2026 US Open Day 13: Shelton Into the Final, Zverev’s Ball Bouncing & Women’s Final Preview

I have my dream job, but even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI Specialists 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, this is QuickSurf brought to you by ServiceNow. We are in the Cadillac Studio. Again, escalated, IQ, mic. It has an AKG system. Studio Reference, AKG Studio Reference. It would Dolby at most. So the cabin is not just where we're making the show, it is part of the listening experience. What else? That's it, that's all I have. We did the doors. We did the doors, soft closed doors. Did we do the moon roof? We did the moon roof. We did the speakers. We did all the zones. We did the three climate zones all the way through the rows. Rob's getting a massage. Oh, custom LED lighting that you can actually change. Yeah. You can go ambient lighting. Oh. And then look at this. Boom. Okay, that changed blue. Pretty sick. I think there is pretty sick. There is pretty sick. Look, it's blue for U.S. Open. Zverev hatched off. Pretty much kind of what we thought. Yeah. Zverev is playing right now. Like he started off average for this tournament. There just wasn't enough consistency from hatched off. Getting what he wanted. There were bits and pieces. Zverev does a really good job of like my base setting is where I kind of drift. Behind the baseline. Control the middle. Hit through the court. Make you attack from, you know, weird different positions. But like, he just gets so many easy points. 139 and then runs 117. You know, the service just kind of constant pressure. And he got out of it in the third set. He's done 5-2 in that in that breaker. So listen, we didn't know if he was going to be able to stand anymore after his first two rounds. And now he's cruising. You know, he's one of bunches that's in a row. Third slam final. In a row. In a row. In a row. It's very six overall in his career. He actually did say afterwards in the encore presser. He said that after the second round at 3M that he was sitting with his team in the locker room. And they're actually just laughing their asses off as he said. And how bad he was playing. And it was the sense of humor that helped him the next day. You know, how important is it, you know, with him heading into this, right? It seems like he's knocked off whatever the cobwebs or whatever it was in those first couple rounds. You know, he seems to be running a lot of momentum. Yeah, I mean, I think more than anything as we we've talked about this. He's a realist, you know, it's like he wins a second round. He's not going to sit there and say that was great. There was no luck involved. I mean, son of a go had him up against it, you know, out of the gates. Two points away from losing that match and now he's in the final. That's crazy. You know, so you know it's in there. He just got to give yourself enough time to find it. What did Hatchoff say in the post-bond? Oh, man. So Hatchoff is clearly very annoyed about something that Svera was doing. He says the way he bounces the ball. Look, it's annoying not only to me, but of course a lot of players because it takes so much time. You don't know how to prepare for the serve. You're ready. Then it's another 12 bounces. Every point is like that. If it's within the rules regarding the time, I cannot say anything against that because it's the rules. Yeah, the rules should change. As long as he's doing it within the 24 second shot clock. Yeah. What are you going to say? There needs to be a shot clock for the second serve. Okay. You cannot bounce the ball 20-something times between first and second serve. Yeah. You cannot do it. And then act shocked when we finish at three in the morning. We just can't do it. There was a stat circulating that people were attributing to ESPN and some others, but he's bounced the ball over 12,000 times. Yeah. And that was before today's match. Yeah. Judging on the fact that we counted 15 to 20 times per serve. Yeah. It's a lot. Here's what you're ready for a crazy one. You have four or five seconds to start your motion after your first serve. Unless, how about you buy back time if you start your first serve at 15 seconds, you get that added to your time between just a total of a lot of clock. Yeah. Like I did, but there's you'd roll over. So the whole over minutes. Yeah. Whatever data you don't use this month. But here's the issue with the clock. Right. One, we have to fix, if you toss the ball, you shouldn't be able to catch it. No, I agree. The toss is part of the serve. It's a waste of time. If you fuck up your toss, that should be on you. It's not fair to like, like I never had wobbly tosses. And I got no credit for it. Right. Like you shouldn't be able to catch your toss. It's part of the serve. Is the toss part of the serve? Is it a skill? Yes. Great. Why do we get doovers? I don't know. I don't know either. I didn't get to do over on my back end. No. You should not get doovers. There has to be some sort of reigning in between serves. Like you can't just start over each time. And also what players are doing is it gets down to one. And they throw a bad toss on purpose. And then there's no shot clock after that. Yeah, we've seen foe do that earlier. I mean, you should like, I don't know. Like if you're sucking wind. Yeah. It's not their fault for, you know, whatever. It's bending a little bit. But if the rules sucks, then you're going to take advantage of it. Yeah. It's not easy to expose them. What is it for actually? Yeah, yeah. And also it's like you can take complete. You can take all the liberties with when you start the clock. It's like a personal judgment. So we really don't have anything. You mean like when the, when the, uh, ref, when the clock starts the clock? Yeah. Because I think here at the slams, it's, they, they put down the score and then they turn and start the clock. Where the rest of the ATP tour is the second the scores logged the clock starts. Yeah, but there's no