2026 US Open Media Day LIVE SHOW | Player Interviews & US Open 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. New York, what's up? How we doing? Well, this is an honor for us to be a part of US Open Media Day. We are served. We're a bunch of knuckleheads who do a podcast and talk about tennis. We are fans just like you are fans. To my left, John Wertheim. To his left, Producer Mike. What's up? What's up, everybody? Now, I have a question because we're about to do a three-hour live show straight. We need your energy today. That's what we need. Do we have any fans of… Coco Gauff? Good. Well, you're going to be happy very soon. What about a guy named… Yes to whoever? Yeah, that guy. Yes to who? What if I would have said someone like terrible right there? Carlos Alcaraz? Carlos Alcaraz? Yes! Big Foe going to come to us in a little bit? Two-time defending champion on the women's side. We'll be here in an hour or so. Irina Sabalenka? Yes! No one's a fan of Alex Yala, right? Yes! Oh, I figured. Sasha Zverev, Mira Andreeva, Taylor Fritz, Iva Jovic, FAA, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, all going to be in the house today. Hey! How long are we going to be up here? Do what? I said how long are we going to be up here? We're going Springsteen. We're going to be up here three hours. Let's go. Make it four! Make it four. You got it. Let's see how we do after three, and then let's renegotiate, but I'll say it again. An honor. We're up here. Players are walking around doing media today, talking about their preparation. There's normally kind of three stops, right? Generally, press conference, host broadcast, which is ESPN, and then apparently garage podcasts is the third one that we have. J.W., thank you. That was a little hype. Techie Sean, everybody. That's Techie Sean. What up? He's always on top of it. This is our Alcaraz right here. This is our MVP. That's it. J.W., why don't we start while we're waiting for our first guest. Fan Week. I mean, the way that this has been built out with the mixed doubles, and was anyone happy to see Roger Federer the other night? Not me. But it's amazing what they've been able to build out with the qualifying matches and the stars of the Open. What are your impressions from Fan Week and Week One? Yeah. J.W. This is officially a three-week event, and you guys are a big reason why. Welcome, everyone. It's great to be here. I want to go back to you, because I'm thinking, it wasn't that long ago that the Friday before the Open, you'd hear the construction beams of the structures that were getting put in place, and maybe you'd see someone out there practicing, and there'd be 13 people walking the grounds getting ready for the big first round to start. It's not like that anymore. No. Do you remember what the Friday before the Open was like? No. Do you know what the Friday before the Open used to be like? It wasn't like this. Do you remember what the Friday before the Open used to be like? It wasn't like this. It was empty. When I was playing, it was closed. I mean, you have some qualities matches, but as far as bringing your kids and it being free on Louis Armstrong on Tuesday to see those legends playing mixed doubles and the entertainment and the concerts, a good friend of mine, a young lady named Iris Copperman is a young musician. She played a stage here on Sunday, so the programming, I mean, I've been full of energy for days now, and we haven't even started the event yet. I don't know. Give me more US Open. I'll always take it. Exactly. We love the Super Bowl. We love the Kentucky Derby. It's not three weeks, but we're going to do this for 21 days, and it's going to be great. Give us the things that you're looking at. The draws are out. We know who's going to play and when. The players are kind of finishing up their preparations. I'm assuming they've kind of front loaded their weeks as far as time on court. They'll generally start tapering Friday, Saturday, depending on if they have a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday start. What are your stories that you're looking for in week one? I cannot remember a situation like we have with Carlos Alcaraz. Keep talking. I'm going to move my chair back. Andy's going to move his chair back. Carlos Alcaraz, everyone. He's a defending champion. He draws a crowd. He's great for tennis. He's Mr. Energy. He also has not played since April. We hope that means he's healthy. And ready to go and defend his title. It would surprise no one if he did just that. But I can't remember a time when a guy goes into a tournament, potentially as the favorite, but he's missed the last two majors. Not only that, he hasn't played a match since April. So he played the mixed doubles and hopefully he can sort of catch a gear, as they say, and get going. But Carlos Alcaraz, a big question. There's a guy who's 39 years old who's won this event a few times, and he's won 24 majors and counting. He has the potential to make this tournament very interesting, and he's gotten into the habit of making all the majors he enters very interesting. I'm glad you said that because I fell in love with this tournament. It was before this stadium existed. I came here on my ninth birthday because I had a good report card. My mom splurged and got us U.S. Open tickets, right? So 1991, I see a 39-year-old who was a hero of mine named Jimmy Connors. My single favorite tennis tournament that I've ever watched. Nostalgia, fandom, and I watched Jimmy Connors turn Louis Armstrong, which was the center court at that time. Didn't quite look like that structure, but I saw him turn tennis into a rock show, right? He said, "Get up," and all the adults in the arena would get up. He said, "Sit down." They would sit down. He said, "Put your right hand in." He went a whole thing, and that was so amazing at that time, because we felt like it was impossible in that day and age for someone close to 40 years old to make the semifinals of a Grand Slam, and that was the entire story. Now with Novak, who you're referencing, it happens almost every event. It's absurd. Have you seen anything comparable to this? Certainly not in tennis, where he is still. Jimmy Connors was a great story at 39. Novak is a contender. It would surprise no one if Novak won seven matches here. I think that says a lot about Novak. It says a lot about some of the advances in sports, where athletes can have these careers go longer, but no, it's funny. If you go back and watch Jimmy Connors, and there were their funny signs that he's doing this for the old people, and I think he genuinely. I think he got in a leave or Geritol or Tylenol, like, "Ha, ha, ha. The old man gets an endorsement for the pain." Novak Djokovic comes here at the exact same age and is an actual contender and a top five seed. Yeah, and I think it's no accident, right? Novak, for 20 years. Uh-oh, we're going to interrupt this story. I think I see our first guest come into the stage. Coco Gauff! All right. So, do you feel supportive here? Oh, definitely. Definitely. Coco, welcome to Serve. Thank you for stopping by. I know you're probably busy today. One of the things, first, congrats on your title in Cincinnati. Thank you. From the cheap seats, it's honestly as well as I've seen. I've seen you play. You were just in control the entire time. I'm not sure if you felt that way. How happy were you with your performance in Cincinnati? No, yeah, definitely. I was really happy with how I played in Cincinnati. Like you said, it felt one of my more chill tournaments, and I really felt good in all areas of my game there. Yeah, I'm just really happy that the work is starting to show and come together, and hopefully I can create some magic here. Explain that process, because I think people watching on TV, they just see you show up for matches, and it's expected to be easy, right? Sports doesn't work like that. Someone's trying to knock your head off every day. So, just kind of compare and contrast, you know, last year coming in, searching for something, versus this year, head of steam, great Wimbledon, best you've played on grass, in my opinion. It's not an opinion, it's a fact. Just talk about kind of the difference that a year can make. Yeah, I mean, last year, I was in the rain, literally trying to figure out how to put a serve in the court, and it's a much different experience being able to play and to like, oh, I'm going to go for an ace on this point, more so than saying, like, I'm hoping to make it in. And it's just been a whirlwind of just lots of hours on the practice court, tears, happiness, all the combined things that a lot of people do. just don't see but grateful to my team for like holding me down and you know making sure that the happiness was my number one priority and um and just being able to minimize the moment as much as possible and you know i didn't think that there would ever be an end in sight to this whole dilemma but i'm starting to see the end so that's good what what you did last year what what she did i just wanted just that's one of the most courageous things i've seen an athlete do in the middle of their career but i want to go let's not let's go way back way beyond last year one of the great pieces of social media i don't know if you've seen this today you know where i'm going there is a young coco goff sitting behind venus williams yeah yeah very excited it is i encourage everyone i want to ask you though what do you remember about that day um yeah i remember clearly that that day my dad surprised us with court side seats and um i was able to see venus play i used to come every year um yeah i remember clearly that that day my dad surprised us with court side seats and um i was able to see venus play i used to come every year for the us open on authorized kids day and then you know we stayed through i think for the first rounds or whatever and i remember trying to get on the screen little did i know that someone would find that screen grab and post it online but yes us open was a highlight and still is the highlight of my year but it was something about seeing your idols on tv but seeing them up close made me um and i don't think then that girl knew that maybe she would be here now but it's definitely was an honor and i still starstruck seeing venus and serena now as i was at eight years old i was just about to ask you because forever in a day you know i was on tour you know 17 18 you were on tour when you were like eight years old um but i was gonna ask you if you still got starstruck because i think i just maybe in the last year have started looking at andre agassi as like a human right like where i'm like oh we're friends like we're friends are we friends and he's like and so i feel like i'm finally an adult around andre agassi do you still kind of feel like that little kid when you're around venus and serena definitely i still feel like a little kid sometimes i don't even know like when to come or come up to her and say hello or not and she's always super nice to me so there's really no reason for the hesitation on my end i saw her last night at a dinner and it took me like a couple seconds to like work up the courage to stay up go up and say hello to her and obviously she's always so nice to me and um you know she's even like we got to figure out how to get on the court together so hopefully that will happen one day but um but yeah i don't