Analysis of the US Open final: Jannik Sinner beats Taylor Fritz and wins second Grand Slam title

NEW YORK – Jannik Sinner defeated Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4 and 7-5 in two hours and 15 minutes in the final of the US Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Sunday.

The No. 1 seed prevailed in a comfortable win over the No. 12 seed, apart from a few exciting games in the third set, which was ultimately decided by Fritz’s difficulty winning points behind his serve, Sinner’s tactical adjustment of his return position and Fritz’s still-developing game variety not quite being enough.

For Sinner, it is the second Grand Slam title of his career and his second in 2024. This means that he, along with Aryna Sabalenka, holds both the Australian Open and US Open titles this year and consolidates his position as number 1 in the men’s world rankings.

The athletics Authors Charlie Eccleshare and Matt Futterman analyze the final and its significance for tennis.

Why did Taylor Fritz’s serve performance decline?

In the very first game of the match, Fritz fended off a break point with a forehand winner after an excellent defense from Sinner. It was a short-lived victory for the American, but winning points like that with a serve that regularly reaches 120 miles per hour is no way to win a match. To have any chance at all, Fritz would have to serve well enough to nullify Sinner’s defensive strength.

Fritz did not manage to do this in the first set. In that set he suffered a break in three of his five service games, including the first. In that game he hit a break point with a serve that was 204 km/h and Sinner threw it into the air. Fritz missed the put-away shot and immediately fell behind.

His low percentage of first serves (38 percent) was a factor in the 6-3 loss in the first set, but more importantly was the percentage of points he won with those serves. Fritz won only 55 percent, far less than the 81 percent he averaged for the rest of the tournament.

Fritz missed the lines with his first serve, and when he did, Sinner was able to hit the ball back wide, forcing the American onto the defensive. Fritz therefore struggled to get his forehand in play early in the points, and the difficulties he had on serve meant that he was behind too often, despite a pretty good return day.

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Charlie Eccleshar

How did Sinner manage to pull the rug out from under Fritz’s feet?

Just when it looked like Fritz had regained his stride, got his serve problems from the first set under control and was level with Sinner in the second set, he lost his stride.

The first player to break the other’s serve would likely win the match, and over the course of his first four service games, Fritz had increased his hit rate from just 38 percent on his first serves in the first set to nearly 90 percent in the second.

Jannik Sinner involved Fritz in long rallies that he could not sustain. (Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images)

Then came the fifth and decisive service game at 4:5, in which Fritz managed only three of his first five serves and the points dragged on – a situation in which Fritz’s less reliable running game can collapse.

Three unforced errors gave Sinner two set points. He only needed one, moved into the court and hit a deep forehand that Fritz couldn’t return.

In tennis, all points and games should be equal. But they are not. If you lose your serve in the first game of a set, you have several more chances to tie. If you lose it when you are a set down and trailing 4-5, you have lost at least 40 percent of a game.

Beating Sinner from the front or from a tie is difficult enough, coming back from two sets down to do so is nearly impossible.

Matt Futterman

How did the crowd feed on the leftover food – and then come to life?

Besides the serve, the crowd was Fritz’s most important weapon on Saturday.

Broadly speaking, there are two ways to get the fans excited. One is to excite the crowd with the same skill as Frances Tiafoe. The other is to keep the scoreboard close enough to the crowd board to really get the fans excited.

Fritz will never be a guy who builds as strong a bond with his fans as Tiafoe, it’s just not in his nature – so he had to create some tension by putting pressure on Sinner, much like the similarly reserved Jessica Pegula did with Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s final on Saturday.

When Taylor Fritz came to life, so did the crowd. (Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images)

Fritz really struggled with it most of the time, and his opponent deserves a lot of credit for that. Sinner has such a good poker face that he hardly gives the audience any opportunities.

In the third set, Fritz and the crowd finally began to work together in harmony. After Fritz fended off break points to make it 3-3, they broke out for the first time. Inspired by this, Fritz celebrated them a few times in the next game, sending the crowd into a frenzy. They began to bully Sinner, cheering when he missed a serve and wishing for a double fault that would give Fritz the break and the apparent set win.

Then Sinner came back, and although the crowd continued to be enthusiastic, they could not help his man across the finish line.

Charlie Eccleshar

As Sinner calculates his losses, the question arises: who will find a way to beat him?

There just aren’t many ways to beat Jannik Sinner these days other than hoping he has something on a bad day, especially on his serve. Sinner has a 55-5 record in 2024 and a 35-2 record on hard courts. He lost to Andrey Rublev in Montreal and Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells.

Alcaraz seemed to be on to something in Indian Wells in March. Trailing 6-1, he made a mid-match adjustment and began varying the height of his groundstrokes, bouncing the ball up and down to disrupt Sinner’s rhythm. The Italian prefers to place his feet just behind the baseline and hit forehands and backhands on a wire all afternoon.

A number of players have tried this tactic since then, and Sinner can spot it from a mile (or 80 feet) away now – especially against someone like Fritz, who can’t get the trajectory and turns right to make it uncomfortable. Sinner straightens up and jumps back as soon as he sees a certain height, turning a high ball into a belt-high forehand.

He has also started making his own tactical adjustments mid-match, the best example of which came on Sunday afternoon when he retreated near the back wall and changed his return position deep in the second set after Fritz had been pushing him back for most of the set.

Jannik Sinner spent most of his time returning to the green behind the course. (Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)

Suddenly, Sinner became Daniil Medvedev. He knew he could hit long, steep returns against Fritz, a player who rarely serves and volleys and still incorporates variety and advanced net play into his game. By extending the length of the rallies, he could play Fritz’s service games in his favor.

It was a good, low-risk place to start making changes – or, in Sinner’s case on Sunday, to end them.

At 4-5 30-30, Fritz served to win the third set and turned Arthur Ashe Stadium into a cauldron. He hit one of his best serves of the day, a 133 mph serve to the T. Sinner’s return position gave him time to smash the ball into a pixel square in Fritz’s backhand corner. Somehow, the Italian had gained the upper hand in a point he shouldn’t have won. He did so on that one, and the next, and the next. Suddenly it was 5-5, and the crowd’s hopes were dashed. Another break two games later, and it was over.

Matt Futterman

What did Jannik Sinner say after the final?

On the pitch:

“The last phase of my career was really not easy,” said Sinner before dedicating the title to his ailing aunt.

“I don’t know how much she is still a part of my life… She was a very important person in my life.”

What did Taylor Fritz say after the final?

On the pitch:

“I know we’ve waited a long time for a champion. I’m sorry I didn’t make it this time, but… I’ll keep working and hopefully I’ll make it next time.”

In his press conference:

His serve did not work for most of the match

“My plan A isn’t working. The plan B I would normally resort to would be to be a little safer and hold on.

That works with my serve against a lot of other players, but against him he’ll just put me under a bit too much pressure.”

On the feeling that Grand Slams are now more open

“I don’t think you have to play, I don’t know, incredibly well to go far in tournaments and be able to compete.”

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(Top photo: Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images)