US Open Day 11 - Tennis has a new World No.1

Catherine Whitaker (0:10)

Well, hello, and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, coming to you from New York on day 11 of the US. Opener Day. That has felt like one big hangover after the 3:30 a.m. finish from the night, or rather, the morning before. Thank you for all the well wishes that have been sent my way over the last 24 hours. They are much appreciated. I'm also very grateful to Matt and David for covering for me on what was an extraordinary night last night. I've been struggling with a bad cold and an even worse case of FOMO, but I am bouncing back.

Good to have you back. Bouncing back as much as the tennis schedule will allow. Matt, your post-Shelton Alcaraz stubble is causing quite the stir in our DMs.

Matt Roberts (1:01)

Is it really? Gosh, well, it wasn't something I was intending really, but it feels reflective of the tournament.

Catherine Whitaker (1:08)

Indeed. Arthur Ashe Stadium was dormant for less than eight hours before matches resumed this morning. So it's still got about twice as much sleep as David and Matt.

Matt Roberts (1:20)

It was sunrise when we went to bed. Such a bad moment.

Catherine Whitaker (1:25)

What are we all doing?

David Law (1:26)

Comical stuff.

Catherine Whitaker (1:27)

When play did resume, it did so with the two remaining women's quarterfinals, starting with Elena Rybakina and qualifier Zheng Qinwen, a match which saw Rybakina not only reach a first ever US Open semi-final, but also become or schedule herself to become on Monday, the brand new world number one. Talk us through the match, David.

David Law (1:53)

Yeah, this was a real kind of mind over matter achievement, I think, and an internal battle that she was fighting because she was tight. Understandably so, you kind of marked the card that you thought that might be a factor in this match. How nervous she might get trying to get over the line and seal this achievement, this enormous milestone in her career. And in the first set, total opposite of what we've seen from Zheng Qinwen in a couple of these sets recently, she started well. She was hitting the more cleanly of the two. She just looked the more decisive of the two. And she won that first set. And Rybakina was irritable. She was, she needed to vent, she said afterwards. And she went over to support team. It looked pretty kind of anxiety-inducing, the whole exchange between her and her coaching team. And she just said afterwards, I needed to vent.

And she said, I was getting reminded of what the tactics were from before the match.

Because she just looked like she couldn't really play freely at all. And it did the trick because she came back out in the second set and she was a completely different player. She rushed out into a 4-1 lead. And there was just a conviction about her shot making. I didn't think Zheng Qinwen played terribly in the second set, but she did leave the court at the end of the first set. And the commentators were wondering whether that might have been a mistake. Commentary team involving Mary Carrillo, who started the match at 11.30, having finished the night before match at 3.33am, which sounds crazy.

Catherine Whitaker (3:42)

She was on four straight Arthur Ashe stadium matches, all of which went the distance, 14 sets in total.

David Law (3:50)

So that happened.

Catherine Whitaker (3:51)

Pour one out for Mary.

David Law (3:53)

But yeah, Rybakina, I feel like this was a huge achievement for her because not only was she playing an excellent opponent who was playing some of the best tennis I've seen from her at this tournament that she's had this great run in, Rybakina got better as the finish line approached. And when you consider what was on the line, I think that that takes some doing.

So yeah, she really just took over the match. And I didn't really feel as though she was going to lose it when she got hold of it.

Matt Roberts (4:26)

Yeah, although Zheng was very close right at the end, wasn't she? She had a break point, well, to go 5-3 up. And Rybakina was kind of a sitting duck up at the net. And Zheng missed a pass there on break point. And Rybakina held, broke, served it out emphatically. It was tense for a moment there for Rybakina. But yeah, she looked much more like the player that she had been in the previous round in the second and third sets of this one. And yeah, it's a big moment, I think, for Rybakina to get to world number one and break this grip that Sabalenko and Świątek have had on that ranking since Ashbati retired. You know, it's been four and a half years with only two players getting it. And now Rybakina gets there, it kind of signals that we're in a bit of a different era now. And she's the second oldest player, I think, on the women's side to get to number one for the first time after Angelique Kerber. And it's funny, I still don't really think of Rybakina as a sort of veteran player, really, even though she has been around for quite a long time, it still feels like she's got a lot of her career ahead of her.