9/11 remembrance involves West Point cadets

The U.S. Open has a special closeness to 9/11 — beyond being a few miles away from the former World Trade Center.

Lleyton Hewitt’s Sunday victory over Pete Sampras on Sept. 9, 2001, in the Open finals marked the last professional sporting event played on New York soil with the Twin Towers still standing tall. The Mets were off and the Yankees rained out on Sept. 10 — the following day.

Twenty years after 9/11, the women’s finals will be staged Saturday with two players who weren’t even born at the time: 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez and 18-year-old Emma Raducanu.

The Open’s 20th anniversary remembrance will include an anthem performance by two-time Tony Award nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega and the unfurling of a giant American flag by female cadets from West Point.

Self-starters creatively pushed forward. “We have a little weight room set up with a rack in the garage,” Ruthie said. “I joined some lifts with my brothers — I wasn’t quite pulling the same weight — but it was really valuable because Daniel wasn’t going to slow down just because he was home. He was like, ‘I’m doing sprints up the big hill down the street in 10 seconds.’ Alright, I’ll go over later this afternoon and see if I can do that.

“More than anything, it is the mentality. Maybe you are not feeling it today, but Daniel got up and worked out this morning, so I have no excuse.”

At the time, in March and April of 2020, Ruthie had her eye on winning a starting job as a sophomore. Mission accomplished, as she led Duke to the NCAA quarterfinals and had a scoreless streak of nearly 430 straight minutes — sixth-longest in program history — during the season. Recording four straight shutouts required tougher saves than an NFL quarterback or an ACC power forward could offer her in the yard.

“When I needed someone they always jumped in,” Ruthie said of her brothers. “They probably need to brush up on their soccer skills.”

That’s OK. If the Giants can match Duke’s success, there won’t be any way to quiet the noise around Daniel.

“Daniel definitely tells me and we all tell each other: Do you. Everything else will come,” Ruthie said. “We’ve all done our thing for long enough. We know we are good enough. It’s not like the game is changing. It’s carried us this far.”