Rune DISASTER! Jovic teen SENSATION! Djokovic REVENGE! | US Open 2024 Day 1 | GTL Tennis Podcast

the US Open has returned and day one has given us some big stories to tell hogar Luna out of the US Open in straight sets we have a new Teen sensation on the women's with Eva yovic knocking out magdal Linette and a couple of the Old Guard bid farewell to the US Open for good as Dominic team and Diego schwarzman wave goodbye and of course it's business as usual for jovic and [Music] sabalenka that's right we're back in America back at Flushing Meadows and if you haven't done so yet smash a like subscribe let's go through day one and all of the talking points and no better place to start than this amazing picture that came out before the tournament saying tennis's biggest stage is set and we've got all of the big guns there and look at this what a fantastic image that is absolutely love that but let's get stuck into the action and where better place to start than hogar Run's exit I mean I didn't see this coming I thought it was going to be a tough match but I thought he was going to be able to get through it and as Jose Morgado says here he got defeated 62 61 64 in less than two hours and it was a terrible round one draw for Huna we knew it was a bad draw for him but you'd think he would have something that he could just dig deep and pull out a result here even if he had to go to five something like that but the score line yet it's just very poor from him a tough tough season and I thought he was actually looking not that bad coming into this tournament I mean we know that he uh obviously in Cincinnati he played and got all the way to the semifinals he beat the likes of Draper M Borges lost to TFO in the semis I mean before that um he played in Montreal and he lost to sash as verev uh that was in I believe the round of 16 but it's it's just so inconsistent with hogar Luna right now if he wanted to be considered amongst the next generation of players who's coming through and really competing for big titles something needs to change and at the moment I'm not going to take anything away from Brandon Nakashima I thought he was fantastic in this match so aggressive so powerful and really attacked huna's second serve um it just it didn't have anything on it and Nakashima really knew what he was doing I'll show you some of the the stats here uh winners 23 for Nakashima only 23 unforced eras so pretty even on his hoga 19 winners 30 unforced errors there I mean did well at the net though Huna 18 out of 21 points one but it didn't prove to matter just didn't seem to have the fighting Edge uh I'm not sure what was what was going on there is it because Nakashima was in America I mean playing in front of the home crowd they were cheering on but he just seemed to be playing 10 times better than hog garuna I thought the how aggressive Brandon Nakashima was playing Huna hung in rallies with him but they didn't seem to really be an end product often enough whereas Nakashima I mean this is the type of performance I've been expecting from him for a long time and I'm talking years now from when we first started the podcast um about four years ago I I was singing his Praises then I expected him to to jump onto the scene and be more where huna's position is to be honest but could we be seeing a little bit of a a later blooming of Brandon Nakashima 23 years old he's been a bit more battle tested now gone through a few tournaments and starting to really find his feet in Grand Slams maybe the US Open is the one where he can finally go deep in a tournament because I I don't believe his draw is actually too too bad I mean he's going to have to play Kazo in the next round he knocked out Keno Buster and then it could be a third round match of either KET manovic or Lorenzo MTI and I think if he plays like that like he did against hog Luna I I expect to see him in the third round and then well you got sash as verev potentially as a fourth round opponent there most likely it would be him but he has done well against verev in the past and that was not the type of player he is right now to go back to hog garuna though and focus on him I saw a tweet go out the other day and I thought it sort of hit the nail on the head are we thinking of him in too high regard now are is is he actually the next big thing or is this just the way he is is he just a type of player who isn't going to be that consistent he is going to have like spells of Brilliance and we're never going to see a level of consistency over a whole season and they said he he is pretty much where he should be around 15 in the world performs well against some big players sometimes has a good tournament here and there but very unpredictable when it comes to the slams uh you can't really rely on him I mean if this was I mean I know you can't really do the tennis maths if this was Carlos alalas let's say or even yanx sinner because they're the only two that we're really going to throw into the comparison right now I think we they would have shown a lot more fight in this match against Nakashima I think Huna when he's losing he goes away quickly I don't see the level of fight in him to to come back in this type of match um correct me if I'm wrong but I think if you if this if this was Carlos alalas and he was down uh two sets to love and down a break I'd expect him to be doing everything possible to try and get the crowd on his side I mean it's difficult against an American but he'll be doing everything pulling out all the stops