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    The Special Role of Laver Cup Captains

    John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg have filled the job since the tournament began, and it’s more than ceremonial.In the first three Laver Cups, the biggest names were the most famous players in tennis: Roger Federer (who helped create the tournament) played each year, Rafael Nadal played twice and Novak Djokovic played once.All are absent this year at the event in Boston, so while six Top 10 players are on board, the biggest names will be the most famous players in tennis circa 1980: the Team World captain, John McEnroe, and the Team Europe captain, Bjorn Borg, both returning for their fourth time.The Laver Cup brings a team sport format to tennis, and the captains have a role unlike almost any other in tennis.Captains recruit and select a team, build team spirit during practices, pick lineups according to the event’s quirky rules and provide in-match coaching.“There’s a lot to consider and a lot of tactics when making out the lineups, so in that sense the captain’s role is pretty important,” said Thomas Enqvist, vice captain of Team Europe.McEnroe takes his job seriously, but he downplays its importance. “It’s not the toughest job in the world,” he said with a laugh. “I show up at some cocktail parties and pick up balls at practiceThere is more to the job than that. Captains must persuade the top-ranked players, who are invited to the tournament based on their rankings, to participate. They also choose three lower-ranked players, called captain’s picks.“Before the first year, I had to call the players and explain the tournament,” Borg said, although having Federer’s backing made his job easier. For the captain’s picks, he added, “I’m watching so much tennis all year to see who fits the team, who may be in the best shape.”Federer, left, of Team Europe, with Borg, the team captain, at the 2018 Laver Cup.Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesTeam Europe has had a huge edge in singles with its top players, so in past years McEnroe has built his roster around winning the doubles matches, relying heavily on Jack Sock, who is 7-2 in Laver Cup doubles.But without the big three playing for Team Europe, Patrick McEnroe, a vice captain and brother of John McEnroe, said, “we’re not as big an underdog in the singles as we were.”For instance, Denis Shapovalov has a career record of 10-8 against the six Team Europe players. So John McEnroe is aiming for more singles wins, choosing players like Reilly Opelka, who is approaching the Top 20, over Sock, who is an alternate for 2021.Opelka fits the model of McEnroe’s other captain’s picks, John Isner and Nick Kyrgios. “I’m bringing guys in to try and take the racket out of their opponent’s hands,” McEnroe said, referring to players with powerful serves.The week of practice leading up to the tournament serves several purposes for the teams’ leaders. “You need to figure out the doubles partners,” Enqvist said, “so you talk to the guys and try a couple of combinations. It’s important to have good chemistry.”When asked if he could have played doubles alongside Jimmy Connors had the Laver Cup existed in 1980, John McEnroe shrugged. “That would have been iffy,” he said. “I would like to think so, but one year we played Davis Cup together and didn’t talk the whole time.”Patrick McEnroe was amused by the notion. “It would definitely have been worth the price of admission,” he said, “but you’d have to be one strong captain to pull that off.”Reilly Opelka, an American player, in action at the United States Open this month. He will play for Team World at the Laver Cup.Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThat chemistry goes beyond just doubles partners, Borg said.“We have at least two dinners together to build team spirit,” he said. As for potential conflicts arising from Alexander Zverev’s chastising of Stefanos Tsitsipas for bathroom breaks that he said were too long, Borg said he would be hands off and leave it to his players to work through it.Practical coaching is minimal, John McEnroe said: “The players’ coaches get very protective and call me all the time asking what I am going to do.”Still, he does try, because helping a player make even a slight improvement can make a difference. “I like to help players maximize their potential, and this is one way where they can get feedback from me,” he said. “And it’s not costing them anything.”Both captains submit lineup cards blindly (not knowing who the opponent will be) for the first day, then each gets a turn seeing the other’s lineup first for the next two days. Captains must also weigh the scoring rules: Matches are worth one point the first day, two on the next day and three on the final day.“You want to start strong on Friday, but you might want to save stronger players for Saturday because those are two-point matches,” Enqvist said.Unlike ATP Tour matches, the captains (and the team) are right there on the sideline. “I’m providing a combination of team building, tactics and psychological boosts,” John McEnroe said, though tactics take a back seat. “It’s hard to figure out something that drastic. It’s often basic reminders, but it’s not like I have to tell John Isner, ‘Serve big.’”Mostly it is an enhanced cheerleader’s role. “I give positive vibes,” Borg said.“These players are the best in the world and have played the other guys, so they know what to do and what not to do,” he said. “But if they’re not playing well, I can push them in a positive way.”With the big three replaced by newcomers like Caspar Ruud and Matteo Berrettini, Borg said, “I may be more hands-on and say a few more things this year.”McEnroe said his and Borg’s statures and personas did have an impact.“Even for Roger or Rafa, looking over and seeing Bjorn, they’ll say, ‘I want to make sure I do my thing,’ because Bjorn has an aura around him,” McEnroe said. “I hopefully bring an energy to our side.”Team Europe may be the favorite, but McEnroe has a solution: “I was suggesting that when I grew up, Russia wasn’t considered part of Europe, so we should get [Daniil] Medvedev and [Andrey] Rublev and that would level the playing field.” Medvedev won the United States Open on Sept. 12.In reality, Russia is in Europe and Asia, but the players hail from the European part.“John,” Borg said with a chuckle, “would want all the players.” More

