Content Type: Personal Profile

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Tennis

      Ben Shelton Beats Tiafoe and Advances to U.S. Open Semifinal

      by

      Shelton, 20, becomes the youngest American man to reach a U.S. Open semifinal since Andy Roddick in 2003.There was a time when a U.S. Open quarterfinal match between two big-hitting American men could just be referred to as “tennis,” rather than as a historic night for the sport in this country.This is the way the home Grand Slam tournament would always be for the country that has won the Davis Cup, the team event contested by several nations, more than any other. But it wasn’t that way, not for 18 years, and then on Tuesday night, two young Black men, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, made it so again.They came to it from different places — Tiafoe, the son of a maintenance man at a tennis center in suburban Maryland; Shelton, the son of a former top-60 tour pro who became a highly regarded college coach. During the last year, they have become brothers of a sort, Tiafoe, the 25-year-old veteran who has become one of the tour’s most popular players, guiding the 20-year-old Shelton, who didn’t have a passport a year ago, through his first season as a professional.“Great guy off the court, but on the court a nightmare to deal with,” Shelton said of Tiafoe over the weekend.Shelton’s serves, at nearly 150 miles per hour, have become the buzz of the tournament.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesShelton, the powerful lefty whose serves, at nearly 150 miles per hour, and 112 m.p.h. forehands have become the buzz of the tournament, was right about that.“Ben has wanted to play me at the Open for a long time,” Tiafoe had said in discussing his game plan. “Make him play a lot of balls, just try to make it a really tough night for him.”On a thick, sweaty and breezeless night at Arthur Ashe Stadium that seemed to get hotter as it wore on, Tiafoe and Shelton put on the sort of tight, nervy show that stretched past midnight and into Wednesday morning. The U.S. Open is known for its late-night spectacles, storied battles that only so many can stick with until the end. It wasn’t that way Tuesday and into Wednesday, as the stadium stayed loud and live and Shelton and Tiafoe traded punches and counterpunches from start to finish.When it was over Shelton had prevailed, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2.Shelton struck early, playing the first set like a loose, midcareer pro who had done this before, his arm whipping serves and forehands as Tiafoe appeared tight and sloppy, giving up two service breaks and doing much of Shelton’s work for him.Tiafoe had his serve broken twice in the first set.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesBut then Tiafoe reverted to form, resisting playing the match like a testosterone-fueled hitting contest. He ground out points and games and let Shelton cool off and tighten up, as younger players often do, to draw even.The match turned on a crucial third-set tiebreaker, a seesaw battle that Shelton was on the verge of cruising through before hitting two consecutive double faults. Suddenly Tiafoe, who had given up control of the set a few games before, was on the precipice once more.Barring an injury or some other calamity, Shelton is likely to have plenty of moments like the one that happened next, with Tiafoe a point away from taking a two-sets-to-one lead.There is a specific sound that comes off Shelton’s racket when he lays into a serve or a stroke like only he and Carlos Alcaraz, the world No. 1, can these days. It’s nothing like the familiar thwop of strings hitting a felt ball, but more like a sledgehammer nailing a spike into a railroad tie. Tiafoe’s serve was plenty good. Shelton’s forehand return blasted onto the line inches from the corner. Tiafoe barely moved for it.The match turned on a third-set tiebreaker won by Shelton.Amir Hamja/The New York Times“Sometimes you just have to shut off the brain, close your eyes and just swing,” Shelton said.Two errors later, Shelton had the set and, for all intents and purposes, the match, breaking Tiafoe’s serve in the first game of the fourth set and never looking back.“Left it all out there tonight,” Shelton said. “Emotional battle.”Next up is Novak Djokovic, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, in the semifinals on Friday.“Doesn’t get any better than that,” Shelton said.Maybe it will. More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Tennis