think i'll ever be a real person or maybe years from now maybe when you're in your 40s yeah i'm 40 i'll finally look at serena like a real person and venus as well that's explain uh walk us through your your what this week looks like for you you're not trying to find confidence you're just kind of going through your paces you're trying to keep confidence right you didn't play the mixed doubles what does this week look for uh look like for you from you know a responsibility standpoint a practice standpoint kind of making sure you're ready to go when the tournament starts yeah honestly we try to put all the brand responsibilities earlier in the week make them as light as possible today's my media day is my last thing that i have to do so i'm excited about that um but yeah the main thing on the court is just reinforcing the things that we already been working on and reinforcing my confidence and just focusing on you know just cleaning up certain things and mainly footwork and just like i said reinforcing and yeah making it super light so i'm fresh going in i mean you know grand slam to win it so basically three weeks at this point of commitment and i'm just like i'm just like i'm just like i'm just like i'm just having to be there every match so this week is just making sure that i'm fresh as possible not killing myself off court or in the gym or whatever so yeah just making sure i'm fresh as possible yeah you've got an army of fans rooting for you we want to be respectful of your time but i do want to talk a bit about your executive producing we can leave the x's and o's tennis stuff for later um tell me about these media projects that you've now gotten into yeah i have two short docs on a tennis channel um one exploring the connection between tennis and fashion and the other uh exploring the we're not exploring telling the story of a short version of the story of xena garrison and what she does for you know tennis and especially the black players in tennis um and it's just really uh awesome to be able to do that and tell stories that i want to tell i've always said that's something i wanted to get into since i was a kid because i feel like there's so many untold stories out there in the world and obviously i want to start in tennis and tell the ones that i feel like haven't been told enough and hopefully branch out into other things but it's something i'm really passionate about and i'm grateful to be able to do that and i'm grateful to tennis channel for letting me uh still 16 minutes of their their screen time and and show those things so yeah thanks for asking me about that coco uh i'm a huge fan of you as a player i'm pretty sure i'm a bigger fan of you as a person and the way that you handle everything i'm pretty convinced new york's going to be behind you the next couple of weeks let's put our hands together for coco golf thank you thanks for listening to served we will be right back summer's winding down but we've still got plenty ahead on tour throughout the fall with stops across the u.s to asia europe and back and i know many of our listeners make the trip too i just did the same thing experiencing wimbledon village from a fan's perspective and the best part was that i got to experience the tournament like a local by booking a place to stay on airbnb techie sean it was your first time in wimbledon village what'd you think oh it was great you were talking about your favorite sandwich there for months and when i finally tried it it lived up to the hype we were in the heart of the action so we got to bike around a bunch but your spot was a quick walk from our house the setup was perfect that's right it had everything we needed to make us feel like locals at the tournament proximity to the grounds great shops and restaurants all around and enough space for the family to make the trip too but here's the thing great cities are about to experience an influx of fans making last minute travel arrangements to catch the action live and that's exactly where you come in if you've got a home near a tour stop or anywhere fans might be passing through this fall you can list your space on airbnb and give someone the perfect home base to make their trip even better it's such a simple and practical way to make use of your space to earn a little extra cash to put towards your own travel adventures especially if you already have travel plans of your own why let your home sit empty when it could be working for you your home might be worth more than you think find out how much at airbnb.com slash host all right back to the show who's this guy with all the hair let's put our hands together oh always oh man are we uh are we are we happy that carlos is back carlos welcome back to new york my friend thank you so much thank you let's uh let's start with what everyone wants to know out since april we have missed you how's the wrist how's the preparation going for for this tournament well it's going it's going really well to be honest uh i it's uh no i mean at home it was a it was a great uh great week of practices before coming here uh which was a real uh test for me you know long practices uh intense practices just to see you know how the wrist is gonna react here with the you know with those guys with the means that was uh helped me a lot um everything so right now i'm just uh excited uh and obviously can't wait to you know to the tournament again i i want to talk about the mixed doubles because the hardest secret that i've had to keep for the last nine or ten months is the mix doubles i've had to keep for the last nine or ten months is the most difficult mix doubles i've had to keep for the last nine or ten months is the most difficult thing to do and it's the rumor that we were going to see alcaraz and serena at the u.s open one of the coolest things as a fan that i've seen how does that come together who texts who who calls who who says yes first how did that happen uh i i caught serena i caught serena i i i mean she i mean she she she's uh retired so i mean i just had to to ask her if uh she she i mean she's down to play the mix doubles out with uh with uh you know with me and i think he was uh going to to be a really cool thing you know here in the art to us uh you know she's returned to the art to us as well it's um i mean it was a really cool moment i think uh when we walk in i think the people the people enjoy and for me it was uh really important as well to see the reaction of the of the people you know seeing seeing both of us walking in so it was a it was a really really cool experience i want to ask you about a body part that a lot of people have a lot of concern about of you the hair what's what's going on here the guy that won the title last year look at that looks great and he's so jealous remember the guy that won the title last year i mean don't let your brother near that no no i'm gonna i'm gonna stay away from my brother you know like uh at least these days you know but uh you know i think i it is time you know to do different things uh i've been i've been asking around what uh what should i do next uh which color i don't know i mean uh that's i i'm gonna i think i'm gonna i'm gonna keep it like a surprise i'll tell you i'll i'll tell you one thing as someone who is losing and lost their hair you cherish you cherish every damn minute with your hair okay just in case it ever goes away um let's talk about your first round opponent roman saffulan actually one and one one career head to head uh that comes out what do you have to do well in that specific matchup well i think uh it is it's gonna be a a really difficult first round, even saying that, you know, my first match since since April so I mean he's a really talented player because I think you know as much rhythm as you put on the match I think he's he feels more comfortable so it's gonna be it's gonna be a really interesting one I think you know a really great I think it's gonna be a really great match to see to play I'm really excited I'm really excited I mean I just I gotta be I gotta be good uh I gotta I gotta be good what else I can say uh so but uh but yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna practice you know these days just really focus on the on that first match and let's see how it's gonna how it's gonna be these last few months what did you find yourself missing uh myself or well just yeah I'm assuming you haven't gone six months without playing a match since you were like six years old how hard was that for you day to day did you watch a lot of tennis were you missing the guys the competition were you content did you need a break well uh the first two months was uh I was uh I was okay you know I just uh I I was having fun with my family friends I just uh I did you know some stuff that I wasn't able to do when I'm you know on the tour but uh you know after that I just uh I missed it at the beginning I I thought that all right I'm not gonna watch any match any tennis match but as you know at the end French Open William Malone so I couldn't miss it I couldn't I couldn't miss I've been watching you know those guys competing so I just um yeah I've been I've been missing the pleasures though I just uh yeah you know seeing the faces in you know the the teams everyone around so I just uh I I miss that feeling last question then we'll let you go because I'm guessing you have a grand slam you need to prepare for um I think so you now can walk into any grand slam venue and say I won here that is so cool that's pretty I mean and and you're obviously still so young each grand slam has its own personality how does New York kind of get you excited what's this experience like for you especially since it was your your first one well yeah I mean here I just I have a really um special feeling it was my first one it was the first time that I became the number one in the world so I mean every time that I every every every time that I come here I just uh I I remember that that moment so it's kind of special and I think you know the energy that the here New York brings to you uh it's it's uh it's something that I I I really like it you know every time that I step on the on the court everybody like um you know giving their much energy you know on the court it helped me a lot you know in in in so much as well and um and I think my style of tennis my my personality suits pretty well you know to them as well so I think it's a really um great um great mix uh and yeah I'm just uh I really like to be to be here in New York well we we really like it when you're here all right let's send them off with good vibes Carlos Alvarez everybody thank you has anyone heard of Iva Jovic before I'll tell you her story from I think it was 340 in the world two years ago at this event to now seated 14 at the U.S. Open pretty remarkable Hello. - Yeah, no more Zooms. - All right, no more Skype. - That's it. - No more Zooms. - Round of applause for Eva Jovic. - Thank you. - So we backtracked two years ago, right? You come into this tournament ranked somewhere around 340 in the world, is that correct-ish? - That sounds about right, yeah. - And now you're 14 and you're kind of starting to figure out how to advance in these majors. How do you feel coming in knowing that you are fully capable of making a run in these events now? If you feel that way, if I'm not putting words in your mouth. - No, no, you're not. And I