LIVE | Aryna Sabalenka vs. Amanda Anisimova | Radio | 2025 US Open Final

Join us LIVE for radio coverage of Aryna Sabalenka vs. Amanda Anisimova in the final of the 2025 US Open.

Don’t miss a moment of the US Open! Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/2Pdr81i

The 2025 US Open runs from August 18 – September 7 in New York City at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The tournament takes place for the 145th time and is the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year. Last year, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka claimed the men’s and women’s singles titles. It was both Sinner and Sabalenka’s first US Open title and third Grand Slam title. This year, at the US Open, we’re set for another spectacular tournament as the world’s best tennis players head to New York. Look out for highlights, extended highlights, full matches, press conferences, on-court interviews, hot shots, compilations and more!

X: https://twitter.com/usopen
Facebook: https://facebook.com/usopentennis
Instagram: https://instagram.com/usopen
Website: https://www.usopen.org
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@usopen

I crown thy good with sisterhood from sea to shine and sea [Music] crown that good would join the USA in thanking the United States Marine. Marine Corps 6th Communication Battalion, Brooklyn, New York. The US Open Ball Crew, Rosalie Tim and Britney Spencer. Blair Henley thanking the participants in America the Beautiful. The US Open ball crew unfurling that enormous American flag that covered the entire court here in Arthur Ash Stadium. We’re a few minutes away from hearing from these players. It’ll be Arena Sabalanka and Amanda Anisimova. Sabalanka in her third major final of the year. Second in a row for Animova. Hoping it goes better than the Wimbledon final. Although I’m sure that’s not in her head right now. She’s focused on this US Open test. Stadium women’s final. [Music] Blair Henley just celebrated a birthday a couple of years ago. Just getting this a couple of days ago. which she of course celebrated a couple years ago as well getting the crowd ready to go. I’m Brian Clark here with Zena Garrison and Sophie Ammy. Sophie, we’ve talked a lot about the different matchups between these two players and the fact that Anisimova has had so much success against Sabalanka. I think it’s surprising if you didn’t know that coming into this match, she’s won six of the nine. Yeah, it is surprising to see on paper, but also, you know, it’s a it’s a long time in between the first one and the last one that they played at at Wimbledon, but You know, my my take also is you’re going to have to think about how hungry and angry Sabalanka is from losing in that match in uh and the revenge. You know, this was 58 days ago exactly on July 10th when she played they played together. And I can tell you that Sabalanka has that revenge in her. And uh that’s going to be something also to look at how she’s going to take that match and try to avenge what happened cuz she’s got a really bitter taste in her mouth from that last match. Yeah, that was Yeah, she better control that anger though. Uh because you could you got to find the balance in between that because she could actually come out here and be so she want to poop a point so bad and then you start overhitting. You start being too tense and and so she’s got to find that calmness but she’s still got to keep that aggressive. I agree. You got to channel it in the in the right way. We talk about the the mental aspect. We’re talking about the technical aspects. And Zena before we hear from these players we talk a lot. Okay. What’s Anamova thinking? Do you think there’s a chip on Sabalanka’s shoulder to everybody’s talking about an Isimova, but she’s coming in here, hey, this is my third major final. I’m number one in the world. I’m the defending champion. She carries herself like the best on court. And you would think that she’s got that on her mind today. She better get rid of that chip cuz she’s in Amanda’s place or Amanda’s house right now. So this crowd is going to be rocking and they would know that you can get to Sabalinka because we’ve seen it now. This is the would be the third time. So they want that third one. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. Third meeting at a major in a row between these two players. It was Sabalanka who won in the fourth round at Roland Garos and Isimova got the win in the semis at Wimbledon. That’s the only thing stopping Sabalanka from appearing in all four majors. Here’s Mary Joe Fernandez. Amanda, you’re into your second straight major final. You said you were a bit surprised at Wimbledon. How is your mindset changed going into today’s match? Yeah, I’ve been feeling very confident here and playing at my home slam is really special. So, I’ve just been enjoying it every step of the way. And for the third straight year, we have an American woman in the final. You were born in New Jersey. How excited are you to play in front of this home crowd? Yeah, I’m super excited and I’m sure the crowd will be backing me today. Best of luck out there. Thank you. And now we’ll bring in world’s number one, the defending champion, Arena Sabalanka. Arena, as you stand next to your picture, what does it mean? What does this moment mean trying to defend your title? Oh, it means a lot. It’s a dream and I’m living my dream life and I’m ready to go out there and to to do everything possible and impossible to get this win. Playing against Amanda, you’re playing someone who can match your power shot for shot. What will it come down to? Well, um I think for me, um it’s important to focus on myself and um never doubt my shots and and and go go for my shots. All right. Good luck. Thank you. [Music] New York, it all comes down to this. Please welcome the players for the women’s singles championship. from the United States making her US Open final debut. Amanda Anisimova [Music] out first in the battleship gray. And the defending US Champion Arena Sabalanka. Savalanka out through the smoke in the shimmering silver that she’s been wearing throughout this tournament carrying herself as we said like the world number one. Players out on court will get ready for the coin toss which will feature a special celebration 20 years since the US of the US Open wheelchair championships. Uh Mark Lucero is courtside right behind these two players benches. And Mark, uh give us a taste of that atmosphere, guys. It is jam-packed. Everybody is on their feet. There’s like a million cell phones out recording the walk-ons. And Sabalena, she has this shiny metallic jacket on and there’s the same metallic silver lining the bottom of her shoes. It looks so awesome. But in here, man, it feels like the roof’s going to pop off as soon as someone hits the first winner. Yeah, that is uh there is that juice, that big match atmosphere as the players just get themselves set going through their preparations [Music] from Serbia and Isimova is to the net first waiting for Sabalanka for today’s women’s singles championship match is 7-year-old Chloe Lee from Manhasset, New York representing Sport Time, Washington. So ladies um after the point also just ask you for a photo with them and then all the two of you only facing both ways as well please the same conditions as in previous rounds video review available and ELC doing all the calls including football. Would you have any questions? Questions? No. Which one for me? Uh you choose red or white? I go for red. Okay. No problem. White box for you then. Okay, Chloe, who would you like to ask for a choice? Okay, Arena, head or tail? Head circle. Yep. Toss it, please. It is heads. Serve photos, please. So, Sabalanka won the toss and has decided to serve. So, she will try to play from ahead. Cool opportunity here for young Khloe from Manhattan and Yui Kami, the women’s wheelchair singles champion. She won that title earlier today. She’s out to toss the coin. She was part of the ceremony, marking 20 years of the wheelchair competition at the US Open. So, all the talk is almost over as the players now begin the warm-up here in Arthur Ash Stadium. Roof is closed. Uh the sun has peaked out. It’s brightened up a bit, but the roof is going to stay closed for that final. Zen, is that going to matter at all? Maybe not in terms of style, but certainly in terms of crowd noise, it will. Yeah, definitely. It would It shouldn’t matter regardless. Um, I think both of them are big hitters. They, you know, they can hit through wind, they can hit through whatever, but the crowd knows it’s definitely going to be an effect here. And Sophie, when you take a look at what these two went through on Thursday in their semifinal wins, we talked about how Sabalanka is fresher because she got that walk over in the quarterfinal, but these two, the stress, the anxiety, the pressure that came with playing deep into Thursday night, that’s got to suit them well coming into this final. Yeah. And I think that it was much more difficult, I think, for Anisova to come through against Osaka than it was for Sabalanka to come through against Pugola mentally and physically. Uh so you know you you obviously losing a lot of energy and uh you know you have to feel that this got to have a factor too and is she going to also if we go the distance have the energy to go the distance with 2 hours and 28 minutes more on court. I mean she’s obviously very young so we would hope so. Uh but those are the things that you know Zena and I were looking and she pulled out a a pair of her shoes. Yeah. Another different pair of shoes. She has the beautiful bright orangey red ones and then she had some regular white ones. So, I didn’t know if she was like expecting to do a lot of running and she might need another pair of shoes. She’s ready. Yeah, she was definitely ready. She is ready. And the warm-up is ongoing on court. Mark Lucero is courtside. And Mark, that first set, the Wimbledon final in Isimova won just nine points and that set the tone for that afternoon. In this match, what’s something early that you’re going to be looking for from each of these two players? I’m looking at Sabalanka. Even the one thing that jumps out in the warm-up, Sabalanka is shaping a lot of forehands, hitting maybe four to six feet over the net on the forehand, rolling the ball. I’m curious if she’s going to do that. I mean, I would keep an eye on the size of her forehand back swing. It’s much bigger. Amanda Anamova can really rush her, I think, through the middle. Uh Sophie and Zena were talking about earlier. I expect a lot of pace through the middle at the Sabalinka forehand and for Amanda Anisimo, she just needs to come out and make sure she manages the time between points. Don’t rush. Settle in. I mean, she looks better in the warm-up today than she did in the warm-up against Naomi Osaka. And, you know, I think just make some first serves early. Get a little confidence. That’s it. Go to big targets. That’s Mark Lucero. He is courtside as we are a few minutes away from starting this final. Third straight US Open final for Arena Sabalanka. For Amanda Anisimova, prior to this year, she had not won a match at the US Open since 2021. She had gotten to the third round the year prior. Of course, a lot made of that layoff when she stepped away from the sport about 2 years ago, but came back last year, and it’s been a a solid ascension since. And now that is rewarded with her second straight major final. Zena, what’s that like? The warm-up in a major final where all the attention’s on you. It’s something you’ve worked for your entire life and now it’s that moment and you’re in it. Is it like an outof body experience? It definitely is an out-of- body experience, but for me it was even worse because I was at Wimbledon and Alan Gibson literally walked into the room and started literally talking about where, you know, I drunk my champagne here and this is where I got ready for the match. And I mean, come on. And you were getting ready to get on. I’m getting ready to go out to play Martina who I lost to 30 something times. But um it it is nerve-wracking. You know, you have to try to find some way to just calm your nerves to focus on what you need to do. And teams have gotten bigger. So they they should help be able to help them like calm the nerves and and help you get out there and just focus on what you have to do. And then for Sabalanka to win the toss, Sophie decide to serve. We talked about that a lot last night. Felix OJ Aliasin decides to receive against Yannik Center. And you’re thinking it’s a little odd. wants to play from behind. Sabalanka is a front running player and you would think that if she can get out and an easy hold would be a huge start, just the kind of start she wants. Yeah, as Zena mentioned, I think the uh beginning and the first two games are going to be really setting the tone for this match. As we know, it’s uh very important to try to uh you know, get that first strike for both of them because they have similarity in the sense that they are tackable. Uh it, you know, for people it might be hard to believe that Animova’s ball actually goes faster and hit with more pace and less top spin, believe it or not, a lot less uh because you hear a lot of the screaming of Sabalanka when she releases and you you think that that ball is going even harder. But uh yeah, so it’ll be interesting. Let’s see how the return first goes and if she’s right away making Sabalanka earn the point by maybe starting to return right at the body in this game. Third year in a row that Arena Sabalanka is in the US Open final. The world number one, 27 years old, will serve first to begin her third straight final. What she hopes results in a second straight title. 16 minutes after 4:00. We are underway in this final with Sabalanka off the near baseline. A middle forehand. Already a longer first point than most people expected. And it ends with a crosscourt forehand from Sabalanka that goes w that catches the inside at 15 love. That was a beautiful forehand crosscourt. Sabalinka does a great job. Now when she gets on the outside of the ball, she can really take that ball out wide. Sabalanka’s in a white dress with cutouts around the back. A one-piece dress with black and orange trim and flatten out wide, leaning back and long from Animova. 