After two weeks of action and adventure, the final grand slam of 2024, the US Open, has been completed. There are a lot of fascinating results from this tournament that have everyone talking. Namely, people are talking about the winner of the tournament, number one seed Jannik Sinner. While it may not seem so shocking for the number one seed to win, there is still a bit of story behind his win. In addition, just because the number one player won it all does not mean there were not surprising outcomes in the rest of the tournament. Now I may say this about a lot of the grand slams, but I feel this one had a great amount of thrilling and surprising moments. There were plenty of upsets in this tournament as well as many lower-ranked players that were able to go far. This draw certainly did not go as expected, but that is what made the tournament so exciting. I got to attend the first day of the US Open, but for the rest of the two weeks I have been watching some matches online, looking at highlights and/or constantly refreshing scores. As a big tennis fan, I had to always know what was happening. For this US Open, I had to keep track of a lot of riveting matches. In addition, I feel that this tournament could be indicative of where men’s tennis is heading. So, after scrutinizing the tournament for the past few weeks, I have some observations and notes about everything. These are my thoughts on the Men’s Singles US Open tournament, from the highs to the lows and everything in between.
Let’s get right into it and talk about our winner, Mr. Sinner. I can’t say I ever lost faith in him. This year has been stellar for the young Italian, which includes winning the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year. It’s quite poetic for his first grand slams to be the first and last ones of the year. In addition, Sinner has tested positive for having a doping-related substance in his body, which he claims came from his physiotherapist massaging him after putting a lotion on his hands. The period in which he would have the substance in his system was not a long one and he has had many successes before this time. Nevertheless, people were starting to doubt him. He needed this win to prove himself. Fortunately, he got that win, showing that he is a number one player that should not be messed with. Also, while the tournament win solidified this fact, his top notch talents were also demonstrated throughout the tournament. Looking at all of the matches that Sinner played, he only dropped a set twice. The first time he dropped one was the first set in his first round match against Mackenzie McDonald. That could be chalked up to nerves, especially considering the pressure from the scandal, and he just needed to find his footing. The other time in the tournament that Sinner dropped a set was in the quarterfinals against Daniil Medvedev. Frankly speaking, the quarterfinals was too early for these two to meet, as they were two of the best players in the tournament. It’s honestly surprising the match didn’t go to five sets. Nevertheless, Sinner pulled through and dominated Medvedev, which was practically a definite indicator that he was going to come out on top. In all of his other matches, Sinner never wavered and was able to safely prove why he is ranked number one and that this tournament was earned.
Even though this tennis tournament is held in America, it has been a while since multiple American men made significant deep runs. Fortunately, this year saw a good amount of Americans doing their country proud with their wins. That includes an American male finalist for the first time in almost 20 years. Number 12 seed Taylor Fritz made it to his first Grand Slam final in this year’s US Open, not even making a semifinal at a Grand Slam before. Fritz is a player who has always been fairly consistent. He has never really done extraordinary and his playing style is not particularly entertaining to watch, but you can always expect him to make a deep run in a big tournament. However, making the final seemed a bit shocking considering previous results. Nevertheless, his matches leading up to the final show that he was at the top of his game, beating players like the number eight seed Casper Ruud and the number four seed Alexander Zverev. Therefore, it is clear that he is working hard and representing America well. Speaking of representing America well, fellow American and number 20 seed Frances Tiafoe also had a good run in this tournament as he made it to the semifinals, which is where he lost to Fritz. This was Tiafoe’s second grand slam semifinal, with his first one being at this very tournament two years ago. Tiafoe is fiery and when he is in a match, you can always guarantee it will be a fun one. That is why the crowd has been behind him throughout this tournament. Along the way, Tiafoe beat number nine seed Grigor Dimitrov and number 13 seed Ben Shelton, who is also American and was a semifinalist last year. While Tiafoe did not make it all the way to the end, this second path to the semifinals shows that Tiafoe is capable of greatness and he certainly has the potential to go far next year. Other Americans of note include 14 seed Tommy Paul, who made it to the fourth round, and unseeded Brandon Nakashima, who also made it to the fourth round. The latter got to this point after beating 15 seed Holger Rune in the first round. This year’s US Open had a terrific showing for Americans, which indicates that this country could have a promising tennis future.
It wouldn’t be a Grand Slam without some excitement happening along the way. While there are some players that we expect to do really well, our predictions do not always become a reality. The two biggest early upsets of the tournament were the recent Olympic gold and silver winners, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. Number two seed Djokovic was the reigning champion and has 23 other grand slams under his belt. Djokovic has been dominant for a long time and even though no man has defended their US Open title in almost 20 years, the gold medalist seemed ready for a long tournament. However, that turned out not to be the case. The Serbian lost in the third round to number 28 seed Alexei Popyrin. Popyrin has actually been on a bit of a hot streak recently, as he just won the Canadian Masters 1000, a win that definitely seemed to come from out of nowhere. However, with this win over Djokovic, perhaps we have been underestimating Popyrin all this time. He did end up losing to Tiafoe in the following round, but that match was certainly a close one, meaning there is probably a lot more potential in the Australian. It could also mean that Djokovic is finally heading over the hill. Only time will tell.
