HHS Reflects on the 2024 U.S. Open

This year’s U.S Open delivered many surprising and exciting moments to tennis fans, making it a popular topic in the HHS hallways at the beginning of the school year. A tennis tournament held annually in Flushing Meadows, Queens, the U.S Open tournament consists of five brackets: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. In the men’s singles, Jannik Sinner won his second Grand Slam by defeating the American player, Taylor Fritz. In the women’s final, Aryna Sabalenka won her third major title in an intense finals match with Jessica Pegula. Surprisingly, the tournament’s upsets this year occurred early on. Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, who were both tournament favorites, were eliminated before the final rounds.
To get some feedback from our student body, we spoke with some of the boys and girls varsity tennis players. “Seeing Alcaraz and Djokovic get eliminated so early was very surprising,” said Marcus Galland. “It proves that tennis can be unpredictable and you can never know the result.”
At the same time, some students were impressed by the ultimate champion, Jannik Sinner’s performance throughout the tournament while beating some big names. Lola Berlin, a captain on our varsity girls tennis team, said, “It was an exciting final and I think everyone was surprised by Sinner’s dominance during the tournament, especially in the final after winning all three sets.”
Sabalenka’s run to the final was similar. “Her ability to stay focused under pressure, especially playing an American, Jessica Pegula, in the final in front of her home crowd was really inspiring,” said Lola.
The American tennis players also had some impressive performances throughout the tournament. In both men’s and women’s singles semifinals, there were two American players, with one American player reaching the final in each bracket. In men’s singles, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz faced off in the semifinal with Taylor Fritz ultimately reaching the final against Sinner. In the women’s singles bracket, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro were in each of the semifinal games. Even though neither American finalist clinched the title, it was exciting to see our country’s athletes succeed on one of the world’s biggest stages in the sport.
We also had the opportunity to interview boys varsity tennis player Andre Forrest, who was selected to be a ball boy in this year’s U.S Open. Andre said, “It was an amazing experience and I was honored to be given that opportunity.” He mentioned that his favorite moments were being able to be the ball boy for Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro and Andrey Rublev.
For students at HHS, the 2024 U.S. Open was not only a source of entertainment but also a demonstration of some key characteristics to being a successful player in tennis or any other sport. This year’s Open showed us that it isn’t always the favorites that win, and almost every match should be taken seriously. As the girls varsity tennis season concluded this fall, all of the players were enthusiastic and inspired by all the great matches that occurred in this year’s U.S Open. In the spring, when the boys varsity tennis season is underway, they also hope to incorporate some of the grit and fighting spirit that they watched in the epic 2024 U.S Open.