30 love for Sabalanka. Two first serves just to start up the the game. That’s exactly what you want to think of when you’re Sabalanka. By the way, there were seven people in our practice for four event including Sabalanka on our court for four Anissimova. So you talk about team. Yeah, there’s a lot of teamwork these days. 30 love for Sabalanka. The toss right at the body of Animova who goes with a forehand middle. Now the backhand middle of the court from the American player. Forehand off the back foot. Sabalanka inside out backhand. Well, we talked about that as maybe the best weapon on the court. And there we see it for the first time from Anisimova taking it line for 305. I am loving it right off the bat. Amanda was driving that ball straight down the middle which allowed her to get this short ball and go down the line. She definitely watched that match with Jessica. Also, what’s interesting something Mark Lucero noted right before the match started that forehand that set up the backhand from Sabalanka really shaped. She put that way over the net and Anisimova was able to line that up and drill the winner. First first serve missed by Sabalanka. Second serve, opening game, 3015. And she goes deep into the body. Another big backhand from the American and Nissimov now goes crosscourt with a backhand winner. What an amazing backhand crosscourt right there. It was set up by that ball. Strong down the middle off the return to serve. That is she is right on what she needs to do and she’s doing well so far. Yeah. And seeing this, you know, mentally being like so calm and executing perfectly to return down the middle. Four for four right now at 30 all the toss from Sabalanka in that first serve misses into net. The serve numbers for these two women were very similar in terms of percentages coming into this final. Sabalanka serving at 62% of the first serve 65 for Anissimova. But there a double fault for Sabalanka and it’s an opening break opportunity for Amanda Anisimova. Yep. And exactly what Zena was saying. If you’re going to put the pressure on her, if you’re going to make her feel a little bit tense, then you know that she can start making errors and uh being nervous herself. So, what a great start for Animova. Down a break point. Here’s Sabalanka toss and puts that first serve into net and Sabalanka 0 for two on these second serve points. Now, a couple of bounces. Second serve from Sabalanka. High toss out to the backhead of Anisimova. Just missed as she pulled the trigger on the deep crosscourt. You know what, Brian? It was a just miss. But I guarantee you Savalink is remembering that particular serve cuz she literally she is hitting out on every ball that she has the opportunity. Amanda’s just taking those chances right now because she wants to put it in her mind. First serve has abandoned Sabalenko over the last handful of points. A three all. It stays away as she finds the net on that first serve. Very quiet in front of this sold out enclosed crowd here at Arthur Ash Stadium. The toss from Sabalanka. Second serve right into the strike zone. Crosscourt forehand deep from Animova. Now steps in to drive a backhand pushing Sabalanka back. Animova comes into the service line and pumps the forehand past Sabalanka. It’s a second break point for Anissimova who looks ready to rock. And oh boy is she holding her nerves. I love to see this. I didn’t think that she would be capable to do it right away, but this is exquisite right now for the start of this match for Anamoga. I mean just beautiful long strong strokes right to those corners. But she is noticing that ball that’s short and she is pouncing on it right from the beginning. Toss and serve flatten out wide. Best serve in a while from Sabalanka. Maybe the best of the match as the return. Punch back long from Anisimova. Best serve of the match because it was a first serve for Sabalanka. It’s Deuce. I mean, Sabalinka is going to have to come out and try to get her nerves calm enough where she can hit those first serves because the way Amanda is already jumping on those second serves at Deuce. Another flat serve out wide. Anamova got that back and a tight forehand from Sabalanka. She finds the net. Big return from Anisimova. She’s doing it again. It’s it’s just the pressure from that return and the the you know the winding of that forehand which is like kind of a C you know movement of the of the arm the loop is too late to get to that ball. So very good pressure once again from Animova. Third break opportunity of this game for Anisimova. It’s the opening game and she’ll get a look at a second serve as Sabalanka missed that first serve out wide. Pink shoelaces for 27year-old Arena Sabalanka. Anisamova rocks from left to right behind the far baseline. The toss. Second serve. It’s out to the backhand. Plays it middle but missed it. Did Anisimova. That was very smart though there by Arena. She put a little bit more kick on that ball. Actually, I thought that Amanda would have stepped in a little bit and because she didn’t step in, that ball got up on her too high. This game approaching six minutes, a marathon opening game. It’s the 11th point of the first game of this women’s final. Sabalanka’s toss up the center. Backhand return now in between forehand Sabalanka. Nissimova crushes a forehand but missed it long. Yeah, that was way too long. Just a little bit excited there. Her eyes thought it was a big bag of candy. She was trying she just overhit that one. So Sabalanka has a chance to snuff out this early opportunity. What’s going on? Oh, butterfly or a moth. Something flew onto the court. Oh, see the see the half, you know, the half glass full. It’s a beautiful butterfly advantage for Sabalanka. Chance to escape this opening game is that it caused Sabalanka to back off the line. Now she’s ready. It’s big serve. You heard the yelp behind it. Now forehand punch back. Big Backhand from Sabalanka and Anisimova mish hit that backhand. Huge hole to begin this final for Arena Sabalanka. The world number one saves three break points. Mark Lucero courtside. Mark, was it just a matter of getting that first serve back that helped Sabalanka through the game? Yeah, partly getting the first serves in, making that first ball after the serve, hitting it with a little bit of pop to keep Anisimova behind the baseline. Um, one thing Zema said that she was right on that last break point, Anis Mova didn’t get into the court to cut that ball off. The kick got up too high above her shoulders kind of where she does not want it. Uh, I’m paying attention to the Anisova court positioning. How often is she getting inside the blue? Anisimova went right over to her box and it looked like she was gesturing something about her ball toss. Maybe adjusting to how you’re going to see the toss given the fact the roof’s closed, the light. Well, all of that is going to come into play sometimes when you might have practiced and it was open or, you know, maybe closed. You got to where the lights are. All of those little things. Serve out wide into the forehand from Sabalanka. Anisimova backs up. Plays a middle forehand off the baseline inside in forehand from Sabalanka. Anamova floats long. It’s love 15. Well, because sorry Brian the final of the mix the sorry the men’s doubles final that lasted so long on Ash. They had no chance to practice on Ash before the the 4:00 start. So they both went outside which is totally different situation. It was so windy out there. It was night and day with what the situation and the conditions takes a minute to adjust. Oh yeah. Love 15 for an Isimova. She goes flatten out wide. Well, she’s adjusting. All right. First ace of the match. First ace for either player. It’s 15 all. Actually, right away you can tell that serve on the outside. Both of them are really pronating well when they hit that serve. It’s it’s it’s lethal for both of them. Now on the deuce side, what do they do here? Animova in the battleship gray kit. Tangerine color sneakers serve up the center. Big backhand slugged back from Sabalanka. Now a crosscourt forehand inside in into another inside out forehand from Anisimova. Nice one two off the ground from the American for 305. Absolutely gorgeous. That was a beautiful shot. Sophie, you’re right on. It was gorgeous the way she literally just leaned forward. But what I love so much about Amanda’s ground strokes, she prepares so early and she gets that racket right to the contact point. If any of the young juniors are out there watching, you should be paying attention to how well how quick she gets ready to her position. Her technique is is uh fabulous. Love the technique on both backhand and forehand for Animova. It’s clean. 3015 for Animova. Toss and the serve goes right into the body of Sabalanku. Meets it with a backhand. Bigger backhand from Anisimova. She’s dictating but then sprays the forehand wide. She was in control of that point but maybe went a bit too far. It’s 30 all. She just a little she just a little. We But me and S want to jump on that one. It’s just a little too early. Just you know getting to the ball a little bit over anxious. She needs to calm down just a little bit and just play one point at a time. She’s in the match already. She’s already establishing that she’s ready to play. Yeah. And very aggressive. Another long game developing at 30 all. Animova misses that serve into net. Animova had three break points in Sabalanka’s opening service game, but Arena saved them all. Second serve here at 30. All for Anissimova. down into the body again. A backhand middle, backhand inside in again just wide from Anisimova. Was that again a little bit too early? Pretty much. You have to, you know, maybe go back down the middle with a hard shot deep. Uh just, you know, she’s obviously able to hit herself when the ball comes back down the middle and find some angles. We saw that in the first opening game. So, be a little bit more patient. Yeah. Break opportunity here for Sabalanka after she saved three against her serve. She can flip the script right here. 10 minutes into this women’s final. Couple of extra bounces for Animova. Down a breakpoint. Toss and serve it right into the body. The backhand from Sabalanka. Backhand middles from both players. Now backhand up the center into the forehand. Sabalanka. Anisimova flies the forehand and she is broken. This is not where Amanda wants to be at all because now it’s interesting now those things start creeping into your mind. Two love, you start, oh, I don’t want it to be three love. Those starts start to creep in your mind. She’s just got to relax, calm down a little bit. And as Sophie said, start going down the middle a little bit more or bring in your targets. She seems like she’s going for the lines. 15th time and Isimova has been breaking broken in this US. You sound like me. This is my English. Yeah, exactly. Except your English is a lot better than my French. First serve goes into net from Sabalanka who’s trying to now continue moving forward after grabbing that break. First serve was into net. Here comes the second. Right into the center of the box. The forehand just off from Anisimova. Mark Lucero courtside. Mark, is it a matter of it being too early or what’s gone off on these uh Anisimova ground strokes? It looks like she’s having just a hard time maybe judging some of the pace, some of the mis hits. The ball’s coming a little bit slower. Looks like she’s just a little early. And yeah, I I think you just got to bring in your targets a little bit. Sabalanka off the far baseline at 15 love. Goes out wide into the backhand middle. Now an inside out forehand. Good one from Sabalanka to keep an Isova off balance as she misses another backhand long. It’s now six unforced errors for Animova. It almost feel like she’s feeling the heat and instead of getting the racket to go through the ball and accelerating it, she’s like kind of guiding it. And you’ve got to go through the ball still. You might want to take a little pace off, but at least finish your shot. Sabalanka has won eight of the last 10 points. Looped return into a looped backhand. Way looped from Sabalanka. Now Anisimova flattens it out. They trade crosscourt backhands and Sabalanka sent hers long. So hey, that was Anisimova just able to claw her way to level terms in that point. An important point for 305. You know, I it’s interesting to me cuz the first thing when she starts missing the way she’s miss, she’s only missing a little bit. Actually, I would might even change the racket because it’s probably a little bit more human in there because she seems like she’s not feeling the ball totally. And now Sabalanka misses that slice out wide. as she was going for the drop shot, missed the mark, went wide on that one crosscourt. Not a bad idea, just the execution was a little poor. Yeah, but you know, it might not have worked then, but it will work later because you still got to have in your mind that something like that could possibly happen. At 30 all, couple of bounces from Sabalanka. Two points in a row for Animova here. Sabalanka hammers one down the center of the backand a deep return. And a good one from Anisimov who now drives a backhand keeping Sabalanka pinned back now. A short forehand from Anisimova. Backhand loop from Sabalanka. Bhackand line wide open for Anisimova. She’ll take that all day and she’s got a break point for the second straight game. What an amazing backhand. But what she did so well on though, she was taking the ball off the rise. She started moving into the court not waiting to be to see what was going to hit. She actually took her chances on that. But she was so far out in front of those balls. It was absolutely beautiful. Yeah. Elongating through the shot with her body language. Three points in a row. One by Inamova. Now she’ll get a look at a second serve. 14 minutes into this final. Sabalac has taken the first two games and now needs to come up with a second serve. She’s three of six on second serve points so far. Toss in that second serve. It’s out into the backhand crosscourt of Anisimova who runs into a forehand that just clears the net. Now a forehand chopped over into a backhand driven crosscourt from Anisimova. She’s in control. Plays a forehand middle forehand from a squat. Sabalanka crosscourt for Savalanka. Anisimova goes line with a forehand for a winner. End the break. Animova on the board at 12 here in this tense women’s final. We’ll be back on US Open Radio presented by American Express. the third straight final. What she hopes results in a second straight title. 16 minutes after 4:00, we are underway in this final with Sabalena off the near baseline. A middle forehand. Already a longer first point than most people expected. Couple of extra bounces for Animova down a break point. Toss serve. It’s right into the body. The backhand from Sabalanka. Backhand middles from both players. Now backhand up the center into the forehand. Sabalanka. Anisimova flies the forehand and she is broken. [Music] [Music] Amanda Nisimova on the board here in this US Open final breaking arena Sabalanka. Mark Lucero, you mentioned before the match about a key for Anamova be controlling the pace of the match and just taking her time. Is she doing that from what you’re seeing? You know, you you worry about that just when you see these streaks of lost points or streaks of errors and I I think she really has to use the towel in between those points and slow those streaks down. Try to minimize those streaks by slowing the match down. She was playing really really quickly going right to the line. The clock was still 2122. So that’s just one thing, you know, if I were the team I would try to recommend, but if she’s winning, if she’s out in front, then you just let her run. She ran through that last game seven winners. She was 30 love down in that game and was on the cusp of going down three love, but instead she broke Sabalanka either. Yeah. And now she serves long into the Sabalanka backhand. And Nissimova is off the far baseline here under the roof that’s closed in Arthur Ash Stadium. The rain has stopped, but once they decide to play with the roof closed, it will remain closed for the duration of this match. Anisimova catches the second serve toss now puts up another toss and sends it right down the middle into a deep backhand from Sabalanka that Anisimova flattens out. Talked about how she’d handle that shape and every time she’s gotten it, she’s handled it pretty well. Absolutely not the shape that I don’t think she meant it. I think she misit it. Little bit of a mish, but that’s absolutely not what you want to do with someone that strikes the ball so well is Amanda. You need to get a little shape is one thing, but that was just that ball was way too high. Flat serve missed wide. By the way, 185 winners throughout the tournament so far for 136. And that’s Animova having 185. That’s telling who’s hitting the ball better and harder. Like an Isimova loop that second serve. It was I think she heard me. She got she got angry. Yeah, that was a great backhand crosscourt off a return. That ball set up a little bit on that second serve and Arena just absolutely went into that ball and just killed it. At 15 all, it’s Anisimova. You talked about all those winners, Sophie, but not a huge margin. She had 164 unforced errors coming into this match, whereas Sabalanka was a lot cleaner. 135 winners. 