In a match that had three sets written all over it coming in, Naomi Osaka beat Hailey Baptiste in straights – 6-3, 6-1. The American made a nervy start and was unable to force her way into the match as a result of Osaka’s level which was ultimately too good. We asked about her tactics.

Gabriel Diallo lost out in three close sets to Jaume Munar. The Canadian 31st seed was unable to take control like he has done in previous meetings against the Spaniard.

Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Roman Safiullin 6-1, 7-6, 7-6. FAA seems to be finding his confidence in New York. His next opponent is third seed Alexander Zverev. The head-to-head is one-sided in Zverev’s favour, but the Canadian has beaten the German in their only meeting at a Grand Slam.

Our last match of the day was Coco Gauff versus Donna Vekic on Arthur Ashe. Many expected a three-setter but the American third seed got things done in straights. She was emotional both during the match and during the on-court interview, but was incredible in her post-match presser.

To finish, we talk doubles where Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez got their campaign off to a winning start, as did top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova. Meanwhile…

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Ahead of Hailey Baptiste vs. Naomi Osaka, the match of the day at the US Open, we sat down with Coach Franklin Tiafoe.

He shares his story, how he got into coaching, his work with Eric Hechtman, what it’s like being a young Black coach, what makes Hailey such a great player, and more.

Make sure to tune in for the match today, second on Louis Armstrong!

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Only one place to start, Court 11 that was packed for Taylor Townsend’s upset-victory over (25)Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian took the L badly and resorted to some pretty derogatory insults, accusing Townsend of having “no class” and “no education”. Townsend handled the situation superbly, both on court and in press afterwards.

To think all that happened on HBCU Live Day, that was brilliantly acknowledged with a great discussion in the morning on the legacy of Althea Gibson. Leslie Allen, Sloane Stephens, Kamau Murray and Boris Kodjoe were on the panel that was excellently moderated by Monica McNutt.

Frances Tiafoe saw off big-serving qualifier Martin Damm in four sets. Big Foe had to stay patient, but took care of business on his side, served great and played smart against the lefty who he spoke highly of in press.

Jasmine Paolini, playing her second night match in a row in New York, convincingly beat Iva Jovic in straight sets. The Italian seventh seed confirmed the dress was a night-session fit and spoke about her next opponent Marketa Vondrousova.

Ben Shelton beat Pablo Carreno Busta in straights. The American looked very comfortable on Louis Armstrong and managed the match well which is something we put to him in his post-match presser.

Listen out for interview snippets from Townsend, Mirra Andreeva, Tiafoe, Paolini and Shelton.

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Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard fell to 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti in four sets. GMP entered the US Open following a run to the semi-finals in Winston-Salem so the game is in a good place.

Felix Auger-Aliassime saw off lucky loser Billy Harris in straight sets but the match had plenty of momentum swings. The 25th seed spoke about the tricky conditions and the role of the crowd.

FAA will play Roman Safiullin next after the Russian beat fan favourite Gael Monfils in five epic sets on a packed Court 5.

The night session was all about fashions and heart. Naomi Osaka, wearing an all red night fit, saw off Greet Minnen in straight sets, while Coco Gauff, who was also donning red, eventually got past Ajla Tomljanovic in a topsy turvy three-setter.

Listen out for post-match press snippets from Auger-Aliassime and Baptiste. 

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In the biggest upset of the tournament so far, sixth seed Madison Keys lost to Mexican Renata Zarazua in three sets. Regardless of this result, however, 2025 will go down as a career-season for the 30-year-old American.




Taylor Townsend beat Antonia Ruzic in straight sets on a busy Court 11, in a display packed  variety and court craft. Townsend will face fellow doubles specialist Jelena Ostapenko in round two.




Clervie Ngounoue showed incredible heart to recover from a bagel first set before falling in three to 29th seed Anna Kalinskaya. The 19-year-old American has an exciting future ahead.




Frances Tiafoe did his thing against Yoshihito Nishioka on Arthur Ashe, beating the Japanese in straight sets. Big Foe threw down 19 aces and ended the match in style with two unreturnables in a row.