think it took me a little bit to get there, but now I'm definitely in a place where I know that if I put out the tennis that I know I can play and play with the right mentality, I can beat the girls in this draw. And that's not easy to do on an everyday basis for two weeks. But I know that I can, and I just need to keep working to kind of let those chips fall into place. But there's definitely a lot more confidence than there was two years ago. - I remember talking to your coach two years ago. So she says, "Get me up to speed. Tell me what are. " She's like, "Oh, you know, forehand, backhand." But you know what? She's really mature. She's really poised and put together. This is a teenage veteran you're looking at here. Where do you source that? Where do you get your professionalism? - Well, I'm mature about some things, but I'm not so mature about other things. - What are you immature about? Tell us. - I'm currently actually on a challenge to keep my room clean with Tom, with my coach. So that's the current challenge that I'm facing. So hopefully I can get through New York and keep that looking good. But I work hard and I want to win and I do the best I can every single day on practice court. So it's, I don't waste any, any moments training because I'm, I'm really grateful and I'm appreciative of everything and everyone who's allowed me to, to be here. So I don't want to waste the chance that I have. So everything I do, I do for a hundred percent, but I do need to do a better job keeping my room clean guys. - What's, don't we all? I mean, considering you should probably be moving into like your freshman dorm. I don't think that's, I don't think that's something that's surprising. I'm always interested in the kind of relationships because generations change, people come and go. Talk us through the relationships with players that maybe have been out here a little bit longer than you, maybe a Coco, a Jess Pagula. You're coming to take their lunch, but yet there's also probably a certain part of them that wants to welcome you and wants to be there for you. If you do need advice, is that relationship pretty straightforward and easier than people would think? - It's tricky. And there are certain players in that position who kind of look at you and they're like, what are they doing here? I don't, I don't want to, to help someone who's then gonna maybe be beating me and, you know, getting me, getting me off the court. And then there are other players who recognize that and compete hard, but they'll also throw in some advice, throw in some friendly banter. Jess is a great example of one of those. I have a great relationship with Ayla Tomjanovic as well. So there's a good, a good couple of those players. I feel weird calling Coco a vet because she's only 21 years old, but she is a vet. - Absolutely. - And she's one of the friendliest ones on tour as well. And always, always willing to give advice on and off the court about the lifestyle too, which is one of the biggest things you have to adjust to. So there's a few ones that I, that I lean on. - And what, you talked about the lifestyle. Is that, I know the tennis and it's a constant learning curve and you know, you're gonna know more tomorrow than you do, than you do today, but the lifestyle, all of a sudden you have success, which means you have the privilege of traveling 42 weeks a year. Has that been the biggest adjustment? - For me, yes. - Yeah. - It's not something that when you're five years old and you start playing tennis, you say, I want to be a professional. You think about the grand slams. I mean, I know of Indian Wells because it's where I grew up, but you don't think about the 40 weeks on the road and all the other tournaments that you also have to play. It's a little bit of like a mind blown when I realized what the tour was actually like, but I'm learning to find routines and things that kind of make you feel grounded in completely other countries and new places. But the packing is the worst part for me right now. - Which goes hand in hand with the room not being clean. - Yeah. If anyone has any tips for packing or like, I don't know, an organizer or whatever, but my suitcases are always exploding and it's just, it's a disaster. - Oh. Never check a bag unless you have to. Do you want to feel old? I was reading- - Yes, I was hoping that that's where we're going to go. - She committed to tennis full-time during COVID. That was like Tuesday. What is it about tennis that grabbed you though? Why, I mean, you're an athlete, you've had your choice of sports. Southern California, why did tennis grab you? - So I played soccer, football. I don't know how we're calling it nowadays, tennis. Swam, swimming was quite boring. Did it 'cause my mom wanted me to do it. Soccer, absolutely loved it. I still say to this day, it's my favorite sport. Tennis, I also loved. And then COVID started and tennis was the one that was the easiest to do. And so that kind of put soccer out the door. And then when I started winning in tennis, I got a little bit addicted to the winning. So I just wanted to keep going. - Finally found something good to come out of COVID. - Yeah, for me COVID was a big one. - It was a big blessing for my tennis career, yeah. - So if we're projecting forward and let's work backwards from Eva Jovic had a great tournament. What are a couple things that you will have done well if you make a run here? I will I will take care of the things off the court with my organization, with my mentality, because it's quite crazy here. And for me, when I feel a little frazzled or rushed or things like this, I don't play as well. So sticking to those routines and making sure when I step on the court, I'm composed. Very important. Playing aggressive. It's the conditions are pretty lively here. It's a fast, hard court. We're in the US. So kind of going for your shots and and doing that stuff is important. And I think my physicality, you know, and I've been working a lot of my movement and I need to start using that on the court and not being afraid to get into those long rallies and and play some defense as well. I love someone who you ask a question, they give a very clear answer that, you know, they're not thinking about for the first time. Eva, you know, I am a massive fan of your game. I think you have a lot of massive results ahead of you. Thanks for being here with us today. Good luck the next couple of weeks. Let's give it up for Eva Jovic. Okay, wait, sorry, I have to say one more thing. I was watching your doubles the other night. And I saw when you hit, I think I literally think it was four aces in a row. 125 plus. So can we have a hand for Andy? Yes, round of applause for has-beens. No, no, no. Eva Jovic, you're a treasure. Thank you. Give it up for big foe, Francis Tiafoe. All right. Bring it home for us. Now, let me say, nobody likes this guy's energy when he enters that court, do they? Yeah. Unbelievable. Fo, what's up, man? What's going on, A-Rod, man? What's going on? How's it going? Nothing much, man. Good to see everybody, man. So, listen, Cincinnati did a lot for you, man. You looked real good there. You kind of found, as you do at this time of the year, we're just waiting for you to turn it on. You did that. How was that week for you? No, it was big. It was a week. I really needed, you know, post-Holland, I was struggling with some injuries. So, it's nice to get some maxes in before this one. We've talked about that before. So, yeah, I feel great going into the Open. And there's no better tournament to feel better going into than this one. Yeah, this is the best tournament in the world. And here we go. You said you're healthy. Third set, maybe I'm projecting, in that Cincy final, it looked like you were dealing with something hip, something all good? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I took some days off. I got that six or eight. Yeah, I definitely jerked it a little bit. But I'm going to be good. And trust me, guys, I'll be ready to go come Monday. I love how you lean into this tournament. You make no bones about it. This is where things peak. Tell us, like, specifically, like, tap into something. Like, what specifically jazzes you up about this place? I guess the energy alone. I mean, I walk on the grounds. There's so much love. And I'm just trying to just be like. I mean, the only thing I don't have is the visor to rock out. But, I mean, but I just feel like I hit the ball better. I feel like I move better. I love playing at night. I just feel like the energy is just insane. I love y'all's junk fans. And, yeah, it just brings the best to me. And it's something I really want to do and something I really want to win one day. We can get you a visor. I got away with it. The visor doesn't look as good when you have a bald spot. That had to go. So, having the energy at your disposal is one thing. Learning over time when to use it is a different thing. Because it's very possible you get out there and you are so pumped up that two hours in, all of a sudden, your energy is drained. How have you learned when to pick and choose your spots in that building and when to use 24,000 of your closest friends? No, 100%. Like, you know, when I first came out, you know, I get the first hold. And I'm like, let's go! You know, now I can pick and choose in those moments with big separations. Most times with a lot of loud come-ons. Next thing you know, I'm sitting down in the back for a minute and a half. Yeah, I guess understanding the moments, understanding the wave of the max. And maturity as well. You know, I want the product to speak more than just rise off y'all's energy. So, something that you've been outspoken about. And we were together. It was November, December. You were in our studio and we had, you know, a hit. We chatted a little bit. You took some time off at the end of last year. Said you needed a break. It feels like you've totally recommitted yourself to the game, to your fitness. And I'm really happy to see your success in the last couple of weeks. Because a couple of long matches, tough losses and slams. Man, I'm so damn proud of you for getting back, getting back out there. You look like a total professional. What has that been like? And I'm telling you, so, and this is me just kind of projecting on Fo right here. But that will serve you well at some point. You don't get to pick and choose when it does. But I'm so happy for you and proud of you, the way you're going about things this year. A hundred percent. You know, first of all, that means a lot coming from a legend in yourself. But yeah, no, I've won a lot of matches this year. I've had a lot of great wins. But as you said, I've had a lot of tough losses. Yeah. Especially in the majors where you want to really do it. But again, for me, it's just like, nobody cares. Don't feel sorry for yourself. Yeah. Continue to keep going. Continue to trust the work. And it will pay off. You don't know when, when it will pay off. And obviously, you know, I have a holiday week. I have a Cincinnati week. I had a great week in Acapulco. I've, you know, some deep runs and slams. I mean, so, and then now we're here and hopefully this is where it pays off. Right, right here, right now. Those, one thing you can guarantee in this sport, there are going to be tough moments out there. It'll be five all, and there's going to be stress. You have had, you