Evelyn Reynolds

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    Carlos Alcaraz and Other Top Tennis Pros Rely On Drop Shots

    Carlos Alcaraz is among the ranked players on the men’s and women’s tours who have increasingly dared to use the drop shot on crucial points.I thought I had seen it all on a tennis court until I watched Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open on Monday.No, I’m not talking about the speed and punch of his forehand. I’m talking about his audacious creativity: As Alcaraz worked his way into the net early in the match, Matteo Arnaldi lifted a lob over the Spaniard’s head. Alcaraz stopped, whirled his back to the net, jumped, and reached high to pull off a rare backhand overhead, which most pros attempt to hit with as powerful a snap as they can muster.Alcaraz is not most pros. Instead of a snap, he purposefully deadened his stroke, sending the ball scooting off lightly and with a curve so it landed not far from the net.A backhand, overhead drop shot winner in front of a packed house at Arthur Ashe Stadium? Who does that?It was a small moment amid his 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win, but it was beautiful, jaw-dropping and telling all at once.In this, the age of power tennis — all those buff-bodied players, every racket now rebar stiff — Alcaraz is among the players resurrecting the softest, slowest change-of-pace stroke of them all: the drop shot, a.k.a. the marshmallow, a.k.a. the dropper.Today’s players hit consistently harder than ever, as those who watched Alcaraz Monday would attest. But to win big — as in, emerging-victorious-at-Flushing-Meadows big — nuance is critical.Increasingly, tennis’s top players are deploying drop shots, which until recently had fallen out of favor.“Oh yes, we’re seeing it more now,” said Jose Higueras, who coached Michael Chang, Jim Courier and Roger Federer to major titles, as we watched a match from the stands lining Court 11 last week. He added: “You have to use the whole court, every part of it. These soft little shots do that. People think it’s defensive, but it’s actually very offensive.”The dropper is the equivalent of a changeup pitch in baseball. It’s about disguise and surprise. Its finest practitioners — think Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Ons Jabeur in the women’s game — usually wind up as if they are about to hit a pounding groundstroke or a volley aimed at the baseline.But that’s a ruse. The ball does not catapult off their strings. It pops off meekly, with a gentle lift that bends briefly before beginning a raindrop descent over the net.Drop shots ask questions. “Hey, you, camping out there on the baseline, waiting for another two-handed backhand ripper. Did you expect me?”“Can you change directions, churn out a sprint and catch me before I bounce twice?”There was a time in the professional ranks — think of the era after John McEnroe’s dominance, all the way through the power game of the 1990s and early 2000s — when tennis’s marshmallow was an afterthought. When players did pull it out, they stuck to the percentages, seldom hitting it from the baseline or on big, high-tension points.Change came as pro tennis’s top players increasingly drew from Europe, and particularly Spain, where they had grown up playing on clay, a surface that rewards a deft touch.Ons Jabeur is among the drop shot’s best practitioners. Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRafael Nadal fully embraced the drop shot. Andy Murray, who trained in Spain as a junior, became a master.But it was Higueras getting through to Federer that broke the dam. In 2008, when Federer hired the Spaniard to help take his game to a new level, Higueras immediately noticed that his new pupil rarely used the dropper, preferring to rely on his big forehand.Higueras argued that adding softness to the mix would bring a finishing spice to Federer’s already stunning game. Mixing in more drop shots would force the competition to defend shots in front of the baseline — no more camping out at a distance.Federer went on to win seven major titles after Higueras’s fix, including, in 2009, his only French Open.After Federer adopted the changeup, a cascade of players on the men’s and women’s tours followed suit. Every year since, the drop shot’s use seems increasingly part of the game.“There are players that use it out of desperation,” Grigor Dimitrov, the Bulgarian ATP Tour veteran, said last week. “There are players using it to change the rhythm. There are players using it to get a free point and players using it to get to the net.”So, have we reached peak drop shot?“I think we’re going to be seeing it more,” he said.He’s not the only one. Martina Navratilova predicted that more pros would follow Alcaraz’s lead. “I think he will have an effect on the game,” she said in March, “in players really seeing, ‘I just cannot hit amazing forehands and backhands, I have to be an all-court player, I have to have the touch, I have to be brave, etc.’”In every match, the No. 1-ranked Alcaraz will consistently wind up for a forehand, see his opponent bracing behind the baseline for a Mach 10 ball, and then, at the last nanosecond, slow his swing, cup the ball gently, and send it plopping across the net with the speed of a wayward butterfly.Alcaraz has thrown the percentage playbook out the window. He will hit drop shots at any turn, whether he is stationed near the baseline or at the net, whether a match is in its early-stage lull or at its tensest moments.When asked about the shot, Alcaraz recalled the joy of hitting it and befuddling his opponent. What goes through his mind after hitting the perfect dropper?“It’s a great feeling,” he said, smiling broadly. “I mean, I feel like I’m going to do another one!” More

