Davis Cup + Last Week's WTA action

0:00From kickoff to the final whistle, trade the biggest moments in football on CalShe. America's number one prediction market platform. Denver is currently trading at 40% to upset Los Angeles, meaning a $100 trade pays out $197 if they win. Download CalShe. Use code FAL to get $25 when you trade $25. KAL SHI. CalShe. Trade on anything. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CalShe products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see CalShe.com slash regulatory. This football season control your game day your way with passes from sling. Choose a one, three or seven day sling pass to get instant access to live football on top channels like ESPN starting at just 4.99. Watch or stream your favorite college or pro matchups at home or on the go because watching football shouldn't

1:00be complicated or expensive. Sling lets you do that. Learn more at sling.com. To ghost haunt houses because they have unfinished business or because you have unfinished races. There they are. It's further evidence that everything happens for races. Our crack rackets team is proud to partner with our friends at the Laurel Spring School. Imagine a school day that doesn't start with the ringing of a bell, but instead the rhythmic bounces of a tennis ball and the crisp pop of a perfect serve. That's the sort of opportunity offered by the Laurel Spring School. At Laurel Springs they understand how difficult it can be for any aspiring athlete to balance their daily training. We can travel competitions and their academics. That is why they offer

2:04a 100% flexible online private education that molds to fit any and every athlete's lifestyle and aspirations. Enrolling at Laurel Springs means every new sunrise is a chance for your child to thrive both academically and on the court by enrolling at Laurel Springs. You're not only empowering your child with a premium personalized education, you're also enabling them to thrive. In both their academic and athletic pursuit, start the school year off right and visit Laurel Springs.com today. To learn more you can join them for an upcoming virtual open house and learn more about every program. Every resource they offer, again go to Laurel Springs.com to start your school year off right. Laurel Springs a proud partner of crack-crackers. Welcome to the mini-book. Your day in podcasts for the big story-mongerous of us and

3:18concerts from the team's world to the day. Second, really enjoyed. Recording last week's episodes, whether it was recapping the 2026 USO's finals, whether it was talking about the biggest stock up, stockdown, louvers on the ATP-WT2ers coming out of the North American hardcore stretch, whether it was offering my top 10 rankings for the WTA and ATP 2ers coming out of the year's final major, or, of course, whether it was discussing the biggest storylines remaining. In this 2026 season with our dear friend Ben Rothenberg, if you missed out on any of those podcasts, all you got to do is scroll down on your mini-break podcast feed to find any and each of those episodes. Of course, we didn't have episodes for you Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the recent for that. Had the opportunity last weekend to travel to New York to celebrate the wedding of my former high school teammate, Lawrence Gahn, or Minder, that this sport is a lifelong sport. So it was wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate with him, his family, his lovely wife Sharon, also being in

4:20New York as I was for the wedding. I got to see two of my favorite people in the world, my two brothers, and so accordingly did not spend much time watching tennis over the course of the weekend. I had anticipated to be able to offer this podcast to all of you listeners yesterday, but, of course, burning the midnight oil, as I did in an unknown city to my immune system. I, of course, got sick. You might still hear it in my voice. I do feel well enough. I think I can get a 30-minute episode out to all of you listeners, and as I've been in bed for much of the last 36 hours, not much else to do, but watch all of this past weekend's Davis Cup action, Guadalajara action, São Paulo action, etc. Want to offer a recap of that action in case any of you tennis fans had a wedding to attend yourself, or whatever it may be that forced you to miss out on last week's action. So I want to catch up on everything here on this edition of the show now, whether this next episode comes later tonight or ultimately tomorrow. We'll just depend on how I'm feeling, but then we can get back to this week. We can start to get set, of course, for the Asian swing. I think Laver Cup is this week

5:25as well. We got some things on the horizon, some ground still to cover in this 2026 season home stretch. So looking forward to doing that with all of you tennis fans. Of course, if you want to make sure you don't miss out on any of our coverage, you stay up to date on everything happening in the tennis world. Click that subscribe button so you don't miss out on any of our coverage. Oh, by the way, if you go leave five star rating, little review about you want to hear more of as well. Always appreciate here and feedback from all of you tennis fans. With that said, though, let's get into last week's action because there was a sneaky large amount of that despite there not being a formal ATP tour level event on the schedule last week. I do want to start on the men's side because we saw a bunch of notable names in action over the course of this past weekend's Davis Cup qualifying play and accordingly, some significant results worth discussing now. If you listened to the last edition of this podcast, Ben Rothenberg and I breaking down the biggest storylines moving forward, we brought up the team success for the United States and the notable lack thereof team