Venus Williams, “the inventor of tennis”, gave the Arthur Ashe crowd a show in a thrilling three-set defeat to 11th seed Karolina Muchova. Lucy was in awe.




In a late one on Court 12, Gabriel Diallo handled business against Damir Dzumhur in four sets. The Canadian 31st seed managed the match superbly after a lapse in concentration cost him in the second set.




Finally, Alycia Parks was ruthlessly dispatched by fifth seed Mirra Andreeva in a match the American struggled to get in to.

 

Listen out for post-match press snippets from Keys, Townsend and Tiafoe.




Credits: US Open Tennis Championships.

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Lucy and Eugene recap Day 1 at the US Open, which fell on a Sunday for the first time.

Ben Shelton opened proceedings on Arthur Ashe, seeing off Peruvian qualifier Ignacio Buse in straight sets – 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. The American sixth seed was untroubled and looked locked in from the first ball and handled business the way a top-10 seed should in the opening round of a Grand Slam.

Afterwards, in a nod to the celebrations taking place to celebrate trailblazer Althea Gibson at this year’s US Open, Shelton was asked whether his father and coach, Bryan Shelton ever spoke about any racial issues he faced growing up as an aspiring professional. 

Buse spoke about how difficult it was to get a read on the American’s serve that was not only coming in with pace, but also different variations.

In our second and final match of the day, Jasmine Paolini took care of business against Australian qualifier Destanee Aiava, winning 6-2, 7-6(4) on Louis Armstrong. The seventh-seeded Italian, steamrolled the first set, before going down an early break in the second. But in typical Paolini fashion, the Italian No 1 broke back immediately, firming up her game before closing out the match in the tiebreak.

Afterwards, Aiava shared her surprise at the weight of the Italian’s groundstrokes. We asked Paolini about her thoughts on the Sunday start.

To close, we talk about Serena Williams introducing Maria Sharapova for the Russian’s Tennis Hall of Fame induction and run through the matchups we are looking forward to on Day 2.

Listen and watch out for post-match press snippets from Shelton, Buse, Aiava and Paolini.

Credits: US Open Tennis Championships

Lucy and Eugene, from the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, bring you the 2025 US Open draw show.

The likes of (3)Coco Gauff, (6)Madison Keys and (7)Jasmine Paolini are among the top 10 seeds in the women’s draw. While 18-year-old US Open debutant Victoria Mboko is seeded 22nd in just her third ever Grand Slam. Two-time champ Naomi Osaka, who looked back to her best in Montreal, is the 23rd seed.

Gauff starts against Ajla Tomljanovic, Keys faces Renata Zarazua, Paolini takes on Destanee Aiava, Mboko faces two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova and Osaka starts against Greet Minnen.

Venus Williams, still going strong at 45, has been awarded a wildcard as has 19-year-old Clervie Ngounoue and both have drawn seeds in the first round. Venus has (11)Karolina Muchova, while Ngounoue has (29)Anna Kalinskaya.

Doubles world No 1 Taylor Townsend has drawn Antonia Ruzic, Hailey Baptiste will face doubles world No 2 Katerina Siniakova and Alycia Parks, who went deep in Monterrey, has an exciting first-round match against (5)Mirra Andreeva to look forward to.

On the men’s side, (6)Ben Shelton, (17)Frances Tiafoe, (25)Felix Auger-Aliassime and (31)Gabriel Diallo are among the 32 seeds. Shelton faces Peruvian qualifier Ignacio Buse, Tiafoe takes on Yoshihito Nishioka, Auger-Aliassime starts against British qualifier Billy Harris and Diallo plays Damir Dzumhur.

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who was in the middle of his semi-final in Winston-Salem at the time of recording, has (10)Lorenzo Musetti in round one, while Gael Monfils faces Russian Roman Safiullin – La Monf and FAA could play each other in the second round.

Listen and watch out for pre-tournament press snippets from Gauff, Paolini, Shelton and Tiafoe.

In another celebratory pod, Lucy and Eugene bask in the glory that went down at the Canadian Open where there was success on both the singles and doubles courts.

