# Can Ben Shelton Break The Streak?! | US Open Something Major SF's | EP 214

An episode of [Nothing Major](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1756744318), 12 Sep 2026, 37 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/dbcf7075-b1a5-4f4d-ade0-b4da0135fb2e/85745324-f5cf-4346-ae15-b4da01365982/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3b43a2f1-982b-4fe0-ae8e-b4da0135fb3a

On this episode of Nothing Major, Sam, John, and Stevie break down US Open Semifinal Friday, starting with Sam’s courtside observations, an influencer rant, and a stacked celebrity crowd. They recap Ben Shelton’s four-set win over Frances Tiafoe which featured a disputed 158-mph serve reading, before discussing what Tiafoe’s summer means going forward. Plus, they cover Zverev’s straight-sets win over Khachanov, his heavy baseline game, huge serving numbers, and lengthy pre-serve bounces, along with Sam’s on-court interview where Zverev shouts out the podcast. On the women’s side, they recap Sabalenka overpowering Pegula and Rybakina rallying past Gauff behind a dominant serve before previewing the finals: Zverev vs. Shelton and Sabalenka vs. Rybakina, with predictions and bracket challenge talk. 18+ only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Please carefully consider if it is appropriate for you in light of your personal financial circumstances. Kalshi products are not available in all jurisdictions. See kalshi.com/regulatory for more information. Go to the app store and sign up using promo code: MAJOR: http://kalshi.com/r/major Follow Nothing Major on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/NothingMajorShow 00:00 Semifinal Friday Kickoff 00:31 Influencer Courtside Rant 01:54 Celeb Spotting Buzz 02:21 Shelton Beats Tiafoe 04:39 Serve Speed Controversy 05:26 Tiafoe Next Steps 06:42 Trinity Rodman Talk 07:36 Zverev Tops Khachanov 09:33 Zverev Serve And Baseline 12:58 On Court Interview Shoutout 13:46 Scheduling Rant Follow Up 14:23 Dinner Tip Venmo Drama 17:48 Sabalenka Powers Past Pegula 19:20 Why Sabalenka Dominated 21:14 Rybakina Stuns Coco 22:59 Midriff And Monster Serve 24:29 Mens Final Zverev vs Shelton 28:29 Predictions And Matchup Keys 32:04 Womens Final Picks 33:54 Bracket Chaos 35:46 Shoutouts And Signoff See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: All right, on today's Something Major, we're back. It's semifinal Friday.
[0:04] Speaker 1: We just finished Francis Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, so let's
[0:07] Speaker 1: get into the show.
[0:08] Speaker 2: Jack Jones, Stevie and Sam. Got close a few times,
[0:12] Speaker 2: never won a slam. Nothing major.
[0:14] Speaker 1: All right, we are back. What a couple weeks in
[0:16] Speaker 1: New York. We are fired up. We got John. We
[0:19] Speaker 1: got Sam. We got Charlie in the suits at SIFT.
[0:22] Speaker 2: I'm home.
[0:22] Speaker 1: John's home. Sam's still in New York. But let's get
[0:25] Speaker 1: into some of the men's semifinals. Let's start. Let's start
[0:29] Speaker 1: with the one we just watched. Ben Shelton takes.
[0:31] Speaker 2: Out- Oh, can I start with my influencer rant real quick?
[0:33] Speaker 3: Oh, sorry.
[0:33] Speaker 2: Sorry. My bad.
[0:34] Speaker 1: My bad.
[0:34] Speaker 2: You're right. Sorry. It's not a rant. It's not a rant.
[0:37] Speaker 2: One of my favorite things I noticed today when I
[0:38] Speaker 2: was courtside for Zverev, all the influencers, they come down
[0:42] Speaker 2: and take their picture near the courtside, and they're not
[0:44] Speaker 2: sitting near the court. They walk right back up. They're liars. Yeah.
[0:47] Speaker 2: They walk right back up. They think like, oh, look
[0:48] Speaker 2: how hot I am by the court. Like, no, you're
[0:50] Speaker 2: in the lounge.
[0:50] Speaker 1: Well, of course.
[0:51] Speaker 2: Everyone do that. You're in the lounge. That's not a revelation. Yeah,
[0:54] Speaker 2: but like- I know, but it's happening more here. It's
[0:56] Speaker 2: stolen valor.
[0:57] Speaker 1: It's stolen valor.
[0:59] Speaker 2: Yes. I thought that was well-known.
[1:02] Speaker 1: No, no, I think it is, but it's still annoying.
[1:05] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[1:06] Speaker 1: I think we're all on the same page here, potentially.
[1:08] Speaker 2: Looking up, a lot of the hotties are up top.
[1:11] Speaker 2: They're not as close to the court as you think. Strong.
[1:15] Speaker 2: Are we doing laundry tonight, John? What are we doing?
[1:19] Speaker 1: You do the weirdest stuff at night.
[1:20] Speaker 3: I'm coaching my son's soccer team, and apparently I'm linked
[1:25] Speaker 3: to coach. I mean, I am the coach, but apparently
[1:28] Speaker 3: I have a coach shirt and it's like a size.
[1:30] Speaker 2: It's like for a five-year-old. Oh, I love that for you.
[1:33] Speaker 2: I like that. Squeezing it out. It's going to look good.
[1:35] Speaker 2: I just want the influence to know I want to
[1:36] Speaker 2: do it. I was staring at them.
[1:39] Speaker 1: I mean, there's been grumblings around the ground. They want
[1:41] Speaker 1: a new influencer rankings. Is that possible next week?
[1:44] Speaker 2: I'm working on the new influencer rankings list as we speak.
[1:47] Speaker 1: Big summer of tennis has been had and influencers move.
[1:50] Speaker 2: But yeah.
[1:51] Speaker 1: Shall we get into tennis?
[1:52] Speaker 2: Also, one other thing before too. Yeah. Finally. proper, proper
[1:56] Speaker 2: celeb list at the Tiafoe-Shelton match. Proper.
[1:59] Speaker 1: Very proper.
[1:59] Speaker 2: Like, 50 celebs and 15 to 20, like, A-list celebs.
[2:04] Speaker 1: How many NBA players? We hit over on the NBA guys.
[2:06] Speaker 2: Only, like, Brunson and, like, Josh Hart. Only, like, two.
[2:09] Speaker 2: A couple Knicks guys.
[2:10] Speaker 1: There was, like, eight guys there.
[2:12] Speaker 2: Oh, was there? I didn't even see all... I just
[2:13] Speaker 2: got the list. Okay, they weren't even on the list then.
[2:15] Speaker 2: All right. All right.
[2:16] Speaker 1: Well, forgive that. Any more rants or shall we dive in?
[2:19] Speaker 2: No, you can go. Dive in. All right.
[2:21] Speaker 1: Well, let's start with the match we just watched. Ben Shelton,
[2:23] Speaker 1: Francis Tiafoe. IBM had the likelihood to win at 70%
[2:29] Speaker 1: for Ben Shelton. I don't think that's a surprise for
[2:32] Speaker 1: any of us. I think we all had been winning
[2:34] Speaker 1: this one with how Francis was looking in the previous rounds,
[2:36] Speaker 1: maybe not 100%, but Sammy, I know you just got done.
