2026 US OPEN RECAP DAY 8: Alcaraz Dominates, Tiafoe & Shelton Advance & more

I have my dream job, but even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI Specialist come in. They don't just tell you what to do about your busy work, they actually do it. That way your team can focus on what matters. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com. Welcome to QuickServe, brought to you by ServiceNow. Welcome to the Cadillac Studio. We're in it inside of an Escalade IQ mic. I know, 80, have you ever heard Dolby at most sound? Not like inside of this vehicle. Well, exactly, right? Because Dolby at most sound creates a sound that feels like it has more space and dimension around you. And guess what? In this Escalade IQ, as I'm sure you know at this point, that sound is delivered through an AKG studio reference system, a system that is as flawless in execution as well Carlos Algras was today. Like what you did. You see that? Yeah, you're teaching right up. You're good. You're good. Sobo linker rolls through Taylor Townsend. We knew that was going to be tough. Taylor needs time of the ball, but to manipulate it, hit those chips. Sobo just went right through her. I guess as low as expectations can be for her coming into a tournament, she can just flip them right around. We're like, oh, she's playing fine. She hasn't lost a set. Everyone. Hello. I mean, it's ridiculous. 11 breaks and serve in 19 games. Yeah, she's playing great. Noscow beats Kostiak for the second straight slam. Kostiak saves five match points. Noscow but one on the sixth. Do you know the last time? That she blew five match points and then one in three sets? No. The Wimbledon final. She has the Wimbledon champion. Has not played great since Wimbledon, and yet here she is again beating Marta Kostiak. Pagula ran right through Kristaya. And what could be Kristaya's last grand slam match? You still call Niazzi? I mean, it's just tough, man. It's tough. She's been playing so great. I know. But we'll see. Listen, the only way that I would turn this right around is if she was at a career highs, is that okay? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Emma Navarro is currently on court with Kalanskaya, two all in the first set. Let's give Alex Michelson some props. I mean, he hasn't lost a set. He's rolling. He is playing great. An adjustment that I've seen in the past on the forehand side, backhand's pure. Like he said it on our show. He's like, what about backhand? He goes, oh, it's pure. Yeah, from his childhood bedroom. Ridiculous. I was like, where are you in a kid's bedroom? He's like, yeah, it's my bedroom. And with my, I'm saying in my parents' house. He had like participation ribbons in the back. Yeah, it was great. That we used to have. But he might have a different trophy in their son. It was great. I've seen him try to force forehands before. Where he's trying to hit winners. He is so consistently just getting into the net and using his forehand as an approach shot. Like you can tell he's making his mind up before he even hits it that he's going to hit it and run any follies. Really well beat estuary today. Did you see this thing? He joins you, Andre, Pete, and Fritz as Americans to reach the quarter final without dropping a set. No. You know, I mean, what is it like to go on a heater like that? And like feel that especially through the first week. I honestly couldn't have told you that it was a real statistic. Yeah. I have no idea. I don't know when I did it. It wasn't the error one. Oh, four. Yeah, you're after a lot of good that didn't mean. Just fucking below it in the quarter. Nicholson is look great. Not on the radar. You know, there were a lot of Americans to talk about. And at certain point you, you know, can't go down the ladder too far. But he's played fantastic. Like he played great against knock. He played great against Etcherberry. He's in it. And he plays big foe who also played great against Medi today. He has Armstrong rocking. Dude, 10-0 in Armstrong. Yeah. You want to know, that's great. There's a problem. Yeah. You can't win the tournament in Armstrong. He's going to start lobbying. You cannot win the tournament from-- He's going to be lobbying Booterack Hard. From Louis Armstrong. You can't win the US Open from Louis Armstrong. You could have like 1987. Yeah. You can't know. That changed in 1997 when Ash came into play. But he played fantastic. Like great match against Medi. Medi makes you beat him. He had a rock and I like his intensity. Right. When he's getting the crowd into it, it's not like-- It doesn't feel choreographed. It feels like he holds his finger up in the place just rises. Like he's not burning unnecessary energy on it. Fantastic. I can't wait for that Michelson foe match. They both have been getting in a ton. You know, this foe looks great. I know he's the more famous name. Michelson has a shot now. He's playing great. They're both playing fantastic. Like the Funda watch will