There was also the other big upset, which was when number three seed and silver medalist Carlos Alcaraz lost in the second round to unseeded Botic van de Zandschulp. Alcaraz had won the two most recent grand slams, the French Open and Wimbledon, along with the silver medal, and a deep run seemed more than likely for the Spaniard. However, that prediction was quickly dashed by the Dutch man. Perhaps Alcaraz was tired from playing the Olympics, which is also a completely different type of court compared to the US Open (clay vs hard), and he did not have the energy to pull through. It could also be tiredness from his deep runs in the other grand slams. Of course, it could also be a fluke. Seeing Alcaraz’s results in the rest of the year will give the answer. Van de Zandschulp had been in a bit of slump in recent months, as he was once in the top 30 and was even in the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2021. Currently, he is ranked in the 70s, so it did not seem likely he would beat someone who is as much of a force to be reckoned with as Alcaraz. Nevertheless, this could be the beginning of van de Zandschulp’s comeback. Unfortunately for him, he did lose in his next match to number 25 seed Jack Draper, but we shouldn’t assume that the Dutch man can’t have more great wins soon.
Some other interesting early round upsets include number 10 seed Stefaos Tsitsipas losing to unseeded Thanasi Kokkinakis. Of course, Tsitsipas has never made it past the third round at the US Open, so this may not be as big of an upset as it looks, and this just may not be his tournament. In addition, Kokkinakis has shown in the past that he is capable of big wins over top players, so despite his lack of a seed, we should never count him out. Another big upset was number seven seed Hubert Hurkacz losing in the second round to unseeded Jordan Thompson (who actually ended up winning the tournament in doubles with Max Purcell). Even though Hurkacz is a stellar player, these big upsets are not that uncommon, so he may have to work with consistency. With these large losses and more, it shows that you can never count on tennis tournaments to go the way that you expect.
Along with the really good people getting out early, some of the thrills from these tennis tournaments can come from the lower level people doing really well. Naturally, these guys are professional tennis players, so the fact that they have skills should not be too shocking. Nevertheless, many players were still able to defy expectations and make significant runs that have people talking. One of the most interesting stories of the tournament comes from Draper, the British player who made it to the semifinals despite his number 25 seed. What’s notable about Draper’s run is that he did not drop a single set until his loss to Sinner, the eventual winner. Draper actually went the longest in the tournament without dropping a set, which includes his quarterfinal win over number 10 seed Alex De Minaur. Draper’s game has not really had the most consistency, but this has certainly been a terrific summer for the Brit. He won his first tournament back in June in Stuttgart, became the #1 British player, and made it into the top 30 over the summer (and then top 20 after the US Open). It’s hard to say how long Draper can ride this high, especially because he looked exhausted by the time he played Sinner. However, Draper has definitely proven these past few months that he has the skills, he just needs to hold on to some good energy.
Other players that did surprisingly well were some of the intriguing unseeded players who were able to make it to the fourth round. For instance, there is Tomas Machac, who made it to the fourth round after beating number 16 seed Sebastian Korda in the second round. Machac recently won the gold at the Olympics for mixed doubles and beat Djokovic at the Geneva Open, meaning that this could be the year that the Czech man is on the rise. Another dark horse was Nuno Borges, who did not have any big wins to make it to the fourth round, but still played his best up to that point. He also made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open this year, so maybe he got lucky, or maybe there is a lot more of the Portuguese man to see. There are also the previously mentioned Thompson and Nakashima, who both fortunately made it to the fourth round, and they both look like they could make it farther in the future. While these fourth round competitors may not have made the biggest splash, we should recognize their journeys, as they demonstrate that anything is possible at a grand slam.
Overall, this year has been a great one for tennis. With the grand slams being split between Sinner and Alcaraz, it is clear that we are at the beginning of the younger generation taking over as the older generation says goodbye. Even though Alacaraz did not make it too far in this tournament, the young people were still triumphant. For many years, it felt like the same people were winning everything over and over again. Now, it looks like we are entering an era full of possibilities. For so long, the men’s tennis world was taken over by the big three, which were Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer. Considering Federer is retired, Nadal is close to being retired and Djokovic is not getting any younger, it is time for the next generation to leave their mark. That generation is not only Sinner and Alcaraz. People like Draper, Tiafoe, Nakshima and many other men who scored a couple of wins could be considered part of this group (Tiafoe may be a bit on the older side, but I would say he is quite close to this group). This is the first year that a player of the Big Three has now won a grand slam in over twenty years, which should be the indicator that the future is now. I am glad to see Sinner has won his second grand slam and I know he has many more grand slams in his future, and it is clear that there are other players in this tournament that will get their first soon. I had a lot of fun keeping track of the US Open and I am looking forward to what the next grand slam will tell us about the state of men’s professional tennis.