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    Casper Ruud Is Norway’s Answer to His Father

    His dad, Christian, was once the country’s top player. Now it’s his son.In October 1995, Christian Ruud became the highest-ranked Norwegian tennis player ever. He was No. 39 in the world, reached the round of 16 at the 1997 Australian Open and represented his country at the Olympics three times.It took about 26 years, but in February 2020 Ruud’s ranking was eclipsed — by his son, Casper, 22, who has obliterated his father’s accomplishments, winning four ATP clay-court tournaments this year, and reached a career-high No. 10 ranking.The former No. 1 junior player, Casper Ruud lost in the second round of the United States Open to Botic van de Zandschulp, an eventual quarterfinalist. But, his stellar season prompted Bjorn Borg to include him on his eight-man European team in the Laver Cup. His father is his coach.The following conversation has been edited and condensed.Do you remember the first time you beat your father?Yes, I do. I was 14 or 15, but my dad thinks I was 16. We had spent a year playing tournaments all over Europe, so we stayed home the next year to work on my physique and developing my character on court. On the weekends, we would try to play a little bit against each other.After a couple of tries, I beat him 6-2. He wasn’t too pleased because he didn’t play well. He gave it away with a lot of mistakes.Christian Ruud, right, congratulating Casper Ruud after he won a match in the ATP Cup group stage in Australia in January 2020.Paul Kane/Getty ImagesYou’ve had most of your success on clay courts, but the Laver Cup is indoors on a hard court. How will you adapt?My kind of game suits the clay better. The way I hit the ball is with a pretty good amount of topspin. It’s a heavy ball that bounces up from the clay courts. But I shouldn’t forget that I grew up half the year playing indoors on a hard court because Norway is a cold country.Your Laver Cup teammates will be among the best in the world. If you could take one stroke from Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Matteo Berrettini, what would it be?From Medvedev, I would love to have his return of serve. With Zverev, the backhand is pretty phenomenal. I think Tsitsipas has got great hand skills on the net and great volleys.It’s tough with Rublev and Berrettini because they have deadly forehands, but I’m going with Rublev’s forehand and Berrettini’s wicked slice on the backhand side. Then I have it covered.No, I’m going to go for Berrettini’s serve. Then I can leave the slice for myself.What is your hometown, Snaroya, best known for other than you?It’s by the sea and very nice and calm. The Oslo airport used to be a kilometer away from where I grew up. They moved it outside Oslo the year I was born, but they kept the runway there as a historic site. When it comes to sport, all the kids play soccer in the summer and hockey in the winter. And they go boating in the summer. It’s also known for tennis because my dad played.If you could have dinner with one famous person, who would it be?I would say the Canadian singer the Weeknd. He’s an artist I’ve listened to a lot and really like. He’s a star around the world now, but when I started listening to him he was more anonymous, a bit darker than he is now. I would be pretty star-struck if I were at that dinner, but it would be cool to meet him one day.Did you set any goals for this year?It’s tough to set goals by numbers. At the beginning of the season, I said to myself that if I could end the year in the Top 20 it would be a great year. Now, I’m in the Top 10.But it’s more important to end the year Top 10, not just get into it for a week and then drop out. The result at the end of the year is the really big achievement. More

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    Forest Hills Stadium Hosts Davis Cup Tie for First Time Since 1959

