U.S. Open recap: Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe meet again, Holger Rune tweets it out (2024)

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On day three of the U.S. Open 2024, soaring temperatures brought the heat — along with the best matchup of the tournament to date.

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What this time for Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe?

As first-week matchups go, the U.S. Open couldn’t have asked for a better one than the third-round duel slated for Friday between Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.

Shelton and Tiafoe are probably the biggest stars in the men’s game who haven’t won a significant title. Two twenty-something Black Americanswho play with the kind of electricity and charisma that packs stadiums.

“These are the type of matches that I love, that I live for,” Shelton said after beating Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets.

“Being able to do it a little bit earlier in this draw, it still feels the same. Still feels like a huge match and one that I’m really excited for.”

Shelton and Tiafoe played out a lightning strike in the quarterfinals of this tournament last year — the match that ended with Shelton doing his since-retired hang-up-the-phone gesture, a move that didn’t go over well with some other players of note, including Novak Djokovic, who did it right back to him after Djokovic won their semifinal match.

After beating Alexander Shevchenko, who retired in the tumble dryer heat of Wednesday at Flushing Meadows, Tiafoe said the loss had been tough to swallow. The year before, his run to the semifinals had captivated the tournament and brought Michelle Obama and a lengthy roster of celebrities to courtside. Then Shelton took his lunch.

“Obviously, attention shifts,” he said. “That wasn’t easy. That wasn’t something I was pleased about by any means. Then I had a bad season after that to follow it.”

Now comes the chance for some revenge between two players who are good friends with big weapons, even if Shelton, in an effort to keep his shoulder healthy, has been maxing out his serve in the mid-130 mph range rather than getting up to 150. Tiafoe’s weapons can be slightly more subtle but no less electrifying.

“He’s good at flipping points,” Shelton said of Tiafoe. “He’s got, like, special hand skills off the backhand wing. So if you come into the net and you don’t come with authority and cover the right spot, he can burn you.

“I think those are the kind of points and moments where he gains momentum and really gets the crowd going.”

Tiafoe made similar comments about Shelton. “He’s very much like me in, you know, how excited and energetic he is on the court and has such a big game and big shots and serves big and gets the crowd going,” he said.

There was something else, too. “Funny, cracks jokes,” Tiafoe said. “Just about as immature as I am.”

Matt Futterman

Is Holger Rune the best tweeter on tour?

Holger Rune may have exited the U.S. Open early, but he continues to make sure his voice is being heard.

After being thumped in straight sets by Brandon Nakashima on Monday, Rune tweeted the following day: “I played extremely bad tennis. No offence to my opponent, but I managed only 39% !! first serves, tons of unforced errors, this is not what I or anyone should expect.”

Big bummer yesterday 💔 The best support, lots of happy tennis kids, perfect weather, perfect court and tournament and I played extremely bad tennis. No offence to my opponent, but I managed only 39% !!first serves , tons of unforced errors, this is not what I or anyone should… pic.twitter.com/jqBLyJRwbs

— Holger Rune (@holgerrune2003) August 27, 2024

He wasn’t done. On Wednesday, Rune followed that up by saying: “I am not satisfied with my results, but still I have to remember I am 21, I am top 15 in the world, the highest ranked male ever in my county. So when media “experts” and randoms call me s***, I take it as a bizarre compliment. They are expecting more from me, and faster. I too love when everything moves in F1 speed towards the goal, but life is not always like that.”

The swerve from Stefanos Tsitsipas-esque philosophy into expletives cannot be beaten.

Sometimes the bumps on the road are painful and frustrating. But we all know there are no easy or fast way to fulfil our dreams. Every experience is learning, that will make the foundation so strong that no one or nothing can break us in the end.
I am not satisfied with my…

— Holger Rune (@holgerrune2003) August 28, 2024

Last year, Rune, then the No. 4 seed, pointedly tweeted a map of Flushing Meadows to show how to get to Court 5, the location for his first-round match. He promptly lost to Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena.

Rune is enduring a difficult year that did at least pick up with a run to the Cincinnati semifinals ahead of the U.S. Open. He has fallen from No. 4 in the world to No. 15 over the past 12 months and in 2024 hasn’t gone beyond the fourth round of a major. For now unable to sustain the kind of tennis that once had him in the same breath as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, he can at least tweet it out.

Charlie Eccleshare

Will the case of Maya Joint help change college tennis?

Maya Joint, an 18-year-old American-born Australian who looks like she might have a long tennis career ahead of her, was pretty chipper for someone who had just left nearly $140,000 on the table.

Joint, who is from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, lost her second-round match to No. 14 seed Madison Keys, who rolled her 6-4, 6-0 in Arthur Ashe Stadium Wednesday. Joint has committed to play for the University of Texas this year. She has always wanted to go to college, she said. Her parents moved her into her new quarters last week while she was making her way through qualifying. Classes started the other day. She missed it. She had a match.

By winning three matches in qualifying and making the second round, Joint won $140,000. NCAA rules prevent her from collecting a penny beyond $10,000 of it, except what she spent on “actual and necessary” expenses related to the tournament. Travel, hotel, food — the rest she will have to justify to the National College Athletics Association (NCAA).

Why is this absurd?

Because in the age of NIL (name, image and likeness), a college athlete can earn $1million for signing autographs at a local car dealership on a Friday afternoon, but a tennis player can’t collect money that she has earned through her hard work.

Reese Brantmeier, who plays for the University of North Carolina, has sued the NCAA to eliminate this rule. Joint said this week she has been in touch with Brantmeier. Watch this space for updates on whether Joint becomes a part of that lawsuit.

Joint has managed to collect some money beyond the expenses from this endeavor. After her first-round win, Joint emerged on the biggest court in tennis with some new corporate patches on her shirt.

Matt Futterman

Shot of the day

Recommended reading

• Alcaraz and Swiatek, Osaka vs. Muchova: What to watch on day 4 of the U.S. Open
• Why ice bags are the hottest accessory at the U.S. Open.
• How Jannik Sinner and the team that made him world No. 1 blew up

U.S. Open men’s draw 2024

U.S. Open women’s draw 2024

Tell us what you noticed on the third day…

(Top photo of Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe: Sarah Stier / Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)