[2:39] Speaker 1: You didn't call the match, but you watched it. What
[2:42] Speaker 1: were your thoughts on it? How was the energy? How
[2:45] Speaker 1: was the crowd? This was a proper Friday night tennis match. God,
[2:50] Speaker 1: I can't even speak. I flew all day. It was
[2:52] Speaker 1: a proper night of tennis, In New York at the
[2:55] Speaker 1: year's last Grand Slam.
[2:56] Speaker 2: Yeah, proper Friday night. I was there for the first
[2:58] Speaker 2: two sets. I was up in a– I knew a
[3:00] Speaker 2: guy in a suite, went up there, stole some of
[3:03] Speaker 2: the food. You know, they got a good setup in
[3:05] Speaker 2: some of the suites. They had like a nice ribeyes
[3:07] Speaker 2: and stuff. It was awesome in there. Every seat taken,
[3:12] Speaker 2: the like good energy in the air. It's like– I'm
[3:14] Speaker 2: not going to say it was like on the level
[3:16] Speaker 2: of Fed Nadal because it wasn't. Yeah. It was just
[3:20] Speaker 2: right below that. For American tennis, this was a big deal.
[3:24] Speaker 2: It had that feel to it. Everyone was pumped up.
[3:28] Speaker 2: Everyone was excited. Shelton takes it into four sets, loses
[3:32] Speaker 2: the first set, then wins 3-3-5. First set, Ben was
[3:36] Speaker 2: a little off, but Francis played solid, was able to
[3:39] Speaker 2: get over the hump, and then Ben broke him right away,
[3:42] Speaker 2: go up 2-0 in the second set, and then Ben
[3:45] Speaker 2: kind of controlled the match from there. And similar to
[3:47] Speaker 2: what John was saying in the previous match against Carlos,
[3:50] Speaker 2: Ben's using the word commitment or just like, yeah, he's
[3:54] Speaker 2: committed on every shot on that, especially on that backhand side.
[3:57] Speaker 2: He steps into it. Sometimes he hits it hard. He
[3:59] Speaker 2: just hits it down the middle, but it's got enough
[4:01] Speaker 2: pace behind it that like it's, it's a hard ball
[4:04] Speaker 2: to attack. Um, the only bummer was hate when matches
[4:07] Speaker 2: end on a double fault. Yeah. It's such a downer.
[4:10] Speaker 1: It was an anticlimactic way to end for sure.
[4:13] Speaker 2: Yeah. Pump for Ben. If he keeps playing like this,
[4:15] Speaker 2: like not just for this tournament, but for the future,
[4:18] Speaker 2: like if this is the new way of playing for him,
[4:20] Speaker 2: like he's, he's like a perennial top four guy. Yeah, no, no.
[4:24] Speaker 1: I mean, it was pretty impressive. I really thought, I mean,
[4:26] Speaker 1: I think we were all kind of hit the nail
[4:27] Speaker 1: on the head a couple of nights ago that if
[4:28] Speaker 1: Francis didn't come out to a good start, he had
[4:30] Speaker 1: no chance. I thought he came out and had a
[4:32] Speaker 1: great start, you know, for his standards where it had been.
[4:35] Speaker 1: And he still didn't really have a chance. I mean,
[4:36] Speaker 1: you mentioned Ben kind of bowling around in the last
[4:38] Speaker 1: few sets. Um, John, we may have had an error
[4:43] Speaker 1: in the miles per hour in this match. Do you
[4:46] Speaker 1: think Ben hit 158 on that kick serve out wide?
[4:48] Speaker 3: It was a kick serve?
[4:50] Speaker 1: It felt like it was a kick serve.
[4:51] Speaker 2: It wasn't a kick.
[4:52] Speaker 1: It didn't feel like it was fully a kick serve.
[4:54] Speaker 1: I know, but I'm saying like 158, that felt juiced
[4:57] Speaker 1: to me. Not taking anything away from you, but it
[5:00] Speaker 1: felt juiced.
[5:02] Speaker 2: I didn't see it, but if it was a kick serve,
[5:03] Speaker 2: I'm going to say no. Okay, it wasn't a kick serve.
[5:06] Speaker 2: He went wide 158, but Hawkeye went back. It was 144,
[5:10] Speaker 2: but he still gets credit for the 158.
[5:12] Speaker 1: Yeah, the 158 is what popped up on the court.
[5:13] Speaker 1: There's a lot of oohs, a lot of ahs.
[5:16] Speaker 2: Ooh.
[5:17] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
[5:18] Speaker 2: I hope he does it. Tricky. Yeah, he shouldn't get
[5:21] Speaker 2: credit for it. We'll see what happens there. It's interesting.
[5:26] Speaker 1: Before we talk more about Ben, for Francis, all things considered,
[5:30] Speaker 1: a very wild summer, to say the least. After Wimby,
[5:34] Speaker 1: plays his home tournament in D.C., plays awful, then has
[5:37] Speaker 1: a bad event in Montreal, gets surgery, then comes back
[5:39] Speaker 1: and makes a semi. Where does Francis go from here, John?
[5:42] Speaker 1: Does he build upon this? Is this just like Francis
[5:45] Speaker 1: at his ceiling, or is there still more room for growth?
[5:48] Speaker 3: I mean, he had a fine summer. Obviously, he had
[5:50] Speaker 3: a very good Cincinnati. No, he builds off of it.
[5:55] Speaker 2: It's a great summer.
[5:56] Speaker 3: I mean, he's probably definitely in contention to make– Where
[6:03] Speaker 3: do they.
[6:03] Speaker 2: Play the World Tour finals?
[6:05] Speaker 1: In Turin. In Turin.
[6:06] Speaker 3: Are they still in Turin? Yeah, he's got a– yeah,
[6:11] Speaker 3: good summer. I mean, like, yeah, build off of it
[6:13] Speaker 3: for sure. But the key for him is to bring
[6:16] Speaker 3: this level and bring this intensity to Asia and the
[6:24] Speaker 3: indoors in Europe. I think that's– See if you can
[6:26] Speaker 3: do it.
[6:27] Speaker 1: I think that's like the biggest piece for Francis now
[6:29] Speaker 1: is like what you just mentioned, John, is like the stability–
[6:31] Speaker 1: Like he's always been kind of a roller coaster, but
[6:33] Speaker 1: like with his team now, he feels very like, you know,
[6:36] Speaker 1: very direct, very focused. So like if he can pull
[6:38] Speaker 1: it together in Asia, that shows me all you need
[6:40] Speaker 1: to know that like, you know, I think Francis is back.
[6:42] Speaker 1: But I think this is the most important thing for
[6:44] Speaker 1: Sam though. Trinity Rodman is back. New hair. What do
[6:48] Speaker 1: we think? This is all over your wheelhouse. What do
[6:50] Speaker 1: you think?
[6:51] Speaker 2: Trinity looks great. Every match he shows up for. Phenomenal dresser.
[6:54] Speaker 2: Phenomenal hairstyles.
[6:57] Speaker 1: Back to the Bob for the finals?