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    Coco Gauff Storms Into the U.S. Open Semifinals

    After easily beating Jelena Ostapenko, 6-0, 6-2, Gauff, 19, is now one match win away from her first career singles final at the Open.Coco Gauff saluted the fans in every direction of Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday, thanking them for their support through one of the easiest, but also most significant, wins of her young career. She then spread out her arms and with a big smile waved her fingers upward, as if to ask for just a little more love.That is all Gauff, 19, needs, now, just a tad more support to help accomplish her dream. With only two more victories at this U.S. Open — four sets — Gauff would capture her first major singles title, and for now she is handling the pressure, if she even notices it, with the cool composure of a multiple-time champion.“I told myself, ‘Man, I should enjoy this,’” she said. “I’m having so much fun doing it. I should not think about the results. I’m living a very lucky life and I’m so blessed. I don’t want to take it for granted.”Winning tends to lead to smiles and Gauff, the No. 6 seed, is playing some of her best tennis, taking full advantage of a favorable draw to blaze into a U.S. Open semifinal for the first time.Under the noon sun on Tuesday, Gauff pounded a weary Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia into near oblivion, 6-0, 6-2, in just 68 minutes to become the first American teenager to reach the U.S. Open semifinal since Serena Williams in 2001.Williams was also 19 that year. She went on to reach the final, where she lost to Venus Williams, her older sister. Serena Williams had already won the U.S. Open in 1999 and eventually built her total to 23 major singles titles, staking a claim as perhaps the best player in tennis history.“She’s my idol,” Gauff said of Serena Williams, “and I think if you told me when I was younger that I would be in these same stat lines as her I would freak out. I’m still trying not to think about it a lot because I don’t want to get my head big or add pressure, but it is a cool moment to have that stat alongside her.”Gauff has reveled in the support of the fans, who have come to the U.S. Open in record numbers this year, in part to see her.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesIn her semifinal, Gauff will play another eminently beatable opponent in No. 10 Karolina Muchova, who defeated No. 30 Sorana Cirstea, 6-0, 6-3, in their quarterfinal match Tuesday night.Gauff has recent experience against Muchova, a win last month in the final of the Western & Southern Open in Ohio, their only career meeting, helping to make her road to the final, and perhaps her first Grand Slam title, potentially quite smooth. She has already avoided a prospective quarterfinal match with top-seeded Iga Swiatek after Ostapenko upset her in a late match Sunday night.When Ostapenko returned to play 36 hours later with the temperature on the court in Ashe above 90 degrees, she was no match for Gauff. Attempting to hit aggressive winners from the beginning, Ostapenko made 36 unforced errors as Gauff played a patient, mature game, allowing her flustered opponent to cave in on her own.Gauff, who won the tournaments in Washington, D.C., and Mason, Ohio, after a disappointing first-round loss at Wimbledon, has continued her success on hard courts by rolling through the draw in Queens. She has beaten three unseeded players — including the former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki — No. 32 Elise Mertens and No. 20 Ostapenko. Her biggest test could be No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, if they both reach the final.Gauff was unable to watch Ostapenko sweep Swiatek from her path on Sunday night because of a cable television dispute with the provider for her hotel. But when she saw the score, she knew that the greatest obstacle to success had simply vanished.“I was shocked,” Gauff said. “But I knew that I was going to have to go out there and play tennis, regardless of whether I was playing her or Jelena.”Ostapenko was understandably upset that she had to play so soon after her three-set win against Swiatek. She said she returned to her hotel in Manhattan at about 2 a.m. on Monday and did not fall asleep until 5 a.m., buzzing on adrenaline.She said she had been told after her match that her quarterfinal against Gauff would be at night, and considering Gauff’s popularity, it was reasonable to assume that they would be given that premier time slot. Instead, tournament organizers put them on court at noon, the first singles match of the day. Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, two popular rising Americans, were given the night stage on Ashe instead, following the Cirstea-Muchova match.“When I saw the schedule I was a little bit surprised,” Ostapenko said, “not in a really good way.”Ostapenko struggled in the noon match after having played the night before.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesOstapenko also said she had trouble with the sun, and added that she actually expected more from Gauff, even though she won only two games and held serve just once. But her real gripe was with the scheduling.“I think it’s a little bit crazy,” she said.Gauff, at her post-match news conference, spoke eloquently about her place in tennis, about handling pressure, growing up famous and learning from the example her grandmother, Yvonne Lee Odom, who integrated Seacrest High School in Delray Beach, Fla., in 1961.“She always reminds me that I’m a person first, instead of an athlete,” Gauff said.The athlete side of her has gathered all her skill, swagger and savvy to power to new achievements at the U.S. Open. She reached the final of the 2022 French Open, where she lost to Swiatek, but this is her home tournament, where fans — and oddsmakers — have made her new favorite.She has reveled in the support of the fans, who have come to the U.S. Open in record numbers this year, in part to see her. She has not shied from the attention, nor failed to smile, at least after her five wins.When she was younger, Gauff’s dreams were about winning tournaments, she said, like the U.S. Open. But in those dreams, she never saw fans or autograph seekers or any other people at all. Just the trophy.In hindsight, she said, people like the ones in Ashe on Tuesday and the ones who will cheer for her going forward, the ones who have said she inspires them, have made the experience even better.“I will always continue to embrace the crowd, embrace the people,” she said, “because the conversations that I’ve had, really made me feel like I’ve done well in this life, so far.” More

