The 2024 US Open–the final Grand Slam tournament of the year–marked some firsts. It marked first-time men’s and women’s singles champions. And it marked the first time in 21 years that multiple American men and women appeared in the semi-finals.
Over two weeks of competition, the humidity and heat engulfed Arthur Ashe Stadium and the surrounding courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York. The competition began smoothly, with the top seeds advancing into their next rounds. However, number three seed Carlos Alcaraz fell to Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round and number two seed Novak Djokovic lost to Alexei Popyrin in the third round. On the women’s side, number four seed Elena Rybakina withdrew after winning her first-round matchup.
With some of the top seeds out, the door was left wide open. The American players jumped at their chance. Andy Roddick was the last American man to win the singles title in 2003, while Coco Gauff won the women’s singles title last year.
Though Gauff could advance to the round of 16, she was ultimately defeated by the thirteenth seed and fellow American, Emma Navarro, in two sets. Navarro ended up defeating Paual Badosa in the quarterfinals in straight sets to advance to the semi-finals. The number six seed, American Jessica Pegula, also made it to the semi-finals, after beating the number one seed, Iga Świątek in two sets. She then beat Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals to advance to the finals, where she then faced Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Navarro in straight sets during their semi-final match.
Despite being heavily favored and cheered on by the attending crowd, Pegula ended up losing to Sabalenka in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5. This marked Sabalenka’s second Grand Slam win this year and her third Grand Slam title overall.
After reaching six previous Grand Slam quarterfinals, Pegual was “relatively speaking, happy” reaching her first semi-final and final of a major.
“Everyone is like, ‘Congrats! Amazing tournament!’ and I’m like, ‘Eh, whatever,’” Pegula said. “I think maybe once I decompress a little, I’m sure I will be a bit more appreciative and see all of that.”
While the “Big 3”–Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic–has primarily dominated the men’s singles champion for all four of the Grand Slam tournaments, the American men have been right behind their heels. The gap is closing in, especially now that Federer and more recently, Nadal, have retired. Nadal has not officially announced his retirement, though.
Five American men are now ranked within the ATP top 20, including Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, who previously made the quarterfinals during last year’s tournament. He ended up losing to fellow American Ben Shelton in four sets. With a fresh outlook, Tiafoe started off on a strong foot, breezing through his first two rounds. In the third round, he faced Shelton, once again, beating the left-hander in five sets. In the round of 16, he faced Popyrin, where he only dropped one set against the Australian. And, in the quarter-finals, he faced Grigor Dmitrov, who ended up retiring due to an injury in the middle of the fourth set.
Similarly, Fritz made his way to the semi-finals relatively easily, but not before beating top-ranked players, like Casper Ruud during the round of 16 and Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.
During the semi-finals, it was a hard-fought battle between the two players, ultimately going into a fifth set to determine the winner. Though both players started strong, Tiafoe slowly slipped after the heat and cramping got to him. Fritz ended up winning 25 of the 34 points in the final set, ultimately filling his spot in the final against the number one seed and the number one player in the world, Jannik Sinner.
After his match against Tiafoe, Fritz got emotional on the court during his post-match interview, saying, “It’s the reason why I do what I do, the reason why I work so hard.”
However, safe to say Sinner got the better of Fritz in the final, winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. Sinner won 19 games compared to Fritz’s 12 and won 96 points to Fritz’s 79.
“… I just would have liked to have played better and given myself a better chance. It’s really disappointing right now…I feel like the fans obviously, American fans, been wanting a men’s champion for a long time, and… I’m pretty upset with how I played. I feel like, I don’t know, I feel like I almost let a lot of people down,” said Fritz after the final.,”There’s obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to cool down, then I’ll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals.”
Two American players making it to the finals was definitely on everybody’s tongues. In actuality, though, American doubles duo Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons ended up making it to the semi-finals before losing to the eventual men’s doubles champions, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson. And, American doubles partners, Taylor Townsend and Donald Young also made it to the finals of the mixed doubles championship, losing to Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. Being on home turf more than likely spurred something in all the American players, especially with it being the last major of the 2024 season.
Although the American players lost in reality, they conquered an impressive feat and proved to the rest of the world that American tennis is back and is getting stronger day after day, Grand Slam after Grand Slam.