[6:59] Speaker 2: Back to the... I hope so. I'm a Bob. I
[7:01] Speaker 2: love the Bob. She's crushing it, though. Like, maybe my
[7:07] Speaker 2: favorite wag, and she's not a wag. She's an incredible
[7:10] Speaker 2: soccer player. But also, I wanted to do a wag segment,
[7:15] Speaker 2: but male wags. Oh. You know, husbands and boyfriends of
[7:20] Speaker 2: female players.
[7:21] Speaker 1: I like that.
[7:22] Speaker 2: Who are the top ones, you know? I like that.
[7:25] Speaker 2: Let's have a look into that. In the coming weeks.
[7:28] Speaker 2: In the coming weeks. I like that. Yes. I like that.
[7:30] Speaker 2: If you will. Trinity is awesome. All right.
[7:34] Speaker 1: Well, let's move on. We have Sasha Zverev taking down
[7:38] Speaker 1: Karen Hatchinov to reach his third consecutive Grand Slam finals.
[7:43] Speaker 1: This is Sasha at his best. I mean, he's really
[7:47] Speaker 1: coming into his own in the slams. Finally got one
[7:48] Speaker 1: under the belt. Played incredible at Wimby. Sam, you were
[7:51] Speaker 1: courtside for this one. It was relatively straightforward. 6-3, 7-6, 7-6.
[7:59] Speaker 1: What were your thoughts on the match, Sam? How was
[8:00] Speaker 1: the vibe courtside? How was the day session compared to
[8:02] Speaker 1: the night session?
[8:03] Speaker 2: Day session was still packed. I know tennis Twitter will
[8:06] Speaker 2: believe you to have that it was not packed. Every
[8:09] Speaker 2: seat was taken in there. It was good. I feel
[8:12] Speaker 2: like the match went as expected. Zverev wins in straight sets.
[8:18] Speaker 2: First set relatively easy, then a couple tough breakers. Khachanov
[8:21] Speaker 2: had chances in the breakers, especially that third set breaker. Again,
[8:26] Speaker 2: I didn't feel like Zverev actually played his best, but
[8:30] Speaker 2: when he retreats behind the baseline and just hits the
[8:33] Speaker 2: heavy rally ball and refuses to miss, he's so good.
[8:35] Speaker 2: It's hard for someone to beat him. I'll say this.
[8:39] Speaker 2: The bummer in some of Zverev's matches, and this isn't
[8:42] Speaker 2: like a dig at him, he bounces the ball so
[8:45] Speaker 2: many times before the serve, sometimes say 21, 22, 23
[8:48] Speaker 2: times sucks the energy out of the stadium a little bit.
[8:52] Speaker 2: So like he'll bounce it 23 times, miss a serve.
[8:54] Speaker 2: And then there's times that he bounces it 20 more times,
[8:56] Speaker 2: misses a second serve. And then the next point we'll
[8:59] Speaker 2: bounce it 20 more times and miss the first serve.
[9:01] Speaker 2: And then finally make a second serve. But you've sat
[9:03] Speaker 2: there and watched 60 bounces of the ball and three
[9:06] Speaker 2: minutes serves. And it happens like, you know, a few
[9:08] Speaker 2: times during the match. And it's, it's kind of brutal,
[9:12] Speaker 2: but he's so dang good. And his service so good.
[9:15] Speaker 2: And his, defensive skills are so good, and his baseline
[9:18] Speaker 2: level is still good. He just kind of outworked Kochnov
[9:21] Speaker 2: in the big moments.
[9:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I should have mentioned before the match,
[9:24] Speaker 1: the IBM likelihood to win was 83% for Zverev. I
[9:28] Speaker 1: think that was pretty accurate just with how everything has transpired.
[9:33] Speaker 1: You know, John, speaking of the GOAT serve bot, Sasha's
[9:37] Speaker 1: slowly turning into one of those guys. I mean, he's
[9:40] Speaker 1: never going to be a bot, but his serve is
[9:43] Speaker 1: absolutely unstoppable. We saw it at the French. We saw
[9:45] Speaker 1: it at Wimby. I mean, he's serving here, goodness me, 79%,
[9:52] Speaker 1: 15 aces, won 80% of his first serve points, 56%
[9:57] Speaker 1: of his second serve points. Those are pretty incredible numbers to...
[10:00] Speaker 1: like have a stress-free way to get out of a semi-final.
[10:03] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[10:03] Speaker 3: I mean, he serves huge. We all, we all, we
[10:06] Speaker 3: all know, and he serves at a high percentage too.
[10:08] Speaker 3: The only knock on his serve is the ball bouncing as,
[10:11] Speaker 3: as Sam, Sam mentioned, but you know, he, he, He's
[10:17] Speaker 3: not double faulting as we know.
[10:18] Speaker 2: That, but there is still that.
[10:21] Speaker 3: He's obviously thinking a lot between serves, between first and
[10:25] Speaker 3: second serves. If you can get him to a real
[10:28] Speaker 3: tight situation where he needs to put in a second serve,
[10:31] Speaker 3: I don't know. But his first serve percentage is.
[10:35] Speaker 2: Crazy right now.
[10:36] Speaker 3: And Sam says he backs it up with just a
[10:38] Speaker 3: ridiculous baseline game. I mean, his baseline level, just keeping
[10:43] Speaker 3: the ball in and using his wheels and making his
[10:46] Speaker 3: opponent play and try to hit through him is so
[10:49] Speaker 3: damn good. And with no center and no Alcaraz, much
[10:52] Speaker 3: like in Roland Garros, that level is good enough to win.
[10:57] Speaker 3: And so doesn't need to do anything out of his
[11:01] Speaker 3: comfort zone.
[11:02] Speaker 2: He's won 12 straight sets. He's won 12 straight sets.
[11:05] Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the fact that he played during the
[11:07] Speaker 3: day and played first, that's a huge benefit to him.
[11:09] Speaker 3: It's the first time playing a day match. I think
[11:13] Speaker 3: that's big for him. More rest. Not that he necessarily
[11:18] Speaker 3: needs it because he's shown he can bounce back from
[11:19] Speaker 3: playing for five hours in back-to-back matches. But I think
[11:23] Speaker 3: getting a match during the day session prior to the
[11:28] Speaker 3: finals was big for him. So I think he appreciated
[11:32] Speaker 3: playing that first match today.
[11:35] Speaker 2: Shelton going on the SportsCenter desk right now with SVP
[11:38] Speaker 2: and Roddy.
[11:39] Speaker 1: SVP, how good is that? So we had the IBM likelihood,
[11:42] Speaker 1: pre-match likelihood was 83% for Sascha. And then after Sasha
[11:47] Speaker 1: holds in the second set, that long game at 6'5,
[11:49] Speaker 1: to force the second set tiebreaker, Sam, his likelihood to
[11:52] Speaker 1: win was at 69%. That's off to me a little bit. Like,
[11:57] Speaker 1: that seems off to me. I mean, was there just
[11:58] Speaker 1: like a different flow to the match? Because, I mean,
[12:00] Speaker 1: I'm looking at the score, watching it, but, you know,
[12:03] Speaker 1: seeing that the percentage goes down when Sasha's already up
[12:05] Speaker 1: a set and in a second set tiebreaker. You know,
[12:07] Speaker 1: was Karen playing well?
