Zverev & Rybakina Conquer New York at the 2026 US Open
The 2026 US Open is over.
We had great tennis, terrible scheduling, some breakout performances, some brutal collapses, a few laughs, and plenty that pissed me off.
The futures were gawd awful. We’ll track those losers and move on.
But I loved doing these daily observations, and I think they are here to stay.
So before we put the 2026 US Open to bed, here are a few final thoughts on the final day of our 2026 US Open coverage.
Put the US Open Quarterfinals at Night
Play the quarterfinals at night.
Use Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium. Put one marquee men’s match and one marquee women’s match in each building and make the damn thing feel like an event.
The semifinals already get the nighttime treatment.
The finals should too.
Women Saturday night. Men Sunday night.
This is New York.
Lights. Noise. Full buildings. Big atmosphere.
Make it feel like New York.
For the Last Time, the US Open Is Not Wimbledon
And thank God for that.
Every year somebody complains.
The matches run too late. The crowd is too loud. People are moving around. Somebody smells marijuana. New York is apparently being too much like New York.
What exactly did you expect?
The late nights, noise, and chaos are part of the US Open.
If you want polite applause, immaculate lawns, and everybody tucked into bed at a respectable hour, there is another Grand Slam for you.
This one is in Queens.
Sleep-Deprived Tennis Writers
Christopher Clarey and others want the late nights fixed because everybody is losing sleep.
Fine.
Here’s a better idea: fix the scheduling without neutering the tournament.
Use both stadiums. Start the important matches earlier in the evening. Stop bottlenecking everything through Ashe because you need separate day and night tickets.
Give the fans better tennis.
Give the players better conditions.
And give sleep-deprived Christopher Clarey an earlier night.
Everybody wins.
ESPN Made This Tournament Harder to Watch
“Sausage Zverev” was funny.
The rest of ESPN’s coverage was not.
Malika Andrews was clearly trying to say Sasha Zverev and tied herself in a knot. Everybody makes verbal mistakes.
But that little moment summed up a larger problem.
Too often, the desk coverage felt like it was being hosted by people learning the players while the rest of us were watching them.
Then add an app that freezes, lags, and generally makes watching tennis harder than it should be, and somehow I am paying money for the privilege.
The one thing ESPN got right was US Open Red Zone when former professional players were running it.
Funny how that works.
Put people who actually know tennis on television, and suddenly the product gets better.
What a Summer for Linda Noskova
Wimbledon champion.
US Open quarterfinalist.
And she damn near knocked off Aryna Sabalenka.
Noskova pushed the defending champion all the way to a third-set tiebreak and had the crowd completely behind her by the end.
When she walked off the court, New York gave her a huge ovation.
Sabalenka had plenty to say about her, too.
And Noskova is now sitting at No. 6 in the world.
That is one hell of a summer.
Sabalenka Had a Great Year. It Still Had to Hurt.
Aryna Sabalenka finished 2026 without a Grand Slam title.
Australian Open finalist.
Roland Garros quarterfinalist.
Wimbledon Round of 16.
US Open finalist.
For almost anybody else, that is an awesome Grand Slam season.
Not when you are the No. 1 player in the world.
And the year was bookended by losses to Elena Rybakina, first in Australia and then again in New York.
Add losing the No. 1 ranking on top of it.
Brutal.
Great year.
Tough year.
Both can be true.
Elena Rybakina Was a Fitting Champion
Rybakina went 15-2 from Toronto through the US Open.
The only player who beat her during that stretch was Iga Swiatek.
That is championship form.
And the best part is, Rybakina didn’t even serve particularly well in the final.
She just kept playing the ball.
She stayed calm.
She stayed brave.
And she found a way.
That takes guts.
A fitting champion.
The Mickey Mouse Club Is Alive and Well
One of the newer trends in tennis is the matching player box.
Four, five, six people sitting there.
Coaches.
Trainers.
Physios.
Whoever else made the traveling party.
Same hats.
Same shirts.
Same sponsor.
Same everything.
They look like sales clerks at a Home Depot.
Luciano Darderis’s team playing musical chairs made me thankful the Mickey Mouse Club is still alive and well.
Alexander Blockx Is a Beast
Blockx was out there against Karen Khachanov, wrapped up like a mummy.
Trainer visits.
Clearly hurting.
Still swinging.
Still competing.
Still trying to crack the ball.
He reached the US Open quarterfinals as the No. 28 seed and never looked intimidated by the stage.
Good for him.
And if I were Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner, I would keep an eye on this next wave.
These young boys can play.
Niels Vink Showed What Bravery Looks Like
Niels Vink completed the calendar Grand Slam in wheelchair tennis.
Four majors.
One season.
While everybody else talks about pressure, adversity, and toughness, here is a guy showing us what bravery actually looks like.
Bravo, dude.
Alex Eala Is Great for Tennis
Alex Eala is great for the game.
Her fans show up.
They travel.
They buy tickets.
They bring noise and energy.
That is all good.