have no visor, but you have plenty else going for you here. You've beaten it all. You've been to the semifinals, a lot of good memories, those tough moments. What are you grasping on to? Where are your thoughts going? It's taking in all the experience from them, taking in all the lessons, all the blessings and understanding that like, yo, I will be in those tough moments, but also understand I can't overcome those tough moments. I can do hard things and ultimately to win a grand slam is a very tough thing. Right. So, but to have the ultimate belief in myself, I've done the work. I've put myself in crazy distress and I know my game is capable to match up against anybody in the world. That doesn't really matter what their last name is, so let's do it, man. Let's do it. Why not? We'll give you one more and I know you want to get out of here and go prepare a little bit, but as I look at the current group of Americans and I get asked a lot of questions about it for a long time and frankly, I just, at other parts, I've just had to lie about what I think about it. I think this group is ready. I think there's company. I think there's seemingly, I hope, like a healthy jealousy where you see Ben go off and you go, you know what, I'm going to show up in Cincinnati and you see TP and you see everyone else. Are you happy that there's a group of you that is ready to attack this tournament? I couldn't agree more. I think that only, you know, I mean, it only makes you better. You see your peers doing well, you're like, well, if he can do it, I know I can, you know. And you're right. You know, with Ben having that week, definitely, you know, helping Cincinnati and yeah, I mean, it's all good blood if we go off each other, but we definitely want to do better than the other guy. Yeah. But we're also happy for those guys doing well. So this is an incredible group. I mean, this is a very, very special group. And I, and I think this is a group that definitely get it done, but you know, hopefully it's me, dog. Hey, listen, we, uh, we did our draw show yesterday and I just kept picking you guys. I go, I want five of them in the quarters. I want there to be healthy. I want the momentum. I want them to drift off of each other. Uh, foe. We know you got the energy. We know you got the game. We are going to be behind you these next couple of weeks, New York, give some love to big foe. Thanks for listening to served. 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. They 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 had to eight sleep.com/served and use code serve. For up to $350 off the pod, that's eight sleep.com/served code serve for up to $350 off the pod. All right, back to the show. Our next guest this year's French open champion, let's give it up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's give it up. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. - Yes, yes, yes. - Hi, good to see you. - Hello. - Hi, you look great on it. - Nice to meet you. - Oh, you got it. - Oh, hello. - Oh, nice to see you. - We all are. - Oh, wow. - Oh, this is awesome. - Look at these shoes. - All right, all right. - Look at those shoes. - Those are great. - Those are awesome. - Those are sick. What do we got on here? What are these, what are we working with? - Oh, are these the ones that give you like brain power or something? - Yeah. - Yeah. - Can you explain that to me? - I don't know. It's whatever they came up with. I feel like it's good for your brain. I don't know. I didn't notice any changes. It's still the same, so I don't know. - How do you feel walking into New York in this venue for the first time as a Grand Slam champion, as this year's French Open champion? - Well, I do feel a little bit of a different aura, to be honest, but I wouldn't say a lot of things has changed. I don't feel myself different. I feel like I'm still the same old Mira. So I do like when they call my name when I'm playing a match and then they say that I'm a Grand Slam champion. That is nice, of course, but other than that, I feel like everything is pretty much the same. - But you know, deep down, you are capable of winning seven matches at one tournament. That has to give you an extra dose of confidence. Does it not? - I mean, of course, I kind of have to win a couple of matches and, you know, be consistent on tournaments. But yeah, of course, that gives me a lot of confidence and belief that, you know, I can be a consistent player and that I can do well. But sometimes I feel like I have to force myself to believe this 'cause sometimes it's hard to do that. I feel like lately I've been not as bad at this, so I feel like, so yeah, I feel like it was okay. - Little Mix doubles this week. - Yeah. - Walk us through that. Is that something that you really kind of look forward to? Is it a kind of nice way to feel like you're starting the tournament, but maybe not with the stressors that you're gonna go through the next couple of weeks? - Yeah, for sure. Well, our plan with Andriy was to just have a lot of fun and create so many great memories together. And when I saw our draw personally, I was like, okay, we're gonna have great time. It's gonna be short, but, you know, we're gonna have a great time on the court. And then I feel like our goal was just to not put any stress on each other, go super easy, you know, do whatever we want on the court. And after that, I feel like that's when we end up playing our best and just have fun. And I don't know, a lot of adrenaline. Obviously, it's also good to feel some nerves before you actually start a tournament and get some matches on bigger stadiums. But I don't know. I'm just so happy that I was able to do this this year and to pair up with Andriy also. It was amazing. And we did create a lot of great memories together for sure. - I'll tell you one of the things that I was kind of hoping for and that I think I would have, someone would have had to pick me up off the floor. Is it fair to say both of you get a little mad sometimes? Is that a fair assumption? - I think so, yes, it's fair to say that. - If you all would have choreographed a racket throw at the same time after the very first point of mixed doubles, I would have fallen to pieces. - I think we should have done something like this. It would have been hilarious. I don't know. Or like scream at the same time or hit each other. I don't know. Do something. I think it would be just hilarious. But yeah, we didn't think of that. I don't know. - You carried them. Actually, she's a really good, you're a very fine doubles player. I mean, thank you. - Were you the highest ranked? I may have just made this up. You might've been the, were you the highest ranked? Nevermind, I'm not even gonna say it 'cause I'm probably wrong about it. - Okay. - How are the conditions this year? Are they to your liking, fast, slow? How does it compare to the last couple of weeks that you've been playing? - Well, I feel like comparing to Cincinnati, for example, the courts are a little bit slower and the bounce is higher. So I needed maybe one or two days to get used to the conditions a little bit. I mean, weather is okay. Comparing to Cincinnati is also nicer. So I don't know. So far, everything is going great. I love playing here. The conditions are good. I feel like, you know, last year it was hotter, maybe a little bit more humid. Maybe, I don't know. I didn't spend as much time here last year. I left pretty soon. So I feel like, yeah, this year is hope. I hope that this year everything stays like this. - When you were winning Paris, you told us two things. You said you had to be nice to yourself. And I'm sure you are. And you said you had to sort of get out of your bubble a little bit. What is one thing you've done in New York that has nothing to do with tennis? You got to get out of your bubble if you're going to win this thing again. - It's just been tennis. - Well, basically, yes, it's just been tennis. I only had one morning off when we played our semi-final match at, I don't know, 8:00 PM. And the only thing I did, I went to have breakfast with my family. I don't know. We spent some time, like 10 to 12. In the morning. And then I came back to my room and I had to go inside again. So that's the only thing I did off the court. - So you were nice enough to come on our show a couple of weeks ago. And I was worried that I got myself in trouble 'cause I had mentioned that Conchita Martinez, your coach, kind of like to throw stuff and yell from time to time also. Am I in trouble with your coach, Conchita Martinez, for releasing that secret? - I think you may be a little, but yeah, you, you know, don't talk to me. You have to talk to her and solve it with her. - Take it up with her. - Yeah, you have to, you know, be a man and talk to her. Yeah, you know, just go talk to her, solve this issue. And I think everything is going to be okay. - I was already sweating and I just felt it get worse. - Great answer. - Mira, I love everything about you. I told you on our podcast, never change. People are going to tell you not to yell and scream. I say, do it more. No one's going to change the channel ever. Grand Slam champion, the first of many. We hope, everyone give it up for Mira Andreeva. - Thank you. - All right. Two-time defending champion here at the US Open. Welcome to CERB. It's so good to have you. I feel like we've talked to everyone on your team. - Exactly. - Actually, yeah, that's true. Finally, I'm here. Thank you for having me. I'm super happy to be back in New York. - How good does it feel coming back into a place? Does it feel like when you enter the grounds, you're kind of getting a hug from the venue? - Yeah, I feel super, I feel like home. I really miss this place and I hope to do well here again. - So we have, and I talked to Anton this week and I said, we've been so spoiled by you for the last three years where we can basically just say, Irina's here, she's going to be in the semi-final. Semi's are the finals or win something. Little more time before this tournament. Are you trying to get in some extra match play? How has preparation been a little bit different this year? - I think we keep everything pretty same. It's just the only difference that I wasn't able to play much, a lot of matches. And yeah, we're just putting into like really hard work, extra hours on court and in the fitness, just trying to, you know, put everything back together. And yeah. Hopefully I can go for it. - I think I've told you this when we talked on our show, but one of the things that I always use you as an example of is, you know, when I was growing up in tennis, they wanted everyone to act the same, right? It was like calm, count to 10, do your ritual. Boring, boring, boring. I feel like you have really taken ownership over defaulting to your personality, I am who I am. And let's figure out the best version of that and put it out there. - I would say that at the beginning, I was really trying to follow in the steps, like doing the breathing exercises, like counting up to 10 or all the way around. And I was just trying to be like calm and in control. But what I figured after like, I don't know how many years on tour, probably I spent too much time of trying to be imperfect and that it was like really destroying inside of me, destroying myself inside. And I was just trying to figure it, okay, who am I? Like, should I be that