Bagel Bites: Clockwork Coco

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• Previously on the Bagel: Big Mama's House.
• I was in transit so I missed most of the action on Championship Weekend, but I couldn't be happier for Coco Gauff and Arthur Fils and, honestly, the entire slate of semifinals on both sides of the draw.
• Ever so quietly, Coco has made the semifinals or better at her last three tournaments, and they happen to be pretty big ones: Wimbledon, Toronto, and Cincinnati. To win her fourth WTA 1000 title and second in Cincy, she rolled through the draw with the loss of just one set. In the final against Jess, she was THAT version of Coco: suffocating defense, taking her swings on the short forehands, and holding serve with ease.

Big decisions pay off as Coco Gauff gears up for US Open with Cincinnati title

The American closed out one of the smoothest tournaments of her career, thoroughly outplaying Jessica Pegula in the final to win 6-2, 6-4

The GuardianTumaini Carayol

• Here's Tumaini Carayol from Cincinnati: "One year ago, Coco Gauff departed the Cincinnati Open with her career at a crossroads. On serve, she had capitulated, offering up countless double faults in most matches, and she had lost confidence in her progress and game. She believed she had to make drastic changes to her team before it was too late. It has taken an enormous amount of resilience, patience and toil, but this week Gauff began to feel the consequences of those efforts as she closed out one of the ­smoothest tournaments of her career with her best performance of the season, thoroughly outplaying the third seed ­Jessica Pegula to win 6-2, 6-4 and clinch the Cincinnati Open title for the second time."

• Does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes? At different points of the year, Iga was written off, Coco was forgotten, Aryna shed her demons once and for all, and yet....here we are. I'm genuinely intrigued by what's about to happen in New York. And I can't say I've felt this way about any Slam this year.

• ARTOOOOOOOOOOOOR. Let's take a moment to appreciate what Fils has done and how quickly he's done it? Dude looked like he was ready to become the best thing coming out France since Marion Cotillard only to straight up BREAK HIS BACK. Like...that happened LAST YEAR. He missed Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open! He finally started his season in February in Montpellier, and it took him just two tournaments TO MAKE A FINAL (Doha). Then came a quartefinal in Indian Wells. A semifinal in Miami. AND THEN HE WON BARCELONA. After a semifinal in Madrid a week later his year hit a speedbump with a hip injury. That ruled him out of Roland Garros. And that got the French commentariat commentating. And that seemed to get Fils going.
• To win his first ATP Masters, it turned out all Fils needed was a little spit, a little fire, and zero Rafael Jodar. The Spaniard ended his runs in Washington and Montreal.
• Arthur Fils US Open Champion sounds pretty good me. Why not! (The Guardian)

"This victory hopefully marks the end of a cruel period in Fils’s career and the ascension of a special talent capable of remaining at the top for many years. He has long been one of the best young players on the tour and until last year he was steadily rising. His momentum was broken by a series of injuries, starting with a stress fracture in his back that essentially sidelined him for nine months until this February. He then endured an injury to his hip and back area that forced him to miss the French Open. Fils has finished only one grand slam tournament without an injury, Wimbledon this year, since the 2024 US Open.

Between those injuries, however, Fils has been comfortably one of the best players in the world and this result is merely reflective of that. Despite his injury layoffs, he now sits at No 5 in the ATP race and at a career-high ranking of No 11. With Jannik Sinner absent and Carlos Alcaraz only just returning from his four-month wrist injury layoff, he heads into the US Open as part of the top group of contenders competing for their first grand slam title.

• I left Cincinnati and headed home on Saturday morning so I didn't catch the last couple of days at the tournament. But once again, I had a blast in Mason. People always think I'm a nutter for saying that Cincy is one of my favorite tournaments – and I've been saying that for years, even before the mass renovation – and it remains true. Even with the expansion, it still doesn't feel overrun or overcrowded. Sure, prices have gone up, but not at the rate I'm seeing at other US events. And I still think you get great player access and stadium viewing. So yes, I remain a homer for Cincy. The only tough part for me is the heat – specifically the humidity – but if you can withstand that, it's the best tournament, bang for buck, in North America. Fly in, find reasonable hotel/airbnb within 30 minute drive, rent a car, it's good value. Even better if you can coordinate with friends and make a trip of it.
• From the tournament press release:

The Cincinnati Open drew record crowds in 2026, eclipsing a total of more than 300,000 fans for the first time.

The total turnout for the 16-day event is one of four attendance records that were set this year:

Total attendance: 300,288 (previous 285,571 in 2025)
Single day attendance: 30,479 on Saturday, Aug. 15 (previous 27,308 on Wednesday in 2024)
Day Session attendance: 17,441 on Saturday, Aug. 15 (previous 14,452 on Wednesday in 2024)
Night Session attendance: 13,533 on Thursday, Aug. 13 (previous 12,572 on Friday in 2015)

“We are very excited to have welcomed over 300,000 fans for the first time,” said Tournament Director Bob Moran. “We were focused on elevating the fan experience in 2026, adding elements such as Community Weekend, Finals Weekend and the Kroger Indoor Fan Zone. The response to those initiatives was fantastic and we look forward to continuing to grow the experience for our fans, players and partners in 2027.”  

