Bagel Bites: Enter the GOAT

Internet ephemera from the tennis world and beyond. Have something you want to include? Join the Discord  – we have a really nice and active community growing there – or hmu on Bluesky.

• HOLY SHIT TOKITO ODA!!!! To be NINETEEN YEARS OLD and complete the CAREER GOLDEN SLAM is absolutely bonkers. The World No.1 came into New York needing the US Open to complete his set, after already winning the French Open and US Open this year. He sealed the deal on Saturday by saving four match points to beat his doubles partner – with whom he won his first major doubles title the day before – 13-11 in the deciding tiebreak. GOATED!

• Oda has rad swag. He's the fourth wheelchair player to complete the Career Golden Slam after Dylan Alcott, Diede De Groot and Shingo Kunieda. (US Open)
• On to the men's and women's finals, where Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka stood and delivered. That's a sixth Grand Slam title for Carlos, who – as much as one can ease past Jannik Sinner – eased past Jannik Sinner in four sets. The match was a winner-take-all for the No.1 ranking, which means Carlos is back in the penthouse for the first time since 2023.
• As for Aryna, it is wild to be surprised or impressed that a World No.1 and best player on hard courts defended her title at the US Open. But I'm pretty sure that was the vibe after she fell to her knees and sobbed and shook after holding off Amanda Anisimova in straight sets on Saturday. That's four Grand Slams for Aryna now and, perhaps more importantly to her, zero Slamless No.1 seasons. Stats are important!
• Things I'm noodling though: After three weeks of all – waves hands wildly – THAT...what exactly changed? Did the US Open set, reset, change, progress or do anything meaningful to the 2025 narrative? Like I said, I'm noodling. But my gut is telling me...no?
• Giri Nathan says the loud part out loud: The Tour Is Theirs. (Defector)

Men’s tennis is just Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz hurtling toward one another, with loud and incandescent results. Since Sinner returned to the tour in May after a three-month suspension, the rivals have entered the same tournament five times. In all five instances, they have met in the final. 

• This is such a flex: Carlos Alcaraz did a 15-day training camp SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to beat Jannik Sinner. I fucking love this. I used to think about precisely this a lot when Ash Barty was playing, but more along the lines of "shouldn't players spend at least 30 minutes of every practice training for the Barty slice?" This man spent TWO WEEKS. And that's not even the flex! The flex is...you only do this if you are more than stupendously confident that you don't have to focus on beating the field. (ATP)

“I think it was very important, because we maybe practised for 15 days, very focused on the details that we have to improve to play against Jannik,” said Ferrero, who revealed that they reviewed those matches. “We know that in this kind of surface, on hard courts, Jannik is always very difficult to play and [is] winning a lot of matches. I think it helped a lot, because he realised what he has to improve a lot, and I was very focused on it.”

• The good news for Jannik is he will soon get an off-season where he can do the same. It was good to hear him so honestly say, yep, I'm a computer and he's a world-class hacker. But to continue on that analogy, there's a reason why hackers and systems are constantly at war: because one makes the other evolve, always. (ATP)

“It also depends on how you arrive to play against Carlos. One thing is when the scoreline [or] matches before are comfortable but you always do the same things, like I did, for example, during this tournament, I didn't make one serve-volley, didn't use a lot of drop shots, and then you arrive to a point where you play against Carlos where you have to go out of the comfort zone.

“So I'm going to aim to maybe even lose some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player, because I think that's what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player. At the end of the day, that's my main goal.”

• Here is our beloved Reem Abulleil on the challenge for Jannik. (The National)

The USTA’s censorship of Trump dissent at the US Open is cowardly, hypocritical and un-American | Bryan Armen Graham

By asking broadcasters not to show any protest against Donald Trump at Sunday’s final, the governing body has caved to fear while contradicting its own history of spectacle

The GuardianBryan Armen Graham

• I can't do it better than Andrea Petkovic, so the mic is yours, Petko. (Finite Jest via Substack)

Despite Sinncaraz III, despite Naomi Osaka’s renaissance and despite Amanda’s amandaness - Aryna Sabalenka was the standout player to me during the last few days of the US Open. There was so much pressure on the world number one to win a major title in the last possible moment. After Wimbledon, something shifted in the narrative around Sabalenka. What had been one of the more impressive seasons in the past few years on the women’s side, suddenly became incomplete in the telling of it as if it just wasn’t quite enough.

