2026 US OPEN DAY 12: Sabalenka’s Historic Run Continues, Rybakina Beats Gauff & More

0:00I have my dream job, but even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI Specialist come in. They don't just tell you what to do about your busy work, they actually do it. That way your team can focus on what matters. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com. Everyone... Everyone, welcome to QuickServe, brought to you by ServiceNow. Could you have time? Well, we started. I said let's do it. And then you started. And then I got caught. We're in the Cadillac studio. We are in an escalator. What does it have, Mike? There's a premium A, KG system here with compatible Dolby app. It's music. And it feels like it's surrounding you. It's not just coming from the speakers. Not there. But I gotta say one thing. Now the way parked. We're not wearing seat belts because we're not driving. Yeah. For safety reasons. Did you know the doors can do this? Rob, open my door.

1:02No hands. Rob, could you please close my door? We have touch panels. Touch doors. Soft close. Rob. Have it make me a cheeseburger. All right, we got some dentist. I don't think it's in this trim. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. I gotta get premium. Thanks Rob. Yeah. Thanks Rob. Sobel, Enka. I mean. Run away train the night. I just, Jess and her post game presser joked. She said, I don't know who pissed her off today. Maybe it was me. She said, said that with a smile. And then she straight up just said she's like literally there wasn't much I could do today. Like that sums it up. I walked down the stairs and kind of like the player area outside of a player cafe. It's a transportation and practice courts. It's kind of the slick epicenter heartbeat of coming and going at the US open.

2:03And it was walking from some of the suites down and past. Noles. Jess's coach who's a good friend of mine for a long time. And I passed and I kind of did little wave and you know you know people are here. He goes, he goes, he goes, what do you do with that? I mean. And he's right. And I had no answer for him. Like I watched him going, I don't really know. Like when she's in full flight like that. It's the best match she's played this year. Um, include any well as Miami when she was playing well this is the best match she's played this year. Wow. Um, I thought Jess played fine. Um, you know, the entire thing in their matchups always comes down to how Jess can defend her second serve. Um, she's been very intentional and focused on fixing that part of her game. And the reason is a rena sable like a. And what she can do to that second serve, right? She obviously goes massive.

3:04Um, she just gets you on your back foot. And then once you're on your back foot, she just doesn't let go. She just keeps pumping with pace. And Jess knows she has to switch directions. There's nothing that we can say that she doesn't know she has to do. Yeah. But when you start on your back foot, you have to play some loft on the ball. It's hard to change directions. So therefore if Sable Link is moving into the shot by a step or two, she's just going to be in the back foot. She's still moving into the shot by a step or two. She still has momentum going forward. Um, that was maybe the performance of the tournament on the women side. Not as far as like just a drama or high quality match, but just an individual performance. I thought that was the best. She ran her game plan and she executed. She was. She was near perfect. You know, little, little up the start. They were a little more competitive. But, um, that's the best she's looked. Um, I remember when we got to New York like six months ago. Sa, sa, Saable, we were, we were worried about her form coming in and we did say. If she gets three or four matches in, you know, does she reestablish us as, as, as a favorite and you know, I don't know if the favorite.

4:09I don't know there is a D favorite because we're the top four women in the world all playing well getting to the semis. Um, but like right back there, you know, she can, the grades can reset very quickly. Um, still a great year for Jess Pagula. I know, you know, we're entering the territory of like slam. slam or not slam. But progress being made, I mean going, you know, from 16th in the world in ACEs to third, there is progress in the serve. You don't get to find, you don't define progress by, you know, a 45 minute moment in time. Yeah. It's done at scale and at scale, she has improved every part of her game this year. So, you know, maybe, maybe for another time, but Subbellink had just played too well by Jess's own admission. I mean, to put it in perspective, right? It's, you know, our service now, stat of the day is eight. I mean, the Subbellink is the first female or male player in the open air to reach eight consecutive grand slam finals on our court, passing seven, reached by Steffi Graff. Like, she, it's.

