Tennis Unfiltered

If you want to listen to daily podcasts from the US Open - and every other grand slam - sign up for the Tennis Unfiltered Supporters Club: https://www.patreon.com/TennisUnfiltered

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Today, Calvin and James discussed:

- Henry and Harri's continued success in the US Open men's doubles draw

- The Australian Open chief deciding it might be good to re-open the best-of-five debate in his first month in the job

- Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton finishing at 3.33am and whether players really care about late finishes

- Mirra Andreeva choking two match points against Coco Gauff, who won in three sets

- Elena Rybakina beating Zheng Qinwen and becoming world No 1

And later...

- It's Alexander Zverev's US Open to lose after he cruised into the last four against Botic van de Zandschulp

- And he will play Karen Khachanov after Alexander Blockx's body 'gave up'
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The only way to get daily podcasts from the US Open in your feed every day is to subscribe to the Tennis Unfiltered Supporters Club: https://www.patreon.com/TennisUnfiltered

Every subscriber makes what we do possible: without TUSCers, the podcast literally would not be running, and every new person who joins makes it even more likely that we will be able to keep going in 2027.

Please get involved if you can. We need so many more of you.

In the meantime, here is the Day 6 podcast from Friday, and part of the newsletter below. Enjoy

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Women’s seeds out: No 7 Karolina Muchova (lost to Emma Navarro), No 15 Diana Shnaider (lost to Taylor Townsend), No 18 Ekaterina Alexandrova (lost to Marta Kostyuk)

Men’s seeds out: No 15 Alexander Bublik (lost to Tommy Paul); No 26 Arthur Rinderknech (lost to Daniil Medvedev)

I think the Serena Williams thing has run its course. That is not to say she is not a legend of the game, the GOAT in many people’s eyes, or that she will not continue to fill stadiums if she keeps playing. But you have to think the integrity of a tennis tournament will start to come under threat if she - in singles or doubles - does not start winning some matches. Caroline Wozniacki on ESPN hinted she was planning to play singles again in 2027. I’m not sure it’s a great idea.

This was the second time in four years that she and her sister had graced night session on Arthur Ashe for a first-round doubles match, beaten then and beaten on Friday night. The match against the No 14 seeds Maya Joint and Angel Chan did not even get onto ESPN’s main channel, instead relegated to ESPN2 so they could build up to Miami vs Stanford uninterrupted. Perhaps that is not such a big deal in the age of streaming but it felt significant.

And the Williamses weren’t particularly good, either. Chan and Joint are a decent pair - they won a WTA title only last week - but they were so much more polished and efficient than their more experienced opponents, who racked up unforced errors at a far greater rate. They did manage to nick the second set and Chan-Joint did get tight, but from 5-0 up in the deciding breaker, the Williams sisters choked, frankly. Joint has now beaten Serena twice this year but otherwise endured a difficult year, and it showed in pressure moments. Even when match point had been sealed, Joint was still apologising to her partner.
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Are you a member of the Tennis Unfiltered Supporters Club yet? Why not?! Come join the fun: https://www.patreon.com/TennisUnfiltered

In the meantime, here is a free daily podcast from the US Open, offered free and in full because we're feeling generous.

It features Calvin's thoughts on a lucky losers who pulled out injured, a very noisy train at one point, Novak Djokovic vomiting on court and a whole lot more.
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George Bellshaw and James Gray go line by line through the women's and men's US Open draw to decipher who has come out of the randomiser with the best chance of winning the title.

PLAY our US Open FREE fantasy game here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kg8IlgjCao8ZWuuiR49TZs5Xlf29xPeMMtc3SfJZBhg/edit

You have until 6pm Sunday (UK time) to enter. Good luck!

Remember, the only way to get full daily episodes from the US Open this year is by subscribing to the Tennis Unfiltered Supporters Club via Patreon. DO NOT SIGN UP VIA THE APP, IT WILL COST YOU MORE. Instead, sign up via your browser (and then enjoy the Patreon app to your heart's content.)

Head to www.patreon.com/tennisunfiltered.
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Calvin Betton is in Winston-Salem, the penultimate stop on his North American tour, while James Gray is sitting on his suitcase at home, waiting for a flight... paid for by members of the Tennis Unfiltered Supporters Club! Thanks to the TUSCers, James is heading to New York to make daily podcasts exclusively for members of our Patreon.

To avoid missing out on our US Open coverage, head to: https://www.patreon.com/TennisUnfiltered

Meanwhile, here's what James and Calvin discussed in this week's free pod:

- Arthur Fils is hitting his straps with a first-ever Masters 1000 title, beating Frances Tiafoe in a ding-dong final that ended remarkably quickly for a three-set match - but maybe that is how the paper-thin Frenchman has to play in order to maintain condition at big tournaments

- Coco Gauff overcame her sometime doubles partner Jessica Pegula to win in Cincinnati for a second time: only Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka have managed that in the Open Era

- The controversial mixed doubles championship has kicked off in New York

- Jannik Sinner, Jack Draper, Joao Fonseca and a whole host of other men have pulled out leaving the singles wide open - and we even think Carlos Alcaraz might not play

And loads more!

Remember, the only way to listen to our US Open coverage is to sign up for the our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TennisUnfiltered⁠
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