    A Davis Cup tie between South Africa and Venezuela is being held in front of a small group of fans at the West Side Tennis Club — the first Davis Cup action there since 1959.A week has passed since the United States Open electrified the tennis world with its enchanting unpredictability and rejuvenated fan base. But unknown to many, top flight tennis lingered in New York City as the Davis Cup made a quiet and unusual return to the West Side Tennis Club.Fewer than 200 lucky fans — all members of the venerable club — dotted the nearly century-old, 14,000-seat Forest Hills Stadium in Queens on Saturday to witness the first Davis Cup tie at the venue since 1959.But the U.S. team was nowhere to be found.Instead, South Africa hosted Venezuela — two teams in search of a home. They found it, tucked into the leafy Forest Hills neighborhood, once the home of the U.S. championships (later the U.S. Open), until the event moved three miles up the Grand Central Parkway to Flushing in 1978.Ten days earlier, Lloyd Harris was there, playing in front of 20,000 fans at the U.S. Open. Saturday was entirely different. Yes, it had some of the pomp and circumstance of the Davis Cup — there was an opening ceremony with player introductions, flags and the national anthems of both countries, and team uniforms.But the raucous and rowdy atmosphere sometimes associated with many Davis Cup ties, especially in South America, was decidedly absent, at least in the opening match.Harris, who had a deep run at this year’s U.S. Open, stayed in town for the Davis Cup. He dispatched Perez fairly easily. “It’s a very unique situation, playing a tie between South Africa and Venezuela in New York,” Harris said. “But it’s pretty cool. It worked out well for me since I’ve been here the whole time. It was not too hard to travel four blocks.”If the idea of two countries from different continents playing a Davis Cup tie in the ancestral home of American tennis seemed like a mismatch, so too was Harris’s first on-court encounter. He had no trouble dispatching Brandon Perez, Venezuela’s No. 2 player, 6-0, 6-0, in the first match of the two-day event (play resumes Sunday).Perez is ranked 1,596th in the world and plays for the University of Nebraska. He knew weeks ago he would face Harris in the Davis Cup. Like many tennis fans, he watched Harris blaze through the summer season, scoring huge wins in a run that included beating Rafael Nadal in Washington before reaching the final eight in Flushing.Then, after Harris lost to the semifinalist Alexander Zverev, he moved from an Intercontinental Hotel on the east side of Manhattan — one of the main U.S. Open player hotels — to one on the West side, where the South African team was headquartered. He spent the last 10 days recuperating, practicing and sightseeing with his girlfriend. They rented bikes and went over the Brooklyn Bridge and pedaled all around downtown and up to Central Park.Harris, who is from Cape Town, has been in New York for a month — long enough to feel like a local.“I’ve learned you’ve got to move fast and drink a lot of coffee,” he said, “and watch out for the cyclists rushing past you at 200 kilometers an hour. I nearly got run over by cyclists about 10 times already.”The event had much of the pomp and circumstance of a typical Davis Cup tie, but because of the costs associated with hosting fans, the matches were played in front of around 200 members of the country club. Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela lost in the second match on Saturday. He and his wife, Melanie Maulini, toured the grounds at Forest Hills Stadium before his match.Concessions were open at the former home of the U.S. Tennis Championships — later renamed the U.S. Open — despite the crowd being so thin.Under normal conditions, Harris might have returned home to South Africa immediately after the U.S. Open. But South Africa has a high rate of coronavirus infections, making travel restrictions challenging for visitors and residents traveling back and forth. (Another tie was also held on neutral U.S. soil Friday and Saturday as New Zealand played South Korea at the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.).Venezuela, meanwhile, has not been allowed to host Davis Cup matches since 2016 when the International Tennis Federation declared it unsafe for travel because of the political and economic situation.“I’m still waiting for the opportunity to play at home in front of all my friends and family,” Perez said. “Until then, I’ve got my parents here and my girlfriend.”In the second singles match on Saturday, Philip Henning of South Africa beat Venezuela’s Ricardo Rodriguez, 6-4, 6-4, as the small audience came to life on a sunny, breezy day that made at least one supporter from South Africa feel right at home.“You’ve served up a perfect South African day,” said Gavin Crookes, the president of Tennis South Africa.Philip Henning celebrated with the rest of the South African contingent after his win over Rodriguez gave the country a clean sweep of the day’s matches.Venezuela was set to be the nominal host, but it allowed South Africa to take over the role, and bringing the West Side Tennis Club into play. Jason Weir-Smith, a former college and professional player from Johannesburg, is the tennis director at the club. Tennis South Africa reached out to him, and the club was eager to host.“It was 60 years ago that the club last held a Davis Cup event,” Weir-Smith said. “It was important for us to get back on the map.”It was also the first Davis Cup match anywhere in New York since 1981, when the U.S., with John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, took on Ivan Lendl and Czechoslovakia in Flushing.Tickets for this event were not available to the public because, according to Weir-Smith, the cost for permits, insurance and staff was prohibitive for Tennis South Africa, which would have been responsible for the costs as the host nation. Instead, only 200 club members were allowed into the venue, which is more than is sometimes on hand for challenger events and college matches.The tie is being held on a blue hard court that was refurbished in July specifically for the Davis Cup tie.While the Davis Cup tie was being held at Forest Hills Stadium, the rest of the West Side Tennis Club’s courts were dotted with members getting in matches. Monika Jain, the president of the West Side club, was one of the spectators on hand Saturday. She watched from metal benches after playing a round of tennis on one of the club’s many grass, clay and hard courts.“It’s very exciting for us to be able to have this event here,” Jain said. “With our proximity to the U.S. Open, we think we can do more of this in the future.”The West Side Tennis Club, with its iconic Tudor clubhouse, was host to the U.S. championships from 1915 to 1977 and saw some of the sport’s greatest players, including Bill Tilden, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King and Chris Evert win titles.It represents a different era in professional tennis, when the game was dominated by international elites. This weekend, though, it served as a temporary landing spot for some of tennis’s temporary homeless.“We would love to play in front of our people, but unfortunately we haven’t had that chance the last several years,” Rodriguez said. “On the other hand, playing at such a historic venue is very special for me. You feel the history and the great moments that happened here. To be a little part of the new history makes me proud.” More