Cincinnati Open ticket buyers came from all 50 states and 62 countries in 2026, with 57 percent of the fans traveling from outside the Cincinnati area to attend the event. 

• With a summer that saw Iga Swiatek win Toronto, Coco Gauff win Cincinnati, Jessica Pegula make two finals, Aryna Sabalenka slump, and Elena Rybakina hold relatively firm, here's where the WTA's No.1 ranking stands for the US Open:
  • Either Aryna, Elena, Coco, or Jess will leave New York with the No.1 ranking. It would be a first for Elena, Coco and Jess.
  • In pole position is No.2 Elena: She is the only one of the four in control of her own destiny: she can take it outright by making the semifinals. She could do it even earlier if Aryna, Coco and Jess lose earlier. But she doesn't need any help. Make the semis, and No.1 is yours.
  • The only path for Aryna, Coco or Jess to win the title AND Elena has to lose before the semis.
  • BUT again, if Elena makes the semis, it doesn't matter what anyone does. So you could get an kinda awkward situation where the final is, for example, Aryna vs. Elena, but with Elena already sealing No.1.

• BUT to further add a variable: Elena did retire mid-match against Iga in Cincinnati due to what appears to be an Achilles injury and she pulled out the mixed doubles in New York. No sign of her on the practice schedule so far, but for all we know she's practicing off site or just taking some well-deserved days off. I wouldn't worry too much about it. For now.

• Jannik Sinner (knee) and Jack Draper (arm) are a no-go for the US Open. (BBC)
• Also a no-go: Joao Fonseca (abdominal). (Instagram)
• Also a no-go as of now: Stan Wawrinka and Serena Williams. Neither received a main-draw singles wildcard, though it would appear one of those two may not have even requested it (Serena, obvs) and one absolutely did (Stan, obvs).

• The last US Open wildcard went to 18yo No.224 Darwin Blanch (USA):

• So no singles comeback for Serena in New York. But she will play doubles with Venus and the mixed doubles this week with Carlos. And with that, many, many, many people are breathing a sigh of relief. The Serena Singles Circus would have been TEW MUCH.

• More mixed doubles "news": Iga is going to take a well-deserved week off, so Casper has repaired with Diana Shnaider – WHO KNEW YOU CAN DO THAT AFTER THE ENTRY LIST CUT OFF I CERTAINLY DIDN'T OH YEAH DUH CUZ THIS IS NOT A REAL EVENT WITH REAL RULES IT IS AN EXHIBITION IN CLOWN'S CLOTHING – and Pegula has repaired with Taylor Fritz after Draper and Rybakina dropped out.
• Mixed doubles qualifying is already underway and Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool have secured one qualifying spot. The main intrigue there is whether Doubles No1s Katerina Siniakova and Harry Patten can get out of there and then wreak havoc on the singles. Serena and Carlos will open against a qualifier so....

• Pablo Torre jumps on The Daily to break down how your earnest sports fandom is being weaponized against you by the disgusting private equity-brained parasites.

"Never before has the motive of the people involved in the decision making been more clear and unapologetic. And what you're really describing, as you see ticket prices go up, access of your favorite thing become more expensive, even as a consumer watching it on television, even now as you're being subjected to all these strange gambling ads, and even these palpable degradations of quality – why is the merch feeling cheaper, but more expensive when I get to the checkout aisle – all of it amounts to an alienation between the fan and the thing that they love the most. And we're seeing the beginnings of that. But this idea that fans will pay anything because that is how much they love this team, everything we're describing in this conversation is pressure-testing whether that's actually true or whether that itself is a mythology born of a romantic conception of what sports is."

• And so with that, while we're on the topic: On the heels of Simon Cambers' spotlight on the issue, the Athletic breaks down what the hell is happening at the US Open, where tennis fans are being priced out rapidly in favor of corporate box seats and suites.
• That's all fine and dandy – if you wanna gouge deep-pocketed corporate clients and provide them a Gilded Age experience, go for it – but what still blows my mind is why the USTA has taken ZERO ACTION to curb the scalper market. The fact that the USTA gets a commission on scalped tickets is CRAZY in and of itself. You cannot expect me to buy the "Oh darn, there's nothing we can do about scalpers" when you literally make money off them.
• Also...when did we stop calling these people scalpers? Enough with "secondary market" and "resale market". Call it what it is.
• Related: Scalpers hoovered up DUNE 3 advance tickets and the CEO of AMC said the company is doing what it can to cancel any and all scalped tickets. Like, how am I siding with THE CEO of AMC.

AMC movie ticket scalpers above face price: To protect all our guests, your scalping days are numbered. We are monitoring EBAY and other sites. We will do our best to cancel your tickets and close your Stubs account. It is a violation of our ticketing terms to scalp AMC tickets.

— Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) August 21, 2026

• One thing I've noticed about all the reporting about the explosion of tennis in general culture: I rarely see CHALLENGERS mentioned. You had one of the most popular global pop culture icons in a homoerotic movie where men's tennis is sex and the soundtrack was a banger. In my mind, that had WAY MORE impact on making tennis cool and popular again than a bunch of people going to the public courts to play tennis during lockdown. Like, it's not even close. CHALLENGERS walked so HEATED RIVALRY could run.

