← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
Updates on the US Open
00:25:43
Yesterday marked the quarterfinals of men and women's singles play at the US Open.
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- [00:09]
A
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. The quarterfinals are underway at the US Open in Queens. There's been a lot of action on the court, including a comeback from former U.S. opien champion Naomi Osaka. And the world's best players on both the men's and the women's sides remain in play. So we could be in for a treat during this weekend's finals. We previewed the beginning of the tournament last week with Caitlin Thompson, founder of Racket Media, so naturally we invited her back to check in. Now more than now that we are more than halfway through. Hey, Caitlin.
- [00:42]
B
Hi. Thanks for having me.
- [00:43]
A
So, overall, what have you made of the action so far?
- [00:46]
B
Ooh, man, it has been fast and furious. You know, a lot of people tend to focus on the singles draws in these tournaments, the men's and women's. Obviously you mentioned Osaka. We can get to her. A lot of action usually on Arthur Ashe. But what also happens, and this is something I very, very much love about the Grand Slams, is there are a multitude of simultaneous event. The girls and junior boys started this week. Wheelchair tennis is celebrating its 20th anniversary a year. So we've been on the grounds covering pretty much all of it. Doubles, as we talked about a little bit. The last time I was privileged enough to chat tennis with you, Alison, we talked about mixed doubles. So there's really just kind of a cornucopia of tennis going on. And obviously it's all exciting. And if you go out there, which by the way, I think is free tomorrow, grounds pass is on Thursday, you can go and check out all of the action that is not happening on Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is actually a lot.
- [01:33]
A
What is the best match you have.
- [01:34]
B
Seen so far by a mile? The legend, Venus Ebony Williams, playing with my countrywoman and actually somebody from my hometown, Layla Anna, Annie Fernandez, sort of the odd couple. One of them is 6 foot 2. The other one is barely 5 5, and the two of them made a pretty great showing. Venus obviously got a wild card into the tournament. She is my age. We were both 45, which, in case anybody doesn't know, is quite long in the tooth for a tennis player. And Venus, um, hasn't really played too many competitive matches in the last couple years. She got a DM from Layla Fernandez, and if you know that name, it might be because you might recognize her from playing in the finals against Emma Radicanu a couple years ago. She's a lefty, she's feisty, she's fast, and she provided to be a really Great compliment to Venus Williams. Sort of ground game, assault tactics and then coming into the net. So the two of them made for a ferociously fun team. The stadiums were packed. Louis Armstrong, they kept moving them to bigger and bigger venues. The crowds were so excited. Anna Wintour herself, the grande dame of cunning est. You don't usually see her outside of the President's suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She came over.
- [02:40]
C
Oh, no.
- [02:41]
B
To Louis Armstrong Stadium just to watch Venus and Layla play tennis, which I thought was, you know, there's not really too much more of an endorsement you can have. So they ended up losing yesterday. They lost to the one seeds. Taylor Townsend, who's also been part of a great storyline and an interesting storyline coming out of the Open. Um, and Katerina Sinakova. They are the number one seeds. They've won a bunch. Not a terribly surprising result, but really just a great, great run from Venus and Layla. And getting to see it myself was really wonderful.
- [03:05]
A
Listeners have been watching the US Open so far. What's the best match you've seen on tv? Or if you've been fortunate enough to go in person, call or text us now. 212-433-969-2212, wnyc. What's your prediction of who will win the men's or Women's Single Tournament? 2124-3396-9221-2433-WNYC. Or maybe you've. You just really like now and you're rooting for them. We'll go for that as well. 2124-3396-9221-2433, WNYC. The highest ranking American man lost last night. Taylor Fritz. He was defeated by Novak Jvokic.
- [03:49]
B
Close. Yeah. Djokovic.
- [03:50]
A
Thank you.
- [03:51]
B
There's a lot of consonants in there.
- [03:53]
A
There are a lot.
