00:00Four Americans reached the singles semifinals at the U.S. Open, but the trophies went home with Alexander Zverev and
00:06Elena Rabacchina.
00:08Zverev denied Ben Shelton in the men's final, while Rabacchina topped Irina Sabalenka to leave New York with her first
00:13U.S. Open title and the world number one ranking.
00:17So, what separated the champions, and how close are the Americans to taking that next step in the sport of
00:24tennis?
00:24Joining me to break it all down is the host of Tune Into Tennis with Myles David. My guy, Myles
00:30David, joins me now. Myles, what's going on, my guy?
00:34Trying to process an interesting U.S. Open final weekend. Glad to be back to talk tennis with you, my
00:40guy.
00:40No, man, it's been good talking to you over these last couple of weeks, and yeah, I think a lot
00:44of American tennis fans in particular are definitely trying to process what happened here.
00:50So, let's start with the men's side, what we saw on Sunday. Alexander Zverev, he beats Ben Shelton in four
00:56sets to win the men's title.
00:59What separated the two players in this finals, and where does Zverev make Shelton most uncomfortable here?
01:06I think a lot of it had to do with maybe not so much the X's and O's in the
01:11tactics, but Zverev having been in that occasion before this year at the French Open Wimbledon,
01:17and obviously in years past, and although Ben is a hell of a competitor, I think we kind of saw
01:22the moment trying to just teeter in his head a little bit,
01:25especially in those first two sets. He did a great job to kind of ask the question of Alexander Zverev,
01:31can you keep holding serve?
01:32And ultimately, he got that third set off of Zverev, but the thing that really separates Zverev from Shelton
01:38is the ability to kind of do the ground strokes in, point in, point out, not that Ben is bad
01:44from the back of the court,
01:45but Zverev has him on the edge of just simply putting that extra ball in, and Shelton can cough up
01:51a few errors,
01:52and especially in that fourth set, it was too many errors off of his racket, and you see Zverev holding
01:57his first US Open trophy now because of it.
01:59We saw that. When we look at this for Shelton, Myles, what did this run to his first Grand Slam
02:06final?
02:06What did that reveal about how far his game has come, and what's the next adjustment that could help him
02:12finally win one of these?
02:15I think if you look at a picture or a video of Ben Shelton competing in the US Open semifinals
02:20in 2023
02:21and put it up against a video of him competing in this year's US Open 2026,
02:26I think it's very clear to see the evolution of a tennis player and a better tennis player.
02:32There are some rungs still on the ladder that he can go up on,
02:35but just to get to his first Grand Slam final and beat Carlos Alcares in the process in a very
02:41memorable fifth set,
02:42I feel like that is a step in the right direction.
02:46He'll probably be kind of sulking.
02:48He looked like he was trying to process the difficult frustration in the trophy presentation,
02:55but I do think if he takes a step away from that disappointment, it is net positive,
02:59especially when you can lead the New York crowd with a lot to remember
03:04and also lead the US Open with your best win of your career over Carlos Alcares.
03:09Yeah, no doubt he had that best win of his career over Alcares there.
03:12Let's look on the women's side because Elena Rabacana, she leaves here in New York City with her first US
03:17Open title,
03:18also number one ranking.
03:20What was the difference for her against Irina Sabalenka,
03:23and what would make you say or believe that she can stay on top of you right now?
03:28I think for Rabacana, she kind of just has to keep on doing what she's doing.
03:33I have no idea where the reports came from or stemmed from that post-Cincinnati and going into the US
03:40Open
03:40that she was having difficulty walking because although her last three rounds of the US Open quarter,
03:46semis, and finals all went three sets, she stood the test.
03:49So her body seems to be in pretty decent enough shape,
03:52and her willingness to go deep in matches seems to be right there as well.
03:56So she kind of has to just keep doing what she's doing because I kid you not,
04:00there were a bunch of moments in that final where she even took the racket out of Sabalenka's hands,
04:05and that's usually what Sabalenka does to her opponent.
04:08So if Rabacana can be doing that to one of her best rivals on Sunday at a Grand Slam final,
04:14then the rest of the women on tour are going to be kind of looking up at her
04:18to see if they can grab that world number one ranking
04:20and kind of just best player at their best on tour right now.
04:24Yeah, a lot of people.
04:25She put a lot of people on notice is what I might say here at this US Open.
04:29Let's go back to the semis on the women's side where we saw Coco Gauff.
04:33She won the opening set against Rabacana before losing in three.
04:37Where did that semifinal turn for Coco,
04:40and what should she take from that match about how to play Rabacana
04:43the next time she faces off against her?
04:47You know, one of the things I remember from Rabacana's post-match on-court chat
04:51was that she really had high praise for Coco,
04:54and yes, the fact that Coco was kind of giving her a couple of free unforced errors
04:58off the forehand and maybe not as potent off of her first serve and getting as many in.
05:03She did say, even if she misses it, Coco Gauff puts in a very heavy second serve.
05:08And I feel like that's pretty high praise from one of the best women's,
05:11if not the best women's server on tour right now.
05:13It's just that in tight moments, Coco Gauff's forehand was proven in that match
05:18to still be a little shaky.