      Coco Gauff Storms Into the U.S. Open Semifinals

      by

      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

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Tennis

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

      by

      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

    • 150 Shares119 Views

      in Tennis

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

      by

      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

    • 138 Shares129 Views

      in Tennis

      At the U.S. Open, It Feels Like the Fourth of July

      by

      A decade or so ago, back when Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe were rowdy teenagers raising hell at the United States Tennis Association dormitories in Florida, they dreamed that days like Sunday at the U.S. Open would eventually come.Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton were barely 10 years old back then, still figuring out how large a role tennis was going to play in their childhoods, though it was a safe bet it would be pretty large.Flash forward to Sunday at the U.S. Open, and those five players were at the center of what figured to be a daylong American tennis festival in the fourth round, a part of the tournament when, for so long, especially on the men’s side, players from Europe have filled the starring roles. Not on Sunday, when the year’s final Grand Slam tournament got down to serious business and the round of 16.With Ben Shelton facing Tommy Paul, it guaranteed an American would advance to the quarterfinals. It ended up being Shelton.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesThe schedule featured wall-to-wall red, white and blue; Black and white and mixed race players; players from wealthy families (Fritz), from more humble means (Shelton, Gauff, Paul), and one (Tiafoe) who started with almost nothing; some players with years of tour experience and one so raw (Shelton) that he needed to get a passport last year so he could leave the United States for the first time to play in the Australian Open.“We always believed this would happen,” said Martin Blackman, the general manager for player development at the U.S.T.A., who has known all five players since their early years. “But you never know when.”When Serena Williams, a majestic and groundbreaking figure in sports and culture for more than two decades, retired from pro tennis at this tournament last year, she left big questions about who might begin to fill the massive void she was leaving, especially in American tennis. Some pretty good hints arrived within days. Gauff and Tiafoe — charismatic figures with bright eyes and big smiles who play with equal parts heart, skill and athleticism — blazed into the deep end of the 2022 tournament, the quarterfinals for Gauff and the semifinals for Tiafoe.That was last year, though, and there was no guarantee that they or any of their compatriots would reproduce the magic of some of those days. Sunday represented a decent midpoint indicator.Looking at the draw in the middle of last week, Fritz’s eyes drifted to the quarter just above him, where Shelton, Paul and Tiafoe were crowded together. Some big names were out, and his people were still very much alive. Immediately he thought, “One of them is going to be in the semis,” and that was pretty cool.Paul won the third set after losing the first two, but he could not force a decisive fifth set.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesPaul and Shelton got the action rolling at noon Sunday in the opening match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The stands were filling up more with every changeover, getting louder each time Shelton’s booming serve put up big numbers on the radar gun.Two adrenaline-fueled blasts clocked in at 149 miles per hour as he built a commanding two-set lead before Paul came alive with the crowd rallying behind him. The stadium was near its capacity of 23,000 by the time his last forehand sailed long. It wasn’t the outcome Paul wanted, but the match had its moments.Early on, he looked up at the video board and saw that he and his buddies were on the list of Americans left in the tournament. He let that sink in, those names from the dormitory hall, names that were there in the late rounds of the junior national tournaments in his teenage years.“We grew up all together,” Paul said shortly after the loss. “Kind of cool.”Every Grand Slam tournament crowd throws its weight behind its home-country players. At the Australian Open, the “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy Oy!” chant is a constant refrain. French crowds break out in spontaneous renditions of “La Marseillaise.” At Wimbledon, Britons will pack a field court to urge on a junior player they have never heard of with the same vigor they offer Andy Murray.The U.S. Open crowd, by reputation the rowdiest and most indecorous of them all, does its boisterous best to get its own over the line.Shelton, 20, hugged Paul at the net wanting to hear just what full-throated screams from the biggest crowd he had ever played before might sound like. Hard to blame him