In this episode of The Tennis Bakery, we’re talking women’s final, unexpected emotions, luke-warm champions — and who we want lifting the men’s trophy tonight.

• Rybakina is the US Open champion: Elena beats Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, playing the better tennis when it mattered — and then lifts her beautifully engraved Tiffany trophy with approximately the amount of drama you’d expect from Rybakina: almost none.
• The Sabalenka moment that got us: We’ve seen so much emotion from Aryna — joy, rage, frustration, celebration — but seeing her genuinely sad after the loss felt different. The tears got to Kati.
• But can we talk about the outfits? How does Rybakina have so much fashion sense off court… and somehow so little of it on court? We investigate.
• If we sponsored the US Open: Forget the logo placement — what perks would we actually negotiate into the deal? We build our dream sponsor package.
• And now for the men: Zverev vs. Shelton for the US Open title. Who do we think will win — and, possibly the more revealing question, who do we actually want to win?

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Semifinal day at the US Open, and we came in with low expectations for the first match. Wrong. Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov went to two tiebreaks, and Karen played far better than either of us had him down for. Sascha is through to the final.

September 11 in New York, and the tournament marked it. The date was written on the court and across the walls of the grounds. We talk about that, and about the memorial held downtown the same day.

Then celebrity row, where our favourite duo showed up: Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.

The night session was the one that (not only) all of America waited for. Ben Shelton against Frances Tiafoe, two Black American men facing each other in a US Open semifinal, on the biggest stage American tennis has. It was tense, it was loud, and it delivered. Ben also picked up a small quarrel with the female chair umpire, so he's on our watchlist for that now.

From there we get into:

• Racquet tricks: entertaining, or are we over it?
• Ben and his dad Bryan, Sascha and his dad, and what happens when your coach is also the person who raised you
• Our favourite coaches on tour right now
• A preview of the women's final: Sabalenka vs. Rybakina, and which one of them we want to win

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In this episode of The Tennis Bakery, we’re talking about one of our favourite days of any Grand Slam: women’s semifinal night.

• Sabalenka delivers a big-girl performance: Aryna gets past Jessica Pegula when it matters most — and increasingly the question feels like: can anyone actually stop her?
• Well… maybe Rybakina can: Elena turns her semifinal against local and global heroine Coco Gauff, on what felt like the most star-studded — and nerve-racking — night session of the tournament.
• Coco’s snack box, investigated: Because obviously we weren’t just watching the tennis. We take apart exactly what Coco was eating courtside and what we make of her fueling strategy.
• Inside Aryna’s focus tactics: The little routines and tricks Sabalenka uses to stay locked in when the pressure is at its highest.
• And now: the men: We look ahead to today’s semifinals, make our calls and decide who we think is heading into the US Open final.

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Female Tennis Forever

We loved the women's quarterfinals. One of our favorites was Elena Rybakina vs. Qinwen Zheng. Rybakina won, but we missed the joy. Why doesn't she celebrate the moments that deserve it? We also take a critical look at her relationship with her coach, who keeps coming under heavy criticism.

Aryna Sabalenka beat Linda Noskova, and we're so proud of how well she kept her emotions under control.

Coco Gauff came back to beat Mirra Andreeva, and her outfit was a total win too.

And we vent about the condescending, discriminatory way men still talk about women.

Men's side: Kristine is dead inside

Carlos Alcaraz is out. Ben Shelton beat him in the match of the day, a thriller that didn't end until 3:33 a.m. Kristine now needs a therapy session.

Overall, the men delivered. Frances Tiafoe vs. Alex Michelsen was another great match, and it ended in male tears. The world needs more of those.

In this episode of The Tennis Bakery, we’re recapping a brilliant Day 9 at the US Open — elite women’s tennis, tears everywhere, questionable fueling choices and one very miraculous ankle. Kati has an evil cold: But the pod still happened. Priorities.

• Coco vs. Iva Jovic was seriously good: Two sets of incredibly high-quality tennis — and Kati is officially becoming a big Jovic fan. The energy, the constant pushing, the belief, the rituals: there’s a lot to love.
• Melons, grapes… and piles of gels: Coco fuels courtside like she’s at a summer picnic, while Luciano Darderi appears to prefer industrial quantities of carbohydrate gels. Naturally, we have thoughts.
• So. Many. Tears: Including a wild Iga match where she somehow let a 5–0 lead in the first set disappear before running into the force that is Zheng Qinwen.
• Who exactly are these men? Alexander Blockx, Karen Khachanov, Botic van de Zandschulp, Alex Michelsen — suddenly there are some very unexpected names deep in a Grand Slam draw, and we’re mildly bewildered.
• Meanwhile, the women’s draw is pure order: All of the top six seeds have made it into the final eight. No chaos here.
• Naomi is out: We’re genuinely sad — not least because we’ll miss the glorious outfits, but also because her fearless shotmaking made this tournament much more fun.
• Rybakina’s miracle ankle: How do you go from barely being able to walk to casually breezing into a US Open quarterfinal? We need answers.
• Wimbledon is “banning influencers” — apparently: We unpack the announcement, the headlines around it, and why Kati thinks this is mostly a hype train pretending to be news.

