Fritz vs Sinner: a new king is assured at the US Open | ATP Tour

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Fritz vs Sinner: a new king is assured at the US Open

American and Italian will clash this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in NYC

September 07, 2024

A final between first-timers in this round of the US Open only reinforces the idea that this is the most unpredictable Grand Slam in recent years. That fact and the next: for the tenth time in the last 15 years, the US Open will have a new champion, far outperforming the other majors in the same statistic during the same period.

First-time champions of every Grand Slam since 2009

Jannik Sinner or Taylor Fritz will join Juan Martín del Potro (2009), Rafael Nadal (2010), Novak Djokovic (2011), Andy Murray (2012), Marin Cilic (2014), Stan Wawrinka (2016), Dominic Thiem (2020), Daniil Medvedev (2021) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022) as first-time champions at Flushing Meadows since 2009.

Whichever of the two wins, a host of records will be recorded in the history books of tennis. If it is Sinner who manages to make his ranking favourite respected, he would become the first Italian man with a title at this event and with at least two Grand Slam titles in the Open Era (Adriano Panatta won one). His form in recent weeks justifies his hope.

“I’ve been going day by day, without many expectations, trying to find my game and my rhythm. I started the first day by losing the first set. [contra McDonald]“I was a set and a break down. I have found confidence over the days. We practiced very hard in the intervening days. I am happy to be in the final here. It is a special tournament,” said the Australian champion.

A Sunday win would also make him the first since Argentina’s Guillermo Vilas in 1977 to win his first two Grand Slam titles in the same season. It would also take him to 11 consecutive victories, a streak that began a couple of weeks ago at the ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, where he won his 15th title.

The 23-year-old San Candido native is also looking to become the fifth player this century to win Cincinnati and the US Open in the same year, equalling Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. He will arrive with confidence having won all of his finals this season: Australia, Rotterdam, Miami, Halle and Cincinnati.

But he will face the best version of Fritz, who debuted as a Grand Slam semi-finalist on Friday and will go for the title on Sunday. “He has a great serve, he is a very solid player from the back of the court, he can hit hard and with rotation, he can mix up the game very well. He has played a lot this year, so, you know, he has a lot of match rhythm,” said Sinner about his rival, with whom he has a Lexus ATP HeadToHead of 1-1.

The American prevailed at the birth of the rivalry, which took place in Indian Wells in 2021. While the Italian got revenge at this same event, but in the 2023 edition. If Fritz were to take the lead in the history with Sinner, beating him this Sunday, it would also end 21 years without American champions in Grand Slams.

He would be the first to win a major since Roddick at this tournament in 2003, and only the third local to win the US Open this century, after Pete Sampras also did it in 2002.

Local champions of the US Open since 1990

“I think it gives hope and shows that we are on the cusp of winning a Grand Slam,” Fritz said of the resurgence of U.S. men’s tennis. “We have this generation, this group of guys where there are four or five of us who are really at this level,” he added, referring to four other countrymen in the Top 20: Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Ben Shelton.

“It shows that we are all moving in the right direction. I think that whenever one of us does something, the others follow and the others believe in it. I think this is just the beginning for all of us.”

The Californian, who came from behind to beat Tiafoe in the fifth set of the second semifinal, will try to become the sixth player since 1973, when the PIF ATP Rankings was created, to win this tournament while outside the Top 10. He would equal Marin Cilic (No. 16 in 2014), Pete Sampras (No. 17 in 2002 and No. 12 in 1990), Patrick Rafter (No. 14 in 1997) and Andre Agassi (No. 20 in 1994).

Doing so would elevate the current world No. 12 to No. 6 in the rankings. The title, his ninth on the ATP Tour, would take him one spot shy of his career-high, which he achieved in February 2023. It would also mark the fifth time in a decade that a first-time Grand Slam champion has appeared at this tournament.

A title from him would also make this the first season since 2014 with multiple first-time major champions in the same year, further accentuating the generational change at the top of our sport. This Sunday the fate will be decided from 2:00 p.m. local time.