[12:09] Speaker 2: Karen was playing well. I'm just going to assume that, like,
[12:11] Speaker 2: when you get to a tiebreaker, it's such a small
[12:14] Speaker 2: little sample size that it maybe he's very double faults
[12:17] Speaker 2: mary kachanov gets a a let court or something like
[12:20] Speaker 2: that he swings away and hits a few good winners
[12:22] Speaker 2: so the fact that he got it to a breaker
[12:24] Speaker 2: just kind of levels that and he had chances in
[12:26] Speaker 2: the breaker so the more that i think about it
[12:28] Speaker 2: that actually makes sense and the the third set breaker
[12:32] Speaker 2: no we're not talking about that right now but like
[12:34] Speaker 2: he had two set points in that breaker a one
[12:36] Speaker 2: on serve.
[12:37] Speaker 1: Yeah yeah that that one's gonna sting a little bit
[12:40] Speaker 1: but Sasha gets the job done. Third final of the
[12:43] Speaker 1: year at slams. I mean, pretty remarkable with, you know,
[12:47] Speaker 1: Sam bashing him for the last couple of years, never
[12:49] Speaker 1: winning a slam, no gold medals, none of that. Then
[12:52] Speaker 1: you guys turn around.
[12:53] Speaker 2: I got to interview him on court.
[12:56] Speaker 1: You have some great fun with him on court. Take
[12:58] Speaker 1: us through it, Sam.
[12:58] Speaker 2: Yeah. I walked out there. I'm walking out. He looks
[13:01] Speaker 2: at me. He goes, you're pissed I won, aren't you?
[13:05] Speaker 3: Oh, man.
[13:06] Speaker 2: You should have been like, yeah, kind of. It was
[13:07] Speaker 2: good for him. Kind of. uh but yeah nice little
[13:10] Speaker 2: nice little interview on court gave us a little shout
[13:12] Speaker 2: out you're a shout out i know we'll.
[13:14] Speaker 1: Talk about it sam you were there great come on
[13:16] Speaker 1: that's i'm not trying to bury the lead here.
[13:18] Speaker 2: I was like what's different this year kind of compared
[13:20] Speaker 2: to last year you've made the three major finals in
[13:22] Speaker 2: a row and he's like you know i i went
[13:24] Speaker 2: on your podcast and then uh i after that i
[13:28] Speaker 2: i something along the lines like i finally won a
[13:30] Speaker 2: major so i don't have to go on your podcast
[13:32] Speaker 2: anymore fair said something along those lines I feel like
[13:36] Speaker 2: we can get him back.
[13:36] Speaker 1: We'll get him back.
[13:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we for sure can.
[13:39] Speaker 3: We turned his career around.
[13:40] Speaker 1: Exactly.
[13:41] Speaker 2: Exactly.
[13:42] Speaker 1: It's a fact.
[13:42] Speaker 2: I think we did.
[13:43] Speaker 1: You guys have any other parting thoughts on this match
[13:46] Speaker 1: or shall we move over to the one?
[13:47] Speaker 2: Yeah, I got parting thoughts on our last episode. We
[13:49] Speaker 2: had the rant about the scheduling. Everyone's like, oh, of
[13:52] Speaker 2: course you could change it. Just move a match over
[13:55] Speaker 2: to Armstrong or move a match earlier. You can't do
[13:57] Speaker 2: that when the tournament's already started. Tickets have been sold.
[14:00] Speaker 2: I just want that to be clear to people. They're like,
[14:02] Speaker 2: You can't just all of a sudden, day before, be like,
[14:04] Speaker 2: you know what? Let's put one of the quarterfinals over
[14:06] Speaker 2: on Armstrong. And, like, the TV slots for ESPN and
[14:09] Speaker 2: the other networks have been pre-sold. Like, matches start at 3.
[14:13] Speaker 2: They can't the day before be like, let's start this
[14:15] Speaker 2: one at 1.
[14:15] Speaker 1: Yeah, the TV schedule's done.
[14:16] Speaker 2: Like, it's done. So, everyone's like, no, we do have ideas.
[14:19] Speaker 2: You have ideas, but they don't work. So, I just
[14:21] Speaker 2: wanted to let everyone know they're wrong.
[14:23] Speaker 1: Well, before we move over to the women, I just
[14:25] Speaker 1: want to say, John, what are your thoughts? Sam and I,
[14:28] Speaker 1: we finally got out to a dinner. You were at
[14:30] Speaker 1: the courts Thursday night. Fly Fish Club, David Rodolitz, friend
[14:34] Speaker 1: of the show, comes over. He says, hey, the bill's
[14:37] Speaker 1: on us tonight. Thank you very much. Appreciate your support.
[14:41] Speaker 1: Then Sam goes, I was going to pay if there
[14:43] Speaker 1: was a bill. Does that count, John?
[14:47] Speaker 2: Hold on, Sam.
[14:48] Speaker 1: Sam, I'm not asking you. Does that count, John? Or
[14:50] Speaker 1: is that just another Sam?
[14:51] Speaker 2: Do you want credit for that? He did. The next
[14:53] Speaker 2: meal's not on you? Hold on.
[14:54] Speaker 1: I've got more, but I just wanted that answer first.
[14:57] Speaker 1: What do you think? Do we think he was going.
[14:58] Speaker 2: To pay, John? I don't know. I believe him. Okay.
[15:02] Speaker 1: But he didn't. So we have no proof. So then
[15:04] Speaker 1: we're like, well, let's just leave a, let's leave a
[15:06] Speaker 1: great tip, right? Just like the caddy situation in Charleston.
[15:10] Speaker 3: By the way, did you tip the caddies in South Carolina?
[15:13] Speaker 2: I'm like 99% sure I tipped the caddies. I would
[15:15] Speaker 2: never not tip a caddy. I have golf etiquette with caddies.
[15:19] Speaker 2: I know I tipped the caddies.
[15:20] Speaker 3: So you couldn't find a Venmo trace of it.
[15:23] Speaker 2: Cause I did. I paid cash. You would remember that.
[15:27] Speaker 2: Just keep talking about it. Okay, so we're going to
[15:29] Speaker 2: move on.
[15:29] Speaker 1: John, here, it gets better. So we go out. I'm like,
[15:32] Speaker 1: don't worry, Sam. I was like, I got cash. Let's
[15:34] Speaker 1: leave him some cash. And he pulls out. He goes, man,
[15:38] Speaker 1: I only have this. He goes, I'll Venmo you. I'm like, fine.
[15:41] Speaker 2: No big deal.
[15:42] Speaker 1: No Venmo for 24 hours. We walked out. We took
[15:45] Speaker 1: the subway together. The guy could have pulled out his
[15:47] Speaker 1: phone anytime. No Venmo.
[15:49] Speaker 2: But he Venmo'd you.
[15:50] Speaker 1: Eventually, and he Venmoed me more than he should have.
[15:52] Speaker 1: So it's annoying now because now he feels like he
[15:55] Speaker 1: has one up on me. But I'm just going to
[15:58] Speaker 1: say it's annoying.
[15:59] Speaker 2: We left a $ 400 tip. I didn't have enough. Stevie
[16:01] Speaker 2: left $ 300. I left $ 100. And then I Venmoed him
[16:03] Speaker 2: $ 101 the next day. But I couldn't find his Venmo
[16:07] Speaker 2: on my Venmo. Steve Johnson's most basic name ever. I
[16:10] Speaker 2: couldn't find it in a subway. Bob Smith. Sorry. So
[16:14] Speaker 2: then I had to get his little QR code in
[16:16] Speaker 2: the courts today. You know what?