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In this episode of The Tennis Bakery, we’re attempting the impossible: catching up on three days of US Open madness in one go.

On the men’s side:

• Carlos is cruising: Alcaraz is breezing into the quarterfinals — but is it almost getting too easy? Also: the vest has arrived, presumably to avoid another nipple-gate situation, while we do our absolute best not to insult Travis Scott, who designed it.
• Did Zverev’s draw just completely open up? Cerúndolo took out Fritz, suddenly making Zverev’s path to the final look a whole lot friendlier. And yes, we noticed the family pattern: Cerúndolo’s brother helped him out at the French by taking out Sinner.
• Did Kati somehow discover Taylor Fritz through Morgan Riddle’s Instagram Stories? And more importantly: how is that even possible for someone who watches this much tennis?
• Cobolli, once again, chooses chaos: Drinking Coke on court, then having a full emotional meltdown while losing to Alexander Blockx — whose hair, annoyingly, remained absolutely perfect throughout.

On the women’s side:

• Taylor Townsend is still a queen: She may have lost to Sabalenka, but the energy remains immaculate — while Sabalenka herself suddenly looks like she’s finding serious form.
• Why is Mirra Andreeva still being put on small courts? One of the biggest young stars in tennis, yet somehow still not always getting the stage we think she deserves.
• And where was the love for Iva Jovic? She played an amazing match against Alex Eala — at her home Slam — and yet the crowd support felt surprisingly muted. We need to talk about it.

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Friendship status: under review. Kristine casually dropped the result of the Zverev match - the exact match Kati had saved to watch later that day. Officially the worst friend in the world, and we spend a solid minute establishing that.

After the apology tour, we get to the tennis. The women are going full throttle again, with Gauff putting in the kind of performance that makes you sit up. And over on the men's side we get the next upset of this tournament: No. 3 seed Auger-Aliassime is out but Taylor Fritz was CRUISING and he opened a bakery.

Then the bigger conversation. Every player brings a completely different personality onto the court - the loud ones, the ice-cold ones, the ones who look like they're about to combust. We talk about how those personalities show up in their game, and whether a player can actually turn their temperament into a weapon instead of letting it work against them.

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Today's episode is all about the two upsets of the day: Carlos did not wear the purple Nike kit (WTF!), and Jodar lost - and lost BIG. Beyond that, Taylor Townsend was absolutely GLOWING, Carlos Alcaraz greeted Kati personally, and his iconic celebration is still living rent free in our heads, we love it. The top women were ruthless today and barely broke a sweat getting through their matches (Svitolina, Paolini, Pegula, Sabalenka), Tsitsipas won AGAIN, and Navone, the man who took out Djokovic, knocked out Berrettini. We will never forgive him for that, same as we never forgave the Djokovic thing.

We’re recapping Day 3 of the US Open — with great tennis, questionable accessories and some very important investigative journalism.

• Zverev as the No. 1 seed for the first time: A five-set fight against Sonego, Zverev playing genuinely well — and Sonego deciding to become the lights-out version of himself. All the vibes. And Kati was almost annoyed.
• Cobolli = chaos: Where were the M&M’s? Why does he keep talking about toilets? And why is there always something going on with this man?
• The Case of Coco’s Missing Oura Ring: We noticed. Obviously. Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz had his prominently displayed during his very clinical win. The investigation continues.
• Wait — why can Eala have sponsor patches on her kit? A small detail that sent us down a surprisingly interesting tennis sponsorship rabbit hole.
• SportsEurope, we need to talk: The ads, the timing, the fails — and another chapter in the ongoing struggle of watching the US Open from Germany.

Today we obviously talked about the big one: Carlos Alcaraz is back on court.!! We got into the vibes in the stadium (which were nonexistent), his outfit, his hair, and of course - Nipplegate. We also covered the upset of the day, with Arthur Fils going out.

And we're bringing you all the fashion news: outfit reviews for Naomi Osaka, Aryna Sabalenka and Frances Tiafoe. Plus the hottest social media news - speaking of: Taylor Townsend and her outfit reveal.

As always, we run you through the must-watch matches: today for Day 3, and we settle the big question: is Jodar the new Djokovic, or not?