Victoria Mboko, the 18-year-old Canadian wildcard, completed a fairytale run at her home WTA 1000 going all the way to the final in Montreal and winning the title. The new world No 24 took out Sofia Kenin, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina before beating four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the final.

Osaka also played some good ball during her run to the final. The former world No 1, who returns to the top 30, saw off numerous seeds en route to the championship match that was somewhat overshadowed by events post-match. We share our thoughts.

Staying in Montreal, Coco Gauff and McCartney Kessler won the doubles title. The American duo, who were linking up for the first time, beat Washington Open champions Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang in a thrilling final.

Over in The Six (Toronto), Ben Shelton, the new world No 6, handled business. Shelton, a Masters 1000 champion for the first time, came back from a set down to beat 11th seed Karen Khachanov in the final. The 22-year-old American took out world No 4 Taylor Fritz and world No 8 Alex de Minaur en route.

To close, we talk Cincinnati Open which began on Canadian Open finals day. “We love this game!

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Intro 00:00

Victoria Mboko 02:46

Mboko vs Gauff 05:55

Mboko vs Osaka 15:41

Osaka post-match 26:58

Gauff winning doubles 35:51

Shelton's run 39:20

Khachanov's speech 51:30

Cincinnati Open update 56:38

Lucy and Eugene are back after a little rest post-Wimbledon.

Before recapping the brilliant Washington Open, we share our thoughts on Naomi Osaka parting ways with Patrick Mouratoglou. Osaka will be working with Iga Swiatek’s former coach Tomasz Wiktorowski for a trial period starting in Montreal.

Venus Williams was the story at the Citi Open. The 45-year-old brought the crowd and excitement to DC and made more history in the process.

Taylor Townsend is the new doubles world No 1 following another title in Washington. Townsend is the first mother to be crowned world No 1!

Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe met in the quarter-finals and the match delivered.

Action now turns to Canada where Coco Gauff, Madison Keys and Jasmine Paolini are among the top seeds in Montreal. In Toronto, Arthur Fils makes his long-awaited return. The Frenchman is joined by fellow seeds Shelton, Tiafoe, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriel Diallo among others.

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Intro 00:00

Tennis news 02:58

Osaka & Patrick split 06:02

Tennis coaches debate 11:50

Venus Williams's return 21:41

Celebrating Townsend 27:03

Other Citi Open highlights 28:58

NB Open so far 36:16

Shout out to Iga Swiatek, double-bagelling Amanda Anisimova in the ladies’ final in 57mins. The Pole is now 6-0 in Grand Slam finals which is quite bossy. Also, shout out to the  men’s champion Jannik Sinner who came back from a set down to see off defending champ Carlos Alcaraz in four – these two are playing a different sport.

Lucy was spot on with her men’s take (she knows ball), while Eugene had Anisimova as his second pick.

From a BSG perspective, Ben Shelton reaching the quarter-finals, where he lost to the eventual champ was very good going – went one round better than last year. The American is up to a career high world No 9 in the rankings. 

Hailey Baptiste making a run to the third round on her singles main-draw debut was also a standout. Her second-round match against lucky loser Victoria Mboko was a nice moment.

Naomi Osaka looked good on the grass and had opportunities against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in round three. Glad to see the four-time major winner already hitting on the grounds at Flushing Meadows.

Gabriel Diallo gave a good account of himself on his debut, very nearly taking out eventual semi-finalist Taylor Fritz in five sets in the second round.

Big shout out to 2024 ladies’ doubles champions Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova who bowed out in the semi-finals this year. Congrats to Siniakova for securing the mixed doubles crown though with Sem Verbeek.

We absolutely loved celebrating the 50th anniversary of Arthur Ashe winning Wimbledon with the oral histories before each episode during week 1! The Wimbledon Watchalong at PlayBox, BoxPark was such a blast and year 3 at the Championships overall was a great experience. We feel blessed and privileged to be part of the growing community of podcasters in this space – shouts out to Tennis Weekly, Quality Shot and Tennis Unfiltered.

Happening this week, Mikael Ymer returns to ATP Tour action for the first time since 2023 – playing Bastad with his brother Elias. Noma Noha Akugue is playing Hamburg where she was runner-up in 2023.

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