Sinner describes 'huge achievement' of winning US Open

New York (CNN) — World No. 1 Jannik Sinner has won his second grand slam singles title, beating American Taylor Fritz to win the US Open 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.

Fritz, the world No. 12, was bidding to be the first American man to win a grand slam singles title in 21 years. Andy Roddick, who was in attendance Sunday, is the last American man to do it when he won the 2003 US Open.

The 23-year-old Sinner, on an 11-match win streak, won the Australian Open in January. He joins Flavia Pennetta, who won the women’s singles championship in 2015, as the only Italian singles champions in US Open tournament history.

“This title for me means so much because the last period of my career was really not easy,” Sinner said. “There is my team who supports me every day, the people who are close to me. I love tennis. I practice a lot for this kind of stages, but I also realize that off the court there is a life.

“I would like to dedicate this title to my aunt, because she is really not feeling well, health-wise. I don’t know how much I still have her in my life. It’s so nice that I can share a positive moment still with her. … If there would be the biggest wish, I would wish the best health to everyone, but unfortunately, it’s not possible.”

Sinner spoke more about his aunt during his post-match press conference.

“My aunt, she’s a very important person, because when my parents, they were working every day and all day, so sometimes when I had to go to ski races, I went with her,” Sinner said. “She always helped me in summertime when my parents were working and I had some days off or free days.

“You know, when you are young, you don’t go to practice every day. So I hang around a lot with her, and she’s a very important person in my life.

“This also, especially when I had this difficult time, I tried to see it in a different way, you know, sport, things can happen unfortunately, but, you know, the real life is something different.

“You know, we travel a lot, so it’s difficult to spend time with the people who you really love, but if I would have more time, for sure I would spend more time with the people I really care (about).

“Yeah, it was and is a really difficult moment also now, but, you know, just also have to accept that, yeah, not everything is perfect.”

Fritz: ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done’

Fritz is the first American man to reach a grand slam singles final since Roddick was runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009. Roddick had been the last American man to reach the US Open singles final, losing to Federer in 2006.

An American man was guaranteed to reach the final when Fritz and No. 20 Frances Tiafoe played each other in the semifinals, with Fritz coming back in that match from a two-sets-to-one deficit.

Previously, Fritz’s best result at a major was reaching the quarterfinals, where the 26-year-old had been 0-4 at that stage.

“Being an American, at the US Open, it’s just incredible feeling the love all week,” Fritz said to the crowd. “Thank you so much. I know we’ve been waiting for a champion for a long time, so I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done this time. But I’m going to keep working, and hopefully I’ll get it the next time.”

Sinner looked unflappable while winning the first two sets. But that changed in the third. The Italian’s level dipped, allowing Fritz – and the New York crowd – back into the match and giving the American a 5-3 lead.

The momentum shift, however, did not last. Fritz was unable to serve out the set, and Sinner went on to win the next four games for the title.

Sinner: ‘I knew that I haven’t done anything wrong’

Sinner’s triumph comes against the backdrop of his recent doping case that became public knowledge on August 20 – news that shocked the tennis world.

Sinner, who avoided suspension after twice testing positive for trace amounts of the banned substance Clostebol, repeatedly has said he hasn’t done anything wrong. It was ruled Sinner bore “no fault or negligence,” with Sinner saying the positive tests stemmed from “inadvertent contamination” through treatment from his then-physiotherapist.

Sinner told CNN how he was able to play well despite that hanging over him.

“First of all, in my mind, I knew that I haven’t done anything wrong, so that’s already the biggest part for me mentally that I am OK,” Sinner said.

“In another way, it’s me and my team, we know what we went through for months. We know what we were feeling like in the last months. This means even more of a positive sign for me and my team because we put a lot of extra work in trying to be as ready as possible mentally.”

This is the first year since 2002 that none of the members of men’s tennis “Big Three” – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and the now-retired Federer – won a grand slam. Instead, the majors were split by Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, with the Spaniard winning the French Open and Wimbledon.

At this year’s US Open, Djokovic was upset in the third round by Alexei Popyrin, while Nadal did not play.

“It’s tough to predict the future,” Sinner said to CNN on whether it’s the changing of the guard in men’s tennis.

“I think it’s nice for tennis to see some new champions, some new favorites of tournaments. I’m happy to be part of this, at least this year.

“Let’s see what’s coming next year. Obviously they’re all big, big challenges coming up. But I’m just looking forward to improve as a player and then we’ll see what I can do.”

The rich and famous routinely turn out for the US Open, and Sunday was no exception. In attendance were Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce – who were sitting with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes. Others on hand included Matthew McConaughey, Martha Stewart, Noah Lyles and Elon Musk.

The-CNN-Wire
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