[16:19] Speaker 1: We've digressed once again from the tennis, but great dinner,
[16:21] Speaker 1: great fellowship.
[16:22] Speaker 2: Thank you, David. We've got a new partner here at
[16:24] Speaker 2: Nothing Major, Kalshi. Kalshi is the official prediction market sponsor
[16:28] Speaker 2: for the U.S.
[16:29] Speaker 3: Open.
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[17:48] Speaker 1: Let's move over to the women. Sabalenka takes out Pegula.
[17:52] Speaker 1: I just really thought this was just as time to
[17:54] Speaker 1: get the job done. Sabalenka reaches her third straight US
[17:57] Speaker 1: Open final. This was 7-5, 6-2, and the IBM likelihood
[18:01] Speaker 1: to win was 53% for Jess. But Gula, that I
[18:06] Speaker 1: thought was a little strange. I thought Arena would be,
[18:09] Speaker 1: you know, like a 55-60% favorite, just her body of work.
[18:12] Speaker 1: But Jess was the favorite, John. Didn't quite get the
[18:15] Speaker 1: job done. And it's a bummer because Jess is there
[18:19] Speaker 1: seemingly every year now at the U.S. Open at the
[18:21] Speaker 1: very end and just can't quite get over the hump.
[18:23] Speaker 1: But I thought Sabalenka played pretty darn well.
[18:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, she was lights out.
[18:27] Speaker 3: I mean, she was just like old school, like top
[18:32] Speaker 3: level Sabalenka. There's nothing really Jess could do because Sabalenka
[18:36] Speaker 3: hits a bigger ball, has a bigger serve, takes bigger
[18:39] Speaker 3: cuts off on return, especially second serve return.
[18:43] Speaker 2: And she had all that going.
[18:45] Speaker 3: She saved a break point early on in that, or
[18:48] Speaker 3: not early on, like midway through that first set, like
[18:50] Speaker 3: with a big forehand winner at three all or four all.
[18:55] Speaker 3: And that was sort of it. I mean, she just
[18:59] Speaker 3: had so many free points on her serve, and when
[19:02] Speaker 3: she had her chances, she was taking them. She was
[19:05] Speaker 3: just lacing the ball. I mean, she looked so good.
[19:09] Speaker 3: It's not that Jess, and maybe Jess could have played
[19:11] Speaker 3: a little better, but again, she's a bit overpowered, and
[19:16] Speaker 3: if Sablinka was on her game, you knew it was
[19:17] Speaker 3: going to be tough for Jess, and that's exactly what happened.
[19:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, and Sammy, after that first set, Sablinka went 7-5,
[19:25] Speaker 1: you can kind of feel like the momentum was fully
[19:27] Speaker 1: on her side. Maybe she does feel a little bit
[19:30] Speaker 1: of relief that she's not number one anymore. She doesn't
[19:31] Speaker 1: have to think about it. Then the IBM likelihood to win,
[19:34] Speaker 1: the live likelihood was 72% for Sabalenka. And the second set,
[19:38] Speaker 1: she was just ripping balls from the line. Jess had
[19:41] Speaker 1: no answer, was just kind of getting bullied around out there.
[19:45] Speaker 1: This was, I mean, just thinking about it, she had
[19:48] Speaker 1: 29 winners, Sabalenka. this match to Jess's seven. That's a
[19:52] Speaker 1: tough scoreline because Jess isn't going to overpower people, but
[19:55] Speaker 1: Sabalenka was on fire. I mean, Jess was on fire.
[19:59] Speaker 2: Sabalenka, you know, she hasn't won a tournament since Miami.
[20:03] Speaker 2: And to me, I thought Coco was going to win
[20:06] Speaker 2: the whole tournament. Now that she's out, like, and watching Sabalenka, like,
[20:12] Speaker 2: it just feels like you kind of said it, Stevie.
[20:14] Speaker 2: She's dialed in. She's not number one anymore. She feels inevitable.
[20:19] Speaker 2: It does, right? Like, we've been talking about, we've not
[20:22] Speaker 2: been talking about her, and she's just kind of been like,
[20:25] Speaker 2: look how powerful I am. Look how hard I can
[20:27] Speaker 2: hit the ball. She kind of dominated this match, and
[20:30] Speaker 2: impressive stuff from Sabalenka.
[20:33] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the big, I mean, you can always
[20:35] Speaker 1: look at second serve points, I think male or female,
[20:37] Speaker 1: you know, and Jess only won 26% of second serve points,
[20:41] Speaker 1: and Savalenka won 67%. That's crazy high. That's the match.
[20:45] Speaker 1: To defend that, and it's a bummer. I mean, Savalenka,
[20:49] Speaker 1: third US Open final. Jess is right there. She's just
[20:52] Speaker 1: got to keep knocking. Like, I don't think there's really
[20:55] Speaker 1: anything she can do, right?
[20:57] Speaker 2: I mean.
[20:58] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[20:59] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, like, what she... She's just, you know.
[21:02] Speaker 2: Yeah. She can't hit it harder. Yeah. Yeah. She's not
[21:04] Speaker 2: going to develop.
[21:05] Speaker 3: A serve that's, you know, 12, 15 aces a match.
[21:08] Speaker 3: Like she's doing everything, everything right. And she's ridiculous. She's
[21:11] Speaker 3: top like perennial top five player.
[21:13] Speaker 2: No doubt.
[21:14] Speaker 1: Um, all right, well, let's go to the other women's semifinals.
[21:17] Speaker 1: Elena Rabakina, world number one gets past Coco golf, three, six, four,
[21:22] Speaker 1: and four. Uh, the pre-match likelihood to win was 51% golf. Um,
[21:29] Speaker 1: and basically just straight up and, This one was, was
[21:33] Speaker 1: a battle. I mean, Coco takes the first set, thought
[21:35] Speaker 1: she might run away with it. The crowd was on fire,
[21:37] Speaker 1: but I mean, John.
[21:39] Speaker 2: I think Rebecca, can I, I'll go. She just, she
[21:43] Speaker 2: steadied the ship. Right.
[21:45] Speaker 3: I mean, and she kept like, she stayed the course
[21:48] Speaker 3: and she was like steely out there and kind of
[21:51] Speaker 3: got on top and didn't let Coco kind of like, we,
[21:57] Speaker 3: you know, like kind of spin her web and like
[21:59] Speaker 3: have to have these ridiculous points to get the, get
[22:01] Speaker 3: the crowd really involved. And she controlled the rest of
[22:07] Speaker 3: the match, with her serve especially. Didn't let Coco get
[22:10] Speaker 3: on top of her. And she played amazing. Again, I
[22:14] Speaker 3: think she was able to keep the crowd out of
[22:17] Speaker 3: it a little bit, which helped tremendously in my mind.
[22:22] Speaker 3: And then on top of that, she's– playing so incredibly well.
[22:27] Speaker 3: A lot of question marks with her coming into the event,
[22:29] Speaker 3: just like with Sabalinka. Sabalinka was not playing her best.