6:30success despite the fact that we live in an era where, of course, on the women's side notably, eight in the world, Coco Gough, Jessica Pagula, they're about to be half decade consecutive of two or finals appearances for each of them beyond that. Anisimova with her two slam finals last season. Obviously, Emma Navarro has been a top 25 player for most of the last four years. You've got an emerging Eva Yovic. You've got a Madison keys. You've got all these different weapons on the double side as well. You feel like you can throw Taylor Townsend with anyone and that should be a winning doubles pairing. That's just the Fed Cup side of things. On the men's side, obviously coming off of a US Open, where Ben made the final. Francis made the semi-finals and you look in the points race right now. Ben's third, Francis's sixth, Taylor's tenth, Tommy's eleventh. Those last three guys, Francis, Tommy Taylor, all in their late 20s like they are at the peaks of their power. They should be racking up. Davis Cup successes. Obviously, again, Ben's still 23. That he was even

7:31willing to play. This Davis Cup coming off of that US Open final. It's a testament to who he is and what it means to him to have the opportunity to represent his country. But you've got Nakashima sixteenth in the points race. Learner eighteenth in the points race. Again, right there, those are six men inside the top 18 of the points race. And so I'm sorry, you're, you know, irrespective of the draw because certainly you look for the Americans and given the strength of their roster, given the strength of their opponents in Chakia, like those are probably your top two teams who were forced to compete in this past weekend's qualifying action. Now, the best player is 2026 two-time slam champion, Sasha Zverev, who ultimately leads Germany with two singles victories to the final stage of qualifying action and a testament to Zverev that he was willing to play that quickly and turn things around and find that sort of success. Even if it was against an underman Croatia, side of me to get he's playing he played a Mate Dodig who's about to attack this in January. And Adino Prismichu is at top 60 player in the world. He's not top 25 player

8:38in the world. Those are two wins he should earn and straights. That's he did. See, I'm just sneaking in notes here. But like again, Spain's got Haudar, Marita. That's a good team. That's not six in the top 20 of the points race to choose from. That's not the double step that as well, Christian Harrison. Of course, the US Open Champion. You feel like you could throw him with Ben serve. That's a team that should find success or whomever else you want to pick from. And so for the Americans, again, to not advance and to have... I know this one was in Czechia, right? It was in Prague. But for the Americans to fall, particularly given the circumstances, right? And it starts with Learner Tien, who of course needed five sets to beat Menshik on an outdoor hardcore. You feel like throw them indoors. Menshik serves should give him that much more of a competitive advantage. It didn't. Learner dismantling him too. And for again, it's just the way Learner moves him corner to corner. The fact that Menshik's backhand cross, which is so exceptional, is just neutralized in the face of a Learner forehand that if you can't hurt that forehand,

9:40he's just going to move it around and kill you. And again, Menshik can't really pull the forehand crosses comfortably as he would like. And accordingly, like the forehand inside out, it's just not as advantageous against the lefty. Learner was awesome. Learner is one of the better... He's moving towards top 10. I'm no longer going to say top 15. I really do think he's one of the 10 best hardcore players in the world, or bordering upon that level. To get that wind to start. And then, look, Lechetschka 4 and 4 over Shelton, Ben wasn't great on the return of serve on an indoor hardcore even less time. Like... It felt... Again, as good as he was on the return of serve against Carlos Alcarez, he was not. The backhand was not moving through the court the way he needed to against Lechetska and the constant pace, you know, every slice Lechetska is pounding behind. But then, right? So honestly, you come out of that opening split one all. I think that's a win for Team USA on the road. Like, again, Lechetschka is 24 in the world, but we know what his peak level is,

