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

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Have it make me a cheeseburger. All right, we got some dentist. I don't think it's in this trim. Sorry, I'm sorry, it's not a packaging, sorry. Yeah, we got to get premium. Thanks, Rob. Thanks, Rob. Sobel, I mean, runaway train the night. Jess and her post-game presser joked, she said, "I don't know who pissed her off today, maybe it was me." She said that with a smile, and then she straight up just said she was like, "Literally, there wasn't much I could do today." That sums it up. I walked down the stairs and kind of like the player area, outside of a player cafe, it's where transportation and practice courts, it's kind of the like epicenter heartbeat of coming and going at the US open and was walking from some of the suites down and past Knowles, 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, "What do you do with that?" I mean. And he's right. And I had no answer for him. Like I watched, I'm going, I don't really know. When she's in full flight like that, it's the best match she's played this year. I thought Jess played fine, you know, the entire thing in their matchup always comes down to how Jess can defend her second serve. She's been very intentional and focused on fixing that part of her game, and the reason is Irene Sableko, and what she can do to that second serve, right? She obviously goes massive, 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. 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 Sableko's moving into the shot by a step or two, she still has momentum going forward. That was maybe the performance of the tournament on the women's side. Not as far as like just 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 near perfect, you know, little up the start. They were a little more competitive, but that's the best she's looked. I remember when we got to New York like six months ago, Sableko, we were worried about her form coming in, and we did say she gets three or four matches in, you know, does she reestablish as a favorite, and you know, I don't know if the favorite, I don't know if there is a de favorite, because we're the top four women in the world all playing well, getting to the semis, but like right back there, you know, she can, the grades can reset very quickly. Still a great year for Jess Pagula, I know, you know, we're entering the territory of like 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 progress by, you know, a 45 minute moment in time. It's done at scale, and at scale, she has improved every part of her game this year. So, you know, maybe for another time, but Sableko just played too well by Jess's own admission. I mean, to put it in perspective, right, it's, you know, our service now is out of the day is eight. I mean, Sableko is the first female or male player in the opener to reach eight consecutive grand slam finals on our court, passing seven, reached by Steffi Graf. Like she, it's, Pagula played her, the match that she wanted to try and go out and play, but she just was freed by a great, you know, and so it's in rarefied air and, and the movement isn't tricky, like it isn't on a, on a clay court. The bounce isn't tricky, like it is on a grass court. So she's a ball striker when the ball's 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. You know, she's in the last four months, yeah, she's played not near her peak, but again, we judge the grades against their own shadows, right. And so she's created quite the shadow with, with how good she's been. So when we say she's not in form, that's based against Arena Sableko, not against Earth. 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, I love her as a player. I 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 co-host of a 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 the podcast. And the fact that they do it like regularly while they're still on tour. Yeah. I mean, some podcasts don't do it and they're not on tour. I know. Um, Robacuna golf, golf, I said golf, you said golf, Robacuna and golf. The first set I'm going, is this the best that co-hosts ever played in tournament? Wow. She was in full flight. The forehand deserter, um, credit to Robacuna, right? She's not known for dropping sets and then coming back and, you know, they had some stat on me. 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 slide, I don't know, but the data doesn't suggest that she's one, you know, opposite to Coco where, you know, she loses and she comes back and wins three setters and all that. 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-termid favorite in Coco? Robacook got broken, Coco's forehand let her 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. Her hands were shaking on the switch over because she could serve. Yeah. 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. And who's, who I was calling bullshit on that like four days before, I'm like, you cannot hire someone four days before a 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, it wasn't a shit rush. It was the commitment. Hell yes. Absolutely. Right? For all parties in the world. 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, of improvement, if that starts going, this matches the other way. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay, listen, she lost to the number one play in the world. Yeah. Yeah. There's a reason why it wasn't an upset by six to six standards getting the number one is not an accident. No. Like it happens because you're the best, um, you know, Coco certainly played worse in the third set. Mm-hmm. That's rare to see from her career majors records, 26, 8, 28, say, I don't know like that. A lot. Yeah. She's really, like, she's so stoic on the court, like she actually fits. pumped a couple times and when she does like a minor fist pump, you're like, I don't know that I've ever seen anyone as smooth, like 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. I would like to hear, I'd love to have her on serve in like a longer format where she's not rushed. And we can actually talk about stuff. That would be like a really intriguing guest to have, 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 wish there was a way to showcase her because when she spoke about the tennis, 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, 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 when. I mean, I can't even, 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. Her scary injury with the potential Achilles 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. I mean, we're guessing, right? I mean, people forget the predictions is just another word for guessing. But and then to go into a place that you've never played well, you know, I think she's been on record saying that 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. You have the former first lady sitting in the front row, you have like every story you can imagine. Amazing. Sitting around. There was definitely not a lot of energy being pushed her way, you know, zero, beyond maybe like four people. Maybe. I mean, it was, it was, it was loud in there. So it's, it's the first US women's, US open women singles final between the top two seeds since 2013, 13 years ago. Cute. That was Serena and Wozniaki. Oh, no. Who was it? Serena and Victoria Azaranca. Yeah. And then Wozniaki was 2014. Yeah. I get so mad when I don't get things right. I mean, Serena was the layup. You could just say Serena. I said 2013, you know, Xerena. 