on that front.Shelton played to the crowd after his victory. His next opponent, Frances Tiafoe, is something of a showman, too.Karsten Moran for The New York Times“Amazing atmosphere, felt the love all day,” he said on the court moments later.And it stayed that way as Gauff played against Caroline Wozniacki, a former world No. 1. Wozniacki is on the comeback trail after having two children and has long been a crowd favorite in New York.That said, she had never played Gauff on a day that felt like a flashback to a couple generations ago, back to the eras when American men and women always held the promise of becoming the class of the sport and were among its biggest stars. This was part tennis match, part revival meeting, with more screams of “Go Coco!” than anyone could count in a building that Gauff, who is just 19, figures to be making her home for the next decade.A slight complication, a welcome one for the hometown crowd, arose as 4 p.m. approached when Tiafoe strutted into Louis Armstrong Stadium to play Rinky Hijikata of Australia just as Gauff was finding her groove. Like a parent facing a choice between children, Blackman needed a plan.“First set with Coco, then over to Frances,” he said as he rushed through a hallway underneath the stadium.Coco Gauff faced Caroline Wozniacki, a former world No. 1 popular with fans, but still enjoyed a partisan crowd.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesSlight complication for Gauff, too, in the form of a late-second and early third-set wobble that had her hitting backhand after backhand into the middle of the net. Wozniacki surged into the lead, breaking Gauff’s serve in the first game of the third set. But Gauff and her 20,000 friends weren’t about to let that last for long, not on this day. With a slew of “Come ons!” and teeth clenches she reeled off the final six games, bulldozing her way back into the quarterfinals.“Had some chants going, which was really nice,” Gauff said later. “The crowd doesn’t really compare to any of the other Slams.”She won two of the three U.S. Open tuneup tournaments and, despite dropping sets in three of her first four singles matches, is brimming with confidence.“I’ve been in this position before,” said Gauff, a French Open finalist last year. “I can go even further.”Meanwhile, over on Armstrong, Tiafoe was cruising.If Ashe is American tennis’s grand cathedral, Armstrong is its party space, a 10,000-seat concrete box with an upper level of seating that seems to hang almost directly above the court and a retractable roof that keeps sound echoing up and down and all around even when open. And no one these days, other than Carlos Alcaraz, knows how to throw a party like Tiafoe, 25, who broke into the top 10 of the rankings for the first time earlier this year.Tiafoe defeated Rinky Hijikata in straight sets at Louis Armstrong Stadium before turning the court over to Taylor Fritz.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesThe drunker and more spirited the fans the better as far as he is concerned. He pumps his fists, shakes his racket, and even throws out the occasional tongue wag after those curling forehands and jumping two-handed backhands, to make it just how he likes it, with as many hollers of “Go Big Foe!” as he can wring from them. It’s how he has long believed American tennis should be, and part of the reason he is Paul’s favorite player to watch in the sport.Up next for Tiafoe is Shelton, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.“He’s going to come after me, and I’m going to come after him,” he said. “I plan on being in the semi.”Then it was Fritz’s turn, filling the early evening slot on Armstrong, and taking the court shortly after Tiafoe left it, against Dominic Stricker, 21, of Switzerland, one of the surprises of the tournament. Stricker had to win three matches in the qualifying tournament to get into the main draw and he upset Stefanos Tsitsipas, a two-time Grand Slam singles finalist, in the second round. He had already played 22 sets of tennis in New York, including two five-setters, before he hit his first ball against Fritz.Taylor Fritz ended the run Dominic Stricker made out of the qualifying tournament by beating him in straight sets on Sunday.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesMuch of the Tiafoe crowd filed down the stairs into the main plaza of Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Waiting at the bottom were thousands more ready to take their place, Honey Deuces, Aperol spritzes, beers, poke bowls and fries in hand.Three American headliners had already moved on, and roughly three hours later Fritz had joined them, with a straight-sets win over Stricker, to make his second career Grand Slam singles quarterfinal, and his first since Wimbledon in 2022.“No other place I’d rather go on a run than here,” Fritz said.Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula were set to play each other in the fourth round Monday, and Peyton Stearns, out of Ohio and the University of Texas, was set to take on Marketa Vondrousova, this year’s Wimbledon champion. This home-country party was rolling on. More

