FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — It’s no secret. While 28th-seeded Serena Williams arrived at the U.S. Open as the smart-money pick, American tennis was in a bit of a lull heading into the year-end Slam. With only five women in the top 100, the situation looked downright dim.
“Not anymore,” declares former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Irina Falconi, who, along with Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens, has breathed some new life into life into state of the game here in the U.S.
The Ecuador-born Falconi, 21, who moved to the U.S. when she was three and considers herself a New Yorker, advanced with hard-earned wins over Czech Klara Zakapalova (3-6, 6-4, 6-2) and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova (2-6, 6-3, 7-5). Stephens, a refreshingly vivacious 18-year-old wildcard from L.A. and the daughter of late NFL running back John Stephens, outlasted qualifier Jani Reka-Luca 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) before upsetting No. 23 seed Shahar Peer 6-1, 7-6(4) in the second round. McHale, a 19-year-old from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., pushed aside Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 in her opener, then toppled No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli of France 7-6(2), 6-2 in the second round. Add that to Serena’s success and Vania King‘s third-round appearance, and things are looking up on the home front.
“I’ve heard so much about media talking about American tennis, and I really wanted to portray that there’s a huge wave of American players,” said Falconi, who waved an American flag following her win over Cibulkova, her first-ever top-20 triumph. “I have an American coach and trainer, Jeff and Kim Wilson. I strongly believe in all that is USA, and I wanted to represent it and show the world that it’s coming. It’s coming. No need to wait any longer.”
Falconi, a former ACC All-American who turned pro after her sophomore year, was surprised to see her match against Cibulkova moved to the 24,000-seat Ashe Stadium after Venus Williams withdrew from her match against Sabine Lisicki. But she made the most of the opportunity, capitalizing on the crowd’s support. Not bad for a player who had never won a main-draw match at a major.
“It was unreal,” she said. “Right after the match, I just turned to my coach…I couldn’t believe it. I needed a couple seconds to really grasp that I had just won a match at Arthur Ashe.”
The athletic Stephens has a real upside. She appears to have inherited her father’s speed, and she packs a punch (she clocked 119 mph on her serve against Peer). Plus, she’s clearly not intimidated by the limelight, big-stage venues, or even the swarming media.
“I think it’s pretty cool, just like talking to normal people,” she said. “It’s not like you guys are a bunch of aliens sitting there and I should be like, ‘Oh, my God,’ freaking out. It’s definitely fine for me. Should I be scared or something?”
You might think a relatively inexperienced teenager would be awed by the crowds, the sometimes-suffocating crush of Flushing Meadows. Not Stephens.
“This is life,” she said. “If you want to get anywhere, you better be ready for everything. Definitely, I’m a people person. I like to talk. You guys have been nice so far, so it’s not a big deal.”
McHale, who’s coached by Jorge Todero and Jay Gooding, feels right at home in Flushing. After all, she trains at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center – home of the U.S. Open. In only her third main-draw appearance at the USO, she’ll face No. 25 seed Maria Kirilenko on Friday night. Falconi and Stephens will be tested, too, in third-round matches with Lisicki and former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, respectively. The truth is, all three players could be gone come the fourth round. But even if they do go down, they’ve made a clear statement: help is on the way. Who knows — maybe there will be life in a post-Williams world after all.