10:44and single match level can be met and 615 in the world. Like, certainly, yes, Learner, Ben, were both the higher ranked players, but the margin between even 4 Shelton and 24 Lechetska is marginal, as we've discussed for the last two years on the ATP tour. I think you feel like you're winning, coming out of those two rubbers one and one, but even more importantly, to have the doubles, go the way that it did, where again, it was 10-8 in the third set, Sudden Death Ty break, Harrison Crachek knocking off Pavlovshek and Rikl. The checks had match points. I think they have three of them in that doubles rubber, and Harrison and Crachek were ultimately able to prevail. You dodge that, but you come up to one. And yes, again, you got tough matchups the following way. You feel like, again, especially the TN Lechetska matchup, given how well TN faced off in the face of Menchik's power, that that should have been the one where you're feeling in good hands. But by the way, like, Ben's up a set, 75 on Menchik, Menchik comes back, 576463, Lechetska 3 and 5,

11:50overlearned TN. I don't want to take anything away from Chekki, because again, if Menchik and Lechetska play well enough, it depends how good they are in doubles. But again, they were right there with an American doubles team that says, I think, strong as any of the doubles teams in the draw, or up there, certainly with them. This team can three-two anyone, because they should expect splits, even when they're facing a Zverev. Well, neither of these guys should be losing to Elk Nair. Hodard Morita gets a little interesting, but that feels like an American matchup where you would expect one in one. Obviously, we'll see who lines up for Italy. We don't know how healthy center is. We don't know how much we're going to see them in the Asian swing, let alone Davis Cup at the end of the year. This Chek team could go and win the damn thing. So there is that caveat. And again, like, whether it was a Korea or an India who ended up facing one another. You feel like both these teams check in the US, advance by both those teams. I would have liked to see the USA

12:51versus Germany. I would have favored both Learner and Ben to beat Daniel Elk Meyer, especially left these into a one handed backhand. Always a matchup you like. Could one of them have knocked off a Wary's Varev, a Shelton's Varev rematch. That would have been interesting. The point is like, okay, there's that matchup Canada. I think they're both beaten Liam Drax, leaving if Drax was excellent in his win over Rinder Kinesh. And I think one of, if not both of them, should be this version of Felix Ojiro, all these teams who is not at his best, who is not at his healthiest. Again, like, you can play the draw blame game and say that both of these teams would have beaten what there were 14 teams in action over the course of this past weekend in qualifying action. Could both of these teams have beaten the other 12 teams in play? Absolutely. Welcome to team competition. Marchions are going to be thin. And again, yes, this was a road tie. But this is, I believe, the third consecutive season that the Americans aren't getting to the final site. That's unacceptable, especially when again, 2024. You have a Taylor Fritz who, at the end of 2024,

13:56was probably the third best player in the world, given Chokovic wasn't really playing behind, Alkarez in center. Obviously, the last season, you had Fritz again, you still have Shelton, you have Tiafo, you have Tommy, you have the emergence of Lerner. You have all these different options, even like Quinn. By the way, EQ, who gets the saving win in the earlier qualifier, back earlier this season, like Mikkelsen Rising. Obviously, given all those options, tough lineup decisions have to be made by the Captain Bob Bryant, don't envy being in that position, and who you ask and who you try to lobby and who you're fighting for. No slams, but a Ben US Open Final and a Davis Cup title run, and it just would have been an unequivocally plus for the American men in this 2026 season. And again, like, I'm still in the A range, but this knocks it down to an A-. Now, again, depending on how they finish, B-plus becomes an option once again, because yes, Ben, I think getting into a slam final automatically puts the floor of the grade of A-, particularly given again, six in the top 18 of the points race, like

14:59big picture, those are stats that are impossible to ignore. For those who care about team results, and American tennis, and I am one of those people, this is where I was born, these are, I mean, again, Taylor and Tommy, they're a little younger than me, but that's who Colet Lewis was writing about when they were 15, 16, and I was 17, 18, and like, that's when fandom is formed. And we just haven't had a significant run in Davis Cup during that stretch, so even as the slam success has started to return to a decent baseline level, obviously, the 1000 level success players in the two were finals in the mix. This one hurts, this one stings, and again, great wins, by the way, huge weekend for Yuri LaHechka. Yuri LaHechka, who has not had the greatest of 20-26 seasons, you know, LaHechka 20-17, overall on the year, but what's the notable run for LaHechka this season? I mean, round of 16, Wimbledon, he didn't have to face a single seed on his way to that round of 16. The finals Miami, I guess that was the notable run,