    • 150 Shares119 Views

      in Tennis

      When Coco Gauff and Zendaya Need Tennis Tips, They Ask Brad Gilbert

      by

      Gilbert, a former pro, coached Andre Agassi to a U.S. Open victory in 1994. Now he’s advising Gauff — in between calling matches — at this year’s tournament.Brad Gilbert — tennis junkie, junkballer, commentator, coach of legends — had roughly seven minutes to trade his coaching hat for a microphone, to shift from helping Coco Gauff manage her third-round match Friday night to interviewing Novak Djokovic in the tunnel before his.That match, by the way, ended just after 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, and Gilbert had spent Friday afternoon calling matches before heading to Gauff’s courtside box. It was well after 2 a.m. when he got back to the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott. Then he spent an hour analyzing the video of the match that Gauff’s next opponent, Caroline Wozniacki, had won that afternoon. Finally, around 3:30 a.m., he clicked off the light. Rise and shine arrived at 6.“Been coming to this place since 1981,” Gilbert, who travels with an espresso machine, said between sips of coffee as he headed to his office, a.k.a. the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, on Saturday morning. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”Indeed, this is the life Gilbert has chosen.For 40 years, he has been a near-ubiquitous presence in the sport, rising through the 1980s to the No. 4 ranking in the world, despite his quirky, awkward, ugly strokes, then pivoting to coaching and television work, often at the same time, in that hybrid way that is oddly common in tennis. Andre Agassi had him at his side when he won the U.S. Open in 1994, as did Andy Roddick, in 2003.Now, at 62 and a decade removed from top-level coaching, Gilbert is back in the trenches and quickly becoming a star of this year’s U.S. Open, albeit in a supporting role to the 19-year-old Gauff, who is among the biggest stars of this quintessentially American tennis party. One minute, Gilbert is chatting and applauding Gauff through a practice session. The next, he’s hustling through the crowds, fist-bumping fans who treat him like an old buddy on his way up to the ESPN commentary booth to mingle with a decidedly older set of stars from his era, such as Chris Evert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver.Gilbert with Coco Gauff during a recent practice session.Earl Wilson/The New York Times“A very funny man,” Gauff said earlier this summer of Gilbert, whose coaching exploits she knew little about, since, as she pointed out with a giggle, they mostly happened before she was born. “I didn’t want to be with someone who’s a wall. But he’s definitely not a wall.”Tennis fans love and hate his nerdy player nicknames. Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss tank of a player, is “Stanimal.” Carlos Alcaraz is “Escape from Alcaraz.” And on and on.It’s a good life. Has been for a while.Gilbert is the same as he ever was, Shriver said. She and Gilbert first bonded at the 1988 Olympics, two sports nuts who won medals while hopscotching from swimming to wrestling to track and field to take in the competition.“He loved scouting,” Shriver said. “Loved game plans.”Last year took an unconventional turn. For nearly a decade, Gilbert had been working with junior players on private courts in California. Then the phone rang with an odd request.Zendaya, the actor and music star, had signed on to star in “Challengers,” an upcoming movie about a professional tennis love triangle.Small problem: She had no idea how to play tennis. Could Gilbert teach her and her co-stars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist how to play well enough to not look ridiculous? Also, could he set up and design the points in the action scenes?Sure, why not, Gilbert said. He and Zendaya started showing up at Pepperdine University tennis matches to help her understand the game. There were