- [03:54]
B
How close I saw, I would like to say closer than the score line appeared, but I actually think it might have been less close than the scoreline appeared. You know what? He got a set. I think a lot of us who have been watching Taylor Fritz, very, very undeterred and without, frankly, the most natural talent or flair really will himself higher and higher up the ladder of skill and results over the past couple of years. He won Indian Wells. He beat Rafa. He has made a final now at the US Open, which he did this time last year. I kind of thought maybe this was his moment, you know, Novak Djokovic is a staggeringly successful tennis player. He's got 24 grand slams, the most of anybody male or female. And he is obviously, you know, a very, very cool customer when it comes to being in pressure moments. But he's, you know, on the tail end of his career, and I think there are very few Grand Slam appearances left on the docket for him. And so I think a lot of us thought, okay, well, if Taylor Fritz gets this moment and see, it could be really not only a great occurrence for him to get a notch, a win. I believe he's now 11 0. Novak Djokovic is against Taylor Fritz. So he could have notched not only his first win, but really just kind of climbed a hurdle and made a big statement. He didn't do any of those things, which is a little disappointing. But for those of us watching, the power of will, I think, is a good way to describe Taylor Fritz, and I guess you'll get him next time. I don't know. I don't really know what to say. It was disappointing.
- [05:24]
C
Sinner and Alcaraz both have progressed. What have you made of their game so far?
- [05:29]
B
The thing about Taylor Fritz is, even if he had won last night, he was going to get beamed 100%. I mean, the buzzsaw that awaits him in Carlos Alcaraz on Friday night, who is now going to be played against by Novak Djokovic, is a very, very tall order. It's a buzzsaw. I mean, he is really. I'm gonna make a Rocky IV reference. There's really. If you compare Novak. Sorry, if you compare Jannik, Sinner and Carlo, it's fire and ice. It's what a lot of people liked about the Raphael Nadal, Roger Federer duality. It's a little Evon Drago, Rocky Balboa, if you will. But it's. It's a very much a contrast in styles, and the two of them are so far ahead of everybody else, and it really is just a matter of how long it will take for them to meet and in what form each of them will be when they meet. We talked about it a little time, a little bit last week, Allison, but I think I actually have to give the edge to Carlos Alcaraz right now. I think he's. His ceiling is higher when he hits his shots. He's so much more of a playmaker, an improviser. And I think for a lot of us who are kind of more into the creative style of tennis playing, he is easier on the eye in terms of the appeal. Jannik Sinner is stoic, like we talked about. He's from the south, two roles. He's not going to give you a whole lot, but what he lacks in flair he makes up for certainly and you know, kind of reliability, dependability. He's solid and he's sort of unflappable. And it will be a great match. It will be probably, if it happens again, both of them have to get through the next couple rounds. But if it happens again, it will be the third time that they've met in, in recent months in slam finals. And it's kind of gone either way for both of them. And I actually think, like I said, Carlos Alcaraz has the slight edge.
- [07:07]
C
One of the biggest matches over the long week when weekend was Coco Gauff and Yomi's Osaka. Osaka won. How is she able to do so?
- [07:19]
B
Coco Gauff has had a wonderful season in the sense that she claimed a French Open title, which is unbelievable. Clay, which is the surface that the French Open is played upon, is by far her favorite surface. It's her best surface. It's the one that suits her game the most. And so I think for her to repeat at the US Open is a tall order. I think she's obviously done it twice, which is unbelievably great. Uh, but, but she's had some, some issues with her game and she kind of has some persistent technique issues. We talked a little bit about how she had hired a new mechanics coach to fix not only the serve, but I also think and hope the forehand. Um, because what she's been able to do with a less than optimal game is actually quite amazing. And seen through that lens, nobody beats her in fight. But when it comes to technique, there's still room for her to improve. She's 21 years old, just to remind everybody, so she's got all the time in the world. What I would love to see her do personally is take the rest of the year off. There are no majors left. Just get to work, keep fixing the game, keep working on it, get yourself to a little bit of a happier place. Cause I think a lot of that anxiety and sort of pressure which you know, even the most seasoned athletes can't help but feel really caught up to her now that is not to take a single thing away from Naomi Osaka who has been rebounded back into the top echelons of the game. She's got dangerous weapons on both sides. She's incredibly effective.
