By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer
NEW YORK — Pretty much from the get-go at the U.S. Open on Monday, Madison Keys could tell she wasn’t hitting the ball well or feeling very much at all like the self-confident player who claimed her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.
After 89 unforced errors, including 14 double-faults, the sixth-seeded Keys was gone from Flushing Meadows in the first round with a 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), 7-5 loss to 82nd-ranked Renata Zarazua of Mexico.
“For the first time in a while … my nerves really got the better of me, and it kind of became a little bit paralyzing,” said Keys, the runner-up in New York to good friend Sloane Stephens in 2017 and a semifinalist in 2018 and 2023. “I felt like I was just slow. I wasn’t seeing things the way that I wanted to, which I feel like resulted in a lot of bad decisions and lazy footwork.”
Her first U.S. Open with the status of major champion – thanks to defeating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Melbourne Park – was over just as it began.
“You always kind of feel first-round jitters and, as the day is getting closer, feeling a little bit more and more nervous,” said Keys, who played with her left thigh heavily taped. “But I feel like, for whatever reason, today I just couldn’t separate myself from … feeling like winning matters just way too much.”
She made so many mistakes off the spin-laden shots coming her way that Zarazua needed to produce just eight winners to earn the biggest victory of her career. Zarazua lost in the first or second round of all eight of her previous Slam appearances.
Yet somehow, it was Zarazua who managed to deal with any nervousness better, even though she was competing in cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time and had only had a chance to hit there once a couple of days prior.
The 5-foot-3 Zarazua came into the day with a 0-6 record against opponents ranked in the top 10.
“I’m a little bit small in height, so coming in here, it was like: ‘Oh, my God. This is huge,’” Zarazua said about the largest stadium in tennis, which holds nearly 24,000 spectators.
When the match ended with Keys missing a forehand, Zarazua smiled as wide as possible, held her racket atop her head, then placed a hand over her face.
This one certainly was memorable, in part because it did not come easily and lasted 3 hours, 10 minutes.
Zarazua trailed by a set – after frittering away five chances to take the opener – and 3-0 in the second.
Quite a daunting deficit. But she never went away.
“Kudos to her for making me play a lot of balls today,” Keys said. “I mean, she’s a tricky player.”
While Keys was one of 25 American players in the women’s singles draw, the 27-year-old Zarazua is Mexico’s lone entrant in the bracket. She moved to San Antonio as a teen, and is now based in Florida.
“In Mexico, yeah, it’s probably not the most famous sport,” Zarazua said about tennis, which she picked up after starting out in gymnastics and diving.
“I got into tennis,” she explained, “just because my brother was playing, and he was like, ‘I think this is a bit safer sport.’”
END OF THE ROAD FOR KVITOVA, GARCIA
Petra Kvitova looked to her right as she sat down in the main interview room for her final post-match news conference as a professional tennis player Monday, and the two-time Wimbledon champion saw what she was hoping for.
“Tissues are here. Very good,” Kvitova said. “I’ll try to be brave.”
While speaking to reporters following a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Diane Perry in the first round at Flushing Meadows, the last tournament for Kvitova before retirement, the 35-year-old left-hander was in a good mood, smiling or laughing at some of her own answers.
The tears she shed on court right after the 52-minute defeat were no longer flowing.
Kvitova, who said she came down with a case of COVID-19 a few weeks ago and considered pulling out of the U.S. Open, hadn’t expected to be so emotional on Monday.
“But since I woke up this morning, I felt it. I felt it would be not good. I couldn’t eat. I was really nervous. But in different way, I would say. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t swing, I couldn’t do anything,” she explained. “It was really difficult. I never (had experienced) … knowing I’m playing my last match, most probably.”
After it ended when she sent a backhand return wide, Kvitova began crying. She went over to the stands for a hug and a kiss from her husband, Jiri Vanek, who is also her coach. They became parents in July 2024, when their son, Petr, was born, and Kvitova returned to the tour this season after a 17-month break.
She announced earlier this year that she would stop playing after the U.S. Open. So had another tour veteran, 31-year-old Caroline Garcia of France, who also headed to retirement Monday after losing, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, to Kamilla Rakhimova.
“Obviously you can always achieve more, and I was dreaming of achieving more,” said Garcia, a 2022 semifinalist in New York. “But I’m very happy and (at) peace with my decision to move forward with my life and close the chapter of being a tennis player.”
Kvitova won Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2011, defeating Maria Sharapova in the final, and 2014, with a victory over Eugenie Bouchard. She also was the runner-up to Naomi Osaka at the 2019 Australian Open and was ranked as high as No. 2.
In December 2016, she was stabbed at her home by a knife-wielding intruder. Kvitova needed hours of surgery to repair nerves and tendons in her racket-holding left hand.