5:09But we'll have played her the match that she wanted to try and go out and play, but she just was beat by a great and, you know, and silence and rare find air. And, and the movement isn't tricky. Like, it isn't a grad on a click court. The bounce isn't tricky. Like, it is on a grass court. So she's a ball striker. I mean, the ball is coming through. It's predictable. And there's no bailout, you know, using the court of movement or hitting behind her. The options become limited when she's playing well, which has been most of the last three years. I know we're going to harp on losing the number one ranking and like all that crap. And, you know, she, in the last four months, yeah, she's played not near her peak. But again, we judge the greats against their own shadows. Mm-hmm. Right. And so she's created quite the shadow with, with how good she's been. So when we say she's not informed, that's based against Arena Subbellinka, not against Earth. Right. So credit to her. I thought Jess was, had a sense of humor was classy. And she, she just speaks truth. Like, she's just, you know, I, I, I love her as a player.

6:19I think I have tons of respect for her as a person. By the way, she's doing all of this. Well, behind the scenes. Being the person that the players want negotiating on their behalf for prize money. And being the person that the tournaments don't want to have to negotiate against. With prize money. That, that has a lot of extra hours and layers to it. So I don't think that should go unrecognized because she's kind of carrying the water for, for at least that's the chatter. Is that she is doing that behind the scenes. So it is a color so pretty fucking funny podcast. So the one now I said she's a co-host of a pretty funny podcast. Their podcast is great. I love it. And the fact that they do it like regularly while they're still on tour. Yeah. I mean, some podcasts don't do it. They're not on tour. Yeah. Um, Robocona golf golf. I said golf. You said golf. Robocona and golf. Um, the first set I'm going is this the best that Coco's ever played in tournament. Wow. She was in full flight. The forehand deserter.

7:27Credit to Robocona, right? She's not known for dropping sets and then coming back and, you know, they had some stat on the espion when I was listening to broadcast. I won't quote it correctly. But it's like the first time she'd come from a set down or something in a slag. I don't know. But the data doesn't suggest that she's won the opposite of Coco where, you know, she loses and she comes back and wins three setters and all that. Uh, she's done it back to back days with the world number one ranking at stake. And with the US Open Title at stake against who is probably the pre-termed favorite in Coco. So, uh, Sir Greg got broken. Uh, Coco's forehand letter down. That's it. And it's going to be a struggle when people can go big and create pace to that side. Yeah. Um, when they don't, she has enough time and she can manipulate spins and, and hits slices and, and do all that. But listen, let's also think about where she was a year ago. I mean, it was, we saw her kind of almost have like the closest she'll get to like a breakdown.

8:30We're hands were shaking on the switch over because she could serve. Yeah. So listen, let's judge it on the match. And let's also judge it on year over year progress. I mean, we're a year in from, you know, we were sitting up in a suite watching her work with her new, you know, coach. Yeah. Who's who I was calling bullshit on. You were that like four days before. I'm like, you cannot hire someone four days before tournament. That's not. And, and maybe she didn't, but listen, it's in a better spot. And they've committed to it. We're here. You later. It wasn't a should. I tried to the commitment. Hell yes. Absolutely. Right. For all parties. Yes. Great point. I mean, it's, it's looked amazing. It's, that is one of those shots now where you're like, wow, I can't wait to see her serve and what how she sets herself up. And if the forehand is the next kind of thing they go to fix. And I think Mary Jo was saying it in the broadcast. If that's the next phase of improvement. If that starts going, this matches the other way. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. Listen, she lost to the number one player in the world. Yeah. There's a reason why it wasn't upset by six standards. Getting the number one's not an accident. No. Like it happens because you're the best.