1 unforced errors. Good serve pulling Sabalanka off the court. The serve plus one effective for a Nissimova. It’s 305. I mean, Amanda’s going to want to try to get that as much as possible, that first serve, and look for anything short. She does such a great job of using her legs and gets all that pace and every and her body behind that ball and it’s nothing that Arena can do with that. Andova was going body serve. Sent it a bit long. Won just one of five points behind the second serve so far in this match. Each player’s broken the other once. That second serve. Oh, it went right at Savalanka who is now looking towards the chair umpire. I think she’s saying she was quick serve. She never got the racket. I don’t know if it’s that. Maybe the ball came through the net. Maybe she’s thinking, “How did the ball bounce like that?” Yes. But she had the racket right in front of her body. Well, that’s called a great body serve. That’s what it’s called. Uh to your point, it was an excellent body serve. Not barely got out the way. Another body serve at 4015 into the backand. Sabalanka pulls the trigger, shortening the ball and going inside in from the center of the baseline for a winner. And 4030. I mentioned the slugfest. It started. It has started. I think it’s going to get worse with that box. Think about it. There’s like 11 winners already in in three and a half games. Nine of them have come from Anissimova who sends one down the center. The forehand returns into net from Sabalanka. Animova held for two all. Mark, during that that game, was she struggling with her ball toss? Is it just where she’s putting it? Was it the lighting? What? She looked like she was mimicking a few tosses. Yeah, I think it might be one of those things where she was just losing it in some of the lights and then sometimes, you know, when you lose your toss in the lights, you’re momentarily blinded. You don’t pick up the return that quickly. And I think she actually motioned over and was telling her team that after that first serve on the uh on the AB side. Serve goes right into the forehand now. Forehand into the backhand inside out. A clean winner for Anissimova. She’ll take that all day. Was able to read it from Savalanka and then sent it right back at her. That’s love 15. That was the first game, by the way, that did not feature a break opportunity. It was a great setup there. That ball strong down the middle, that return. And once she saw that ball was going to be pretty short, got those shoulders turned and just blasted it down the line for him in the backand. Serve goes into the backand of Anisimova now. Forehand middle, crosscourt, forehand deep, keeping it deep is Anisimova. Sabalanka looking frustrated and she’s got to write the ship here. It’s love 30. She’s got her right exactly where she wants it. That means that if Sabalanka starts getting annoying, we can know. And let’s see if Anisimova, as you mentioned, is going to put pressure on her right away here. Sabalanka at love 30. She’s won just two of the last 10 points and serves it down the center. A clutch deep serve at 115 as she goes D goes T rather. It’s 1530. Yeah, that’s the another thing that I think that um Sabalikica has improved on when something happens to her real quick that she doesn’t like she tends has a tendency to come back even stronger. At 1530, Sabalanka off the near baseline to surf flatten out wide, blocked with a backhand. It hangs back. Sabalanka waits, crushes a forehand inside, hitting out some of her frustration. It’s 30 off. And that was a great example of what I was just talking about. That first serve was hit so firm, so hard out to the backand of Amanda and then she took that ball and just rammed it crosscourt for a winner there. That first serve missed long and hops up and down. 30 all, two all. Opening set 22 minutes pass so far. Right into the body. Now a forehand middle. Short forehand from the baseline. Pummeled forehand inside out. An imamoba for 4030. You got to love it. Pounding down the middle again. The forehand a little bit too late because of the loose forehand. She hits a shorter ball. Guess what? Right away Anisa jumps on it taking the advantage. She knows what she wants to do. She has the tactic and she’s executing it perfectly right now. Sophie, to your point, what I all I saw was her red feet getting in that position. Those red shoes were moving so quickly. What a backhand return from Animova. It’s a second break in a row for the American. She takes the lead going up 32 here in this opening set of the US Open Women’s Final. That was a serve that Sabalanka did not get out wide enough. Animova able to go backhand crosscourt break Sabalanka for the second time. and she’s had break points in all three of Sabalanka’s service games. We talked about her break prowess coming into this match. Mark Lucero, what makes s Anisimova so good at breaking her opponent serves? Well, she has such compact back swings. I mean, from a very young age, her her parents, uh, the coaches that worked with her did an unbelievable job getting her to focus on just turning her shoulders. No need to take the racket back and then splitting forward and letting letting it rip. And that ball coming from the fast serve gets on the opponent so quickly and it just rushes them. And there very few people that have the technique to absorb the pace and to send it back. And so she’s playing people like Sabalanka. And you know, I’m going to plug something I did. I did an Instagram post earlier today that I said if Sabalinka insists on standing on top of the baseline, it’s going to be the kind of conditions for the match that Anisa wants to play. Okay, like Sabalinka needs to get off the baseline, create some space so she can take that bigger forehand swing, and then she can rip the ball with a little bit of shape. But, you know, hitting the ball shape and short, it’s going to be a bad play. Bad play for her. Plug that Instagram handle so people can uh see the tip and all of your tips that you post on social media. Mark Lucero, baby. M A R It’s Mark with a C, by the way. Hey, Mark, real quick, what I noticed when she moves forward on that ball, her footwork is so amazing. Like, how much work did she on her footwork? I mean a ton of work as footwork unlocks the rest of the game. I mean she’s it’s comes with ball recognition and then taking the one or two steps forward and meeting the ball taking the diagonal as much as she can either diagonal forward or diagonal backwards. So it was actually a French guy that worked with her from the age of 9 to 18 is his name is Max Fine and as soon as he saw that that kid and he actually met her in Florida she said that he said that this was not you know the kind of kid that you see every day. she was special and uh you worked with her from that time. So that’s you know a big recinance to and you know seeing that some of those coaches that we don’t talk about it got those kids you know to be here today in some way shape or form giving them the tool especially technique the technique which is huge. Sabalanka takes the first point of this Anissimova service game the sixth game of this opening set. Anisimova came from two love down to take three games in a row. She’s broken Sabalanka now in consecutive games and sends a body serve right into the body of her opponent, the world number one. Crushes a forehand that just floated wide. And that that guy Max actually he said, you know, the first time he hit with her, you know, she was a kid. She was she was small. She was 9 years old. And he, you know, he started to hit and he thought, “Oh, wow. There’s a lot of there’s a lot of power behind that shot.” And he started to give her a lot more power against her. and she took it and really went after it and he said, “I have never seen anything like this at that age.” Love 30 crow trying to give Animova a lift. Sends one down the center. Now she drives the two-hand backhand, middle of the court. Now that middle forehand mish hit it into net and she’s down three break points of 40. Arena is doing a great job of absorbing that power because Amanda tried to step it up a little bit, but uh Sabalinka has definitely just dug down and got some of those hard balls back. So, I mean, we obviously had a really good lengthy time of Amnisimova playing some good tennis consistency, but we saw that against, you know, in her in her semi-final against Osaka, that kind of roller coaster where she was playing great and then down, great and down. And that that’s what’s going on here. is a let down without a doubt. Great return from Sabalanka to break it low. Anissimova put that serve out wide in the adc court. We’ve talked about that play a lot, but Zena, that was one of the best returns we’ve seen today. I just love when she I mean, she’s almost like this dancer. Her body is just moving in the air and the way she leaps into the ball, she does it better than anyone I’ve ever seen. Yeah. You feel like contact point is absolutely on point and uh and she’s extending and her arms, you know, that lengthy uh but in balance. Yeah. But she’s still in balance. Exactly. Had four breaks in the last five games. Animova has broken Sabalanka twice and these servers continue to struggle as Sabalanka misses that backhand long. It’s love 15. That’s because the return again right at the body. It is it’s been paying off so much for Anisimova against the serve of Sabalanka today. Very low first serve percentage for both of them right now. First serve point.1 that would be 44% for Anisova and 47% for Sabalanka. That’s a big departure from this tournament. They’re both in the 60s coming into this final as Sabalanka misses another first serve. Three of eight on second serve offering for Sabalinka. She goes body into the backand that floats and flies along from Animova. It’s 15 off. Yeah, Sabalinka is doing a great job of that second serve is just kicking up. She’s actually putting a ton of spin on there. Amanda’s got to try to catch that on the rise because it’s when it gets up above her shoulders, it’s the ball just takes off. Yeah, she has to move forward on the second serve. No doubt. serve blocked back long from Anisimova. It’s 305 for Sabalanka. I mean, that’s so frustrating because she’s sitting her first serves are just straight power going through the court and then the second serve is major kick. So, you’re trying to find your way within those both of those serves. Anova about two yards behind the near baseline as Sabalanka puts the ball up and smashes one out wide. Backhand return. A deep one and a good one from Animova. best return she’s hit in a while is Savalanka unable to deal with it. It’s 30 off. Don’t you think that maybe the usage also of hitting the body on the serve on first serve to anova and vice versa could be you know something that could work for each of them? It definitely could because the way right now they’re hitting the corners then you would not and that’s probably what happened when Amanda went into Sabalinka and she could got get out the way because she was looking for either or. So on the serve as well I think hitting the body body serve as the second serve coming in here at 30 all three all and Isimova a little bit closer to the line the baseline Sabalanka puts the ball up goes right into the body deep forehand return little bit too deep that was an Isimova going right back at Sabalanka just missed it long it’s 4030 she actually made the move a little bit but she was hesitant and that’s why she missed the ball yeah she didn’t really confidently go into that ball I would step right on the line on the second serve just to send a message as well. Now nine unforced errors for Nissimova and that serve misses long. That was your body serve. Yeah, she missed. She tried to go with the body. She almost got hit and he said to jump out of the way. Sabalanka put the hand up just to say no hard feelings. 4030 second serve out wide. Backhand return. Crosscourt into the backhand middle. Sabalanka backhand line just flew long from Animova. Sabalanka holds for the first time in a long time. First time since her first service game of this final onova at 34 when we come back on US Open Radio presented by American Express. [Music] [Music] Congratulations. [Music] [Music] Very cool ceremony going on right now on court in Arthur Ash Stadium honoring the wheelchair champions. To Tokquito Oda, he won the men’s wheelchair and Neil Zink won the quads event. Oda completing the career grand slam here at the US Open. Amanda Anisimova back out to work at 34. Brian Clark here with Zena Garrison. Sophie Amy. Mark Lucero is courtside. Mark, have you been able to find a kind of rhythm to this match or is this just going to be a set of up and down for both of these players? It’s going to be a little up and down and I think it’s going to go the direction of who can hit the ball deeper, a little bit more consistently for different periods of time. Right now, it’s Amanda Anisimova to serve at 34. Puts that serve out wide. An ace, her second of the match. It’s 15 love. Look at the numbers. The serve percentages not as high as they’ve been for these two players in the tournament, especially the second serve numbers. Anamova’s won just two of the seven. Sabalanka’s percentage there has gotten better. She’s won six of 11 as Anissimova flies that serve into net. The first serve percentage below 60% for Anissimova. She came in uh to this match at 65%. Sabalanka right about even with the tournament as an Isimova double fault for the first time in this match missing it wide at the tea. That’s the worst feeling when you hit an ace and you come back and hit a double f and you got to just remember to try to do the same thing as consistently as possible. Toss and that serve goes out wide. Sabalanka blasts the forehand deep and Anisimova couldn’t handle that pace. 1530. Yeah, Reena’s doing a great job of just trying. She’s playing point to point. You know, when she loses a point, she’s trying to get right back to the next point. But that return was just absolutely beautiful. And we’re not worrying much about the serve clock in this match. And that’s a point Mark made earlier just about on the Anisimova serve where she’s getting to the line maybe a little too quickly, especially when she’s on a run of losing points. Sabalanka is working very quickly as well. Now in Isimova double faults for backto-back points and again maybe just but no no trip to the towel or anything to slow it down. She’s right back at the line. Yeah, this is you know really what’s been going on in all of match except maybe against EGA but uh a little bit of up and down. She has some streak of playing so well and then all of a sudden she just either loses her focus or maybe as you said you know going too fast through the motion. down two break points here at the toss and misses that first serve long. Animova just two of nine for her second serve points one here in this final. She can’t save these break points. It’ll be Sabalanka serving for the opening set. Second serve right here. It’s right down the center. Sabalanka tease off with a backhand. They trade middle backhands. Anamova into Sabalanku hits a forehand. Now Anamova with a forehand of her own down break point. Backhand middle. Anamova sprays it wide. Sabalanka breaks and Arena Sabalanka will serve for the first set of this US Open final. Yeah, I think that that um that Amanda right now is feeling a lot of the heavy ball that’s coming back at her where that’s normally what she’s doing to someone else because I think she’s starting to try to overh hit a little bit. She’s like trying to up the pace that arena titty. She needs to just stay within herself cuz that backhand miss was way way wide. Yeah, we’ve seen we’ve seen herbs spraying a lot of balls. Too many unforced right now. It’s catching up on her 13 so far for 12 winners for Anisova. Yeah, Sabalanka with the lower numbers letting the match come to her. Three winners, four unforced for Sabalanka. Not usual numbers in an arena Sabalanka match, but there’s another unforced error from an Isimova as the forehand misses long and it’s 15 love. It’s interesting because looking at Sabalinka, she can feel it. She can see it. She’s kind of trying to get the match to go a little bit faster because she can see that Amanda is rushing right now. Big body serve then a sweeping backhand from Sabalanka and Isimova’s wide. It’s 30 love. It’s amazing how quickly these things are flipping. You know, it was so close and the comeback after being down two love to being up 3-2 for Animova and then a little bit of a slump and now it is Sabalanka was in control. Two points away from this opening set. But remember two years ago when Sabalanka won the first set against Koko Goff and it looked like she was rolling to her first US Open title and Goff had other ideas. Second serve at 30. Love right down the center. There’s the backhand strike that Anisimova wants. Took it inside and down the line. We got to love the way that time she she stepped forward using all that she has to get away behind that ball, but she stayed so balanced, so forward that that ball just dropped in nice and deep. She has such long strokes and her contact point is absolutely beautiful when she really hits it well. 3015. She was going tee but missed it wide. Yeah. The other thing when she returned she was closer. She was on on top of the baseline. So she took that ball about between level of the shoulders and the hips which is exactly what she wanted at point of contact. Second serve. How does Anisimova attack? Well, she does with a forehand. Sabalanka waits with a middle forehand. Crosscourt forehand long from Animova who then goes down to put her hand on her knee in frustration. Double set point for Arena Sabalanka. And to Sophie’s point right there, and she actually just gestured that I should be moving forward a little bit. She hesitated on moving toward the ball and that ball got away from her. Double set point for Sabalanka. 