Kvitova returned to competition less than six months later at the French Open, where she won her first match back.
“I would be proudest of many things. I think, especially … the mental side,” she said. “All the seasons … I was quite OK to handle it, even with some injuries and sickness and kind of this stuff. I’m very proud of how I handled the pressure, how many times I have been in the top 10. It was very, very special for me.”
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED ON MONDAY?
Brazilian teenager João Fonseca, who turned 19 on Thursday, won his U.S. Open debut, defeating Miomir Kecmanovic, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3, in front of a raucous crowd of his countrymen. Another precocious player, 18-year-old Canadian Vicky Mboko, who was seeded 22nd, was eliminated by two-time major champion Barbora Krejcikova, 6-3, 6-2. Frances Tiafoe, a two-time semifinalist in New York, beat Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets. Venus Williams and Carlos Alcaraz were scheduled to be on court at night.
WEED, AIRPLANES PART OF EVENT’S CHAOS
There are some tennis players, such as Frances Tiafoe, Madison Keys or Ben Shelton, who can’t wait for the U.S. Open to come around each year, with its boisterous crowds, its bold-faced names in the stands, its music at changeovers, its buzz. To them, the louder, the better. Start the show and bring the noise.
“I operate well in chaos,” said Tiafoe, twice a semifinalist at Flushing Meadows.
Sometimes, it all can get out of control, as happened during a match that ended early Monday. There was a delay of more than five minutes while spectators booed and shouted – egged on by 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev, who was angered by chair umpire Greg Allensworth’s ruling after a photographer interrupted play by going on court, of all things.
“They didn’t want to stop,” Medvedev said about the fans. “So, whatever.”
Not everyone is able to shrug off that sort of mayhem at a Grand Slam tournament famous – some would say infamous – for the over-served fans, airplanes roaring overhead, the Manhattan-Queens commute and the odors of everything from marijuana to food being grilled.
“It’s something you really can’t train the brain to kind of deal with,” 1991-92 champion Monica Seles said. “You just adjust to it.”
There also are those, such as 2024 champion Aryna Sabalenka or 2014 champion Marin Cilic or Petra Kvitova, who didn’t start out with an affinity for the anarchy – “Really confusing,” was Sabalenka’s initial impression – but grew to be OK with it.
And there are even some whose opinion shifted the other way, from embracing to despising.
“In my 20s, I loved coming here. There was so much to do. But the older I get, the less I enjoy being here. It’s a little bit chaotic. There’s always a lot of noise. A lot of smells everywhere. I’ve visited most of the places in New York; I don’t need to go to Central Park for the 1,003rd time,” said Adrian Mannarino, 37, a Frenchman who began his 15th U.S. Open on Sunday by upsetting 29th-seeded Tallon Griekspoor.
“It used to be fun,” Mannarino said about the tournament, “but sometimes I’m like, ‘Gosh, I wish I could concentrate a little bit more.’”
The hushes that envelope Wimbledon’s Centre Court or the French Open’s Court Philippe-Chatrier – which hold nearly 10,000 fewer spectators than 23,859-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium – are harder to come by in New York.
“Wimbledon, for example – it’s proper, it’s elegant, it’s elevated. People are definitely more quiet and respectful, I guess you could say,” said Emma Navarro, an American who reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows last year. “U.S. Open, it feels a bit more casual. Casually rowdy, I guess I would call it.”
There is a constant hum at Ashe and other arenas.
That’s just fine with Shelton, whose first of two major semifinals came at the 2023 U.S. Open.
“I guess I find peace in the chaos,” he said, “because I feel more uncomfortable at the quiet tournaments.”
For the retired Agnieszka Radwanksa, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012, nothing ever came as easily at the U.S. Open, where she went 0-5 in fourth-round matches.
“Everything takes so much energy from you and just sucks it up. Everything is loud. All the smells around, like the hamburgers. Everything is really noisy. The traffic,” Radwanska said. “I respect the players that don’t see the difference and don’t feel that and can play like nothing is happening.”
Some find the Big Apple itself as problematic as the tournament site.
Elisabetta Cocciaretto, the Italian who stunned 2024 U.S. Open finalist Jessica Pegula in Wimbledon’s first round last month, never felt at ease until she stopped staying at an official tournament hotel and switched to a more off-the-beaten-path spot.
“I like to separate myself a bit,” Cocciaretto said. “Because otherwise, you’re amid the madness. And if there’s too much of that, your head explodes.”
Casper Ruud, the 2022 U.S. Open runner-up, felt “overwhelmed” the first time he came to the event as a junior.
While he’s come to enjoy New York, particularly the restaurants, there’s one thing that bothers him about the city: “I’m not a big fan of the smell of weed when you walk around. … Every corner of every street, you smell it.”