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    Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott Did What Novak Djokovic Could Not

    The wheelchair tennis stars Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott each added a fourth major championship to the Paralympic titles they won this year.The tennis Grand Slam is so rare that only five players can claim one, and no player at all has achieved the feat since 1988. The Golden Slam, winning all four majors and a gold medal in the same year, is nearly impossible. Only Steffi Graf had ever done it.Until Sunday, when it was accomplished twice.First came Diede de Groot of the Netherlands, who won the wheelchair competition at the U.S. Open to complete a sweep of the year’s four Grand Slam tournaments to go with her Paralympic gold medal.Later in the day, Dylan Alcott of Australia completed the same feat in the men’s quad event. (As opposed to those in the wheelchair division like de Groot, quad players also have significant loss of function in at least one upper limb.)De Groot defeated Yui Kamiji of Japan, the same woman she defeated in Australia, France and at the Paralympics, 6-3, 6-2. Her Golden Slam almost didn’t get started this year: She needed a third-set tiebreaker to beat Kamiji at the Australian Open.Despite the accomplishment, De Groot, 24, said she felt a little let down by her play: “After such a long time of traveling and just being everywhere in the world, also I think both of us are a little bit tired. I think you could see it in the match, unfortunately.”Sunday’s Open championship was the 12th in a Grand Slam singles event for De Groot, still behind the record of 21 set by her countrywoman Esther Vergeer in the early part of this century.Dylan Alcott celebrating yet another victory on Sunday.Seth Wenig/Associated PressAlcott defeated the 18-year-old Niels Vink of the Netherlands, 7-5, 6-2, to complete his own Golden Slam. It was Alcott’s 15th Grand Slam singles title. Because the quad event is only three years old at the French Open and Wimbledon, it was the first chance for any quad athlete to win a Golden Slam.“Everybody in this room asked me, ‘Are you thinking about the Golden Slam?’” said Alcott, 30. “I’ve said, ‘No, I don’t really care about it,’ all year. Of course I cared about it. It’s nice not to pretend anymore.”In 1988, Graf said after completing her Golden Slam at the Seoul Olympics: “I’m very excited. It’s something not many people after me will achieve.”It took 33 years. And then it only took a few hours. More

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    With Crowds Back at the U.S. Open, Young Stars Give Them a Show