4015. Toss serve out wide. The forehand sprayed wide. First set to the world number one. She takes the final four games to win the opening set 63 over Amanda Anisimova in 38 minutes. It was a set of ups and downs for both players. What awaits in the second? We’ll find out on US Open Radio presented by American Express. [Music] [Music] [Music] toss and that second serve. It’s out into the backhand crosscourt of Animova who runs into a forehand that just clears the net. Now a forehand chopped over into a backhand driven crosscourt from Anisimova. She’s in control. Plays a forehand middle forehand from a squat. Sabalanka crosscourt forehand Sabalanka. Anisimova goes line with a forehand for a winner. End the break. Anisimova on the board at one two here in this tense women’s final. Amanda Nissimova trying to write the ship to begin this second set. She’ll serve first to begin the second set against Arena Sabalanka. And that forehand just missed. still looking frustrated after Sabalanka ran through the last four games to win that first set 6-3. Brian Clark here with Sophie Amok and Zena Garrison. We’ve got Mark Lucero courtside 41 minutes into this match. The the numbers in that first set the big disparity the 13 winners to 15 unforced errors for Anisimova there. A good wide serve that’s blocked back long by Sabalanka. It’s 15 all. One of the interesting things for me right now because we have the coaching in there, I’m always like, especially with a young player like this, what are you telling them at this m at this moment? Because I think a lot of coaches sometimes don’t actually or don’t know how to play the actual moment because if I was on that thing, I would be trying to get her to calm down or give her some signal that we’ve talked about in practice, something to to get her mind back on believing she can win this match. Yeah. because she started really well and then it went it just lost lost it at three all pretty much. Good serve plus one from Anisimova there. Send it out wide and that set up the forehand but sprays that first serve wide. It’s 3015 opening game of the second set. Roof is closed in Arthur Ash Stadium. We’ve had storms and rain moving through the area today. The backhand a deep return from Sabalanku. Now goes backhand line. Crosscourt forehand from Anisimova. Forehand long Sabalanka. 4015 for Animova. That’s so important and key for her to right away hold her serve here to show that she’s in that battle. By the way, Arena Sabalanka has won 26 of her last 27 women’s singles Grand Slam matches or she taking the first set only losing to yeah Coco Golf this year. Of course, she lost the first set or won the first set to golf here two years ago in this very match. I mean, right now, Amanda’s using a lot of energy. If you sit there and you can actually watch her and see her blowing out, her her eyes getting tight, her body’s getting tight, she’s got to figure out how to just relax herself. Easier said than done, Sophie, but she’s got to try to figure it out, especially with somebody who’s getting looser and looser across the net after after winning that first set. 4030 for Anisimova. She finds the net with that first serve. That was the other story of that opening set for Amanda Anisimova. Just two of 10. on second serve points one. Second serve right here and double faults puts it into the bottom of the tape. It’s deuce. Mark Lucero’s courtside. Mark, did you notice anything uh different during that change during the set break? I’m not sure he’s hearing this. Well, one thing that I noticed right away until Mark comes back is the tension in her body is getting tighter and tighter. She literally did not even move her arm on that ball at Deuce. That serve out wide. Fore forehand swinging away. Sabalanka forehand line. Anisimova. Sabalanka runs up to it. Tries to shovel it back. That’s the serve plus one for Anissimova working again. Advantage Animova. Animova. That was better. She didn’t try to go for too much. She really had big margin for error from that forehand. It’s a first serve here. Advantage Animova. As Sophie said, she definitely needs a first serve. And there’s the toss. She lets it drop. We’ve seen a couple of issues with the toss here this afternoon for Animova. Now, puts the toss up and misses it long. She has a very high toss as well. And that sometimes if you know you starting feeling nervous and trying to get that ball as it’s coming down, it’s coming down really quick. It gets tougher and tougher to do. Second serve here and she double faults. That toss was shorter. It was way low, but totally decelerated, too. And she’s looking at uh, you know, the lights up there. I’m wondering if those lights are so uh difficult to see for her right now. You know, she’s been talking about this toss since probably the middle of the second set. She’s been basically talking about she was talking about it before she served when she went out after the change of ends after the first game. She was talking to her team and you could see her kind of mimicking the toss. So, it’s absolutely been on her mind as she misses another serve into net. Now, another second serve. 45 minutes gone by. Gets that one in out wide. Chipped back by Sabalanka. Long. Sabalanka frustrated. She was watching Animova have all sorts of problems and just said, “I’m ready to do whatever. I just keep the ball in play and make her make the error.” She’s very upset. Here we go. Keep accelerating. Take talking about the Well, she was asked by one of the people in her box, is it the lights? So, she’s talking about And then actually real quick, they showed us the lights are very bright, but and as high as she’s tossing that ball, maybe that’s the problem. Yeah. The question was, is it the lights or the roof? It didn’t look like she answered. No, she didn’t. Not sure if she heard cuz it was loud. Nothing you can do about it at this point either. They’re not going to open the roof or turn down the lights. It’s the backhand crosscourt backhand line from Sabalanka who’s handling the roof and the lights and the stage just fine. That wasn’t lights. That wasn’t roof. That was just a beautiful backhand right down that line. She really steps in and her weight is just moving forward. Very right-handed dominant. I’m sorry, left-hand dominant on that backhand. Just taking it right to the point. Great serve. Better return from Sabalanku. Now recovered middle of the baseline and tried to flick back a squash shot but only into the bottom of the net. advantage Animova. Yeah, that’s a good answer cuz that was a good return. The quickly Animova get a racket going and uh very good to go behind the body of Sabalanka. Another long game to begin a set. We had a long start to this match back in the first set. And there an ace for Animova. An important hold for the American as she sends it down the center. Her third ace and that holds to begin the second set. She still was not very comfortable with that. She still looks She’s still looking up, which is interesting. Wait, let’s take a listen as unfortunately not. I think that’s Mariana Veljovich’s chair umpire. You saw that at the set break how she was asking they were having a conversation and that seemed like it was a kind of question about whether the light or the roof could be something different and the unfortunately not was the answer. So if you’re an Nissimova, you’ve got to just get that. You got to move on from that quickly behind the especially if you think they’re about to open that roof, right? They’re not opening. She would know that. Yeah. But it’s more the lights that you know, could something be different right now. The adjustment the players have to make as to all the fans that are coming into their seats. Big body serve now. Backhand line. Short backhand crosscourt. Big one from Sabalanka. Oh, what a shot that caught the sideline. Sabalanka going crosscourt from the ad sideline. She wants that same ball back, too. It’s 15 love. Yeah. Somehow that ball stayed in cuz I actually was thought it was going to go wide, but she actually got a little shape on that ball and it just kind of dropped right at the end at 15. Love Sabalanka. There’s the toss and there’s the serve. It’s out wide. Big backhand from Anisimova. Sabalanka down to a squat. Plays that backhand. Sabalanka backto-back points where she’s had answers for the Anisimova backhand. Yeah, she definitely has. Sabalink has done a great job of anything that’s coming over, whether it’s power or not power. She is staying very balanced, very calm, and hitting through her strokes. At 30 love, Sabalanka goes big. This is one of her most impressive service games in a while. Frustration still visible on the face of Amanda Anisimova. 40 love here for Sabalanka, who has the first set in her bag. She took it 6-3 as she tries to build towards repeating as the US Open champion. There’s the toss flat down the center. The forehand mis hit. Another error for Anamova. That’s 20 unforced errors in this match. Mark Lucero, we said how she just does not look comfortable. She looks bothered by the lights and the setting. Uh is that what’s bothering her right now? Yeah, after the set she had a quick well it wasn’t that quick but she had a conversation with the chair about the lights and I think the chair it sounded like she basically said you know the lights they are what they are and she got on her phone after and I’m sure she called one of the maybe tournament director one of the referees just sort of passed along the concerns but I’m not sure there’s much that she can do that’s what it seemed like the uh she confirmed to her after that opening game of this set saying sorry there’s nothing we can do and now serve into net but Mark just from technical perspective, is it the kind of situation where her toss because it’s high, as Zena was pointing out? Um, it just is she struggles to pick it up in these lights as she puts that second serve into the center of the box and then nets a forehand. It’s love 30, love 15 rather, sorry. As a player, you kind of learn to compensate for that, but a lot of times like the bigger effect is tracking that second shot, like tracking the return to serve because you momentarily in a little bit of a days. It’s been a a frustrating 15 or so minutes for Amanda Anisimova at Love 15. Toss and serve. Chipped back Sabalanka. Animova to her right. Crosscourt with a forehand. Offbalance forehand somehow swung back into the court. Backhand cross flattened out Anisimova. Another great get Sabalanka. Forehandova backhand crosscourt into a backhand drop shot. Here comes Arena Sabalanka. Drop shot of her own. Beautiful from the world number one. I mean the world number one put her shoes on and she literally was running side to side end up having to go forward. Actually that’s where I think Sabarink Linka has really defined being number one. Her court coverage is awesome on this point and has been doing this whole tournament. Yeah, she’s very deceptive because people think that she doesn’t move that well but oh boy did she cover the court well in that last one. First serve T now a forehand slug to Anisimova crosscourt chopped back Sabalanka backhand slice from Anisimova sliced back in off the baseline floated long from Sabalanka and Anisimova on the board. It’s 1530. It’s really interesting watching Sabalinka right now because she literally wants every point. She does not want to give up one point. Well, she knows she’s been in that situation here before against Koko Golf in 2023 when she won that first set and ended up losing the match. So, she doesn’t want to do that again. Only two players actually. It happened twice. Azaranka also against Osaka in 2020 was up a set and lost that match. So, first serve missed from Animova. Now she’s taking a little bit more time. Nine minutes from the hour mark. Long pause, one of the longest from the match. Gets it into the box deep. And now a forehand follows. A forehand Sabalanka into the forehand middle. Feand off the back foot into a forehand crosscourt. Netted by Anisimova. And when Sabalanka is defending like this, Mark, how do you counter that if you’re an Isimova? Yeah, Anisimova has to take balls out of the air. And when Sabalinka is defending a couple corners in a row, those are huge, huge momentum points for her. She feeds off that. But then she has to take swing volleys. 1540 down two break points. Animova from the far baseline serves T and missed it long. Yeah, she thought it was an going for a second serve. 15401 all 63 Sabalinka in that opening set. Anova’s won just four of 16 points behind her second serve here in this final. Two of those have come in this set as she goes out wide and oh almost a great return from Sabalanka but just longa saves the first of what are two break points. That was a great serve there by Amanda making sure she got on the outside of that ball taking Sabalinka way off the court. And it’s one thing when you get way off the court like that and you get your racket on it you know you can’t just put it back in the court. No because uh you’re pretty much not home on the other side. So T serve inside in forehand. What a return from Sabalanka. Now plays forehand drop shot and Isimova comes in. Backhand rips it at Sabalanka who reflexes it past Animova with her own backhand. Taste of her own medicine for the American. And it is Arena Sabalanka who breaks to take the lead in the US Open women’s singles final. She’s up a set and now a break in the second. Up 2-1. And she is in the red zone right now. Arena did a great job right there just getting that one knee on the ground hitting a beautiful shot down the line passing shot. Yeah, I think that right now, you know, she just get a little bit looser after winning that set and feels that the arm can go through a lot more. Sabalena the movement in that game also retrieving a ton of balls and asking the question to Animova that drop shot from Animova during that one of those points and the counter drop shot that was so well done from uh from Sabalanka she’s she’s just showing you know pretty much every single area of her of her play from the baseline to you know counter drop shot to movement and she’s doing just better than Animova overall in this match so far drop shot to back to drop shot is something that we would not have seen a year or a year and a half ago. Yep. The counter drop shot. You’re right. Yep. Mark Lucera, this is certainly the refined game of Savalanka and those improvements we’ve talked about, but for Anissimova just to deal with this, you talked about taking some more of those swing volleys. Is there anything else she can do to try to slow this down? Well, it’s the basic stuff. going to the towel between points and then, you know, you just remind your player of some of the things that you two constantly work on, you know, like, hey, let’s keep trying to move the feet, try to get into the court, take some angles, and then move forward. When she defends, you move up and try to take some swing balls and try to do it at least once in the next game. Just build a little momentum. Now, it’s Sabalanka who’s got plenty of momentum and trying to keep it rolling towards a second straight US Open title. She’s the first woman since Serena Williams to be in three straight US Open finals. And she could be the first woman since Serena to defend her US Open title. First serve missed from Sabalanka. Here’s the second. A middle backhand from Anisimova who moves left. She was a step behind that backhand. And then Sabalanka waited, had extra time and put the forehand behind her. It’s 15 left. That’s another great thing that Sabalinka has worked on is noticing when that ball is going to be in the middle of the court and looking for the opportunity to do something with that short ball. She’s improved that Sophie, I would say probably 60 to 60 to 70%. Yeah, because her service is so good as well and giving her a short reply and she’s attacking it right away. And Isimova nets the forehand. Another unforced error for the American who’s got 21 now in the match. Seven winners to six unforced errors for Sabalanka. 