opening round to 80th ranked yon Wong sakur retired after losing the opening set 62 due to an apparent shoulder injury that she received treatment for earlier in this match sakur was questionable for even playing the slam due to that shoulder issue which kept her from competing since the Olympics the loss marks yet another first round exit for sakur at a major and it's now going to be 3 years since the Greek woman has made a slam second week she made the fourth round at the 2022 Australian Open I gave sakur a little bit of flak because of that injury but there's clearly still some sort of mental block with the Greek woman when it comes time to play these major tournaments she performs well at mostly all the other tournaments outside of the slams which is why she has been a Mainstay pretty much within the top 10 for the last what like 5 years maybe or so uh four years but it's just like whenever she comes time to play Slam she just does not bring really great tennis at all I said this before but I think the issue is rooted in where she fell in the semi-finals in 2021 at rolling girls and the US Open to the eventual Champions and bikova and Emar respectively sakur is 29 years old so I can't really help but think whether her time of winning a slam is running out Maria sakur and Diana Yuma were the only two seated players to not make it out of round one bikova and Paulo badosa mov through in straight sets while Victoria Azarenka came from behind to get the job done and she would now face Clara barell definitely the most mouthwatering match here in this section is Paula Bosa and Taylor Townsen B Doo she's my semi-final pick I think will be the favorite in this one but I honestly believe that town and can offer her a good challenge I can see Taylor pushing Paula to three sets at least but I think I think the spard will be too solid in the end all eyes were on the defending lady Champion kok go who took the court earlier in the day against Francis Vora gacha gacha pushed eager's fiance to three sets in Cincinnati about a week or so ago playing great tennis so I was a tad bit worried for coko especially since she had been not playing well lately at all as she crashed out early in Cincinnati Coco Gauff opens title defense Koko had had a shaky start and she faced multiple break points in each of her first two service games but once she survived that second service game the American settled in nicely and it was smooth sailing from then on golf won the last 10 games of the match to take it in 67 minutes this match was somewhat solid from Koko definitely wasn't her best but she didn't really need to bring her best because graa made so many unforced errors against a better more consistent opponent I think we would have seen that forehand be more of a liability for the third seed because it really did not look great in all honesty but Koko did do well on her serve as she nailed down 10 Aces and won 63% of points behind her second serve more notable to me though is what Koko said after the win and she said that a Tik Tok comment she received inspired her to change her mindset ahead of the tournament she said you defend something which means that you won something if you did it that means you can do it again whether I can do it again this year or not I'm going to do it again whether it's 2024 or not I will do it again that's a bar right there and it just shows you that Koko still has the self-belief despite how challenging this summer has been for her I think that's great too because much of Koko's struggles are derived from psychological issues so I she's in a better space mentally I think that'll go a long ways for her in this tournament Koko will now face The Crafty Tatiana Maria in the second round as she could still meet 27th SE Alena fidelina in the third round who got by a tricky Maria Lord is carlay in three sets Spina I think will be dangerous for Koko should they play in the third round so definitely I'm a little worried about that match up for my girl Koko meanwhile up top Emma Navaro and Marta kuk both Advanced comfortably beating anab blinkova and McCartney Kessler respectively the most Other women's results (Sabalenka, Zheng) anticipated match of the day did not disappoint at all between kinguin Jang and Amanda andova Jen fought back to beat the red hot American 4 66462 this was a great effort from Jan because Amanda Not only was she coming into the tournament on with great form making the Toronto final but she came into this match or she started this match playing excellent tennis and she went up 5-1 and held a double brick advantage and she had multiple set points at 52 but could not convert and even though she was able to eventually win that first set 6'4 I think not winning it earlier definitely helped her her chances and only aided kenin and as she was able to get more comfortable and had more time to you know find her footing in this match and Sova also suffered from blisters and definitely heat problems towards the tail end of the match but ultimately the more match tough Jang was too good in the end I did have Annie sovo pull off the upset before the tournament and make the quarterfinals eventually but kenwin I think would be my pick now to come through this section for sure although she could get a rematch of the Olympic gold medal match with Donna vage in the fourth round keep an eye out for Payton Sterns too though I think the shield upset Dari cannot and maybe go deep in this tournament last year's runnerup Arena sabalenka weathered a strong showing from aie qualifier Priscilla Han ultimately winning it 6363 overall it was a solid performance from the number two seed and the title favorite Han had some good looks in the second set to make this match much more competitive but while Priscilla served at 2340 love up sa Blanka hit five winners in a row to break back just just crazy it was wild and then sablan went down love 40 on her serve the following game but managed to claw her way out of trouble to hold serve for the 5-2 lead and she ultimately of course served out the match sa Linka now faces luciao bronzetti The Italian who got the retirement over W and Cinderella Story Lulu up top the American Madison Keys got an impressive 6461 win over Karina sakova who can be a tough customer I was very surprised that Keys um got through that match so convincingly but definitely that's a sign that she could perhaps go deep in the tournament despite just recovering still recovering from that heartbreaking ugly woman an injury Elisa merdin also got a strong win over Veron kakuda mova and she'll now meet Isa tanovich 29th SE of Karina alexandrova barely scraped by and now gets American team sensation 16-year-old Eva jovic who downed world number 42 Magna Lynette in straight sets jish got the wild card after winning the girls Nationals 18s tournament and I high he can see her beating the Russian alexandrova to face big Lanka in the third round transitioning to the men's Shelton ends Thiem's slam career side Ben Shelton kicked off play on Arthur Ash with a straightforward 64 6262 victory over 2020 US