    Novak Djokovic failed to win a Grand Slam, but there was a sense of renewal, exciting new players named Raducanu and Fernandez, and a sense that tennis is in capable hands.To fully appreciate the unmasked roars of 2021 at the U.S. Open, it was best to have experienced the silence and vast empty spaces of 2020.It was the contrast that made such a difference this year in the collective mood.“The crowd was the third player this year,” said Chris Evert, one of tennis’s grande dames, who played in her first Open in 1971. “The crowds at the U.S. Open have always been like this, but this year they just seemed louder.”Established stars like Novak Djokovic had missed the noise. Relative newcomers like Emma Raducanu were hearing it for the first time. The fans had missed the experience.The surprise upon everyone’s return to the tournament was how forcefully the newest generation of rising stars would storm the gates.Serena and Venus Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were absent at once for the first time in 25 years, and though it seemed that void would be much too big to fill, the young players piled in gleefully. With so many stars missing and so much prime tennis real estate available, young Americans like Frances Tiafoe and Jenson Brooksby became fixtures on the main show courts, playing thrilling matches. The Spanish 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, playing in his first U.S. Open, reached the quarterfinals and soon had fans chanting “Carloooooos” as loudly as they usually chant “Rafaaaaaa.”“I definitely think guys are trying extra hard because there isn’t Roger and Rafa,” Tiafoe said. “I see guys foaming in the mouth. Pretty funny to watch. I’m in the locker room cracking up.”Attendance was down from 2019, the most recent year when fans were permitted to attend. But volume and emotion were up, and the fans who watched from home or streamed back through the gates — after showing proof of vaccination — were rewarded with one of the most exceptional tournaments in tennis’ long history.“The crowd was the third player this year,” said Chris Evert, a former player who is now a broadcaster.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesAt one end of the continuum was Djokovic, 34, one of the biggest stars in global sport, chasing a rare Grand Slam — victories in all four major tournaments in the same year — and the crowning moment of a long career spent in pursuit of his rivals, Federer and Nadal.At the other end was the women’s singles tournament, which was improbably commandeered by the 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez and the 18-year-old Raducanu. But both singles tournaments turned out to be surprises. The top-ranked Djokovic was beaten soundly in Sunday’s final, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 by Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed. Medvedev, a gangly trilingual Russian, had never defeated Djokovic in a best-of-five-set match and was trounced in straight sets when they met in this year’s Australian Open final. But he was the fresher, more reliable player in New York, serving and returning better than Djokovic, who looked weary and off target. At one stage, he smashed a racket in frustration, and at another looked ready to smash a ball in the direction of a ball girl before stopping his swing.But this was still No. 1 vs. No. 2 for the trophy. Both Fernandez and Raducanu were unseeded, and Raducanu had to qualify for the main draw. But they surprised more experienced players round after round, in very different fashion, to set up perhaps the most improbable women’s singles final in the four Grand Slam tournaments. Raducanu, playing in only her second major tournament, prevailed on Saturday, but the players will long be linked for the spirit they conveyed together.Their appeal snowballed beyond their home markets — Britain for Raducanu and Canada for Fernandez. Fernandez’s parents have roots in Ecuador and the Philippines; Raducanu’s parents have roots in Romania and China, and on Saturday night Raducanu showed she was made for 21st century tennis stardom when she recorded a video message in fluent Mandarin for the Chinese audience.But on the ground in New York, Raducanu and Fernandez’s arrival on center stage created a sense of discovery and wonder. One long shot in a U.S. Open women’s final is rare enough, but two long-shot teenagers made it a scene. “There was a pent-up desire of people wanting to get out and wanting to experience events in person and time with family and friends and just to celebrate human greatness,” said Ellen Cummings, a fan from New Canaan, Conn., on Sunday before the men’s final.“I really turned out this year for Novak,” she said, “but the women’s tournament was like this unbelievable bonus. What Raducanu and Fernandez did was such a surprise and such a delight to watch.”Leylah Fernandez, left, and Emma Raducanu made surprise runs to the women’s singles final. Raducanu advanced through the qualifying draw to win the tournament.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThere has been much to bemoan of late and professional tennis has hardly been immune: from quarantines and isolation to Naomi Osaka’s existential crises that have often left her in tears in news conferences as she strained to manage her public role and private struggles in a sport she plainly excels at but that seems to bring her little delight at this stage.But the 2021 U.S. Open brought a sense of renewal and a sense that, in spite of it all, some of the kids were more than all right, able to summon the energy and optimism to take center stage and make the shots that mattered most. They lit up the largest tennis stadium in the world and then read the room beautifully, with Fernandez hitting just the right note as she talked about New Yorkers’ resilience on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.“We’ve witnessed such heaviness and pressure in the last year,” Evert said. “Such expectations and intensity and these two girls brought joy.”Youth, at this U.S. Open at least, was not wasted on the young, but the veterans reveled in the experience, too. On Sunday, Samantha Stosur, a 37-year-old Australian, won the women’s doubles title with her partner, Zhang Shuai of China, over the teenage Americans Coco Gauff and Caty McNally, two more young players full of hope and promise.It was a return to Arthur Ashe Stadium for Stosur, who won the 2011 U.S. Open singles title, upsetting Serena Williams in the final. Stosur is now very near the end of her career and has long been on the road, away from her family, because of the pandemic-era travel restrictions that make it difficult for Australians to return home.Samantha Stosur, top left, and Zhang Shuai, top right, in their match against Caty McNally, bottom left, and Coco Gauff.Al Bello/Getty Images“This year has been tough for everyone,” Stosur said. “This is the last two days of a trip that’s going to be four months for me away from home. I haven’t done that for a long, long time. To be going home with this trophy just means the absolute world to me. It makes everything worth it.”Stosur, like several other leading Australian players, did not make the journey to New York last year because of the pandemic. She had seen this year’s U.S. Open billboards with the slogan “The Greatest Return.” “Absolutely on point for this event this year,” Stosur said.David Mihm, a Djokovic fan from the small city of Eveleth, Minn., who had never attended a professional tennis match, bought a ticket for the men’s singles final after Djokovic won the penultimate leg of the Grand Slam at Wimbledon. “Right after the Wimbledon final, I thought this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’ve got to just go for it in case he does make it,” Mihm said.“I guess I was waiting for something real special,” he said.He did not get a Djokovic victory, but he did get something special. This U.S. Open, full of surprises and full of life, spilled over with signs of renewal and tennis’s bright future. Even Djokovic, who came one victory short of the sport’s ultimate achievement, chose not to end on a down note. A year ago, he had eliminated himself from the U.S. Open, inadvertently striking a lineswoman in the throat with a ball he hit in frustration after losing his serve early in his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreño Busta. Djokovic was defaulted from the match, played in an all but empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.Long the villain in New York, he returned this year, fighting his way through a series of intense tussles on the same court, gradually hearing more and more crowd support as he worked his way to the final. Microphone in hand, he made his appreciation clear through the disappointment on Sunday. “You guys touched my soul,” he said. “I’ve never felt like this in New York.”He was hardly alone in that sentiment this year at the U.S. Open, a tournament that felt all at once, both smaller and bigger than itself, and tennis too. More

