Welcome to Part II of our US Open wrap, this time focusing on the men’s draw. Djokovic wins #24 and the challengers (aside from Alcaraz) have gotten no closer to cracking him mentally or physically … they’ve perhaps gotten even farther away. We talk about the semis, including the straight boy shade fest over PhoneGate and Medvedev’s 12 out of 10 performance against Alcaraz. The other major story of the week is Simona Halep’s 4-year ban for doping, handed down by an independent tribunal. It doesn’t look good, folks. We finish up with the Williams-Ohanian tweets, some trophy size comparison, the WaPo match fixing story, and a few more odds and ends. 

 

0:30 ND24: sharing a throne with Margaret Court (and if you don’t like it you’ll be told to “cry more”)

6:00 Stubborn Medvedev against serve and volleying Djokovic

16:45 My country, my tax shelter + more semiotics!

30:30 Djokovic-Shelton: the phone thing and banking on Shelton’s overall appeal to the youths

45:30 Doubles: Ram/Salisbury threepeat, Bopanna runner-up at 43

51:45 The Spectrum-Disney stalemate blacks out US Open tennis for millions

55:20 Simona Halep’s 4-year ban: first, the news

62:15 The Halep fallout: Patrick, Serena, Genie

77:35 US Open trophies: if size doesn’t matter then why … nevermind

83:40 Reporting from the Washington Post on the largest match fixing ring in tennis history