U.S. Open recap

One of the most electric tennis tournaments in the world delivered in a big way this past weekend.

The 2024 U.S. Open finished up on both the men's and women's sides. Here is a recap of the final rounds for both the men's and women's sides and some more exciting moments at the 2024 U.S. Open.

The world's No. 1 ranked Italian superstar Jannick Sinner took home the tournament victory on Sunday afternoon after struggling early on in the tournament. He defeated No. 12 ranked American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Sinner took home his second Grand Slam title of his young career, the first being at the Australian Open back in January. Taylor Fritz had a chance to end a major title drought for American men which has lasted for 21 years.

Even though the end result was what it was, it was a good run for American men in this tournament. Taylor Fritz met up with compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the men’s semifinal on Friday.

These two men made history as they played in the first All-American Grand Slam men’s singles semifinal since 2005.

Fritz ended up defeating Tiafoe in five sets to eventually reach the Final. Sinner, who defeated Fritz, took full advantage of No. 2 ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 3 ranked Carlos Alacarz exiting in Week 1.

Sinner lost the opening set of his tournament campaign after being exonerated from a doping case, then settled back in and showed little to no weakness the rest of the way.

Sinner is only the fourth different man to win both the U.S. Open and the Australian Open in the same calendar year since 1988.

Aryna Sabalenka also accomplished that same feat on Saturday making it the first time a man and woman won both of the hard court tournaments, the Australian and US Open, in the same year since 1988.

Sabalenka was defeated by Coco Gauff in the 2023 U.S. Open but one year later, Sablanka was crowned champion again, defeating No. 6 ranked Jessica Pegula in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.

Sabalenka has won three career major titles all on hard courts. Pegula had a good run to the final with key wins, especially a win over the No. 1 ranked woman in the world, Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinal. But her fire was eventually put out.

The overall tournament was one to remember, from the long rallies to the upsets. No. 2 ranked Novak Djokovic was dumped out of the tournament by upstart Aussie, Alexei Popyrin in the third round. 2024 Wimbledon winner and world-ranked No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz lost to unranked Dutchman Botic van De Zandschulp, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 and Iga Swiatek went down to Jessica Pegula in a stunner.

The U.S. Open is the last major tournament of the 2024 major tennis season. Tennis fans will have to patiently wait until January of 2025 when the majors start back up again with the Australian Open.

Many players will look to bounce back in 2025 when the next major season begins on Jan. 12.

Austin Moran is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, acm6506@psu.edu