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    Daniil Medvedev Wins U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic Falls Short of Grand Slam

    Novak Djokovic said he was going to play this match as if it were the last of his career, that he was going to pour every ounce of his heart and soul into trying to do what few thought could ever be done again.It was not enough.With a startling display of power and creativity, Daniil Medvedev upset Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, in the final of the U.S. Open on Sunday, ending Djokovic’s bid to become the first man in 52 years to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year. It was one last twist in a tournament that overflowed with stunning performances.For at least another year, Rod Laver will remain the lone member of the most exclusive club in modern men’s tennis, and the 2021 U.S. Open will forever belong primarily to an 18-year-old British woman named Emma Raducanu, who went from being the 150th-ranked player to a Grand Slam champion in the most unlikely tennis tale of them all.This was supposed to be Djokovic’s moment, the day that he would finally surge past Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and officially become the greatest player of all time.Djokovic was unable to put together any sustained momentum in the match, and was broken in his first service game.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesInstead, whatever spirits pull the strings of this uniquely exasperating sport intervened in the form of a lanky 25-year-old Russian, a neighbor of Djokovic’s in their adopted home of Monaco who is sure now to create any number of awkward encounters at Monte Carlo’s cafes and grocery stores and at the local tennis club where both of them train.Medvedev started fast, breaking Djokovic’s serve in the first game of the match and giving Djokovic few chances to take the first set. That was not supposed to matter. Djokovic, 34, had been shaky early in matches for two weeks, before raising his level and storming back for win after win. Surely, he would flip the script once more.And he had the opening, three break points on Medvedev’s first service game, and then another with Medvedev serving at 1-2 in the second set, when the sound system malfunctioned and interrupted one of Medvedev’s serves, giving him a fresh chance to save the game.When Medvedev took that point and then another, the weight of it all finally broke the man who had seemed unbreakable. Djokovic dismantled his racket with a violent smack on a court that had delivered him so many championships before.A game later, Medvedev curled a backhand onto Djokovic’s toes as he charged to the net, and when Djokovic’s volley floated long, the chance to crush a dream was just a few more games and one set away.“He was going for huge history,” Medvedev said. “Knowing that I managed to stop him, it definitely makes it sweeter.”Djokovic had beaten Medvedev most recently in a lopsided battle in February for his ninth Australian Open title, a moment that seems a lifetime ago, when no one was talking about anyone winning a Grand Slam.Medvedev, 25, is one of the younger stars of men’s tennis who has been looking up at the Big Three of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesAnd yet, when the draw for the U.S. Open came out two weeks ago, it looked daunting for Djokovic. Matteo Berrettini, the big-serving Italian, loomed in the quarterfinals. Alexander Zverev, the talented German who knocked off Djokovic at the Olympics and was the hottest player in the world at the start of this tournament, was likely to be his semifinal foe. And if Djokovic could get through those players, he was most likely going to meet Medvedev, the world’s second best player, whose game, a beguiling mix of power and spins, seems to grow more dangerous with each passing month. He was a fitting final obstacle for Djokovic in the hunt for their sport’s biggest prize.Medvedev stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and is as skinny as a bamboo pole. At first glance, he looks like nobody’s idea of a professional athlete. He will scurry around the court creating shots that few can see coming, then bomb an ace or pound a flat backhand down the line.Coming into the tournament, conventional wisdom held that the only way to beat Djokovic was to take the racket out of his hands with so many unreturnable balls that one of the greatest defenders in the sport would not be able to survive the onslaught.Medvedev did that and so much more, pushing Djokovic back on his heels and handcuffing him at the net on those handful of points that decide every tennis match, with history on the line and 23,000 fans desperate to witness it.For Djokovic, the loss delivered a disappointment that practically