ALCARAZ & SHELTON DOMINATE! 🔥 TIAFOE STUNS MEDVEDEV | US Open 2026 Day 8 | GTL Tennis Podcast

That's right.

Day eight in the books, and what a performance we saw [bell dings] across all of the matches.

I don't think that there's been a bad performance from a winner to scrape over the line in this last round.

We don't have the full quarterfinal listing yet, but they will be completed, the round four ones, at the end of today.

But we've got to start somewhere, and I think the best place to start is with Carlos Alcaraz, because he just looks incredible.

Uh, Tommy Paul, I said he has no chance in this matchup, and I was completely right.

He literally couldn't even get close to anything Carlos Alcaraz was doing on the tennis court, and he even came out in the press conference after the match to say the gap is even getting bigger between him and Carlos.

I don't know where you go if you're Tommy Paul.

How-- who do you bring in to even try and beat someone like him? He seems levels apart.

I mean, it's tough because I watched the whole match, and Tommy Paul didn't do much wrong.

No.

He played a good match.

He hit some really good shots in the opening two sets particularly, and then just Carlos Alcaraz found levels you just, only he can find.

Maybe Jannik Sinner as well.

He's the best, one of the best players, if not the best in the world, for sure, and that is why, because he can produce tennis which the other guys simply cannot produce.

And I thought it was interesting what you were saying to me earlier about Tommy Paul and how he, uh, used to get some joy against Carlos Alcaraz with the, what was it? The slice backhand, uh, cross court.

Yep.

And, uh, now what happens is Alcaraz just runs around it and finds a, a ridiculous forehand, and we saw that evidently many times.

I also noticed that Alcaraz, on the returns, was putting a bit more depth on the, a bit more height on the ball, so it was looping into the return, giving him a little bit more time.

Because in the rallies, there's not many better play- better players than a Carlos Alcaraz, and if he neutralizes the serve plus one, which Tommy Paul I think is very good at-

Yeah

... uh, it allows a, a level rally.

And in a, in a 50/50 rally, it's never 50/50 with Carlos Alcaraz 'cause he is ridiculous.

He moves so fast.

He's got every shot available to him, doesn't have a weakness at all.