On the night of September 6-7 Moscow time, the final participants in the men’s singles category at the US Open were determined. First, the semi-final was played from the top half of the field, in which the leader of the ATP rankings, Italian Jannik Sinner, fought with the racket number 25 in the world, Briton Jack Draper.
The tennis community assumed that it would not be easy for Jannik Sinner at the TBS in New York, because the athlete had to deal with criticism and the barrage of hatred that fell on him due to the doping scandal. But, apparently, this did not put much pressure on him. On the way to the face-to-face confrontation with Draper, the Italian lost only two games. This happened at the start of the current tournament, namely in the match against the owner of the court Mackenzie McDonald (2:6, 6:2, 6:1, 6:2) and in the quarter-final battle against the fifth racket of the world Daniil Medvedev (6:2, 1:6, 6:1, 6:4).
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After a showdown with a national athlete and his debut in the semifinals of an American major, Sinner spoke about how he manages to stay focused and calm after the doping scandal that involves him.
“I have my team and my people close to me. They know me, they know that I always stay with people who understand me and believe in me. This is something very important. And of course, I am very happy to have them. Both among the coaches and off the tennis court.
“Yes, obviously the situation was a bit difficult at the beginning, but, you know, day by day everything was getting better. So yes, I am happy about that. Now let’s see in the semi-finals what I can do,” Sinner said in a press conference after the match with Medvedev.
Draper is the first Briton to reach the semi-finals of the US Open since Andy Murray in 2012. Murray then claimed his first Grand Slam title. Jack was very good on the New York courts. During the tournament he did not drop a single set and lost only 36 games. In the last 40 years, only two tennis players have reached the semi-finals of the American Slam tournament having lost fewer matches. These were Ivan Lendl in 1987 (34) and Novak Djokovic in 2013 (33), 2012 (32) and 2016 (27). In the quarter-finals, the 22-year-old defeated Australian Alex de Minaur, who is in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings (6:3, 7:5, 6:2).
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The sports community could not help but speak out on the eve of the first semi-final in New York between representatives of the strongest half of humanity. Thus, former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski told what Jack must do to face a formidable opponent and reach the title fight in the last TBS of the season.
“Jack has to attack his second serve. He also needs to open up on the forehand and not let him (Sinner) hit the forehand in the corner and hit the backhand.
Diversity and advancement are also important. He has to bring Sinner to the net on his own terms, but that is difficult to achieve because of how hard Jannik hits the ball. But when he lost sets against [Даниила] Medvedev and [Маккензи] MacDonald, they managed to come forward and be aggressive. The main thing is to find the right balance,” Rusedski is quoted by BBC Sport.
And Jannik Sinner’s coach Simone Vagnozzi had this to say.
“Draper is one of the most promising youngsters on tour. We have known him for a long time and we expect him to be a challenger. He has had several injuries in recent years which have hindered his growth. He is playing with the wind in his favour and has little to prove given that he has already achieved his best result and is playing against the world number one. He will try to play out of his rhythm and Yannick will have to be good, especially at the beginning of the match, to cope with the situation,” Vagnozzi said, according to Tuttosport.
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It is noteworthy that it was Draper who led in personal encounters with a score of 1:0. In 2021, 19-year-old Jack, who received a wildcard for the London tournament, defeated the then 23rd racket of the world, Sinner, and scored his first tour victory 7:6 (8:6), 7:6 (7:2). Now the representative of Great Britain had to play his first Grand Slam tournament semi-final against the world’s first racket, Jannik Sinner!
In the opening game, the tennis players confidently took their serves at the start. This continued throughout the first six games. With the score 3:3, Yannick first approached break point. The leader of the ATP ranking immediately realized it: 4:3. Already in the next game, Jack, who looked great, earned a triple break point. At first, the 25th racket in the world missed two opportunities, but still took advantage of the third attempt for 4:4. The eleventh game of Draper’s service turned out to be very stubborn. It was 4 times in a row, the Briton defended himself from 2 break points. And yet this tennis player was spoiled by 3 double faults per match, which allowed Yannick to get ahead with a break of 6:5. Sinner calmly put the set to zero – 7:5 in 57 minutes. It should be noted that the first noise of the world in this match was supported by his girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya from the stands.
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In three games in a row at the beginning of the second set, the winner of the 2024 Australian Open managed to come to break points, but could not take Draper’s serve; however, he did not give up his own either – 3: 3. Then a very unusual episode occurred. At one point in the game, Jack dropped the ball from his pocket. Umpire Marjana Veljović stopped the match and warned the tennis player that next time she would fine him a point. And then the representative of Great Britain vomited on the court during a draw on the opponent’s serve! During the break, the number 25 of the ATP ranking cleaned himself up. After that, the Italian took his serve for 4:4.
But the athletes’ health problems did not end with this match! At the end of the ninth game, Yannick, a runner in pursuit of the ball, fell unsuccessfully on his left hand. Sinner grabbed his hand and wrapped it with a towel. It was clear that the Italian was in a lot of pain.
During the transition, with the score at 5:4 in Draper’s favour, doctors were called to both players. The players then won their service games and the result of the set was decided in the tie-break, where the Italian representative was luckier by 7:6 (7:3). The game lasted almost 1.5 hours.
During the break between matches, the doctor touched the world’s number one racket again. Yannick made a consultation and then drank some powder. However, his opponent looked even worse physically. He was simply exhausted. It became clear that the winner of this match was practically already known, and the only question was when Sinner would get a break and put the finishing touches on his opponent. After the score was 2-2 in his favor, the world number one won four matches in a row, defeating Jack Draper 7:5, 7:6 (7:3), 6:2 in 3 hours and 3 minutes. Thus, 23-year-old Jannik Sinner reached his first US Open final. His next opponent will be the winner of the American Derby Taylor Fritz – Francis Tiafoe.
The US Open ends on September 8. Follow all the events of the Grand Slam tournament in New York on the “Championship”.