- [08:38]
A
Would you mind why she stepped out of the game for a little while.
- [08:42]
B
So Nei Mi Osaka kind of had a combination of a series of mental health kind of anxiety driven situations. She kind of stopped doing press, which was understandable. A lot of the tennis media is still quite ossified, male, misogynistic and old. You know, that's changing, obviously, but it's not enough to necessarily protect all the athletes, especially the young ones, especially the women, and especially women of color, from engaging in some, you know, shenanigans in some of the questions. And Naomi Osaka drew a line in the sand and I think did something that a lot of players really admired, which was kind of step back and say, you know what, if I have to do this, then I'll skip it and take the fine, but this is not part of the game that I find helpful or constructive, and, you know, I'm not gonna participate in it. And then she had a child with Corday, who is a rapper. And between the two of those things, she took a considerable amount of time away from the game. You know, Naomi Osaka is kind of a cipher. She's a very interesting person. She's introverted and she really, I think, doesn't excel in the kind of more performative public aspects of being a. You know, I like that about her.
- [09:49]
A
I gotta tell you.
- [09:50]
B
I think for a lot of us, it's relatable, right? You know, just because you're great at playing tennis doesn't mean you're necessarily great at standing up and hosting an event with a microphone in your hand. And I think for that reason, you know, she really did come to symbolize a lot of things. So her coming back into form after a couple years, not only of taking time off, but suffering quite a few strings of early round exits, a lot of, you know, kind of obstacles that she had to come back from. Fitness needed to get better. She's back in form that people, you know, like me haven't seen for three years.
- [10:20]
C
And she took care of herself.
- [10:22]
B
That's right. That's right. Prioritizing her, not only her mental health, but also the health of her family and what she needed to get done. I mean, listen, Naomi Osaka has four Grand Slams. If she never wanted to play tennis again, she's got all the wealth in the world. The Louis Vuitton contract alone would take care of that. You know, so she's doing. She's gonna be fine. But I think I love to see people, especially young athletes, who have had a pressure filled early part of their career, take some time. Those of you who've read the great tennis book Open by Andre Agassi might remember a similar happenstance. Sometimes stepping away, taking care of yourself, as you said, Alison. And then coming back rejuvenated and with this new sense of purpose that is for you alone, not, you know, at the behest of parents or coaches or sponsors or anything else, but you alone, I think, is a really amazing and important step. So I think a lot of us are looking for that as a main storyline, obviously, as Naomi progresses through the tournament. She's got Mukova today, one of my favorite players. So we have a call about that.
- [11:12]
C
Misha on line one. Hey, Misha, thanks for calling, all of it.
- [11:16]
D
Hi there. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I just wanted to the matches tonight. I wanted to give a heads up about Mohova, who's my favorite player on the women's side, because I think she's kind of has a little fetter. She's got even a little Carl. Carlos Alcaraz, she's just a dynamic all court player and, well, I'll be rooting for her tonight.
- [11:36]
B
Misha, I couldn't agree with you more. She's my favorite player in the draw as well. What you said about a combination of Roger Federer and Carlos Alcaraz, I also see a little bit of Justine Henna in her. She comes to the net, she attacks. She's got variety like a lot of players who have a whole bunch of tools. Sometimes it is confusing to all of us and themselves which ones to deploy at which times. Sometimes it can be easier to just c ball and hit ball. Um, and I think those of us who have been watching Mukova for several years know that she has had several great runs. She made it to the finals of the French Open, losing to IGA Witek, who basically kind of owns that tournament. But she has had a ton of injuries as well. And so I had the chance to watch Mokova TW in the last 10 days on the grandstand, which is inside tip a fantastic place to watch tennis. If you are tired of sitting in the nosebleeds that are thrash or don't have the privilege of a corporate seat courtside, go out to the outer courts. You can sit close. I was sitting right next to Mukova's towel box and watched all the highs and lows of her three setter against Saranda Cercia and then against Marta Kostiek. So, yeah, I totally agree with you. I would love for people to get on board the Karolina Mukhova train because it is an exciting one that takes lots of dips and turns.
