It’s been a long time coming.
Since Andy Roddick reached the Wimbledon final in 2009, a host of American men have knocked on the door of a Grand Slam final—James Blake, Mardy Fish, John Isner and Sam Querrey all coming tantalizingly close, and the current generation working their way up the rankings doing the same, a smattering of quarterfinal showings and a few semifinals having to suffice.
That 15-year drought is now over, as is the 18-year cold snap at the US Open, with Taylor Fritz breaking the spell and advancing to Sunday afternoon’s title match against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
Within a few hours’ time, the US Open will have a brand new champion to add to its annals.
If it’s Fritz, it will make history indeed—the first U.S. man to win a major since Roddick accomplished the feat on these very grounds 21 years ago. If Sinner, it will be the coronation of a new king, the 23-year-old Italian capturing his second hard-court major of the season—and in doing so, joining the Big 3 of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, as well as Carlos Alcaraz, as the only men this century to win multiple major titles in a single campaign.
The finalists have met twice previously, both times on the hard courts in Indian Wells, with Fritz winning in straight sets in 2021 and Sinner prevailing in three frames a year ago.
With that, let’s take a deeper dive into the pair’s road to the US Open final, how much they’ll have left for the title tilt, and what it will take to become this year’s men’s singles champion:
- Seed/Rank: 1/1
- Best US Open Result: F (2024)
- Previous Best US Open Result: QF (2022)
- Best Grand Slam Result: W (2024 Australian Open)
- Sets Won/Lost: 18-2
- Time Spent on Court: 14 hours, 20 minutes
Outlook: The 2023 US Open was, in many ways, a catalyst for Sinner. He fell in the Round of 16 to Alexander Zverev in a physical five-setter and emerged from the tournament a different player. In fact, since last year’s Open, the 23-year-old has been the clear-cut best player in the world. He closed the season with titles in Beijing and Vienna, a run to the ATP Finals (going 4-1 overall in Turin, with victories over Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev) and a dominant showing in the Davis Cup Finals, where he posted wins over Djokovic, Alex de Minaur and Tallon Griekspoor to lead Italy to the championship.
That set the stage for a dominant 2024. So far this year, Sinner has posted a 54-5 overall record that includes his first Grand Slam crown, a two-set comeback against Medvedev in the Australian Open final, and titles in Rotterdam, Miami, Halle and, in his final tune-up before the US Open, Cincinnati. Sinner carried that success from the Queen City into Flushing Meadows, where he has dropped just two sets thus far—his very first stanza of the tournament, to Mackenzie McDonald, and to Medvedev in the quarterfinals.
Overall, Sinner has spent a reasonable 14 hours, 20 minutes on court—an hour less than Fritz—but while his semifinal against Jack Draper was a straight-setter, it was a remarkably physical one, with an 89-minute second set that gassed both competitors. Another potential finale factor is Sinner’s left wrist. He fell awkwardly during the second set against Draper and required a medical timeout to get the wrist examined. The world No. 1 looked strong after that, overwhelming a weary Draper in the third, but considering how important his double-handed backhand is to his incredible ground game, any lingering pain could be an issue as Sinner looks to join Mats Wilander, Djokovic and Roger Federer as the only men to win two hard-court majors in the same season (the US Open switching to hard courts in 1978 and the Australian Open doing the same in 1988).
- Seed/Rank: 12/12
- Best US Open Result: F (2024)
- Previous Best US Open Result: QF (2023)
- Best Grand Slam Result: F (2024 US Open)
- Previous Best Grand Slam Result: QF (2022 Wimbledon, 2023 US Open, 2024 Australian Open, 2024 Wimbledon)
- Sets Won/Lost: 18-4
- Time Spent on Court: 15 hours, 27 minutes
Outlook: Fritz may be the underdog in Sunday’s final against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, but he’s a decidedly different player than he was when he and Sinner first met in 2021. The California native rededicated himself to the game a few years back, and that work has paid dividends, Fritz transforming himself from a solid pro into a real contender at the business end of big events.
A Top 30 player in the early 2020s, Fritz finished 2022 at No. 9 in the world and 2023 at No. 10, and he’ll improve to at least No. 7 following this year’s Open. Overall, the 26-year-old has won 17 matches at the majors this year, having reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon and the fourth round at the French Open—that total is the most for an American man since 2003, when Andre Agassi won 19 and Andy Roddick won 17, and in doing so, Fritz becomes the first U.S. man since Agassi in 2003 to reach the second week at all four majors in a single season. Win No. 18 on the Slam season and Fritz becomes the first American man since 2003 US Open champion Roddick to capture a Grand Slam title.
If Fritz is to join his predecessors as a major champion, he will have earned it. He had to go through No. 8 seed Casper Ruud and No. 4 Zverev—both former US Open finalists, both matches in four sets—in the fourth round and quarterfinals, respectively, and needed five sets to outlast friend, countryman and No. 20 seed Frances Tiafoe in the semis, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Surprisingly, that five-setter went only 15 minutes longer than Sinner’s straight-sets semifinal win over Jack Draper, but the energy expended in Fritz’s last three matches is something to keep an eye on in the final—as he looks to join Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Roddick on the estimable list of Americans to win a US Open men’s singles title.
