Stunner at the US Open: A US man will actually play in the men’s final

One of the most maddening-slash-embarrassing droughts in recent sports history ends this weekend:

A U.S. man will again play in the U.S. Open men’s final. Guaranteed.

It hasn’t happened in 18 years—not since a headbanded Roger Federer thumped a baseball-capped Andy Roddick in four sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2006. Of course, let’s give plenty of love to Roddick, because he’s also the last U.S. man to capture a major of any kind, in 2003, when he won this same, rowdy New York City tournament. (Roddick’s 2009 Wimbledon finals loss to Federer is the last time a U.S. men’s player reached a major final of any kind.)

Since then, it’s been nothing but tumbleweeds, empty Honey Deuce cups and extra duty Wilsons blowing around…and not a single U.S. male reaching the Open’s concluding day.

Not great.

You know what? I should stop blathering on about what hasn’t happened and get to what did:

On Tuesday, the American pros Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe each won their quarterfinal matches, ensuring they will meet each other in the men’s semifinals on Friday. The winner will take a place in Sunday’s final—with a chance to redeem a couple of meandering decades for U.S. men’s tennis.

Fritz or Frances, Tiafoe or Taylor…America is a lock. There’s no way for the U.S. to mess this up.

Tiafoe can’t wait: “Friday is going to be one hell of a day."

Tiafoe’s reached the U.S. Open semifinals before—two years ago, the Marylander made a memorable second week charge in which he upset Rafael Nadal and took Carlos Alcaraz five sets before eventually falling.

For Tiafoe’s friend and fellow 26-year-old Fritz, it’s the deepest run in a major after a string of defeats in the quarters. Tuesday afternoon the 12th-seeded Californian outlasted 4th-seeded Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

“I am a little bit sick of just making it to the quarterfinals, and I definitely want to go further," Fritz said before the match. Now he’s delivered.

Tiafoe played later in the evening, against 9th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, before a home crowd that included the retired Federer, who had his own memorable five-set tangle with a teenaged Tiafoe in the first round in 2017.

From the start, the crowd was behind Tiafoe, whose ascension is one of the more remarkable stories in the sport—a tennis club caretaker’s son who picked up a racket as a youngster and developed into one of the world’s most auspicious junior talents.

A motivated Tiafoe surged to an early one-set lead, but then blew opportunities to go two sets up, allowing Dimitrov to climb back and win in a tiebreak.

It was the kind of stumble that used to undo Tiafoe, but less so these days. Tiafoe was the fitter and more aggressive player, using his speed to rush the net and force Dimitrov to take difficult shots. He kept the pressure on, breaking Dimitrov early in the third.

By the third set’s end, Dimitrov was hobbling with an injured leg and calling for a trainer. The 33-year-old Bulgarian took a timeout and gamely attempted to play the fourth, but he couldn’t move fluidly.

Down 1-4, he wound up pulling the plug and retiring. The final line: Tiafoe def. Dimitrov 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-1 (ret.)

Given his opponent’s distress, it was a more muted victory for Tiafoe than his wild five-set win in the third round over Ben Shelton—the latter an emotional triumph which avenged a loss to Shelton at the Open last year.

“Not the way I want to get through, but obviously happy to get through," Tiafoe said of Dimitrov’s retirement. He called Friday “the biggest match" of his and Fritz’s career.

On the other side of the men’s bracket, 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev will play No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner Wednesday night in a starry evening quarterfinal. They will be preceded by a quarter featuring Britain’s Jack Draper and Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

The winner of those two matches will play opposite Fritz vs. Taylor on Friday.

This has been a rollicking if ragged Open on the men’s side. Stunning first-week defeats of Alcaraz and defending champion Novak Djokovic blew open the draw and created opportunity for a fresh round of contenders.

Now U.S. tennis gets a spectacle it hasn’t seen in ages: an all-American semifinal to launch an American man into a major final.

There’s only one question to sort out: which man?