US Open men’s singles winners and losers: Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz star but Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz crash out

Oli Dickson Jefford 09 Sep 2024 6:56 AM

Pictured: Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz

Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz are big winners from the US Open men's singles event.

With the dust now settling, we take a look at the winners and losers from this year’s US Open as Jannik Sinner walked away with his first Grand Slam trophy in New York while Taylor Fritz reached his maiden major final.

Big Winners

Jannik Sinner: A huge fortnight for Sinner, in the aftermath of his doping sanction emerging in the build-up to the tournament. Controversy may linger for a while but he proved he can handle pretty much anything thrown his way. The second Grand Slam title of the year for the Italian after his Australian Open trophy.

Taylor Fritz: A game-changing tournament for Fritz, ending a 15-year wait for an American man to reach a Grand Slam final.

Jack Draper: There is clearly work to be done physically for Draper but, after a difficult start to 2024, a first Grand Slam semi-final is a huge result. A big step in the right direction for an exciting talent.

Brandon Nakashima: One of America’s unheralded stars, Nakashima showed his potential with an epic run to the second week. Wins over Holger Rune and Lorenzo Musetti – followed by an encouraging display in defeat to Alexander Zverev – make him one to watch.

Big Losers

Carlos Alcaraz: The French Open and Wimbledon champion suffered his most disappointing Grand Slam loss in a shock second-round exit. Alcaraz slips down to No 4 in the rankings and needs to reset after a disappointing month.

Novak Djokovic: For the first time since 2017, Djokovic has not won a major title in a season. A third-round loss to Alexei Popyrin was in tune with some of his results in the first half of the season and – Olympic gold aside – it feels like the Serbian is not where he once was.

Alexander Zverev: Zverev came in as a leading contender for the title but was unable to take advantage of early exits for Alcaraz and Djokovic, falling in the last eight. His hopes of winning a major again wait another year.

Stefanos Tsitsipas: The 11th seed was beaten in his opening match by Thanasi Kokkinakis, with the Greek still yet to make it past round three in New York. Monte Carlo aside, this has been a pretty poor season for the former world No 3 – who needs to find a new coach fast.

Holger Rune: Much like Tsitsipas, Rune is another player in desperate need of making the correct coaching choice sooner rather than later. The Dane’s tournament was over almost as quickly as it had begun with an opening round exit.

Winner…and Loser?

Frances Tiafoe: This might feel a little bit harsh on Tiafoe, who defied his status as the 20th seed to reach a second US Open final in the space of three years. However, leading two sets to one against Fritz, he froze and could not recover. He might not get a better chance to make a Slam final.