US Open Day 2 – New York Becomes Sweltering Furnace; Djokovic Battles Through; Konta Beaten By Garcia
The Tennis Podcast
David Law
4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 29 August 2018
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On a day of extreme heat and humidity at the US Open, when merely breathing was a challenge, Simon Briggs of Telegraph Sport joins David to salute all the players that managed to actually play high-level tennis in such brutal conditions.
The decision of the tournament organisers to invoke the heat rule, including one for the men, is praised. But should play have been cancelled altogether?
Novak Djokovic was one of a number of players to be seriously affected by the weather, but he battled through in four sets. Djokovic certainly looked exhausted, but isn’t it a good sign that he’s no longer hiding his emotions on court?
Elsewhere, David and Simon pick up the pieces from Jo Konta’s straight-sets defeat to No. 6 seed Caroline Garcia. Does Konta need a plan B? Why has her serve become less effective? And how much longer will her coaching relationship with Michael Joyce last?
In the night session, Roger Federer cruised through against Yoshihito Nishioka and Maria Sharapova held off Patty Schnyder’s mini-fightback.
Finally, there’s a preview of Andy Murray’s second round match against Fernando Verdasco. Murray owns a 13-1 head-to-head record. But conditions are set to be even worse on Wednesday. Who will that favour?
There will daily editions of The Tennis Podcast throughout the US Open fortnight.
The Tennis Podcast is produced in association with the Telegraph and sponsored by Amazon Prime Video, the new home of the US Open in the UK.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm John McEnroe. I'm Bjorn Borg. |
| 0:02.2 | This is Martina Navratlova. I'm Matt Svillander. |
| 0:04.9 | I'm San Roenka. I'm Lighten Ewitt. I'm Andy Murray. |
| 0:07.6 | And you're listening to the tennis podcast. |
| 0:20.0 | Welcome to the furnace of the US Open. Simon Briggs of the Telegraph is alongside me, David |
| 0:25.8 | Law here on the tennis podcast brought you an association with our partners, the Telegraph |
| 0:30.0 | and Amazon Prime Video UK, the home of the US Open here in the UK, where Catherine Whittaker |
| 0:36.8 | isn't with us on the podcast tonight because she has been presenting under the lights for about |
| 0:42.0 | the last seven hours outside while Simon I've been in the air conditioned commentary box and |
| 0:48.2 | media center respectively. It's the better end of the deal for once, isn't it? Not to be outside. |
| 0:54.5 | It's beautifully blue skies and sunny and all that, but we're sitting outside now. |
| 0:58.8 | But even now 20 to 7 in the evening, it is like having a hairdryer blowing on you and the humidity |
| 1:06.8 | today has just caused so many problems for people. |
| 1:11.2 | Yeah, it's been pretty intense, but I've been at that inside. Now, I think I kind of, |
| 1:16.3 | I earned my spurs in Melbourne when I set out for the whole of the Baselashville Edmund match. |
| 1:23.0 | Catherine couldn't believe I was so stupid. But here, there's no opportunity. I mean, |
| 1:29.0 | I don't want to go into it because people are not interested in our daily routines, but |
| 1:34.0 | they're so many storylines going on and we're five hours behind. So, for me and my colleagues, |
| 1:40.8 | you go to a court and because your deadline is approaching on you, like an on-rushing train, |
| 1:46.6 | you're in danger of missing something dramatic happening on the court. It gets easier as a tournament |
| 1:51.5 | goes on because then you've only got two or three matches that are really newsworthy. |
| 1:57.7 | These early couple of days have been utterly intense. There's actually been no alternative for us, |
... |
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