new york
CNN
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World number one Jannik Sinner won his second Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open, beating American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.
Fritz, ranked 12th in the world, was bidding to become the first American man in 21 years to win a Grand Slam singles title, watched Sunday by Andy Roddick, the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title, when he won the U.S. Open in 2003.
The 23-year-old Sinner won an 11-match winning streak at the Australian Open in January, becoming the only Italian to win the singles title at the U.S. Open since Flavia Pennetta won in 2015.
“This title means a lot to me because the last period of my career wasn’t really easy,” Sinner said. “I have a team and people close to me who support me every day. I love tennis and I train a lot for these stages, but I also know there is life outside the court.”
“I would like to dedicate this title to my aunt. She is not doing very well health-wise. I don’t know how much more of her I have left in my life. I am so happy that I can still share positive moments with her. … If I had one biggest wish, I would wish everyone good health, but unfortunately that is not possible.”
Sinner spoke more about his aunt in his post-match press conference.
“My aunt means a lot to me. When my parents were working all day every day, if I had to go to a ski race, sometimes my aunt would come with me,” Sinner said. “In the summer, when my parents were working and I had days off or free days, my aunt would always help me out.
“When you’re younger you can’t go to practice every day, so I’m with her a lot. She’s a very important person in my life.”
“I tried to look at this in a different way, especially during these difficult times, because sometimes unfortunate things happen in sport, but real life is different.
“We travel a lot so it’s hard to spend time with the people we really love, but if we had more time I think we would spend more time with the people that we really care about.
“Yes, it was and still is a really difficult time, but we also have to accept that not everything is perfect.”
Fritz is the first American man to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Roddick, who was runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009. Roddick was the last American man to reach the U.S. Open singles final, losing to Federer in 2006.
The American’s place in the final was all but assured when Fritz and world No. 20 Francis Tiafoe faced off in the semifinals, a match in which Fritz overcame a two-set deficit to one.
Fritz’s best result at a major tournament had been a quarterfinal appearance, but the 26-year-old was 0-4 at the time.
“It’s really amazing to be an American at the U.S. Open and feel the love all week,” Fritz told the crowd. “Thank you so much. I know I’ve been waiting a long time to win, so I’m disappointed I didn’t win this time, but I’ll keep working hard and hopefully I can win next time.”
Sinner seemed unfazed as he won the first two sets, but things changed in the third set, when the Italian’s level dropped and Fritz and the New York crowd got back into the match, with the American leading 5-3.
But the momentum didn’t last long, as Fritz failed to serve out the set and Sinner won the next four games in a row to take the title.
Sinner’s victory came against the backdrop of his recent doping case, which became public on August 20, and the news sent shock waves through the tennis world.
Sinner, who escaped suspension despite twice testing positive for trace amounts of the banned substance clostebol, has repeatedly maintained he did nothing wrong. He was found not to have been “negligent or negligent” and blamed his positive tests on “inadvertent contamination” from treatment by a physiotherapist at the time.
Sinner told CNN how he was able to play well despite the anxiety.
“First of all, I knew in my heart I had done nothing wrong, so that’s the biggest relief for me is that mentally I’m OK,” Sinner said.
“In another sense, I know what me and my team have been through for months. I know how we have felt over the past few months. We have put in a lot of extra effort to be as prepared as possible mentally, so this means even more positive signs for me and my team.”
It was the first time since 2002 that none of men’s tennis’ “big three” — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and the now-retired Federer — won a Grand Slam title. Instead, the majors were split between Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, with the Spaniard winning the French Open and Wimbledon.
At this year’s US Open, Djokovic lost in the third round to Alexei Popyrin and Nadal did not play.
“It’s hard to predict the future,” Sinner told CNN about the generational change in men’s tennis.
“I think it’s good for tennis to have new champions and new favorites to win tournaments. I’m happy to be a part of it, at least this year.”
“We’ll see what next year holds. Of course, there are big challenges ahead. But I’m looking forward to developing as a player and then I’ll see what I’m capable of.”
The U.S. Open always draws the rich and famous, and Sunday was no exception: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were in attendance, along with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, along with Matthew McConaughey, Martha Stewart, Noah Lyles, and Elon Musk.