US Open Day 11 - Tennis has a new World No.1
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What happened in the opening recap and why was the team so exhausted?
Well, hello and welcome to the Tennis Podcast coming to you from New York on day 11 of the US Open. A day that has felt like one big hangover after the 3.30am finish from the night or rather the morning before. Thank you for all the well wishes that have been sent my way over the last 24 hours. They are much appreciated. I'm also very grateful to Matt and David for covering for me. on what was an extraordinary night last night. I've been struggling with a bad cold and an even worse case of FOMO, but I am bouncing back. Good to have you back. Or bouncing back as much as the tennis schedule will allow. Matt, your post-Shelton Alcaraz stubble is causing quite the stir in our DMs.
Is it really? Gosh, well, it wasn't something I was intending really, but... Feels reflective of the tournament. Indeed.
Arthur Rush Stadium was dormant for less than eight hours before matches resumed this morning. So it's still got about twice as much sleep as David and Matt.
It was sunrise when we went to bed. Such a bad moment.
What are we all doing?
Comical stuff.
When play did resume, it did so with the two remaining women's quarterfinals, starting with Elena Rabatkin and qualifier Zheng Qinwen, a match which saw Rabatkin not only reach a first ever US Open semifinal, but also become or schedule herself to become on Monday, the brand new world number one. Talk us through the match, David.
Yeah, this was a real kind of mind over matter achievement, I think, and an internal battle that she was fighting because she was tight. Understandably so. You kind of marked the card that you thought that might be a factor in this match, how... nervous she might get trying to get over the line and seal this achievement, this enormous milestone in her career. And in the first set, total opposite of what we've seen from Zheng Qianwen in a couple of these sets recently, she started well. She was hitting the more cleanly of the two. She just looked the more decisive of the two. And she won that first set. And Rebecca was... Irritable. She needed to vent, she said afterwards. And she went over to her support team.
It looked pretty kind of... anxiety-inducing the whole exchange between her and her coaching team. And she just said afterwards, I needed to vent. And she said, I was getting reminded of what the tactics were from before the match. Because she just looked like she couldn't really play freely at all. And it did the trick because she came back out in the second set and she was a completely different player. She rushed out into a 4-1 lead and there was just a conviction about her shot-making. I didn't think... Zheng Qingwen played terribly in the second set, but she did leave the court at the end of the first set. And the commentators were wondering whether that might have been a mistake. Commentary team involving Mary Carrillo, who started the match at 11.30, having finished the night before match at 3.33 a.m., which sounds crazy.
She was on
four straight Arthur Ashe stadium matches, all of which went the distance. 14 sets in total.
So that happened. Pull one out for Mary. But, yeah, Rebecca, I feel like this was a huge achievement for her because not only was she playing an excellent opponent who... who was playing some of the best tennis I've seen from her at this tournament that she's had this great run in, Rebecca got better as the finish line approached. And when you consider what was on the line, I think that that takes some doing. So, yeah, she really just took over the match. And I didn't really feel as though she was going to lose it once she got hold of it.
Yeah, although Jung was very close right at the end, wasn't she? She had a break point, well, to go 5-3 up and Rabatkin was kind of a sitting duck up at the net and Jung missed the pass there on break point and Rabatkin held, broke, served it out emphatically. It was tense for a moment there for Rabatkin, but... Yeah, she looked much more like the player that she had been in the previous round in the second and third sets of this one. And yeah, it's a big moment, I think, for Rabatkin to get to world number one and break this grip that Sabalenko and Svantec have had on that ranking since Ash Barty retired.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened in the opening recap and why was the team so exhausted?
0:10–8:38
2
How did Elena Rybakina secure her win over Zheng Qinwen and clinch the World No. 1 spot?
8:38–17:47
3
What turned Coco Gauff’s match against Mirra Andreeva around after she saved match points?
17:47–26:15
4
Why did the men’s quarter‑finals feel under‑whelming and what were the key takeaways?
26:15–34:39
5
What is causing Alexander Zverev’s ball‑bouncing issues and could it affect his form?
34:39–42:34
6
How might Karen Khachanov’s run to a third major semi‑final impact his semi‑final against Zverev?
42:34–50:41
7
What are the predictions for the women’s semi‑finals – could we see an all‑American final?
50:41–57:36
8
How are the hosts wrapping up the episode and what’s coming up on Day 12?
57:36–1:00:04