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    Zheng Qinwen Is Coming Into Her Own

    Zheng, 20, has battled through four matches at the U.S. Open, improving with each win. On Wednesday, she will play Aryna Sabalenka, who is on the cusp of being the world No. 1.Zheng Qinwen, the brightest of China’s growing cohort of bright tennis lights, was 7 years old when she first picked up a racket.Almost instantly, she was among the best children her age in her hometown, Shiyan, by Chinese standards a smaller city with 1.1 million people. She loved the sport, and after two months she and her father traveled to Wuhan, a few hours’ drive away and with a population of more than 11 million people, to show off her game to a more advanced coach. The opportunity thrilled her, and she soaked up compliments.Her father, however, left out one detail, which she only learned after the hitting session. Since she had done well, she would not be coming home with him and instead would stay in Wuhan to train.“I cried a lot,” Zheng, 20, said during a recent interview.The situation got a little better when her family rented an apartment in Wuhan and her grandparents took turns taking care of her. But every two weeks when her parents would come to visit, she would beg them not to go.The memories of those days remain painful. Being a sports prodigy in China, where it has not been uncommon for young children to grow up in sports academies and spend long periods away from their families from a young age, is not for the faint of heart. In Zheng’s case though, at least the hardship is paying off on the court.Zheng, who is ranked 23rd in women’s singles, has battled through four matches at the U.S. Open and is getting better with each one. On Monday night she beat Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam tournament finalist, for one of the best wins of her career. On Wednesday, she will face Aryna Sabalenka, who will become the world No. 1 when the new rankings come out on Monday, in her first career major quarterfinal.Zheng’s next opponent is Aryna Sabalenka, who has advanced to the semifinal or better at the past four major tournaments. They have never played each other on tour.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesZheng and every young Chinese player carries a unique burden onto the tennis court, especially now. Their generation came of age as part of the tennis boom that Li Na and, to a lesser extent, Peng Shuai, wrought to the country. Both, especially Li, who became the first person from China to win a Grand Slam singles title, were groundbreaking figures, inspiring countless children in China and in the Chinese diaspora to pick up tennis rackets. With more than one billion people, China figured to be in prime position to become the next great tennis power.While that has not happened yet — though earlier this year Wu Yibing became the first Chinese player to win an ATP title — Zheng has been a prospect to watch for several years now. After roughly three years in Wuhan, she moved to Beijing, to train at an academy overseen by Carlos Rodriguez, who coached Li, her tennis idol. She also caught the attention of the same agency that had represented Li and earned an opportunity to move to Barcelona to train among the sport’s top rising stars and be closer to the world’s most competitive junior tournaments.This time, her parents thought that was too far for their daughter to travel on her own. Her mother decided to move with her while her father remained in China, and her mother has mostly been with her ever since. She turned professional at 15, and began a mostly steady climb up the rankings.At the French Open last year, she appeared on the verge of a breakthrough, winning the opening set of her match against top-ranked Iga Swiatek before succumbing to menstrual cramps. But then her progress seemed to stall.This spring, her management team reached out to Wim Fissette, a Belgian known as one of the top coaches in the game. Fissette has previously worked with a slew of Grand Slam singles champions, including Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka.In Zheng he saw an explosive, athletic player, but a young woman who still seemed fairly raw. He did some due diligence and learned she had a reputation as a hard worker who was extremely ambitious.“A really interesting project where you can, like, really build the player,” Fissette said of Zheng on Tuesday.This year, Zheng began working with Wim Fissette, who has coached Grand Slam tournament winners like Kim Clijsters and Naomi Osaka.Tim Clayton/Corbis, via Getty ImagesIt is early days. They are still working to get to know each other and gain the other’s trust. Fissette said the task is a little harder with Zheng because her parents speak only limited English. That has made getting to know more about what makes Zheng tick a little slower, though he said he has learned quickly that she is quite funny, and also loves karaoke. Sometimes she can seem as serious about that as her tennis.Already though Zheng has begun to adopt some of the trademarks of Fissette’s previous charges, playing with more offense and aggression. She said he often reminds her that players are rarely as aggressive as they think they are. Be the one to dominate the game, he tells her, the champion is almost always the one who is dominating, not the one who is being defensive.“You can’t just wait for the opponent to miss,” she said.Zheng has twice recovered after losing one-set leads in the U.S. Open.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesTwice in this tournament, Zheng has fumbled away one-set leads. She knows why. Her mind begins to drift ahead to the ultimate result instead of focusing on the point she is about to play. Sometimes it takes losing a set to bring her back to the present.After Wimbledon, where, still struggling to figure out how to play on grass, she lost in the first round, she took a 10-day break and traveled to China to see her extended family, most of whom she had not seen in a year and a half. Her life has had a lot of that.She loves New York, especially the drive from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens back into Manhattan, taking in the view of the skyline. She has spent mornings walking in Central Park, amazed that she can enjoy the quiet of nature in the middle of the metropolis.“Suddenly all the car noise is gone,” she said.She is on her own for this trip, without her parents once more. This time, she said, she is embracing the time without them, the chance to make decisions for herself, something she said she still needs to work on. For so long people have been making big decisions for her. Now she is ready to try that for herself.“I’m at this age, in this moment, when I’ve been feeling quite comfortable on my own,” she said. More