chasing down every every ball minimizing every mistake possible and put the pressure onto Nakashima I didn't see that from hog garuna and I just I just wonder what what he's thinking now does he does he just go and sit in the dressing room and just think like what went wrong today where where could I have improved like I mean we know the talent is in there someone needs to draw it out of him on a more consistent basis I feel it needs to be like a better team around him of coaching staff or mentors this type of thing but he definitely at the moment is struggling and definitely on the consistency side but fair play to Nakashima I would love to see Nakashima go far in a slam and if he gets a couple more convincing wins under his belt then he may go into a match with sash as ver come the fourth round and be brimming with confidence which could be pretty scary Prospect for someone like Zev as well obviously you've got the serve to contend with though with Zev moving on from hogar Runa but tell me your thoughts about hogga in that comment section I want to know your thoughts on him do you think like is there just a ceiling for him at the moment do you think he can subass it do you think he's just sort of petering out a little bit and never going to reach those dizzy Heights let's move on to somebody else who you know I love speaking about and it is the man who comes through with a bit of Revenge as well H it was in fact Novak jovic coming through on in the late match on Arthur Ash and he becomes the man with the most wins on Arthur Ash in history and he said I wasn't aware of it to be honest it's the biggest stadium definitely the loudest we have in the history of our sport the night sessions are the best in the world uh ever or on our thrash ever since the roof was introduced it became even louder electric atmosphere incredible energy obviously with some new rules this year with the crowd able to move around there are a lot of things happening on court we're clocking midnight right now I love the night sessions maybe not this late but nevertheless it was great fun I want to thank everybody for staying I appreciate you the reigning Champion Novak jovic got past rad do albot in straight sets and I thought it was interesting he had to go to the like the panel afterwards to have a interview postmatch as well and he said about his motivation for this match which is interesting to see where he pulls his motivation from and Ru albot apparently has beaten both of his brothers were professional tennis players and that was one he needed to get back for them which very interesting so he said I did this for you and there's a very we'll have a very happy household uh in the jovic family tonight so it's good to see that he's just doing finding little things to motivate himself I I don't think he was ever really in any doubt of beating Ru albot but albot played some good shots in the match had some uh moments where he ran jovic around but but jovic looks I mean looks a grade right now I mean he's followed on straight from the Olympics and there's just a just a level of confidence right now with Novak jovic where I'm not sure who's going to be able to get him off a tennis court other than somebody who might be able to maintain a high level over five sets and be able to push him all the way to the limit and be serving very very well I mean it's there's a lot of boxes you got to tick to be able to beat Novak jovic but the only thing jovic doesn't have on his side right now is the fact that no one's defended the US Open since 2008 when Roger federa did it doesn't mean he can't do it he is focused on getting number 25 and I fully believe that he has a huge chance of doing it obviously he's on the opposite side of the draw to Carlos alol so he wouldn't have to meet either C or alarz until the final which is a bonus and sash verev who knows will he even make it to the semi-final obviously this is very early doors but jovic I've been watching him practice this week I've been watching aladas practing practicing this week and I thought it's very interesting to see the way their practice sessions are and I was watching alcaraz first and I just thought it's just great fun to just see uh all of the elements that they're practicing on like second serves kick serves for hands backand and when I was watching alalas I just thought this guy is just looks seriously good he was trying to drop shots all the time looked so impressive but then when jovic came on the court I just thought this guy's like a machine it just looked like every single shot that he was hitting even in practice it's just so well like well oiled he's hit that same shot those same serves those same back hands forehand so many it's like millions of times that he just knows exactly where to put every ball he can put exactly any Pace he wants on every single ball I mean it was another level of just practice for me and that's just him on a practice court I'm even Blown Away by watching him practice um yeah has a lot of fans there at the moment chanting his name uh it was making him smile he's been carrying a new gold bag around as well which I absolutely love uh and he's been wearing the gold medal around as well why not do that come on jovic he is through obviously to the next round and I expect him to get through that one as well moving on to some more sad news the men's side and it was the end of the road for US Open matches for the likes of a former champ Dominic team uh got his moment in front of the crowd