U.S. Open Briefing: Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek face tough decisions, more…see more

U.S. Open Briefing: Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek face tough decisions, more variety, tired players

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week.

The 2024 U.S. Open has finished, with Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner emerging as the singles champions. Elsewhere, we have the impact of the Olympics, the importance of nerves and a tale of two Emmas as Grand Slam tournaments take a break until the Australian Open in January.

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How did the Olympics make for an even odder U.S. Open?
The U.S. Open is always the least predictable of tennis’ four majors, with no man or woman dominating in New York over the past decade. Its position in the calendar means that when they arrive at Flushing Meadows, players are feeling the effects of the three other Grand Slams and all the other tournaments in between.

In her press conference after the women’s final on Saturday, runner-up Jessica Pegula said, “Everything is kind of falling apart. A lot of girls are like that. The doctors and the physios are very busy here.”

This year, things felt even crazier, with the 2024 Olympics held in Paris a couple of weeks after Wimbledon playing a huge part. The additional tennis, plus the unfamiliar transition from grass in London back to clay at Roland Garros to U.S. hard courts meant that players came to New York more tired and less prepared for the latter surface than they might be ordinarily.

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, the men’s gold and silver medallists in Paris, were among those to tumble out at Flushing Meadows uncharacteristically early, whereas the eventual champions Sinner and Sabalenka had both skipped the Games. Their victories made it six different winners in the last six events for the men, and nine out of the last 10 for the women.

Adding the Olympics to an already crammed schedule has compounded the mental and physical fatigue that most players feel at this time of year.

A tale of two Emmas?
This sport moves fast.

Three years ago, the U.S. Open was all about Emma Raducanu. Three years later, there’s another Emma on the scene.

Emma Navarro, 23, has broken into the top 10 with a game not dissimilar from the scrambling power baseline brand of tennis Raducanu rode to her stunning title from qualifying.

Since that victory in 2021, Raducanu has battled injuries, exhaustion and the spotlight. The 21-year-old skipped hard court tournaments — for which she would have had to go through qualifying — before playing the U.S. Open, arriving with little match practice on the surface. She lost in the first round after drawing a fellow former Grand Slam champion in Sofia Kenin.

A week later the other Emma was the talk of the tournament.

They share a first name but their vastly different results seem like less of a coincidence.

One Emma played a succession of lower-tier events late last year to improve her ranking and develop match toughness. The other has chosen to limit her play mostly to the biggest events after her recovery from double wrist surgery, protecting herself from future problems but limiting her chances to develop a rhythm.

Raducanu is No. 72, mostly on the strength of her run to the fourth round at Wimbledon. Navarro is No. 8.