NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic walked onto Arthur Ashe to raucous applause, sun glinting off the Olympic gold medal around his neck. Aryna Sabalenka, reigning Australian Open champion, wowed the crowd with a tweener while practicing with Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Coco Gauff, the defending U.S. Open champion, filled Louis Armstrong Stadium while hitting with Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic.
Welcome to the Saturday before the U.S. Open. Seats are full. Crowds mill. The DJ spins beats on a stage overlooking Fountain Plaza. The lines are long for food, beverages and merchandise.
Spectators get in free of charge, moving through the grounds and watching their favorite athletes up close. The sounds of smashed tennis balls, loud music and ambient chatter can’t be escaped. The thrilling agony of qualifying week is done. The tennis party is in town.
Exhibitions and party events with current and retired players have thrilled crowds in New York (Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
While the top players were vibing, the tours studied the schedule. Three professional tournaments — a WTA 500 in Monterrey, a WTA 250 in Cleveland and an ATP 250 in Winston-Salem, N.C. — didn’t wrap up until that buoyant Saturday. There were finals to be played, ranking points to be accumulated and prize money to be earned. As fans and players revelled in the looseness of fan week with carefree smiles and unserious exhibitions, the tennis calendar paid no heed.
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American McCartney Kessler, who received a discretionary wildcard to the fourth Slam, won a thrilling three-set match against world No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 to capture Tennis in the Land. It was Kessler’s first WTA Tour title, after entering the Cleveland tournament with one tour-level victory, at the 2024 Australian Open against Fiona Ferro of France.
McCartney Kessler’s title lifts her inside the top 100 players in the world (Lauren Leigh Bacho / Getty Images)
In Monterrey, Wimbledon qualifier and quarterfinalist Lulu Sun reached her first WTA Tour final, before losing in straight sets to Linda Noskova, the highly rated Czech who now has a first WTA title and will move back towards the top 20.
On the men’s side, Lorenzo Sonego won in Winston-Salem, defeating Alex Michelsen 6-0, 6-3 despite the American nearly getting defaulted for hitting a ball into the crowd.
All six players now have limited time to acclimatise to the courts, conditions, and cathedral of the fourth Grand Slam of the year.
With the luxury of a wildcard, Kessler could’ve skipped Cleveland. But she prioritized her ascent up the rankings, after starting the year as world No. 221. Now he’s inside the top 100 for the first time, at No. 98.
“McCartney is in the unique position that she’s beginning her climb,” said Roland Thornqvist, who coached Kessler in college at the University of Florida.
According to Vlado Platenik, Sun’s coach, they wanted to keep the momentum of her breakout 2024 going, even if it meant playing the week before the U.S. Open. The decision paid off.
“The Grand Slams are a priority, but this year is about playing a lot of matches,” Platenik said.
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That Wimbledon result catapulted Sun up the rankings. From qualifying to quarterfinals, Sun jumped 70 spots to No. 53 in the world. Now she is world No. 41, closer and closer to a Grand Slam seeding. Platenik acknowledges that playing the week before isn’t the ideal preparation for the U.S. Open, but it helps move Sun towards her goal of being inside the top 32.
A packed stadium greeted Lulu Sun and Linda Noskova in Monterrey (Azael Rodriguez / Getty Images)
“Getting more experience and trying to improve the ranking as much as we can,” Platenik said.
Of the U.S. Open seeds, six played the WTA events the week before the U.S. Open (Danielle Collins, Emma Navarro, Haddad Maia, Leylah Fernandez, Elina Svitolina and Ekaterina Alexandrova). On the men’s side, three seeds played in Winston-Salem (Sebastian Baez, Arthur Fils and Jack Draper).
Navarro, who has had a busy summer, reached the semifinal in Monterrey, before losing to Noskova. The American reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon, knocking out Gauff along the way. She then played the Paris Olympics, losing to eventual gold medalist Zheng Qinwen in a match that ended with heated words at the net.
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The transition from clay to hard courts saw Navarro make the semifinals at the Canadian Open, before losing in the first round in Cincinnati.
Going from clay to hard can take some getting used to. Hence more matches on the surface to prepare for the U.S. Open, including a trip to Monterrey. Those matches earned her one place only in the rankings, but that place is a new career high of No. 12.
Emma Navarro came into Monterrey off the back of the Olympics (Azael Rodriguez / Getty Images
It’s a quick turnaround for the players to get into Slam mode. For Sun and Noskova, who played Monterrey final at 10 p.m. ET Saturday, their exploits mean travelling to New York on Sunday before playing first-round matches. Sun plays Monday afternoon against Lucia Bronzetti; Noskova has until Tuesday, where she faces No. 30 seed Yulia Putintseva. Repeat her form in Monterrey before next year’s Open, and it’s Noskova who will have the luxury of a seeding.
Platenik sees a silver lining for Sun playing the week before. She gets to focus on her development with matches, rather than getting caught up in the lead-up buzz of the U.S. Open.
The goal for competitors in the tune-up events is to one day be seeded in the slams like Djokovic, Sabalenka and Gauff. To be afforded the chance to spend a week in New York preparing for the U.S. Open, getting acclimated to the location and court conditions without the stress of travel and scheduling.
To earn that luxury, the only thing to do is win. So while the top players in the world play to a gallery of rowdy and delighted fans in the Flushing sun, the smaller tournaments, the points and the flights and the transfers go on.
(Top photos of Iga Swiatek and Linda Noskova: Getty Images)