- [12:48]
C
Have you been watching the US Open so far? What's the best match you've seen on tv? Or have you gone in person? What is your prediction of who will win the men's or women's singles tournament? Our phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. We'll have more with Racket Media founder Caitlin Thompson after a quick break.
- [13:19]
A
You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest in studio is Racket Media founder Kaitlin Thompson. We're recapping the action at the US Open in Queens so far and previewing the rest of the Grand Slam. If you'd like to get in on the Conversation, 2124-3396-9221-2433. Wn have been watching the US Open so far. We got this text. Alison, please ask your guest about the chances of faa. You have to tell us who FAA is.
- [13:51]
B
I would love to tell you who FAA is because he is one of my favorite players. FAA stands for Felix Auger Aliasim. He is a Canadian guy who has been at knocking on the door at the cusp of the top echelon of tennis now for the better part of a decade. He's got an incredible record in very specifically on indoor hard courts and pretty much not anywhere else, which tells you that he's got a game that kind of works when conditions are fast and when the conditions are controllable. So he's not somebody who has had a punch through moment, certainly not at a Grand Slam. He lost a ton of finals before he came onto the scene at this year's U.S. open and really had, I think, what a lot of us consider like a six months of, you know, really surging and culminating at a Grand Slam. You know, a lot of these players train to try to have their moments. So they peak in these moments because they have such outsized importance, not only in terms of pay and points, but also just brand deals and all the stuff, right? So if you can time it right so that you're playing your best tennis during these four times of the year where the Grand Slams are being held, it's great. It's really hard to do. He's doing it. Not only did he do it by taking out what most of us consider to be a main villain of the storyline of tennis, Alexander' and I'll let you Google him for why, in four sets, which is a staggeringly huge achievement, he had never before, I think, beat a top five player. Alex was the three seed. He followed it up with a very convincing win two days ago over Andre Rublev, who's another seed. And now he's taking on Alex Diminor, who is an Australian guy who's kind of similarly like a little slept on. The two of them are engaged in battle right now. Alex demeanor got the first set. It looked like there was one break of serve. I'm rooting for him. So I am a little blinded by my own allegiance. Like I said, I share a hometown with this guy and had the privilege of interviewing him at a party we did for Racket at the Seaport in the days leading up to the tournament. Um, the chances are as good as anybody. I think he's got a bigger game than Alex Diminar, but I also think he is susceptible to a little bit more nerves than Alex Diminar is. However, as we talked about before, the buzz saws of Janik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz wait. And it is hard to imagine anybody, whoever wins any of these matches getting past them just because of how much gap there is between the top two and everybody else. I would love to see that gap close. I don't think that gap is going overtaken, certainly not at this tournament.
- [16:14]
C
This is a question for you.
- [16:15]
A
This says, would you please ask your guest why the women still play only three sets, not five like the men?
- [16:22]
B
It's a great question. And if you ask the women, most of them say they would love to play five sets, they would love to play best of five. Most of it is a scheduling issue. Most of it is an ossified, hidebound, good old fashioned gender differential that's happening. You know, I think it is fair for people to say, why is there equal pay at these Slams, which took a long time. The efforts of Venus Williams, among others, were instrumental in getting it passed. But they still have less work. Well, I would say two things. Number one, they would rather be playing best of five or they would rather the playing field be equal. And there are still some very, very old traditionalist models. My personal solution to the fact that men and women get paid the same but play different amounts. Hilarious. Is that at other tournaments that are not Grand Slams, men and women sometimes both play best of three, but the men are played paid much higher. The tournament that just wrapped up in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Open, is a good example of that. Rome is another one. So there are plenty of places where they do do equal pay. And I would argue that in a lot of cases, the best of three sets are much, much more entertaining. You don't have a throwaway garbage set a lot of times because People tend to remember the last set as being very entertaining, not the middle ones in between that are, you know, in a five hour epic, pretty mediocre. Um, and we can argue about which ones and how, and I can do that all day. But what I will say is I think a great solution that has been offered that I think the slam should take people up on, because there is something special about the fact that there's a little bit more length, is to have everybody play three sets the first week and everybody play five sets. The second week you have fewer matches, the second week you have more time to fill. You can spread this out a little bit. And I think for people who've been on Arthur Ashe in particular these last couple of days, they've gotten men's and women's matches that went real fast. Mm. Three sets, Two sets, one, and done after an hour or two. So I think in that case, maybe now that the players, the field has been whittled down to the best of the best, maybe now everyone should be playing five. I think that would be a great solution and I would look forward to engaging on social media with whoever disagrees.