[22:33] Speaker 3: Rabakina had this weird heel ankle injury that we didn't
[22:37] Speaker 3: really know much about. They both answered those questions and
[22:41] Speaker 3: Rabakina at a top level like that, when she can
[22:43] Speaker 3: serve and hit the ball like she's doing from the
[22:45] Speaker 3: back of the court, she's, like damn near impossible to beat.
[22:49] Speaker 3: And she brought that level today. And Coco didn't play poorly.
[22:52] Speaker 3: Coco did what she does, right? She competes, she fights,
[22:54] Speaker 3: she's gritty, moves all over the court. She just kind
[22:57] Speaker 3: of got overpowered in the end eventually.
[22:59] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[23:00] Speaker 1: And, you know, for Coco, after winning the first set,
[23:03] Speaker 1: the live likelihood to win was 85% Coco. I think
[23:06] Speaker 1: the crowd was just on her side. But Sam does, Rabakina,
[23:10] Speaker 1: I don't think she gets phased by the crowd. The
[23:12] Speaker 1: mid-drift was out, if I'm not mistaken. And that's huge
[23:14] Speaker 1: for you.
[23:15] Speaker 2: Mid-drift. That's huge. Mid-drift. Mid-drift. was out. Midriff was out. No,
[23:20] Speaker 2: it's doing wonders for her and her game. 85% after
[23:23] Speaker 2: the first set, number's a bit high against the quote-unquote
[23:27] Speaker 2: number one of the player in the world, Rabakina. Going
[23:29] Speaker 2: back to what John said, because she has the best
[23:33] Speaker 2: serve in the world, that takes the crowd out of
[23:35] Speaker 2: it so quickly. Every time, not even that final game,
[23:38] Speaker 2: Coco would have the love 15 or the 15-30. Rabakina
[23:42] Speaker 2: would big serve wide, even into Coco's strength, the backhand return.
[23:47] Speaker 2: And like Rabakina's first serve in a way is like
[23:51] Speaker 2: better than like Coco's even like backhand return. She can
[23:54] Speaker 2: pop it out wide at like one 18, one 19,
[23:57] Speaker 2: one 20. She's the only one that can do it.
[23:58] Speaker 2: And it's like maybe one of the most, if not
[24:01] Speaker 2: the most lethal shot in like women's tennis right now.
[24:04] Speaker 2: And it's such a good, easy way for her to
[24:06] Speaker 2: just silence the crowd. That was obviously for Coco and
[24:11] Speaker 2: you know, wanted Coco to win. But again, just like
[24:14] Speaker 2: kind of stone cold at the end wins it like,
[24:17] Speaker 2: no motion to the net. I have a job to do.
[24:20] Speaker 3: I mean, it's like she, like, you know, her fastball
[24:22] Speaker 3: is coming, but you got to be able to catch
[24:23] Speaker 3: up to it.
[24:24] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
[24:26] Speaker 1: I mean, but all in all, some great, some good semis.
[24:30] Speaker 1: And now let's, let's talk, let's talk the, let's talk
[24:33] Speaker 1: the final. Let's talk the men's. We have Sasha Zverev
[24:36] Speaker 1: and Ben Shelton. Sasha has a five to zero head
[24:40] Speaker 1: to head. Can Sasha get title or sorry, not title
[24:44] Speaker 1: grand slam number two of the year, and make that
[24:49] Speaker 1: race for year-end number one just that much more exciting. Samuel.
[24:54] Speaker 2: Yes, so he can make that race exciting. Can Sasha win?
[24:58] Speaker 2: He's already number one.
[25:00] Speaker 1: Just the final in the race?
[25:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, he's up there. The race is already a battle.
[25:07] Speaker 2: So yes, he's 5-0 against Ben. The Ben that I
[25:11] Speaker 2: have watched the last three days is a Different Ben.
[25:14] Speaker 2: I've never seen him hit returns like this. I've never
[25:18] Speaker 2: seen him hit his backhand like this. I've never seen him.
[25:21] Speaker 2: He's always been like incredible athlete and physically strong. He
[25:25] Speaker 2: looks doesn't get tired. I mean, this is the best
[25:30] Speaker 2: Ben's ever looked. The decision making the backhand return. Those
[25:32] Speaker 2: things specifically are so good right now. The serves always good.
[25:36] Speaker 2: If he does that against Zverev, if the first serve
[25:39] Speaker 2: is firing and he's got it around 70%, if he
[25:42] Speaker 2: steps in on the backhand, if he steps in on
[25:43] Speaker 2: the forehand, Ben can beat him. Because I trust that
[25:47] Speaker 2: Ben's going to go out and take his chances, take
[25:49] Speaker 2: his licks, take his swings, and commit on every ball
[25:51] Speaker 2: like he's been doing. Zverev's going to hang back and
[25:54] Speaker 2: retreat and try to make balls like he's been doing.
[25:57] Speaker 2: So I feel like the match is going to be
[25:59] Speaker 2: won or lost on Ben's racket. And it's just kind
[26:04] Speaker 2: of a matter of he executes in the big moments.
[26:09] Speaker 2: I think Ben can win. If you would have asked
[26:11] Speaker 2: me this 14 days ago, I'd be like, no, absolutely not.
[26:15] Speaker 2: Of course, Zverev's going to be the heavy favorite. I
[26:16] Speaker 2: don't feel like that anymore after watching Ben the last
[26:19] Speaker 2: two days. And the crowd is going to be absolutely
[26:22] Speaker 2: insane on that Sunday match.
[26:24] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Sasha's 24-2 on the air in slams.
[26:29] Speaker 1: The one, I guess, caveat would be In the French
[26:34] Speaker 1: Open win and here, Ben will be the first top
[26:36] Speaker 1: 10 guy he's played. So not that anybody's like counting
[26:40] Speaker 1: on the slams. I believe that's the case like at
[26:42] Speaker 1: the time. So look, Sasha's playing unbelievable. I feel like
[26:48] Speaker 1: for him, the monkey's off the back and he is
[26:51] Speaker 1: you know, playing so much freer in these slams. So
[26:53] Speaker 1: I expect him to come out.
[26:54] Speaker 2: I don't think he's playing freer though. I think he is.
[26:57] Speaker 2: Like when I watched him the last two days, he's
[26:59] Speaker 2: just like, he's kind of just back there retreating, just
[27:01] Speaker 2: making balls. Step up.
[27:03] Speaker 1: I think it's freer in the sense of like, he doesn't,
[27:06] Speaker 1: you know, he's done it. So like he, he can
[27:08] Speaker 1: win ugly before when he wasn't winning pretty or like,
[27:10] Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like when it was ugly,
[27:12] Speaker 1: like I felt like he was flustered and annoyed. Like
[27:14] Speaker 1: he's winning these ugly matches. He's like, I'm going to
[27:16] Speaker 1: win them anyway. Like I'm good. It's like the momentum
[27:19] Speaker 1: and he's playing more free in that way. He may
[27:20] Speaker 1: not be playing his best tennis, but like he's playing free.
[27:26] Speaker 1: Doesn't matter. He's losing points, losing game, whatever. Like he's
[27:29] Speaker 1: just going to find it. He just knows he's going
[27:30] Speaker 1: to win.