15 winners, 21 unforced errors for Anissimova. I agree with Mark. She needs to find a way to slow herself down. Amanda does. She’s just looking up at her box and just like almost like in disgust. It is what it is. It’s part of that’s tennis. Well, and plus you have a player who just, you know, won the first set and feels like, you know, she’s on top of the world and she’s relaxing. And when you have Sabalanka relaxing, you know that ball is going to be triggered even faster with that acceleration and elasticity. And she feels a lot more relaxed than Animova. A little bit tighter with her shots. 305 Sabalanka. Deep body serve that Animova couldn’t handle. It’s 4015. Yeah, that body serve right there was just I mean there was nothing really Amanda could do. She’s using it every once in a while, but that was perfect timing for that ball right down the into the belly of Amanda. 4015 for Sabalanka. Toss and serve. She smacks that one out wide. Good forehand return from Misimovo who has to hustle after the backhand but can’t get there. Mark, is the Sabalanka serve getting better? It is getting more consistent. I mean, she made a lot of first serves there. I think she’s also benefited from an adjustment a couple games ago. She started going to the Anisova body more, especially on second serves. For Anisova, when you give her a little bit of direction and she can move in the angle and get the forward momentum, obviously she returns the ball great. When you hit that second serve at her, she has a harder time moving forward and taking it early and getting a clean hit on the ball. So, here is Anissimova in a must-hold game. They’re all mustold games at this point. Down a set and a break here in the second and Arena Sabalanka is picking up steam. Now it’s Anisimova at 13 from the near baseline. We’re two minutes from the hour mark. First serve off the net and long. Second serve deep into the body. A backhand from Sabalank. Backhand into the open ad corner for Anissimova. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a a clean winner of that sort. It has been a while, but one thing she did well there is she got those feet in the perfect position to hit. When she to me once she starts getting a little nervous, the feet don’t they stop moving. I agree. 15 love up the center and deep and the forehand punch back into net from Sabalanka. 30 love. You realize that if if Sabalanka was to win and repeat from last year and Sar was doing the same thing, it would be the first time that two women and men repeat at the same time. It would be the first time in history. This never happened. No, we talked about this last night. Forehand middle from Sabalanka 9596. Sampas and Grath did it here. They both did it. Both did it. Sure. I looked this up last night and told you this. Thanks for listening. No, I was listening but I couldn’t believe it. Yeah, I still don’t believe it. You got Sophie. Wait a minute. 95 and 96. I figured it was that because I was looking. I was curious who’s repeated twice. You know, men and women back to back. Yeah. 9596 they both won. I still don’t believe. Serve out wide into the backhand that comes into the middle now. Forehand inside. Oh, just wide from Sabalanka. It’s 4015. Maybe there’s some optimism here for Anissimova because it seems like that Sabalanka level that was, you know, touching this closed roof a minute ago, it’s still very high, but maybe down just a bit. I just think she has to tweak that toss. It’s tough to, you know, make that adjustment in the middle of a major final. You are a professional player. Well, she’s got that hold going. That was big. That was huge. And the crowd senses it as well, but it’s still Sabalanka up a set and a break. She’ll serve at 3-2 on US Open Radio presented by American Express. To serve, chips back Sabalanka and Isimova to her right crosscourt with a forehand offbalance for somehow swung back into the court. Backhand cross flattened out in Isimova. Another great get Sabalanka forehand and Nissimova backhand crosscourt into a backhand drop shot. Here comes Arena Sabalanka. Drop shot of her own. Beautiful from the world number one. I mean the world number one put her shoes on and she literally was running side to side. End up having to go forward. Her court coverage is awesome. T serve inside in forehand. What a return from Sabalanka. Now plays forehand drop shot and Isimova comes in. Backhand rips it at Sabalanka who reflexes it past Anisimova with her own backhand. taste of her own medicine for the American and it is Arena Sabalanka who breaks to take the lead in the US Open women’s singles final. She’s up a set and now a break in the second up 2-1 and she is in the red zone right now. [Music] [Music] [Music] Arena Sabalanka three games away from repeating as the US Open champion up a set in 3-2 serving from the near baseline to Amanda Anisimova. It’s a forehand into the crosscourt forehand. Now forehand line into the backhand. Hangs up. Here comes Anisimova. Takes the swinging volley. She had all day to wait for that ball to come down. Crowd getting behind the American. It’s love 15. And Mark Masherno is on his feet right now going yes she did it. Aren’t you Mark? He’s not listening. He can’t even hear it. Oh yeah, I am not. But I I like it inside. Love it. But you you are on your feet cuz you’re so happy she finally hit a a swinging volley. But I tell you, she didn’t have any opportunities to do so. Those balls were coming fast from the racket of Sabalanka. Love 15 for Sabalanka. There’s the toss. And she’s going out wide, but just missed it. Sabalanka stoic. Second serve here. Love 15. She goes right into the body and Isamova te’s off with a backhand. And Sabalanka flies the forehand long. Marcus, is this just a kind of everybody’s excited for Anisimova or is the Savalanka level dropped a bit? No, but Anisimova’s created some momentum. She took great shot into the corner, took the ball out of the air in the first point and second point stepped in, cut the angle and ripped the ball and rushed the Sabalinka forehand, but it’s it’s the adjustments and then creating some sort of momentum to try to turn the match at love 30 Sabalanka into net. You know, it’s it’s funny because when she was practicing this morning, she was hitting so many of those swing bies uh Animova and you know, we barely seen any and she double faults Sabala for sure. I think you’re not seeing them because she really hasn’t had a chance. I mean, and when she does get a chance to move in, I actually think that she needs to just keep trying to pick that ball up a little bit faster. And when her feet are moving into that ball, she gets those opportunities. Triple break point. Sabalanka goes body, backhand, crosscourt. A good return. Now backhand line. Good. A winner and a break for Amanda Anisimova. We’re back on level terms in this second set. Three game. That was a clinical Not only a break, but a break at one. Thank you. Well, she’s bringing the house down right now. Crowd is so behind her, but we were exactly right there in the first set. Three all. So, this is now. Serve goes into the backhand of Sabalanku. Comes in, goes inside with a crushed forehand flicked back. Now backhand volley almost missed from Sabalanka, but leaping towards the left sideline. Caught it in. It’s love 15. This is where I said Savalica has made such dramatic like she comes in, you know, improvements. A year and a half ago, she would have never come in off of that volley. Now she’s coming in knifing that volley. She almost missed it, but she was up there and it was beautiful backhand volley. Love 15 and Nissimova goes into the body chip back. Now Anamova goes forehand. Just played it crosscourt on the ad side. 15 all. Look, I mean, Savalanka has won two to three tournament singles each year since 2018 to today, but she also has won one or two doubles tournament between 2019 and 2021. Became number one in the world also in doubles playing with me and you know that she’s comfortable in the net and it’s showing right there and that’s what Max Mey wants to see. She he wants her to come forward more often. Yeah, she’s only been forward twice in this match. She’s won both of those points. Now in Isimova at 15 all, double faults. Just when you think that she’s right there, right back in comes those mistakes. This is the roller coaster I was, you know, talking about in our matches. It’s hard to get the consistency level to stay tuned for a longer lapse of time. Now here’s Anisimova. We’re back on serve. Second set, three all. 1530 goes T leaning right blocking Sabalanka. Animova waits. Oh, she missed the forehand. Was going inside in. She had the open right sideline and just missed it and finds herself down two break points. She actually missed that forehand cuz she actually moved a little bit forward into the ball and then pulled her weight off of the ball and that ball just took off. Down two breaks break points rather. She’s in danger of being broken for the second time here in this second set. Serve out wide forehand. A great return from Sabalanka to get the break right back. Incredible display from Arena Sabalanka. Sabalanka leads who now moves back in front three in this second set. And Mark, that just seemed like okay, a great return game from Anisimova, but a better return game from Sabalanka. Well, she was really predictable that game. She served forehand at least maybe the last three points in a row and then the last one, Sabalanka was just waiting for it. Savaleno was able to tee off on that spot. And we’re getting a look at the Tiffany engraver who might be getting to work shortly on that US Open trophy. It’s going to be presented by Chris Ever. 50 years since she won her first US Open title. But a quirk of the calendar, it was 50 years ago to this day that she won the actual day. The actual day, September 6th, she won her first US Open title. That was on hard true when she won that first US Open title. Hard courts and a much bigger court for Arena Sabalanka here in 2025. Also a much bigger paycheck. She’ll get $5 million if she can win these next two games. Two and a half. Uh for what did Chrissy get? I don’t know. But I don’t think it was 5 million. 20,000. She got a voucher. I said voucher. But Arena Sabalanka two games from the finish line. This has been, you know, we talk about how long it took, you know, there’s a lot of talk about Anisimova and, you know, the the path she took to now get to she’s going to be in the top five, but for Sabalanka and the way she broke onto the scene and at the majors, it was just the she’s very volatile and she struggled to harness that, but she has been so consistent now on the verge of making it backto back at the US Open. Yeah, the consistency level got her to be number one. But I think the doubles play got her to also be number one because she played so many doubles. She got to, you know, get this opportunity in doubles to play on the biggest court and when she got there to play singles, she’s like, “Oh, this feels familiar. This is good.” And that is huge. I think you also get to you get used to winning used to playing pressure situations. And then I just love the fact with doubles, you learn the whole entire court. Mhm. Yeah, there’s no foreign area on court. Even though if you look at the stats, you might think it would be the net. Sabalanka’s only been in twice. She’s won both of those points, but they’ve been big points as she serves into the body. Now forehand punch back off the baseline from Sabalanka. Forehand into the forehand, looped into another flattened out forehand. Savalanka Anissimova crosscourt forehand. They trade crosscourt and then Anissimova flies her forehand long and wheels behind her towards her box in frustration. It’s 15 love. Yeah, a lot of frustration coming out of the Amanda forehand there. Just pulling up in my opinion. She needs to stay with it. But she actually, I keep saying this over and over, she’s not she’s reaching. She’s not moving up to the ball. Yeah, the footwork is not as good. The little adjustment steps that she normally does. Glad serve out to the backhand and Sabalanka going line with the backhand. She’s finding the zone more and more here. Sabalena, she’s feeling it. Like we say, you say zone, I just say just absolutely beautiful. Like a cat, she is on that ball on every ball, just seeking it out. Absolutely beautiful. Wide serve punch back from Anishimova. Now goes line with the backhand. It’s flicked back off the baseline. Now a forehand backhand sliced into net from Samalanka. 305. This is huge right now for both players of course, but especially for Animova. Yeah, I just think right now the team has got whatever those little words that you use in practice to fire her up, you got to be using them right now. 305 for Sabalanka from the far baseline. 70 minutes into this women’s final, she goes body and Isamova trying to go inside out. Mark, what has Savalanka done over the last few minutes that’s, you know, blocked Anisimova from doing much? She’s been really physical. She’s really gotten down low when Anisova’s tried to rush her, especially in the corners. You got a low pace and then accelerated with racket head speed. Really impressive. Sabalanka 4015. Right down center, blocked on the backand from now comes in, drives the backhand long. Sabalanka one game away from going backto back at the US Open. Yeah, Sabalinka is looking over to her her team box right now. Shook her racket. I just even three games ago, you could see it in the eyes of Sabalinka. She turned on a whole another level. Her focus just went to a whole Well, she’s just Yeah, she’s more stable. I mean, that’s the whole thing. She’s stable not only with her with her footwork and her her body language, but she’s stable as a, you know, her shots are going, she’s not going up or down, you know, having some great strikes and then missing from nowhere and to anywhere in the court. We haven’t seen that as much. And that that’s why she’s ahead. It’s because the stability in her game, the consistency in this in this two sets so far is so much better than Animova. Body serve from Animova and Sabalanka returned it into net. It’s 15 love. And now the toss goes up. The serve comes down the tee. The forehand’s netted. Sabalanka looking frustrated after both of these points. It’s 30 love for Animova. This is what I do. Not like, but love about Amanda. She doesn’t literally. She goes away in spurts, but her but she competes cuz some people just go away and they never come back. She will at least try to come back and compete. True. which is hard to do when you have those spurs and you have so many let down. First serve missed out wide toss. Second serve she goes out wide again. Now a deep forehand return too deep. You heard a shout from an Isimova as that came back long. 40 love and now was the right time to just kind of keep telling yourself you never know. She’s seen those matches that where Sabalinka’s been in and then somebody’s been able to come back. She’s just got to stay in it. Flatten out wide. She missed it wide. Well, the worst you can do is to make Sabalanka earn it by uh serving for the match. So, let’s hope she holds here at 40 love. And that 40 love goes right into the body. The backhand return deep from Sabalanka off her back foot loops a forehand. Waiting for it is Anisimova with a middle forehand. Now gliding left, hangs up a backhand. Sabalanka waits at the net. Hit the overhead. Sends the overhead. Somehow Anisimova got the racket on it, but that’s all she got. It’s 4015. That’s just great work there by Sabalinka just moving that ball around and then looking for the opportunity to move forward and just pounced on a very short ball. 4015 for Inisimova who was born in Freehold, New Jersey, not far from here, but moved to Florida at a young age with her family. It’s been home base ever since as that first serve flies along. You call that a stone throw? Maybe. It’s a little more than a stone. Oh, come on. You can throw it there. No. From here. No. Great pizza place in Freeold. One of the best I think in New Jersey. Serve comes down the center. They’re not an advertiser. No. No. No. Free lunches here. Back hand netted from Anisimova as that back foot came out. 4030. Great depth. Really? Yeah. Great depth. I mean, there’s really nothing you can do when that ball is coming in like that. And it’s just sliding. I mean, we’re sitting here watching the ball actually sped up the moment it hit that court. and just slid right into Amanda’s racket. 