BREAKING NEWS: Alcaraz Playing US Open, Slam Player Council Formed, & More

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Hey, everyone, surprise. Emergency quick served. When something starts off as like a normal Thursday, and then everything just starts going sideways. So the way it happened was we're on a text that JW is here, producer Mike, techie Sean.
The prize money situation for the US Open comes out. It's like, okay, that's worth talking about. Karen Moorhouse, the CEO of the ITIA, we get that email before it's announced. I think they've announced it already, right?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:55)
Are they going to announce it?

**Andy Roddick** (1:56)
It's live. It's live. Get that. So it's like, okay, that's enough to talk about. Going into the open, these are things that matter. The Grand Slam Player Council of things.
And I'll be damned if, on the drive on the way over, I don't get a call from Mike and Sean. It's like, or JW wrote, Carlos looks like he's in for the US Open.

**Jon Wertheim** (2:19)
Yeah. Just like a subtle announcement.

**Andy Roddick** (2:21)
I love.

**Jon Wertheim** (2:22)
He goes, he goes, boop.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:26)
Here we go.

**Jon Wertheim** (2:29)
He dropped this thing on Instagram, Fabrizio Romano. He has 49.7 million followers.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:36)
Yeah.

**Jon Wertheim** (2:37)
He's a soccer guy.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:38)
Carlos went through this guy.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:40)
Carlos posted it.

**Jon Wertheim** (2:41)
Yeah, here it is. Here we go. He posted that video. And here we go. I'm going to clip that one, Sean. Yeah.

**Andy Roddick** (2:48)
Are we allowed to use that over and over again?

**Jon Wertheim** (2:50)
Dude, I'm going to.

**Andy Roddick** (2:51)
Because there's a world where anytime I want anything, I'm just going to go clip it. Here we go. Let's just add that to the soundboard.

**Jon Wertheim** (2:57)
Top comment, US Open. Can't wait.

**Andy Roddick** (2:59)
No shit.

**Jon Wertheim** (3:00)
So you think the Gauntlet's thrown, and when Sinner officially commits he's going to go on McAfee? I think we have a new...
I think Carlos has now set a new standard.

**Jon Wertheim** (3:13)
He'll go on some F1 Instagram handle.

**Andy Roddick** (3:16)
Yes. Something in Monaco is the way I envision Sinner announcing it.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:20)
It's cooler than McAfee.

**Andy Roddick** (3:21)
No, it's not. This is great news. I mean, we were going to go with the slam prize money of things.
I know that the grounds passes and the criticism that the US Open is getting for the price of those. I have kind of an issue with that, so we're going to get to that. At some point, there's lots of stuff that I like about the prize money announcement and increases, and there's a couple little tiki-taka things that don't really sit well with me. All of these things we were going to go through, but Karen Moorhouse, CEO of ITIA, is leaving, apparently all on good terms. We'll digest that, but Carlos stole the lead. He's playing the US Open. That's what we're starting with, JW.

**Jon Wertheim** (4:01)
How do we feel about that? We're happy. That's a great sign. I'm a little bit nervous that after a serious injury like that, remember, he's been out since Barcelona in April, and the first tournament you're coming back is going to be best of five.
That's a lot of forehands and backhands. But I think it's good news. I think they slow played this. I think the tournament is breathing a sigh of relief. Presumably, that means he'll do some mixed doubles too. I assume that was not entirely clear yet. Timestamp, it's Thursday. But no, this is good. Someone had a funny point to me. They said, wouldn't it be a real pity if 46-year-old Vitas Williams played in more singles main draws in 2026 and Carlos Alcaraz, something would be profoundly wrong. That's not going to happen because Carlos looks like he's going to be there to defend his title. I'm a little nervous about jumping right back in under these conditions. He's not playing Winston-Salem, I don't think. So this will be his first tournament since Barcelona. But bottom line, this is a good day. Good day for Tennis.