The 2024 U.S. Open concluded on Sunday, Sept. 8, with Italian Jannik Sinner defeating American Taylor Fritz to claim his second career Slam title.
A day prior, Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka defeated American Jessica Pegula to claim her third career Slam title.
This year’s U.S. Open was full of all that tennis fans crave. We had upsets. We had surprise emergences. We had major storylines. And, of course, we had long and thrilling matches under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The U.S. Open represents some of the most fun parts of tennis. It embraces summer in New York City, and it embraces America’s sweethearts playing in their home Slam tournament. This was especially the case this year in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. There are currently five American men ranked in the Association of Tennis Professionals’ top 20. Two of them, Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, faced off in the semifinals, guaranteeing the presence of an American in the championship match. It would be the first time an American man would reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Roddick did it at Wimbledon in 2009.
Fritz prevailed in a five-set semifinal dogfight against an old friend (Fritz and Tiafoe played 14-and-under tournaments over a decade ago), cementing his place in his first-ever Grand Slam final. While he fell in straight sets to Sinner in the final, it was a valiant effort from Fritz and is hopefully demonstrative of what he can do in the future. Overall, there were four American men in the round of 16 in this year’s U.S. Open: Fritz, Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Brandon Nakashima.
On the women’s side, half of the semifinalists were American. Both Emma Navarro and Pegula instigated major upsets earlier in the tournament. Navarro beat defending champion and 20-year-old American phenom Coco Gauff in the round of 16. Pegula beat Iga Świątek of Poland, the number one player in the world who holds five Grand Slam titles at just 23 years old. Navarro fell to Spaniard Paula Badosa in the quarterfinals, but Pegula advanced to her maiden Slam final, losing in straight sets to Sabalenka. Both Navarro and Pegula hail from New York: Navarro from New York City and Pegula from Buffalo.
Speaking of upsets, there were a couple of important ones on the men’s side too. Two of the most notable names in the game right now, who are also both in the top five in world rankings, were out by the round of 16. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who was the thirdseed in the tournament, lost in the second round to unseeded Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp. Alcaraz is often considered the next great male player. He already has four Slam titles to his name at age 21, including the 2024 French Open and Wimbledon trophies, and he won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics this summer, so this upset was a lackluster way to end a fantastic year on the tour. Just as everyone was moving on from the shock of this straight-set defeat, we were hit with another surprise loss. Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Slam champion who is certainly one of the frontrunners in the greatest of all time conversation, lost in the third round to 28 seed Australian Alexei Popyrin. Tennis fans are familiar with the feeling that Djokovic is always hanging around, seemingly never being out of contention and always claiming at least one of the Slams in a calendar year. But in 2024, Djokovic went slamless.
It was the first year since 2002 that none of the big three (Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer) won a major. After tennis fans were blessed with three legends butting heads for so many years, it was hard to know what to expect from the next generation. But it has become clear that new stars will emerge, and there will always be new names circling as well. Alcaraz and Sinner split the four Slams this year, but as we’ve seen from the upsets, there are always other names lurking. On the women’s side, this has also been a familiar feeling, especially since the retirement of Serena Williams, but the emergence of players like Sabalenka and Świątek shows that new great players will come and go, but surprise emergences are never out of the question. The U.S. Open is the end of the slam season, but the start of something new as well.