no one but Serena Williams could understand. She had been the last player to enter the year’s final major championship with a shot at the Grand Slam. She, too, fell to an underdog, Roberta Vinci of Italy, on the same court in Arthur Ashe Stadium, in the 2015 semifinals.On a personal level, this loss most likely stung Djokovic in a way that Williams may never have felt. Djokovic has spent most of his adult life chasing legends who claimed this sport as their own just a few years before he burst onto the scene. He proved early on that he could be the equal of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, then sagged back, only to come back stronger and repeat the cycle time and again.The fans embraced the defeated Djokovic at the end, and he was grateful.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesHe entered this tournament tied with Federer and Rafael Nadal in the race for the most career Grand Slam titles, with 20. He desperately wants that record, to seal his legacy as the greatest player in tennis history.Djokovic’s compatriots from Serbia worship him, but he has been mostly unloved elsewhere, until Sunday, when seemingly everyone wanted to see him deliver. Djokovic has spent more time ranked as the world No. 1 than Nadal or Federer, and is the only one who has a winning record against those two chief rivals. Yet nothing would declare him as the greatest of all like winning the four Grand Slam tournaments in a single year.Federer and Nadal have never come close, and most likely never will. This year, Djokovic beat Nadal in his kingdom in Paris, where he has won 13 French Open titles. Then Djokovic captured Wimbledon for a sixth time in July, on the grass that Federer has long treated like his front lawn.He could not win the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo this summer for the fourth jewel of the so-called Golden Slam, something only Steffi Graf has accomplished.Djokovic soaked up the adoration of his fellow athletes in the Olympic Village, but lost to to Zverev in the semifinals and then to Pablo Carreño Busta in the bronze medal match. The heat and weight of the journey were beginning to take their toll.Djokovic took nearly a month off from competition, then came to New York to finish his mission, to make things right. A year ago he swatted a ball in anger after losing the first set of his fourth-round U.S. Open match, without any regard for where the ball was headed. It rocketed toward the throat of a line judge, requiring an automatic disqualification.Djokovic’s first six matches at the 2021 U.S. Open followed a mostly familiar pattern — some early shakiness, including losses in first sets of four consecutive matches, before Djokovic the assassin emerged to take care of business.It took five sets against Zverev in the semifinal. When that was over, and there was just one match to go, Djokovic embraced the size of the moment at hand — with his heart and his soul and everything else he had. Surely, that would be enough.Tennis, though, can be so hard sometimes, even for the world’s greatest player, who had made it look so easy for so long.“My heart is filled with joy, and I am the happiest man alive because you guys made me feel that way on the court,” Djokovic told the crowd. Ben Solomon for The New York TimesHe refused to go quietly, standing firm late in the third set and saving match point as Medvedev succumbed to the pressure of closing out his first Grand Slam title. He produced two double faults and an ugly backhand into the net, and Djokovic rode the deafening cheers of the crowd to battle back to within a game.It had taken so long for the fans to get behind him, an entire career really, but now they were there, and as Djokovic sat in his chair, he smiled at the throngs, teared up momentarily and pumped his fist, all the while knowing how deep the hole he had dug for himself really was.Maybe one day that moment will serve as decent consolation for not winning the Grand Slam. He would later say that those rousing cheers meant as much as a 21st Grand Slam title. There are worse things.Back on the court, Medvedev had his nearly insurmountable lead, and he made sure not to waste his second chance to serve out the championship. He blasted one last serve that Djokovic could not get back over the net, ending the most difficult of quests in a way that few could have imagined.There would be no Grand Slam, but there was love, and Djokovic, who is at once a sentimentalist, a warrior and a deep thinker with an impetuous streak that has often gotten him into trouble, knew that was not nothing.“My heart is filled with joy, and I am the happiest man alive because you guys made me feel that way on the court,” he said just before raising a plate instead of a trophy. “I never felt like this.” More