[27:31] Speaker 2: But I feel like the big moments today, like even
[27:34] Speaker 2: in the tiebreaker, he didn't– balls that were there to hit,
[27:36] Speaker 2: he wasn't stepping up and like just ripping them. Yeah,
[27:38] Speaker 2: but that's freedom though to me.
[27:40] Speaker 1: But he doesn't need to do that against Hatch.
[27:42] Speaker 2: I disagree. It's his– that's his base level.
[27:45] Speaker 3: But the difference right now is these matches, these tight
[27:48] Speaker 3: matches that he's– especially early in the tournament, they're not
[27:51] Speaker 3: all anxiety riddled matches. Like he's like so calm out there.
[27:57] Speaker 3: He's calm playing his game where he's essentially just pushing
[28:01] Speaker 3: from the back of the court.
[28:02] Speaker 2: Whereas before, it was so.
[28:04] Speaker 3: Tense playing that game. He's also freer on the serve
[28:09] Speaker 3: as well.
[28:09] Speaker 2: I'm with Stevie. He spoke about that.
[28:13] Speaker 3: He said at Wimbledon, even though he lost the final
[28:15] Speaker 3: to center, he goes, this was the funnest I've ever.
[28:18] Speaker 2: Had playing Grand Slam. Yeah, the funnest. And at Wimbledon,
[28:22] Speaker 2: I think he was ripping. I haven't seen that from
[28:25] Speaker 2: him here yet, but he also hasn't needed to do it.
[28:27] Speaker 1: But he doesn't need to. So, I mean, I don't know.
[28:28] Speaker 2: It's interesting.
[28:29] Speaker 1: I mean, I guess my last question is, does Ben
[28:32] Speaker 1: break the streak, fellas? Does he break the American drought
[28:35] Speaker 1: and get a U.S. Open title?
[28:37] Speaker 2: Sam? No.
[28:41] Speaker 1: What's our predictions here, Johnny?
[28:43] Speaker 2: This one's really tough. I think Zverev's the favorite. Yeah.
[28:48] Speaker 2: It's a bad matchup for Ben. Yeah. I hate saying it,
[28:51] Speaker 2: but I'm going Zverev.
[28:52] Speaker 3: Because Ben, the last two matches, has had a lot
[28:58] Speaker 3: of looks on return. His opponents, Alcaraz and Tiafoe, aren't
[29:01] Speaker 3: getting many free points on serve at all. That's going
[29:04] Speaker 3: to change dramatically against.
[29:09] Speaker 2: Sasha out there. So, Sasha... Ben is not.
[29:13] Speaker 3: Going to– I mean, in all likelihood, it's not going
[29:16] Speaker 3: to break as much. It's not going to be in
[29:18] Speaker 3: as many return games. It's going to put a lot
[29:20] Speaker 3: more pressure on Ben's serve. So I think Zverev is
[29:25] Speaker 3: the favorite. And just the matchup in itself is kind
[29:29] Speaker 3: of a bad one. He can go way back there.
[29:31] Speaker 3: I think the serve and volley is going to be
[29:32] Speaker 3: important for Ben.
[29:33] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[29:33] Speaker 3: Considering how deep Zverev will return, Ben will have to–
[29:37] Speaker 3: and they're going to– obviously, I think they'll talk about this,
[29:40] Speaker 3: but he's going to have to utilize the servant volley
[29:42] Speaker 3: very well.
[29:43] Speaker 2: And he can do that.
[29:44] Speaker 3: He's got incredible, every part of his game is so
[29:47] Speaker 3: much better now than it was a year ago. Every
[29:49] Speaker 3: single part of it. The forehand, the serve, the backhand,
[29:51] Speaker 3: the movement, the volleys. Every single part of his game.
[29:54] Speaker 3: People have opinions on Ben's game the last couple years.
[29:58] Speaker 2: Like, oh, he should be doing this. He should be
[30:00] Speaker 2: doing that.
[30:01] Speaker 3: Oh, is he plateauing when he loses early? No, his
[30:05] Speaker 3: trajectory has never changed.
[30:06] Speaker 2: Tennis, Twitter, tennis internet is the worst place in the world. Yeah,
[30:09] Speaker 2: it's not just tennis, Twitter. There's probably some worse places.
[30:12] Speaker 2: But it's very annoying, though. I don't know why. It's
[30:14] Speaker 2: very annoying.
[30:15] Speaker 3: But yeah, so I think serve volleys can be important
[30:18] Speaker 3: for Ben. And the crowd's going to be important. And
[30:21] Speaker 3: getting this match in tight situations to see if Sasha
[30:27] Speaker 3: buckles under that pressure with the crowd 100% against him,
[30:31] Speaker 3: I mean, that's going to play a huge role for Ben.
[30:34] Speaker 3: The home crowd is not going to affect Benino. Sometimes
[30:37] Speaker 3: the home crowd puts too much pressure on you.
[30:39] Speaker 2: No. He has that advantage for sure.
[30:41] Speaker 1: For sure. So what are you taking, John? Beautiful breakdown.
[30:45] Speaker 2: Oh, man.
[30:48] Speaker 1: Sam already gave his.
[30:49] Speaker 3: Big.
[30:49] Speaker 2: I'm going Zverev. I said Zverev. I just think the
[30:53] Speaker 2: matchup's bad. Same. Yeah.
[30:57] Speaker 3: I felt more comfortable with Ben taking out Alcaraz, truthfully,
[31:00] Speaker 3: which sounds crazy. It's like tennis is all about matchups.
[31:06] Speaker 2: Zverev's tall. He's going to retreat back. He's going to
[31:08] Speaker 2: use the long levers to put more returns in play. Exactly.
[31:11] Speaker 2: That's a big factor, too.
[31:13] Speaker 3: So, yeah, I think it's Zverev in a tight one.
[31:18] Speaker 3: That's my prediction.
[31:20] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[31:21] Speaker 1: I'll take Zverev in five.
[31:22] Speaker 2: Doesn't mean we want it. Yeah.
[31:23] Speaker 1: It's good for Ben that we all take Zverev here.
[31:26] Speaker 1: Zverev in five.
[31:27] Speaker 2: Yeah, it probably is good. It's good for him. But
[31:29] Speaker 2: what a moment.
[31:30] Speaker 1: It's going to be unbelievable.
[31:31] Speaker 2: Sam, you just said he's on the desk.
[31:33] Speaker 3: I'm not watching him. The desk with SVP and Roddick.
[31:35] Speaker 3: Of course, Andy Roddick, 2003. Ben's got a better shot
[31:42] Speaker 3: than Taylor did two years ago against Sinner.
[31:43] Speaker 2: For sure. Yeah. For sure. For sure.
[31:46] Speaker 3: So, and as Sam said earlier in the show, this
[31:49] Speaker 3: level from Ben is a perennial top five level. There's
[31:54] Speaker 3: three players better than him at this level. Like, consistently.
[32:00] Speaker 3: And he's going up against one of them, perhaps, in Zerf.
