Round 1: Jannik Sinner vs. Vit Kopriva
Arthur Ashe Stadium – Day Session – Second Match
- No. 1 seed Sinner begins his title defense in Ashe today, aiming to end the longest drought without a men's title defense at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era. The first Italian men's singles champion in US Open history lifted the Australian Open and Wimbledon trophies this year, but must progress further than rival and Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz in order to retain his spot as the world No. 1.
- Kopriva, however, is making his US Open main draw debut today in his fifth appearance at a Slam. The Czech reached the second round at Roland Garros this spring, before falling to Daniel Altmaier. If Kopriva can do the unthinkable and defeat Sinner, he will be the third man to defeat the No. 1 seed in the first round at Flushing Meadows, joining Jan Kodes and Alexander Volkov.
- The Italian is on a 21-match winning streak at hard-court Grand Slams, last losing on the surface at a major to Alexander Zverev in the fourth round of the 2023. He is 20-1 at majors this year, with his only loss coming at the hands of Alcaraz in the Roland Garros final. If Sinner lifts the trophy, he will be the second man in history to win both the Australian Open and US Open titles in back-to-back years, and the fourth in the Open Era to reach the final of all four Slams in one season, joining the ranks of Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
- Kopriva is currently ranked No. 89 following a number of appearances at ATP tournaments this year after only playing in the main draw of five tour-level events in 2024. His best results this season were a run to the quarterfinals at Marrakech, which launched him into the Top 100, followed by a trip to the third round in Rome, where he was bested by Jack Draper. The Czech also scored first-round wins at Bastad, Umag and Winston-Salem, a boon after spending most of his time grinding away on the ATP Challenger tour—he has six Challenger titles.
- The Italian is 15-0 in the first round of majors since losing to Marton Fucsovics at Wimbledon in 2024, and is 25-0 in opening rounds since a defeat to Dusan Lajovic at Cincinnati in 2023. He has a 65-1 record against players outside of the Top 20 since the beginning of 2024, but fell to Alexander Bublik in the second round at Halle this year.
- Kopriva grew up just yards from Petra Kvitova in Fulnek, Czechia, and was coached by her father and brother when his career was just beginning. In a press conference on Friday, Kvitova said her dad was watching Kopriva's second-round match at Winston-Salem last week. While this is his first time playing in Ashe, the Czech took on Djokovic in the first round of Wimbledon last year, so he knows what the big stages are like.
- “I think I learned a lot: how good he is, the experience of playing in such a big stadium, the way he plays, how he acts,” Kopriva told ATPTour.com. “Then I had a pretty good season to break into the Top 100, so I guess I took from the match only positive things, even if it didn’t go my way.”