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    This Year’s U.S. Open Belongs to Coco Gauff, Win or Lose

    It has become clear that Gauff, at age 19, is the queen of this U.S. Open.It’s Sunday evening, a little after 6 o’clock, and Coco Gauff is going through her postmatch routine in the section of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center where players warm up before matches and cool down after them.Two other stars of American tennis, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, who are among her close friends, are there, too. Tiafoe is winding down after his fourth-round U.S. Open win, which set up his all-American quarterfinals match against Shelton, who is getting ready to play a mixed doubles match. The friendly trash talk has begun, and Gauff cannot resist being involved. She knows just how to do it.Tiafoe, who spends a lot of time shirtless and does not lack for confidence when it comes to his rippling physique, and Shelton are playing this tournament in bright sleeveless shirts. Shelton looks better in his, Gauff tells Tiafoe.And, by the way, so does Carlos Alcaraz, the world No. 1, who beat Tiafoe in the Open semifinals last year and who is also playing in sleeveless Technicolor. “You’re wearing confetti,” Gauff says.Then she is off to boast that she has gotten the better of one of the princes of the tournament and to make fun of her 60-something coach’s penchant for Jolly Ranchers and the dad-rock tunes he keeps sending her. She must also pose for the endless series of selfies that so many, especially Gen-Z fans, desperately want as they pay her their ultimate compliment.“My queen,” they say of her.In the quarterfinals on Tuesday, the sixth-seeded Gauff will face 20th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who eliminated top-seeded Iga Swiatek in her previous match. If Gauff wins, she will still have to find her way through two more pressure-packed matches to win the tournament. But over a week into the year’s final Grand Slam event, one thing has become clear: Gauff, at age 19, is the queen of this U.S. Open.Gauff, at age 19, has been a fan favorite at the U.S. Open.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesFans hurry across the grounds to get to their seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium before her singles matches. No one wants to miss her first fist-pumping “Come on!” or one of her ball-chasing points that go corner to corner, backcourt to net and then back again, and increasingly end with her cracking an overhead smash or with her opponent sending the ball into the net.The first-come-first-served seats on the smaller courts with general admission access begin to fill long before she and her doubles partner, Jessica Pegula, take the court. Organizers moved their doubles match on Monday into Ashe when space freed up in the late afternoon. They won.The N.B.A. player Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat is one of the many boldface names who have come out for her matches. Others include the singer Justin Bieber and his wife, Hailey, a model and influencer. They were in the house on Friday for Gauff’s third-round win over Elise Mertens. Butler was there, too, and returned for her fourth-round win over Caroline Wozniacki on Sunday.Gauff’s reaction: “Again?”Perhaps this was the way it was always going to go for Gauff, who at age 10 earned a coveted spot in the training program at the tennis academy of Patrick Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams.Like anyone who saw Gauff on the court then, Mouratoglou came away impressed with her early speed, power and ability to change direction in an instant and make a quality shot. He called her into his office for an interview, something he puts all of his prospects through, and asked her why she thought she could become a top-level player. She had appeared shy on the court, but now she looked him in the eye from the beginning of their conversation to the end, and told him she wanted this more than any other girl.A lot of players say that, Mouratoglou said in an interview on Monday. He started putting her on the court in matches against players who were more advanced in their development than she was. More often than not, she found a way to win.At 13, she made the final of the U.S. Open junior tournament. At 15, she beat Venus Williams on Centre Court at Wimbledon and made the fourth round.Gauff, right, and Venus Williams shook after Gauff defeated her in the first round at Wimbledon in 2019.Tim Ireland/Associated Press“She is ready for greatness,” Mouratoglou said. “Of course, she feels the pressure like everybody does, but the difference comes from having the belief that you belong there, that you are supposed to do well, that you may be in the spotlight but you enjoy having that pressure, pressure that she has had since she was a kid.”Living under that scrutiny, especially when early success arrives, can have its advantages and drawbacks. Women’s tennis during the past decade is replete with players who won a Grand Slam event in their late teens or early 20s, then struggled for the next year to win three matches in a tournament.During her first seasons on the tour, Gauff was impatient to reach the top, given her breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2019 and her run to the French Open final last year. Before this season, though, she spent some time studying the top 10 players and the recent Grand Slam tournament winners. She saw that many of them were peaking from age 22 to 26.She wasn’t yet 19, but she was about to begin her fifth season of top-level tennis. Her mother told her to be patient, that she didn’t have her “grown woman strength yet,” and said she would know when she got it.“I guess I’m not as mature as other players are,” she said one afternoon in Australia. “That’s going to come with life on earth, not how many years you are on tour.”Gauff waited for a serve while playing Elise Mertens.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesSome may disagree with that assessment. Three years ago, when she was 16, Gauff took the microphone at a Black Lives Matter rally in her hometown, Delray Beach, Fla., days after the murder of George Floyd.“No matter how big or small your platform is, you need to use your voice,” she told the crowd that day. “I saw a Dr. King quote that said, ‘The silence of the good people is worse than the brutality of the bad people.’ We need to not be silent.”This summer, she was one of the featured players at the Citi Open in Washington D.C. She had endured some disappointing results in the previous two months, losing to Swiatek for the seventh consecutive time at the French Open in the quarterfinals and bowing out in the first round of Wimbledon.But the role of a headliner at a midsize tournament comes with some responsibilities. Mark Ein, the owner of the Citi Open, watched as Gauff chatted with V.I.P.s, including a member of President Biden’s cabinet and a justice on the Supreme Court, as if it were business as usual. Then she went out and won the tournament, and Ein sensed there was something different about the teenager who had first played in his event in 2019.“She gave off this sense of being in control of the situation, both on the court and off,” Ein said. “Every once in a generation in tennis it seems there is someone who breaks through at a very early age, and the test is how you can handle it. The all-time greats seem to have a composure that lets them succeed.”Gauff’s ability to run down balls in the corners is one of her strengths.Maansi Srivastava/The New York TimesSince 2019, Gauff’s face has never been hard to find on billboards at any tournament where she is playing. Still, her management team at Team8, the boutique agency that Roger Federer began with his longtime agent, Tony Godsick, has tried to take a slow and steady approach.She could have deals with dozens of companies. So far, her portfolio beyond the usual racket and clothing sponsors, New Balance and Head, includes only Rolex, Bose, Barilla, Baker Tilly and U.P.S.Gauff still sometimes rocks back and forth when she is speaking in public. She will giggle at herself in the middle of a sentence. She is still over a year away from ordering a drink legally in the United States.If she loses to Ostapenko on Tuesday or to someone else in the days ahead, time will still be on her side for a long while. But in many ways, her time has arrived. More

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    A Young Player’s Future Looks Bright Until He Runs Into Carlos Alcaraz