consistency to when they start it. No, zero. No. So like I, listen, I don't know if it's greater. If it's not, all I know is that if it's there, use it. And if it's a rule, then it should be a rule. That's it. Mm-hmm. You know, I don't know. And also you just, you can't have, you can't have 24 seconds. And then take 50 seconds again before a second serve. It definitely is like an Uncle Rico mile to the towel box though. Like it is like a hike. Did you see what, I think that's going to be, that's too much. Did you see what foe was doing? They were throwing his towel. It's actually really smart. Yeah. They saved him six steps every time. Yeah. So basically a foe would walk back. So he would pull up like eight or ten feet short of the towel box. Yeah. On his coach's side. And they had towels. And they were throwing it to him to save them the extra steps. Yeah. Pretty good. Yeah. Pretty good. Pretty good. Pretty good. Well, he could do that on the one side. Now, his variable head to his third tray, major final. Stat that kind of like was crazy to me because there's been so many, you know, obviously Becker comes to mind. But first year of a man to make the semis of all four majors in the same year. I was stunned that Becker didn't do that. Really? Yeah. Yeah. So pretty good stuff. From the old there of. Ben and foe. Here's something that needs to be said. We are here. 25 years since since 9/11. One. Our first responders. The police officers. They weren't just brave on that day. And they they were definitely brave on that day. They're brave every day. God forbid anything of this sort ever had happened again. I guarantee you. They would show up for us. And we need to remember it every single day and not just today. Right. And. Having. Two exceptional. Young American men. Play on. Arthur Astadium. Tonight. I thought was. A fantastic. Way to for the tennis world and kind of the sporting universe to focus on this great city. As we remember. Those lost. Those that were brave. So I. We need to acknowledge that. And I thought. Ben foe. Acted with almost class played. You know, a fantastic match entertaining, but. You know, secondary. Tennis sports is secondary to. Remember it's today. Right. This is important because. You know, sports are a distraction. We care about it. And it's fun. We love it. We're passionate about it. Life is more important. And sports. So, but I thought it was a. It was it was a lucky occurrence that these two happen to play tonight. And I thought it was fitting. Yeah. Um. I thought Ben. Once he found his range was fantastic. I love the mid match adjustments. I loved him not only going back, but also stepping. You know, three or four steps to the right, getting a ton of four hands. The return game has changed everything for Ben. Him committing to just going back and way far back. He's three feet further back than he was on average last year. And, you know, two feet further back than he was through Wimbledon. Right. So, I thought the adjustments were fantastic. You know, foe. I think just the second serve was to get him. Right. When you're starting from a point of then takes a haymaker at a forehand. And then you have to negotiate your way out of that. I think that's a tough place to be. Um, you know, so he either had to have an unotherworldly amount of first serves in. Or, you know, has has to get more on that second at some point. But this was a win for foe. We talked about the preparation. We talked about the fitness. The fact that he was able to kind of get through this. And. at least have a payoff for the work with the big run here. I thought was fitting Ben's focus. The last two matches has been different. It has been head down. He's been a little mean looking. - Yeah. - Not as joky, not as lappy. Full adult, the last two matches. - Like not, and it doesn't, it's not like the, oh I'm supposed to look like I should be announced right here, I think it's, it's like smoldering intensity. - It is like focused and determined. - Yes, and I love it. Head down against Alcaraz, head down, till the job was done against Foe. - And the crowd was, it was weird in the beginning, right? I felt like the crowd was just in it to see a great match and was there for both guys. Right, you would just see an amazing rally, a 31-shot rally, and no matter who won it, that place was going nuts because they were watching some great events. - Yeah, there was. But there was a period around the middle of the third set when Ben started to like kind of pull the audience, I think, into his favor. And it was through great athleticism, great shot making, but then also it was just like, it was a more subtle engagement with the audience. - It was weird, I know that I've been to a sporting event where there was more excitement about the event with less clarity about how we were gonna act at an event. - Yeah, yeah. You know, I think they were both kind of, you know, trying to kind of manufacture some energy, but it was this weird thing where, you know, it was full of pride, it was full of hope. And we definitely weren't cheering against anyone, right? You're cheering for good tennis and you like both of them, but they're, it'll be different. It'll be different on Sunday when Ben takes on Zverev. Oh, and five against Zverev. He won his first set they ever played in his lost 10 straight sets. - Wow. - They have not played this year. They played four times last year and four, obviously. Zverev, I think that matters a little. Obviously, the patterns, the knowledge and everything else. Ben's back in is holding up like I've never seen it hold up before. - Explain that a little bit more in layman terms. What do you think holding up? - The pattern that foe went to and that Carlos went to pepper the back in. That's been the, that's been the scouting report I've been for the entire time. Ben has been able to neutralize Carlos, not most of the time, but decent amount of the time and was able from the third set on to neutralize foe when he got into that