Fans hope for an exciting fourth day of the 2024 US Open in New York
On day three, Gauff (3); Djokovic (2), Zverev (4) all progressed
USA's Keys (14); Shelton (13), Tiafoe (20)
The Briefing: Will the case of Maya Joint help change college tennis?
Maya Joint, an 18-year-old American-born Australian who looks like she might have a long tennis career ahead of her, was pretty chipper for someone who had just left nearly $140,000 on the table.
Joint, who is from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, lost her second-round match to No 14 seed Madison Keys, who rolled her 6-4, 6-0 in Arthur Ashe Stadium Wednesday.
By winning three matches in qualifying and making the second round, Joint won $140,000. NCAA rules prevent her from collecting a penny beyond $10,000 of it, except what she spent on “actual and necessary” expenses related to the tournament. Why is this absurd?
Because in the age of NIL (name, image and likeness) a college athlete can earn $1 million for signing autographs at a local car dealership on a Friday afternoon, but a tennis player can’t collect money that she has earned through her hard work.
The Briefing: Is Holger Rune the best tweeter on tour?
Holger Rune may have exited the U.S. Open early, but he continues to make sure his voice is being heard.
After being thumped in straight sets by Brandon Nakashima on Monday, Rune tweeted the following day that: “I played extremely bad tennis. No offence to my opponent, but I managed only 39% !! first serves, tons of unforced errors, this is not what I or anyone should expect.”
He wasn’t done. On Wednesday Rune followed that up by saying: “I am not satisfied with my results, but still I have to remember I am 21, I am top 15 in the world, the highest ranked male ever in my county. So when media, “experts “ and randoms call me s***, I take it as a bizarre compliment.”
The swerve from Stefanos Tsitsipas-esque philosophy into expletives cannot be beaten.
As first-week matchups go, the U.S. Open couldn’t have asked for a better one than the third-round duel slated for Friday, between Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.
Shelton and Tiafoe are probably the biggest stars in the men’s game who haven’t won a significant title. Two twenty-something Black Americans, who play with the kind of electricity and charisma that packs stadiums.
Shelton and Tiafoe played out a lightning strike in the quarterfinals of this tournament last year. The match that ended with Shelton doing his since-retired hang-up-the-phone gesture. Tiafoe said the loss had been tough to swallow.
Now comes the chance for some revenge between two players who are good friends with big weapons. Tiafoe said of Shelton: “He’s very much like me in how excited and energetic he is on the court and has such a big game and big shots and serves big and gets the crowd going.
“Funny, cracks jokes,” Tiafoe added. “Just about as immature as I am.” Read more below!
The Briefing: What this time for Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe?
Ice bags are the hottest accessory as U.S. Open bakes in hot New York weather
It happens every year. At some point during the U.S. Open fortnight, an uncivilized degree of heat and humidity descends upon the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The dripping fantasia of the closing scenes in Challengers becomes reality. Sweat pours. Every article of clothing becomes soaked, gets replaced with another, and then gets soaked again, through every second or third game of every match. Shoes squish with every step.
Players try just about anything to ward off the disorientation of heat exhaustion, and, in the extreme, heat stroke. They wrap their necks in ice towels on changeovers, place bags of ice on every limb, and use black hoses blowing cool air inside their shirts.
That’s where they might be getting this all wrong. Read more below.
Novak Djokovic has been to the U.S. Open — A fan got the T-shirt
During a familiar Djokovic tale of toil ending in victory, one man and two shirts stole the show
As Novak Djokovic sat courtside during the first set of his second-round match against compatriot Laslo Djere, TV cameras picked out a figure in the crowd. He wore a white T-shirt, Djokovic emblazoned across the chest, holding the world in his hands. “Nole against the world,” it read.
As Djokovic stared into the middle distance of Arthur Ashe Stadium, wondering what to do about the heat, the humidity and the rhythm of his serve, the man stood stoic behind.
“I made a beautiful T-shirt for him,” he told The Athletic, showing that Djokovic signed the shirt after the match. “I made these T-shirts in Australia. I made this T-shirt because everybody was against him,” he said.
He is Zoran Pavlovic, a Djokovic superfan, and for one night on Arthur Ashe, a character in yet another story of Djokovic toiling against the world and against himself before finding a way through.
As my colleague Michael Dominski mentioned, here were plenty of players and fans struggling with the sticky heat in New York on day three, while
Plus, Novak Djokovic's biggest fan helped him into the third round, and was rewarded for his support.
We'll bring you up to speed with all of that right here.
You can also recap all the action as it happened, play-by-play, with The Athletic's live blog for the third day here.
When yesterday's match between Andrey Rublev (6) and Arthur Rinderknech went all the way, the calendar year of 2024 set a new record for five-set matches.
Rublev-Rinderknech was the 113th five-setter in men's singles at Grand Slams in 2024, breaking the previous high mark of 112 from 1992.
With her victory over Tatjana Maria last night, Coco Gauff now has 59 wins at Grand Slams. Since 2000, only one woman has won more singles matches at the major tournaments before turning 21: Maria Sharapova. Gauff turns 21 in March 2025.
Recap day three at the U.S. Open
Welcome to the U.S. Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On day three of the U.S. Open 2024, soaring temperatures brought the heat — along with the best matchup of the tournament to date.