after he won um uh after he won his only major without the fans on ash yeah it was it was crazy the only time he won a slam was no fans in the stands to be there celebrating it um the ending maybe a sad one but what an amazing player yeah most definitely one of the most sad stories I think to come out of tennis in recent years to be honest Dominic team so much promise so much ability one of the only players who could challenge the likes of a jovic or an adal and that's on multiple surfaces as well was able to defeat Daniel medv a remember I think it was at Australian Open I think it was straight sets as well I mean just had some crazy crazy wins beat Bev in that final at the US Open and then after that after he got the wrist injury I've never seen a a more catastrophic demise from such a high to such a low really not being able to compete anywhere near the level I mean it must have been so frustrating for it must still be that tennis sort of passed him by uh as he had to sit out for all of that time and well um it was it was a very very exciting time when Dominic team was playing his top tennis um he gave me some amazing memories and hopefully gives us a few more before he completely packs the game in and yeah fair play to Ben Shelton as well who did knock him out the tourament but he signaled to the crowd to give him the cheers obviously it's an American crowd they'll be cheering for Shelton but he recognizes greatness as well Dominic team if you're a young fan coming into the sport now and you didn't see him back in his Heyday I mean one of the most exciting players on the tour uh and unfortunately the injury spoiled it for for everyone really um another player who Bears the US Open uh a tearful goodbye which is Diego schwarzman someone we've spoken to on the podcast very sad to see him bow out he obviously got all the way through qualifying which was really impressive he hasn't looked great in recent times but did that got to play gal mon fees and went out in four sets and they put um put together a well some of his best moments like on the screen so special moments like you saw on the screen once again playing it 11 times I did great by think the entire crowd today the years before all the Latin American people and all the American people here I don't know why they take care of me so good every year I'm not sure if I deserve it or not but I'm really grateful about all the years I've been here I want to say thank you one more time to all the people here and who are watching on TV I never dreamed of these kind of moments I ran so uh so much and maybe I deserve it now I'm happy to have these moments congrats SC for one more time you and your team I will enjoy every single moment from now on I want to say thank you and he did say yeah uh I'm sorry for crying but yeah I do cry a lot that's just one of the things he's just an emotional guy I think one of the most likable players on the tour he we missed a slam but we don't want to see players playing like past this their the sell by date really I feel like Diego he's not that competitive that anymore at the big tournaments so probably good there is his last US Open moving on to the women's and a bit more upbeat news as well there was a fantastic performance from a young Phenom uh by the name of Eva yovic and she's 16 years old and she beat Magda Lynette 64 63 to reach the second round of the US Open Fant fantastic love to see one of these stories where you've got somebody who's only been playing Juniors now finally coming through to play uh her first ever WTA main draw event and it being at the US Open is pretty big she played fantastically well really good hard hitting from the Baseline Magna Lynette actually was playing all right there was a few like sloppy errors in there but you got to stand strong in those rallies and I thought she really gave a good showing of herself and like Tik Tock tennis are saying here um the American had a Stella Junior career uh capturing the doubles title at the Australian Open and Wimbledon and that's just um her her doubles really I mean if you go back to last year she was the runner up at the US Open juniors in the singles and the doubles I mean so she's a great doubles and singles player uh if you go to the Australian Open Juniors she won uh the doubles and she came runner up in the singles I mean so you see she's going deep at all of these Junior slam events um in the French Open I believe it was just quarterfinals for us so maybe clay not a thing uh but got to the final in the doubles as well that's what I mean there's always uh something good there and I believe she got to yeah she obviously won Wimbledon in the doubles and she got to the semifinals in the singles as well so going deep in all of these Junior events and now doing it on the main tour it's fantastic what story this is and where has she come from has she it seems like these players sometimes come out of the blue but obviously she's been plying her trade in the junior circuit doing well always should keep your eyes peeled on the the junior slams because that's sometimes where we get our next big stars coming out and she uh being a wild card into this event obviously taking out the world number 42 and uh she was recently snapped up by Naomi Osaka's talent agency evolve as well which is brilliant for for her and great Naomi aaka recognizing that this could be a fure young Talent on the tour I think it's fantastic and just reading a little bit of her Wikipedia as well saying that she is uh born of