[32:03] Speaker 1: All right, well, let's wrap that up. And we'll talk
[32:06] Speaker 1: women's finals. Sabalenka, Rabakina, world number one and two. Heavyweights
[32:10] Speaker 1: out there, the best players, the better part of the
[32:13] Speaker 1: last couple seasons. This should be a heavy hitting bad
[32:17] Speaker 1: day to be a tennis ball out on Ash when
[32:20] Speaker 1: this comes out, because these ladies are going to hit
[32:22] Speaker 1: the ball very hard. I think Sabalenka gets the job done.
[32:25] Speaker 1: I think she's playing more free. She's not number one anymore.
[32:29] Speaker 1: She doesn't have that burden. She's playing some of her
[32:31] Speaker 1: best tennis. She was dominant the first, I guess, third
[32:35] Speaker 1: of the year on hard courts through Miami and now
[32:37] Speaker 1: has regained that form. So for me, I think Sabalenka
[32:40] Speaker 1: is going to get the job done. It's her third now.
[32:45] Speaker 1: I believe it's her third year's Open in a row
[32:47] Speaker 1: that she's going to win, if I'm not mistaken.
[32:50] Speaker 2: A lot more pressure on Sabalenka in my mind.
[32:53] Speaker 3: Really?
[32:53] Speaker 2: I don't want to slam this year. Yeah, for sure.
[32:55] Speaker 2: I don't want to slam this year.
[32:56] Speaker 3: Rabach going to beat her in the Aussie Open final. Like,
[33:00] Speaker 3: you know, if Sabalenka goes a calendar year and doesn't
[33:02] Speaker 3: win a slam, that's a bad.
[33:03] Speaker 2: Year for her. As the number one seed in every slam. Yeah,
[33:06] Speaker 2: at the number one seed in every single slam. I
[33:07] Speaker 2: think she's been the number one seed in the last, like,
[33:09] Speaker 2: eight slams and maybe only won two. Yeah, and she's
[33:12] Speaker 2: lost a lot of finals. Only two.
[33:13] Speaker 3: She's lost a lot of finals. Yeah, but she's lost
[33:16] Speaker 3: three other finals, four other finals.
[33:18] Speaker 2: A couple of semis.
[33:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, so you guys think differently. So you guys think
[33:22] Speaker 1: Rabakina is going to get the job done.
[33:24] Speaker 2: No, I just said there's more pressure on Savalinka. Okay. Yeah,
[33:26] Speaker 2: I think Savalinka is going to win. Okay. Johnny? I'll
[33:29] Speaker 2: take Rabakina. It's a toss-up for me.
[33:32] Speaker 1: But this should be a good match. I mean, Savalinka
[33:34] Speaker 1: leads 10-7 in their head-to-heads. I mean, Savalinka has won
[33:40] Speaker 1: 20 straight matches at a grand slam. That's pretty cool.
[33:42] Speaker 1: That's pretty amazing. That's ridiculous, actually.
[33:44] Speaker 2: 20 matches at this Grand Slam.
[33:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, at the US Open.
[33:47] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[33:48] Speaker 1: Did I miss that part?
[33:49] Speaker 2: Sorry. Yeah. My bad.
[33:50] Speaker 1: My bad. 20 matches at the US Open.
[33:51] Speaker 2: You broke the match down perfectly, though.
[33:54] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[33:55] Speaker 1: Any other final thoughts before the women's final gets underway?
[33:57] Speaker 1: Or should we talk our sweet bracket challenge that we
[34:00] Speaker 1: got an absolute mess down there?
[34:01] Speaker 2: Bracket challenge. Let's go to sleep.
[34:03] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[34:05] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[34:05] Speaker 1: John can pass everybody on the man.
[34:06] Speaker 2: Sam, what's the number? What's the number? Sam, what's the
[34:09] Speaker 2: number it would take? When's your flight? Monday? Dude, no.
[34:12] Speaker 2: I'm going home tomorrow now. I'm not working Sunday. They
[34:15] Speaker 2: just let me know earlier today. I'm doing the men's
[34:17] Speaker 2: doubles final. I'm flying home.
[34:18] Speaker 3: Oh, what's the number for you to stay in New
[34:22] Speaker 3: York till Tuesday afternoon?
[34:25] Speaker 2: Okay. Want to play this game? Yeah, I want to
[34:27] Speaker 2: play this game. This is going to sound obnoxious. This
[34:29] Speaker 2: is going to sound obnoxious. I'm going to give the number.
[34:31] Speaker 2: I'm going to give the number.
[34:32] Speaker 3: Cash number to hang out. You got to go to
[34:35] Speaker 3: Times Square, take photos. You got a fanny pack for
[34:38] Speaker 3: 72 hours.
[34:38] Speaker 2: I'm going to need $ 75, 000.
[34:41] Speaker 1: $ 75, 000.
[34:43] Speaker 2: That's a good number. $ 75, 000 to stay here three more days.
[34:47] Speaker 2: And I know people are listening and be like, I
[34:49] Speaker 2: don't know. People listening know we're pretty rich. That's the number. Oh,
[34:55] Speaker 2: that's so good. All right.
[34:57] Speaker 1: Well, we've got to stop doing that in major.
[34:59] Speaker 2: No, we're pretty rich.
[35:01] Speaker 1: We've got to stop doing stuff in majors after dark, guys.
[35:06] Speaker 2: You won Acapulco for crying out loud. I won Acapulco.
[35:09] Speaker 2: 330 grand plus some bonuses, probably like 360, 370. Way
[35:13] Speaker 2: more than that. Way more than that after bonuses.
[35:17] Speaker 1: After Sam keeps talking about how rich he is, I'm
[35:19] Speaker 1: going to log off, guys. I've had a fun time.
[35:21] Speaker 1: Something major.
[35:24] Speaker 3: How are we doing this bracket thing? Because I finished
[35:26] Speaker 3: last in the women's.
[35:29] Speaker 2: Yes. But barely.
[35:31] Speaker 1: But it's going to be confusing because you could either
[35:34] Speaker 1: win the men's or status quo because if Sasha wins,
[35:37] Speaker 1: you win the men. You know what? Sam just loses.
[35:40] Speaker 1: How's that?
[35:41] Speaker 2: We're going to go over the bracket tones on Monday.
[35:44] Speaker 2: Fair enough. We can't do that.
[35:46] Speaker 1: Our brains don't work. Guys, thank you to all our listeners.
[35:49] Speaker 1: Hit the like, subscribe button. To our suits, thank you
[35:51] Speaker 1: for sticking it out. John's quitting on us.
[35:54] Speaker 2: Big shout out to the suits. I know we're grinding late,
[35:56] Speaker 2: but we've got a suit in England. We've got a
[35:58] Speaker 2: suit in Sao Paulo. We've got a suit in New
[36:02] Speaker 2: York who's with us.
[36:04] Speaker 1: He's not grinding that much, that suit in New York.
[36:06] Speaker 1: He's out for free dinners.
[36:09] Speaker 2: Was he with you all last night, Simon? Yeah, yeah.
[36:11] Speaker 2: We took a suit with us. We were seen out
[36:13] Speaker 2: in public with a suit.
[36:14] Speaker 3: Very embarrassing.
[36:15] Speaker 2: All right, guys.
[36:16] Speaker 1: See you guys in two days.
[36:18] Speaker 2: All right. See you. Oh, he just logged. Everyone logged off.
[36:21] Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Nothing. Nothing made you. Nothing, nothing made you.

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