4030 and what looked like a very straightforward game for Inisimova. It’s now anything but at 35. She misses that first serve long. Sabalanka one game away from the title. And she’ll get a look at a second serve here. Floating it in. Playing it safe was an Isimova. Sabalanka beat the return into the net. So they sit down and when they get up it will be Arena Sabalanka serving for her second consecutive US Open title. Mark Lucero, what does Anisimova have to do to keep this match going? Oh, you got to win the first point here because if you can get up in this game with Talinka trying to serve out the match, I think it’s going to get really juicy. But if she, you know, comes up with an ace or gets a couple of free points to start the game, you know, the pressure sort of goes away. So I think it’s critical here. Obviously good return. Be smart. Use the middle target and then go from there. But it’s all about first return through the middle of the court. Put some pressure on Sabalinka. Yeah, it’s just I’m right on it, Mark. It’s just with she just got to just realize tell herself point to point, one point at a time. You have to because Sabalika is going to try to finish it here. Let’s be real. So you can’t worry about what she’s doing. All you can do is worry about when that ball’s on the other side of the floor. Yeah, I mean, you know, right now in our mind is is all about making that return. I would I would definitely go down the middle, do no doubt, and you know, make Sabalena play, but uh it’s all going to find out be finding out who’s going to have the most guts to go after that ball and create opportunity for themsel. And uh for Animova, you know, she’s back to the wall. Let’s see how she’s reacting in this game. Arena Sabalanka, 27 years old. She’ll leave here as the world number one, but she could leave here holding the US Open trophy for the second straight year. She’s to the line trying to become the first woman since Serena Williams to repeat as the US Open champion. And what a way this would be to win her 100th match at a major. She’s 99 and 26. 33 of those wins have come here at the US Open. And big backhand return from Anisimova now comes in to the forehand to open it up. Well, Mark talked about the importance of Anisimova winning the first point of that game. She did it right there on one of the best returns we’ve seen in a while. And she did it in in moving toward the ball. Racket went toward the ball, but she got up there so quick, not giving Sabalinka any opportunity to get back into the court. Love 15 for Sabalanka. Toss and serve right at the body. Big forehand again from an Isimova. And that back hands into the net. This crowd is roaring as an Isimova has taken the first two points. I said it earlier. She is a great competitor. Yeah. And she can’t she she can’t return any better than this right now. That’s 242 here. We need We need her to keep at it. This is how she’s going to get back in this match. At love 30. It’s Sabalanka from the near baseline. There’s the toss and the serve. Smacked into the middle of the net. Courtney Cox right behind Arena Sabalanka who puts the toss up. One of the many celebrities on hand today. They’ve seen a good match and there could be a few more twists and turns as that wide serve was played back wide from Animova. It’s 1530. Second serve. I know it was a great serve, but you got to try to find bigger targets. Why is she going for so much at love 30? You got to make her hit. She’s love 30. You got to make it. You got to make her hit. You got to make it down the middle. Would have been the perfect opportunity. Sabalanka 1530 has some daylight here and went tea. But and same thing here. Got to make that return down the middle. Put the pressure back on to Sabalinka. No free points here. Anisova will look at a second serve from Sabalanka at 1530. It comes into her body. She goes middle with a backhand from one knee. A squat forehand winner. And then a roar from the world number one. I mean, you have to just give her that. She actually because Sabalica, that ball came back to her. She put her knee on the ground and just rolled that ball right crosscourt for a winner and then she wore it out loud. She is psyched. She knows that that was a huge point for her and she knows she’s two points from the US Open title at 30 all. Sabalanka from the near baseline. Huge serve out wide and Isimova leans right. And here comes Sabalanka. Crushes the forehand and Nissimova’s there with a backhand lob overhead into the net. Sabalanka missed it from the service line into a wide open court and instead of championship point Sabalanka, it’s break point on Isimova. Savalinka actually thought that she was not going to get that ball, but Amanda did a great job just getting that ball back up in the air. And Savalinka is not happy cuz she knew she had that whole court wide open. Yeah. But she didn’t get back quickly enough. She didn’t move her feet at all. No. What a Well, the the love was absolutely grand. Down a break point. Here’s Sabalanka into net. Oh, they want more. Let’s see if she’s going for this return. Huge second serve here for Animova. She loves that. Down the line. Toss and the serve comes up right into the body. Big backhand crosscourt return. Backhand cross from Sabalanka. Line backand Nissimova running forehand is just in from Sabalanka. Backhand Anisimova back down the line now a crosscourt forehand. Forehand slug to Isimova. Backhand beat back. Sabalanka short. Animova breaks back to level terms. Five all here in the second set. Amazing. You say an amazing competitor. She just hit those balls so deep, so hard, she forced her way to five off. Yeah, I mean she deserves it because I tell you the two first returns on the first two points were fabulous. obviously missed that third one, but then started to put it back in the middle of the court and uh yeah, she’s a great competitor. Oh, what a match this has. We come in now. Mark, what did she do there just to get that? That was guts. I mean, it was the effort at 30 all I mentioned earlier for offensive players when they can squeeze out a point on defense. It can be such a momentum turn. Can she keep holding on to this momentum? Five balls. Yes, she can. Right down the center. Sabalanka only knocked it down. We also must remember she was kind of out of it with Naomi too. Absolutely right in that semifinal. We had two epic semifinals. Could we have an epic final andova big down the center? Somehow that return went back from Sabalanka. Crosscourt forehand open line for Sabalanka to send the forehand for Anisimova rather. It’s Sabalanka looking frustrated and 30 love for Anissimova. was two points in the match. Sabalanka on her serve. So you know how frustrated this is because once again it’s Animova having a streak of unbelievable winners and gets in this uh in this set. 30 Love right into the body of the forehand return just caught the baseline. Animova can’t believe it as her forehand found the net. That was kind of a desperation return from Sabalanka. Yeah, Sabalinka was just a little she was happy with that, but just know that she let some shots get away from her, but that action was a great point to come back on here because now the pressure is back on Amanda. Anamova’s gotten this to five all. She’s come back from breaks down now twice in this second set and goes body serve but missed it long. Second serve points better in the f in the second set than they were in the first, but still not great. She’s won six of 13. She won just two of 10 in the opening set. Second serve into the backhand return of Sabalanka. Backhand crosscourt from both players. Sabalanka nets her backhand. 4015 for Anissimova. I still keep going when Amanda’s feet are moving and she’s getting that firm position into her strokes. They are coming off so quick that Sabalinka cannot get ready for those shots. 4015 for Anisimova off the far baseline. 82 minutes into this match. She was going T but missed it into the net. Second serve on the way. There’s the toss up the serve. Oh, she was going out wide and missed it wide. Maybe rolled the dice a bit more than you might expect on a second serve. She definitely rolled the dice. You know what? But she has to. She I mean she’s 4015. That was a chance that she needed to take on that shot. Crowd still roaring even after that sixth double fault from Animova. She’s back ready to work at 4030. The toss goes up the surf flat out wide. Big backhand is long and a hold for Animova. She has come all the way back twice in this second set. And now Arena Sabalanka, who a few minutes ago was serving for the championship, will instead be serving just to force a second set tie break. Still on serve. Got to love tennis. This is all about tennis and what can’t change in just a split second. She’s still looking at her box and looking at her coach and he’s moved on the change over saying, “Oh, what’s going on with my serve?” Tell you what she said. She said, “I can’t serve.” and Mark uh her coach uh Rick Lee Showers was telling her to be quiet essentially. Is that just a don’t think about that right now? Think about all the things you’re doing. Well, just just be present, you know, be be in the moment. Lock it in. Keep it moving and just focus on what you’re trying to do. And you know, if anybody is surprised by this, like they don’t know Amanda and Samova. I mean, her level of resilience as a person is something that, you know, I think we can all speak to, but she is a tough tough person. Very cerebral. Yeah, I know that she’s kind of thought through all these things and kind of evaluated where she is. And I am not surprised at all. And I think all the pressure right here is on Marina Salinka. But I think if they don’t know her, they they are getting to know her and they would know that she is resilient because it took a lot for her to step back and step and then to come back and play this level of tennis. I mean that’s amazing resilience there. Yeah. Two years ago she spent most of the year and we say it it’s not just away from the tour. She was away from tennis, just not even picking up a racket, was taking art classes, a new life, a normal life. And that uh seems to have galvanized her now that she’s back and showing those guts that Mark was just talking about. And Sabalanka, who a few minutes ago was serving for the title, is serving to try to keep this second set alive and missing that first serve out wide. First serve missed. Second serve right into the center of the box. Anisimova strikes with a deep forehand. Moves left for a backhand crosscourt. Back hand cross from Sabalanka. Backhand line from Anisimova. Forehand off the tape. Then it drops in into a forehand that Anisimova mish hit. 15 love. Actually stopped moving her feet a little bit there. And I still think on that ball has no pace on it. You have to move up to the ball a little bit. It’s even harder. So you got to make it up. You got to make everything happen when there is no pace on the ball. from the footwork to the uh arm and acceleration. 15 love for Sabalanka. Toss and that serve goes into the backhand middle now. Forehand slug long by Sabalanka. It’s 15 all. Good return making Sabalanka earn it. Good depth down the middle. Once again, each player has won two tie breaks so far in this US Open. Of course, Anisimova won the most pressure-filled tiebreak. It was a must-win second set tiebreak after she dropped a first set tie break. And that was in her semifinal to Naomi Osaka. Could be heading to another must-win second set tie break if Sabalanka could take these next two points as Sabalanka thumps what’s shockingly her first ace of this match out. Not only the first ace. Wow. And she really thumped it, but she also she’s it’s flat, but she has enough spin at the end of it. It tails off two points away at 305. There’s the toss and there’s the serve. But even coming in the match, I mean 35 aces for Animova to 24 aces before this match. So you know that Anisimova has been serving better overall. 305 body serve. Animova goes middle with a forehand. But a nice reflex from Sabalanka to take the forehand around the court. That was a 79 mph serve that Anissimova attacked. But Sabalanka didn’t panic, stayed calm, and redirected the winner. Well, she shortened her her swing, I mean, and quickly got to the ball and the racket head right at point of contact. And uh that was very well done. At 4015, Sabalanka flat out wide and we will decide this second set and maybe this US Open in a tie break. First to seven, win by two. Familiar spot as we were just saying for Animova who was in a must-win second set tiebreak and she won against Naomi Osaka in her semifinal. Also took a tie break from Maya joint in the second round. Sabalena won tie breaks against Cter Mova and Fernandez. Mark Lucero. What are you looking for early? Oh these first couple points are huge. Whoever can make first serves make first shots. And it’s all about defending that first shot from the opponent as well. Denisimova serving first and dotting the outside of the tea with an ace. Fourth ace of the match or second of this set. She didn’t do it. She was plum on that center tea. More importantly is Arena Salanka is 20 and one in tiebreak in 2025 and Animova is 8 and2. So you know that tiebreak is strong is definitely on the side of Sabalanka. Can she continue in that streak which is pretty amazing to only have lost one tie break. It is strong. But she also to me is going against the fact that she has played matches like this before at this particular situation where somebody’s coming back and I think that that could rattle her a little bit. And she’s got to get a second serve in. Does a backhand. Oh, almost from an Isimova who went line. She didn’t go middle. She went line and just missed it wide. It’s 1-1. And that just tells me that, you know, Amanda’s going for it. She’s like she’s going to leave it all out there on the court, which is what she should be doing. Sabalanka served for the championship a few minutes ago, got broken, now 1-1 in this second set time break. Missed that serve long. Hour 29 gone by. Five bounces from Sabalanka. Got a look at a second serve and it’s a forehand return. And it’s long. It just flew from Animova. So the servers handling business so far through the first three points. That’s two and four serve. You’ve got to make her play again. This is like all these balls are like golden. They’re like match points right now. But Sophie, you said something earlier. She’s not She’s standing in the same position on the second serve. She’s not even moving. She’s not trying. Yeah. At one two and missed that serve well wide into the alley. As the clock hits the 1 and a half hour mark and isova the 24 year old’s toss the second serve into the backhand of Sabalanka. Now backhand middle a forehand middle from Sabalanka. Forehand crosscourt from Anisimova. She’s got the open line. Tried to go up it with a forehand but missed it wide. And that’s the first point that a returner has won in this tie break. It’s a point for Sabalanka. It’s one three for Anisimova and the whole box of Sabalanka got up after his points. They know how big this is for her. They’re right there with her. Second serves continue to be a problem for Anissimova. Seven of 16 in this set. Nine of 26 for the match. And she’s got to get this one right here. She missed that first serve by Mile. Now four bounces and a must execute second serve. Oh, she missed it long. Five double faults for Amandaova in this second set and none hurt worse than that one. Savalanka three points from the title. I was thinking about something that um just when you mentioned about the the whole box stood up. I mean she’s the number one player in the world and she still added someone to her team. Yeah. That just means that she’s still trying to improve. Well, she did get rid of u of u uh Gavin McMill, the you know the the biomechanic coach and then she added Max Mary serve out wide serve winner from Sabalanka. The backhand return into net forimova. One-way traffic here in this tiebreak as they change ends. Mark it is very quiet and ash as this pro Anisimova crowd I think realizes what is about to happen. It’s just gone by really quickly. Like these last five points in a row just seem to have flown by. There was maybe one rally that was extended past four balls and then the rest have been first shot errors or self-inflicted. That’s absolutely right. 