Dart wins but Choinski falls short on US Open debut
Britain’s Harriet Dart races into the second round but qualifier Jan Choinski ran out of steam in his US Open main draw debut in a five-set thriller.
Britain’s Harriet Dart races into the second round but qualifier Jan Choinski ran out of steam in his US Open main draw debut in a five-set thriller.
Less complaining, more winning. That has been the motto lately for #NextGenATP star Shang Juncheng and it has proven plenty successful.
The Chinese 19-year-old ticked off his latest first on Monday when he earned his maiden US Open win against 27th seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in three hours and 34 minutes. Shang has now reached the second round of every major main draw (also the Australian Open and Wimbledon) he has played this season.
“Very happy and tired. Very tired. Interesting match against Alex. He has everything, he throws anything at you, some second-serve bombs, also drop shots, underarm serves, anything,” Shang said. “You really have to focus the whole match, and I’m glad I did all the way ‘til the end. It was just a good win, and hopefully I can continue.”
It has been the best season of Shang’s young career. The teen is currently third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, putting him in good position to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF for the first time.
Results that stand out include his first two ATP Tour semi-finals in Hong Kong and Atlanta, a trip to the third round of the Australian Open and a quarter-final in Eastbourne. Entering 2024 he had not reached a tour-level quarter-final.
“I think mentally, I’m a different person, also physically,” Shang said. “Not too many things have changed.”
The Chinese star has played more aggressively and improved his serve. He even explained that he is still growing height-wise. But the big difference has been in his mind.
“Until Eastbourne this year, if I remember exactly, I was complaining so much about the grass that I had no idea how to move on it, and every two steps I would slip. And so me and my parents and also my coach, we made a deal,” Shang said. “No complaining during the match, and then we’ll count it as one match. Whenever you get to 50 matches, that’s when you have another breakthrough.
“Right now we’re counting, I think, to 16 matches. Today I was complaining a bit in the second and third, but gladly, in the fourth and fifth, I brought it all back together and had the focus again.”
It is a work in progress, just like everything in a tennis player’s game. And in many ways, it’s natural to have dialogue with your team during a match.
“If you’re really anxious, or if you’re really mad at something and nothing is working, obviously first thing is you go to your team and ask them, ‘What is going on?’ And the truth is that they did nothing wrong,” Shang said. “You’re out there by yourself, and you’re making the mistakes. So for me, it’s better to just forget about the mistake. It doesn’t matter how big it is, [you have to] just keep moving forward, because what you can do is focus on the next point and stop thinking about the past.”
[ATP APP]Shang is the second-youngest player in the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Live Rankings at World No. 67. This time last year, the teen had to go through qualifying at the US Open and lost in the final round.
That match, against Otto Virtanen, was a three-setter that lasted two hours and one minute. “I ran out of gas pretty bad,” Shang recalled, cracking a smile. The lefty charged through five sets in nearly double the time on Monday.
Entering the season, Shang owned four tour-level wins. He has claimed 18 this campaign alone and is eager to push for more, starting with his second-round encounter with Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena.
But the teen is remaining level-headed. Win or lose, there is less complaining and more of a focus on staying in the moment. That includes not dwelling too much on his success.
“Whenever I win or I do something bad, I try to forget about it, because if you’re always staying in the past, I feel like you can’t really enjoy the present,” Shang said. “I take days off. Sometimes I don’t want to practise, just like a normal guy. I try not to think about too much of the other things that happened before, just focusing on the present and what’s going to happen in the future as well.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]He may not be a home favourite nor a former champion, but Diego Schwartzman’s connection with the New York crowd has always run deep.
The former No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings completed the final match of his US Open career on Monday afternoon, when he fell to Gael Monfils in four sets on Grandstand. Just a few hours after another former Top 10 star in the PIF ATP Rankings, Dominic Thiem, also completed his final New York match in emotional circumstances, it was fan favourite Schwartzman’s turn to step up to the mic.
“It’s difficult to speak. I am a guy who cries a lot. Sorry,” said a tearful Schwartzman in a post-match interview as the crowd cheered him on. “I’m not supposed to cry now, I have to be strong.”
We’re not crying, you’re crying 🥹
❤️ @dieschwartzman @usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/kNxajGLFvM
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 26, 2024
The two-time US Open quarter-finalist Schwartzman had already summoned one final hurrah in New York by coming through qualifying last week to secure his 11th consecutive main-draw appearance. Monfils proved too strong in Monday’s first-round clash, however, ultimately prevailing 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Even in defeat, Schwartzman was happy to add some more cherished New York memories before bringing his career to a close.