    Unseeded Matteo Arnaldi rolled into the fourth round at the U.S. Open, but that’s where his terrific run ended.Matteo Arnaldi, an unheralded Italian player, was having a lovely time in New York, knocking off one opponent after another on his way to the fourth round at the U.S. Open.One, Arthur Fils of France, is expected to become one of the top players of the next decade. Another, Cameron Norrie, the 16th seed, has been among the better players of the past two years. Those wins earned him a date on Monday with Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion and world No. 1, in Arthur Ashe Stadium.“A good challenge,” Arnaldi, 22, who grew up in the shadow of other Italians his age, such as Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti, said ahead of the match.His coach, Alessandro Petrone, thought so, too.Arnaldi lost his fourth-round match, 3-6, 3-6, 4-6, to Alcaraz.Amir Hamja/The New York Times“I think tomorrow will be not so easy,” Petrone said Sunday afternoon as he tried to come up with a game plan for taking on Alcaraz.Both were right. It took Alcaraz 1 hour 57 minutes to take apart Arnaldi, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. He has dropped just one set in four matches.None of this is particularly surprising. Alcaraz has won two of the past four Grand Slam events and has played in only three of them, having missed the Australian Open with a pulled hamstring.But this is the first time he has had to defend one of the biggest titles in the sport, a challenge that some top players can struggle with. Iga Swiatek, the women’s defending champion, lost Sunday night, a defeat that will cost her the No. 1 ranking when the new rankings are released next week.Alcaraz said Monday that he had tried to put thoughts of defending a title out of his head.“All the pressure that people put on you, on the defending champions, I just delete it and focus on my own game,” Alcaraz said.So far, so good.Alcaraz has won two of the past four Grand Slam tournament events and has played in only three of them.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesAlcaraz’s match Saturday against Dan Evans of Britain, long a favorite of tennis sophisticates because his style is smooth and varied, was a shotmaker’s delight. The two players put on a show, impressing themselves and others with long rallies, filled with touch and power. There were plenty of big winners hit from behind the baseline and drop shots feathered to within inches of the net.This is the way Alcaraz likes it best. Massive video boards loom high above Arthur Ashe Stadium. Alcaraz loves to watch matches on television when he isn’t on the court, though he also likes watching when he is on the court as well.If he has played a particularly exceptional shot, one that elicits a loud and lusty roar from the crowd — and this happens a lot — as soon as the point is over, his eyes gaze skyward.“I love to see it again,” he said Monday through that broad smile.The stakes rise each day, but so far one of the secrets of Alcaraz’s success is that tennis has remained something of a hoot.His workday over by early evening, he had the luxury of watching the match between his upcoming quarterfinal opponent, either Sinner or Alexander Zverev of Germany.His five-set quarterfinal match against Sinner at the U.S. Open last year ended at nearly 3 a.m.“Going to be a really tough quarterfinal,” Alcaraz said.Or not. More

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    Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe Set for All-American Quarterfinal

    Here’s what to know about the singles match between Shelton and Tiafoe, two of the three American men remaining in the U.S. Open.The men’s semifinals at the U.S. Open are guaranteed to include at least one American.That’s because 10th-seeded Frances Tiafoe and unseeded Ben Shelton will play for one of the final four spots when they meet in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Their match features two of the three American men remaining in the tournament. The other is ninth-seeded Taylor Fritz, who will play second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia in another quarterfinal on Tuesday. It is the first time since 2005 that three American men have advanced this far in singles at the Open.Tiafoe and