Winners and Losers Men's US Open including Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz

The 2024 US Open is behind us, and it’s time to take a look at which players left the event as winners and which players left the event as losers.

It was a pretty eventful US Open, and while there weren’t any major surprises regarding which players ultimately walked away with the trophy, there were some surprises along the way. We’re going to get into all of that in this ATP winners and losers piece, where we will explain which players walked away from the event in good spirits and which didn’t.

We have to start with the champion of the event. Jannik Sinner played superb tennis for two weeks to ultimately end up with the US Open trophy. It’s his second Grand Slam trophy and second this year. He’s a winner simply because he won the trophy. With this trophy, Sinner improves his overall Grand Slam numbers, which is significant for his legacy. He also improved his ranking, as he’s kind of cemented himself as the world number one right now and likely will be in pole position to remain so until the end of the year.

Another reason why he’s a winner is because winning this one took a tremendous effort in light of what happened recently. His doping saga became public knowledge, and there was a lot of pressure on Sinner, who handled all of that really well. Not only did it not impact his play, but he was also able to kind of repair his image in a record amount of time. He leaves New York as a proper champion in many ways.

Another player whose stock rose dramatically at this year’s US Open is Jack Draper. The Brit has demonstrated superb talent on occasion, but there was a lot of skepticism about whether he can really reach those heights reserved only for the best among the best. This year’s US Open provided answers to some of those questions as the Brit was able to play some superb tennis along the way.

He made his maiden Grand Slam semi-final, and while he wasn’t able to overcome Jannik Sinner, he learned a valuable lesson about what it takes to go all the way. The Brit has a new career-high ranking of 20 and lots of confidence after this event, which should only propel him to move further up the rankings. He and everybody else now know that he has what it takes.

Another obvious winner is Taylor Fritz, who was finally able to crack the quarter-final dilemma, advancing past that stage at a major. The American failed a couple of times at that stage of a major but finally, this year, was able to move past it. He would go all the way to the final, where he faced Jannik Sinner and ultimately lost in straight sets. Despite the run in New York ending in a loss, the American will come to appreciate this run in some years.

It might even be the run that sets him on a new path, as Fritz has now finally shown himself that he has what it takes. He took out some big names, played superb tennis, and now it’s all about keeping this level consistently. If he can, he’ll remain a long-time member of the Top 10, where he returned thanks to this run.

Fellow American Frances Tiafoe is another player who is a winner after this event, although probably not as much as he had hoped to be. Tiafoe arrived in New York in great shape after making the Cincinnati Open final, but he wouldn’t get to another final because he was stopped in the semi-final by compatriot Taylor Fritz.

It was a bizarre match where Tiafoe looked almost in control as he led 2-1, but then his body betrayed him quite a bit, and he lost in five sets. Had he won that one and made it to the final, it would have been even better for him, but there are plenty of positives to take from this run. The biggest one is finding some form after a lackluster year while also stabilizing his Top 20 ranking.

The final winner of the 2024 US Open is none other than Alex de Minaur. Having played at the event would have been a win for de Minaur in light of his hip injury, which left him unable to play anything past Wimbledon. Not only did de Minaur play in New York, he played really well, even though he was clearly not 100%.

He would make the quarter-final, where he was stopped by an inspired Jack Draper, but if you’re de Minaur, you’re taking this outing and building confidence from it. He had no business being in the quarter-final purely on physical shape alone, and the fact that he made it there is a huge statement to how resilient he was and how great he played.

The losers are almost self-evident in this one, and they’re mostly players who expected to challenge for the trophy but didn’t for one reason or another.

The first name on this list has to be Novak Djokovic. While him not winning the event isn’t a massive surprise, the way he played certainly left a few people puzzled. He didn’t look anything like the Djokovic we saw in Paris. He looked slow and sluggish without any particular reason.

He wasn’t fatigued, but he clearly wasn’t as focused or interested in playing tennis in New York. There were some rumblings about an injury, but that doesn’t seem that likely. Overall, it was just the disappointing nature of his play that left people puzzled more so than him actually not winning the trophy. Most assumed that he wouldn’t muster up what was needed to win anyway. Still performances like that get many people wondering whether we are seeing the twillight of his career.

The biggest surprise of the US Open event was Carlos Alcaraz crashing out as early as he did. Some have suggested that Alcaraz wouldn’t be at his best due to the Olympics disappointment, and while that was a solid bet, him losing the way he did is something nobody saw coming.

Alcaraz himself was very disappointed by the loss for obvious reasons, but he found solace in watching Formula One in Monza two days later. Lots of questions need to be answered from the Spaniard’s POV in the final months of the season, and many will be looking with eagle eyes to see whether he can find what he’s been missing in New York. He’s been pretty poor indoors in recent years though much better at the ATP Finals which likely is the only event he’ll gunning to win for the rest of the year.

Another big loser in New York is Alexander Zverev. The German, in many ways, has had one of the best seasons of his career. He was looking solid, played well, looked confident and healthy, but things simply didn’t click for him in New York. It’s odd because it’s generally a really good place for him to play tennis.

Losing to Taylor Fritz isn’t that big of a deal, although he should have beaten him, but the way he lost that match left him bewildered by his poor play. Zverev had high ambitions at the US Open, but ever since he lost to Alcaraz in the Roland Garros final, Zverev hasn’t really looked the same. It’s just not been as impressive.

Another loser is former champion Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev arrived in New York with the ambition of winning the event, so falling short of that is obviously a disappointment. He wasn’t playing superb tennis leading up to the event, so his chances weren’t that big, but after beating Sinner at Wimbledon, many assumed that he still has what it takes to win these big matches.

They would have a rematch in New York, and while Medvedev was able to win a set, the Russian couldn’t really do much more than that. Sinner proved a level too high for him, and his US Open dream ended. It was less painful than losing in the final last year, but still, overall, a loss for the Russian.

So there you have it, those are the winners and losers at the event. Most of these weren’t as surprising as some might have you believe because both Djokovic and Alcaraz failing is something analysts have pointed out as possible; however, the nature of how those losses occurred left a lot of people puzzled.

It’s going to be a really interesting finish to the season with the battle for number one between Alcaraz and Sinner and just the questions around Novak Djokovic and where his career is headed. According to this most recent event, it’s going to be a rough ride but we’re going to be right there along with you seeing it through so stick with us for all the latest.