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    What Emma Raducanu Means for a More Complex Britain

    Emma Raducanu, 18, galvanized the nation with her triumph in the U.S. Open, drawing congratulations from royalty and inspiring pride in her hometown outside London.LONDON — At long last, Britain got the outpouring of national jubilation it has craved this summer, not from a men’s soccer team that narrowly missed sports immortality but from a young woman with a radiant smile, Emma Raducanu, who stormed from obscurity to win the U.S. Open tennis title on Saturday.The straight-set victory of Ms. Raducanu, 18, over Leylah Fernandez, a 19-year-old Canadian, drew an eruption of cheers from crowds that gathered to watch the match at pubs in her hometown, Bromley, and at the nearby tennis club that set her on an improbable path to Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.“The atmosphere is buzzing,” said Dave Cooke, manager of The Parklangley Club, where Ms. Raducanu trained for several years, starting when she was 6. The day after her victory, members brimmed with pride, recounting how she returned after competing at Wimbledon for a practice session.“Just to watch her train was phenomenal,” said a member, Julie Slatter, 54. “You just know she’s going to take it all the way.”Queen Elizabeth lost no time in congratulating the new champion for “a remarkable achievement at such a young age,” which she said was a “testament to your hard work and dedication.” Looking slightly dazzled Ms. Raducanu said, “I’m maybe going to frame that letter or something.”Dave Cooke, the club manager at Parklangley. He said Ms. Raducanu ‘‘strived to meet her dreams.’’Andrew Testa for The New York TimesHer victory made history on multiple counts: She became the first player to win a Grand Slam title from the qualifying rounds and the first Briton to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade captured Wimbledon in 1977. Ms. Wade cheered on Ms. Raducanu from the gallery, as did Billie Jean King on the winner’s podium — two champions crowning a new one, and heralding, perhaps, a glittering new era for British tennis.For long-suffering British sports fans, Ms. Raducanu’s victory was also a kind of redemption after the heartbreaking defeat of England’s soccer team in the finals of European championships in July. England snatched defeat from victory in that game when it missed three penalty kicks in the deciding shootout against Italy.But on Saturday, Ms. Raducanu did not let a cut on her leg, from a fall late in the match, stop her from dispatching Ms. Fernandez, 6-4, 6-3, closing things out with an ace before falling to the court in joyous celebration. The timeout she needed to get her leg bandaged was one of the few anxious moments for Ms. Raducanu during a tournament in which she did not drop a single set.Like the national soccer team, Ms. Raducanu embodies the exuberant diversity of British society. Her victory is both a tacit repudiation of the anti-immigration fervor that fueled the Brexit vote in 2016 and a reminder that, whatever its politics, the polyglot Britain of today is a more complicated and interesting place.The daughter of a Romanian father and a Chinese mother, Ms. Raducanu was born in Toronto in 2002. Her family moved to England when she was 2, settling in Bromley, an outer borough of London known for leafy parks and good schools. A serious student, Ms. Raducanu has taken time off from the professional tour to study for exams, crediting her mother for keeping her focused on academics.A shopping street on Sunday in Bromley, Ms. Raducanu’s hometown.Andrew Testa for The New York Times“She’s got where she is because she’s a nice person and put in some hard work and strived to meet her dreams,” Mr. Cooke said.Though he described Ms. Raducanu as part of a generation of younger athletes who have stayed grounded and mentally strong, he said the Grand Slam title would impose new pressures on her.“You achieve something great, you raise your own bar,” he said. “We need to strip back those pressures from her.”Ms. Raducanu first came to national attention in June when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon before withdrawing, telling coaches she was having trouble breathing.That setback led some commentators, including John McEnroe, to express doubts about her mental fitness, especially at a time when another female star, Naomi Osaka, has spoken openly about her struggles with the pressures of the game. Under the lights in Flushing Meadows, however, Ms. Raducanu silenced her critics. She looked fit, poised, and relentless.Her performance inspired people from all corners of British society. At her old club, girls talked about running into Ms. Raducanu in the school hallways or at local restaurants. Some said they hoped to follow in her footsteps.“We want to go into tennis,” said Yuti Kumar, 14, who attends the same school as Ms. Raducanu, Newstead Wood School, where the graduates include the actress Gemma Chan and Dina Asher-Smith, an Olympic sprinter.The actor Stephen Fry waxed philosophical, saying on Twitter, “Yes, it may be ‘only’ sport, but in that ‘only’ there can be found so much of human joy, despair, glory, disappointment, wonder and hope. A brief flicker of light in a dark world.”The Parklangley Club on Sunday.Andrew Testa for The New York TimesThe Spice Girls kept it simpler. “@EmmaRaducanu that’s Girl Power right there!!” the group tweeted.Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles, Prince William and the Manchester United soccer team all sent their congratulations, as did the right-wing Brexit leader, Nigel Farage, who tweeted “a global megastar is born.”David Lammy, a Labour Party member of Parliament who is Black, noted that Mr. Farage once said he would not be comfortable living next to a Romanian (Mr. Farage later expressed regret for the remark). “You have no right to piggyback on her incredible success,” Mr. Lammy posted on Twitter.The dust-up echoed one earlier in the summer when Mr. Lammy faulted Conservative Party members for jumping on the bandwagon of the English soccer team, once it began winning, after having earlier criticized its players for kneeling before games to protest racial and social injustice.In Bromley on Sunday, though, the focus was on a local hero. Many believed her achievement would fuel a surge of interest in tennis playing — and other ambitions — among young people who have struggled to find motivation during the pandemic.“She’s a schoolgirl and she’s from Bromley,” said Jennifer Taylor, 40, sitting outside a pub. “I’m sure if she comes to Bromley, they’ll be a huge welcome for her.”As she prepared to return home, Ms. Raducanu alluded to Britain’s eventful sports summer, in which millions of fans, herself included, took to chanting the theme of the England team, “Football’s coming home.”Posting pictures of herself waving a Union Jack and holding the silver cup of the Open champion, she said, “We are taking her HOMEEE.”“The atmosphere is buzzing,” said the manager of the Parklangley Club, where Ms. Raducanu trained.Andrew Testa for The New York Times More

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    Medvedev Has a Two-Set Lead Over Djokovic

    Daniil Medvedev has tightened his grip on this U.S. Open men’s final, leading Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, and putting himself one set from winning his first major title.Medvedev converted on his third set point opportunity with a strangely pushed drop shot that caught Djokovic off-guard, leaving him stretching for a backhand that went well wide of the court.The pro-Djokovic contingent inside Ashe has grown more vocally desperate as their player falters in his bid for the Grand Slam, cheering Medvedev’s missed first serves and double faults.Djokovic is by no means out of this match, of course. He came back from two sets down twice before during this Grand Slam bid, both times at the French Open. In the fourth round of that tournament he came back to beat Lorenzo Musetti, and in the final he came back to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas. More