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RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \\ 🤕 = Injury \\ ‼️ = Upset \\ 🤯 = Epic

Featured Matches

— Nadal d Millman: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 💥

Short Highlights 🎥

TL;DW: Completely and utterly routine for Nadal. This is a horrible matchup for Millman, who doesn’t hit big enough off either wing, or serve big enough, to disrupt Rafa’s preferred baseline patterns. The most interesting thing tonight was Nadal’s serving performance. Rafa has reverted to his slightly tweaked service motion that we saw in Australia, Acapulco and Indian Wells (video breakdown of that motion change here). And it seems to be paying dividends in terms of serve speed and placement: 📊 Nadal Career Avg Serve Speed Compared To Tonight’s Match vs Millman: Career Avg 1st Serve Speed: 114mph

Career Avg 2nd Serve Speed: 93mph

Avg 1st Serve speed vs Millman: 117mph

Avg 2nd Serve speed vs Millman: 100mph After facing a break point in the opening game of the match, Nadal faced just two more break points overall (both in 2nd set). Both were saved with big, un-returnable 1st serves, and Rafa went on to look serene on serve throughout the rest of the match. Serving aside, Nadal was absolutely crushing both his forehand (down the line FH’s in good form) and backhand from the baseline, but, in truth, Millman is an almost perfect foil in this regard. Good signs for the world No.2, but expectedly untested.

What’s next for Nadal? Plays Kokkinakis on Thursday.

— Zverev d Albot: 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2

Short Highlights 🎥

TL;DW: Zverev was two sets to love up, and looking in complete control. So of course, the German extended a very generous offer to Albot to enter the match, and finally wound up grinding out an inexplicable, nonsensical 5-setter an hour or so later. What else could have possibly happened under the circumstances? 6-1, 6-3, 1*-2, 15-0 up, Zverev decided to hit a jumping, ‘flying eagle’ forehand (pure showboating) which ended up narrowly missing the Empire State Building. The German followed up that piece of rare shot-selection with a brace of double faults (the latter down break point), all but rolling out the red carpet for Albot to stroll gratefully back into the match. Into a 5th set and the contest continued to dazzle. Albot hit 3 double faults in his first service game of the set to surrender an immediate break. Not to be outdone however, Zverev, while trying to consolidate, immediately set about digging himself an unfathomably deep 0-40 hole. The German finally capped off this paragon of piffle by donating yet another double fault of his own, gifting Albot the break back. (Zverev eventually managed to reign in the errors and close out that match.)

What’s next for Zverev? Plays Tiafoe on Thursday.

— Rublev d Tsitsipas: 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 7-5 ‼️

Short Highlights 🎥

TL;DW: This match had just about everything. Cramping, crazy shotmaking to save break/set points, a point penalty, multiple time violations, strategic shifts, angsty screaming, and bizarre errors. The path that this brutal, 4-hour slugfest took was much too long and twisty for me to functionally summarise, but there were a bunch of interesting change-ups: Tsitsipas, similar to his loss vs Struff in Cincinnati, was in a stubborn strategic mood in set one. The Greek was trying to absolutely crush returns of serve, missing (read: shanking) multiple opportunities to put Rublev 2nd serves back in play on big points. In effect Tsitsipas was happy to get involved in the ball bashing war that Rublev so desires, and the Greek simply didn't come out on top in this dynamic in set 1. Rublev’s groundstrokes today were straight-up better than his opponents, with the Russian’s forehand on fire throughout. Tsitsipas did make some interesting adjustments as the match went on however. His net clearance in set 1, during his period of particularly low-margin, boom or bust tennis, was 25 inches on the forehand and 28 inches on the backhand. In set 2 he averaged 26 inches on the forehand and 33 on the backhand, giving himself more margin, not giving Rublev as much consistent pace to work with, and working an increasing number of slower, sharper angles to find Rublev’s backhand. The Greek also, starting to struggle physically in the 3rd set, shortened points by rushing the net. Net points by set. Set 1: 5/8, Set 2: 3/6, Set 3: 20/24. But crucially, Tsitsipas missed the most important volley of all, at 7-7 in the 3rd set tiebreaker, to lose the set (after holding a set point on serve). Losing that 3rd set proved fatal for Tsitsipas’ chances, with the Greek cramping badly throughout the 4th, and finally succumbing despite bravely saving copious break points with Hail Mary winners (and even breaking back with Rublev serving for the match at 5*-4). Rublev was awesome today, looking dominant from the baseline and showing superior conditioning and resolve.

What’s next for Rublev? Plays Simon on Thursday.