9:39You know, Coco certainly played worse than the third set. That's rare to see from her career majors records. 26, 8, 28, so like that. A lot to a little. So her felt up. Rebacan. I was, she's really like, she's so stoic on the court. Like she actually fist pumped a couple times and when she does like a minor fist pump, you're like, like, I don't know that I've ever seen anyone as smooth. Yeah. No up, no down. And then afterwards she was like, she did the interview. No one was there. Everyone left. Everyone just left. And she was very sweet, very patient, very nice. You know, I would like to hear like her. I'd love to have her on serve in like a longer format. That'd be great. Where she's not rushed. And you know, we can actually talk about stuff. That would be like a really intriguing guest to have. You know, but I'm sure time will be slim for the number one player in the world. I mean, they had right into two 1000s and she has a lot of points on the line. Yeah. I mean, she's going to have to hustle up. But I just, I just wish there was a way to showcase her.

10:49Because when she spoke about the tennis, it was, it was great to listen to. She's never, ever disrespectful. She's always so nice. So I wish we actually heard more from her. Yeah, especially. I mean, I know there's responsibilities with being number one. So I hope one of those is us hearing from her even more. But well deserved win. I mean, I can't even, let's, let's just reset real quick. We didn't know if she was going to play this tournament. Yeah, she didn't practice for a week after Cincinnati. Scary, scary injury with the potential Achilles. Correct. Comes in doesn't play at all. I didn't pick her in the draw because I thought she wasn't going to play. Like I was like, I think 70, 30. She's not playing and someone's going to choose her. What idiots we are. Yeah, you don't know. We're guessing, right? I mean, people forget the predictions is just another word for guessing. Yeah. But and then to go into a place that you've never played well, you know, I think she's been on record saying the energy in New York is pretty intense. Maybe not her groove. And then to advance, secure the number one ranking beat Coco Gough in a stadium where maybe like nobody not related for or on her payroll was cheering for her. Yeah.

12:06Yeah, the former first lady sitting in the front row, you have like every story you can imagine amazing sitting around and you're like, and there was definitely not a lot of energy being pushed her way. You know, zero. Yeah. Yeah, maybe like four people maybe. I mean, it was it was it was loud in there. So it's the first US women's US open women singles final between the top two seeds since 2013, 13 years ago. That was Serena and Wozniaki. Oh, no, who was it Serena and Victoria as a ranker. Yeah. And then Wozniaki was 2014. Yeah. I'm sure it's so mad when I don't get things right. I mean, Serena was the layup. You could just say Serena. I said 2013. You're exerina. No, I know. I didn't want to, but that was that was not the that was not the question. Well, we could preview that one tomorrow. You know, let it settle in a little bit. Vika Vika and then Caroline. Tomorrow, we got the men's. We got Sasha's very old. Are you done? You have one more? No, I just need a second. I got that wrong. Hello. Just.

13:11You know, RIP on your trivia. Just. All right. Thanks for listening to Served. We will be right back. So much of what goes into being a player on tour is behind the scenes every moment matters when you're competing at the highest level. The part that doesn't get talked about enough is recovery. When I was on tour, recovery had a very different meaning. Have a meal, quick session with the physio. Now technology enables coaches and players to track their fitness in an entirely new way and make changes as a result. When it comes down to it, sleep fitness is at the core of training and eight sleep is revolutionizing how athletes manage their sleep and recovery. Eight sleeps pod is a smart mattress cover that tracks and adjust your sleep temperature to keep you cool and promote up to 34% more deep sleep. That's the difference between waking up foggy and waking up actually rested before your next match. If I had this in my playing days, I could have saved on more than a couple late night food orders.

14:13Whether you're on tour or gearing up for your club championship, now's the time to change the way you manage recovery. Head to 8sleep.com slash Served and use code Served for up to $350 off the pod. It's 8sleep.com slash Served. Code Served for up to $350 off the pod. All right. Back to the show. Tomorrow an Ash restart off with with women's doubles match before we have Sasha's Vera and Karen Hatchinoff. And then in the evening we got Tafo shell. It's Vera and Hatchinoff. This Vera is going to be the overwhelming favorite. Hatchinoff against TN and a getting against blocks was basically just throwing haymakers in second server turns. Like inside the court, taking control and then not letting go of the forehand from the middle of the court, he will not be able to do that. He will be chipping returns or getting them back or it will change the entire dynamic of how he's played the last two rounds.

