Paging 1GA

US OPEN (F) 
Swiatek can’t fight herself, and the field

Iga Swiatek is amazing at many things but still hasn’t mastered the art of winning ugly. Why? Because she’s not a top player who can easily tolerate playing so far away from their standards. That drives her frustration level so high that she can’t get back on track. Being a perfectionist has many advantages, but it’s a curse when it comes to just playing ugly or the ugliest but still playing to win. Swiatek cannot win big if she’s fighting herself and her game as much as her opponents. That’s way too much. And there’s for sure no fun in that for her either, yet you’ve felt like she could do with some more joy out there lately.

These losses have been happening so rarely that, obviously, it’s not been a massive worry for her or her team. But losing against Jessica Pegula in a 49 unforced errors Grand Slam semi-final is an issue. These 36% on her serve in the first set too. She got blasted off the court by Jelena Ostapenko last year, which is something no player can be sure to avoid, whatever their résumé. And sure, Pegula is on a hot streak this summer and is a player she’s never been fully comfortable against. Yet her record against the American was 6-3, her last victory coming at the WTA Finals last year (6-1, 6-0). In this remake of the 2022 quarter-final, though, Swiatek collapsed.

The unfair tennis law for a champion like Swiatek is that when the biggest events and the biggest matches in these events come, she’s supposed to raise the bar. She’s supposed to deliver her best game on the biggest stage. That’s how one builds the fear factor and, most importantly, their confidence. Knowing that when the time comes, the A game will come, too.

And yet, it didn’t happen for Swiatek at the Olympics, and it didn’t happen at the US Open either. There has to be a reason for her game not showing up when she needed it the most. It could be a lot of things, from legitimate emotional fatigue to a more complex situation where the loss in Paris put the seed of doubt in her brain. It could be nothing meant to last. Or it could be a problem.

“It's hard to have low expectations when everybody is expecting something from you, and you kind of know that you might have a game to play well,” Swiatek told the press. “I'm not gonna just expect from myself that I'm always going to win. I'm just more focused on the work. Everybody is always speaking about results straightaway when you go to a tournament, they want to know what my goal is, I don't know, winning the final, the semifinal, and it's just not it. These are not my goals when I go to a tournament. I don't expect from myself the results. I'm more expecting that I'm going to work, and I'm going to go through some problems and work on them, and that's it.”

She lost in the third round in Melbourne, in the third round in Wimbledon, and in the quarter-finals in New York. She saved her Grand Slam season by winning Roland-Garros and nobody should ever put the word “only” before the words “one Major this season.” You won a Grand Slam title, you had a great year, period. Here, it’s just a question of wondering if there’s anything that, out of her opponents since Roland-Garros, can explain why Swiatek didn’t become 1GA when it mattered the most.

Pegula, who was 0-6 in Grand Slam quarter-finals before this upset, showed the difference between a player flying high on confidence and one still searching for the right gear. Things can change so fast in that sport! Look at Karolina Muchova, out of the Tour for months due to a wrist injury and already back in the Last 4 of a Major.

US OPEN (H)
Sinner is surrounded: will he keep standing?

Jannik Sinner is now the overwhelming favorite to win the US Open title, and so to clinch the second Grand Slam title of his career. His quarter-final against former US Open champion (2021) and last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev looked like a final before the final. Sure, but now Sinner is on his own, surrounded by three very hungry outsiders. The Italian is the king in the castle, but no guards are around. Will he hold the fort?

He’s been rock solid since returning to the Tour after getting sick in Wimbledon and before the Olympics, getting his hands on the title in Cincinnati, and then showing no sign of being troubled by the reactions to the reveal of his two positive tests. Now we’ll see how he handles the pressure of being The One That Is Supposed To Win in New York. It’s another learning curve for the World No.1 in the rarefied air at the top of the game. Sinner will have much to lose against Jack Draper (what a lefty paw!) - only the fourth British man to reach the semi-finals here - but also a massive chance to send his season to another level.

In the meantime, American’s men tennis is dreaming, eyes wide open. For the first time since Andy Roddick in 2009 (beaten by Roger Federer), one of them will play the final of the US Open. So, no wonder the tournament is going all-in on social media.

In 2022, Frances Tiafoe lost an insane semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz. This year, he’s getting another shot at a final in NYC, but it shouldn’t be that much easier against Taylor Fritz. The crowd’s energy will be divided between them, and the pressure of playing a compatriot can always derail any good intention. Fritz leads 6-1 in their battles, so he should be the favorite, but Tiafoe showed so much heart and guts through that draw again… Whatever happens, their run saved that men’s draw for the crowd in New York and the US broadcasters. It wasn’t a given when Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic went down early.

QUESTION OF THE DAY 
Are you disappointed?

You were 44,44% to say now was not the time yet to get worried about Coco Gauff after this summer.

Iga Swiatek has been so dominant on the Tour that some might feel ending this Grand Slam season with one title is disappointing. That’s the price to pay for being such a champion. What do you think:

BUSINESS / MEDIA 
Djokovic joins Sharapova, again, for Aman

Novak Djokovic, global wellness advisor. That’s new, but that’s true. Aman Group, a big player in the luxury wellness scene, announced it had signed a multi-year partnership with Djokovic as its first-ever global wellness ambassador.