three months of training in California, then four months of rehearsal and filming in Boston and New York.When it was done, Gilbert looked around and saw that his friends from television were coaching top pros part-time. Darren Cahill was working with Jannik Sinner, the Italian ranked sixth in the world. Shriver was working with Donna Vekic, the talented veteran from Croatia.Gilbert wanted back in with a top American player. He put the word out and began to get some offers, but he wanted to make sure it was with the right player, a member of the elite whom he believed he could help and who shared his hunger.Gauff celebrated her first-round win against Laura Siegemund at the U.S. Open.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesAfter Gauff lost in the first round at Wimbledon in July, another disappointing Grand Slam result for a player who believes she is ready to win the biggest titles, he got a call from her team. They wanted him to speak with her parents about sharing his been-there wisdom as an adviser alongside Gauff’s new and somewhat-inexperienced coach, Pere Riba.American? Check.Elite? Check.Hungry? Triple check.“A super kid,” he said of Gauff on Saturday.Gauff’s shortcomings were hardly a mystery: a shaky forehand and serve in tight moments; a struggle to maximize her prodigious strengths — her speed and ability to cover the court, her fitness, her blazing backhand, a laserlike first serve.Used the right way, those tools have gotten her far. Maybe Gilbert’s brain could get her over the line.“He loved discussing matchups, how to get to people’s weaknesses,” said Andy Murray, who worked with Gilbert earlier in his career. “It was very focused on the strategy and finding ways to win matches.”Gilbert and Gauff’s team have kept quiet about the specific ways he has helped her, but anyone who watches him and hears what he says from her box during matches can figure it out: Know what’s coming, and play to your strengths.“Make it physical, Coco,” is a constant refrain, a reminder that she can chase down balls all night long if she wants to, taking the legs and the heart out of opponents.Gilbert has little use for the statistics that have come into fashion among many elite teams. He ignores the screen in the coaching box that gives coaches real-time data.“I trust my eyes,” he said.He has been trying to introduce Gauff to his music, sending her links to songs by Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and the Eagles. Gauff, a fan of City Girls — a Miami hip-hop duo featuring artists Yung Miami and JT — has yet to share her thoughts.Still, at the moment, she and her team have every reason to trust his eyes, too. Gauff has won two of her first three tournaments with him on the team, and 14 of 15 matches, including three at the U.S. Open.Andy Roddick, right, embraced Gilbert after winning the U.S. Open men’s singles final in 2003.Vincent Laforet/The New York TimesThen there is this: Gilbert began working with Agassi in March 1994, and Agassi won the U.S. Open that September. Gilbert began working with Roddick in June 2003. Three months later, Roddick was the U.S. Open championThey were different players. Agassi, Gilbert said, had a photographic memory and an analytical mind that could take apart a match hours later, stroke by stroke, with total recall. Roddick was so exuberant that Gilbert had roughly 15 seconds to deliver any message before his attention went elsewhere.His take on Gauff? Kind of like Zendaya, he said.Both were prodigies who began working on their craft and breaking through as young children. They’re around the same height, about 5-foot-10. And Zendaya has the wingspan of someone closer to 6-4, he said. Great athletic physique. If only he had gotten to teach her tennis when she was younger.They were texting the other day, on Zendaya’s 27th birthday. She told him she was watching and was all in on Gauff. He said he was, too. Just as he wanted. More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Tennis

