Key events
Choinski 1-2 Carballés Baena* (denotes server): On Court 16, Carballés Baena is leading by a game against Choinski. This match has been a lot more free-flowing but the unforced errors for both are mounting up. Think this might be a battle of who can hold their nerve better.
*Zheng 1-1 Anisimova (denotes server): Anisimova’s backhand is lethal at times but Zheng is serving exactly where the American prefers. She goes 40-0 up after the Chinese nets a shot but then a well-wide forehand makes it 40-15. Zheng saves again and then makes it deuce with a shot that just teeters on the net which throws Anisimova off her game and three break points come and go. Zhengs holds and we’re all tied up. Zheng has to work and make this a forehand crosscourt battle. She feels a bit rushed out there and it is preventing any rallies from happening.
Zheng 0-1 Anisimova* (denotes server): The American takes the first set after some really strong serves. From the first game it is obvious that this will be an interesting matchup with the two players having such differing strengths.
The US Open is underway. We’ll start with two matches; the first on Louis Armstrong as the Olympic gold medal winner Zheng Qinwen takes on Amanda Anisimova, whose best result at a slam was the quarter-finals in Wimbledon in 2022. On Court 16, the German-born Briton Jan Choinski has qualified for the main draw for the first time in his career will face Roberto Carballés Baena.
Jack Draper is on the defensive after receiving backlash due to his controversial point during his fourth-round win against Félix Auger-Aliassime at the Cincinnati Open.
Draper, another Brit hoping to impress, attempted to close out an excellent performance against Auger-Aliassime with a serve and volley but, instead of hitting a forehand half volley, Draper inadvertently hit the ball into the ground, which bounced up and dribbled over the net. The umpire, Greg Allensworth, did not notice the double bounce and a frustrated Auger-Aliassime patiently explained why Draper should have lost the point.
The Briton had offered to replay the point if they could see the video replay but he maintained that he was unsure of what had happened and he was eventually declared the winner.
I’ve always valued myself on being honest and a good person. Forget the tennis – that is one of the most important things to me in my life. So to obviously see that stuff, and see people talking about you for the first time in a negative way – and questioning your integrity and stuff like that – it’s obviously difficult to see.
I don’t blame people for doing that. Obviously, on the slow-mo, when you watch it from the side, it’s very clear it’s an illegal shot. There’s no doubt about that. But when you’re in the moment and you serve out wide and the guy’s hit a 95mph ball at your feet, you just put a racket down and I didn’t know what happened. I looked at the umpire straight away. I think I took a swipe at it, because I thought it was going in the bottom of the net, and then it hit the net and went over. It was just like a split second of madness.
The familiar face of Emma Raducanu is in New York and is “inspired” to be back where she won her first and only slam.
Back in 2021, tennis may have provided arguably Britain’s sporting highlight of the 2020s so far as Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a grand slam with her US Open triumph.
Throughout this summer, the British No 2 has spoken about finding the joy in tennis again, which had been difficult for so long. The results she has compiled over the past four months back up those sentiments. Raducanu has reached the quarter-finals or better at four of her past six tour events, had a run to the fourth round of Wimbledon and a defining role in Great Britain’s win over France on clay in the Billie Jean King Cup.
I feel very proud when I come here. Walking past my photo every day. Walking past my name on the trophy every day. I think that is such an epic achievement and these two weeks, I completed it. I come back with such a different outlook. Just joy and pride and it inspires me to want to do more.
While Sinner has said he did not receive preferential treatment, many disagree a sentiment that Novak Djokovic can “understand”. The Serbian has called for anti-doping rules to change in light of the recent case against Sinner.
We see a lack of standardised and clear protocols. I can understand the sentiments of a lot of players that are questioning whether they are treated the same. Hopefully the governing bodies of our sport will be able to learn from this case and have a better approach for the future. Collectively there has to be a change, and I think that’s obvious.
Many players – without naming any of them [as] I’m sure you know already who – have had similar or pretty much the same cases, where they haven’t had the same outcome. And now the question is whether it is a case of the funds, whether a player can afford to pay a significant amount of money for a law firm that would then more efficiently represent his or her case. I don’t know. Is that the case or not? That’s something really I feel like we have to collectively investigate more.
Carlos Alcaraz responded with caution when asked about his rival’s positive test:
In the end, they’ve declared him innocent and he’s in the tournament. I think there’s not much more to talk about and at least I don’t have much to say. It’s something that is talked about [in the locker room].
As mentioned, Sinner has been the word on everyone’s lips. The Italian has had an explosive year, winning his first slam in Melbourne in January and soaring to world No 1 during the French Open.
The Italian faced the media for the first time since the results came to light last week in New York. While the moderator tried to shut down questions about the topic after only one was asked, Sinner seemed happy to respond at length to all the questions and was fully engaged with his questioners.
I had to play already months with this in my head, but just [reminding] myself that I haven’t done really anything wrong. I always respect these rules, and I always will respect these rules of anti-doping. Just obviously a relief for myself having this result.
Every player who gets tested positive has to go through the same process. There is no shortcut, there is no different treatment, they are all the same process.
Sinner will begin his US Open campaign against the US’s Mackenzie McDonald, who is ranked 119 in the world.
Preamble
Hello all and welcome to our very first blog of the 2024 US Open.
The build-up to this tournament has largely been dominated by Jannik Sinner. The world No 1 had tested positive twice for trace amounts of the banned substance clostebol from anti-doping test samples taken in March. But an independent tribunal had subsequently determined that Sinner should bear no fault for the failed tests. This news was all kept under wraps until he was cleared, a day after he had won his second Masters 1000 title at the Cincinnati Open.
Turning to today, we have the defending champion Coco Gauff, the Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen and Britain’s Harriet Dart all in action
On the men’s side, the US fan favourite and last year’s semi-finalist Ben Shelton, the 2022 finalist, Casper Ruud, and Alexander Zverev will face their first round matches today.
Join me for all the news and action from Flushing Meadows. If you have any thoughts, concerns, questions, musings, predictions or hopes and dreams you want to share, then drop me a line via email. You can find the information at the top of this blog.