- [18:22]
C
This says, what's your guest take on Townsend? And I can't say Ostapenko.
- [18:29]
B
Oh, boy. Ostapenko. Yelena Ostapenko.
- [18:31]
C
Controversy. Okay, first of all, explain it for folks.
- [18:34]
B
Sure. So Yelena Ostapenko is a fiery Latvian who is a ballroom dance champion and who has a sponsorship by Regan Nail, the premier nail salon in Riga, Latvia. She's sort of one of the more ridiculous characters on the tennis tour. And we have an article, actually about her written by Shima Olay, a Radiolab alum in the current issue of Racket magazine. Check it out. Taylor Townsend is a very boisterous, talented lefty who is a junior champion now, has made a phenomenal career, especially postpartum in certainly the doubles tour. We mentioned her earlier when we were talking about how she and Katerina Sienna Yakova took out Venus Williams and Leyla Fernandez. So she's a known. Known. And now she's, in the last couple of years, really made great strides, particularly at the U.S. open in front of a home crowd. In singles, she and Yelen Ostapenko had a battle. They.
- [19:27]
C
It was a battle.
- [19:28]
B
Then they had a fight. Then they had a fight, which most people know that Taylor Townsend and Yelena Ostapenko are gonna have a fight. That's just what's gonna happen. The fact that they didn't assign, like a troop of security guards and like adults to watch it is probably part of it. Then things got, depending on your take, pretty racial because Yelena Ostapenko was upset at Taylor Townsend for not adhering to some of the more observed but not written down rules of etiquette in tennis.
- [19:54]
C
Like what?
- [19:55]
B
Like if the ball hits the net in a way that gives you sort of what is purported to be a lucky shot, you're supposed to hold your hand up in an apology saying I don't accept, you know, that point in full grace because I recognize that I kind of got lucky. Or she'll start her warm up at the net, which is unorthodox and kind of annoying. But it's certainly not a written down rule that you're not supposed to do. Now, Yelena Ostapenko was mostly just salty because she lost, obviously. And if you read this article by Shima Alei, you will come across myriad examples of her yelling at her mom, her boyfriend, the umpire, security guards. Like again, I'm not trying to minimize this particular incident, but Yelena Ostapenko is banana. She would probably even say it. So when confronted with a loss that she did not want to take, she accused Taylor Townsend of being uneducated and not no class, no education, any class. Now, despite the Eastern European ness of it all and ESL of it all, many folks, Taylor Townsend included, could not help but hear some racial undertones. Is there racial undertone stuff in tennis? 1,000%. There has been since way before the Williams sisters back to Althea Gibson, who 75 years ago broke the color barrier at the US Open. And sadly, there probably will continue to be. That said, the swift and harsh response by everyone, including actually everyone but Taylor Townsend, who had nothing but class when she said you need to learn how to lose, which is the most accurate statement of all. That was the best statement ever, which I thought, now that's the words of a mom, because I could hear my own mother sort of saying that to me. The only thing I can say is Taylor Townsend so thoroughly won this because she got for the first time in my entire tennis watching career, which has happened for the better part of four decades, a player like Yelena Ostapenko apologized. Yelena Ostepeno doesn't apologize to anyone for anything under any circumstance. And so did she do it in a cya way that she actually, you know, yes, but also you got the apology. But what can I add to that other than saying tennis is interesting and keep your eyes peeled to the screens.
