What we learned at the U.S. Open — Quotes from champions
By Joey Dillon
The IX: Tennis Tuesday with Joey Dillon, Sept. 10, 2024
Howdy, y’all, and Happy Tennis Tuesday! The 2024 Grand Slam season officially ended this weekend and I think it’s safe to say the biggest winner is me! Just kidding, but after years of predictions that went awry, all of my second week guesses ended up being correct. Just don’t bank on me batting 1.000 again. Still, as I always do when a Slam ends, we’re going to do our own Parting Shots:
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If Aryna Sabalenka needed to solidify herself as the WTA’s best hardcourt player and/or Grand Slam player of the year, she sure did it in New York. The Belarussian captured the third major of her career with a tight 7-5, 7-5, victory over Jessica Pegula, bringing her 2024 Slam record to 18-1. Since Russians and Belarussians were banned from competing at Wimbledon in 2022, the worst she’s done at a Slam is the quarterfinals — it’s utterly insane. Next up for Sabalenka? Reclaiming the World No. 1 ranking.
What a summer it’s been for Jessica Pegula. She defended her WTA 1000 in Canada, followed up with another 1000 final in Cincinnati and then finally broke through to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal with a super solid upset over Iga Swiatek. She then did one better, from 1-6, 0-2 30-40 down, to defeat Karolina Muchova to make the final. I’ll admit, I expected her to get routed in the final but she kept both sets tight and the tennis was pretty high-quality. Now that she’s made it to the final weekend, could she be a mainstay at the tip top?
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Pour out a large one for your semifinalists Karolina Muchova and Emma Navarro. First, how great is it that Muchova is back showcasing her talents? The Czech reached the semifinals last year but was out until the grass court season following wrist surgery and played insane tennis like she hadn’t even left. She was destroying Pegula in the semifinals until she missed a putaway at the net and we saw how the match unfolded. For Navarro, it’s been a continuation of new heights. The former UVA star reached her first Grand Slam third round in Australia this year and continued to do one round better with each Slam and now finds herself in the Top 10. She’s won a 250, made the Olympics and finds herself living up to her seeding a majority of the time. The big question is whether or not she can truly contend against the Top 5. The target’s on her back now, so time will tell.
Last Wednesday, Lyudmyla Kichenok was due to get married but she and partner Jelena Ostapenko found themselves in the doubles semifinals. Fortunately, the postponement was worth it as they both won their first women’s doubles major with a win over Zhang Shuai and Kristina Mladenovic. The duo won their first title together at an ITF event in 2013 and have been playing together consistently for a few years. You have to also give extra kudos to Ostapenko who maintains a healthy doubles schedule on top of her singles commitments.
Sara Errani was the star of the mixed doubles final, using her experience that gave her the career Grand Slam in doubles and Olympic gold this year to help claim the title with Andrea Vavassori. What’s a little crazy to me is that this was only the third-ever mixed doubles event for Errani — all this year. Still, her hands and strategy vaulted the Italians over wildcards Taylor Townsend and Donald Young, who was retiring from tennis following the tournament.
For the first time since Laura Robson in 2009, Great Britain emerged with the Girl’s singles crown thanks to Mika Stojsavljevic. The 15-year-old won her first Grand Slam junior title with a win over Wakana Sonobe, while in doubles, Malak El Allami and Emily Sartz-Lunde won the first Girl’s junior Grand Slams for Morocco and Norway, respectively.
The largest and most open-ended question following the U.S. Open remains — what the hell is going to unfold?
On to links!
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This Week in Women’s Tennis
Aryna Sabalenka joins Iga Swiatek as the second player to qualify for the WTA Finals Riyadh.
Kamilla Rakhimova was a lucky loser at the U.S. Open and pushed World No. 1 Iga Swiatek to two very tight sets before losing in the first round. She used that form to capture the Guadalajara 125 tournament with a win over Tatjana Maria in the final. In doubles, Fanny Stollar and Katarzyna Piter won the event with a win over Angelica Moratelli and Sabrina Santamaria.
Because of the Paralympics, there were no senior events in wheelchair tennis at the U.S. Open — just juniors, which the USTA should be more than applauded for. Kamiji Yui upset Diede de Groot to take home the singles gold, showing a dent in the armor of de Groot, the best-ever to play the game. Yui also won gold in doubles with Manami Tanaka, defeating de Groot and Aniek van Koot. The singles bronze medal was won by van Koot, while Guo Luoyao and Wang Ziying won theirs in doubles.
Tennis has long been the premier women’s sport in terms of visibility, marketing, etc., but soccer star Crystal Dunn compared her sport to tennis while visiting the U.S. Open.
Katrina Adams has built a solid legacy both on and off of the tennis court and it all begins with the public parks of Chicago.
The biggest winner of the U.S. Open? Women’s tennis, to be honest.