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, uh, Sasha's very, oh, are you done? You have one more? No, I just need a second. I got that wrong. Yes. You got 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. 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It's 8sleep.com/served, code Served for up to $350 off the pod. All right, back to the show. Tomorrow in Ash, we started off with with women's doubles match before we have Sasha Sverov and Karen Hatchinoff, and then in the evening we got Tafo Sheldon. It's Verov and Hatchinoff. Sverov is going to be the overwhelming favorite. Hatchinoff against TN and against blocks was basically just throwing haymakers in second serve returns, 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 and where he's getting his hotspots. Sasha has played better. The winners on Forester are fine, it's deceiving sometimes, so here's what I want. I want a stat of errors per ball hit, because Sverov was missing four or five shots in early in this, and if he's missing now, it's after 12 or 13 shots, and that's a massively different. That's so interesting. So now when he's losing points, he's actually distributing or someone's hitting a winner from way back, 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 and 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. Yes. Yeah, that makes me feel good. I'm in good company if that's the trend for that comment. So Sverov is 6 and 3 over Karen, and ultimately, I always feel like Hashanov is much older than he is. I mean, he's only a year older than Sasha, he's 30, they're both 6/6, both big right handers. I mean, it's going to be. Sasha moves better, Sasha moves way better, his serve is way better. He can kind of be aggressive, play defense. I don't know that Hashanov wants to play defense all the time. I think Sasha takes one hand off the racket a little bit better. But Hashanov is a pro, man, I mean, he's been top 10, he's been to 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 it 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 he's not going to have as much proximity to the baseline. He'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 Zverev, you know, and not a shock. I will be on that call tomorrow. Ben and Fo, show time. Let's go. Let's go. I mean, I'm like so, I'm just so excited to watch this match. I mean, 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 Fo? Like, you know, they're both, you know, friends of hash, I should say, you know, of the court. So it's interesting, even if you like Fo and if you like Ben and 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 a little bit. I mean, the last time, the only match that there, 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. Um. It'd be interesting. I think Ben, do they, they played in 23, too, right? Uh, I'm only seeing it. And Ben won that one, I think? Let me look. Let me go back to this. Yeah, edit this out if not, but I appreciate Ben won. They played it the, in the quarter finals in 2023. 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. They have faux bring in someone in, you know, those soft things, flight 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 Ben serve. Even Carlos 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. 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, fuck him a go, like you can't do anything. Foe 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 knock down and volume return, Ben's second serve, it's going to be Foe, right? Now, the two biggest shots in the court, Ben's serve, Ben's for him, right? So how do you avoid? If you can't avoid a serve, how do you kind of, if you're Foe, get to the shot you want most often? If I'm Foe, 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 Ben's turning it around. You hope you catch him while he's in stride tying to turn around as opposed to winning. You turn, you get set, and then you can distribute. I think big to the middle is going to be very interesting. So be interesting to see where Ben chooses to attack, you know, I think Foe probably plays better defense on his backhand, 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-- Foe doesn't 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. Take on that extra layer, but the data is pretty clear about Ben back versus up. Now that doesn't take into account, give someone a different look, maybe switch it up and then go back. But I don't think Ben, I think he should be back and just rip city on forehands. Like Imaim is doing it pretty well against Carl. 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 Wimbledon, 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, but he is breaking serve. So the gains are there. He's returning better. And I said, you know, the night that I had to do the Roger thing, I had to go out and it was like Terry. Most embarrassing thing I've 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 got 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. So can he keep that level of returning up against foe? But it'll be, it'll be exciting. I can't wait. Place is going to be, it's weird. You know it's going to be jumping, but I just don't know where. Yeah. 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 swears. Yeah. Right. Like it's, it's like, I mean, Ben just coming off of beating Alcarazas like this move, but then they love foe. It's got a vibe, bro. He just like, he just, he just, he just like knows how to like orchestrate the crowd in this. It 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 right. 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 move, he owns, he doesn't rent. I know momentum at first the vibe. Let's see, vibe, vibe, bro. 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. His son answered the phone, he was like, hello, Mr. Roddick, my god, what the fuck? The fuck? Mom, that guy from YouTube is calling again. Oh god. All right. That's tragic. You know, it's not tragic because I kind of like the official video call the U.S. 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. [BLANK_AUDIO]