Here’s a little numbers and math game from this US Open: Jakub Mensik celebrated his 18th birthday on Friday when he played his third-round game against Taylor Fritz; he was the youngest remaining participant in the men’s field at the end of the first week. Stan Wawrinka was 38 years and 156 days old when he defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round; he is the eldest among the men. The age difference between Wawrinka and Mensik therefore: 20 years and 156 days. That is exactly 56 days more than the age of top seed Carlos Alcaraz: 20 years and 100 days.
So a complete Alcaraz fits between Wawrinka and Mensik, that’s the age range of this tournament. And should the Spanish champions reach the quarter-finals, which not even his possible opponents on the way there should doubt, his challenger from the weekend will be determined between these four players: Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov (32 years, defeated Andy Murray), Alexander Zverev ( 26) and Jannik Sinner (22). What kind of quarter is that in the tableau; with top representatives of all generations, into which men’s tennis is often divided?
There are the greats who have shaped the sport over the past 20 years and still do; Djokovic walks in the lower half of the field and can only meet one player up to the last eight who has already defeated him: Jiri Vesely, currently ranked 437th in the world and who traveled to New York not well trained. It’s quite possible that Djokovic can wear the same shirt for every match until the final, without having to wash it once in between to rid it of sweat. Why? Well, because the seeded Holger Rune (4), Caspar Ruud (5) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) said goodbye to the tournament on the first three days and not one of the remaining challengers should doubt that Djokovic will make it to the final.
Crazy bets are being invented in Las Vegas
Yes, that is the mood on the facility, and the betting providers in Las Vegas now also consider a duel between Alcaraz and Djokovic to be more likely than the total every other possible combination. Crazy, but also justified given the results and the duels between the two in the Wimbledon and Cincinnati finals this summer.
And the others?
There are the very young, so they new new generation, which is increasingly playing itself into the limelight, such as the Swiss Dominic Stricker (21 years old), who defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas. Or the already mentioned Sinner, who recently refined his great season so far (at least semi-finals in seven tournaments, including Wimbledon) in Toronto with the first Masters title of his career and will experience the generational duel with Wawrinka on Saturday. So these are the boys who are supposed to be the future – but what about the age group in between?
Alexander Zverev is one of the faces of these so-called new generationwho was said to have died Big Three Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and their court (Murray, Wawrinka) would inherit and distribute the Grand Slam titles among themselves. The window was open for a while, at the US Open 2020 in the absence of Nadal and Federer and Djokovic’s disqualification, it had been the size of the scoreboard at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Dominic Thiem slipped through; in the final against Zverev, who was two points away from the Grand Slam title. He didn’t come that close to the big triumph, also because of the bad injury to his right ankle; after the comeback he reached the semifinals of the French Open in June.
“I now understand how business works, and also the work of reporters,” said Zverev in New York: “Stories always have to be told, and rivalries are particularly good. In 2020 it was here in New York: Nadal against everyone; a year later the three-way battle between Djokovic, Medvedev and me. Currently it’s about the younger players and these duels between Djokovic and Alcaraz.”
Is he greedy enough to win the big tournaments? Alexander Zverev has initially reached the third round of the US Open.
(Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/dpa)
He says it without any frustration, more like: That’s the way it is, it doesn’t bother me; I am sitting in an eight square meter room with a handful of journalists and not in the very large hall with reporters from all over the world who ask questions from all sides of the journalistic spectrum – including the smell of marijuana, beetles on the square or favorite pasta – Variety. The question relevant to Zverev at this US Open is a purely sporting one: What can he achieve at this tournament?
“It’s still my comeback year. It was difficult for me to get into the game,” he said after the 7: 6 (1), 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 3 against compatriot Daniel Altmaier: “He has the ability to let very good players play very badly – this year, for example, Sinner, Andrei Rublev and now me.” It took a while to get used to the conditions – but from the third round it clicked: “To be honest: I’m number twelve in the world right now, I’m still on the way back to my best form.”
Zverev will face Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday
He becomes a little more thoughtful when a reporter asks him about his next opponent, Dimitrov, and that he may have been considered a multiple Grand Slam champ – but whose window to triumph has shrunk to a microscopic size. “I know how difficult it is to win a Grand Slam tournament – there are many who haven’t made it.” Then he listed: David Nalbandian, Robin Söderling, Tomas Berdych, Tsitsipas – and at some point he said: “I didn’t win a slam either.”
Perhaps this division into generations is completely wrong. Basically, there are currently two types of men among men: Djokovic and Alcaraz – and everyone else, although it makes sense to put Medvedev and Sinner in a kind of gap.
However, this leads Zverev to realize that for a triumph at the US Open this year, assuming he wins against Dimitrov, he must first win against Sinner and then against Medvedev, Alcaraz and Djokovic. There can’t be a rockier, steeper path at a Grand Slam tournament at the moment. The window for Zverev is the size of a dog flap, the tolerance for mistakes is minimal – and he made 98 against Altmaier, more than half of them without need.
Djokovic and Alcaraz: By the way, the age difference between these two: 17 years and 17 days. A complete career, or: almost a Jakub Mensik.