      John Isner Says Goodbye to Pro Tennis at the U.S. Open

      by

      A 6-foot-10 American, Isner had announced he would retire following the tournament. Losses in singles and doubles on Thursday ended a career known for powerful serves and a marathon match.Josh Zipin of Manhattan rushed over from Arthur Ashe Stadium to the Grandstand court of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Thursday hoping to catch the final set of John Isner’s singles match. Zipin, 34, said he had never seen Isner play live, and wanted to see what his “insane” serve looked like in person.“Somebody behind me was asking if Isner served to you 100 times, how many times could you return it in the court and the person sitting behind me said one,” Zipin said. “I think that’s probably being generous.”For 16 years, Isner, the 38-year-old American star, has wowed fans around the world with his signature game, which combined a booming serve, powerful groundstrokes, and quick hands at the net with volleys and overheads.A North Carolina native who stands at 6-foot-10, Isner is the career ace leader in the history of the men’s tour. But he is perhaps best known for winning the longest match in tennis history when he played for 11 hours 5 minutes over three days against Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon in 2010. That match, along with another Isner marathon at the tournament in 2018, led Wimbledon to institute a final-set tiebreaker. (If you have 11 hours to kill, you can watch the match in full here.)Isner won the longest match in tennis history, beating Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon after a battle that played out over three days.Pool photo by Suzanne PlunkettIsner was in the top 20 of the singles rankings for 10 straight years, from 2010 to 2019. He was a U.S. Open quarterfinalist in 2011 and 2018, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2018 and has earned nearly $23 million in career prize money, but was unable to win a Grand Slam tournament title.Andy Murray, one of Isner’s contemporaries, said during an interview this week that Isner “was always a disaster to play against or see in your draw,” adding that “his serve’s the best of all time.”Thursday would turn out to be the last time he would fire that serve at a pro event. Isner had announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, before the U.S. Open that the tournament would be his final act so that he could spend more time with his wife, Madison, and their four children.“This transition won’t be easy but I’m looking forward to every second of it with my amazing family,” Isner wrote. “Time to lace ‘em up one last time.”Isner won his first-round match on Tuesday in straight sets against Facundo Diaz Acosta, an unseeded player from Argentina. A number of his cohort, who have since retired, including Bob and Mike Bryan and Sam Querrey, were in attendance.On Thursday, he was defeated in five sets by a younger American named Michael Mmoh, who stayed composed despite playing before a crowd that was solidly in his opponent’s corner.When the match was over, Isner buried his head in a white towel and fought back tears. He could barely speak during the on-court interview.Mmoh said the match was “no doubt the biggest win of my career,” and he congratulated Isner on a remarkable, trailblazing career.Lisa Katter, 54 of Long Island, said she was impressed by Isner’s performance. “I can’t believe even at this point in his career he’s still acing an entire game,” she said.Then, not quite ready to call it a career, Isner slung his bag over his shoulder and trudged off to play doubles. A few hours later, that too was in the books, as he and fellow American Jack Sock, who is also retiring after the U.S. Open, lost in three sets.Isner ended his doubles career with Jack Sock, an American who is also retiring after the tournament.Al Bello/Getty ImagesLater, Isner said that he was feeling many emotions — disappointment over how he played, gratitude to have one last time to compete in the atmosphere at the U.S. Open, and pride in what he achieved throughout his career.“It just didn’t go my way today,” he said. “It’s a tough way to go out but at the same time I went out in front of a packed stadium and a standing ovation and it was pretty cool.”He said it was hard to explain how badly his body has felt recently, and he was looking forward to not having to practice anymore. He said he looked forward to finding what he was passionate about, and devoting more energy to being a good husband and father.“Tennis is a,” he started before trailing off and lowering his head to gather himself. “It’s been a huge part of my life so it’s tough to say goodbye, it’s not easy.” More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Tennis