• LIV Golf died this weekend and as someone who had to live through that six-month period where dumb tennis people cited dumb LIV to justify a dumb separate tennis tour, I have truly enjoyed reading the obituaries.

The league that once thumped its chest and enticed players away from the PGA Tour with hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed money now had a plethora of problems and no more PIF cash to rely on. After announcing that the league had signed a term sheet with an investor at its New York event, O'Neil tried to portray confidence this week in Indianapolis.

Though a final agreement has not been reached and details about the nature of the investment remain unclear, it was notable then that, with the league's future hanging in the balance, O'Neil noticeably took on a posture of reflection and cooperation at the dais.

"[LIV] certainly was disruptive and at times divisive," O'Neil said. "Our goal isn't to replace or restrict any tour. Golf doesn't need one tour to win and everyone else to lose.

• Bianca Andreescu is still toiling away. And we're still rooting for her. And if there's one thing about Bibi Andreescu, she's gonna do things her way.(ESPN)

She began studying psychology through the WTA's partnership with Indiana University East, and found that she loves the "esoteric spiritual side of life." Today, there is perhaps nothing that gets Andreescu more excited than past life regression therapy.

"Oh my gosh, I love talking about this," she said. "It's so interesting. We might be talking for two hours."

During a past life regression therapy session, the subject is placed in a hypnotic, trance-like state but remains fully conscious. The leader then guides the subject to recover memories and experiences from previous incarnations. Andreescu said it can help explain complex relationships or even injuries, and that she has been able to discover a handful of past lives.

"So in one of my past lives, I got shot in the shoulder with an arrow," Andreescu said. "I was a soldier in a war in the 1500s or something like that. And that could be one of the reasons why I continuously have shoulder pain."

Andreescu knows it's not for everyone and said this is her first time speaking publicly about it. And while some might be skeptical about such a practice – or in her words, might say, "What the f— is she talking about?" – Andreescu wants to share what has helped her.

"It's intense, and it has opened a whole other can of worms, and it made me see life very differently," Andreescu said.

• All eyes are on Alex Eala in New York. (ESPN)
• One thing I'll be interested in now that Eala's safely a seeded player: will court assignments mitigate the power of her "Sixth Man" fandom? Put Eala on a general admission court and her fans will absolutely do everything in their power to pack it. But put her on Ashe or a court where reserved tickets outnumber GA...will she get the same mojo?
• Fun thing I've been monitoring, if you go the tennis section on Nike.com, you'll see that Alex's Nike T-Shirt is the only sold-out player shirt. There are plenty left for Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka.
• Boy, the ATP's Race to Turin is going to be exciting. (ATP)

• The WTA's Race to the Finals should be tight too, especially when you consider that by virtue of winning Wimbledon, Noskova will have a qualifying spot even if she doesn't finish in the Top 8. So those on the bubble, like Marta, Iga, Karolina, Shnaider, will have to try and finish Top 7 even if Linda slips.

• This is astute from Carole Bouchard: When Rehab Becomes Content. (Second Serve)

"But what is really displayed? What do we really learn? Nothing. I have no idea of the severity of the damages done by any of these career-hampering injuries or of the potential relapses. I don’t know how rough rehab has been. I don’t hear about the doubts. All we see is smiles and determination. Who said monthslong rehab was hard? They keep the most crucial part behind closed doors, and unfortunately, it’s surely the part that would help the most. Not the glossy filter on that rehab ordeal. Yet the goal isn’t to share, but to manage the consequences of the ordeal, and to soothe the anxiety of players brutally cut from their sport at a time when a lot of their brain space is taken up by social media and personal branding, whether they’re aware of it or not."

• Meanwhile in New York, BRING OUT YOUR DEAD:

• Unrelated: Was watching this clip last week and goddamn it's crazy how much slower tennis has become:

• You can stream select practices from the US Open YouTube channel.
• A reminder: If you are a YouTube TV user, you already have a free subscription to ESPN Unlimited. So don't go paying for it again just to watch the US Open you don't have to!
• As part of its coverage, ESPN is introducing a RedZone style separate channel to do whip-around coverage. I'm curious to see if they can get it right. Do you have the guts to whip to a no-name match that is in the crunchtime or are you going to chicken out and just stick with a name player at 2-3 in the first? If it's the latter, then no, this isn't RedZone.
• As always, Tennis Watchers has your viewing schedule covered. (Substack)

• I'll be doing a bit of streaming and newslettering this week so keep an eye out for Twitch notifications! I'll be offline starting Thursday – I'll be hitting up the San Francisco Pen Show! But I'll be back up and running on Monday and streaming every day, just like during Wimbledon. (Twitch)
• Bop of the Day: The beauty of Japanese City Pop is its sugary pop vibes mask absolutely depressing lyrics, a perfect fusion of that era of 80s Japan enjoying post-war economic prosperity and finding it to be incredibly lonely and alienating actually.