NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic entered Arthur Ashe Stadium to thunderous applause, the sun glinting off the Olympic gold medal around his neck. Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, wowed the crowd with a tweener while practicing with Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Coco Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, filled Louis Armstrong Stadium as she played against Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic.
Welcome to the Saturday before the US Open. The seats are full. The crowds are thronging. The DJ is spinning beats on a stage overlooking the Fountain Plaza. The lines for food, drinks and merchandise are long.
Spectators have free entry, can move around the grounds and watch their favorite athletes up close. There is no escaping the noise of smashing tennis balls, loud music and conversations in the surrounding area. The thrilling ordeal of the qualification week is over. The tennis party is in town.
Exhibitions and party events with active and former players thrilled the crowds in New York (Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
While the top players were getting into the mood, the tours were studying the schedule. Three professional tournaments – a WTA 500 in Monterrey, a WTA 250 in Cleveland and an ATP 250 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina – only ended on this atmospheric Saturday. There were finals to be played, ranking points to be collected and prize money to be won. While fans and players enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of Fan Week with carefree smiles and non-serious performances, the tennis calendar paid no attention to this.
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American McCartney Kessler, who received a wildcard for the fourth Grand Slam tournament, won a thrilling three-set match against world number 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 to claim the title of “Tennis in the Land”. It was Kessler’s first title on the WTA Tour after she entered the tournament in Cleveland with a tour-level win at the 2024 Australian Open against Frenchwoman Fiona Ferro.
McCartney Kessler’s title puts her in the world’s top 100 (Lauren Leigh Bacho / Getty Images)
In Monterrey, Wimbledon qualifier and quarterfinalist Lulu Sun reached her first WTA Tour final before losing in straight sets to Linda Noskova, the highly-rated Czech who now has her first WTA title and is looking to climb back into the top 20.
In the men’s singles, Lorenzo Sonego won in Winston-Salem, defeating Alex Michelsen 6-0, 6-3, although the American almost lost a point for hitting a ball into the crowd.
All six players now have limited time to get used to the courts, conditions and cathedral of the fourth Grand Slam of the year.
With the luxury of a wildcard, Kessler could have skipped Cleveland, but her main goal was to climb the rankings after starting the year as world number 221. Now, at number 98, he is in the top 100 for the first time.
“McCartney is in a unique position to begin her ascent,” said Roland Thornqvist, who coached Kessler while she was a student at the University of Florida.
According to Vlado Platenik, Sun’s coach, they wanted to maintain the momentum of their 2024 breakthrough, even if it meant playing the week before the US Open. The decision has paid off.
“The Grand Slams are the priority, but this year it’s about playing a lot of matches,” Platenik said.
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That Wimbledon result catapulted Sun up the rankings. From qualifying to the quarterfinals, Sun jumped 70 places to No. 53 in the world rankings. Now No. 41 in the world, she’s getting ever closer to a Grand Slam ranking. Platenik admits that playing the week before isn’t ideal preparation for the US Open, but it does help Sun get closer to her goal of finishing in the top 32.
A full stadium welcomed Lulu Sun and Linda Noskova in Monterrey (Azael Rodriguez / Getty Images)
“We are gaining more experience and trying to improve the ranking as much as possible,” said Platenik.
Of the US Open seeds, six played the WTA events in the week before the US Open (Danielle Collins, Emma Navarro, Haddad Maia, Leylah Fernandez, Elina Svitolina and Ekaterina Alexandrova). In the men’s competition, three seeded players played in Winston-Salem (Sebastian Baez, Arthur Fils and Jack Draper).
Navarro, who had a busy summer, reached the semifinals in Monterrey before losing to Noskova. The American reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon, beating Gauff. She then played at the Paris Olympics, losing to eventual gold medalist Zheng Qinwen in a match that ended in heated exchanges at the net.
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Switching from clay to hard courts, Navarro reached the semifinals of the Canadian Open, but then lost in the first round in Cincinnati.
The transition from clay to hard court can take some getting used to, so she’s playing more matches on hard court in preparation for the US Open, including a trip to Monterrey. While those matches only earned her one spot in the rankings, that spot is a new career high of 12th.
Emma Navarro came to Monterrey after the Olympic Games (Azael Rodriguez / Getty Images
The players will have to get into Grand Slam mode quickly. For Sun and Noskova, who played the final in Monterrey at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, their performance means they must travel to New York on Sunday before playing first-round matches. Sun plays Lucia Bronzetti on Monday afternoon; Noskova has until Tuesday, when she faces No. 30 seed Yulia Putintseva. If she repeats her form in Monterrey before next year’s Open, Noskova will have the luxury of a seed.
Platenik sees a silver lining for Sun, who plays the week before. She can focus on her development in matches rather than getting lost in the hustle and bustle before the US Open.
The aim of the participants in the preparation tournaments is to one day be seeded in the Grand Slam tournaments like Djokovic, Sabalenka and Gauff. They would like to have the chance to spend a week in New York and prepare for the US Open there in order to get used to the place and the court conditions without the stress of travel and scheduling.
To earn that luxury, all you have to do is win. So while the best players in the world play in front of a gallery of loud and enthusiastic fans in the Flushing sun, the smaller tournaments, the points, the flights and the transfers go on.
(Top photos of Iga Swiatek and Linda Noskova: Getty Images)