111 a six shot rally then the double fault and then that service winner from Sabalanka who is two points from the title 51. And she’s at the near baseline toss and there’s the serve flat out wide and Isimova blocks it back. Forehand open court. A winner for Sabalanka and she’s got a whole bunch of championship points. 6-1 in this second set tie break. Savalinka has done a great job of using that one two big serve out wide stepping into the court and blasting that forehand down the line for a winner. Yeah, I mean this tiebreak has been just so so down and uh from Animova giving way too many points especially on the return. The first serve has been the problem all afternoon for Animova down championship point. Gets a good first serve out wide. Blocked back wide and long from Sabalanka. Well, we’ve seen Animova show off her comeback chops before. She was down a break on two separate occasions in this set. saved both including once when Sabalanka was serving for the championship. But now it’s another championship point for Sabalanka. Anisimova from the far baseline. The toss. Oh, she was going tee and sent it long. Another mustd do second serve as Sabalanka twirls the racket in anticipation. She can defend her title. Here’s the toss. The second serve floats it in. A forehand crushed long from Sabalanka. wanted to win it in style, but that’s two championship points that come and go. And yes, Sabalanka will serve now, but she’s seen those points come and go. So, not a champion yet. 63 in the tiebreak. What she’s been doing is actually when she misses things that she thinks that she shouldn’t have missed, has been coming back with some crucial first serves. If she can do that right here, she will be the US Open champion from the near baseline. The toss, the ball goes up, smack serve. knew she was going big, but a let and another first serve on the way. Anisimova hopping up and down in place. An hour 33 minutes so far. How much longer will we be out here? First serve here on championship point for the champion. Arena Sabalanka. The serve out wide. The backhand return is wide. The second year in a row. Arena Sabalanka is the US Open champion. She’s the number one in the world again and she is the US Open champion again. Sabalanka on her knees behind the baseline. She’s sobbing. Her team joyous. And now the head in the hands for the 27year-old who sits alone here in New York City for the second year in a row as she beats Amanda Anisimova who comes around the net to give her a big hug. A much better showing in a major final for Anisamova, but she comes up short for the second straight major. And for the second straight year, Arena Sabalanka is your US Open champion. 63 76 after she took that clinical tie break over Anisimova. Yeah, the first thing I want to say, you know, well done to Amanda and she should, you know, of course we’re all competitors and she’s not going to be happy with that, but for her to come back the way she did and to make it to the finals and then it seemed like she was pretty much out of there and she was able to get herself back together, she has to just take this and keep learning from it. But Arena Savalinka, I mean, I can’t keep I I mean, it’s just been amazing to me how she keeps working on improving herself to get better and better and better. And I think to me, the biggest thing for her in this is she was able to hold her personality, attitude, all of that. Bring bring it back together. It’s it’s controlled aggression. Mark is watching Sabalanka take that joyous path up to her team courtside. Yeah, I thought remarkable maturity from her dealing with a couple different pushes that Anna Samova made. You know, she’s added variety to her game. She’s added variety, as was mentioned, to her team in this quest to get better and to, you know, shake off whatever skeletons maybe she felt from the rest of this year in her previous finals appearances. I mean, really impressive way she held her nerve in the breaker there and and just shut the door. And she has now arrived to her team courtside. Lots of pugs in that box courtside. And it we also as we watch this joyous scene, we look at the other side and Anisimova is sort of staring uh in a in a days from her seat courtside towards her team on the other side of the court. Uh that’s a match certainly a lot better than the Wimbledon final, but there’s probably Mark for Anissimova just the thought of several opportunities at different moments that just kind of went the wrong way for her in this match. the disappointment I think too of not feeling like you put your best foot forward, you know, for a second time. But I mean, I think you have to feel good with a little bit of perspective. It takes some time obviously to have perspective and that’s what you know what you have your team in place for. But yeah, and it’s tough to be out here too to be forced to stay out, you know, when your opponent’s celebrating. I think to I would say to Amanda’s team, help her find joy in the improvement that she did because it’s actually amazing. And the reason why I say that is that, you know, we don’t want her to go backwards and start feeling like, you know, I got to win, you know, the pressure and and people around you start t start putting on their stuff on to you. She has done an amazing job. She’s going to keep improvement. Her ground strokes are amazing. You know, just keep working because she’s going to get a couple of these. Well, here is the difference that you have to really uh talk about. difference with Anisimova being 24 years old and with players who have gone through the same exact feeling that she’s going and I’m talking about on Jabber never got a major twice in a final pini twice in a final but both of them both of them and all these players one of them I’m not even sure if she’s semi-retire or retired but both of these other player are up there in age she’s only 24 years old and you have to remember that if you’re her Yes, that’s twice that you lost, but you still have so much ahead of you because of the way you play, because of how much you can improve to get even better as these other players. Nah, very difficult. 29, 28, this is not the same thing. Plus, you’re much taller. I mean, think about, you know, Pini to get to where she got in two major finals. It’s an incredible achievement. But you have somebody who is a very complete player. What she needs is to be able to play in the same level or better throughout a full match. And that is not right now what she’s capable. That’s why I keep going back. Find the joy in what she’s doing and improving because her resilience I think comes from her believing in herself, but there’s some doubt that’s coming there. The belief needs to be the love and the joy that she has for her playing this game, not anybody else. I agree. Stacy Alistister, the tournament director, in her final US Open. She’s uh pulling in closely to Anissimova, who looks pretty emotional and appears to be crying. She’s got her head in the towel as we await the trophy ceremony. That’s a point March just made about how difficult it is for Anisimova to now have to sit here for this when you would think she wants to get off the court. But you we talked a lot about Anissimova. Let’s talk about Arena Sabalanka who had done everything this year in tennis except win a major title. She had won big titles. She had won Miami. She had won Madrid. She even had a title in Brisbane in the finals of now three majors coming into today. And she finally is able to lift a trophy as a major champion in 2025. It’s remarkable just to see the consistency from a player who early in her career was not consistent. When you say consistency, I mean it’s absolutely mindblowing that she forgot about all that stuff that happened at the Australian Open. Then she forgot about what happened at the French and then the woman and then you come back. I would love to know is this one even sweeter that you got one before the year was over. Oh, I think this one is sweeter because she just so and you doubled it. Well, she saw ch. Yeah, you double it come to back to back. But she also saw chances, you know, getting slimmer and slimmer. You know, by the end of the year, you’re like, okay, well, I have one left. That’s about it. So, it’s either now or never. But you know again she has won two to three tournament in singles each year since 2018 to today that’s a huge achievement and this year so far it’s not over four tournaments under a belt that is humongous for a player and uh the consistency you’re talking about this I remember her when she played in Shenzen where Shenzen was not you know the final of the of the WT but it was like the secondary final and it would be like okay is she on or is she off That is really what it was. It was like that here the first time she played here this tournament. Yeah. I mean it was like okay this could be some 45 to 50 unforced errors to you know to another 40 winners. It was like watching her was h Yeah. Good shot. Oh that’s incredible. Oh wow. That is oh and and you were so you know angry sometime because you see the potential but then she worked you know with uh obviously Tur Chernov what was his name? uh uh the the Russian player who really helped her to start putting a little bit more top spin in her ball. Uh and she learned that and she said, “Well, you know, I don’t have to hit a winner on every single ball.” Uh and she got herself in so much better shape as well. The footwork incredible, the serve, she was willing to go through the motion of saying my serve and the double faulting. She was number one in the world in double fault. You know, you don’t want to be number one in double fault. Get help. To your point on that, is why I really start paying a lot of attention to her. Who says it’s not the coach’s fault, it’s my fault. On this day and time, all these players, they want to throw it to the coach. Yeah. The chess coach, by the way, when it doesn’t work. When she gets in crucial situations like this, she knows that she has to bear down on what she knows to correct her serve. And it’s incredible. And you look at the stats when you talk about the Sabalanka of a few years ago. And here’s a US Open final. One ace, two double faults, 13 winners, 15 unforced errors, and she’s the US Open champion. That is Sabalanka playing under control, playing within herself, a welldeserved champion for the second straight year the US Open as she beats an American for the second year in a row. Let’s check one final time with Mark Lucero courtside. And Mark, just what’s your takeaway going to be? Your biggest takeaway from what we’ve seen from Sabalanka over this tournament and over this afternoon? I I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is her athleticism. Like she’s playing a way now that allows her to showcase her athleticism. I think she’s the best athlete on the WTA tour in terms of size, strength, speed, and she uses that to create opportunities for herself to steal points and then to play offense most importantly. We saw all of that on display this afternoon. Mark Lucero, this was uh it was cool to see Anamova back in a major final. Somebody you worked with for a while and somebody who has certainly been through it. You detailed her the ups and downs of her career, but she’s going to be inside the top five for the first time, but it’s Arena Sabalanka as the US Open champion. Mark Lucero, great job courtside. Thank you. Yeah, and it’s normal when you think about what Anis Mova is going through right now. I mean, she’s obviously very very hurt by having maybe a chance to push it to a third set and knowing that the tiebreak again was a streak of unforced errors on the return. Didn’t really put herself in having a chance to win this tiebreak and push it to a third. But, you know, hopefully by Monday she’ll look at the ranking and say, “Okay, you know, this is very positive and and that’s what she’s going to take from it.” The same way that when she lost six love, six love at Wimbledon, she got out of there and she said, “You know what? This was then, this is now.” and she changed completely the tide and turned the tide just by beating and getting her revenge against against Ishiante. Tonight, today it was the revenge from definitely Sabalinka. The team, she understands that it’s very big and you have to keep it together. And that team, they’re working really well. And we’ve got the trophy ceremony right here. Women’s Singles Championship Trophy Celebration. To deliver the championship trophies, please welcome Future American Tennis Champions, 12-year-old Jacques Khan Gunlap from JMTA Randles Island, New York, and 11year-old Emma Zu Ling from Sporttime Port, Washington. [Music] And now joined by USA chairman of the board, president and interim co-ceeo Brian Bahaley, please welcome six time US Open women’s singles champion Chris Ever. [Music] Tonight we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Chris Ever’s first US Open win and her 50 years of contributions to American tennis. Before the records and before the rivalries, before the world knew her name, tennis’s Cinderella, Chris Ever. She was a little girl with a two-handed backhand and single-minded ambition. In 1975, Chris Ever won her first US Open title. Chrissy played with calm and cool and silent ferocity. She redefined what greatness can look like by showing us that grace under pressure is fueled by a quiet fire. Stard Lloyd advances to the final. She played with precision and competed with players and she led with uncommon purpose. There are people in all sport who just continue to do what they do best. For more than a decade, she was the president of the Women’s Tennis Association, regally lifting the game for countless women. A mentor, a mother, and as chairperson of the US Foundation, a passionate advocate for the next generation. The legacy is more than what she’s built. It’s what she’s passed on. Decades later, her imprint is everywhere on every court, in every comeback. And every girl who dares to dream, Chris ever became a teacher, a fighter, a powerful voice. One of these women will be making history and it will change her life forever. There it is. Happy anniversary, Chrissy. Your legend will live forever. There she is. Chris Everett, the 1975 United States Open champion, winning the championship she never won before. Now, please welcome our host, Mary Curillo. Hi everyone. What a special night of tennis. Thanks to the players and to the fans and a special congratulations to Chrissy Ever, my queen. Also joining us on stage on behalf of presenting sponsor JP Morgan, please welcome CFO of the Commercial and Investment Bank, Breckie Deest. [Music] To begin our trophy presentation, we’d like to recognize our chair umpire for tonight’s final, uh, Mariana Velvich. Come on up. On behalf of the USA, Brian Bealey will present you with a gift from the tournament. [Music] All right. Now, we’d like to invite the finalist, Amanda Anna Sabova, up to the stage. [Applause] [Music] It got pretty good there in the end, didn’t it? Amanda, you really made that a match. Um, you’ve been in two major finals. You played a lot of a lot of tennis. Would you say overall you’ve had a pretty good summer? Yeah, it’s been um a great summer. I mean, losing in two finals in a row is is great, but then it’s also super hard. And um yeah, I think I didn’t fight hard enough for my dreams today. But um yeah, I just want to say congrats to Arena. I mean, you are so incredible. I mean, I know I have to face you all the time, but I’m I’m in awe of what you’ve accomplished and you keep on achieving so many incredible things. So, a big congratulations to to you and your team. You guys are amazing. Um, have you did you notice that there were some fans here that were cheering for you? Would you like to say something to them? Yeah. Thank you, um, everyone for coming out and supporting me at my home slam all of the two weeks. [Music] It’s been uh an incredible Fortnite and um yeah, I mean I absolutely love playing here and it’s always been a dream of mine to play in the final of the US Open. Um so a big thank you to to everyone at the US Open who’s made this happen. Big thank you to USA, to Stacy who I know it’s um your last year, so I really