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Welcome to the US Open briefing, where The Athletics will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On day 12 of the US Open 2024, the strangest point of the tournament, a British junior success, and a Paralympic shock.
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How Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper produced the strangest point of the tournament
Jannik Sinner was doubled over, grabbing his left wrist. Jack Draper used his racket for support, barely off his cocks.
Arthur Ashe Stadium was on its feet.
At 4-4, 40-15 in the second set of their US Open semifinal, the world number 1 and the British number 25 seed produced a point that went from being the most exciting of the tournament so far to the strangest.
Draper slid a serve down the T, getting behind it and hooking an angled forehand volley into the front of the court. Sinner pounced on it and slid an angled backhand almost horizontally toward the net, forcing Draper to scream across the court. He was already on his way and went over to push another forehand deep into the second corner.
Sinner somehow rushed back, curling a lob high into the air while facing the back wall of the court and ready to turn and see what Draper had in store for him.
Then things got weird.
Trying to get out of the slide that put him in position to hit the lob, Sinner came off the ground, spun in the air, and landed awkwardly on his left wrist. He stood up immediately. But instead of an overhead whistle past his ear, nothing happened; he lobbed the ball so high it didn’t even come down. Draper was there, just waiting.
As it finally bounced, Sinner flicked his left wrist, before hitting a split step – the little toe that tennis players do to explode both ways – as Draper sent a slightly smug smash into play. Sinner got behind it and lasered a forehand winner straight through Draper. As the crowd roared upward, Sinner stealthily took a few steps forward, before moving to the side holding his wrist.
A couple of points later, Draper won the game and both players received medical attention at the side of the court.
James Hansen
First British US Open girls champion in 15 years, at 15?
Fifteen-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic is in the US Open singles final without dropping a set – including a win over Emerson Jones of Australia, the No. 2 junior in the world.
In the first set of her semifinal, Stojsavljevic defeated American Iva Jovic 6–0.
Jovic, 16, played in the singles main draw, beating Poland’s Magda Linette, who is twice her age and ranked 347 places higher than her. Jovic then came within a game or so of beating out No. 29 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. In short, she is not an easy out and she came back in the second set to level the match. But Stojsavljevic, who developed as a player at Ealing Lawn Tennis Club in west London, stayed calm in the third to win it 6-3 and move into the final against Japan’s Wakana Sonobe.
James Hansen
Dominating but defeated, a Paralympic legend is human indeed
Diede de Groot won everything in wheelchair tennis.
Three consecutive calendar Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) from 2021 to 2023; the most wheelchair women’s singles titles in history (23); the Golden Slam three years ago — the four Grand Slam titles, plus gold at the Paralympics postponed by a pandemic in Tokyo, where she defeated the Japanese Yui Kamiji 6-3 7-6 (1).
At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, De Groot would face Kamiji twice, on a 29–0 winning streak against her former doubles partner.
She would win neither match. Read more below.
GO DEEPER
From dominant to defeated, Diede de Groot is human after all
Charlotte Harpur
How are the crowds?
The U.S. Open is trying to be more fan-tolerant this year, a fair effort with ticket costs and Honey Deuce prices on the rise, and bigger crowds with a parade of day and night sessions.
The biggest change may be allowing fans to take their seats – and leave them – not just during substitutions, but during any breaks in play.
This led to some strange interactions between ushers and fans, especially on outer courts with more open seating, and awkward movement in corridors during the shorter breaks in even games when players stay on the same ends and quickly return to action.
It became a clear nuisance for Jannik Sinner during his semi-final win against Jack Draper on Friday, as he begged the chair umpire, Marijana Veljovic, to do something about fans moving as he tried to serve at 6-5 for the first set. .
Jannik Sinner’s biggest fans, the Carota Boys, were present for the latter stages (Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images)
Veljovic was no longer happy with the fans. She just scolded them for calling during points. “It’s very annoying if you make that kind of sound during the rally,” she said. “Please stay calm.”
Of course, immediately after she spoke, the cries of a crying baby echoed through the stadium and a cell phone rang loud enough to be heard across the large octagonal stands.
The sounds momentarily prevented Draper from serving.
Some fans could be heard scoffing at Veljovic’s rebuke. And many others throughout the semis voiced “down front” complaints about inconveniently blocked views.
It all added up to a reminder that tennis has some distinct differences in fan sensibilities from many other popular professional spectator sports in the United States, where the ambient tone is louder and where there are more permissive rules about moving around the booth.
Oscar Garcia
A big day for Kichenok, rather than the big day
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko became a singles and doubles Grand Slam champion on Friday after winning the US Open women’s doubles title with Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok.
The pair reached the Australian Open final in January and went one better in New York, beating France’s Kristina Mladenovic and China’s Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3.
For Kichenok, the run to the final had wider implications. She has been engaged to Stachy Khmarsky, a fellow Ukrainian (and Ostapenko’s coach) for about a year, and they decided when they arrived in New York that they would get married this Wednesday.
Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko won a title before Kichenok’s wedding (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Kichenok and Ostapenko’s progress meant they had to rearrange it hastily, however.
“I think it’s a good excuse to delay it a little bit,” Ostapenko said during the trophy ceremony.
Kichenok didn’t seem too disappointed by the delay and dedicated the win to his home country.
“They’re really fighting for our freedom right now and I just hope I can give them some encouragement,” she said.
“My heart goes out to them.”
Charlie Eccleshare
Recommended reading
US Open men’s draw 2024
US Open women’s draw 2024
Tell us what you noticed on the twelfth day…
(Top photo by Jannik Sinner: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press; design: Eamonn Dalton
Development by Alyssa Lum, Eric Mier and Tani Robinson. Design by Megan McMillan.
Design direction by Skye Gould and Amy Cavenaile)