“[These are] special moments, like you saw before on the screen,” said Schwartzman, referring to a montage video played on court after the match. “Once again, playing here, 11 times in a row. Playing in a Grand Slam, at the US Open.
“I did great, but I think [also] the entire crowd, today and in the years before, all the Latin American people, all the American people here. I don’t know why they take care of me so well every year, and I’m not sure if I deserve it or not, but I’m really grateful for all the years I have been here.”
Schwartzman is not done yet as a competitor on the ATP Tour. The 32-year-old has said he intends to retire next February at home in Argentina.
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Andy Murray has been immortalised at his original tennis club, with a 20-foot mural now adorning a once-barren wall at the Dunblane Sports Club in Scotland.
Dubbed the ‘People’s Tribute to Andy Murray’, the work shows the Scot’s trademark roaring celebration with the words: ‘Sir Andy. Warrior. Legend.’
The mural is an initiative developed by Tennis Channel, which has also produced a companion short film, and executed by Sift Creative and their global production team.
Distributed by Tennis Channel, the short film, The People’s Tribute – Sir Andy Murray, features inspirational tributes from fans and people close to Andy, capturing the former World No. 1’s impact on them, the sport and the country. It also features a timelapse of the creation of the mural.
The mission of the video is to create an emotionally fueled and artistically driven tribute, marrying the concepts of mural creation and fan testimonials connected to Murray’s career moments and achievements.
Watch the short film on YouTube.
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Defending champion Coco Gauff says she is treating this year’s US Open as a “victory lap” after comfortably beating Varvara Gracheva in her opening match.
At peace with his impending retirement and the end of his US Open career, Dominic Thiem was happy to sign off in New York with a final appearance on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon.
“Everything was a bit different,” said Thiem in his post-match press conference after his straight-sets defeat to Ben Shelton. “I tried to enjoy, I tried to really soak up every moment in this stadium. It was really nice. I think I was able to focus on the match, but of course I don’t have that level anymore that is required to really go head-to-head with players like Ben.
“This I also knew before, so of course I tried to enjoy as much as possible, but still, I was focusing on the match pretty good.”
New York will forever love Domi ❤️
2020 champion @domithiem bids an emotional farewell to the US Open 🥹@usopen | #USOpenpic.twitter.com/Zfx5KJlx5s
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 26, 2024
Thiem will end his career later this year as the owner of a 23-9 record at the US Open. That tally includes the highlight of the Austrian’s career: his run to his only Grand Slam trophy at the 2020 edition of the hard-court major.
“When I came first here as a pro, I straightaway played fourth round, and that gave me a boost for all the upcoming years,” said Thiem, when asked to reflect on his US Open career. “I think it’s like that. If you have really good memories or if you have a good start at something, this really gives you positive vibes for the future. It was like that, because the only really bad year I had here was 2019, when I lost in the first round and when I was not 100 per cent healthy.
“Other than that, I almost only had great highlight years. The 2017 [five-set match] against [Juan Martin del Potro], which was back then a really, really tough loss to handle. But now, it’s a legendary match, which I really like to remember actually, and then of course the epic [five-set 2018 quarter-final] with Rafa [Nadal] was great.
“But still, 2020 is above everything, and is also above everything else in my tennis career.”
[ATP APP]Thiem will bring his career to a close on home soil in October at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, whose time at the top of the game was curtailed by a long-term wrist injury, is ready for his next chapter.
“I’m happy. I was struggling enough, the last years, especially since I was not able to come back to my level,” said Thiem. “But once I took the decision this year in March, from this moment on, I was happy about it.
“Obviously I was also able to kind of prepare already this new chapter that is coming soon. Honestly, I always loved playing on Tour, and I was very patient about it, but honestly, I also always really enjoyed being at home and to have, as much as it was possible, a kind of normal life at home.
“That’s why I really look forward to this now, now that the normal life is now coming. That’s why I think it’s not that difficult for me, and that’s why I’m really also happy with my decision.”
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Dominic Thiem’s Grand Slam career comes to an end in the US Open first round as the former New York champion loses to Ben Shelton.
