Bill Simons
New York
THE END IS NEAR?: We’re on the brink. After 7,672 days, the long, painful drought in American men’s tennis could possibly end on Sunday afternoon. On September 7, 2003, the fresh-faced, big-hitting 21-year-old, Andy Roddick, won the US Open. We simply presumed this would be the first of many Slams the talented Texan would win. After all, Americans like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier had long been racking up multiple Grand Slams with a reassuring regularity. That’s what American guys did.
But who knew that the Big 3 – Roger, Rafa and Nole – would soon enter and rather rudely take all the air out of men’s tennis?
The US would win the Davis Cup in 1995. Roddick would reach four more finals, John Isner gave us a Wimbledon marathon for the ages and had a fine Top 20 career. Sam Querrey reached the Wimbledon 2017 semifinals, and the Bryan Brothers delivered non-stop thrills.
But there was pain. Many American tennis fans simply peeled off into different camps. There were Federer fanatics, Rafa loyalists, and many a Nole fan.
But on Sunday, either Californian Taylor Fritz (who after losing four times in Slam quarterfinals is through to his first Slam semi) or Frances Tiafoe, (who is into his second US Open semi in two years) could claim the shiny silver US Open trophy. And after 21 dreary years, that would lift the spirits of the long-suffering American nation.
It’s not easy to end a drought. We’ll find out soon enough if Fritz or Foe can do it.
AT LAST PEGULA ROARS HER WAY TO SEMIS: Iga Swiatek has been reading “Out of Africa” but now the No. 1 seed and five-time Slam winner is out of the US Open. And, finally, after losing six times in a Slam quarterfinal, the plucky, determined Jessica Pegula reached her first Slam semifinal. Amazingly, America will have two men and two women in the semifinals in a major for the first time since Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati played in the semis at the 2003 US Open.
After a problematic start this season and a big coaching change, Pegula is surging. She won the Canadian Open in Toronto and now has four wins over the most dominant player in the world. After scoring the biggest win of her career 6-2, 6-4, the pride of Buffalo told the New York crowd, “I got to the quarters so many frickin’ times and always lost. Finally I can say I’m a semifinalist…I was tight, [but] you carried me through. Playing a night session at Ashe against the number one player in the world is crazy.”
But it’s not crazy that the smart, mature and ever-improving 30-year-old is through to the semis, where she’ll face Karolina Muchova.
‘WHAT’S UP WITH THIS DUDE?’ Roger Federer likes to drop in for a bit at big events. And he always emanates his “life is fab” flawlessness. On Tuesday, Frances Tiafoe, who’s increasingly famous for his sweaty shirts, commented, “The way Roger looked in the suit was the same way he looked when he was playing. No sweating. T-shirts ironed perfectly, hair perfect. What’s up with this dude, man?”
DRAPER DOES IT: British men’s tennis stars tend to come from incredible tennis families. Andy Murray’s mother Judy is an iconic figure, and Jaime Murray was No. 1 in doubles. Tim Henman’s grandmother was the first to hit an overhand serve at Wimbledon.
And the 22-year-old Jack Draper, who crushed Alex de Minaur to reach the semis, comes from an extraordinary tennis family. His father was the boss of the Lawn Tennis Association. His mother was a British junior tennis champ and his older brother Ben was a stalwart for four years on Peter Wright’s UC Berkeley team.
A powerful left-hander, Draper had previously never made it past the fourth round of a Slam, but he’s coming on strong. He reached the quarters in Cincinnati and now is the first Brit since Andy Murray in 2012 to reach a US Open semi.
IT JUST DOESN’T PASS THE SMELL TEST: When asked about the absence of Andy Murray, Andy’s fellow Brit, Jack Draper, said, “I miss him in the changing rooms. I miss his stinky shoes and stinky clothes.”
BELARUSIAN BOOZE FOR EVERYONE: The fun-loving, spontaneous Aryna Sabalenka rarely gets crowd support. So after she trounced China’s Zheng Qinwen, she offered to buy drinks for everyone in exchange for some support in her next match against Emma Navarro.
BACK-TO-BACK BLACKOUTS: In a financial dispute last year in New York, the Disney corporation blacked out ESPN’s coverage so viewers could not see the US Open in the New York market. Now they’re doing the same in California.
ALL THE TENNIS NEWS THAT’S NOT FIT TO PRINT: In addition to the ESPN blackout, there’s more problematic media news. The New York Times used to cover the US Open like a blanket. With a head writer, an assistant writer, many a columnist, assorted guest contributors and photographers galore, the Times reported on every angle. If a left-handed qualifier had a problem with a pimple, we’d get plenty of insights.
But last year the Times let go of their in-house sports writers. One day last week, their diminished sports section did have a page-and-a-half report with five pictures on the WNBA and a long preview of the New York Knicks, even though the season doesn’t start until October 22. But, as for coverage of the US Open, there has rarely been any same-day coverage of the Flushing Meadows action.
SWEET KAROLINA: When Karolina Muchova went out on Ashe Stadium to play her second-round match, all eyes were on the charismatic Naomi Osaka, wearing her cutting-edge high-fashion threads.
But it was Karolina, a no-nonsense 28-year-old, in her no-frills Adidas shorts-and-top outfit, who prevailed. Now the incredibly athletic all-court player with the best volley in the game and no real weakness has again reached the semifinals. She’s endured horrific wrist surgeries and was in a cast for months. Last year Muchova reached the French Open finals and fell to Coco Gauf in the Open semis. This year in New York she’s already beaten Jasmine Paolini and Beatriz Haddad Maia, and will next face Jessica Pegula.
YOUNG AND NOT AT ALL FOOLISH: What do Rafa Nadal’s uncle Toni and the former ATP star Donald Young have in common? When young Rafa was just a kid, his uncle told the boy, “You’ve got to play left handed.” The rest is history.
When Young was a boy in Chicago he told his right-handed friend, Taylor Townsend, that she should play left-handed. Amazingly, the not-so-young Young has now teamed with Townsend, and they’re through to the mixed doubles finals, where they’ll meet Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
Townsend is having an incredible year. She teamed up with Katerina Siniakova to win the women’s Wimbledon doubles title, and the duo reached the US Open semis before losing.
A-LIST FACTOID: Follow us here. Seven of the eight first and last names of the four women’s semifinalists – Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Karolina Muchova and Emma Navarro – have names that end with the letter “a”.