tried to go as far as I could um yeah so I could share this moment with you. It’s been uh really special and I’ve really enjoyed it so far. Well done. Well done, Amanda. Now, Brian Brian Bealey will present the finalist trophy to you. Stay right there. Uh just a few more words. I can’t hear you, by the way. I’m deaf in one ear for the last two weeks. So, I’m just I’m trying to um I want to say a big thank you to my team. Um you guys are amazing and you’ve helped me get to this point. And yeah, it’s been a crazy crazy journey. And um big thank you to my family and everyone who’s a part of my life who’s also like family to me. Um all of my sponsors. I mean IMG, my agency who’s also my family and has been with me through this through this crazy journey too. So yeah, big thank you to everyone and I love all of you guys. [Applause] [Music] Now it’s time to invite our champion to the stage. Arena Sabalinka, get up here. [Music] Amanda’s right. You really are incredible. And after getting so close to winning the first three majors of this season, you end it with a big win here. How happy are you? How relieved are you? Well, uh I just that is crazy. You know, all those tough lessons worth worth this one and uh I’m speechless right now. But first of all, I want to say congrats Amanda on reaching backto back finals on the slams. I know, I know, I know how much it hurts losing in the finals, but trust me, the moment you’re going to win your first one and you’re going to win it, you play incredible tennis. And want to congrat you and your team on on things that you’ve been able to achieve after your comeback. And girl, you’re going to enjoy it even more after this tough losses in the finals. [Applause] You defended your title arena. There are an awful lot of fans here cheering for Amanda, but you love playing here too, don’t you? You love playing here, too. I love it. I love it here. I love the support. And you know like I feel like through throughout the years we guys built kind of like relationship and you guys give me so much support and and you know my first my first year here when I when I saw that I have to play backto back against Americans I was just like no way guys please I like can I just I don’t want to play. But then coming back next year and I have to play again back to back against Americans u I mean semison and finals and I felt a bit more support and this year I felt even more support. So I’m super [Music] excited to to come back next year and I hope you all going to cheer for me. Thank you. Thank you guys for bringing the best the best atmosphere. It was remarkable. Hello. On behalf of presenting sponsor JP Morgan, uh Breie Dees will present the women’s singles champion with her check. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I need to say thank you to my team. Great. I’m not done. What do you mean? I’m sorry. I I thought it will be rude because I’m giving hard times to my team and leave them without appreciation speech. It would be mean. But first of all, I want to start with Stacy. I’m really sad to hear that you’re retiring after this year. You um you took such a great care of us and um I’m really sad that you’re leaving. So maybe you can consider like maybe you want to stay. But thank you so much for everything you’ve done for for me, for all of the players. You you’re the best. I really appreciate for everything. And last but not least, I want to say thank you to my team, to to to my family, to to everyone who came here, who flew from Miami, uh, from LA to to be there in my books to support me, to cheer me on, and you guys not allowed to skip. Hopefully, I’m going to reach many more finals, but you guys not allowed to skip any of those. So, I don’t care where you’re going to be, but you’re going to be flying to my finals. Thank you. Thank you, Dave. And of course, uh thank you to to my team. Uh I mean, it’s been it’s been it’s been tough this year. And you know, in those finals, I was really terrible towards you, but come on, worth it, right? So guys, thank you so much. I I love you. You’re my family. And thank you to my boyfriend who is always there for me, cheering me on. And and uh yeah, without your support, I wouldn’t be able to make it. And the last thing, because I know that people back home watch, I’m sorry. I’m I’m really long today. I’m really sorry. I know it’s can be annoying. Last but not least, also I know that kids back home watching me this morning. I received um video from the tennis school where I started from the kids. They were cheering me on. They were really wishing me all the best best wishes. I was a little bit crying this morning and that was the moment when I realized I cannot let them down. I have to I have to give them some positive uh vibes. So, Siana, thank you so much for your support. She said she was speechless. Okay. Uh on behalf of presenting sponsor JP Morgan, Becky Deess will present you the women’s singles champion with a check for $5 million [Applause] Arena Sabalanka. You know, when you’re shaking somebody’s hand and they’re holding a check for $5 million in the other hand, it’s kind of, you know, I the handshake’s very nice, but let’s She literally just kind of like, wait a minute there. And now Chris Ever will present you with a champions trophy. Congratulations, Arena S. She’s taking the $5 million. She took the envelope. Chris Ever is she’s a smart girl. She took the $5 million envelope and gave the trophy to to here. Here you go. 2020. She goes, “No, no, open women’s singles champion, Arena Savalanka.” Second year in a row. This tournament ends with Arena Savalanka holding the trophy. Aloft, her fourth major title. All four have come on hardcore. Her 21st title. 18 of those titles have come on hardcourts. a uh longer trophy ceremony than you might have expected, but you could see how emotional it was for Amanda Inova. I think the Satalanka is such a fascinating personality. She has so much personality, but I thought it was really cool how she began by, you know, facing Anisimova and just saying it’s going to be so much sweeter when you do win one of these. Um, some really complimentary words and uh a way to cap off this final performance. But hey, it’s Arena’s world and we’re just living in it right now. Yeah, I thought that was just well done. That’s a a classy classy move there by her, but also the number one player in the world saying to a younger player that you will be here a lot more and just giving her a little added confidence. But what I do appreciate and love so much about Arena Savalinka is the way that she handles her team. And the reason why I keep saying that um Sophie and Brian because you’d be surprised how many of these players just you know they get rid of people just because of something happened. She has a core of people that she has stickked with for a very long time and you can see it in her improvement in her game. Yeah, you can see that there is continuity and that’s huge in the tennis player’s career to really be able again to perform to your ability or better in matches and have very very little deep dip. You know, you don’t want to go below. Yeah. You don’t want to go below that level if you want to if you want to win majors and if you want to stay at the top and if you want to stay, you know, number one with that target that she has every day in the back of her shirt. and she’s proven that today. Again, she was the most consistent of the two. Uh she uh obviously took some risk when she needed. She served well when she needed to. Uh Amanda Animova was not that player and that’s why the result was of sort but very close. We saw some brilliancancy out of an Animova today. But again, it’s that continuity and that balance to be at the same level or better. And we don’t talk enough about when someone the number one player in the world has a target on their back how difficult that is. I mean it was one one of the thing that Serena talked about and she lived it for so many more years than most players. But yeah it is amazing to come and perform knowing that everybody wants a piece of you. And she is a fitting uh comparison because Arena Sabalanka the first player since Serena Williams to repeat as the US Open champion. And we heard her talk in that interview just about how she’s had to do it against Americans. 2023 beat Madison Keys in the semifinal, loses to Koko Goff in the final. Last year, beats Emma Navaro and Jessica Pagula to win the title. And her road to the title this year, it was a hard one. Beats Pagoula in the semifinal. And then she beats Ana Samova in the final to reclaim her US Open title and defend it her fourth major title. Arena Sabalanka leaves here as the world number one. Anna Samova 0 and2 now in major finals but she will make her debut inside the top five. That was a lot of fun. Zena Garrison at Sophie Amok. We had Mark Lucero courtside. So we’ve crowned another champion. It is Arena Sabalanka. She is your 2025 US Open champion. She’s the US Open champion for the second year in a row. Will we have Yannik Center defend his US Open title? He’ll be on court tomorrow against Carlos Alcarz in a mouthwatering men’s final. Mike and company will have all the coverage. It’ll begin at 1:00 PM Eastern time right here on US Open Radio presented by American Express. So quickly, Zena Garrison, Sophie Amio, that was a lot of fun. Thanks, guys. Oh, always and thanks to the team that is behind us. I mean, I look forward every year that I get the opportunity to come back. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to come back next year if we’re all everything is good. But you guys make it so exciting for me just to be here and to fan out with tennis and in love and I love Jim and Haimey and Claude and and Kenny and all the rest of you team the team back there and the USA and the US Open. I just want to say they put on an amazing show this year and the mixed doubles was a hit. Yes, the mixed double was a hit. I mean being here from qualies and mixed doubles I think uh you really put another dimension to this tournament and I hope that this continues next year. I mean I love my time with you Brian with mation with all the you know even even Russ Taylor. Okay and all the team behind the scene that has been uh that has been putting this show. It’s it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of hours. And shout out to all the guys in parking lot S Charlie and Lucky and everybody out there. You guys rock. Yes, I can vouch for that as well. But this is awesome. I’m echoing what everybody said just about how much fun this is and the fun does not end today. We’ll be back at 100 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow with all of our coverage leading up to the men’s singles final. But for today, it is Arena Sabalanka defending her crown 6376 in 1 hour 34 minutes over Amanda and Samova. [Music] T serve inside in forehand. What a return from Sabalanka. Now plays forehand drop shot and Isimova comes in backhand rips it at Sabalanka who reflexes it past Anissimova with her own backhand. Taste of her own medicine for the American and it is Arena Sabalanka who breaks to take the lead in the US Open Women’s Sings final. She’s up a set and now a break in the second up 2-1 and she is in the red zone right now. Triple break point. Sabalanka goes body backhand crosscourt. A good return now. Backhand line. Good. A winner and a break for Amanda Animova. We’re back on level terms in this second set. That was a clinical not only a break but a break at play. Thank you. And the serve comes up right into the body. Big backhand crosscourt return. Backhand cross from Sabalanka. Line backhandova running forehand is just in from Sabalanka. Backhand Anisimova. Back down the line. Now a crosscourt forehand. Fore forehand slug to Isimova. Backhand beat back. Sabalanka short. Animova breaks back to level terms. Five all here in the second set. You say an amazing competitor. She just hit those balls so deep, so hard, she forced her way to five ball. At 4015, Sabalanka flat out wide. And we will decide this second set and maybe this US Open in a tie break. First to seven, win by two. Arena Sabalanka, 27 years old. She’ll leave here as the world number one, but she could leave here holding the US Open trophy for the second straight year. She’s to the line trying to become the first woman since Serena Williams to repeat as the US Open champion. First serve here on championship point for the champion. Arena Sabalanka. The serve out wide. The backhand return is wide. The second year in a row. Arena Sabalanka is the US Open champion. She’s the number one in the world again. And she is the US Open champion again. Sabalanka on her knees behind the baseline. She’s sobbing. Her team joyous. And now the head in the hands for the 27year-old who sits alone here in New York City for the second year in a row as she beats Amanda Anisimova who comes around the net to give her a big hug. A much better showing in a major final for Anamova, but she comes up short for the second straight major. And for the second straight year, Arena Sabalanka is your US Open champion. 63 76 after she took that clinical tie break over Anova. [Music] As we sign off for the last time in 2025 from the USA Billy Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, we want to congratulate all the players on an amazing tournament that helped us reimagine spectacular. We thank each one of our worldwide listeners for tuning in. We are grateful you gave us the opportunity to share this year’s US Open. To out there Gibson, we promise to never forget you. You are the reason our sport is better today than 75 years ago. It was an honor to celebrate your beautiful life. Althia, we also commit to keep the journey you started going, fighting for equality and making the next 75 years as progressive as the last. We will continue to build on your legacy. To our sponsor, American Express, we say thank you. Without your support, it would be impossible to share the US Open with the world. Fans from across the globe tuned in for three weeks of live coverage from a very diverse team of talented commentators. Thank you for your continued support of the USA, the US Open, and the game of tennis. We thank Stacy Alistister for an amazing job as tournament director one last time. The US Open is better today because of your love for the game and your continued dedication to tennis for all. We wish you the best as you embrace new challenges. To everyone at the USA broadcast team, we say thank you for the opportunity and challenge to continue making spectacular happen. Your commitment to making this event the best in tennis is the reason we do what we do. US Open Radio is a labor of love and a place we all love because of you. For now, we say goodbye, good morning, good afternoon wherever you are. You’ve been listening to US Open Radio, sponsored by American Express. Good night, everyone. [Music] You’re listening to US Open Radio presented by American Express. Coverage will continue when play resumes. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Spectacular. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You’re listening to US Open Radio presented by American Express. Coverage will continue when play resumes. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Spectacular. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] You’re listening to US Open Radio presented by American Express. Coverage will continue when play resumes. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Spectacular. Heat. Heat. [Music] You’re listening to US Open Radio presented by American Express. Coverage will continue when play resumes. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Spectacular. [Music] [Music] You’re listening to US Open Radio presented by American Express. Coverage will continue when play resumes. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Spectacular. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] You’re listening to US Open Radio presented by American Express. Coverage will continue when play resumes. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Spectacular. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] You’re listening to US Open Radio presented by American Express. Coverage will continue when play resumes. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter of Spectacular. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music]