Shelton have not played each other as professionals. Tiafoe reached the semifinals at last year’s Open. And while Shelton will be playing in the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the first time, he reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in January, losing to his fellow American Tommy Paul.Here’s what to know about the match.How did they get here?Tiafoe has dropped only one set in four matches. He had straight-sets wins against Learner Tien of the United States and Sebastian Ofner of Austria. In the third round, he faced Adrian Mannarino, a 22nd-seeded Frenchman, who took the first set. But Tiafoe won in four sets even as Mannarino gave him trouble, pushing a tiebreaker in the fourth set.Tiafoe cruised in the fourth round in another straight-sets victory, this time against Rinky Hijikata of Australia.Shelton has played more matches than Tiafoe at the U.S. Open. In addition to men’s singles, Shelton played, and lost, in the first round of the men’s doubles draw. He also won his quarterfinals match on Monday with his partner, Taylor Townsend.Shelton’s serve has reached 149 miles per hour twice at this U.S. Open.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesShelton defeated Pedro Cachin of Argentina in the first round in four sets, then caught a break in the second round when his opponent, Dominic Thiem of Austria, retired in the second set with what appeared to be a stomach-related issue.He then beat Aslan Karatsev of Russia in four sets and upset Paul, also in four sets.Beware of Shelton’s serve.One of Shelton’s best tools is his powerful serve. In his fourth-round match, he fired a 149-miles-per-hour ace against Paul. The serve has been the fastest at this tournament so far.“He’s throwing his whole arm in that thing,” Tiafoe said on Sunday.But Tiafoe can serve well, too. In his third-round match against Hijikata, Tiafoe had 15 aces, including two back to back in the second set that were clocked at 129 and 134 m.p.h.Still, Tiafoe acknowledged on Sunday that Shelton was more than a big serve. Shelton hits solid volleys, isn’t afraid to come to the net and plays with a lot of energy, Tiafoe said.“He’s going to throw the kitchen sink at me,” Tiafoe said.Keep an eye on Tiafoe’s drop shot.Among Tiafoe’s tools is a sneaky drop shot that he likes to use at the right moment. While his drop shot can be tough for his opponents to return, Tiafoe says he tries not to use it too often.“Because then they’re looking for it,” he said.Part of what makes playing Tiafoe difficult is that he can be unpredictable, mixing his drop shots with slices and play at the net. In his fourth-round match, Tiafoe fired an ace at 135 m.p.h. He followed it with a drop shot.Whether it’s with a two-handed backhand or a drop shot, Tiafoe wants to keep his opponent on his toes.Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times“It’s more fun when you’re out there just using your head and using different stuff and keeping your opponent on their toes,” he said.Aware of that, Shelton on Sunday described Tiafoe as “a nightmare to deal with.”“He’s just one of those guys where it’s must-see TV,” Shelton said of Tiafoe. “You want to watch him play all the time. He kind of has that Carlos Alcaraz effect, especially here in New York. This is his place where he really wants to show up.”Tiafoe has been here before.A quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open will be a first for Shelton, who said that reaching the final eight of the tournament had been a dream of his since he was a child.Tiafoe reached the semifinals last year, losing to Alcaraz. After coming so close to the final last year, he will be eager to have another shot.“I want to be playing my best tennis here,” Tiafoe said after his third-round match. “That’s ultimately what matters.”Taylor Fritz or Novak Djokovic await.The winner of Tuesday’s match will face Fritz or Djokovic, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, in the semifinals on Friday. Djokovic is heavily favored to win in the quarterfinals, but Fritz reached the final eight without dropping a set.Djokovic has won three of his four matches in straight sets, but he ran into trouble in the third round against his fellow countryman Laslo Djere, who took the first two sets before losing in five. More