16:02where he beats Taylor, where he beats Arthur Fees. That's really it, like again, he had the Miami run, of course, which was exceptional. And then now he has this run, where he beats Shelton Tien back-to-back to earn these Davis Cup victories. By the way, you look for him against top 20 opponents this season. Those victories over top 20 opponents, his first top 20 victories, since beating Usheddi, who is returning from injury and Madrid, and then you'd have to go all the way back to, still banged up Fritz all the way back in Miami. Needed this one to get some momentum going into a portion of the counter. We're obviously, you go back to 2024, LaHechka finals and twerp semi-finals, Belgrade, quarter finals, Beijing, and of last season, we'll be made quarter finals, US Open, made round of 16, Shanghai, finals, Brussels. By the way, last year beat Tiafou and Fritz, to help Chucky advance past the US again in Davis Cup. He's the American killer right now. Shout out, you're a LaHechka. And again, a big result for the still just 24-year-old to

17:03write this ship. It's an American centric lens to everything that happened in Davis Cup to lead with the Americans, although I snuck in some spare-of-talk there, of course, as well, sticking, I guess, with the theme of the last three weeks. But to have the momentum of the US Open, to have it be a Nakashima summer, all of these things pointing in a positive direction, then to take this loss, not at home this time, but to take this loss hurts. Again, a credit to Chuckya. They are through to the final site, but yeah, that's your most notable headline of the result, the most surprising result of the weekend. How about Liam Frick and Draxel? Two in five over-art of the Rinder Kinesh. They did not overlap their time in college. Rinder Kinesh was out by 2019. Draxel wasn't a part of our lives till the 2020s, though. Of course, Draxel, Diallo, helping to lead their University of Kentucky to the NCAA team final in 2022. Draxel, two in five over-art of the Rinder Kinesh. Guys, a fucking fighter. And of course, Liam Draxel was on the precipice of breaking the top 100 earlier this season. Now, he's down to

18:06211, but 24-year-old reached a career height of 113. I've said this before, and it's said this about Spaziri. I've said this about Jack Pinington Jones when back is pressed against the wall. The college reveals who you are as a competitor. And no one extracts every ounce of themselves more than Liam Draxel, sometimes to his own detriment. But the guy, when there is team on the line, especially raises his level, the harder you hit at him, he's such an exceptional athlete. That's all he wants is a little firepower to work with, although he's sneaky twitchy as well. Again, Liam Draxel is a top 100 athlete. That's the signature win, but of course, how about Felix? Two three-set wins, a guy who just needed to get a couple on the scoreboard. Three sets, he knocks out Quentin Halice. They dropped the doubles, but they rally as Felix, four-six, seven-six, six-four, knocks out Arthur Rinder-Kinesh to clinch the tie-four Canada, sending them back to the final side. Felix has been a sneaky good doubles player, excuse me, a sneaky good Davis Cup player throughout the

19:08course of his career. And again, Felix, it's been a weird season because he had all this momentum. By the way, reached four in the world. A new career higher earlier this year. Reach quarter finals of Roland Garros probably had his best clay court season ever. In fact, you look for him on the dirt this year. Eight and five overall, but his Monte Carlo quarters, Roland Garros quarters, he earned three wins on the clay in 2025. 17 and eight, okay, the Madrid final, Paris, well, but that has Paris included in it, but 17 clay wins in 2024, one in 23, 11 and 22. Okay, so he's an even-year performer on the clay. That's what I just learned in scrolling through those stats. You look through the rest again of his 2026 though. It was good out of the gates. A little banked up in January, but Winsmond, Pele, a finals, Rotterdam back-to-back. It's been very touch-and-go ever since. Quarter finals, Roland Garros, quarter finals, Wimbledon. But obviously wasn't healthy during an North American summer where he could have made his move, but gets these two wins to get things

20:09rolling again, sends Canada back to the quarter finals. He's just been a good competitor in team environment over the course of his career. Again, led them to that title a couple of seasons ago as well. So Canada, knocking out France, no U.S., no France, in the Davis Cup finals again. Like France hasn't played a significant role in the Davis Cup finals in years. Again, in Arthur Fees, Arthur Gia, just ride the Arthur's, Arthur Rinder, Knash Ride, all three, two title wins. That'd be interesting. That'd be fun. Next year, only Arthur's, and they have, I'm blanking on his name. Anyways, point being, we'll leave that in anyways, while stuff, even though the joke didn't land. Spain, look, if you're going by rising stars, like Merida and Hodor have been two of the best 25 players of the last three months. Hodor better than that, of course. And by the way, Farafa, who had his first shock, horrible, against Boulin Chocate, in round one of the U.S. Open. 0-2 over Christian Garene. Again, like it's a match he should win in 2026, but 0-2. And yes,