way or should it just like sometimes let like throw this racket, pay the fine and, but be free on court and then feel like, okay, I'm ready to go. Like I don't have this aggression that was destroying me inside and I can just focus on the game, you know? So, and I just decided that, well, if I have to yell, if I have to scream, I have to throw the racket, I will do it as long as it, you know, in the control, as long as I'm not hurting anyone, you know, around me. - Well, if I, if I'm being honest, this has no bearing on your decision-making. It's more entertaining for us. - Exactly, we love it. - JW. - We'll admit it. - I'm glad, I'm glad that you guys love it. - You do you. We were saying yesterday, you are all over New York. It's what happens when you win an event, two years running and going for a three-peat, you have Oakberry, you have, but also you are on the cover of a book that has been promoted very heavily around this city. - Just a little surprise for Jason, we should, did that picture in Cincinnati and he thought it's just just for like him to use it in his social media and he was just like what I were doing random stuff and then it's like Jason with his crazy face on the billboards and the Times Square which is like super crazy and this book is really he put so much time into the pressure code everyone go by the pressure code yeah it's very good bull guys you you should read it his story is super crazy and what he was able to achieve it's really inspirational for me and I feel like so many people should read that book I was reading I was thinking about you I mean tell us your your relationship with pressure especially in type match of the pressure is the privilege right I mean I feel like at some point you just agreed to to deal with that pressure all the time so it just stays on the back of your mind and and and that's it you're not trying to fight it I feel like we all dealing with different sort of pressure in life so it's gonna be sport related it can be I don't know whatever related is it's not necessary that it's only in tennis in sport you you're dealing with pressure so it's just part of our lives and I'm just trying to shift my focus on things that I can control and and just trying to get better every day I've watched your team from afar and I was like I was someone who was probably too serious and you know had this pent-up energy and you know I wanted everything to be a certain way when I was playing and you know I look at your box and I almost have envy because it feels like there's some freedom to put like if you want to put a tattoo on your head put a tattoo on your head and it feels like it's fun and warm but then the more that I get to talk and I've talked to numerous members of your team long-form what strikes me is how much they care about you it must feel good to have that team in your corner and yes we can laugh and joke but there seems to be a depth especially on your team yeah I always call them my family and to be honest I'm super lucky to have them because I know that no matter what I got them and I know that they're gonna support me they're gonna fight for me and they're gonna be there for me no matter what so I got super lucky and that's why when you know parents come to me like oh what's what's the number one advice you would give us and I was like I always say like make sure that you surround your kid with the right people with the people who actually cares about your kid and they put your kid as the human being as first place and then the athletes and then the athletes so that's my number one advice and I've been lucky to have my team around me that's great you said that you said that once I oh my god they're gonna be like they're gonna write a book are you superstitious um in my control yes I mean I would have the same breakfast for example they much same probably lunch same routine but not too crazy like if you're not able to get the same court I won't be get great I won't be crazy about that there I don't want to name them there was there's one player who won an event two years in a row he said I'm eating the same restaurant and I'm doing the exact locker yeah actually I have to say that in New York we have our every other day before the match we go to we go to Polo Bar and then in the morning it's if I have time it's a nougatine breakfast so okay okay I'm superstitious but it's under my control it's working for you here I don't go crazy listen there's there have been a lot of things that have been under your control uh it's been so much fun to see your rise to the very top of the game it would surprise nobody to see you holding the trophy for the third year in a row here we wish you all the luck in the world let's put your hands together for a two-time defending champion world number one Irina sabalenko thank you thank you guys thank you oh man what a snake skin I like that how we're doing how we're doing what is that look at that hoodie what is this let's get to tennis in a second but this this uh this is a choice it wasn't a choice I do it I'm told it looks good it looks good Ben uh we were together last night for for a second and um one congratulations on winning your second Master 1000 in Canada that was a lot of fun to see props for that um one of my personal most heartbreaking moments from last year was seeing you build build build build build up to this tournament and then physically didn't really work out how good does it feel to kind of be back in that same situation to kind of recreate momentum in Canada and be ready for this moment when New York's ready to go crazy for you it feels amazing obviously last year I had I was full steam ahead I was playing the best tennis in my life uh I was feeling invincible out there on the tennis court and then yeah I I fall my shoulder uh gets jarred and and then I'm out of the tournament so for me that was really tough to handle uh not just being out of the tournament but with the momentum that I had I had the tennis that I was playing I was like how long is it going to take me to get back to that level so uh to replicate what I did in Canada uh last year and do it in even better fashion this year I thought that I played even better tennis than I did last year uh and come back to to New York feeling confident and in a similar light I uh I couldn't be more excited I'm grateful to be here I love playing in front of you guys it's the best tournament on the planet and yeah really looking forward to it so you you've made a bunch of semi-finals in in Grand slams um it feels like you came out of college and you skipped a bunch of steps and just went straight to making second weeks of slams you won four titles this year what have you learned about kind of the process of a slam when to like inject energy when to kind of lay back how to manage your off days uh those are all things that experience has to help a little bit yeah 100 I think that the mental goes with the physical I think the more that you you drain yourself uh mentally uh hanging around the site talking to too many people uh doing press oh you like podcasts like I said I do what I'm told um but I think that when you have the the choice to go do something or just stay in your hotel room by yourself and take the time to to get ready for this tournament it's grueling um playing three out of five sets is not an easy feat and to be able to do it over and over again is is important so I think that managing energy throughout my matches knowing when I need to inject energy and emotion and get myself going and when I need to kind of coast and ride the wave is is really really important and I think that the great Champions have learned how to do that perfectly and and it's a process for sure in in the evolution of your game you've won on clay good on grass good on hard courts you were very good last night on ballroom um that was a new one Ben was that wasn't very good I was just worried this was at the Waldorf Astoria ballroom uh they set up a tennis court and I was just happy you got out of there without like yes hitting a chandelier or um I was like stop running yeah exactly um but I want you you said you were playing I mean what you did in Canada that was just highly you said as well as you've ever played when you say that what what are you basing that on I mean is that is that a feel is that statistical like when you say it's the best I've played no I mean for me it's the the complete performance you know the the mental focus uh throughout a match to be able to be down breaks multiple times and multiple sets uh come back with multiple breaks to win those sets and win those matches and you know it's it's a it's it's a it's a lot of matches um I think for me not dropping a set of being as focused as I was all the way through holding serve as officially I was in in breaking serve at the clip that I was breaking is is where I need to be to to compete for the biggest titles and play with the best players in the world and it's an ongoing process I'm not going to feel that good every week but the the closer and closer I can get my floor or my base level to to being there and being more efficient with breaking serve I'll be where I want to be we just had faux here uh 25 minutes ago and we were discussing how he gets up for this event obviously the importance of this event and you know it's it's it's time that you know you guys I told him I had to lie when someone asked me about American men's tennis for a long time and I don't have to lie anymore I honestly believe you guys can and will win slams is it nice for you to have a group of you know I can say for the first time in a long time even from during my career that there are six or seven American men that it would surprise no one if they were in the the semi-finals here is it nice to have that camaraderie and company yeah I think it's amazing uh I think it's cool to see uh the versatility that we have we have so many different names who can do it at big events you know I'm playing in the semi-finals and finals of Montreal against learner TN and brand Nakashima it's uh foe who's in the finals of Cincinnati obviously Fritz has been up here at the top for a while he's made the finals of this tournament I think that we have such a a good group and we're pushing each other I know that if I have a big week one of them is probably going to have a big week the next and vice versa and I think that's the the best healthy competition that a country can have uh obviously the Italians have really figured that out yeah and they have plenty at the top of the game right right now but I think that they're close behind yeah I I think uh the word I always say healthy jealousy and I think it's a great thing to have you can simultaneously be cheering for someone and also want to be that guy um and I think you guys have done a a really good job of that um one more question and we'll we'll let you go get ready to make a run at the U.S open um I am of obsessed with the relationship and the working relationship that you have with your father brian who was a player on tour um parent player relationships don't always work out so well why are you guys so great together besides him actually having the credibility of having been out there and having coached at pretty much every level well yeah i think uh we're kind of firing ice i think the the reason that we work together so well is him as a