      At the U.S. Open, Alex Michelsen Is Growing Up Fast

      by

      Things some teenagers do that make adults crazy: spending too much time on devices, leaving dirty dishes in the sink and sending hard backhands down the line.Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 35, had seen enough of the latter from 19-year-old Alex Michelsen in their first-round encounter at the U.S. Open on Tuesday. After the final point of Michelsen’s surprisingly easy victory, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, Ramos-Vinolas slammed his racket onto the court twice, mangling it beyond repair.Ramos-Vinolas, a veteran left-hander who was once ranked No. 17 in the world, had just learned what tennis insiders had already been discovering this summer: that Michelsen is one of the hottest young American men to emerge in an already deep collection of players.Ranked 601st at the beginning of the year, Michelsen has burned through the rankings like a comet, reaching No. 127 going into the U.S. Open. His standing is set to rise even higher after his already impressive performance this week at his first Grand Slam tournament, which started only five days after he turned 19.Michelsen, who turned 19 only a few days ago, faced the veteran Spanish player Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round.Karsten Moran for The New York Times“Two years ago, I never thought this would happen this quickly,” Michelsen said after the match. “I thought I would go to college and then try to figure out the tour after college. But I’m really happy with my timeline.”Until his summer surge, Michelsen was considered a top college recruit, headed to the University of Georgia, where he was expected to hone his game and eventually, hopefully, join the professional tour. But after tearing through the challenger tour — tennis’ minor league — the last few months, scoring impressive wins over excellent, experienced players, Michelsen decided to forego college and turn pro.In July, he won the Chicago challenger tournament and reached the final of the ATP tournament in Newport, R.I., beating Kei Nishikori, a past U.S. Open finalist; John Isner, a former top-10 player; and Mackenzie McDonald, then ranked No. 59, along the way.His real-time ranking rose to No. 115 after he beat Ramos-Vinolas, and up next on Thursday is No. 25 Nicolas Jarry in the biggest match of Michelsen’s life — again.The son of two college tennis players, Michelsen began playing the sport at age 3. His mother, Sondra, starred at San Diego State and his father, Erik, was a three-time all-American at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif.“My parents had contrasting game styles,” Michelsen said. “My mom would stay at the baseline and make every ball. I took that from her. My dad likes to serve and volley, come to the net and be more creative, so I took that from him. I feel like I’ve combined those two very well.”Michelsen won in straight sets against Ramos-Vinolas, a former top-20 player.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesWith his integrated tennis DNA, Michelsen features a well-rounded game, firing right-handed forehands and serves even though he was a left-handed baseball player as a kid. With a wide variety of talents, Michelsen can adapt to combat his opponents’ strengths and styles with a savvy court and tactical awareness, also bequeathed in part from his parents.But unusual for many young players, Michelsen came to New York without his parents, who remained home for work and to look after Holly, the family’s new King Charles Cavalier puppy. Michelsen also went to the Chicago challenger with a friend and traveled solo to Newport, R.I. Earlier this summer he went to Europe with Eric Diaz, who coaches Michelsen along with Jay Leavitt, his partner at the Tier 1 Performance academy in Newport Beach, Calif.“It’s a healthy balance,” Diaz said. “His mom and dad taught him so much about the game and they also know when to give him time to grow on his own. Alex likes that and it is worked very well for him.”Michelsen credited elements of his game to his parents, who both played at the college level.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesThe growing process can often be an uneven one for emerging tennis players, full of bumps and ugly outbursts. Michelsen has at times demonstrated emotional volatility and Diaz, who played at Georgia for his own father and coach, Manny Diaz, has sternly urged Michelsen to contain his turbulent teenage emotions on court.The pair were in England after a tournament in Nottingham this summer. The plan was to move north and play another grass-court tournament in the country. Michelsen did not make the cut into that event, so he and Diaz checked the tournament schedule and the map. They traveled 16 hours by train to Blois, France, for an event on clay, but Michelsen had only grass-court sneakers. He struggled with the footing, resulting in several combustible moments.“There were a few hats thrown and maybe a ball that might have wandered out of the facility that might have been his fault,” Diaz said.He laughs at the memory, but it was not as funny at the time. Diaz walked away from the court during a couple of matches and then later told Michelsen it was time to grow up.“If you’re going to act like a kid, then I’m going to leave,” Diaz said. “I told him afterward, ‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you are pretty good and it’s about time to let the tennis do the talking and to control the attitude. You are going to be on stages where you will have a lot of eyes on you.’ I think the realization set in and the maturity set in. He’s really carrying himself well, now.”Indeed, the teenager was composed and in top form in the first round. It was the adult throwing the tantrum.Karsten Moran for The New York Times More