Jason Hehir, Djokovic Documentary Director
Plus: Cincinnati results, the US Open mixed doubles field and Jodar’s Cincinnati sin
Context-free soundbite: “There’s an obvious solution -- metal shoelaces.”
This week, Served welcomes the acclaimed sports documentarian Jason Hehir, who directed Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance and the forthcoming Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter. Find out why it took longer to produce Djokovic’s movie (90 minutes) than The Last Dance (10 hours).
Served Housekeeping
📣 The 2026 Served Survey is out. We would love to know what you would like to see from us in the coming year. Last year, Chuckers asked for more Techy Sean, and Chuckers got more Techy Sean. Survey here -- five minutes, tops.
🔜 The US Open Live Draw Show is nine days away! Mark your calendars.
🎥 There’s more Served coming your way this week:
Love All on Wednesday with Mary Pierce
Q&Andy on Thursday with Anton Dubrov, Aryna Sabalenka’s coach
5 Setter on Friday
The data behind one big result
Rafael Jodar’s shoelace controversy aside (it’s in the episode, in case you missed it), his 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 comeback against Denis Shapovalov in Cincinnati padded the Spanish teenager’s already-impressive stat sheet this season.
36
Match wins this season, behind only Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev
14–3
In deciding sets this year
7
Consecutive deciding sets won
68%
Points won in the last six games of his match against Shapovalov, when he came back from 1-5 down
2
Match points saved by Jodar
2
Breaks for broken shoelaces in the third set, the controversial story of the match
3
Straight tournaments where Jodar stopped mid-match for broken shoelaces (here, vs. Fritz in Washington, D.C. and vs. Nakashima in Montreal)
7
Pairs of extra shoes Jodar took on court in his next match
The stories that matter most this week
Early Outs in Cincinnati
A few big names packed their bags after Cincinnati’s first and second rounds.
Most notably, Venus and Serena Williams lost their opening doubles match last night to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns 6-2, 1-6, 10-8. The sisters stormed back from deficits of 6-0 and 8-2 in the match tiebreak to draw within 9-8, then Venus double-faulted. Venus and Serena move on to play doubles at the US Open.
🎤 Serena Williams in her pre-tournament press confernce
“Being back on court with my sister is great. We’re just trying to get in the rhythm and practice a little bit. It’s coming. Taking four years off, there’s definitely a lot of rust.”
“This was always one of my favorite places to play. It’s literally one of my top three places on the whole tour.”
Who Else?
Ben Shelton, last week’s winner in Montreal, lost his opening match to Jaime Faria 6-4, 6-4.
Alex Eala fell to Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 after leading an early break in the third set.
João Fonseca withdrew from the tournament yesterday with an abdominal injury.
Jiri Lehecka lost to Arthur Fils 6-1, 6-7, 6-3. Fils is 9–0 in three-set matches this season.
Summer Slam darlings Arthur Fery and Maja Chwalinska lost their opening matches, although they weren’t upsets -- both played higher seeds. Fery lost to No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur 7-5, 7-6, and Chwalinska went down to No. 14 seed Diana Shnaider 6-2, 7-6.
Other than the players above and Novak Djokovic -- whose on-court sickness during his loss is a topic on today’s episode -- all other high seeds are into the third round.
Cincinnati Symmetry
Keep an eye on Sloane Stephens and Michael Zheng. Americans beat the No. 24 seed to make the third round, and both play the No. 10 seed next.
Stephens, a wild card entry live-ranked No. 207, beat both Sinja Kraus and Anastasia Potapova in straight sets. She plays Marta Kostyuk today. After going 0-6 last year, Stephens hit the .500 mark this season with her second-round win. She is now 14–14.
Zheng is on a four-match winning streak after qualifying and getting main-draw wins over Fabian Marozsan and Ugo Humbert. He sits at a career high of No. 105 in the live rankings and plays Lorenzo Musetti today.
WTA Could Cut Tournament Requirements
The WTA is expected to vote this month on reducing the number of 500-level events that top players must play each year, according to Bob Moran, a member of the WTA’s new Tour Architecture Council. Moran is president of Beemok Capital, which owns the Charleston and Cincinnati tournaments, and he serves as the tournament director for both events.