15:19And where he's getting his hotspots. Sasha has played better. The winners on the day, the winners on forced air stat is like fine. It's deceiving sometimes. They're literally just talking about this. So here's what I want. I want a stat of errors per ball hit. Oh, I like that because Vera was missing like four or five shots in early in this and is still counts. And if he's missing now, it's like after 12 or 13 shots. And that's a different, that's massively different. That's so interesting. And so now when he's losing points, he's actually distributing or someone's hitting a winner from way back. You know, I want errors per ball hit as a metric at some point. Because just errors and winners doesn't always tell the right story. I think you and Courier need to get together to figure out what this is because he was talking about this earlier in the tournament also. Well, that makes me feel good because everything he says, I wish I would have said.

16:19Yeah, that makes me feel I mean, good company if that's the trend for that comment. So it's Vera is six and three over over Karen. And you know, and ultimately I always feel like hatching off is much older than he is. I mean, he's only a year older than you study. He's 30. He's 30. You know, they're both six six, both big, big right handers. You know, I mean, it's it's going to be Sasha moves better. Sasha, I was about to ask you that Sasha moves way better. His serve is way better. He can kind of be aggressive, played defense. I don't know that hatching off wants to play defense all the time. I think Sasha takes one hand off the racket a little bit better. But hatching off is a pro man. Like, I mean, he's been top 10. He's been two semi finals. I'm really happy for his run here. He needed like a hard reset. He was in a bad place with this game. We talked about the last night's show. But everything he does, he's going to have to do. He's going to get four hands in the middle less often. And they're going to be he's not going to have as much proximity to the baseline.

17:19He's not going to be on our inside of it when he gets those four hands. So he's going to have to do more work with less given to him. I like his bear of, you know, and not a shock. I will be on that call tomorrow. Ben and foe showtime. Let's go. Let's go. I mean, I'm like so. I'm just so excited to watch this match. I'm just like, I'm so curious I was talking today. And we know there's going to be a ton of energy. Right? Everyone is pumped. Everyone's excited. Is it going to happen? And yet, there's not an obvious place to place that energy. Is it Ben? Is it foe? Like, you know, they're both, you know, friends of hash, I should say, you know, like, of the court. So it's interesting. Even if you like foe and if you like Ben, you think one has a more likely chance to win in the final. Like, where does that energy go? You kind of have to overthink fandom here.

18:19Yeah. A little bit. I mean, the last time, the only match that I think Ben's three and one against Francis. The only match Francis is one was that epic five setter in 2024 here at the US Open. Yeah. So. Yeah. It'd be interesting. I think Ben, they played in 23, too, right? I'm only seeing it in Ben one. That one, I think. Let me look. Let me go back to the end of this out of now. But I pretty sure Ben won. They played it in the quarter finals in 2023. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they played in 2023, too, and Ben won. It's weird that of their four meetings, you would have thought they might have played more because they probably schedule all the same tournaments. That's true. Two of them have been here. Two of them have been here. Houston's in Washington. Huh. Houston in the finals in Washington in the quarter finals. Yeah. So we'll be interesting to see what happens. So there's a couple of things. The more cat and mousey it is, like faux plane drop shots faux, faux bringing someone in, you know, those soft things,

19:20flight ball flights. I think those are all good things for him. The one thing we need to watch is most people have to completely sell out and go back on, on Ben's serve. And Carlis got caught a couple times. Right. It's tough to take that spin where it bounces on your back and it kicks towards your face or your forehand and take in on it and have, because most of us have swings that are too big. Like you have to read the spin, which is a problem. He's going to go, he can go from 82 mile an hour kick that jumps sideways and six feet up or 115 on the second serve. Like, and you have to play for all of those and you have less than a quarter of a second to do it. Now, if you have big swings, fucking ago, like you can't do anything. faux has very small swings on the return. He can almost like, bump returns. Right. So he is more likely to be able to handle Ben's serve on the second serve, standing in the most people. If anyone can, you know, knock down and volume return Ben's second serve, it's going to be faux.