Open champ dominate team the result marks an end to team slam career which in addition to winning here in Flushing four years ago he also finished runner up once at melbour and twice at rolling girls the tournament gave domy a nice little farewell presentation at the end as the 31-year-old plans to retire at the Vienna open in October unfortunately team was really never the same after that nasty wrist injury in 2021 and has lowkey been like a missing piece to the sport not having him compete on the high level that we're know that we know he's capable of competing at because he was a consistent top five figure and can always push jovic and the doll to the brink having him in the mix alongside alcad and Center would have been huge for the sport but unfortunately you just can't not have it all team story reminds me of Wal Martin doos and injury just prevented him as well from maximizing his career and it's just so utterly sad finding the Silver Lining though I'm just happy that he was able to get that stem wi at he was open in 2020 where he recovered from two sets to love down to beat Z and I wish him just all the best in his retirement Shelton's potential Tiafoe, Djokovic, etc. advance & Rune falls third round opponent and friend Francis TFO had a tougher time on court as he battled pass compatriot Alexander kovich 6463 4675 tiao rocking the lavender fit next meets another Alex this one chevchenko while Shelton takes on Spanish Veteran Roberto Bautista aut Novak jovic did not bring his best tenis against Maldova Ru albot committing 10 double faults Landing just 47% of first servs in and hitting 23 winners to 40 unforced airs but the serbs still move through comfortably 6262 264 he'll definitely need to clean that up if he faces Montreal Champion Alexi pin in the third round who eliminated Sun Wu Kuan in straight sets moving up Andre Ruble section is still intact after he Yuri leka Sebastian bayas and gger demro all Advance I'm bummed that Chris Eubank wasn't able to scrape by author Ron though as he lost in a gut-wrenching 108 fifth set tiebreaker the biggest upset of the day on the men's side really wasn't even an upset to many within the tennis community American Brandon Nakashima clawber 15th seed H garun 62 61 64 I expected Nakashima to win because he held a twoin love record over the day and coming into this match and he had been playing well lately getting wins over Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz but I definitely did not expect such a lopsided score line especially since the Run had that good semi-final showing in Cincinnati but clearly he has not completely found the plot to this disappointing 2024 season he looked all out of sorts today and just did not look right mentally hogre will definitely look to put the pieces back together for the fall/ indoor season and maybe he can push for a top 10 finish in another popcorn match of the day Lorenzo musti survived big serving American Riley opela in four sets now I said survived because opela led the Italian 5340 love in the fourth set while serving so for mered to hang in there and roll out four consecutive games is Major Lorenzo now faces miramir Katch manovic in round two after his first round opponent yoshihito nishioka retired at the start of the fifth set nishioka had two match points while serving for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set but he suffered full body cramps he had difficulty breathing and was eventually carried away in a wheelchair while having convulsions which Nisha said continued for an hour he says he's feeling better now though but he'll withdraw from doubles and will go back home to Japan I feel awful for nishioka especially because he had match points in this match and it sucks too because he had a good summer as he won a to in Atlanta and he had chances to get that elusive top 10 win over Hubert herot in Cincinnati but his emotions took over unfortunately this time his body betrayed him but hopefully he'll be 100% and ready ready to go for the fal swing meanwhile Alexander Z moved past his compatriot and lucky loser Max moner while 29th seed Francisco sondalo also prevailed in four sets and now gets his dangerous fellow Argentine Thomas Martin ET who slayed the 68 giant Giovanni imp Petri Pedic card in straight set and lastly Alexander Buck is the only Fallen seed in Casper root section the KAC lost to the taled young Chinese Lefty Jerry Shang in five sets meanwhile we have some pretty good popcorn second round matches on our hands here first Casper Roode and G monf and then even better Taylor Fritz and Matteo bartini which really could decide side the winner of this section to be honest I picked Taylor in my tournament preview so I'm going to stick with him here and have him beat the Italian to make the third Day two preview round looking ahead to day two eish fanch Yanik CER Carlos alov and Jessica Pula headline play on arthor ash but most of my top popcorn match picks are on Luis Armstrong after the Americans Danielle Collins and Caroline doah High take the court we get the most anticipated first raw match of the entire tournament which I really don't understand why this one is on Louis Armstrong but anyways it it'll be between no yaka and yena aleno the two big boss striking Slam champions the 10 seed ala Peno is the higher rank of the two but I'm more siding with Naomi here because I think the hotter conditions will favor her more plus I think that she'll just simply Elevate her level I'm just have Good Vibes here that Naomi will bring better tennis in this match and then the most highly anticipated men's match to me at least will be between 14 SE Tommy Paul and Renzo Sono who was coming off the title in Winston Salem the past week where he didn't drop a set this won't be easy for Tommy but I think the Americans defensive skills as well as the home crop support will carry him through grand stand courthouses my other two standout popcorn matches stfo cipas opens play against tanasi konakis I could honestly see konakis pull off the upset here he's very dangerous and Steph is not in the greatest form and does not have the best track record at this slam I might still have that high rank Greek move through though then the final match on grand stand will be between two unseated Slam champions and emarat kanu and Sophia Kenan Rano is the clear pick for me due to her being in better form as of late but perhaps Kennan can conjure up a surprise and shock the 2021 Champion that's all I have for my US Open day one recap and let me know in the comments if you believe that Sloan's career is kind of on the out and also what you thought about Koko Novak and Arena's performances as well as as any other players which player impressed you the most on day one for me on the woman's side it's going to be Kenn Jang and then on the men's I'll say Brandon Nakashima again make sure you subscribe and click the notification Bell so you are notified whenever I post my US Open day to recap again thank you all for watching and thank you for your support and I'll catch y'all next time here on Christian Court