ALCARAZ DEBUTS SHAVED HEAD
Carlos Alcaraz showed up on Monday for his first-round match with a new look: a shaved head.
Alcaraz, who is seeded No. 2 at Flushing Meadows, caused a bit of a buzz with his buzz cut when he got to the tournament grounds before facing Reilly Opelka in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Alcaraz ran into golf star Rory McIlroy, who reached out his hand to rub the scalp’s stubble. When Alcaraz played in the U.S. Open’s mixed doubles event last week, he did so with a full head of hair.
At least one other athlete – and friend – did not think the new ’do was a cut above: Frances Tiafoe, who lost in the semifinals in New York to Alcaraz in 2022. That was the year Alcaraz won the title at the U.S. Open for the first of his five Grand Slam trophies.
“It’s horrible. It’s terrible. It’s definitely terrible. That’s my guy, though,” Tiafoe said when asked about Alcaraz’s haircut. “Funny, I looked and him, and I was like, ‘I guess you’re aerodynamic.’”
Tiafoe’s critique wasn’t finished there.
“I don’t know who told him to do that, but it’s terrible. From a guy who gets haircuts week in, week out, who prides himself on good haircuts, it’s horrendous,” Tiafoe said. “But at the end of the day, it’s Carlos, and that’s my guy.”
CHASING GEN Z AUDIENCE WITH DATING SHOW
Over the course of the past week across the U.S. Open’s grounds, eight couples went on their first dates – on camera.
They were all part of the tournament’s newest content creation venture, “Game, Set, Matchmaker,” the most recent play for Gen Z attention from the world of Grand Slam tennis. From Wimbledon to Flushing Meadows, the sport is starting to take risks in pursuit of a new generation of fans.
“We’re always looking for new ways to engage new audiences,” said Jonathan Zipper, the senior director of social media for the U.S. Tennis Association. The USTA governs tennis in the United States and runs the U.S. Open. “In particular, Gen Z and Millennials are a focus for us to bring into the sport of tennis. So we think about the different types of content that those demographics typically engage with and enjoy watching.”
The eight-episode YouTube series that made its debut Sunday comes amidst an explosive moment for dating shows. “Love Island,” “Love is Blind” and “The Bachelor” are just a few shows in the genre that have dominated young American audiences in the past year.
More importantly for the USTA, it believes this type of thing can draw attention.
A year ago, the U.S. Open got 2.3 billion engagements across its official social platforms during the three weeks of action, a record for the event. Thanks to tennis’ rising cultural capital, there are a lot of eyes on official tournament accounts. So the Slams are starting to get creative, and employing outside personalities to ramp up content creation is a clear step.
Back in 2023, Wimbledon brought on Morgan Riddle, a tennis influencer and the longtime girlfriend of fourth-ranked player Taylor Fritz – the runner-up at the U.S. Open 12 months ago – to lead a digital video series. Called “Threads,” the series focuses on tennis fashion and lifestyle through the eyes of Riddle, and has become a recurring series at the tournament.
With titles like “How Wimbledon made tennis chic” and “Being the best means being stylish,” the “Threads” series appeals directly to fans on the fashion side of the sport, a niche that has been the entry point to tennis for many of the young audiences that these tournaments are targeting.
Since the initial announcement of the U.S. Open’s venture with “Game, Set, Matchmaker” – which garnered mixed reactions on social media – the concept of the show has changed from a more individual style, with one woman going on dates with multiple suitors, to the more expanded form it has now.
Ronnie Gunter, one of its participants, had recently moved to New York City when a friend asked if he would want to be involved in a dating show.
“You know what?” he recalled thinking. “Sure. I’m new to the city, why not say yes to something that sounds like fun?”
Even without efforts like these from Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, tennis has a large presence on social media these days – as of Sunday, the #USOpen tag had 1.6 million posts. But while the tournaments do benefit from the visibility that comes from fans posting on social platforms, Zipper says there’s an added value to the Slams getting in on the action themselves and creating what they hope will be viral content in-house.
“(We’re) thinking about how we grow our owned and operated channels,” Zipper said. “We’re always trying to find ways to connect with audiences who have an interest in tennis, have an interest in sport, but can find additional connection to the U.S. Open brand. While there are so many content creators who are out there and creating content … we have been wanting to explore how we can continue to grow the audience on our channels directly.”
WHO PLAYS TUESDAY?
A packed program for Day 3 of the first round includes Grand Slam champions Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner. Gauff’s opponent is Ajla Tomljanovic, who beat Serena Williams at the U.S. Open in the last match of 23-time major title winner’s career. This is Gauff’s first match since she began working with biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan in a bid to improve her serve.
More to come on this story.
AP sports writer Alyce Brown contributed to this story.
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