coach he's able to take the emotion out of it a lot of time he's the logical guy i i love being out here i'm passionate about my tennis um i i care a lot and i show it out on the court uh we both have long-term thinking about the way that i play how my game builds and he's not a guy who's just gonna get pissed off because i lose um so i think that especially when it's a parent coach that's really important for him to have the the common sense and wherewithal that okay this match that happens today doesn't matter that much but we're working towards a long-term goal and yes i'm supporting him and i want him to win but at the end of the day it's just a game right ben good answer i hope i hope that the next two weeks are everything that you want them to be man i know new york's going to be behind you giving uh giving you everything they have and uh i'm uh i'm happy you guys uh your group has really put american men's tennis in a great spot so congratulations and we'll be behind the next two weeks man thanks sandy all right all right all right give it up for taylor fritz how you feeling pretty good pretty good um i read something and i thought it it really struck home with me and it made a lot of sense and i'm glad you kind of think and feel this way someone was asking you about your view someone was asking you about your run to the finals and they said what'd you learn from that experience and i think they wanted some canned answer of you know yada yada and your answer i thought was brilliant you said i learned that i don't have to play perfectly to make a run in a slam uh did you used to feel like you had to play perfectly once you got to a slam in order to like win a tournament too many times i think i i felt like yeah if i wasn't playing amazing i'd almost like in a way like almost right right the week off and like uh see if i win a couple rounds whatever and i think i did that too much earlier on in my career just feeling like oh if things aren't clicking then it's probably not going to happen this week but yeah that week it was just it's like i was playing bad i was i was playing well but i wasn't like blown away by how i was playing before the tournament or in the matches even how uh how are the conditions this year i know you're you're very good at kind of explaining why something is playing it's not just oh this is fast this is slow you're pretty uh i consider myself or nerd you seem pretty nerdy about the details of tennis also how are the conditions this year compared to years past here it's always so hard for me to compare like between year to year because we've played on so many different courts or compared to since the year the last one it's a lot slower than cincinnati for sure okay a lot slower than cincinnati um but since i was really fast like skid through a lot the ball yeah comes up a bit more here um i'd like to call it like a pretty medium medium speed i imagine if you play at night it's going to be probably play on the slower side of it we were we were talking uh we were just backstage and uh i think it was jw or maybe i don't know which one it was but they were they were basically saying it's a decade since you've made your main draw debut here does it seem like that long i mean i feel like it i mean to me you're going to be young forever because people that are younger than you seem young forever but it's been 10 years now yeah i've i've been around for for a really long time i'm definitely uh one of the it's weird to say it at i'm one of the older guys because when i first started like everyone was 30 plus but times have kind of just changed and yeah it's it's weird i am one of the older guys no i wasn't it's funny i was going to ask you where you see yourself in your career but just sort of a bigger question we made this totally as a term of endearment but this is like a tennis savant here right i mean this if you want to know the balls the rackets the strings the conditions x's and o's this is a future tennis broadcaster waiting to happen um we'll leave the generational stuff for later when did you sort of develop this level of depth and passion for just sort of the x's and o's tennis knowledge where did that come from it's just like the more the more that i played and the more that i did this i started to become more receptive to all like the little details i think i didn't notice these things so much early on in my career because it was like newer to me but yeah over the years it's just like i started to feel the difference between oh this ball does this it's harder to bring it down it's lighter it's easier to spin i hit this shot go with it i think i should change my tension in this way or oh it's the core it's not the cord it's the ball it's not the ball it's the cord i think too often we don't look at everything sometimes people just say like oh the court's slow or the court's fast but really it's other things that are that are causing that and i think over time i just started to uh really notice these little details just the more and more i i played the word professionalism i think is the is the word there i uh ben was just through here pho was through here about an hour ago and obviously there's this this conversation about the next guy when's it gonna happen and i told them straight up like for a long time i just kind of had to lie my way through that question um i believe in in this group and in this group but i especially admire the way that you go about it because you get asked about it and it's not some macro thing of well yeah of course everyone wants to win it seems like you lean into the job um without a lot of nonsense more than most players uh is that conscious or are you just kind of like i don't know i don't know what you're talking about you just kind of ask what you answer a question directly when it's asked to you yeah i just i i why why lie like we all we all want to win we all want to win one we all want to be the one to do it like yeah why why i guess say anything other than that does it help that there are i mean we've said it numerous times over the course of the last three hours there's legitimately six or seven u.s guys that you can look at and say they can make a semi-final and they're like oh yeah we're gonna win this game and they're like oh yeah we're gonna win this game and i think that's it's been like that for a long time and i think that's why this generation of american men has has been really strong and deep because we we've all kind of pushed each other and whenever someone's been able to do something i think the rest of us look at that and they're like well he can do it i can do it too and then it kind of just keep bouncing off each other like that over the next two weeks you have to do what to make a big run what what are like a couple things in practice that are non-negotiables uh i mean i think for my game i mean obvious non-negotiables like my serve if i serve bad i'm probably not gonna win i'm not gonna win matches uh luckily for me i feel like i have that under control most of the time that's pretty consistent uh i need to hit my forehand well i think that's one of the big points of like when i look at when i really feel like i'm playing good tennis like i i'm really uh trusting my forehand it's a weapon i feel like i can attack i don't feel like i'm gonna miss it like that's a big part of my game because i think the rest the rest of my game is pretty consistent uh and then be healthy you know i think be able to be ready to play a lot of matches and not have my body feel you know any type of way about it well listen you've you've won six matches here before i know i can speak for all of the crowd here and the crowds that are going to watch you over the next two weeks uh we hope you can make it seven man i love the way that you lean into the challenge never have to worry about uh your effort given week to week and that's something i really admire so best of luck over the next couple weeks taylor thank you appreciate you guys thanks for listening to served we will be right back this episode is brought to you by servicenow look i have my dream job i watch ten minutes a week i watch ten minutes a week i watch ten minutes a week i watch ten minutes i think about tennis i talk about tennis but even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts the stuff that gets in the way of the actual work that's where servicenow's ai specialists come in they don't just tell you what you should do about your busy work they actually do it start to finish cases close requests handled no extra work for you that way you and your team can focus on the work that matters which for me is explaining at length why tennis players are the best athletes on earth sorry everyone else on earth To learn how to put AI to work for people visit servicenow.com all right back to the show another one of the guys from the states hoping to break through let's give it up for brandon nakashima so we've uh welcome welcome to serve thank you thank you for having me absolutely uh we've had a lot of the uh your contemporaries on the american side through obviously taylor just left ben's been through foe's been through um we've kind of been talking about them for a minute right they've been in semis of slams taylor's been to a final uh over the last month you've put yourself in that conversation right making the finals in canada making the semis uh in cincinnati talk us through kind of where you are now going into this slam versus maybe where you've normally been going into slams and yet kind of your belief system and making a big run uh yeah i mean first of all super happy to be back here in new york um i think coming uh coming into this u.s open uh obviously the confidence has has been at an all-time high from uh you know winning all those matches this past summer um obviously it's a new tournament um so and it's a grand slam so a little added pressure here and there but um look i'm super excited to get out there and play okay when i watch you and people say what are some of the most underrated shots in tennis your serve for me is one of the best in the game now is it you know is it's very where it's you know it's going to go 142 no but like your hold rate and the ability to pitch a good ball game and hit your spots is about as good uh as it in tennis does that give you the confidence where on a given day i know i can hold 20 times in a match uh yeah it definitely gives me a lot of confidence knowing that you know most of the time i'm able to to hold hold serve pretty easily and and it also frees me up on my returns as well um being able to take a few more cuts and uh still trying to to get the serve almost as good as you hopefully you're close i don't know if you saw the highlights when you came in we're all on your serve uh so you throw the secrets getting out are are you i mean it sounds funny to say this but are do you feel you're playing as well as your results indicate uh yeah of course i think uh there's still new heights for me as well i i think i can also play at a really much higher level i think the ranking can can go up a lot more as well so um it's it's all about you know the journey and um you know obviously it takes time everyone's got their own pace but um yeah it's been a good rise so far i can't go up that much more because you're already uh you're already in the top 20. welcome and um we were saying