Follow the action live as world No 1s Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, plus American Jessica Pegula, aim to reach the third round in New York
🔴 GO LIVE==►► CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE
🔴 STREAMING==►► CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE
US Open 2024 latest - Day 4
Fans hope for an exciting fourth day of the 2024 US Open in New York
On day three, Gauff (3); Djokovic (2), Zverev (4) all progressed
USA's Keys (14); Shelton (13), Tiafoe (20)
The Briefing: Will the case of Maya Joint help change college tennis?
Maya Joint, an 18-year-old American-born Australian who looks like she might have a long tennis career ahead of her, was pretty chipper for someone who had just left nearly $140,000 on the table.
Joint, who is from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, lost her second-round match to No 14 seed Madison Keys, who rolled her 6-4, 6-0 in Arthur Ashe Stadium Wednesday.
By winning three matches in qualifying and making the second round, Joint won $140,000. NCAA rules prevent her from collecting a penny beyond $10,000 of it, except what she spent on “actual and necessary” expenses related to the tournament. Why is this absurd?
Because in the age of NIL (name, image and likeness) a college athlete can earn $1 million for signing autographs at a local car dealership on a Friday afternoon, but a tennis player can’t collect money that she has earned through her hard work.
The Briefing: Is Holger Rune the best tweeter on tour?
Holger Rune may have exited the U.S. Open early, but he continues to make sure his voice is being heard.
After being thumped in straight sets by Brandon Nakashima on Monday, Rune tweeted the following day that: “I played extremely bad tennis. No offence to my opponent, but I managed only 39% !! first serves, tons of unforced errors, this is not what I or anyone should expect.”
He wasn’t done. On Wednesday Rune followed that up by saying: “I am not satisfied with my results, but still I have to remember I am 21, I am top 15 in the world, the highest ranked male ever in my county. So when media, “experts “ and randoms call me s***, I take it as a bizarre compliment.”
The swerve from Stefanos Tsitsipas-esque philosophy into expletives cannot be beaten.
As first-week matchups go, the U.S. Open couldn’t have asked for a better one than the third-round duel slated for Friday, between Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.
Shelton and Tiafoe are probably the biggest stars in the men’s game who haven’t won a significant title. Two twenty-something Black Americans, who play with the kind of electricity and charisma that packs stadiums.
Shelton and Tiafoe played out a lightning strike in the quarterfinals of this tournament last year. The match that ended with Shelton doing his since-retired hang-up-the-phone gesture. Tiafoe said the loss had been tough to swallow.
Now comes the chance for some revenge between two players who are good friends with big weapons. Tiafoe said of Shelton: “He’s very much like me in how excited and energetic he is on the court and has such a big game and big shots and serves big and gets the crowd going.
“Funny, cracks jokes,” Tiafoe added. “Just about as immature as I am.” Read more below!
The Briefing: What this time for Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe?
Ice bags are the hottest accessory as U.S. Open bakes in hot New York weather
It happens every year. At some point during the U.S. Open fortnight, an uncivilized degree of heat and humidity descends upon the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The dripping fantasia of the closing scenes in Challengers becomes reality. Sweat pours. Every article of clothing becomes soaked, gets replaced with another, and then gets soaked again, through every second or third game of every match. Shoes squish with every step.
Players try just about anything to ward off the disorientation of heat exhaustion, and, in the extreme, heat stroke. They wrap their necks in ice towels on changeovers, place bags of ice on every limb, and use black hoses blowing cool air inside their shirts.
That’s where they might be getting this all wrong. Read more below.
Novak Djokovic has been to the U.S. Open — A fan got the T-shirt
During a familiar Djokovic tale of toil ending in victory, one man and two shirts stole the show
As Novak Djokovic sat courtside during the first set of his second-round match against compatriot Laslo Djere, TV cameras picked out a figure in the crowd. He wore a white T-shirt, Djokovic emblazoned across the chest, holding the world in his hands. “Nole against the world,” it read.
As Djokovic stared into the middle distance of Arthur Ashe Stadium, wondering what to do about the heat, the humidity and the rhythm of his serve, the man stood stoic behind.
“I made a beautiful T-shirt for him,” he told The Athletic, showing that Djokovic signed the shirt after the match. “I made these T-shirts in Australia. I made this T-shirt because everybody was against him,” he said.
He is Zoran Pavlovic, a Djokovic superfan, and for one night on Arthur Ashe, a character in yet another story of Djokovic toiling against the world and against himself before finding a way through.
As my colleague Michael Dominski mentioned, here were plenty of players and fans struggling with the sticky heat in New York on day three, while
Plus, Novak Djokovic's biggest fan helped him into the third round, and was rewarded for his support.
We'll bring you up to speed with all of that right here.
You can also recap all the action as it happened, play-by-play, with The Athletic's live blog for the third day here.
When yesterday's match between Andrey Rublev (6) and Arthur Rinderknech went all the way, the calendar year of 2024 set a new record for five-set matches.
Rublev-Rinderknech was the 113th five-setter in men's singles at Grand Slams in 2024, breaking the previous high mark of 112 from 1992.
With her victory over Tatjana Maria last night, Coco Gauff now has 59 wins at Grand Slams. Since 2000, only one woman has won more singles matches at the major tournaments before turning 21: Maria Sharapova. Gauff turns 21 in March 2025.
Recap day three at the U.S. Open
Welcome to the U.S. Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On day three of the U.S. Open 2024, soaring temperatures brought the heat — along with the best matchup of the tournament to date.