21:15it was a match back on the clay, his preferred surface, but he's back to dusting. And like, I think about his 2026 clases, and I'm going to put it in the pantheon up there, just like moments when you knew. And you're hoping it's not a 2023 Runa case where Runa was that good early, and hasn't captured that sort of form since. But you know what, Rafa's capable of him to see and get back to that level. Merida, by the way, good three-set win, five, seven, six, three, six, three over Alejandro Tabillo. Always tricky, big serving lefty. It's just, again, it's real. For Merida, Tabillo is 28 in the world. Merida's 41, he's better than that. Where is he in the yearly E-L right now? Yeah, Daniel Merida's 17th right now by yearly E-Low, by overall E-Low, Daniel Merida 25th. That's probably the number I would land on as well. 25 feels about right for Daniel Merida. That's a formidable Spanish side. Now, Pedro Martinez and how may Munnar play their doubles, rubbers? Less formidable. I don't think need to see El Caraz at the final site, but if it's El Caraz,

22:16how do our Merida is? Your top three. You're in a good spot. Spain's good. Spain's very good. And they manage two advance accordingly, even without El Caraz, three love over a Chile team. That again, I think both the US and Czechia would have preferred to play. I mentioned this, there are two doubles victories plus Kravitz and puts. That's probably your best doubles team, five and two over Medkic and Pavic. It's very of clenching things with a two and four win over Dino Prismich. How about Toby Samuel, man? Former South Carolina All-American, top 100 debut taunt to start September post US Open. 466461 over here's former SEC rival Andy and Drade, Stanford's Arthur Ferry, five and out of clenched things as well to get another victory over Ecuador. They win the doubles. I lied. Patent and Skupski are your top doubles team. I mean, Great Britain's going to have to win every doubles rubber. Because even if they got a healthy draper back, like they don't have the singles guns, that's some of these up. That'd be such a

23:18fascinating matchup. Can Samuel and Ferry go two and two against men's chicken, Lechatch Cooks, if they can, they probably take doubles. I don't know, man. I'd probably have favored the Americans against Great Britain as well. But again, Toby starts it off from a set down, Ferry straight set wins as well. Yes, Ecuador is in advantageous opponent. Brits through to another final side. Of course, you know who else is quietly a Davis Cup killer. Yuri Rodionov, 27-year-old two, if you go back, check the tapes. I think it's a 2018 Great Shot podcast. Matt Stikoviak and I shout out Matt Stikoviak going to be making a return to the Great Shot podcast for a reunion episode soon. We were talking about Next Gen Towns and you watch Rodionov, the big lefty, and it was in a Yuri Vesli era where you just thought, yeah, that's going to work similarly. His serve, his weaponry can move a little bit for that sort of pace as well. Obviously he did crack the top 100 to start 2024, but he's been more a one, you know, 175 to 125 guy than 125 to a 75 guy.

24:21And yet these last two seasons, Rodionov, of course, last year helped lead Austria to the upset beats Marishan, beats Fuchavitch this year Rodionov, foreign one over Gaufe, Anklin, and then the big upset. 63 over Zizu Bergs, Austria. 31 over Belgium, they win the doubles as well. Shout out Yuri Rodionov. Does it for his country? And I'm sure, by the way, he's a killer club tennis player. He's got to be in Boondas League, a French League, something else as well. Shout out Korea through as well. Korea's Quanson Wu, 36-66-36-36-4 over our guide, DK Suresh, and then shout out he unchoned 26-6-4-75, the win over Summit Nghil, Kwan, the one to win over Nghil as well. In the second round of singles, rubber's India staying alive with a win in double, shout out to our guide, DK Suresh. But South Korea is through. And so again, quarter finals now set, now they're not till the end of November. Look, Italy draws Korea round one, even if it's