UNLESS she got the US Open title. This is what sometimes happens in tennis and beyond it. Firm narratives we had told ourselves twirl and twist, shift and budge, and come out the other end in different shape and form.

Well, Aryna got the US Open title. And she played her best match of the tournament in the final against a player she has traditionally not liked playing. This year, names who were able to get past Aryna were either players who have the ability to extend rallies ad nauseam like Mirra Andreeva (Indian Wells final) or Coco Gauff (French Open final). Or they were players who could outhit Aryna which is a feat in itself. Think Madison Keys at the Australian Open and Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart. That and the 6:3 head-to-head in favour of Amanda had many experts pick Anisimova as the US Open champion. Aryna showed up with that certain kind of determination on her face that is very sabalenkaesque to me. Brows furrowed, eyes slanted and throwing small fireballs. I love that expression.

• That this was one of Amanda's first thoughts after the match makes me super sad. (BBC via Yahoo)
• Nothing but respect for the Served boys doing a reaction pod as Jon driving and Andy is walking through the airport. That's commitment:

• Bonus: Watch this for Roddick's absolutely hilarious riff on adults running. "You just talked to me about annuities for an hour and that's how you jog-walk???" (Served on YouTube)
• With his seemingly out-of-nowhere run to the US Open semifinals, Felix is No.10 in the Race to Turin! Also...that point spread the Top 2 have on the field is WILD. (ATP)
• This kind of sums up a lot: "Deep-pocketed broskies turning US Open in a day rager." But also...imagine the mind that decides to aura farm off PLASTIC HONEY DEUCE CUPS. So weird. (NY Post)
• If you missed it – and even if you didn't – I really do think the Sabalenka-Anisimova final is worth watching closely. There were so many momentum switches and critical moments that are worth sitting with:

• A rundown of Aryna's bubbly post-win celebrations. (NY Post via Yahoo)
• We love a circle that is full. (ATP)

In 2022, Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud in the US Open final to claim his first major title and simultaneously become the youngest No. 1 in history at 19 years, four months. On Sunday, Alcaraz won another winner-takes-all clash — this time with Sinner — to return to No. 1 for the first time since 10 September 2023.

• Me at any pizza buffet: "Go for it. Don't be afraid." (BBC)
• "Laura Robson defies US Open order..." is not a headline I thought I'd see 15 years ago! (The Telegraph via Yahoo)
• There's still lots to play for over the next two months, but yes, I'm already seated for the Australian Open, where both Carlos and Iga will be going for the Career Grand Slam. (AFP via Yahoo)
• "BIG TITLES CHASE" is apparently a thing? Ok! (ATP)
• For those keeping track at home, here's the WTA equivalent:

• WTA Backspin ranks their best players of the Third Quarter.

The U.S. Open Could Be More Than A Fortress For Capital | Defector

FLUSHING, N.Y. — “Seventy-five years of breaking barriers” is the official slogan of this year’s U.S. Open, but for anyone who’s spent time out at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, it can often feel like the tournament is more adept at putting barriers up than taking them down. For two weeks around […]

Defector homeAaron Timms

• Before there was tennis, music was the thing that occupied my life 24/7. I was going to concerts 3-4 times a week and I was a regular at Coachella, ACL and Lollapalooza. I often joke about how tennis became my Coachella. Except this is now true and THIS IS PRECISELY WHY I STOPPED GOING TO COACHELLA. Apology NOT accepted, Graham! (The Guardian)
• Here are some standout stats from the US Open. (US Open)

27: Sinner’s hard court winning streak at the majors was snapped by Alcaraz in Sunday’s final. 

29: Years since the same man and woman repeated as US Open singles champions. The last man and woman to do it were Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf in 1995 and 1996. 

39-2: Sabalenka’s record at the hard court majors since the start of 2023. She has won four titles from the six hard court majors she has played, and lost in the finals of the other two. 

42: Alcaraz doubled up Sinner in Sunday’s winner count, 42 to 21. 

• Carlos and Aryna did the rounds together:

• Thanks for everyone who has hung out in the Twitch streams over the last two weeks. I'll do some more streaming over the next two just for vibes and chat. Also, I'm getting back into the NYT Crossword so all help is appreciated.
• This Bagel was focused on the weekend action, but I'm going to send another one out shortly that's just fun and random tennis links. Sorry in advance for inundating your inbox! I just don't like when these things get too long.
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