20:21Right. The two biggest shots in the court Ben serve Ben's forehand. Right. So how do you avoid? You can't avoid a serve. How do you kind of, if you're faux, get to the shot you want most often. I, if I'm faux, I take big cuts. If Ben bullies me, which he's going to with that forehand, I take massive cuts middle off the back end. And at least it bends turning it around. You hope you catch him while he's in stride tying to turn around as opposed to when you turn, you get set and then you can distribute. Like I think big to the middle is going to be very interesting. You know, it'll be interesting to see where Ben chooses to attack. You know, I think faux probably plays better defense on his back end. But that's also Ben's natural shot shape. Right. That's the lefty of things. So kind of where that offset lies. I don't think Ben should be even close to standing in on returns. The data is so. So you think he should just be way behind the photos and have a big second serve. Yeah. I think Ben should be getting forehands every single time on the do side and or for any distance across and or force the server to go wide and find the back end.

21:27Take on that extra like layer. But the data is is pretty clear about Ben back versus up now. That doesn't take into account. Give someone a different look, you know, maybe switch it up and then go back. But you know, I don't think Ben, I think you should be back and just rip city on, on forehands like it made him was doing it pretty well against call it. And also Ben's break rate over the last five weeks is so much higher than it was before that. He lost in Roland Garrison, remember that because he couldn't break serve. Like hardly at all. It's been different since Canada. I mean, he broke Carlos. He went nine straight games at one point. Like he is breaking serve. So the gains are there. He's returning better. And I said, you know, the night that I do Roger thing I had to go out and it was like Terry. Like most embarrassing thing I ever had to do was walk out on a practice course next to real players and hit the balls for 12 minutes. But Ben was, he was out there 40 minutes before I get out there hitting returns and then he was still hitting returns when we were done. Like this is a part that he has worked on.

22:28So can he keep that level of returning up against foe? But it'll be, it'll be exciting. I can't wait. The place is going to be, it's weird. You know it's going to be jumping, but I just don't know where. Yeah. You know, I like, I don't know. It's going to be, it's going to be a very interesting. Like I'm so curious to see which way the crowd sways. Yeah. Right. Like it's, it's like. I mean, Ben just coming off of beating Alcarazza. That's so true. But then they love foe. It's got a vibe, bro. He just like, he just like, no, he just, he just like knows how to like orchestrate the crowd in this like. So foe doesn't have a vibe. Okay. Foe is a vibe. He is a vibe. He is a vibe. He is a vibe. You aren't something that you live. But he is not, this is not a fucking hobby for him. He is a vibe. He is not a, he is not a vibe hobbyist. He is a fucking group. He owns, he doesn't rent. I know, momentum at first the vibe.

23:28Let's see. Vibrum. No vibe. Big foe vibe. All right. What else we got? That's it. All right. We're heading to the weekend. I mean, we're almost, we're almost there. We're almost home. Oh my gosh. Foof. No. My kids are just calling me by my first name now when I call them. My kid. I just don't answer the phone. He's like, hello, Mr. Roddick. Oh my god. What the fuck? I'm on that guy from YouTube's calling again. Oh god. Oh, all right. That's tragic. You know, it's not tragic because I can't like the official video call the human soul. This is my quick serve. Brought to you by ServiceNow. I have my dream job. But even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI specialist come in. They don't just tell you what to do about your busy work. They actually do it. That way your team can focus on what matters. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com.