pattern where he was kind of bending Ben off the court. The weakness has turned into something that looks a lot more stable, right? It's not easy, it's not easy to find the leak anymore. And so, you know, the maturity, all that, but it's easy to be a lot of those things when you're not worried about one pattern over and over and over and you know that your weakness can hold up and you're not trying to avoid it or trying to rush points or trying to fire forehands too early because you don't want someone to attack and find the leak. That's been a game changer. I was on with Ben, sports center with Scott Vempel after the match and asked him about it and you know, he said that was kind of the whole deal. You know, the fact that that side is holding up and he can switch directions and kind of went into it. So, if that stays solid, he's got a real shot. He's got a real shot. Now the return is going to be very different, you know. It was just about to ask you as great as Carlos is. The service is very of serve, right? The second serve isn't like he was able to run around Carlos to second serve and get forehands and eat. Same thing with Tiafo. I don't think he's going to be able to do that with as much consistency. His fear of serve goes faster and it turns into the body like a slice. So, he's going to be, if he wants to get a forehand, he's going with the spin and then trying to turn it out, which is not an easy thing to do. So, I don't know that it's, I'm sure we're going to hear a lot of this where it's like, oh, he's returning great. He'll break like the type of serve that you're returning in the way that you're returning it matters. He's going to have a much more difficult time against, against very of serve. Well, I think we'll break that down a little bit more detail tomorrow after this blockbuster women's final. I tried, guys. I tried, he would love you. Thanks for listening to "Served." We will be right back. So much of what goes into being a player and 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, a 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, whether you're on tour or gearing up for your club championship, now's the time to change the way you manage recovery. Head to eightsleep.com/served and use code "Served" for up to $350 off the pod. It's eightsleep.com/served, code "Served" for up to $350 off the pod. All right, back to the show. Blockbuster, women's final. Let's break down. Sublinka, Rybachina. Here's what I think. I think when Sobelenka's playing her best, I think she's the best player in the world. Rybachina has been fantastic this year, but the Sobelenka that we've seen in this US Open has just been different. All the respect in the world for Rybachina and her path. Sobelenka leads the head to head 10-7, 7-7 on hard. Rybachina is five and three in finals, including the Australian Open this year, where Sobelenka was up 3-0 in the third, and then Rybachina flipped it. Sobelenka getting through that tough match against Noeskaba, winning one of those big matches in a big tournament, I think was a very big deal. And I'm going to be very curious to see how they come out when who can hit line, who can bleed the other person. I think Rybachina is probably a little bit smoother. With her technique, I think her serve is a little bit better. I think Sobelenka probably moves a little bit better. First strike, tennis is going to win the day. If Sobelenka is connecting on second server turns, it's really hard to beat her. What do you think? [LAUGHTER] I mean, honestly, when you look at their matchups over time, it's come into a place where it is whoever wins that first set, whoever comes out and kind of sticks their flag in the ground, is most likely going to win. And I think Sobelenka beat her in any wells after that Australian Open, so it's not like she's coming off of having not figured her out for a while. That was a tough match, too. Who do you have? I'm going to take Sobelenka. I think I am, too. It's amazing. She's turned her form around. There's some about this tournament in her. I can't wait to see it. I hope the crowd gives it the respect that it deserves, even though it's not Coco or Jess in the final. These are two phenomenal players. The number one for this week, and then it flips next week. So let's enjoy these champions. As Sobelenka goes for a fifth major, Robockenka goes for a third of the second this year. Implications for number one in the world, on the line for the year end raking. So I can't wait to watch this match. Two fantastic athletes who are kind of hitting their stride. For different reasons, we were worried about both of them coming into the tournament. One injury related, one form related. I think it'll be fantastic. I think Sobelenka is going to hit the ball really hard. Probably yell at someone along the way. Robockenka is going to hit the ball really hard and definitely not yell at anyone. Definitely not. Definitely not. This has been quick, sir. I brought to you by service now. We are preview the men's final Ben Shelton against Sasha Zverev tomorrow. Wait, I didn't hit you with the service now set out of the day. You didn't? Didn't. It's a good way to end it. 333. That's how many days-- A career batting average of 10 Williams. Like, well, I don't know. What is it? That's how many days old Ben Shelton was when you won the title here at the US Open in 2003. Dude, we're old. Yeah. That's rough. That's rough. He's like a linebacker, years old now. That's rough. Also quick shout out Taylor Townsend, Sinyakava, career slam twice now for Sinyakava with two separate partners and Townsend her first one. Townsend went into presence. She goes, I got the double-deuce. Got the double-deuce. She had two main deuses. Legend. She has fricking magic. I had a lot of time for her. All right, quick serve brought to you by ServiceNow. Kind of like, is the official vehicle of the US Open? See you tomorrow. 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. (upbeat music) (audience cheering)