— Fabbiano d Thiem: 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 ‼️

Short Highlights 🎥

TL;DW: Thiem was simply not fit after his recent viral illness. Fabbiano was impressive, and much like his 1st Rd upset of Tsitsipas at Wimbledon a few months ago, the Italian managed the match and upset superbly. Thiem completely off his game though.

What’s next for Fabbiano? Plays Bublik on Thursday.

— Shapovalov d Auger-Aliassime: 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 💥‼️

Short Highlights 🎥

TL;DW: Unbelievably good performance from Shapovalov, who was unplayable when he landed his 1st serve in, and was absolutely crushing returns at the feet of his slightly younger compatriot. Youzhny (Shapo’s recent coaching appointment) seems to have had a transformative effect on Shapovalov’s shot selection, with Shapo still looking to be aggressive early in the point, but not to the point where he misses wildly (as he has done for much of the last two years). FAA looked largely toothless tonight, landing just 9 winners to 28 unforced errors compared to a rampant Shapovalov’s 28 winners to 25 errors. And Auger-Aliassime’s recent yips with 2nd serves and double faults has clearly affected his serving performance, with his 2nd serve in particular looking underpowered and resultantly getting torn apart by Shapo (FAA winning just 7/26 2nd serve points).

What’s next for Shapovalov? Plays Laaksonen on Thursday.

Also:

Kukushkin d Bautista Agut: 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 ‼️

RBA just didn't look 100% physically, with the Spaniard uncharacteristically cramping by the end. Still a great win for Kukushkin.

Kyrgios d Johnson: 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-4

Near-flawless performance from Kyrgios, who, for once, managed to steer clear of a full umpire related meltdown (he did have a near-miss though). Nick has a cushy draw for his seeding, and unless he gets in his own way, should be the favourite to make the semi’s out of his section.

Kokkinakis’ 1st slam win since the French Open in 2015. Plays Nadal on Thursday.

Copil d Humbert : 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(11), 4-6, 6-1 🤯

Stebe d Krajinović: 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) ‼️

Full Results

SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— Rublev’s forehand was on fire early in the match. He could do no wrong with it. (Eurosport)

— Tsitsipas with an excellent high, wrong-footing, backhand. (Eurosport)

— Tsitsipas carefully guiding a backhand into the open court. (Eurosport)

— Rublev crushing another forehand. (Eurosport)

— By this point the cramp had set in and Tsitsipas was Hail Mary-ing winners. Takes this backhand on ridiculously early. Eurosport)

— Albot playing out of his mind once Zverev had let him back in the match. (Eurosport)

— Air Shapo. Never gets old. 🔥 (Eurosport)

— Another angle:

— Rafa with a precise lob vs Millman. (Eurosport)

— Millman finding a near-impossible angle on this pass. (Eurosport)

— Nadal’s forehand down the line was dialled in this evening. (Eurosport)

— One of the more casual single-handers you’ll see courtesy of Nick Kyrgios.

— 94mph forehand from Kyrgios. (Eurosport)

— Seriously impressive movement from Kyrgios. (Eurosport)

INTERVIEW/PRESSER BEST BITS🎤

Nadal (talking about Andy Murray playing Rafa's Challenger in Mallorca): “I text him (Andy) with the number of one of my best friends in Mallorca, and offered him the boat.”

“I’m just so happy to see him on a singles court, after all these years of suffering.”

Millman on what it’s like to face Nadal:

“It's relentless abuse. It's like a boxing match where you're getting hit again and again and again. There's no letup.”

Tsitsipas after losing to Rublev:

“First, second-round losses aren’t acceptable (for me) anymore... I was excited from when I saw that number 5 next to my name. I want to get back there. It felt great.”

"I feel like I'm doing the same thing all over again on the court and my brain can't take it anymore. I don't feel inspired, I don't feel like I'm chasing something",

“I wish all the umpires were like Mohamed Lahyani.”

“I wish him (Rublev) the best because he deserves to go far and deep in the tournament.”

Tsitsipas Full Presser 🎥

Rublev after beating Tsitsipas:

“I was also cramping (vs Tsitsipas) but I tried not to show it.”

Thiem after losing to Fabbiano:

“I'm far away from 100%. Like this, it's very tough to win.”

Fabbiano on his next opponent (Bublik):

“He can make winner from anywhere and mistake from anywhere.”