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    How Coco Gauff Can Beat Jelena Ostapenko in the U.S. Open Quarterfinals

    Here’s what to know about the singles match between Gauff and Ostapenko, and Gauff’s return to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.Coco Gauff, a 19-year-old American who has had an outstanding summer, will take on Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open on Tuesday.The two have played twice before, with Ostapenko winning their most recent encounter, at the Australian Open in January. Ostapenko beat Gauff in straight sets in a fourth-round match. But in their first meeting, in 2019, Gauff defeated Ostapenko in three sets in the final of the Linz Open in Austria.Gauff, who is seeded sixth, has the advantage of playing in her home country’s Grand Slam tournament and the added confidence from winning the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., and the Western & Southern Open in Ohio in the past month. But Ostapenko, seeded 20th, is also on a tear: She eliminated Iga Swiatek, the defending champion and world No. 1, on Sunday night.Here’s what to know about the match.How did they get here?Gauff defeated Laura Siegemund, a tricky player from Germany, in the first round. Siegemund hit slices and drop shots, catching Gauff on her back foot, and won the first set. But Gauff won the match in three sets after playing more aggressively.Gauff also defeated Mirra Andreeva, a 16-year-old from Russia; Elise Mertens of Belgium; and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who recently returned to professional tennis after retiring in 2020.Ostapenko notably defeated Swiatek, who will lose her No. 1 ranking at the end of the Open, in a fourth-round match. Ostapenko is one of the few players who have beaten Swiatek consistently. Her win on Sunday was the fourth in a row against her.On her way to the quarterfinals, Ostapenko also defeated Jasmine Paolini of Italy, Elina Avanesyan of Russia and Bernarda Pera, who was born in Croatia but represents the United States. Each of those matches went three sets.Jelena Ostapenko’s aggressive game can sometimes work against her.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesBeware of Ostapenko’s aggression.Ostapenko’s aggressive game is built on playing fast and with a lot of power. She credited that playing style for her ability to consistently defeat Swiatek, who appreciates having more time to set up her points.Sometimes that aggressive game works against her, and she racks up unforced errors. She had 20 unforced errors in the match against Swiatek. Gauff recognizes that. On Sunday, she called Ostapenko a “striker,” but “hot or cold, to be honest.”For Ostapenko’s part, she’s trying to be more selective of when she goes for her shots.Keep an eye on Gauff’s net game.Gauff, who is one of the fastest players on the tour, is no stranger to powerful shots, having the ability to track down balls and to hit them back with the same power, or more. Gauff responds well to powerful shots from the baseline, waiting until she has an opening to rush the net and put away points with overheads, swing volleys and volleys.Gauff serves with precision, at times making it difficult for her opponents to put their rackets on the ball to return it well, as spectators saw in Gauff’s fourth-round match against Wozniacki.But it is well known that Gauff’s forehand has been her weaker shot, and while she has been working hard to improve it with her new coach, Brad Gilbert, if an opponent can force errors on that wing, it can make a win for Gauff that much more difficult.Gauff has been here before.This is Gauff’s second time in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. She also made them last year, when she was defeated in straight sets by Caroline Garcia of France.While this is also the second time Ostapenko has been in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, she made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open this year and has made deeper runs in other Grand Slam tournaments. She was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2018 and won the 2017 French Open.There is excitement for the American men and women right now, and the crowd will be in Gauff’s corner. At least one American man will make it to the semifinals this year because Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton are playing each other in one of the quarterfinals. Taylor Fritz, who is playing Novak Djokovic, could make it two.“It’s nice to just see the competitiveness between the countrymen and us all doing well,” Gauff said in an interview on Sunday. “It’s just really exciting tennis for America. I hope that fans are excited.”Sorana Cirstea or Karolina Muchova await.The winner of the match will play 30th-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania or 10th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, who are also playing on Tuesday. More