have at least one American in the semis. And possibly more. Ben Shelton. Discipline today. He played fantastic against his thoughts. It's a good matchup for him. But he didn't make things difficult on himself, right? I'm going to serve. You float the term return back. I'm going to take my invitation. I'm going to come in near back in. And you're going to have to hit 87 back in passing shots. Over the course of five hours if you want to beat me. Rince repeat straight through. Concentration had seemingly been a little bit up and down. When he had been broken this tournament before today. A lot of times he was breaking himself. Doubles and drop shots and missed forehands. And he stayed on message. I think he can stay in points kind of patiently. More than he gives himself credit for. It feels like, you know, in the previous rounds. He was like, he was in a hurry to make something happen. When I don't know that he always has to do that. I thought he looked fantastic, served. I think 78% first serves in. Didn't. 72. Memory serves. He didn't face a break point. You got to do one game maybe. Maybe I don't know. But anyways, he was rolling in every. Every service. He did not face a break point. Yeah. So Ben looked great. He needed that kind of performance. He knows because he looks at draws, maybe. That he plays Carlos Alvarez in the next round. People look at draws sometimes. Most people. Most people. Most people. Unless you're one of the greatest tennis players ever to walk. This earth. Yeah. So we're referencing Carlos Roll Tommy Paul today. I thought Tommy Paul played okay. Like, that's a scary thing. We were on the desk and I'm saying, like, you know, your producer is there and used. I'm just, I'm telling you about this because I'm literally just learning how to use talkback. Yeah. Because I'm an idiot. And so, use talkback. And it's like, I want that point. Like that. And then you tell a story off of, off of, you know, the clips that you get. And the story was playing good points and having no chance. Like in the first couple of games, he hit a couple insane shots from like outside the line. Screamers up the line. And everyone's like, oh, this is great. I'm like, it's kind of great. He's having to hit those shots to win points. Like it's great that he's making them now, but I don't know that that's a strategy. You know, full stretch. Carlos had it working. All parts of his game. The forehand was misfiring more in the first three rounds than maybe it had before. He still was able to manipulate the ball and handle the shots. 17 winners, 10 unforced on the forehand today. And that's not, that's a deceiving stat. Obviously, great numbers for him. Your respective at the next point, but that doesn't include when he bullies you and you miss. Which he does all the time, right? Forehand was absolutely firing today. The server's good. He won 17 out of 20 for a certain points in the third set. So finding a nice little rhythm, rounding into form. And he said some of the craziest shit I've ever heard on the desk when he came to the desk afterwards. Did you see this interview? He's just so chill and so relaxed. His hair looks so good all the time. It's really frustrating. Yeah. But I mean, I thought it was, it was great. I mean, you guys were teeing him up, kind of asking him about match getting enough matches and feeling prepared even coming into this. And what was his response? I mean, it was, there were so many things that don't make sense to normies like. Like he was like, I don't really need matches or rhythm. Yeah, the two craziest, the craziest shit I've heard this year on the ESPN desk was when Coco played 87 straight three setters at Wimbledon. And we dared to ask her about recovery and her response. And it was, it's not like an arrogant thing. It's just the way it is. I just think it's cool that we're going through the mid tunnel right now. Yeah. So I ask her and she goes, well, I mean, yeah, I mean, I'll do it. I spathe because they tell me to do it. You know, I guess I should. But I was tired one time on the court ever when I was 14 years old. One time. She remembered. Imagine if you could-- My heart is too. No, no, no, no. Guys, guys, guys. Imagine if you could remember this single time you were tired in this life. I was tired. I'm tired right now. I've been, I've been tired all day. Like, so that, I thought that was going to be the one. And MJ, Mary Jo asks, Carlos, basically, a version of, when is it? Okay, bless you. When is it okay to say, I'm back. Yeah. Like, I'm back. And he kind of does around about us. But then he goes, you know, I guess I don't really need to play tournaments or matches. All your faces were like or have rhythm like all your faces were kind of like what's the follow up to that? The follow up was I asked the craziest question apparently that's ever existed in the history of questions so I Understood zero what he said Because all of us need rhythm when we play and all of us need