(One of the better pseudo-compliments you’ll hear)

Pospisil: “What affects one side affects the other. It just makes sense to collaborate and communicate, especially at the Grand Slams. ‘Obviously the ATP and WTA Tour are separate. They have their separate tournaments, their separate tours. There are some combined events. ‘If you talk about the Grand Slams, it’s one tournament with women and men. I just feel like it’s counterproductive to not communicate with them, to be honest, yeah.

Pospisil has gathered signatures from around 100 players to petition the Slams to start negotiations around a bigger share of prize money from overall revenue. Although some players are sceptical of top player commitment to the cause:

"(Dan) Evans challenged Djokovic – the world No 1 and president of the player council – by asking him whether he was planning to stand down from grand-slam events in the case that they refused to follow the players’ requests."

Full story.

ORDER OF PLAY FOR WEDNESDAY 📅

ARTHUR ASHE

— Approx 1:30pm (ET), 6:30pm UK —

🇨🇭 Federer vs Dzumhur 🇧🇦 (H2H: 2-0) (1st HC Meeting)

Prediction: Federer in 3

— NB 7pm ET, 12am UK —

🇷🇸 Djokovic vs Londero 🇦🇷 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Djokovic in 3

LOUIS ARMSTRONG

— 11am (ET), 4pm UK —

🇯🇵 Nishikori vs Klahn 🇺🇸 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Nishikori in 3

— NB 8:30pm ET, 1:30am UK —

🇭🇷 Coric vs Dimitrov 🇧🇬 (1st Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Dimitrov in 5

GRANDSTAND

— 12:30pm (ET), 5:30pm UK —

🇷🇺 Medvedev vs Dellien 🇧🇴 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Medvedev in 4

🇨🇭 Wawrinka vs Chardy 🇫🇷 (H2H: 5-0) (Hard H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Wawrinka in 4

BEST OF OTHER COURTS

— 11am (ET), 4pm UK —

🇨🇱 Garin vs De Minaur 🇦🇺 🔥

Court 5 - 1st Match

🇫🇷 Pouille vs Evans 🇬🇧 🔥

Court 13 - 2nd Match

🇧🇪 Goffin vs Barrere 🇫🇷

Court 13 - 4th Match

Full Schedule

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

— A slam semi-finalist will come from this section. And their name won’t be Thiem, Tsitsipas, Bautista Agut or Auger-Aliassime…

Info on US Open court speed:

— Ashe and Armstrong do look faster this year.

(Matt: when courts are newly repainted they are usually grittier and create more friction with the ball (thus slowing conditions). Hence, older courts in this context would play faster as the surface becomes slicker, and less friction-friendly, due to wear).

— A.Murray d Gombos: 6-3, 6-4, at the Rafa Nadal Challenger.

NEW BALLS PLEASE 👀

The Tsitsipas Rublev Circus 🎪:

This match featured an abundance of anxiety and angst. A few highlights:

— Tsitsipas gets a coaching warning. Says box is just cheering him on.

— Rublev saying that the Tsitsipas box are distracting him while he's serving.

— Both players given time violations after some brutal, long points.

— Stefanos wasn’t happy, nailing a good impression of a wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man.

— Tsitsipas starts cramping:

— Broken in the 4th set after he can barely walk, Tsitsipas argues with umpire Dumusois:

Tsitsipas to umpire (who is telling him to hurry up at change of ends): "You have something against me… I have to CHAAAAANGE… IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE FRENCH, YOU’RE ALL WEIRDOS... GIVE ME WARNING, GIVE ME WARNING, I DON"T CARE."

Umpire: “Time violation, point penalty Tsitsipas.”

Video 🎥

(Side note: most of Tsitsipas’ team are French)

Damien Dumusois, the alleged ‘weirdo’, then broke his microphone and was having to scream commands, and the score, at the top of his lungs.

All in all, a bizarre, but very entertaining, match.

—

(Matt: The above pales in comparison to certain other players treatment of umpires in recent memory, but it really does feel like umpires can’t win at the moment. Either they start going by the book on every violation & we get a bunch of defaults/game-penalties while players learn. Or a more gradual grade of warnings/violations are introduced so that situations aren’t escalated so quickly.)

— Not convinced this fan has ever actually seen a tennis match before. Never seen someone so impressed.

Things were going well, so of course Kyrgios started an argument with the umpire for "looking at him".

Steve Johnson: “You wanna play f*cking tennis or a shitshow?”

— Tennis thumbnails running pretty strong this US Open so far. Pretty Ruud tbh.

— Adidas’ solution to #shoelacegate

— Zverev (to opponent) when he's two sets to love up:

— Albot: *hits three double faults in one game to get broken at start of 5th set*

— Zverev:

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GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

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See you tomorrow for US Open Day 3!