On 11 June, #NextGenATP American Learner Tien posted a series of photos on Instagram of himself competing with the caption, “all in due time”. The last slide of the post was a graphic of two men in a dirt tunnel with a pickaxe. One had turned around dejected due to the seemingly never-ending tunnel. The other was further behind, but eagerly swinging away. Unbeknownst to them, there were diamonds on the other side of the dirt in their way.
“If you work away, inevitably you’ll break through. I think that’s was what I was thinking,” Tien told ATPTour.com. “Obviously, with the setback of the injury and coming back and just kind of plugging away in the Futures, I felt like just building on match after match, inevitably I’d be back just because I felt like I’d lost some time.”
The two-time USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion entered the season with high hopes, but only managed to play three tournaments before missing more than three months due to a seventh-rib fracture.
“I believe it was just an overuse thing. It wasn’t any blunt force or anything like that. It could have been something on my serve, and I was just kind of irritating the spot,” Tien said. “I felt it more like a knot in my back before my rib started hurting, my lat and rib area. So I think just a lot of tension over time just caused it to break down.”
The injury was in an awkward spot for the 18-year-old, who was unable to do much of anything and limited the impact on his body.
“I wasn’t really running. I couldn’t obviously hold weights or really support or even put any weight on my arm. Couldn’t really rotate. So I wasn’t doing much of anything besides watching shows, playing video games, stuff like that,” Tien said. “It was definitely tough to see everyone else playing during that time. And I feel like I was falling behind just because right when the year started, all the tournaments started to pick back up, I missed the first however many months. So, yeah, it was tough.”
The lefty from California, who has been watching Game of Thrones and Dexter, was eager to return to action. “Honestly, I kind of got bored after a while,” he said. “I was kind of playing whatever my friends were playing.”
One of his coaches, Eric Diaz, explained why the team really took time before allowing Tien to come back.
“We kind of held off his return to tournaments about six to seven extra weeks, so we really just wanted to clean some stuff up and we did a lot of work on the forehand and on the serve,” Diaz said. “The goal was basically putting off this year and just trying to really develop from the physical side and when he would be ready to come back, we wanted to come back with some things a certain way.”
[ATP APP]When Tien returned, it was clear he wanted to make up for lost time. The teen won the first 28 matches of his comeback, claiming four ITF World Tennis Tour titles and his maiden ATP Challenger Tour trophy at Bloomfield Hills.
“Obviously I’ve done pretty well the past few months coming back from injury, honestly, a lot better than I expected of myself,” Tien said. “Not that I had super low expectations, but I just wasn’t really trying to put any pressure on myself, and just trying to go out there and play.”
Diaz added that the goal was to improve and if that translated into wins, great. After Tien won his first tournament back, for which the goal was to get some matches in, there were more events in the area. The lefty maintained his form and has not looked back.
When Tien returned to action in May, he was No. 439 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Three months later, after reaching his first ATP Tour quarter-final in Winston-Salem, he is inside the Top 200 and continuing to climb. Importantly, his confidence has snowballed.
“I think just starting off playing Futures that were close to my house in Southern California were huge. I think playing those matches and playing a lot of consecutive matches, slowly building my confidence back through that [helped],” Tien said. “[I put] myself in a lot of different positions so when some matches get get close, get tight, I’m down a break, I’m up a break, and I lose the break or stuff like that, I can always think back to prior matches that the same things happened. I was able to find a way out of it.
“That was really big, especially coming back from a couple tight matches in Bloomfield Hills. Just having the confidence that I could come back from a set down, set and a break, stuff like that was really big, just for my confidence in those matches, especially the tighter ones.”
Tien is set to compete in his third consecutive US Open main draw at just 18 years old. The #NextGenATP player, who is eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, earned his place this year by winning the 2024 US Open Wild Card Challenge. He plays 24th seed Arthur Fils in the first round.
“I definitely feel more familiar in that setting, I think, as opposed to the last two years. The last two years obviously, I was pretty young, both those years. I still am,” Tien said. “But the last two years coming in, 16, 17, I think my mindset was a bit different. I was playing juniors both those years as well. Obviously, ranked a lot lower than I am now.
“I think my confidence going in this year is a lot higher, and I just think that I’ll feel a little bit more familiar going back for a third time, as opposed to my first two years.”
The past few months have gone as well as possible in terms of results. Diaz called his charge’s work “a very mature effort” and “very clear-visioned”.
“He really carved out the things that we want to improve, and then how to improve them and he’s done a really good job of committing to them in the pressure situations, which I think is pretty meaningful,” Tien said. “It’s been a good block.”