Currently, players must compete in six 500 tournaments. “We heard from the players that that has been difficult. I’m very confident that at the US Open, you’ll see that number come down,” Moran told Front Office Sports. He expects a vote to take place in New York.
But he said there could be a cost. Prize money increases, another priority for the WTA, could slow down.
🎤 Bob Moran
“If we’re going to sit in a room and talk, something has to give. If the commitment is going to be less, and you’re going to play less 500s, it’s going to be hard to ask 500s that might not be getting the fields that we want them to get to keep going up.”
The Tour Architecture Council was formed in February to address scheduling issues at the behest of the new WTA chair Valerie Camillo. This is the group’s first major policy recommendation. Jessica Pegula chairs the council, which includes other players, tournament directors and WTA executives.
US Open Mixed Doubles Update
The US Open announced most of the teams who will play the fan-favorite mixed doubles tournament next week.
What We Know
Six of the eight teams in the new qualifying draw, including many Slam doubles champs, and 11 of the teams in the main draw, including last year’s champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
What We Don’t Know
Two more teams are yet to be announced for qualifying and three more for the main draw (translation: there’s still room for Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and/or Serena Williams).
Dates
Monday, Aug. 24: Qualifying
Tuesday, Aug. 25: First and second rounds
Wednesday, Aug. 26: Semifinals and final
13
Deuces in the fifth game of the Anisimova–Eala match last night in Cincinnati, tied for the most ever in a single game
At 2-2 in the first set, Alex Eala and Amanda Anisimova entered the record books. They played a 13-deuce game, tying Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario’s record from their 1995 Wimbledon final.
Eala held serve after 20 minutes and 32 points.
Anisimova was 0-for-8 on break points in the epic game, and she ended the set 1-for-10 and extremely frustrated. But she sealed one of her four break points in the second set and took it to a decider, when she ran off the final six games for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory -- her second Top 20 win of the season.
Quick Hits
Pitch men: Flavio Cobolli drew the honorary sword on the FC Cincinnati pitch last week, and Daniil Medvedev threw out the first pitch at the Cincinnati Reds game yesterday.
Ahead of Roger Federer’s induction on August 29, the International Tennis Hall of Fame has released a six-part series with Federer called Road to Newport.
Alex de Minaur signed with Ralph Lauren. (Hard Court)
New US Open withdrawals: Laura Siegemund and Jacqueline Cristian.
Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune practiced hard in Murcia.
Jack Draper has deleted his Instagram account. (Tennis 365)
Arthur Rinderknech vs. a heckler in Cincinnati ⬇️
Barstool Tennis@StoolTennisArthur Rinderknech did THIS… And proceeded to lose the tiebreak10:06 PM · Aug 16, 2026 · 22K Views3 Reposts · 103 Likes
Tournaments in Progress
ATP 1000/WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open
Mason, Ohio
Hard court
Currently in third round
Order of play
BADMINTON. On the first day of the BWF World Championships in New Delhi, India, 21-year-old native son Ayush Shetty pulled off the upset of defending champion Shi Yu Qi. Can he keep it going?
PADEL. The sport is in the middle of its “summer pause,” as the Spanish call it. As usual, teams have been shuffling during this window. The biggest move is Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz pairing up, and their former partners, Coki Nieto and Mike Yanguas, reuniting. The swap created a domino effect, and other new teams will debut in Madrid next week. Read more.
PICKLEBALL. The semifinals are set for the 2026 Major League Pickleball Playoffs. The New Jersey 5s, St. Louis Shock, Dallas Flash and Brooklyn Pickleball Team (yes, that’s the name) will play for the championship August 28–30 in New York City’s Central Park.
TABLE TENNIS: Teenage sensation Félix LeBrun won the WTT Europe Smash in Malmö, Sweden, on Sunday, lifting his world ranking to No. 2. The 19-year-old beat Tomokazu Harimoto in a five-game final and became the first Frenchman to win a WTT Grand Smash singles title. He also took the doubles title with his brother, Alexis. Wang Manyu won the women’s title, her third Grand Smash crown.
Catch Up on Q&Andy and Love All
Don’t Miss a Second of Served
Connect with us on socials.
Check out the Served Merch Shop.
Subscribe to our YouTube page.
Submit a question for Q&Andy.
Join our Substack community.
Chat with Chuckers on Reddit.
The link to your survey isn't working, at least it didn't work for me.