THE 2024 US OPEN BEGINS TODAY

With the weird Paris Olympics tennis competition, (which is actually always a tad odd,) behind us, preceded by a somewhat different Wimbledon, (except for the male and female champs, Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova, both of whom I was happy with,) which included Andy Murray’s retirement tribute, (which my beloved Roger Federer went to England for, but then couldn’t be a part of because they changed the date or time,) we’ve finally arrived at the final Major tournament of the year—the U.S. Open.

2024 Wimbledon Champions, Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova, at their Champions Dinner after that tournament in July.

As always, I’m grateful for any opportunity to lay my eyes on the gorgeous Matteo Berrettini, after he did not qualify for the Paris Olympics due to his low ranking this year due to injury. But he’s on the way back! (From my mouth to God’s ears!) So let’s go, Italian Stallion!

So much seems to have changed in the world of tennis in 2024, (as I mentioned above, Andy Murray retiring, and also poor Rafa Nadal being only a shadow of his former self, and therefore, not competing at the Open,) but a few other parts have stayed the same, (such as creepy Novak Djokovic still being at the top of the game, much to my annoyance.)

Photo by Victor Villegas, of the 2022 US Open, as is the one at the top of this page.

I’m also soooo sick of the women’s defending champ here, Coco Gauff. I was never a fan of hers to begin with, (except when her fifteen-year-old self beat the pants off Venus Williams at Wimbledon five years ago,) but now she’s just proving herself to be a consistent bad sport, mainly by arguing with umpires over calls and also by not being gracious to her opponents at the net when she’s defeated.

Iga Świątek. Photo by Victor Villegas.

And World #1 Iga Świątek of Poland is sort-of doing the same as Coco recently, to a lesser level. When she lost shockingly, (in the third round!,) at Wimbledon last month, instead of praising her opponent, she said, “After [the French Open,] I didn’t really rest properly; I’m not going to make this mistake again.” (I honestly think she was talking about that she had gone to the Taylor Swift concert during the few days between the two tournaments.)

And then I just watched Aryna Sabalenka make mincemeat out of both her last two opponents—Iga in the semis, and then Jessica Pegula in the Final—of the pre-Open Cincinnati Open last week. And she looked pretty unbeatable. But you never know. Just look at that almost-unknown Zheng Qinwen, (but she is #7 now,) of China winning the Gold at the Olympics just a few weeks ago!

I always root for Elina Svitolina, not just because she’s married to charming Gael Monfils, and I love that family unit, but mainly because of her wonderful and touching devotion to her home country of Ukraine. She uses most of her time and tennis earnings to help her people, which is beyond admirable.

Jannik Sinner. Photo by Victor Villegas.

On top of all that, there are some troubling first round matches for the ladies, such as Jasmine Paolini v. Bianca Andreescu, Naomi Osaka v. Jelena Ostapenko, and Emma Raducanu v. Sofia Kenin, the last five of them all Majors winners!!! All half dozen of those women deserve to make it to at least the quarter-final; however half of them will be out right at the beginning of the tournament! Shame.

On the men’s side, we have a bit of a controversy brewing regarding World #1 Jannik Sinner. He tested positive for a banned substance…twice! Yet the International Tennis Integrity Authority decided to not suspend him, and rather to believe his explanation for the incidents. And that is that he got it into his system accidentally because his physiotherapist had it on his own hands when he gave Jannik a massage. It was such a tiny amount that it is very possible that’s how it happened, but many people in and around the sport feel that that grace would not have been extended to lower-ranked players.

Matteo Berrettini. Photo by Victor Villegas.

I never root for him anyway, unless he’s playing against Djokovic, so I’m on the fence about the entire situation. For now. (Only because I have so much else to worry about in the world at this present time.) But I’m, of course, keeping my eyes on Matteo Berrettini, (even when he’s off the court!,) and on the two new French dudes, Arthur Fils and 6’8” Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, whose serve almost no one can return! (And whose two-word last name almost none of the commentators and analysts get right!)

I also always like to see the colorful fashions of the US Open, even moreso this year after all the obligatory whites of Wimbledon followed by the de rigueur national colors at the Olympics.

As always, I’ll post my live thoughts on all the proceedings on Twitter, @MajorCelebrity. I hope you’ll join me there in seeing how it all unfolds.