Early Round MAILBAG (Upsets: Jodar, Fils & Influencers) | US Open 2026

**Gill Gross** (0:01)
Hey, everyone, Gill Gross here, and it is time for another Mailbag, where I answer your questions, hot takes, observations, or ultimately your comments about tennis or anything else. It is the 2026 US Open Early Round Mailbag. Round two has come to an end late last night, technically early this morning, with the five setter between Zverev and Alis.
I pulled about 11 comments for this Mailbag, but things happened quickly. A lot of results went down even yesterday that people would not have had time to comment about. So I do want to run through some results at the top, especially because, as expected, this has been an upset, riddled US Open. Just yesterday, just Thursday, we saw Hatchinov over Felix Auger-Aliassime, Dane Sweeney over Lorenzo Musetti. Two very physically-impacted matches. Felix was feeling dizzy. He was seeing spots. He didn't have much to give. And Musetti, for whatever reason, I don't know why, was conquered by the heat. It was a little bit shocking. You know, I've been in New York since the Sunday before Qualifying Week or Fan Week. And it has been cool. We have been spoiled with the weather. And then suddenly yesterday, it felt pretty oppressive with the heat and the humidity. It was mid-80s, but the humidity was really high. So Musetti collapsed, and Dane Sweeney took full advantage. You know that he's not going to be affected by the heat. He's from Australia and is a physical animal, by the way. And I'm very happy for him. First major round three. So those two results were what they were. Felix refused to talk about tennis in the post-match press conference. People were asking him tennis questions. And he was like, Why are you asking me about tennis? This was I was dizzy and couldn't move and felt horrible. So it's not about tennis. Understandable. We also saw Botec von de Zandschult beat Alex de Minaur, incredibly the second top ten win in as many weeks for Botec after beating Daniel Medvedev in Winston-Salem last week. But at this point, given what I've seen from de Minaur in the last several months, I'm not really surprised when he loses, especially to someone with the talent of Botec. Just not a big shocker there. Zverev barely escaped. He's played two five setters.
And I don't think he's been super hard done by the draw. Although Sanigo can be pretty tough to play against, especially for spurts.
Last night, he played Kontan Alis. And he just hasn't looked good. But he has moved through. Two late finishes. What kind of toll will that take on Zverev moving through? There's certainly draw opportunity for Sasha. There are once again no top 20 seeds remaining in his quarter. There's another result that I want to mention because it wasn't asked about. Mickelson over Nakashima. Now, this is one that I don't think deserves to be put in with the major upsets that we've seen in this tournament, even though I had seen it framed as such.
If Mickelson beat Nakashima two months ago, nobody would have thought anything of it.
These guys have been on tour for a long time. Nakashima longer than Mickelson. Nakashima is 25 Mickelson is 22 But I have always viewed these two players on the same plane, in the same tier, very close in level. Always, last three years, I've seen them as similar players. I am not suddenly going to be shocked that Mickelson beat Nakashima just because Brandon had a spectacular summer. It's unbelievable what Brandon Nakashima did. And I'm not doubting that he hasn't taken a step up in his game, that he hasn't improved, and that he's not going to be a better player moving forward than the player he has been. I think that very well could happen. But a view on a player should not change so drastically because of three tournaments, which would have been Washington, Canada and Cincinnati. The view on a player should not change so drastically that suddenly we are framing Mickelson over Nakashima as a huge upset. Mickelson over Nakashima?
Has never been a huge upset, and it wasn't two days ago either. I did get some questions about the influencer takeover at the US. Open. I'll also address that before getting into your specific comments.
First off, influencing is not for live audiences. Influencers are often a nuisance to the people around them. And I have been that guy, given what I do, talking into my phone and filming myself. I like to think that I've been relatively courteous, but sometimes it is unavoidable that you are not necessarily helping the people around you enjoy their time. Like, that's just part of it. Now, usually there is not such a gathering of influencers all in one place where it becomes a large-scale problem, but maybe we've gotten to that point at the US. Open.