Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe? US Open Men's Semifinal Previews

Jannik Sinner vs. Jack Draper

“Jannik is a good friend, someone I’m definitely close to,” Draper says of Sinner. “We send each other messages in good moments, bad moments.”

Will their transnational friendship affect how the Brit and the Italian compete against each other? We don’t have much head-to-head evidence to go on yet. They’ve played just once, on grass at Queen’s Club in 2021, and Draper won in two tiebreakers.

Not much will be the same about their rematch. Instead of grass, they’ll be on hard courts. Instead of playing in Draper’s home country, they’ll be in neutral New York. Instead of a match between two up-and-comers, this time one of them is the No. 1 player in the world and a Grand Slam champion, and other is starting to look like he could be one in the future.

“It’s a great friendship,” Sinner agrees. “Obviously we try to put this away for the hours we are on court.”

While Sinner has faced Draper just once, he got a close look at his game when they played doubles in Montreal earlier this summer.

“He serves great, hits the forehand great, backhand very solid. You know, he’s all around very good player,” Sinner says. “He makes a lot of serve and volleys. Tries to go to the net. There are many things he’s doing great.”

Draper will need to use his serve and his net game as effectively as possible. Few players outside of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic can stand toe to toe with Sinner from the baseline right now. Even Daniil Medvedev, a wallboard who loves hard courts, couldn’t match up against him on Wednesday night.

It’a hard to believe now, but at the start of 2024, Sinner had yet to reach a semifinal at the Australian Open, Roland Garros or the US Open. Now he’s made it to that round, or better, at all three. Draper, by contrast, will be making his major semi debut. Sinner can tell him from experience that there’s a different vibe when when you get that far at a Slam.

“Semis, they are a bit different than first or second round, so let’s see whoever handles this better,” he says.

Draper will learn. Sinner, judging by his play this year and over the past week and a half, is ready now. Winner: Sinner

Taylor Fritz vs. Frances Tiafoe

“It’s different on Ashe, man,” Tiafoe says. “It’s different.”

He hopes so.

That was Tiafoe’s answer when he was asked about his 1-6 record against Fritz: None of those seven matches, he implied, happened at the US Open, or in Tiafoe’s home away from home, Ashe Stadium.

We won’t know if Foe has a point until he meets his old friend and rival there on Friday evening. But there’s no question that Fritz has had the upper hand in this matchup everywhere else they’ve played. Tiafoe’s last win came eight years ago, in Indian Wells, when both of them were brand new to the tour. Since then, they’ve played six more times, all on hard courts, and while some of the matches have been close—two of them went to 6-4 in the third set, and another was decided in two tiebreakers—they all went the way of the Californian.

“Obviously you have to learn from those,” Tiafoe says. “Couple of those I thought I actually should have won.”

“He’s tough, man. He’s a tough player,” he says of Fritz. “He plays great from both sides, has a great serve, he’s moving much better now.”

Tiafoe is right that Ashe gives him a better chance than just about anywhere else. Both of these guys are Americans, but he’s the favorite son in that stadium. He also happens to be on a roll, having made the final in Cincinnati and survived some sees-saw battles against Ben Shelton, Alexei Popyrin and Grigor Dimitrov—all in Ashe.

Fritz, by choice is more of an Armstrong guy. He likes it in those more intimate environs, but he didn’t have any trouble making the transition to the big house when he faced, and defeated, Alexander Zverev in the quarters. Fritz is playing every bit as well as Tiafoe, if not better right now. Since the second round, his serve in particular has been among the biggest weapons at the Open.

That shot may be decisive against Tiafoe as well. Foe will feed off the energy in Ashe, but I think Fritz will have the answers at crunch time. Winner: Fritz