The 2024 US Open final was a televised disaster

The US Open 2024 crowned Jannik Sinner And Aryna Sabalenka respectively. Despite the presence of two American players in the final – Taylor Fritz And Jessica Pegula – the tournament was neither spectacular nor uncertain.

The Italian ace dominated the men’s tournament by losing two sets and beating American ace Fritz in the final by three sets to nil. The much-anticipated match against Daniel Medvedev In the quarterfinals it was not exactly exciting, as the Russian ace made a lot of unnecessary mistakes and did not play his best tennis on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In addition, the premature elimination of Carlos Alcaraz And Novak Djokovic did not help the tournament. The four-time Grand Slam champion – winner in New York in 2022 – was knocked out in the second round by Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, while the Serbian legend gave up in the third round to Australian Alexei Popyrin.

The women’s tournament was also not memorable, partly due to Helena Driving lane‘s troubles and the shocking elimination of the world number 1 I’m going to SwiatekThe feeling is that many players are starting to get tired after a long and tiring season, which also included the Olympic Games in Paris.

The Olympic tournament was held on red clay, a completely different surface than the last Major of the season. It is no coincidence that all four male Olympic semi-finalists were eliminated in the first week of the US Open. Despite the presence of two American players in the final, the US Open was wasn’t very good on American TV this year.

A disappointing share

The men’s final between Sinner and Fritz was average 1.8 million viewers between ABC and ESPN+with a share that is 31% lower than in 2023 (when they faced Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev). In contrast, the women’s final between Sabalenka and Pegula recorded a share that was 53% lower than last year (when Coco Gauff had defeated Sabalenka).

In a long interview with Tennis365, top agent Patricia Apey discussed the impact of the following stars on the audience: “The people who come by are just as exciting. They are humble, kind people that the public warms to. Look at Carlos Alcaraz, everyone loves this guy. And he is not the only one. Here is a young man who is a lightning fast tennis player. He gets up in the morning and is humble, caring and polite to everyone. Let us be happy that he is in our sport. Jannik Sinner is the same. He is a sweet, sweet, sweet man.

You have those two and we don’t know if they are ready to replace Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Will one of them be as good as Djokovic and win as many trophies as he did? It’s doubtful, but that will be decided in the next 65 Grand Slams. What we have now is different. The new guys are dynamic, they can be controversial and there is always room for other actors in any good movie.”

The demise of the Big 3 has certainly had an impact on this crisis. Roger Federer retiring in 2022, while Rafael Nadal seems very close to announcing his retirement from professional tennis. Novak Djokovic is still competitive at a high level, but he has not won a single Major this year.

The changing of the guard

In an interview with Eurosport, former French Open finalist said Casper Ruud opened at the beginning of a new era: “This year, we have two young players who all four. It’s nice to see with your own eyes that it can be done, but they are the ones who stood out the most, with a high level, aggressive play and good tennis.”

He continued: “Obviously we can’t wait for everything to fall into place, but these big three have done really well. We’ve played 21 finals and only won two, so it’s not just bad luck; the fault lies with us. There was a lot of talk about Zverev, Tsitsipas and Medvedev when they emerged, and it was suggested that they would bring about change and eliminate the big ones, but they couldn’t do that at all.”

The tennis world has been shocked in recent weeks by the doping case involving Sinner. The world number 1 was declared innocent by the ITIA, but many players turned against him and the anti-doping system. The two-time Grand Slam champion responded like a great player by winning both the Cincinnati Masters 1000 and the US Open, thus strengthening his leading position in the ATP rankings. After requesting additional documentation, WADA has approximately 20 days left to appeal the acquittalNADO has instead given up the possibility of appeal, as it has accepted the ITIA’s decision.