Everything was set for Carlos Alcaraz to be the US Open champion for the third time and to return triumphantly after months of being injured. But the one who has reigned in New York has been Alexander Zverev. The German, for years the player who carried a curse according to which he would never win a major tournament, has shaken off his fears in a 2026 in which he surprised everyone by winning two Grand Slam titles: first in Paris and now at Flushing Meadows, by defeating the American Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6, 5-7 and 6-2. The key? Concentration. Focusing on every second, on every point, on every detail. He did it so well that when he won the tournament he didn't know it. He was focused on winning every point and for a few seconds he was ready to play the next one while everyone was already standing up to cheer for him.

Last Sunday, at the US Open, a new disturbance in the stands once again made the crowd the protagonist of the tournament. This time it was a spectator excessively uninhibited by the effect of some substance. Witnesses pointed to excessive alcohol consumption. In the image, a security guard approaches the individual to remove him. The man in the blue shirt, gesticulating, berates tennis player Jakub Mensík. The Czech was facing the American Learner Tien in the third round. Reuters photographer Jerry Lai captures the moment when some spectators, indignant, point at the individual so that he is expelled. Since the tournament began, players have criticized the public's behavior: Sabalenka, Mensík, Osaka, Mannarino, and Boulter have complained because the commotion in the stands breaks their concentration for the game: groups of influencers recording promotions and choreographies during the matches, fans making noise to distract their favorite player's rival, smokers ignoring the venue's prohibitions, or people moving up and down among the public to get cocktails. In the background, the stench of marijuana that spreads through Flushing Meadows and that the New York breeze carries to the court.

Millions of people have dreamed of having New York at their feet, even for a single minute. Exactly what Carlos Alcaraz has achieved, that boy from Murcia who, thanks to tennis, has made the city that never sleeps his own. Alcaraz was crowned US Open tennis champion for the second time in his career by defeating his great rival, Jannik Sinner. Another episode in a rivalry that should continue for a long time, provided Alcaraz doesn't turn it into a tyranny. When he plays like he did yesterday, he seems far above everyone else. Sinner was defeated in four sets (6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4).

Catalan Marcel Granollers and Argentine Horacio Zeballos were crowned champions of the US Open men's doubles tournament this Saturday, defeating Britain's Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the final. Granollers and Zeballos are capping off a dream season, having won two of the four major tournaments together. They reigned supreme at Roland Garros a few months ago, and today they triumphed at Flushing Meadows in a match where they saved three match points.

The generation of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner has earned the right to be considered the successors of the historic generation of Roger Federer (retired in 2022), Rafa Nadal (retired in 2024), and Novak Djokovic. The Serbian is the only one who still refuses to stop being present and become history. The results give him some support while his body accumulates complaints and insults. But Alcaraz and Sinner show no mercy, not even for their professional "fathers." The Murcian tennis player defeated Djokovic 4-6, 6-7 (4), 2-6 in 2 hours and 23 minutes to book a ticket to the US Open final (against Sinner, obviously) without the need to waste his most lethal weapon against the winner of 24 Grand Slams: extending the clock.

With her shy laugh, Naomi Osaka greeted everyone on Center Court at Flushing Meadows. It had been many years since the Japanese player had been seen playing the way she is at this US Open. On Monday night, she surprisingly defeated Coco Gauff, a two-time champion of the tournament in recent years, in straight sets (6-3, 6-2). And she qualified for the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 1,658 days. 1,658 days. More than four years. The last time she had done so, the world was still talking about the pandemic and Donald Trump was fighting in the courts, far from his return to the White House.

Top-level tennis players aren't resting. On Monday night, Carlos Alcaraz won the Cincinnati Masters 1000 after seeing his opponent, Jannik Sinner, withdraw from the final due to illness. The two players who dominate the world tour seem destined to fight to win the final Grand Slam of the season, the US Open, which begins this Sunday, but it's hard to know how they'll be in shape after seeing the Tyrolean player feeling dizzy. Furthermore, Alcaraz was supposed to play in the innovative US Open mixed doubles tournament launched this year by the U.S. Tennis Federation. Sinner was also supposed to, but decided to withdraw after his scare.