25:24caboli or Naldi, Bertini, like, Italians got a dark dairy, they got a lot of options. They're the heavy favorites over Korea. Canada has Felix, indoor hard courts end of November's prime Felix conditions. Maybe you see a Shapo appearance, but you favor Menshik, you favor Lakhachka, honestly, he took three in one in those singles, rubber's, and she'd favor them in doubles as well. They're the heavy favorites. Germany, great Britain's interesting, because Elpmeyer could lose to a Samuel, Elpmeyer could lose to a fairy, and great Britain could take doubles. Germany's got the best player. That one gets interesting, and then Spain, I think, heavy favorites against Austria as well. So look, Italy, Spain, collision course, you would love this. What if our first Sincrasm match of the year was in the Davis Cup Final? Would that make Davis Cup start to matter again? It's a fun scenario to root for. That's everything coming out of the qualifying action. Davis Cup again. Check you at 3-2 over the US. Canada, 3-1 over France, Spain, 4-love over Chile,

26:26Germany, 3-1 over Croatia. You had great Britain, 3-love over Ecuador, Austria, 3-1 over Belgium, and then, of course, South Korea, 3-1 over India. That's everything on the ATP-2, or now I feel my voice fading, but I do think I still have enough juice to quickly talk about the WTA-2 or action on the week. No surprise, like the moment that Martha Kostjok and answer withdraw from the event that this 500 in Guadalajara was Eva-Yovic's to win. By the way, for Eva-Yovic, second title, back-to-back seasons. At 19 years old, 18, excuse me, has already defended a title in her career. Is she the youngest? No, because I'm sure Celis and Hengis had defended like three times a title by the time they were already 18. But listeners, looking at you, Patrick Ding, if you've made it this far, where is Yovic on the scale of youngest players to defend a title ever? Because I got to imagine it's not a fun list. Not just make back-to-back finals, defend a title. And again, to back things up

27:34after beating Yala, making that round of 16 at the US open, it just feels like she tests again. She has gotten to a point where we, the standard we hold her to is the standard against the very best, because anything less than, especially on this surface, ain't going to be good enough. And to not only win this event, but to not drop a set in doing so, yeah, to face Peyton Sterns, who is, I think, 21 and 20 on the year going into Guadalajara as your final in a 500, that's an ideal opponent. She'd be different to, like Yovic now elevates herself to the top 25 club, now right now there are 13 women. You can say that about and that speaks to how many women are playing well right now on the WTA tour. But 18 years old, she's already the top 25 club, she's defended this title. Her major results this season were Aussie quarters, Roland Garros third round, three set lost to Osaka, Wimbledon fourth round, three set lost to Pacula, US open round of 16, but BDala before getting that out by golf. A plus, A plus season for 18 year old Yovic, sure,

28:39you would have liked to see more than four top 20 victories, but to get that win over Yovic at the US open, obviously January, Poundleini, the stock hadn't fallen as it has now, so to get that victory right out of the gates after she was really good in the opening weeks in Auckland and Hobart respectively, A plus, it's just a continued ascent and the big thing was no dip, like she had a bad Billie Jean King cup qualifying weekend losing matches to Minnan, Van Devinkle, sure, but from a tour level perspective, Yovic lost consecutive tour level matches just twice this season. She lost back to back matches, Austin to Tom Yonovich, Indian Wells, Osorio, she lost back to back matches, golf in Rome, Navarro in Strasbourg. That's it, 18 years old. It's about how you move on, it's about how you get to the next week and she's available in every week to bring her best in American title for Yovic, by the way, well the American men were struggling, how about a Peyton's turn final run? A Peyton's turn, who had only won multiple matches in events this season,

29:45four times coming into this week. Australian opened where she reached round three, Austin, where of course she won the title, one multiple matches in Memphis, I was with her as she reached the quarter finals there and made third round roll one, Garros. Now by the way, to have two of the four events where you won multiple matches be two of the majors, that's why her ranking hasn't fallen off of the cliff, but for her to go, you know, match one loss to Rousa and Turrano, match two loss three sets to toss in in Sinciba, that's round 64, and then first round loss from Opacetta Harry at the US Open. That's a portion of the calendar back on home soil that she prides herself in. And then so to come here this week, Beatty Ann Perry, Beatsloan Stevens, out serve, Ludmila Samsonova in that semi-final, helped to be in the Guadalajara conditions, but her kick serve was pop through the court and excuse me, sorry, you know what was going to happen eventually. It's a reminder of the weapons she possesses. Now here's the other fun fact,

