Twenty-Somethings Into Men’s Finals at U.S. Open

Ladies first, and following the semis on Thursday to determine the championship finalists in the women’s draw at the U.S. Open, the young men stepped on the greatest stage in the tennis world, Arthur Ashe Stadium at the Billie Jean King Center at Flushing Meadows, for their turn. Friday’s matches were as thrilling as they were different; and now at long last there will be Americans in both finals, men’s and women’s — of what some call the world series of tennis.

And the amazin’ Mets, who play ball across the street, can make the playoffs.

Jannik Sinner, who is 23, is the only top seed at this upset-marked tournament, and he was fully in charge of his match against his friend Jack Draper. British star Jack Draper, same age, played with grit and kept things tense. The score tells the tale: 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-2. The loser kept biting at the winner’s heels, until a marked letdown midway through the final set, when he could only look at the serve and serve-and-winner combinations Sinner was handily setting up. Ill — he vomited on the court — Draper never signaled he would quit.

Draper could win points on big serves and the rare drop shots Sinner was not swift enough to catch and fire back, or the few shots down the line that passed the unflappable Sinner. Sinner strikes fast, but he knows about staying cool, not infrequently falling behind and turning the game around. He sees the whole court two or three shots ahead. Sinner is like a quarterback who is also a wide receiver, setting up the play and finishing it.

This could be a combination of talents made for Frances Tiafoe, whose quickness and power combine to put shots away. His weakness is overexertion which gives the endurance man the opportunity Taylor Fritz seized, somewhat inadvertently, as he himself said. Upon winning the five-setter — 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 — he noted that he was put on the defensive from the start by Tiafoe’s “overwhelming” power, and had to concentrate on staying in the match. He forced baseline rallies that went 20, in one case 31 shots. The two 26-year-olds went shot for shot, as if they were practicing the cross-court baseline-to-baseline motions, over and over. Of course, it was not that; they were using spins and kicks to get each other off enough to give them the chance to leap on a ball and put it away.

Endurance against taking your time to strike fast — pick your style: what works, works.

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