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    Why Does Frances Tiafoe Change His Shirt So Often at the US Open?

    During a changeover 26 minutes into his second-round match against Sebastian Ofner, Frances Tiafoe reached into his bag, pulled out a fresh top and changed his shirt. Twenty-four minutes later, up by 4-1 in the second set, he swapped that shirt for a clean one again.Between the second and third set, Ofner took a medical timeout. Tiafoe had been wearing his shirt for only about six minutes, but he was ready for another.Before the match ended, Tiafoe changed his teal sleeveless shirt once more. By the end of his straight-sets victory over Ofner, there was a pile of sweaty shirts by Tiafoe’s bench. He picked them all up and stuffed them into his bag before leaving the court. (Those shirts are later given to the U.S. Open staff members who take care of the laundry.)Through the fourth round, Tiafoe had changed his top 20 times, an average of five times per match.“I don’t want to feel like I’m playing with really sweaty clothes just because I’m not prepared,” Tiafoe said. “I know how much I can sweat.”Maansi Srivastava/The New York TimesHe will usually return to his bench, hydrate and towel off his face and body before slipping into a fresh shirt. He has no specific method for determining when he needs to change. Sometimes he’ll grab a fresh shirt out of his bag at the end of a set. Other times, he will change multiple times in a single set.It is not uncommon for a player who has been sweating in a competition to change into a clean shirt a few times each match. But Tiafoe has taken freshening up to an elite, seemingly compulsive level.If he feels uncomfortable, he wants a fresh top.“You want to be as light as you can on the court,” Tiafoe said after his second-round victory, adding that if he feels even a small amount of moisture on his shirt, he’ll change it. “I’m very adamant about that.”Many athletes have quirks. Superstitious baseball players hop over foul lines to avoid bad luck. Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, is steadfast about having two water bottles by his bench positioned diagonally from each other with the logos facing the court. For Tiafoe, it is a near obsession with changing shirts — perhaps more than any other player on the men’s tour.Tiafoe changing his shirt during his match against Sebastian Ofner.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesAt tournaments, many players wear one outfit and stick with it; others swap out an outfit only if it is uncomfortable or seems unlucky. At last year’s U.S. Open, Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, asked an umpire for permission to change her outfit in the middle of a match.Players can change tops from their benches during matches. Men are allowed two opportunities to leave the court for a complete outfit change in a best-of-five match, and women are allowed one change of attire in a best-of-three match.“Shirts, socks and shoes should be changed on court,” the International Tennis Federation rule book says.At this year’s U.S. Open, Tiafoe has sported a teal, sleeveless top patterned with shades of baby blue, coral, peach and maroon. He has completed his ensemble with teal shorts and a pair of bright red shoes with his nickname, Big Foe, across the heels.Tiafoe said he packed as many as 20 tops in his bag to be sure he had enough for his matches. He also takes two extra pairs of shoes, in case a pair becomes too sweaty.“I don’t want to feel like I’m playing with really sweaty clothes just because I’m not prepared,” Tiafoe said. “I know how much I can sweat.”And Tiafoe sweats a lot. In a couple of his matches at this tournament, even after he has changed shirts, Tiafoe has needed help from a ball crew member to peel his shirt off his back because the top had stuck to his shoulders.Tiafoe asking a ball boy to help him unroll his shirt.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesThe weather at the U.S. Open has appeared to play a role in how many times Tiafoe has changed clothes.In his first-round match, the humidity levels made playing conditions feel muggy inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. In that match, against Learner Tien, Tiafoe changed his shirt six times.But even after a cold front swept through New York in time for Tiafoe’s second- and third-round matches, he perspired enough to change four times on Wednesday against Ofner and four times on Friday against Adrian Mannarino.By his fourth-round match against Rinky Hijikata on Sunday, temperatures had reached 88 degrees. This week, the forecast is for humid days with temperatures into the 90s through Thursday, above normal for this time of year in New York, before settling into the 80s for the semifinals and final.When Tiafoe plays Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals on Tuesday that will probably mean more sweat and more shirt changes.But who’s counting? More