The surprise lived up to expectations, Friday, September 3, at the US Open. Two of the tournament’s big favorites, world number 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and defending champion Naomi Osaka were knocked out in the third round by two 18-year-olds, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Canadian Leylah Fernandez.
In tears after her elimination, Naomi Osaka announced that she was going “Take a break”. Without being ultra-domineering, the Japanese nevertheless approached victory at the end of the second set: she led 6-5, a service was to be followed, after a first set at 7-5. But she was unbreaker by committing big unforced errors.
Counter performance
With one set all over, Osaka, who had remained prostrate in her chair between side changes, towel to her face, never managed to get back into her game. And she bowed 7-5, 6-7 (2/7), 4-6.
A huge underperformance from the one who was aiming for a third coronation in four years at Flushing Meadows, where she however arrived without major benchmarks, after a hard summer which had so far been summed up in two lost knockout stages. : at the Tokyo Games, of which she was however the big favorite at home, and in Cincinnati, two weeks ago.
Naomi Osaka, who had bypassed Wimbledon, thus appeared next to her tennis, three months after her resounding withdrawal before the second round of Roland Garros, where she had created controversy by refusing to answer questions from the media . She then explained it by revealing that she suffered from anxiety and that she had gone through “Several depressive episodes”.
The other big sensation of the day happened earlier on Arthur-Ashe court. Carlos Alcaraz offered the scalp of Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in an electric match: 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 0-6, 7-6 (7/5). The fight, which lasted more than four hours, saw the outbreak in mondovision of the one many observers present as the future Nadal.
Alcaraz, who collapsed with emotion on the court, was then congratulated by Tsitsipas, ensuring “100% that he can claim the Grand Slam titles”.