“Expect exclusive events for Aman Club members, bespoke retreats curated by Djokovic, and year-round wellness experiences. Djokovic will also have his hands in developing new products for Aman Essentials, the brand’s luxury lifestyle line,” they say. In a statement, here’s what Djokovic said: “To dominate the game at the highest level, year after year, takes more than just skill. It requires a comprehensive approach to wellness—balancing mental health, nutrition, and physical fitness. I’ve refined my routine to achieve sustained success, and I’m thrilled to share these practices with Aman’s guests, helping them find their own winning strategies for life.”

This deal also marks a tennis reunion, as Maria Sharapova has been working with the Aman Group for a year, curating and hosting retreats. It brings me back to what are, to this day, the best Head commercials ever made, involving Djokovic and Sharapova (25 million views for the one below, 12 years later). They were a mood, to say the least.

Yonex, playing the long game paid off

It’s actually been 55 years, but whatever. When Andy Murray showed up with a Yonex for the clay season this year, it was the last sign of the brand’s growing success. It was never a question of having the talents as many champions have used Yonex racquets through the decades (Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Naomi Osaka, Elena Rybakina, Stan Wawrinka, Casper Ruud, Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, or Ben Shelton, to name a few). But nowadays, after 55 years in the business, Yonex is trending like wow. Why? Well, Forbes decided to investigate how the brand has, since 2019, nearly tripled its U.S. racquet market share. Quality, focusing on the relationships and the storytelling of being the challenger. Also, paying the top players very, very, well. All of this has turned Yonex into a blockbuster.

MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO 
Davis Cup to pay the bill for the US Open

Well, something had to give, it seems, and it’s falling on the Davis Cup. If, for now, Novak Djokovic is still supposed to play in the World Group I ties next week, it’s not the case anymore for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek announced he had to withdraw due to a back injury. Who was he supposed to face in this tie? Djokovic’s Serbia. So, talk about a blockbuster that suddenly doesn’t look the part anymore.

And he might soon be joined on the sideline by Alex de Minaur. The Australian, who had an unexpectedly great run at the US Open despite battling a severe hip injury since Wimbledon, might not be able to be in Spain for the Finals. De Minaur clearly looked hampered during his loss against Jack Draper in the quarter-finals. “I wish I felt better. Let's just put it that way. It's tough. (…) I dealt with it after Wimbledon. I'll deal with it after here, and I'll be back in no time,” he told the press in NYC. On time for the Davis Cup, though? “I really don't know. That's the honest answer. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how, with a couple days, how it pulls up.”

SOME BREAK POINTS… 
His name is Bond Federer

• Remember when I told you Roger Federer would never leave, and actually has maybe never even left? Well, here he comes back again. "No sweat. Tee's ironed perfectly. What's up with this dude, man? Hair perfect. What a guy. What a legend,” said Frances Tiafoe, perfectly summing up the impact of Roger Federer's landing at the US Open. If you know Federer, you know he wasn’t in NYC only to watch some matches from the stands. He also went to the Today Show to promote a book presented as a visual biography: it’s published by Assouline, is just named “Federer” and contains never-before-published photographs and exclusive interviews with Federer.

   

  “Produced over two years in close collaboration with Roger Federer and his wife, Mirka Federer, the book features never-before-seen family images from their camera rolls and personal archives alongside memorabilia from his childhood. This is in addition to exclusive interviews and raw handwritten notes, capturing his story both on and off the court. The 336-page book also includes quotes from notable friends of Federer, like Rafael Nadal, Lionel Messi, Trevor Noah, Bill Gates and Anna Wintour,” it’s said. While on the Today Show, Federer gave his thoughts on the Sinner doping scandal. "I think we all trust pretty much that Jannik didn’t do anything, but the inconsistency potentially that he didn’t have to sit out while they weren’t 100 percent sure what was going on, I think that’s the question here that needs to be answered. But look, it is what it is, and we need to trust the process as well of anyone involved here."
  

• Novak Djokovic is expected to return to the Rolex Shanghai Masters (2-13 Oct.)this year for the first time in five years. The Serbian would join Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in the draw of a Masters 1000 he hasn’t attended since 2019. Djokovic holds a 34-5 there and has clinched the title four times.
  

• Interested in finding new ways to express your creativity and building a community? Interested in newsletters? Interested in growing and scaling your newsletter? Enjoy a free trial and 20% off the Beehiiv’s plans* on me! You can read my review of Beehiiv here too.

EDITOR’S PICKS 

You can find other picks here, including my go-to newsletters for anything tech*, anything backstage* or professional sports*, and the one for everything NIL*. If you’re a solopreneur, you might like this one, by the way.

READ: In 2016, Peter de Jonge dug deep into the making of two very different US top players, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz. The son of an immigrant family and the son of an old money family. Sharing the same dreams. It’s worth the read again today as both players are making the waves they were always hoping for.

READ more: In today’s world, it’s sometimes good to take a selfish and curate a positive-only feed. That’s precisely what Nice News* offers to do for you! I’ve been subscribed to this newsletter for a while, and honestly, it’s a nice breath of fresh air.

WATCH: Melinda French Gates sat down with Billie Jean King for a special series called “Moments That Make Us.” “In this episode, she chats with tennis legend Billie Jean King about what it was like being outed in 1981, the power of living your truth, how sports help girls become leaders, and why she felt it was her job to change people’s hearts and minds in The Battle of the Sexes."

WATCH more: “How Roger Federer is changing tennis, even in retirement,” wonders Front Office Sports* in a talk with Federer’s longtime agent and chairman of the Laver Cup, Tony Godsick.

*Affiliate link