“No victory is guaranteed” – South Tyrol News

By: apa

The top favorite is still two steps away from his second Grand Slam title: After his doping acquittal shortly before the US Open, Jannik Sinner has won the Semi-final at the last tennis major of the year. After his first triumph at the Australian Open, the recently 23-year-old South Tyrolean could end the year with two titles won by Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

In the fight for a place in the final, he unexpectedly meets the 22-year-old 1.93 m man Jack Draper from Great Britain. He is good friends with the Stuttgart winner, who is currently ranked 25th, and recently played doubles with him. “He serves well, has a great forehand and a very solid backhand. “He plays a lot of serve-volley and tries to get to the net,” said Sinner about the Briton, who is ensuring that the tennis euphoria in his home country continues after Sir Andy Murray’s defeat.

The world number one, who grew up in Sexten just a few kilometers from the Austrian border, will not know anything about his role as favorite. “No victory is guaranteed. You have to find a solution against every opponent and that’s what I will try to do.” But he does not deny the experience advantage he has over Draper, who has advanced further than ever before.

But Draper has nothing to lose, having not even lost a set in this tournament so far – the only one of the four semifinalists to do so. “I feel a flow with my tennis and I don’t need so much energy when I play my points,” says Draper, who comes from Sutton and will climb into the top 20 in the rankings for the first time. The left-hander is the first Brit to reach the semifinals in New York since Andy Murray; the Scot won the title in 2012.

The second semi-final is of greater interest to the organizers and US fans. The all-American final between Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz will determine the first US finalist in the New York borough of Queens since Andy Roddick no less than 18 years ago. The two 26-year-olds are by no means unknown quantities as numbers 12 (Fritz) and 20 (Tiafoe) respectively, and Tiafoe is in the semi-finals for the second time after 2022.

In seven previous encounters with Fritz, Tiafoe has only won the first, losing the last six. “It’s different in Ashe Stadium. It will be a big match for both of us to play in a Grand Slam final. I don’t think you can even compare these other seven encounters to that.” In any case, there will be the first US finalist at a major since 2009: Back then, it was Roddick who lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

“Me, Taylor, Tommy (Paul), Reilly (Opelka) – we’ve been talking about it for years. This is the group, we’ve all been knocking on this door, it was just a matter of time. “This is pretty exciting, the first time since 2009 – hopefully it’s me,” said the charismatic former Vienna finalist Tiafoe before the first all-US semifinal at a major since 2005.

For Taylor Fritz, who was already ranked fifth in the rankings, this is the first major semifinal. He has thus overtaken his mother Kathy May, who once reached three Grand Slam quarterfinals and number ten in the WTA rankings. His great-great-grandfather David May was born in Germany and built up a department store chain in the USA around 100 years ago, which is now part of the Macy’s group.

After four defeats, Fritz cracked the quarter-final hurdle at majors for the first time by stopping Alexander Zverev. He cleared the hurdle at his 33rd major. Paul and Tiafoe had done it before, Fritz was “honestly happy for my friends”. “If anything, it gave me the confidence that I can do it too.” After the quarter-finals in Melbourne and Wimbledon this year, he is now in the semi-finals. Nevertheless, he still needs one more win to return to the top ten.