30:47Payne Sterns, who of course reached the round of 16 at the US Open all the way back in 2023. She's one of October's very own, she doesn't her 25 until October 8th, 25, like we haven't hit the peaks of her powers yet. And she's shown that even through, you know, again, it runs a little hot and cold for Payne Sterns, but when the weapons are right, when the conditions are right, the ball she hits pop through the court and she continues to put herself in those positions to just be around, linger for that win the iron is hot. She strikes and I love that she just, she's a player. Like she, if there's an event on the calendar, Payne Sterns is going to go play, have always admired that quality about her so much. She's gotten into very good shape as well. A well deserved result because the level has been better than the results would indicate. By the way, look at her 2026 season now, 25 and 21 overall on the year. She is six and nine in deciding sets. It's felt worse than that. What's her record in tie breaks this season? Honestly, seven and four,

31:49it's felt worse than that as well. Big result for Payne Sterns, though to write the ship's back up to 36 in the world now, Payne Sterns. Remarkable week. Good week for Samson Ova. I mean, any week she can get multiple wins. If you're like, okay, and things have been trending better for her. These last eight weeks, you look again, Christina Bukshah, always good in the Guadalajara conditions, your other semi-finalist as well. Sloan stacking up a couple of victories, a much-needed win for Janice Chen as well. Again, did you have a, no, we didn't. I was going to say double withdraws not right. Oh, did Costuch get the withdraw? Oh, Costuch didn't withdraw. Excuse me, Taylor Townsend withdraw. Samson Ova knocking out Costuch in her opening match. See again, hand up, unforced error. Eviovic, your champion in Guadalajara didn't teach us anything new, but reminds us. She's one of the A's when we get to the report cards from this 2026 season. Of course, you also

32:54had the 250 action in São Paulo, a shout out to 20-year-old Caitlin Quavado. I got to see Quavado in person in Philly. Good. I mean, again, she lost a heartbreaker, 616, 766, to Caterina of Tranco, that I swear, like, might still be on court as we speak. That one was just a war in brutally hot conditions, but didn't love the serve. I mean, she moves well and the ground strokes are bigger in person than I expected, but like, I just don't know what the defining weapon that's going to make her life easy at the highest level will be. She moves well, but it's not like, I mean, it is pretty good, but it's not like, oh, okay, like, and there's a springiness out of the corners, and the ball she hits as well, though, again, fine in the corners. It's certainly not a weakness of her. In fact, one would argue it's a strength, but I mean, look, the draw broke beautifully for her Patarosa in the final on a hard court. Yeah, you'll take that. And yet, you can't play the draw. You play the opponent across the net from you, drop sets in her final two matches, and yet again,

33:54first two level title for Caitlin Kuveito, accordingly up to a new career high number 73 in the live rankings. I mean, it has had to do it just the hard way every single step. And, you know, again, was playing lost first round US Open, went and played the 125 in Barron, Kia the very next week. When's the last time I mean, she took, when's the last time she took a couple weeks off. She made a 125 final in Targy, Mirrez, and then played Philly, US Open Barron, Kia, Sao Paolo for consecutive weeks, culminating in this 250 title. Moves the ball well. Like, is solid. Caitlin Kuveito is solid. When I have her as even a tier two prospect of the 21 and unders moving forward, no, but by the way, you look at that 20 and younger crew. What the next gen finals would look like on the women's side. Same age, quite criteria as the men. Let's assume Andrew, but wouldn't play. She won a slam title. And she could have been eligible the last three seasons. Yes, she probably skips. Yovic play. Well, I mean, after she wins the 500, I think Yovic plays because she likes to win.

35:01If Embokos trying to get matches, well, getting healthy, I think she plays. You could have Yovic, Emboko, Baylick, Bartumkova, Tagger, Valentova, Cornieva, Kiveito. That's a fucking field. I mean, signed me up. And by the way, missing that field would be a Marchenko oppressed and a joint, a Samson Memphis champion, Christina Lutova. Miapon Kova looked pretty good, which she makes semi-finals of the 125, I believe. Last week in, yeah, she made, no, did she make semi-finals or quarterfinals? Miapon Kova made semi-finals last week in Portugal. And Downsignia Kraus one and one. Again, she lost, she got rocked by Valinets and Filini. I really liked what I saw from Pawn Kova there. Or I just like the former Genoa champion. I get the appeal. But again, like even if you took take out Yovic, even if you take out Andrew then, let's say no Emboko either. You take all those names out of the mix. If the field was just Baylick, Bartumkova, Tagger, Valentova, Cornieva,

