Sinner Defeats Fritz To Win His First US Open Title

Summary:

• 23-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner won the US Open on Sunday after defeating American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
• The victory came despite his originally low expectations in a stadium that was mostly cheering against him.
• Fritz called his opponent “too good,” during the on-court trophy presentation, and later referred to him as Sinner “the best player in the world right now.”

When he arrived in New York more than two weeks ago, Italy’s 23-year-old Jannik Sinner was not in a good spot.

The World No. 1 was dealing with a lot of scrutiny over the fact he had been exonerated after he twice tested positive for a banned substance in March.

The player, who called his expectations for the US Open “low” left home with the champion title on Sunday after leaving little doubt regarding his “best hard-court player in 2024” status.

Sinner won the US Open behind a dominant 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 effort against No. 12-seeded American Taylor Fritz.

The game was accompanied by the lively crowd’s cheers and chanting in support of Fritz. Most of the celebrity-filled Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd was largely against the Italian, who was forced to listen to “U-S-A” chants and “Let’s go, Taylor” cheers.

However, he remained unfazed and did not drop a single point on his first serve during the last two sets of the match.

Fritz Called Sinner “The Best Player in the World Right Now”

During the official presentation of the trophy, the American called his opponent “too good“. Later on, Fritz described Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January, as “the best player in the world right now“.

The Italian is now the third man in history, and also the first since Guillermo Vilas in 1977, to win his first two Grand Slam titles during the same season.

He also joined fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta on the list of Italian players to win a singles title at the US Open.

The 26-year-old Californian, who was pioneering his first major final, had an early 3-2 lead. The Italian, however, won the next four games, took the set, and further controlled the match.

During the third set, when the score tied at 3-all, the American managed an overhead winner in the seventh game for a 15-30 lead on Sinner’s serve, yelling “Let’s go!” to the crowd’s delight.

Fritz secured the break, taking the next game on his serve for a 5-3 lead. However, he couldn’t close out the set, as Sinner rattled off the next four games.

With each new point leading to his win, the crowd was silenced

At the end, the Italian was seen raising his arms above his head and closing his eyes while tilting his head back. He told the crowd while receiving the trophy from Andre Agassi,

This title, for me, means so much, because the last period of my career was really not easy.

On August 20, it was learned that Jannik Sinner had twice tested positive for a trace amount of clostebol, which is a banned anabolic steroid, during an eight-day span at the Indian Wells.

However, he was cleared because his use of the substance was ruled unintentional as the steroid allegedly entered his system during a massage received from a team member who was later fired.

Fritz: “Right Now I’m Pretty Disappointed”

Sunday’s result was a devastating one for the American who was eager to snap the 21-year major singles title drought by American men.

The last time an American man managed to win a Grand Slam was in 2003 when Andy Roddick grabbed the US Open title.

Fritz was the first American man to enter a major final since Roddicl’s runner-up finish at Wimbledon in 2009.

There’s obviously a lot of positives. But right now I’m pretty disappointed in just a lot of things on the court, how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks.

Despite the disappointing final, Fritz has enjoyed a breakthrough year, becoming the first American man to enter three big quarterfinals during the same season since Roddick in 2007 and also the first one to make the second week in all four Slam events since Andre Agassi’s accomplishment in 2003.