GRAND SLAM!
Defending champ Osaka tosses racket, knocked out of Open by Fernandez
Naomi Osaka smacked her racket against Arthur Ashe Stadium’s court. Moments later, she chucked her equipment, sending it bouncing and skidding halfway to the net. Then came a full-on spike near the baseline.
Osaka’s game was off. Her composure was gone. By the end, the crowd was booing her for turning her back to the court and taking too much time between points.
Soon enough, Osaka’s title defense at the U.S. Open was over in the third round with a 5-7, 6-7 (2), 6-4 loss Friday night to Leylah Fernandez, an 18-year-old from Canada who is ranked 73rd and never had been this far in Grand Slam competition.
Still, Fernandez declared afterward: “Right before the match, I knew I was able to win.”
Osaka? She came in with a 16-match winning streak at majors and four career trophies, all on hard courts. But this was Osaka’s first Slam tournament since she pulled out of the French Open before the second round to take a mental health break — she also sat out Wimbledon, before participating in the Tokyo Olympics, where she lit the cauldron — and maybe the time off was an issue.
Another possible factor in her failure to close things out while serving for the victory against the left-hander Fernandez at 6-5 in the second set: Osaka hadn’t competed since Monday. That’s because the woman she was supposed to meet in the second round, Olga Danilovic, withdrew because she was sick.
Osaka, who left the court after seven games to change outfits and put on a highlighter-yellow dress, was quite good down the stretch in the opening set. She grabbed 12 of the last 13 points, including the last nine, with a break at love to go up 6-5, and a hold at love with the help of a pair of aces at 112 mph and 114 mph to end it.
Seemed on track for a similar conclusion in the second set, leading 6-5 and serving. But when she sailed a forehand wide, Fernandez had her first break of the match to make it 6-all.
“I guess I wanted to stay on court a little bit longer. And I wanted to put on a show for everybody here,” Fernandez said. “One hour was not enough for me to be on court.”
And so began Osaka’s downward spiral. She fell behind 5-0 in the ensuing tiebreaker, missing shots and displaying her frustration as she occasionally has done in the past — by flinging her racket.
Chair umpire Alison Hughes did not sanction Osaka then, although later a warning was issued for hitting a ball into the stands.
“Honestly, I wasn’t focusing on Naomi,” Fernandez said. “I was only focusing on myself and what I needed to do.”
More to the point, Osaka was not at her best. She left the court with a white towel draped over her head after the second set, then sat in her changeover chair in that same block-out-the-world manner, and never really got her game going the rest of the way.
Fernandez certainly had something to do with that, particularly because of her serve.
She won 18 of 19 first-serve points — and never faced a break point — in the third set.
Fernandez’s knee-to-theground, quick-redirect style at the baseline is reminiscent of another lefty, Angelique Kerber, a threetime Grand Slam champion who won the 2016 U.S. Open.
And who just so happens to be the next opponent for Fernandez.
“I’m going to put on a show like I did tonight,” Fernandez said, “and we’re going to see how it goes.”
the fourth round since 2016.
“I correct it now,” she said during her news conference.
Alcaraz showed off so many skills against Tsitsipas. Big cuts off both wings, so big that this was the assessment offered by Tsitsipas: “I’ve never seen someone hit the ball so hard.” And that was backed up by the stats, none more remarkable than the one showing that Alcaraz finished with 45 winners off forehands and backhands, compared with 14 for Tsitsipas.
There was more. So much more. A serve with some pop, reaching 134 mph. Returns that were too much to handle. And drop shots. So many drop shots, some of which claimed points outright, others of which laid the groundwork for a lob or a justthe-right-angle passing winner. Alcaraz even won one point with the help of a back-to-the-net, through-the-legs tweener.
As impressive as all of that may have been, nothing stood out about the kid as much as the mental strength required to hang in there in the crucible of a Grand Slam fifth set in the biggest arena in tennis against a top player. Especially after getting shut out in the fourth.
“He dealt with it really well,” Tsitsipas said.
And he meant everything: the scene, the setting, the stakes. When it ended with Alcaraz smacking an inside-out forehand winner, he flung away his racket, dropped onto his back and covered his face with both hands.
He stayed down for several moments, his chest heaving. When he rose to go to the net, Tsitsipas patted Alcaraz on the shoulder. Alcaraz then again put his palms over his eyes and squeezed his eyes shut.