to play matches and and tournaments And so I kind of just looked and blinked aggressively at him for a second and Then I said I thought I was like a innocent question. We you know get noticed that we have one question left and I said, okay, so let's look forward to Benner, you know Stefano, so you play next. Yeah And he looked at me like I was so confused like I had asked You know him to solve the Pythagorean theorem and and so he's like what I don't I don't what's why? Well, well, you play them next and he goes I don't play them. I play them. No. He thought he played the winner He looks he looks I had a draw. He looks over at your draw like what I should let me see it I show it to him. Yeah, and he goes oh I didn't know He had no idea he thought he was playing the winner of Medi and foe Like how good is this life that you can do what he did today? and then Like the freedom of not knowing anything and just rocking up and being it's a joke and it's not like he came up to the desk like Like within like minutes of finishing and was still in his head. No, he waited for an hour. He had gone back. He had done press He had showered. Yeah, and he had like talk to his team No, he had he had and then they're like, please mr. Aquarius. Let's let's now walk the five eight minutes He had been called not come up at all Mike. He had been calm enough To use Cologne He had used to go ahead. It was like the hair was flowing. It looked like an herbal essence commercial the columns tight Like he had it going. Oh man. He goes. Oh, I didn't know I like apparently I'm breaking news to him that he plays Shelton or Sitzapas and then he and then he was like, yeah, I guess I'll watch Yeah, what that I was like are you gonna watch your I'm sure you'll watch that match tonight. He's like One it wasn't like I would watch a match tonight Even if I wasn't playing the person I would just be in my room watching it It was I said you might watch this match tonight you know night session of the US open and he's like Why what I don't understand I mean, how good is it to be that relax. I can't relate. I'm jealous He's so chill. I mean, he literally just played his game like he just was dancing between points He was just vibing. He just like he feels good. He clearly feels a hundred percent I mean, his vibes are so strong. He has to be the best time at a party. We were saying his fifth was so good So good, this guy was peak Carlitos. It was so good like I mean, he's just it's max cool right now. Yeah, it's very He's like, okay. I'm sorry. Well, let's start again. I go. That's not the way life TV works, man That's not it. I mean, he just played fantastic. That was I was dying. I just fell on him like I was like this is hilarious It was hilarious. I died. I couldn't control. I know I'm supposed to be like I basically became served in a second. I just sort of laughing and not paying attention anymore Thanks for listening to served. We will be right back As tennis fans, we hear so much about the toll the slams take on players But we rarely dig in on the core thing that keeps players rested Sleep and recovery when I was on tour recovery had a different meaning now technology enables coaches and players to track their fitness In an entirely new way and eight sleep is revolutionizing how athletes manage their rest 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 The pod's autopilot technology is built on over one billion hours of sleep data and does the work for you Learning your sleep patterns to adjust temperature elevation and wake up time Automatically based on your body's real-time signals. My sleep score has consistently been in the 90s this week And it helps to know my sleep temperature is regulated even while I'm on the road Whether you're on tour gearing up for your club championship or preparing for a big day at work Now's the time to change the way you manage recovery had eight sleep com slash served and use the code served For up to three hundred and fifty dollars off the pod that's eight sleep com slash served code served for up to three hundred and fifty dollars off the pod All right back to the show Before we we have a couple more blocks. Let's preview tomorrow real quick We got on ash we got ega and quin win to kick it off. Yeah quin win props qualities gets through down five o'gains matty Could a very well just kind of start of the turnaround of her career from from injury I like that she just checked ego went qualified ega's playing fantastic Right, I just I think ega gets through that one Osaka Rabakana can't wait. I mean I know Rabakana has like she's Been healthier than we thought, you know, I think she's kind of on the verge the one thing that I'm I'm curious about Is she hasn't had to react quickly to the weight of shot of someone like osaka? Okay, so those quick movements as opposed to like yeah when she has time to kind of rhythmically move into the ball because she might be one of those humans that needs rhythm unlike