What I do not like is letting commercial appeal dictate court assignments.
Eala gets a stadium court while Iva Jovic gets pushed to the Grandstand.
Why?
Because Eala sells tickets.
She has improved tremendously, but she is not a marquee Grand Slam player yet.
Court placement should be earned.
Her fans will still show up.
Wild Cards Should Still Mean Something
Venus Williams is a legend.
Nobody is arguing that.
But reputation cannot be the only qualification forever.
Stan Wawrinka was not initially given a wildcard. He got in only after Patrick Kypson, who had received one, withdrew.
Meanwhile, Venus keeps getting opportunities despite losing match after match.
I understand nostalgia.
I understand ticket sales.
If you want Venus and Serena in doubles, fine. Give them the wildcard. People will show up.
Singles is different.
Younger players trying to build careers could use that spot.
At some point, you have to earn it.
The Americans Had a Hell of a US Open
Give the host nation some credit.
Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff reached the women’s semifinals.
Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe reached the men’s semifinals.
Taylor Townsend won another women’s doubles title.
Christian Harrison won another men’s doubles title.
Marcel Latak won the boys’ championship.
And when the new rankings come out, Shelton will be No. 4, Tiafoe No. 8 and Taylor Fritz No. 10.
Three American men in the Top 10.
That is a pretty damn good US Open.
Next Gen Did Not Show Up
For all the hype around the next wave, the Next Gen boys did not exactly light up New York.
Rafael Jodar went out early.
Joao Fonseca never really got going.
Martin Landaluce was gone in the opening round.
Rei Sakamoto and Federico Cina both qualified, which is no small thing, but neither made a deep run.
Very disappointing.
Maybe they are tired.
It has been a long year.
Qinwen Zheng Looks Back
Qinwen Zheng had one hell of a run.
She had to qualify and still reached the Round of 16.
This is a player who was ranked No. 4 in the world in June 2025, and in stretches in New York, she started looking like that player again.
The forehand was cracking.
The serve was money.
And if Zheng is finally healthy again?
Good luck to the rest of the tour.
Let Ben Shelton Be Ben Shelton
Ben Shelton became the first Black American man to reach the US Open final since Arthur Ashe.
That is historically significant.
Mention it.
Then let the kid play tennis.
Shelton does not need to be turned into a symbol, a spokesman or an activist every time he walks onto a court.
He had the best season of his career, knocked out Carlos Alcaraz, reached his first Grand Slam final, and handled himself beautifully throughout the tournament.
That is plenty of story right there.
Sometimes a tennis player should be allowed to just be a tennis player.
Frances Tiafoe Came Through
Frances Tiafoe did not make the final, but that quarterfinal against Alex Michelsen told me plenty.
He went down two sets to love.
It was not pretty.
But when he had to raise his level, he did.
Then the match ended.
Michelsen was crushed. He stood there crying, and Tiafoe wrapped him up in a long embrace and stayed there with him.
He could wait to celebrate.
Because sometimes being a human being is more important.
Playing on the biggest stage of his career, in one of the biggest matches he has ever played, in the best season of his career.
Big Foe came through.
The US Open Still Knows How to Put on a Show
For all the complaints I have had, the tournament still gave us some incredible nights.
Great crowds.
Big upsets.
Long matches.
Young players announcing themselves.
Veterans finding one more gear.
That is why I keep coming back.
The US Open is messy.
It is loud.
It is unpredictable.
And when it is good, it is really damn good.
Alexander Zverev Buries the Ghosts of 2020
Alexander Zverev’s New York triumph carried extra weight six years after his brutal 2020 US Open final loss to Dominic Thiem, when he let a two-set lead slip away in a 4-hour, 2-minute five-setter.
This time, Zverev finished the job, completing a remarkable season that saw him reach the semifinals at all four Grand Slams in 2026 before finally conquering New York.
We’ll do an entire feature on Zverev later today, but this was hilarious!
The Daily Observations Are Staying
I loved doing these.
Not because every observation was brilliant.
Some were probably ridiculous.
Some were angry.
Some were funny.
Some were written five minutes after a match ended while I was still trying to figure out what the hell I had just watched.
But that is the point.
They captured the tournament as it happened.
So yeah, these are staying.
Rest in Peace, 2026 US Open
The futures were bad.
Really bad.
We will survive.
The coverage was fun.
The tennis was wild.
The observations were even better.
Congratulations to Elena Rybakina.
Congratulations to Alexander Zverev.
Congratulations to all the doubles champions, junior champions, wheelchair champions, and everyone else who walked out of New York with a trophy.
Rest in peace, 2026 US Open.
See you next year.
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Phil Naessens has spent decades in sports as a broadcaster, author, journalist, professional tennis coach, and betting analyst. As the founder and editor of Crush & Rush News and host of the Crush & Rush Tennis Podcast, he combines firsthand coaching experience with years of sports media and publishing to deliver thoughtful tennis analysis, tournament coverage, player features, and transparent betting insights built around value, and not hype.
