Most people are lucky if some of their friends like their social media posts, but only a special few are praised publicly by celebrities.
On Thursday, US Open qualifier Eliot Spizzirri received a very special shoutout from fellow Longhorn Matthew McConaughey on X, formally known as Twitter, after the Greenwich, Conn. native punched his ticket into the main draw of the 2024 US Open.
Even though he knew that McConaughey is a dedicated UT sports—and tennis—fan, the last thing Spizzirri expected after he walked off the court from his 7-6(8), 6-7(5), 6-2 battle with Joao Fonseca was a post from the award-winning actor.
“We got off court and I saw a tweet from Matthew McConaughey which was crazy,” the 22-year-old said. “I don't know how that happened.”
Prior to his graduation this spring, Spizzirri was a fixture of the University of Texas at Austin’s Division I tennis team. In 2023 and 2024, he was named the ITA National Player of the year—only one of four collegiate tennis players to finish the year as the top-ranked singles player twice since the ITA rankings debuted in 1981. Additionally, he was the 2023 NCAA Division I doubles finalist with partner Cleeve Harper, and reached the quarterfinals of the singles draw that same year.
Spizzirri’s experience playing college matches and tournaments helped prepare him for the atmosphere he faced on Court 5 during Thursday’s match. While several family and friends formed a powerful cheering squad, Fonseca had a large contingent of Brazilian fans there to support him during their hard-fought match.
“That was definitely one of the most fun atmospheres I've ever played in,” Spizzirri said. “It was up there with maybe some of the biggest college matches. I think when we played TCU at home we had 1,300 people. It felt kind of like that, where the crowd's going nuts both ways.”
“I love the feeling of trying to silence the crowd, and I had the benefit—most away matches in college, you silence the crowd, but there's no one really cheering for you. Today I could silence the crowd and I had so many friends and family out there that really helped me out and tried to combat the Brazilian fans as much as they could. It was just a really fun thing to be a part of,” he said.
And the noise wasn’t limited to their court—on the neighboring Court 4, Alexandra Eala of the Philippines had a massive cheering section, and the matchup between Serb Hamad Medjedovic and American Nishesh Basavareddy also drew a crowd over on Court 6.
“A couple of times I was serving, I'd hear a huge eruption, and it’s just one of those things where, again, college tennis prepares you because I don't think a lot of people are used to people shouting out while you're hitting, and in college tennis you get so many matches right next to you," he said. "You just try to block out the noise but also embrace it when you can.”
Embrace it he did. And Spizzirri will definitely have a crowd at his first-round match, when he will face fellow American Alex Michelsen.
Maybe McConaughey will even show up, especially as there is more than one Longhorn to cheer for at this year’s US Open: Spizzirri will be joined in the main draw by fellow qualifier Maya Joint, and 2022 NCAA singles champion Peyton Stearns, who reached the fourth round in Queens last year.