algrass You know, so that will be an interesting thing because osaka can knock her off her mark and make her move quickly And if this is an injury where you can't break, you know quit you can't use that quick twitch I don't know that we've seen it to the level that osaka will make her move That is something uh to watch for Yovic Goff Letter rip pop corn or chip Yovic is in with a shot She she is going to eat up the middle of the court Coco's going to Coco. She's going to run. She's going to play defense. She's going to use the wheels If Yovic doesn't burn her to the corners And she is forward in the court and misses to Coco's back in Coco's going to knock her off her spot with that back inside The the thing to look for is how Coco is going to Manage her forehand when pace is hit to it. That's the thing she's been doing an amazing job going to the chip forehand a lot more But it comes off as like an inside out kind of like like you would hit a backhand slice um Yovic is not going to return as well as she did against yala because Coco's serve is is significantly bigger. Yeah This will be great. I'm I'm I am pumped for it Um, there's a fourth one. What is it? There's uh, it's very uh, Dardary Yeah, I'm on that one tomorrow night. It's very of Dardary Uh, you do Van Desey. Yep Blocks Serendolo. Yep. I'm obviously not even going to talk about you choose it. Who's going to win that one? I mean, uh, I mean, should we pick against Serendolo? So I feel like we had we have to go with blocks But yeah, so we're gonna invert the we're inverted on the so I was I was we're inverted It actually works because this is clear up here in this kind of like I cure like for those of you I love a narrow joke We were inverted inverted uh, we got and drava potapova. That's the one I was looking for you sir Obviously wrote it in the wrong place. Say I love you. We're professionals. Uh, I like and drava Uh, you know potapova goes big So she will be able to knock Mira off her mark sometimes, but I just think overall Mira is such a complete player now Uh, hatching off TN. I mean, that's that's that's my 1b and popcorn. I'm excited to see TN. Uh, I'm excited to see TN It was a physical match the other night. Let's see how his body turns around Super complete, but I don't know that we have a big enough sample size to know, you know, if his body bounces back You know, but I mean he's he's so good hatching off likes the extended format I think I like TN. I mean, he's five notes in career five centers Yeah, and uh, and he's he's just he's fit. He's fit. Yeah, so I think both both guys seem to do well in this format. Yeah I like that one. I like it's very of no. I thought last night He looked back just clawing back some shot clock. I thought it was huge, you know, he was I you got to imagine like that second set breaker That he won was big for his overall tournament. I think he uh, I think it takes out Dardry, but it's getting pretty fun Yeah, it's getting pretty fun. You got a set of day. Yeah, I do have a set of a day. It's 13 That's the number of wins Alcarez has over Americans and majors You know how many losses he has zero zero. He's 13-0 So we'll see if he continues that on I got another one. I got another one for you. Yeah He's 28-3 career at the US Open. Oh, we're we're dicing this one around Highest win percentage of all time of all so far of all time higher than Federer higher than Sampress All of the players all of the players all every single big name player on the men's side. I'm sure I'm sure like Yeah, I always got to look at graph when you have career win percentages. So yeah But on the men's side highest win percent smaller sample size obviously a lot of Place to go, but we love what we double stack the service now style of a day. We just keep going We'll show you the days We'll read the hotel three-0 the three-0 against Ben Shelton. Yeah He's broken Ben Shelton six times in three matches and only been broken twice Both of those were in the round of 16 of 25 rolling girls. How much for do you want to go beat him in Berlin at the labor camp? be them in Canada one time, where do we want to go this, what else do you want to do? Quinn Wenz, the first qualifier to reach the quarterfinals since Amarada Kona. Quinn Wenz also probably the first qualifier that's won a gold meadow within three years of being called the Saturday cast. That's all I got, Mike. Anything else? That's it. Any house keeping? That's it. Alright. Everybody have a safe holiday. Hey, thanks to Cadillac, the official vehicle of the US Open has been quick served, brought to you by ServiceNow. Look, influencers in the wild. That is an influencer in the wild. Yeah. Ring lights. Ring lights away. Yeah, you don't, Rob. What the fucking light off, folks? Thanks for watching. I have my dream job. But even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. That's where ServiceNow's AI Specialists come in. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com.