this on the show the other day i think you've won more hardcore matches than any other player have you ever won more hardcore matches than any other player have you ever won player so far in 2026 this has really been a a step up here for you um say a few words about your coach uh yeah it's it's been great having him on the team the last few months we're talking wayne yeah wayne ferreira um yeah obviously he's had a amazing career amazing coaching career as well so uh he's been uh very valuable to the team uh the last few months really uh has helped me with the mental game i think the most and i think it's been a really great experience for me um just being able to to trust my shots out there and uh give me the confidence to to play well in these matches was it something you were pursuing when looking for a coach wayne ferreira was six in the world there aren't a lot of coaches walking around this venue that's can say i had a winning record against sampras it was that something you consciously wanted was someone with that sort of pedigree to kind of understand what you're going through yeah i mean we were looking for um you were looking for someone that's had a lot of experience both playing as a professional and also coaching as well so um yeah he's been great so far what do you feel like you've been because we've been watching you for a long time and it's like you don't often beat yourself you stay there mentally all the time you know it's not as if you're up a set and you're going knock's gonna fold it just it doesn't really happen but what are the differences what are the shots that are landing you know to create the difference from i've never been past the round of 16 of a masters 1000 to i make a final and i make a semi back to back what are those margins yeah it's a very very small margin i think in men's tennis right now um i think the biggest thing for me is you know really going after my forehand and my backhand from the baseline um really trying to play aggressive out there trying to to come to the net as much as possible and um yeah just really be the one that's uh on the offense as much as possible well i'll tell you man i've been impressed i've had a lot of fun watching you win a lot of matches recently i think you can make a a really deep run on this thing i know you'll have uh new york behind you so continue success keep that momentum going man you got you got it let's give a round of applause for brandon nakashima thank you guys let's go teach me hello what's the term you pinoy power you know your stuff yeah i'll uh it's so nice we've never met i don't think it's so nice to see you i'm i love what you're doing i've seen you from afar gosh congratulations this is this ride this journey that you've not only created for yourself for your country but for the tennis universe is amazing thank you so much fun it's really fun i did a long interview earlier this year uh i don't know that we had ever talked before that and you hear things i was struck and impressed by your sober view of things where you can have a crowd like this who have been waiting for you for three hours except that kind of i feel and correct me if i'm wrong that you kind of get the importance uh that you have to the tennis universe but then also on this side that doesn't guarantee results that the work uh has to be put in um but it also seemed like it's something you had to kind of consciously be thoughtful of and think through no completely of course everything that has been coming my way is continuously uncharted territory for me so it's the i'm experiencing a lot of things for the first time um and like you said it's been a journey to learn my relationship with the fame especially in the exposure i understand the importance of of what i represent who i represent what values i carry on court the culture i carry on court but at the same time it's it was important for me to understand that it's the culture that's important it's what i represent that's important and it's not so much just me as you know as an individual because i think you know a reason also why i have such a big following is because people see themselves in me so i'm representing those people and it's not really it's not really just me on the stage if you know what i mean that so that's kind of how i approach it yeah you break out in miami last year uh you become a life you know it takes a life of work to become an overnight success right where you see people and you make a run at a big tournament um people don't see the blood sweat and tears they see the hour and a heart and you cause an upset it was a great story it's now you you as an analyst you go gosh i hope this continues you win washington you have a monster wimbledon and you are in tournaments every week to win them now it's not just a good story you know the way you've developed as a player in the face of your life changing uh what have been the takeaways what's been one thing that has surprised you in a positive way and what's one thing that has surprised you in a positive way that uh is challenging that maybe we wouldn't recognize in terms of tennis there's so many learnings that i've had in the past year um and in the past months i think that now the obviously the higher i am in the mountain the steeper it gets but at the same time you know when you're winning you're not that you're not that good and when you're losing you're not that bad so even though now maybe i'm top 20 even when i was you know 70 or something like that the level is is it's the difference is like this you know so it i think the huge difference comes in the consistency of how often you're able to to execute that level but in the individual matches or even in trainings you know anything can happen it's the level is is so close and and you can see that throughout in the tour throughout the year that people can go up and down and down it's because everyone's gonna win and they're gonna win and they're gonna win and they're gonna win and they're gonna win so it's like it's like it's like running for the spots you know yeah this has been such a fun story for us to watch it's also i i think it's unprecedented i mean i can't think of another example like this where you have a this sort of fan base and your results are going like this curious what are you leaning on how are you navigating this situation when it is unique no one's done this before you that's a good question i i don't know i think one thing is that my commitment to tennis and and the work ethic that i've been having since i was young it just keeps my feet on the ground because i guess it's within the nature of a competitor and an athlete to keep wanting to improve. And I feel like that's also a good thing because I think that I have so much further to go in terms of how to improve technically, tactically, physically. So the ceiling is very high. And I feel like, yeah, I feel very, very small. Tennis is super humbling. And I'm surrounded by peers who are so accomplished, so mature, and so well-established. So, yeah, it's the people who surround me, I think. What's the draw that you went through to win in Washington? There was no breathing room. No breathing room at all. I mean, we're talking like murderers. I mean, you just, you went through one of the toughest draws I've seen this year. Is that sort of stress test? And you have not shied away when you have gotten the chance to play top players. Do you like leaning in to that kind of sort of quality? It seems like you almost find a gear, find a focus mechanism, the tougher the opponent. I think these matches are, especially when you play well, are the matches of substance, and they're very rewarding for me, even when maybe I don't win. So I've had a lot of matches where I lose and I look back. It's, you know, obviously you don't feel great after losing, but I look back and I'm like, OK, that's good. I need to work on A, B, C, but we're on a good way. So, for example, even my practice set with Eva last night, it was a great mix of intense and fun. But I think I learned a lot of things from last night. I think I played really well. And obviously Eva's a great player. Very difficult, very difficult to face. So, you know, I was happy about that set. Yeah, I think I saw I was playing the other night and I looked up and I saw I see you, I see Felix, I see Kasper. I see you saw me and I saw I saw I said, if I, if I, if I had her ground strokes, I might be winning this set. If I had your serve, I might be winning. I'm just saying we would be a good player. Yes, yes, yes. But I also think I saw sitting up there and I'm I'm hoping your paths cross because he's one of my favorite people on Earth and one of the only people I get completely starstruck by. Did you get a chance to say hello to Lin-Manuel Miranda? Yes. What was that like for you, like legend of all legend for me? I know, I know. And I see him because he comes every year and I see him. I see him on socials when he's on Ash and everything. And wow, like I got a chance to sit right next to him in the double. And we took a selfie and I didn't have the guts to tell him that my hotel is literally right beside the Hamilton. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. It's very close to the Hamilton on Broadway. So, well, listen, I can draw a parallel between you and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Are you ready for it? Well, one, you're both better people than you are at your job. So that's one. And two, you've created a movement. You're still humble about it and you're still all about the work. I'm a massive fan. We're a massive fan of the show. I know they're massive fans. Thank you. Thank you. Best of luck and enjoy this journey. It's it's so cool. And I just love everything about you. Thank you. Thank you. Alex Yala. All right. He's got his shoes kicked off. Let's get our shoes off. Make yourself at home. Get comfortable. Andy's feet are going to end up on some website. Yeah, he goes, what's what's going on? You're just like taking your shoes off. I'm like, it's not real TV. We're a podcast. Like, I was not expecting all this, too. This is great. This is they're here for you, bud, for you. This is it. How's it going? Saw you last night. Everything New York groove going, going OK? Yeah, it's been great. Obviously, as an American, always special coming back to New York. Love, love the new stuff they got going on here. This other building looks like it's going to be amazing. But yeah, just trying to get in the groove, get ready, get some practices in. And I know I'm playing on Sunday, which is kind of nice. Honestly, I know a lot of people would rather play later. But yeah, I want to get the get the show on the road. You know, we were just talking. We were just talking through because we just had Alex Yala on and she's playing a qualifier. So we were kind of attempting to go through. You don't know who you play, right? So it's, you know, normally your four days out, you get drawn against the lefty. So then the coaches hustle behind the scenes to try to find some lefty to look at. Just talk through the challenges of maybe not knowing on a Friday who you're going to play on a Sunday. I think it's different for everyone. I think everyone kind of views it a little different for me. Even when I'm playing a lefty, I don't mind warming up with a righty. I'm not too picky with this stuff, but