Love this activation Dobel Tequila whipped up following Aryna Sabalenka’s U.S. Open win:
Ken Solomon is out as Tennis Channel CEO after nearly 20 years at the helm, likely due to his new position with Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media.
Jan Brogan, former Head Coach at Cal, has been nominated as this year’s inductee for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Women’s Hall of Fame.
Tweet of the Week
More crossover in sports, please!
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Five at The IX: U.S. Open Champions
Q. It’s your third title now, and I wonder how much you think about your place in the history of this sport.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Well, you know, after I lost my father, it’s always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis. Every time I see my name on that trophy, I’m so proud of myself, I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream and that they were doing everything they could to keep me going.
So I had this opportunity in life. So it really means a lot. Yeah, it’s been always my dream. I still kind of cannot believe that I was able to achieve, like me with my team, we were able to achieve so much already.
Q. You have talked in the past about your incremental progress and what it’s done for your confidence, winning a 250, winning a 500. Does this two weeks, getting to this final, do you think this fits into one of those, this is enough to get you into sort of one of those categories of something that builds confidence for you?
JESSICA PEGULA: Oh, yeah, if I can’t take confidence from this, there’s got to be something wrong.
So, I mean, I think I’ve taken confidence from winning a 250, from winning a 1000, from being able to win another 1000. Multiple ones now. Then to be able to be a Grand Slam finalist, I think that was kind of the last thing for me, right, was I made a lot of quarterfinals but can I make a semi, can I be a contender to actually win a Grand Slam.
I mean, looking back, I’ve lost again to a really good player. I lost to girls that pretty much won the tournament every time. I know my level was right there. And I think maybe I handled the moment a little bit better this year, like I said before, with just having maybe a different perspective of I had a rough start to the year and I didn’t really expect to be doing this well in the hard court swing, and I was able to kind of flip that script.
So I think when I came into here, it was almost less pressure kind of in a way, because I was just happy I was in another quarterfinal. My slam record this year was not great. So I think maybe that perspective maybe helped me through that moment, and then I was able to obviously have a great match in the semi, come from behind there, and put myself in a chance to win a Grand Slam.
I think for sure I will take a lot of confidence from this in maybe like a hour or two, because like I said, I’m kind of annoyed. Not even annoyed losing the tournament. I think it’s more just I was looking at it at, like, I just wanted to win the match. Now there is, like, things that are just in my head that I feel I should have done better and stuff like that. But like I said, I think that will pass in a little bit.
Q. In doubles where players sort of change partners a lot, you two have played together fairly consistently for a long time. As we said, many years also. I’m curious what makes you two so effective together? What has sort of kept you together?
LYUDMYLA KICHENOK: Just as you said, because we play for so long together, we know each other so well.
By the time we play, like, with every match, we get this experience, we play better, and we know the opponents, we know ourselves, we know how it works.
It works pretty well then.
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, I mean, we feel each other quite well. Obviously we know each other for so long, so I think it’s only, like, advantages. Because a lot of players, as you said, yeah, they are changing partners a lot. So there is not much consistency. But I think, as I said, yeah, we know each other and feel each other already, like, way better than maybe some other doubles players.
LYUDMYLA KICHENOK: Yeah, on and off the court, we know each other so well, so since that time when we played together first time (smiling).
Q. What was your key to victory today? Did you have to change your strategy after the first set at all?
SARA ERRANI: It was tough to play with them. Two lefties, was tough to return. In the beginning was really tough for both, and then I think we found a little bit the way, even on my serve, to make them think more and not do normal things.
But we know that we were solid. We are solid, we are good on the net, so we are trying to think about that. But was really tough match.
ANDREA VAVASSORI: I think it was very tough, because two lefties are tough in doubles. Also, Taylor can serve pretty well for women. Was not easy to return for both of us.
But Sara’s percentage was very high today, helped me a lot. I didn’t return very well. Much better in the other matches, but, you know, you have to find a way sometimes, a way to win. We talk a lot during the match, the tactic on her serve. I was covering well the net both sides, so I think we did a good job.
It was not easy, but we played unbelievable tiebreak, like 7-0, in a few minutes. So it was good. Also, at the end, we had opportunity to go away after the 4-1, but they came back and we did a good job at the end.
Q. It’s always hard for a junior to become a senior. You haven’t done that yet. So what do you understand is the biggest pitfalls? Is it being away from home, the travel, intensity of work? Being at the tennis academy, what do you understand is the hardest challenge you’re going to face?
MIKA STOJSAVLJEVIC: Well, I think being away from home is probably one of the toughest ones, but I have lived that for the last two years. So I think I have come to terms with that. Not having your family, it’s difficult, but it also, I think, makes you stronger and makes you stronger on the court. So it’s obviously tough, but it’s also part of the job.
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