The US Open has come to an end. And the Olympics are long over. But the tennis community is not letting go of the controversial and contentious issue of how the Olympics affected the results of the US Open. Especially after the champions were determined in New York.
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This is exactly the topic that the famous American journalist Ben Rothenberg raised on social media.
“Let me remind you that both 2024 US Open champions did not play in the Olympics. This may not matter as much in 2028, as the Olympics will be played on hard courts in the United States, but remember that both 1996 US Open champions (Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf) also missed the Atlanta Olympics that year,” Rotenberg wrote.
French journalist Carole Bouchard expressed a similar view. Her subscribers’ opinions in the comments were divided.
“Djokovic and Alcaraz missed out on winning not only at the US Open, but also at the Paris Olympics. I must admit that I am more surprised that Carlos did not have time to recover in time for New York than Novak, who made his dream come true. But it is obvious that they gave everything they could give then in Paris and could not repeat it again,” Bouchard wrote.
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The Olympic tennis tournament was held from July 27 to August 4 on clay. The American series on hard courts started in parallel: for both women and men – on July 29 with the “five hundred” in Washington. Some of the best players, including Andrei Rublev, Arina Sabalenko, Daria Kasatkina and others, refused to participate in the Olympics and immediately headed to the US capital.
Among those who went to Paris this year and then immediately switched to American Hard, objectively the most successful results are not seen in New York. The opinion of tennis journalists about Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz is reasonable. Both reached the Olympic final, played an emotional decisive match in which each left a piece of themselves. Afterwards, the Serb took a break and did not play until the US Open, while the Spaniard performed in Cincinnati, where in the first round he nervously lost to Gael Monfils (6-4, 6-7, 4-6).
In New York, the path of Olympic finalists turned out to be thorny. Djokovic was defeated in the third round by Alexei Popyrin, and Alcaraz retired even earlier, losing a round earlier to Botik van de Zandshulp. Carlos later admitted that he simply could not recover psychologically a few weeks after his failure in the battle for Olympic gold.
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic at the medal ceremony at the Olympic Games
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
In this context, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, who won trophies in New York and did not participate in the Olympics, seem to have a greater advantage. The Belarusian deliberately skipped the Olympics and, after winning in the USA, said that she had made the right decision.
The Italian did not come to Paris due to illness. Yannick said that the Games were one of the main goals of the season for him and that if he were to play there, he told the press, “I would be the happiest.” Although it is not clear what his path in New York would have been like after his performance in Paris.
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For the past 20 years, the results of Olympic champions and US Open silver medalists have been like this.
Olympic Games winner and runner-up (year)US Open ResultNovak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz (2024)Third round and second roundZheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic (2024)Quarter-finals and fourth roundAlexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov (2021)Semi-finals and first roundBelinda Bencic and Marketa Vondrousova (2021)Quarter-finals and second roundAndy Murray and Juan-Martín del Potro (2016)Both quarter-finalsMónica Puig and Angelique Kerber (2016)First round and titleAndy Murray and Roger Federer (2012)Title and quarter-finalSerena Williams and María Sharapova (2012)Title and semi-finalRafael Nadal and Fernando González (2008)Semi-final and fourth roundElena Dementieva and Dinara Safina (2008)Both – semi-finalsNicholas Massu and Murdy Fish (2004)Both – second roundJustine Henin and Amelie Mauresmo (2004) Fourth round and quarterfinals
Most of the Games were played on hard courts, which did not require a transition from one surface to another before the US Open. However, two tournaments, in 2012 and 2024, were further complicated by the fact that they were not played on hard courts. And it was precisely this aspect that the tennis world found controversial and problematic this season.
During the 2012 Olympics, tennis players played on grass. The final matches, in which Andy Murray and Serena Williams won gold medals, took place three weeks before the start of the US Open, the same time that passed between the Games and the US Open this year. And yet, Murray and Williams managed to switch from grass to hard courts and win in New York.
Not every player who misses the Olympics performs phenomenally at the US Open. And not every tennis player who performs successfully at the Games fails at the American major. Moreover, the experience of recent years shows that participation in the Olympic tournament is not a key limitation to the success of the game in New York.
This year, the results of the Olympic finalists were greatly influenced by their psychological state. Djokovic gave his all in the battle for Olympic gold and his dream. The same thing happened to Alcaraz, only the defeat seemed to paralyze him even more than the victory surprised the Serb. For the women, everything was a little different: Vekic in the fourth round of the US Open met Zheng Qingwen again and lost again, being slightly inferior in class. The Chinese simply could not put up any opposition to the future champion Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.
This is the situation this season. It is unknown how Sinner and Sabalenka would perform in New York if they were to take part in the Olympics. Much would depend on psychology. Djokovic and Alcaraz deliberately chose to leave everything on Olympic clay this year. And even if this decision cost Novak and Carlos their chances of winning the US Open trophy, their card was played in Paris. It justified both the Spaniard’s silver and, undoubtedly, the Serb’s gold.
