Day 3 Wrap-up 🌯 

Day 3 saw attendance records broken with over 73,000 fans flooding through the gates at Flushing Meadows. With the stands packed it was a day of ups and downs for the seeds. Here’s what went down…

🙋‍♀️ For the women, Iga Swiatek 🇵🇱 and Coco Gauff 🇺🇸 were all business both winning in straight sets. Gauff beating 16-year old sensation Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.

27-year-old Taylor Townsend 🇺🇸 stormed into the third round knocking out the 19th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia 🇧🇷 7-6, 7-5.

Elise Mertens 🇧🇪 sent out Danielle Collins 🇺🇸 3-6, 7-6, 6-1 saving two match points in the second set breaker. That makes it 5 match points the Belgium has saved over 2 rounds! 🤯.

China’s Lin Zhu 🇨🇳 shocked an error-prone 3-time finalist Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-3.

And comeback girl Caroline Wozniacki 🇩🇰 made a statement, beating world no.11 Petra Kvitova 🇨🇿 7-5, 7-6 🙌.

🙋‍♂️ For the men, two more Top 8 seeds fell with Stefanos Tsitsipas 🇬🇷 and Casper Ruud 🇳🇴 crashing out.

2022 finalist Ruud, lost in 5 to rising Chinese No. 1 Zhizhen Zhang 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2. While Stefanos, who had no one to blame but himself, was downed by surprise #NextGenATP Swiss Dominic Stricker 🇨🇭.

The other Dominic, former champion Dominic Thiem 🇦🇹 had to withdraw against Ben Shelton 🇺🇸 due to illness 🚑️ , while Novak Djokovic 🇷🇸 and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 🇪🇸 rolled on without breaking a sweat. 💦 

The American’s 🇺🇸 had a good day, with Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul all making it through to the next round. Paul had to come back from 2 sets down vs Roman Safiullin 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 😅. The only American to fall was 28th seed Christopher Eubanks.

Big John’s retirement 🫡 🇺🇸 

It’s time to retire…

At 38, John Isner 🇺🇸 had just lost in the first round of Wimbledon. He had just come off losing in the first round of Roland Garros, and the results seemed to have confirmed his verdict.

Did he plan to retire? No. At the beginning of the year, the former world no.8 had no thoughts about retiring just yet.

“My plan at the beginning of the year was not to retire. Truthfully, I wanted to play this sport for as long as I can, but I wanted to play it at a high level.”

But as he slipped down the rankings, the signs pointed to a possible goodbye to the sport 👋 .

“My ranking is really bad right now. I haven't ranked this low since I came on tour. It's been 17 years of amazing consistency. Just trying to build my ranking back up with how my body's feeling didn't seem too appetising for me.”

Isner, who turned pro in 2007, admitted it just felt "tough" when he realised his career was coming to an end. As a junior, it wasn’t a day he thought would eventually come.

The 6ft 8 American will always be remembered as having one of the greatest serves in history. One that would put the fear in any opponent on the other side of the net. A player who has faced that serve many times, Andy Murray 🇬🇧 was quick to label the serve as “the best serve in the history of tennis” 👏 

But Big John will be remembered for much more than his massive serve. Here’s our top 5 John Isner career memorable moments…

1. The Longest Tennis Match in History
   Isner’s first-round match against Nicolas Mahut 🇫🇷 at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships 🌱 . The match lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, spanning three days it became the longest in tennis history, with the final set finishing 70-68 in Isner's favour.

2. Masters win: 2018 Miami Open
   Isner won the Miami Open in 2018, marking his second ATP Masters 1000 title. He defeated Alexander Zverev 🇩🇪 in the final, becoming one of only a handful of players to win a masters title on tour 🏆️ .

3. "Sunshine double" Masters doubles titles 2022
   Isner partnered with Jack Sock 🇺🇸 in doubles to win the Indian Wells title. Isner next partnered with Hubert Hurkacz 🇵🇱 to lift the trophy at the Miami Masters. By doing so, Isner became the second man in history (after Jakob Hlasek in 1989) to win the elusive Sunshine Double ☀️.

4. First title. 2010 Heineken Open in Auckland.
   Unseeded, he reached the final and then saved a championship point to defeat 2001 Australian Open finalist Arnaud Clément 🇫🇷 . The victory in Auckland was Isner's first ATP tour title and after the victory he donated $5,000 of his winnings to aid rescue action for the 2010 Haiti earthquake 🙏.

5. Two sets to one up against Nadal at the French Open
   In 2011, Isner took a two set to one lead against the King of Clay Rafael Nadal 🇪🇸 , much to everyone’s surprise. For a while it looked like the man so dominate at Roland Garros might be ousted in the first round. Taking 4 hours, Nadal went on to win in 5 sets, but surely became one of the most unexpected moments in Isner’s career.

In the second round Isner will face American Michael Mmoh 🇺🇸 , to try to extend a legendary career for at least one more match.

Whether a win or loss, we’ll miss you when you are gone John 🥲 . Awww…

The Shot Clock 🎾⏰

Andy Murray 🇬🇧 calls out the use of VAR at the US Open as a “farce”. Serving for victory in his first-round match, his opponent Corentin Moutet 🇫🇷 called for a review of a double-bounce. Problem was, the technology didn’t even work 😅

Lloyd Harris 🇿🇦 recalls hitting with a 15 year Alcaraz as “problematic”. The South African used to train at JC Academy and remembers that already Alcaraz’s forehand at 15 years was bigger than his. The two play each other in round 2 of the US Open 🤯 

The most thankless job of tennis tournaments - the practice-court scheduler. Phone calls, texts, WhatsApp messages. Everyone is looking to secure a practice time, or complain about the one they already have. 🙄 

Iga Swiatek 🇵🇱 turns down Andy Murray’s 🇬🇧 invitation for mixed doubles. "I wish I could play mixed doubles with Andy but for me singles is enough... I think Andy will forgive me." 🙏 

He’s the fifth best player in the world but he can probably beat you at golf. Casper Ruud 🇳🇴 is the first professional tennis player to have a golf instagram @casper_golfer ⛳️ 

Top 5 rackets of 2023 🔥 

If you’ve been watching the start of the US Open, you’re probably like us and already getting a little amped to get out on court 😬.

But you might be feeling like this is a good time to upgrade your weapon of choice for the new season.

What racket to go for? So many choices! So many specs! What one is the best? 🤷‍♂️ 

Well check out the below video from the guys at Rackets and Runners for a review of the best selling rackets of 2023.

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