Good morning. Today, on the last day of the U.S. Open, we have a chat with a tennis writer.
String theory
I’m a delusional tennis player. Not the kind who brags about his excellence on court. (I’m a middle-aged weekend warrior; let’s be real.) But the kind who watches match highlights on YouTube all year, treating the shots and tactics there like a how-to manual. Carlos Alcaraz blasted an inside-out forehand and then finished his opponent with a perfect stop-volley. I can do that! No, sir, you cannot. Watching the U.S. Open up close, the reason is clear. When you see how fast the ball moves, when you hear the pop of the racket, when you witness players screeching to a halt using their sneakers like hockey skates, you understand that the pros play a totally different game from the one that 26 million American hobbyists play. It’s a show of acrobatics, power, endurance and mental toughness. Millions of us don’t get to see it in person. So I asked Matthew Futterman — who covers tennis for our sister publication, The Athletic, and basically lives at Flushing Meadows for two weeks — about the big show, which ends today in a clash between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. There’s great spirit at the Australian Open, surprise upsets at the French Open and vaunted tradition at Wimbledon. So why does the U.S. Open feel so much more alive than the other majors? It’s the only Grand Slam where the fans actually look like the population of the city, especially during the first week, when the tickets are more affordable and so many matches are on smaller courts outside the stadium. You really saw it this year during the mixed doubles the week before the tournament, when tickets for Louis Armstrong Stadium were free and fans got to watch some of the best players in the world compete for a big prize. And remember, it’s held in a city-owned park. Those outdoor courts are public courts that we can play on during the year. It’s not a private club. That’s huge.
What does it feel like on site that I’m not seeing on TV? Because New York is so diverse, every player, no matter where they are from, can feel like they are playing at home. For Alex Eala of the Philippines, Filipino fans made it feel like she was playing in Manila. Brazilian fans turned João Fonseca’s matches into a mini Rio. And when you’re on Ashe in a big match in the second week with 24,000 people, it feels like you’ve been invited to the biggest, coolest party there is, intimate and massive all at once. Oh, there’s Lin-Manuel Miranda! Oh, there’s Alicia Keys! American players are doing better than they have in a generation. Both the men and the women are winning tournaments and crowding the top 20. What’s going on? American tennis associations have done a great job of making sure the best kids got access to top coaching during the past 15 years. Tennis is an expensive sport. Few families can afford the costs of elite development. Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff — all needed help and got it in various forms. Title IX also means the government must provide the same amount of opportunities for women’s sports as men’s sports, which has built a culture of women’s sports over the last 50 years. There were some compelling story lines this year. Naomi Osaka reached her first semifinal since having a kid; Novak Djokovic got there at the age of 38 and did a dance from “K-pop Demon Hunters.” A Latvian player told the African American woman who beat her that she had “no education.” And then there’s Anisimova, who bounced back from a 6-0, 6-0 battering in the Wimbledon final two months ago to exorcise the ghost of Iga Swiatek in the quarters. Then she staged a late-night comeback over Naomi Osaka in the semis to make a second consecutive Grand Slam final. Even though Anisimova lost yesterday, she showed that in tennis and life, only one thing matters — what you do next. I never thought we’d get a rivalry like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s. But we may have one! The world’s top-ranked men, Sinner and Alcaraz, meet today in their third major final this year. (This was a great story about their relationship.) They’re both forces of nature with incredible athleticism and power. Sinner can also function as a human backboard. Alcaraz is an acrobat. His ceiling for achievement is probably higher, but his floor is lower. Sinner’s ability to get in and out of corners — showing the agility of the champion junior skier he once was — is ridiculous. So is this behind-the-back half volley from Alcaraz:
What do players do in New York when they’re not on court? Iga Swiatek craves nature and goes for walks in Central Park. Karolina Muchova is a coffee nerd who hunts for great cafes. Alex de Minaur likes to eat in the meatpacking district. Coco Gauff enjoys shopping. Players mostly stay at luxury hotels in Midtown or downtown, though Stefanos Tsitsipas owns an apartment in Tribeca. Novak Djokovic stays at a friend’s estate in Alpine, N.J. For many of them, the city is a little hectic. It’s not what they are used to. Is the Honey Deuce, the melon-garnished drink of the tournament, as delicious as people say on TikTok? Wrong guy to ask. I had a bad night with vodka when I was a teenager and can’t drink it. But they sold 556,782 Honey Deuce cocktails last year, so they must be doing something right. More coverage:
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