father boan and yena both from Serbia as well so there you go but she uh she's from Torrance in California but resides in La began playing tennis at the age of five so look at that Serbia they produced some pretty good tennis players obviously being in the US as well they will love that being at the US Open sort of like a perfect blend for this US Open I think but well done to her an absolutely fantastic performance and I can't wait to see how she gets on for the rest of the tournament I mean if she was able to get past Lynette in the first round does she stand a chance in the second round she's playing Alexandra of her second round Alexandra sometimes can be a bit up and down with her performances she's very very seasoned though I mean A match we'd love to see if she beat her she could face sabalenka in the third round I mean sign me up for that one but I think you're going into another level of power if you come play the likes of sabalenka who let's move on to her she beat uh Priscilla Han 63 63 the last time Arena played a match at the US Open she was one set away from winning the title she's back with a vengeance six consecutive wins uh including to win over the world number one 12 consecutive sets W one she's a trophy hunting in New York and there's the picture of the tiger as well yeah I mean she's definitely the favorite scary scary Prospect right now Arena Sabal Lena I'm she's my favorite to win the whole thing I think she's got a decent draw as well only she will be able to lose it I feel this um this whole tournament um if she plays the way she played in Cincinnati I feel that she wins the US Open at a caner sorry to anybody else who's out there but we know she only struggles with the mental side of the game the physical side is there for all to see somebody who struggles with a bit of both and is out in the first round as Jose Mardo says Maria s and slams it's a curse as she goes out uh due to retirement in her first round match I mean I don't know where to start with her I'm not going to go on and hop on about Maria sakur in this one I feel that she's probably feeling bad enough as it is I'm disappointed I thought she'd go through a few rounds at least I didn't see a win in the tournament or anything like that but um this is just more bad news for her at slams and the records are there for everyone to see I don't think she's I don't think she's made it past first or second round for a very very long time I mean I'll bring it up just quickly just so I can have a quick look but it's it's getting bad now yeah I mean it's the third round actually so yeah she hasn't been past the third round since the Australian Open in uh 2022 so that is now 11 Slack Lambs a lot of first round exits in there as well I mean hopefully she gets the treatment she I feel like she needs to just take a step away come back get everything in order and then she can really attack the rest uh of this career that she's got because there is a there is a there's a fighter in there and there's a real real player in there we just need to see something a bit more from her let's go on to some of the matches that are going to be playing uh later today and these are the picks from me we got yaka menik versus Felix OA Alias Sina versus McDonald I'm interested to see how the crowd reacts obviously it's an American crowd against yanx Sina will we hear some booze I don't know uh we got AA Peno versus Asaka that's really probably The Pick of the day has to be doesn't it we got Ruku versus Kenan and we've got andreescu versus Pini I mean sign me up for pretty much all of those they look fantastic I'll be rounding up those tomorrow so make sure to join us again tomorrow for a round up of that and I know that something that was forgotten during the draw preview sorry there's been a lot going on been moving flat there's a lot of work going on the day job as well jg's in Italy as you know so I'm just trying to get everything get all my ducks in a row and I forgot player roulette but it's probably good for some people because if you would have got hul garuna now he's out so I've removed H garuna from the draw and uh I thought I'd do it a different way and I'll put them in order of who's left in it as uh betting odds rather than doing it via seeds so you're going to have the the favorites essentially the top 22 and I'll get the the wheel spinning and you can all see who you're going to get right here we go so I'll count this down so everybody can see we got five 4 3 2 one stop there we go who have you got we've got jovic is Hassan bakati Jean is Carlos alarz lyette is Yanik sin we got Zev Michael Walker VV JG rublev so iconic I'm Taylor Fritz we've got Ben Shelton GSL Tommy Paul Zach shahan we got MTI Colby Kelly Ray C bertini ADM as Thomas Rock TFO tennis for me cord Bill Ridgeway dimitrov Kathy we've got sisip pass Aman Kasam Felix Lewis Bell her catch Neils hogerson Jack Draper is Adrien col ber we got Alexi poin as Daniel McCormack Casper Roode Chris forberg and yeri leka as Nancy Fatone but that's my Roundup of day one let me know your thoughts about your your views of day one in that comment section I want to hear what you thought about it was there a match I didn't speak about sorry there's so many going on but I've just got to give you a Roundup of what I saw and just pick some main topics I can really go into detail on but if you haven't already make sure to hit a like subscribe listen to us on Spotify as well JG will be back tomorrow and that's it see you for day two [Music]