The Good, the Bad, and the Tragic: US Open Preview f/ David Taylor and Kamau Murray

We sat down with the coaches of last year's US Open finalists, David Taylor (Keys) and Kamau Murray (Stephens). These very different coaches share their thoughts on navigating player personalities and what they see as the most important roles of a tennis coach. But first, we analyze the US Open draws: the stacked women's first quarter, which could see a Venus-Serena third round and a Simona-Serena fourth, but with much uncertainty for all. On the men's side, Nadal gets an easy-ish one, while Djokovic looms for Federer (or vice versa) in the quarters. We also take on FFT President Giudicelli's comments on Serena's catsuit, and why boycotting is not top of mind for us.

 

2:10 The tragic: the women's first quarter, which features 5 current or former no. 1s plus Kuznetsova

12:45 The good: Madison Keys' draw

21:15 Also good: defending champ Nadal gets a soft draw to the semis

32:50 The bad (depending on your position): Djokovic and Federer drawn to play in the quarters

38:10 Peng Shuai gets dinged by the Tennis Integrity Unit, Lendl joins the Zverev camp

42:50 French Federation president Giudicelli bans Serena's catsuit: the cultural battleground that is the black female body

51:30 Is this the least wide-open women's draw in a while?

56:20 Our interviews with David Taylor and Kamau Murray, coaches of last year's US Open finalists Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens

1:04:40 Kamau Murray's radical honesty