Six months since a billionth of a gram of clostebol was found in a sample of his urine and 19 days since he was publicly cleared of doping, Jannik Sinner won his first US Open title.
It is a victory that exists somewhere in the netherworld between a bad look for tennis and a triumph of mental resilience. However you slice it, the 23-year-old’s routine 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over America’s great hope Taylor Fritz earned him a second Grand Slam title to go with January’s Australian Open.
‘This title for me means so much because the last months were very difficult, I think you all know what I went through,’ said Sinner, before adding: ‘I would like to dedicate this title to my aunt, she is really not feeling well and I don’t know how long she will be in my life. It’s so nice that I can share this moment with her. She is a very important person in my life.’
Between them, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have won all four Grand Slams this year. With the last vestiges of the Big Three era ebbing away, 2024 marks the start of tennis’s next great dynasty.
Fritz will be among the players trying to stop those two carving up the world between them over the next decade but, in his first Grand Slam final, he never looked like stopping Sinner here.
Jannik Sinner secured victory in the US Open by beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets
Sinner richly deserved this title as he provided another reminder of his quality
Sinner prevailed with a 6-3 6-4 6-5 victory as he managed to get the better of Fritz
Fritz had hoped to end America’s long-wait for a home men’s singles champion
All fortnight at Flushing Meadows, there has been a sense of American expectancy rising like the steam from New York’s streets. A sense that the 21-year wait for a home men’s singles champion might soon be over.
Between the start of the Open Era in 1968 and Andy Roddick’s title in 2003 over half the winners of the men’s title were American and since then: nothing. Like a reverse Age of Discovery, the powerbase of the sport has moved across the Atlantic and settled in Europe.
So distant is the last American victory here that the night club where Roddick celebrated that 2003 title is now a ceramics shop.
So there was a lot of history on the shoulders of 26-year-old Fritz, and if that was not enough pressure on the No12 seed, there was the American equivalent of a royal presence looking on: his namesake Taylor Swift with her NFL boyfriend Travis Kelce.
Perhaps all this was a factor because, in the biggest match of his life, Fritz came out cold, landing only 38 per cent of his first serves in the opening set. Along with the serve his best shot is the forehand but he missed too many presentable mid-court balls, with 19 unforced errors and only 10 winners on that wing in the match.
His first-serve percentage shot up to 78 in the second set but he threw in a rubbish game when serving to stay in it at 4-5.
Fritz raised his level significantly in the third set and served for it at 5-4. But he lost three games in a row from there, another forehand error a sadly appropriate way to end.
‘I’m pretty disappointed in how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks,’ said Fritz. ‘I just would have liked to have played better and given myself a better chance.
‘American fans have been wanting a men’s champion for a long time…I’m pretty upset with how I played. I feel like I let a lot of people down.’
Sinner has looked a different player this fortnight and this success will mean so much to him
The depth and accuracy of Sinner’s game proved to be too much for Fritz to handle
Since the middle weekend Sinner has been heavy favourite for this title but it was not so at the staring post. His draw looked horrific: Daniil Medvedev in the quarters, Alcaraz in the semis and Novak Djokovic in the final. When the latter two were upset in the third round he became the man to beat.
And then there was the revelation of his failed tests and exoneration, breaking a few days before the draw.
The general view was that all the hullabaloo would prove too much to handle but to my mind this was a misreading of the situation. We may have known nothing about this case until last month but Sinner certainly did. Since Miami, where he registered those two positive tests, he has been facing the possibility of a ban.
Now he has been exonerated, all is out in the open. This must have felt like the lifting of a lead weight and it should be no surprise that, after his struggles in the middle of the year since those failed tests, he has looked a different player this fortnight.
And what a player he is. His great modern rival Alcaraz has greater variety and is more thrilling to watch, but Sinner is the purest striker of a ball on the planet.
Sinner’s intriguing battle with Carlos Alcaraz is set to herald a new era of tennis
If you are lucky enough to see him live, try watching a few points with your eyes closed. You will always be able to tell which shots are Sinner’s from the whip-crack report they produce.
His did not serve well last night but the depth and accuracy of his strokes were too much for Fritz to handle.
And so 2024 is the first year since 2002 in which none of the Slams have been won by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Djokovic. Instead the roll of honour reads: Sinner, Alcaraz, Alcaraz, Sinner; welcome to the future.
