U.S. Open: American Taylor Fritz falls to No. 1-seeded Jannik Sinner in men's final

There were loud cheers and spontaneous chants of “U-S-A” on Sunday afternoon at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Taylor Swift was in the stands and so was Matthew McConaughey, sporting an American flag bandana. Outside Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Taylor Fritz attempted to become the first U.S. man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick in 2003, fans lay on lawn chairs, perched on concrete ledges and gasped at the giant TVs mounted in front of them.

It was a party, until it became a dirge.

And at the end of all of this was Fritz himself, the country’s best hope, head down and holding back tears.

“I feel like the fans, American fans, have been wanting a men’s champion for a long time and I’m pretty upset with how I played,” Fritz said after falling to top-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. “I don’t know, I feel like I let a lot of people down.”

Two things, though, can be true at once. Many of the fans at Flushing Meadows left disappointed, and Sinner, at times, looked nothing short of invincible. But Fritz, seeded 12th, also has spent the last two weeks reminding the world at large that American men’s tennis is on an upswing.

Fritz had to beat fellow American Frances Tiafoe in a grueling, thrilling five-set match in Friday’s semifinals to be here. And even in defeat, Fritz was the first American man to reach a Slam final since Roddick in 2009.

“It was a really tough match for me,” Fritz said. “I think I had, you know, a plan of what I wanted to do going out, but a lot of — I mean, some parts of it I did well and a lot of parts of it I didn’t, definitely didn’t.

“I guess I hit the ball as well as I expected to. That’s something that’s big if I wanted to just go back and forth and ball-strike with him, because he’s such an amazing ball striker.”

At 3-3 in the first set, Sinner, who also won the Australian Open this year, broke Fritz after a double fault and a 16-stroke rally punctuated when Fritz couldn’t handle Sinner’s backhanded groundstroke and returned it into the net.

Sinner, who won the final four games of the set, also won 13 of his 15 service games. He dominated at the baseline, netting 60 of 100 points there. Sinner’s pace, depth and defense simply were too much for Fritz to handle, even as the American found his groove in the third set.

Tied at 3 again, Fritz broke Sinner and went up 4-3 on Sinner’s double fault. He then staked a 5-3 lead on a 120-mph ace.

As he has been all tournament, though, Sinner was indefatigable, winning the final four games of the tournament, with the championship point coming on Fritz’s unforced error into the net.

“[I] started to kind of put it together a bit more with just hitting the ball, hitting my forehand a little bit better [then],” Fritz said. “He’s the best player in the world right now.

“If my Plan A is not working, the Plan B that I fall back on, you know, would normally be just like bringing everything in, being a little bit safer, grinding it out. You know, that works, along with my serve, against a lot of other players, but against him, I tried to kind of bring it down, not be as aggressive, and he’s just gonna bully me a little bit too much.”

It hasn’t been all positive for the 23-year-old world No. 1, however.

Sinner entered the Open under a cloud of scrutiny after failing two drug tests in March. He later was exonerated after successfully arguing that the positive test was a result of contamination from an over-the-counter spray given to him by his physical therapist.

The decision drew criticism from some of tennis’ top players, with 2022 Wimbledon semifinalist Nick Kyrgios tweeting: “Ridiculous — whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned [steroid] substance . . . you should be gone for two years. Your performance was enhanced.”

After his victory, Sinner said the controversy took its toll but that this championship would help erase the sting.

“It was and is still a little bit in my mind. It’s not that it’s gone, but when I’m on court, I try to focus on the game,” he said. “It was not easy, that’s for sure . . . But during this tournament, slowly I started to feel a little bit more how I am as a person. Doesn’t really matter how or what the result was. So this tournament, for sure, helped me a little bit.”

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.