- [21:57]
C
Jessica Pegula, highest ranking American woman she Won yesterday, advanced to the semifinals. She has a New York connection via Buffalo.
- [22:05]
B
Sure, say that.
- [22:06]
C
What chance does she have?
- [22:08]
B
A great one, actually. Jess Pegula was a finalist last year, in fact, and she is somebody who has lingered at the top of the game. Made now another really strong run at home. You know, it can't be overstated. These Americans just have tons and tons of pressure on their back. And, you know, Jess Pugula has never won a Slam. We'll see what the semis have in store. You know, between IGA and Sabalenka, she's got a tall order. She, too, doesn't seem to have the game that can kind of get through those two. But the best chance she's going to have is on a fast, hard court, which is what the surface is. And I think she, in a year that IGA has been playing very free, we're talking about IGA Witek, of course, and the number one ranking women's player in the world, Irina Sabalenka. I think they both look a little bit vulnerable. Irina Sabalenka actually more than IGA Witek. So I think Jess's odds are a little less than the two that I just mentioned. But she's up there, certainly.
- [23:06]
C
Why do you think Sabalenka seems like she would have a harder time, you said?
- [23:12]
B
I think Sabalenka seems like she'd have a harder time because she's volatile, and I think she's had an off year. I think somebody who plays as big as Irina Sabalenka does with absolute go for broke. No plan B, only plan A. Tennis.
- [23:25]
C
Oh, interesting.
- [23:25]
B
Requires a ton of confidence. And I think the minute you get a little bit of doubt, that creeps in. The ability for your opponent to kind of seize on that and shift momentum grows. You know, I don't think she's somebody who knows how to battle her way out of trouble, because most of the time she doesn't have to.
- [23:42]
A
This says, ask about Anisimova, please.
- [23:45]
B
Oh, Anisimova, sure. Amanda Anisimova is a young American who made the finals of Wimbledon and sort of famously lost in about five minutes to Yoshi on Tech. Owen O gave an incredibly heartfelt speech. She is a big hitter. She's got probably the best backhand left in the draw. She was a teen prodigy who was just absolutely letting up the charts. She reportedly got a massive Nike deal even before her braces were off. But like many people and like the Naomi Osaka discussion, we were just having, you know, pressure, expectations, money. You know, it all gets very complicated and agents are having their hands in your pockets, you know, real fast. Now, in her case, her father, who I think had been a mentor and certainly somebody who had steered her through the game of tennis, unexpectedly died. And you know, while that sort of thing happens, it happened during a sabalenka as well. In fact, the, I think fact that it happened at a time that Anisimova was thinking about maybe stepping away from the game anyway resulted in her stepping away from the game for quite a, quite a long while. I think two or so years. She went back to school, she kind of normalized her life and then again re approached it with a new fervor and a new dedication and I think have the sense that she's playing for herself. She made the finals of Queens this year, as we discussed. She made the finals of Wimble, and she's certainly one of the more exciting Americans. I don't know about her chances. I actually don't really like them because I don't think she's been here before. And I think what we've seen from her in high pressure moments, despite how solid her groundstrokes are, is not exactly what I want to see. But she's again, very young. And the way that these champions a lot of times break through is by being there enough times that it gets normalized that they can chill out and play the way that they want to play, which doesn't, frankly, usually happen on the first or second try.
- [25:30]
A
Caitlin Thomas is the founder of Racket Media. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [25:35]
B
I love talking tennis. Thanks for having me, Allison.
- [25:37]
A
And we're glad we had little guests in the.
- [25:39]
B
My executive producer, Peter Newman is over there in the guest booth. Thank you, Peter.
- [25:44]
E
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- [26:17]
F
Are you ready to get spicy? These Doritos Golden Sriracha aren't that spicy.
- [26:24]
A
Sriracha sounds pretty spicy to me.
- [26:27]
F
Um, a little spicy, but also tangy and sweet. Maybe it's time to turn up the heat or turn it down. It's time for something that's not too spicy. Try Doritos Golden Sriracha. Spicy but not too spicy.