But as Tien posted on Instagram earlier this year, there is always reason to continue digging. Win or lose at the US Open, he will continue to do so.
“I just kind of kept plugging away, and I wasn’t trying to rush myself back, honestly,” Tien said. “I just thought, if I just trusted everything I was doing, just kept plugging away, eventually I’d have my time.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Americans Alex Michelsen and Learner Tien have boosted their respective chances of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF after they impressed on home soil in Winston-Salem.
Michelsen consolidated second spot in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah after he reached his second ATP Tour final of the season at the hard-court event. The 20-year-old produced a series of aggressive displays at the ATP 250 event before he lost to Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the title match.
Michelsen, who is also at a career-high No. 49 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is aiming to making his second appearance in Jeddah after competing last year. He will now head to New York to play at the US Open, starting against Eliot Spizzirri.
[ATP APP]PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah
| Player | Points |
| 1) Arthur Fils | 1585 |
| 2) Alex Michelsen | 986 |
| 3) Shang Juncheng | 705 |
| 4) Jakub Mensik | 680 |
| 5) Luca Van Assche | 425 |
| 6) Joao Fonseca | 365 |
| 7) Vilius Gaubas | 286 |
| 8) Learner Tien | 243 |
| 9) Henrique Rocha | 237 |
| 10) Coleman Wong | 211 |
Tien also enjoyed a memorable week in Winston-Salem, where he advanced through qualifying to reach the quarter-finals. The 18-year-old, who has received a wild card for the US Open, had never competed in an ATP Tour main draw before arriving in North Carolina.
Tien is currently eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah and in the final qualification position, six points ahead of ninth-placed Henrique Rocha.
Shang Juncheng has climbed to third after he reached the third round in Winston-Salem. The 19-year-old Chinese lefty beat Argentines Francisco Comesana and Mariano Navone at the hard-court event. Shang is just 25 points clear of Jakub Mensik, with both players set to compete at the US Open this fortnight.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]The North American hard-court season continued apace last week at the Winston-Salem Open, where Lorenzo Sonego overcame #NextGenATP Alex Michelsen in the final to seal his fourth ATP Tour crown.
ATPTour.com looks at the movers in the PIF ATP Rankings as of Monday, 26 August.
[ATP APP] No. 49 Alex Michelsen, +3 (Career High)
One day shy of his 20th birthday, Michelsen stepped on court for his third ATP Tour final at the Winston-Salem Open. Although the home favourite was comfortably defeated by Sonego at the ATP 250, he can look back on another positive step in his career ahead of the US Open. Michelsen has risen three spots to a career-high No. 49 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
No. 48 Lorenzo Sonego, +10
Lorenzo Sonego became just the 11th active ATP Tour player to win tour-level titles on outdoor hard, indoor hard, clay and grass with a dominant series of displays in Winston-Salem. The Italian, who had not won consecutive matches on hard courts this year prior to arriving in North Carolina, did not drop a set all week en route to clinching his first title for almost two years.
No. 72 Shang Juncheng, +5 (Career High)
Chinese star Shang notched his 20th tour-level win of the year against Francisco Comesana in the first round in Winston-Salem, and that victory was enough to propel him five spots to a career-high World No. 72. The 19-year-old Shang has also consolidated third place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah: He remains 25 points clear of fourth-placed Jakub Mensik as he bids to qualify for the season-ending Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.
No. 78 David Goffin, +12
Former World No. 7 Goffin downed three seeded opponents in Winston-Salem en route to his first ATP Tour semi-final since April 2022. The Belgian overcame Luciano Darderi, Arthur Rinderknech and Rinky Hijikata before falling to Sonego. Goffin has risen 12 spots to World No. 78, his highest PIF ATP Ranking since April 2023, as a result.
No. 106 Christopher Eubanks, +14
Eubanks boosted his bid for a quick return to the Top 100 with a quarter-final run in Winston-Salem. The home favourite prevailed against Adam Walton, Hugo Gaston and Roman Safiullin before he fell in a deciding-set tie-break to eventual finalist Michelsen.
Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 21 Alejandro Tabilo, +1
No. 22 Karen Khachanov, +1
No. 60 Pavel Kotov, +3
No. 62 Rinky Hijikata, +3 (Career High)
No. 80 Zizou Bergs, +5
No. 91 Arthur Cazaux, +6
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