The last time both the Australian and US Opens were won by the same man and woman was thirty-six years ago. Earlier this month, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka joined Mats Wilander and Steffi Graf as champions of the first and final majors of the ATP and WTA Tours.
Sinner and Sabalenka didn’t just win both hard-court major events; they also both won the Cincinnati Open, the hard-court ATP 1000 tournament right before the US Open.
When Sinner won his first major in Australia this year, this was just the start of a historic year. He has a 55-5 record this year, which is a 92% winning percentage. He claimed six titles: Australia, Rotterdam (500), Miami (1000), Halle (500), Cincinnati, and the US Open. He reached the quarterfinals in all four slams. And he did all of this before his 24th birthday.
Sinner only lost two sets throughout the US Open. He beat four Americans on home soil, including Tommy Paul in the quarterfinal round and Taylor Fritz in the final round.
The Italian was simply too good in the finals versus Fritz. The pro-American US Open crowd seized its few chances to get involved, but the outcome was clear from the first set. While Fritz tried to run away with the third set, Sinner won 13 of the last 15 points to close him out for the title.
Sinner seems entirely unfazed by the big stage in Flushing Meadows. Viewers and fans couldn’t tell his emotions inside because he certainly did not show them outside. It made it difficult for his opponents to know if they were messing with his emotions during the match.
Just months before the US Open, Sinner was implicated in a doping scandal. While he privately defended himself within the rules and was exonerated the day after winning Cincinnati, bringing the controversy followed him to Queens; Sinner was undaunted in his ability to dominate his matches.
Sophomore Chase Atkins watched every match Sinner played throughout the US Open, and saw something special throughout the tournament.
“I think Sinner is, without a doubt, the best player in the world currently. The reason why he is so good is his forehand. It’s different from others and he relies on it as his main weapon. His racket speed is crazy, and he can really use that to beat better players,” Atkins explained.
In the women’s bracket, the Belarussian finally conquered Flushing Meadows. After reaching the semi-finals in 2021 and 2022 and the finals a year ago, Sabalenka finally earned her crown as queen of the Big Apple when she defeated American Jessica Pegula in the championship match.
In a rematch of their Cincinnati final just a few weeks ago, Pegula gave it her all. She was in the match at the beginning of the second set, but Sabalenka reeled off five straight games to finally earn her collapse-on-court moment at the US Open.
Sabalenka generated so much power on the ground that her opponent’s only opportunities came when her emotions got in the way of her. When Sabalenka misfired, she tended to misfire in bunches for several games in a row, which was the only opportunity for the opponent to make something happen.
Over the last two years, she has conquered three hard-court majors (two Australian, one US) and claimed the world No. 1 ranking. She is an endlessly emotional player on the court because when one point does not go her way; viewers and fans often see a full-body reaction from her in between points.
Sophomore Elizabeth Merril has always been a fan of Sabalenka, and believes that no one can stop her on the court.
“I think Sablenka is one of the top players in the world right now. One of the reasons that she is so good is because of her presence on the court. She is loud, energetic, and fun to watch. Sablekenka also has one of the top serves on the tour, so she is able to overpower her competitors with both her strength and dominating presence on the court,” Merril stated.
Although the tournament titles went to Europeans this year, an American spirit, marked by an abundance of red, white, and blue, overtook the courts at Flushing Meadows. Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula’s appearances marked the first time both finals featured an American since 2002.
Fritz was the first American man to reach a grand slam final since Andy Roddick stormed into the 2009 Wimbledon finals, and the first American to reach the US Open finals since Roddick fell to Roger Federer in 2006.
One round earlier, Frances Tiafoe and Emma Navarro, two Americans, competed in the semifinals, marking it the first time since 2003 that the Americans had players competing for the title in both semifinal draws.
At the end of the tournament, the United States had six men in the top 17 and four women in the top 11. Pegula climbed to a career-high of No. 3 in the world, while Fritz finds himself back in the top 20, jumping five spots to No. 8, also a career-best. Navaro, meanwhile, enters the top 10 for the first time in her career at No. 8.
The US Open was an exciting three weeks for American tennis fans, who had much to cheer about. American tennis is not what it was in the past, but it is the best it has been in a long time.