it's always a little bit tricky. Not knowing who you're playing. Sometimes it's nice to have a couple of days to kind of prepare, at least like tactically for the match, going over it with your coach. But I mean, it's something that we deal with. I mean, we play tournaments throughout the entire year. This happens all the time. So it's not out of the ordinary. But I mean, it honestly sometimes helps because then you're just kind of focused on yourself. You're focused on getting yourself as ready for the match as you can. And momentum matters. Yeah. Momentum matters when going into any tournament, especially going into the US Open. It seems like every week we have Americans that are doing well and we've had all your guys through, your friends, the collective of Americans kind of going after that goal. From where I'm sitting, I'm going, that's helpful to have other guys having results. You take out Zverev. Someone else goes, you know what? I can play well, too, in advance. It doesn't matter. It feels like there's a lot of momentum on the American side going into this event. Absolutely. And what's cool about it this year, obviously, we have Ben going back to back in Canada, Francis lighting it up in Cincinnati. But then we also have Brandon Nakashima, who's playing incredible tennis right now. We've been calling it the Wayne Ferreira effect. He hired a new coach. And obviously, he's done great things for his game. I think the tennis I played last week was pretty great. Yeah. I think it's super exciting time for American tennis. Obviously, the talk of the town is like the center not being here. Carlos hasn't played in a while. And everyone's very excited. The Americans, even if they were here, were very excited to play the tournament. But it's definitely nice. I think everyone in the locker room is looking at the opportunity and very excited about it. I only heard like 80% of that because I was distracted by the. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a good thing. tour i wanted to be partying like my friends in college and then and then i saw all my friends get desk jobs have to go get a job and i was like you know what life on tour not so bad like i think i think i'm gonna put everything into this because i don't want to do that amen uh that's that's pretty everyone's like yeah yeah we like to do that too when we were when we were young uh tp it's always fun being with you i'm always cheering for you i hope you and your buddies on the american side just make absolute runs this tournament all the best i know i know new york will be behind you thank you guys put your hands together for tommy paul thank you you got the coolest intro it's a good one i can't believe this is like a dream come true i'm i'm on andy roddick's podcast yeah i'm sure i'm sure that's the single highlight of your year so that's the best day of my life let's let's be real though like we we talked we chatted a little bit in in december and i was impressed because you were pretty clear you weren't dancing around the fact that your career was going to be defined whether or not you broke through with this slam i mean you're you know by far you were the best player not to have won a slam by any metric or statistic how good does it feel to arrive at a slam now having done it yeah no it feels uh pretty good and yeah you're right we we had a phone call for about probably an hour and a half in in december um where you know i i talked to you about you being in a similar position where the only difference was you won the us open early on in your career but you were in a similar position with with obviously rafa and and roger um throughout the later stage of your career and i was like how do you deal with it how what do you do how do you try to wait for you to be able to for your chances what do you what do you what do you do and um there was a clear path for me in my game what i needed to improve to be able to to win a grand slam there was a clear path for me to yeah to be able to compete with those guys and beat them eventually um yeah and of course i'm very happy that i kind of did it in at the french open because of course in my age i'm 29 years old you don't know if you're ever going to get a chance again you don't know if you're ever going to do it and um yeah i'm happy that i did it yeah so once you did it and this has been a goal of yours you i always thought it was really admirable how outspoken you were about it look i'm not gonna lie to you this is the goal yep now that you got it how closely did it align with what you had envisioned i mean how close did it come to feeling like you thought it would feel yeah it's it's it's funny because you always think winning a slam it will change your life and you'll like walk on a cloud basically and you know you'll be untouchable but your life kind of doesn't change you know you still wait for it to happen and you're like up in the mornings you still have to walk your dogs and go to go to training you know it doesn't change and for me i have incredible motivation to keep going i have incredible motivation to kind of continue playing good tennis and compete for for the biggest tires in the world and that's what i hope to do here this week as well now different scenarios because you know roger had you know won everything for for a long time but rafa goes down at roland garros one year and roger had to go okay this is this is like this is maybe it right not dissimilar to you know carlos isn't at the french open yannick goes down second round in a weird circumstance and everyone's going oh this is great sasha's probably in a great you know he senses opportunity you were lying to us i think because like you were like oh it's just another thing i just have to i don't really feel any added pressure i call bs on that like you had to have felt the heaviness of that moment a little bit yeah i was shitting my pants for two weeks sorry for the land no it's the truth and i mean every every single day in the press conference somebody was asking me about it and they're like what do you expect me to say i was like what you expect me to say yes i'm nervous i can't sleep at night i'm not eating like what do you i was like no it doesn't affect me it's just fine it's just another tournament don't win the french open probably kill myself but you know what you know what's what's gonna happen it's the worst thing that could happen so i was lying to everyone i was lying to myself as well yeah but it's not the french open is is is a step and obviously it's like the massive step and it puts you in a different type of fraternity but then you go to wimbledon and you haven't been past the fourth round there before if i'm not mistaken and you play great on a surface that maybe isn't your favorite yeah i mean you have to feel great not only about the fact that you got over the line and you did it and you have it but just your game that you've seen this year in it yeah again this is this is for me part of what we worked with my with my entire team throughout the entire year we we said that look whatever we've been doing for the past 10 years on the professional circuit is obviously not working it's working to an extent because you know i've been top five in the world since 2017 basically but it's not working to win these kind of things and something has to change so yeah me and my father me and my team we kind of sat down and we said we're gonna try to play completely different tennis we're gonna every time we have a we have a four four hand in the middle of the court we're gonna hit it as hard as we possibly can um every time we have a back and shorter we're gonna come in and that's what we've been doing this year and it's been working well i would say even in the beginning of the year i lost the top five setter to to carlos australia yeah after five and a half hours but after i lost the match i was still happy because i still felt like i was doing the right thing and i was still playing the right way and i felt like eventually it's going to pay off and yeah i'm happy where i'm sitting at right now i thought um you know so winning winning that major obviously pinnacle of your career but i thought it was really significant that the very next major yeah you reached the final yeah but funny enough i mean i didn't have much time between the clay court season and grass court season so i kind of carried the form onwards and arriving in wimbledon it was probably the most fun i ever had at a tennis tournament i was so free i was playing with with a lot of confidence i was having fun on the tennis court and i enjoyed every single second event and i even in the final i felt like i was right there until in the third set i had a break point and i slipped and i hurt my knee a little bit and i couldn't serve quite as well anymore and then once janik got into the rallies he broke me and he was the more dominant player but still in the women of final i felt like i was i was right there and it was just such a fun feeling for me to have what i also like about you is every time we come across each other you're it seems like you're curious or you have an observation you were telling us the differences in the conditions from cincinnati to the u.s open the other night when we were in the locker room and you said that you feel better here than maybe you did at the last two events just based on conditions can you explain that to our audience who maybe hear people talk about conditions but maybe don't understand the inner workings yeah it's i mean look some people who may not be as involved as they would think oh a hardcourt is a hardcourt yeah and a tennis ball is a tennis ball nothing really changes that much but for i think for us professional tennis players every single little detail is makes such a big difference and here the courts are just a tiny bit slower i have a tiny bit more time um i feel like the tennis ball even though it's the same tennis ball it feels completely different um i went down in my racket stringing tension i went down four pounds from cincinnati that's significant so there is some little differences that make a huge difference in the end and look i may be talking here and then in the first round i don't know how to put a tennis ball on the court and then we'll be like oh it's the tennis ball again i'll blame i'll blame everything except myself because that's what we do as tennis players but um yeah for now i feel well in practice and i'm happy where i am hey well uh listen i i know being on the doorstep of your lifelong goal as many years as you had even a winning olympic gold and we need to celebrate those past successes even more now that you've kind of landed the plane and are a grand slam champion i was happy to see it your number one seed in this tournament alex very good guys thank you guys you're number one seed in this tournament alex barev thank you guys hey guys thank you guys thank you guys you're number one seed in this tournament alex barev you're number one seed in this tournament alex barev you're number one seed in this tournament alex barev Have an amazing time watching the next two weeks of tennis. I promise you we will. We appreciate you. We love you. This has been Serb. - I have my dream job, but even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. They don't just tell you what to do about your busy work. They actually do it. ♪ ♪