No. 1 Jannik Sinner defeats Taylor Fritz to win the 2024 US Open

NEW YORK – Jannik Sinner started slowly at the US Open, dropping the first set after being acquitted of a doping case that no one knew about until shortly before play began in Flushing Meadows.

If that episode initially bothered him during the tournament, he was able to put it aside on the court. The No. 1 seed Sinner beat Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 with his typically relentless baseline play to win the men’s singles championship at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday, less than three weeks after it was announced that he had tested positive for drugs twice.

“This title means so much to me,” said 23-year-old Sinner from Italy, “because the last phase of my career was really not easy.”

He won the second Grand Slam title of his young career – the other came in January at the Australian Open – and prevented Fritz (number 12) from ending a 21-year drought of major titles for American men.

Sinner is the fourth man to win both the Australian Open and US Open in the same year since 1988, when the Australian major switched from grass to hard court. With Aryna Sabalenka winning both the Australian Open and US Open, it is the first time since 1988 that the same man and woman have won both hard court majors in the same year (Mats Wilander and Steffi Graf did so that year).

Andy Roddick’s triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2003 was the last Grand Slam title for a man from the United States. The last before Fritz, a 26-year-old Californian, to ever reach a final at one of tennis’s four major tournaments was also Roddick, who lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009.

“Being an American at the US Open is just amazing. Feeling the love all week long. So thank you very much,” said Fritz during the awards ceremony. “I know we’ve waited a long time for a champion, so I’m sorry I didn’t make it this time. But I’m going to keep working on it and hopefully I can do it next time.”

Sinner improved his record to 55-5 in 2024, winning a tour-high six titles. That includes a 35-2 record on hard courts, the surface used in both the Australian Open and US Open. He is the third man – and the first since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 – to win his first two Grand Slam trophies in the same season.

“So many big wins for me this season,” said Sinner, who took full advantage of the eliminations of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in Week 1. “But the work never stops.”

On August 20, the world learned that Sinner had been found to have traces of an anabolic steroid twice in eight days in March. However, the test was ruled unintentional because he had taken the banned substance while massaging a team member, whom he later fired.

While some players wondered if he was getting special treatment, most believed he wasn’t trying to dope. And the US Open fans never gave him any trouble.

“We just kept going day by day … and believed in ourselves, that’s the most important thing,” said Sinner, who mentioned that one of his aunts was in poor health. “I understand how important the mental aspect is, especially in this tournament.”

As expected, Fritz enjoyed a certain home-field advantage on that chilly afternoon under nearly cloudless skies. In a celebrity-filled crowd that included Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, some spectators occasionally chanted “USA!” between plays or rose to their feet when Fritz scored what seemed like a decisive point.

Fritz is not the type to show much emotion other than shaking his neon-colored racket, even after taking a 3-2 lead after 20 minutes.

That was pretty much the last big highlight for Fritz until the third set was tied at 3-3, when he hit an overhead winner to make it 15-30, punched the air and shouted: “Let’s go!” The people around him stood up, applauded and shouted. When Fritz scored a break point with a volley winner a minute later, he celebrated in the same way and thousands in the stands went wild. Sinner then made a double fault to put Fritz 4-3 ahead.

But when he tried to close the set at 5:4, Fritz weakened enough for Sinner to equalize with a break. Sinner lured Fritz into the forecourt with a drop shot and then let slip a passing shot that Fritz volleyed into the net. Fritz bounced his racket off the court. Sinner ran to the towel rack without even smiling.

About 10 minutes later, the victory was secured thanks to a final four-game run by Sinner. When it was over, Sinner raised his arms, threw his head back and closed his eyes.

Neither player seemed particularly interested in moving forward on Sunday unless they had to, instead settling for their forehands and backhands from the back of the court. That’s clearly Sinner’s territory.

In the end, Sinner, the second Italian woman to win a singles title at the US Open alongside 2015 women’s champion Flavia Pennetta, had an impressive record: only 21 unforced errors, 13 fewer than Fritz, and 23 winners.

At the start, it seemed that Fritz could keep the duel exciting if he played his best, especially on serve. He got 36% of his first serves in play, hit just two aces – a total surpassed in the first game of the second set alone – and ended up making more than twice as many unforced errors (12) as Winner (five).

Such statistics would improve Fritz’s position, but he hasn’t found a way to keep getting Sinner into trouble. Few do that these days.

“It’s really impressive,” Fritz admitted. “He was too good.”

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.