05:19It wasn't so much as the serve, because the serve has held up for the past couple of months now,
05:24but that forehand and the ability, and maybe her inability, Coco Gauff,
05:28to kind of hit the same forehand the same way several different times in a row.
05:33Sometimes she can be very tentative and not really know which way she wants to hit the forehand.
05:38Does she want to loop it? Does she want to drive it?
05:40Does she want to kind of slice and dink it?
05:42She has those options, but trying to figure out which one gets her the best percentage
05:46of winning the point kind of got her flummox in that match against Robachna.
05:49And Robachna just played very well.
05:51Yes, she did that for sure.
05:53We'll see how Coco rebounds from that loss there in the semis.
05:56And Miles, you know, there's four Americans.
05:58We saw two men, two women reach the single semifinals,
06:01but nobody left with the trophy on the American side.
06:04When you look at the tournament as a whole,
06:06does this feel like progress for American tennis, or was it a missed opportunity here?
06:13It feels like progress in some ways, because if you look at the last three ATP finals,
06:18they've featured two Americans in Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton now.
06:22So I do think that's net positive, because we went before 2024 a whole decade and some change
06:27without an American man even reaching a final.
06:30So you do want to take away from that and saying, hey, we're headed in the right direction.
06:33It's just that unfortunately for men's tennis right now,
06:37it's either a trophy lift or nothing for a lot of different people.
06:40And we're still just a couple of meters away, I feel like,
06:45from being able to leave a Grand Slam with a trophy,
06:48because there's just so many men, in addition to Carlos Alcarez and Yannick Sinner,
06:53now Alexander Zverev, who now have the pedigree of knowing what it feels like to win a U.S. Open,
06:58win a Grand Slam, and the confidence on the court to do it.
07:01The American men are still trying to kind of match the belief with the expectation,
07:09if that makes any sense.
07:10There's a little bit of disconnect.
07:12There's still great talent on the men's field.
07:14I just kind of want to see them be able to be comfortable in the biggest moments
07:18and go for it, you know?
07:20Yeah, no, I do agree with that, right?
07:22I do want to see that belief match expectation.
07:24I haven't seen that happen yet for the American men.
07:27And American women definitely have some promise as well, too,
07:29with Coco Gauff, Jessica Pagula, who reached the semis as well.
07:32Let's close with this, Myles.
07:34Which American leaves New York with your expectations raised here the most?
07:38And what would you need to see in 2027 to say that this tournament was a building block
07:44for American tennis?
07:47Hmm.
07:48I mean, I think for Coco Gauff, it's a pretty leave-your-head-high kind of tournament.
07:54Yeah, you didn't win it, but that's her second Grand Slam semifinal in a row.
07:58And, yeah, this is her season where she didn't lift the Grand Slam trophy,
08:00but there were great building blocks to go towards a better 2027.
08:04For Jessica Pagula, you kind of say, you know, tip your hat at the performance
08:09that Sabalenka had against her.
08:10But in 2027, for a woman that's been so consistent at pretty much every rung
08:15of the WTA Tour except the slams, kind of a similar situation to her specific
08:19scenario as it is to the men.
08:21It's either put your hands on a Grand Slam trophy one day or kind of just be known
08:24as the almost player.
08:26And on the men's side, I do think it is building blocks for an even better 2027
08:32for Ben Shelton because the first three Grand Slams of his season were a little
08:36wishy-washy, especially if you look into consideration that he didn't have to face
08:40a Carlos Alcarez or Yannick Center and didn't even get deep in those tournaments.
08:44Here he did, and he beat Carlos Alcarez.
08:47It's debatable that Carlos Alcarez wasn't at his best.
08:49We all know that.
08:50But he still has a win that he can notch his belt on.
08:52So I think this puts him in a good position for 2027.
08:55And for the semifinal opponent, for Francis Tiafoe, losing that semifinal, his third
09:02opportunity to go for a final on a double fault was probably hard to swallow.
09:07But I still do think all things encompassed.
09:11These are good building blocks for 2027 if they try to match the belief with the performance,
09:15like I said earlier.
09:16It'll be interesting to see where American tennis goes from here.
09:20But an unbelievable two-plus weeks with the U.S. Open here in New York City.
09:25And it was a great time talking with my guy Miles David about it.
09:28Check out his show, Tuned Into Tennis' YouTube channel.
09:31I should say Tuned Into Tennis with Miles David is a fantastic one covering all tennis.
09:36Hardcourt season coming to a close.
09:38We're going to have a lot to talk about in 2027 around the tennis action.
09:42Miles, I appreciate it, man.
09:43We've got to do this again soon.
09:46We have to do it.
09:46Before you know it, we'll be down in Melbourne.
09:48So it's always a good time talking to you.
09:50Oh, I didn't know you said we'll be down.
09:53I didn't know we were going.
09:54We've got to make that trip, man.
09:55That's going to be good.
09:56We've got to make the trip.
09:56Hey, if we're not there physically, we'll be there in spirit.
09:58I always have my tennis takes.
10:00There we go.
10:01We'll do it again soon.
10:02Thank you, my friend.
10:03Appreciate it.
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