36:08the hell of the field was just Tagger and Cornieva. I'm happy right there. But Kovaido, Marchenko, and those two who would be like, okay, but how do you stack up against your best peers in less than ideal conditions in a premier event where the spotlight shines brightest? You know, again, Throchristin Lutova, the 16-year-old in the mix as well. If you win a two-level title, you should be automatically qualified to an action in finals, real men's or hypothetical women's. It's just another one of those 20 in under-towns. And by the way, huge result for Poto-Roska, her first ever two-level final, oh by the way, for Poto-Roska back up to number one, excuse me, 200 in the rankings accordingly. First ever two-level final, how crazy is that? By the way, of the finals she's played in her career. It's her first, second, third, fourth, sixth final, she played 23 finals. Just six of those 23 have been on hard courts. And now one of those six is the long two-level final in the 29-year-olds career. Obviously she's still with so many different

37:09injuries, but a big result for Nadea Poto-Roska to get back up to 200 reach the finals there. And by the way, again, ranking breakthrough wise, because we didn't go over that directly. And by the way, I didn't mention the challengers. I mentioned the 125s there. Burel, Pagato, and DeStefano, Allerning titles. He had the big Darwin Blanche title beat, top 100 W-ton, Michael Zhang, beat Michael Mo, JJ Wolf making another semi-final. I was watching Tipperon. And JJ's just back to playing top 110 of Skenn, Michael. Michael has these weeks, Michael Mo, not Michael Zhang. Darwin's a fascinating test case because there is real pace for him to work with. Is it elite, elite pace? No, but it's real. It's real, two-level pace. Can he beat dynamic enough? Well, I mean, but when the speed is on, you're just like, it can just overwhelm people. When he's

38:10consistent with that pace, it just puts downhill pressure on anyone. Anyways, we'll say those. I got to do a challenger-centric podcast of guys who are looming, lingering, and will impress me most at the ATP challenge level. I got to start watching more challenger, Tannis, down the seasons, hope stretches. Well, get back to my roots. But that's where we are. Come out of last weeks' action. It wasn't just speculating about the future. There was some tennis being played, so I wanted to recap that for all of you tennis fans in case you missed out on any of it. Again, we got a busy week this week on the ATP-WTA tours as well. We've got another 500 on the calendar for the women this week, of course. In Seoul, Singapore on the calendar, you've got Chengdu, you've got Hongzhou. I do believe you have laid for a cup action later this week as well. Five challenges, 3125k's, ITA All-Americans this week as well. We'll get into all of that over the course of the next couple of days here as we continue to enjoy the home stretch of this 2026 season. The reason we can do that on this podcast, of course, because of the tireless efforts of our super producer, Daniel Westoff, a shout out to him, a shout out, of course, as well. To this

39:44time, we'll be back in a few minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. From kickoff to the final whistle, trade the biggest moments in football on Kao-shi. America's number one prediction market platform. Denver is currently trading at 40% to upset Los Angeles, meaning a $100 trade pays out $197 if they win. Download Kao-shi. Use code FAL to get $25 when you trade $25. KALSHI Kao-shi. Trade on anything. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading evolves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Kao-shi products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see Kao-shi.com slash regulatory.

40:48Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie, some Maglatide injection 2.4 milligrams, a GLP one. Call 1-8334-Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait? To ghost haunt houses because they have unfinished business or because you have unfinished races? There they are. It's further evidence that everything happens for races. A thick juicy cheeseburger. A cheesy gooey quesadilla. Both family favorites. So how do you choose? At Applebees, you don't have to. Introducing Applebees new O.M. Cheezardia burger. Heart, juicy beef burger. Part ear-resistibly cheesy quesadilla. Serve with tortilla chips on a sizzling skillet of even more cheese. We dare you to resist the pull.

41:51Right now, the O.M. Cheezardia burger is on Applebees 2 for 25 menu. A full-sized appetizer and two including the O.M. Cheezardia burger for just 25 bucks. That's eating good in the neighborhood. Nothing beats tradition like weekly game nights at mom's house. Antostitos crafted with masa made the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels, with flavors worth gathering around like a hint of lime and Mexican street corn and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. That's the Toastitos way. Bring Toastitos to your next game night and you'll be winning either way. Toastitos, tradition matters.