How Naomi Osaka Got All the Way Back

A nicely disguised drop shot in the second game surprised Osaka, sending her toward the net to miss a volley. For a moment, it seemed like Gauff might’ve found a weakness. Osaka then continued to pummel the ball so deep on her groundstrokes that Gauff never got a chance at another net point. She wouldn’t have much of a chance of anything. Osaka proved remarkably, uncharacteristically consistent.

Arthur Ashe is a uniquely American stadium. Recently, Jannik Sinner said Ashe always smelled like hamburgers and fries—he meant it as a compliment. But mostly, it’s famously louder than any other tennis venue on Earth. Even a raucous crowd, eager to coax Gauff’s best tennis out of her, was stunned to near silence.

Over two sets, Gauff never even got a look at a break point; meanwhile, Osaka converted all four of hers. The match lasted only an hour and four minutes—final score: 6-3, 6-2—but it felt like Gauff was cooked from the opening point.

After each of Naomi’s matches this Open, she’s been asked about the Labubus attached to her bag. They’ve been blinged out, just like her sparkly Nike kit, and Osaka has revealed their names: Billie Jean Bling, Arthur Flashe, La-Billie-bu. (Yeah, two of them were tributes to Billie Jean King.) The questions have been fluffy and a bit unserious—not exactly the stuff you ask a contender. But after the fourth-round victory over Gauff, Osaka was asked, instead, how she felt about her biggest win in years and the surest sign that she was picking up where she’d left off.

“I just really wanted an opportunity to play,” she said. “[Ashe] is my favorite court in the world and it means so much to me to be back here.”

It’s unclear if she’ll have one more match, or as many as three more at the US Open. But from here on out, she’s guaranteed herself the biggest stage.

Plus: Who to Root For?

At the beginning of the US Open, there were 48 American players—25 women and 23 men. After Labor Day, there are only three left: Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, and Taylor Fritz.

Both American women have made it to a Slam final (Pegula at last year’s US Open, Anisimova as recently as this year’s Wimbledon), so they are as close as it gets to winning one. If they can each get revenge on the players they lost to (Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek), it could set up an all-American final.

The men’s side of this tournament began with a whole cast of American men, from extremely likable newbies (Learner Tien, Nishesh Basavareddy) to up-and-comers (Jenson Brooksby, Brandon Nakashima), all dispatched early. There was also the promised class of top 20 Americans that ended up falling short: Frances Tiafoe was upset in the third round, Ben Shelton retired after a shoulder injury, and Tommy Paul was trolled to death over five sets by Alexander Bublik. The last hope, Taylor Fritz goes up against Novak Djokovic this evening. As much as I’d like an upset, Fritz has never beaten Djokovic in 10 previous meetings.

The closest thing to an American hope might be…Canadian? Felix Auger-Aliassime was one of the most promising players four years ago, after having an electric US Open in 2021, going as deep as the semifinals. Since then, he’s been set back by injuries, resting somewhat uncomfortably in the 20s ranking-wise. He’d also appeared to not have the weapons to beat the top players in the world, even on his best days. This tournament, though, he eliminated three seed Alexander Zverev with immaculate serving and even guttier groundstrokes. Previously, he was 2-6 against Zverev. Perhaps an even steeper challenge historically was Andrey Rublev, who he was 1-7 against. On Monday, Auger-Aliassime made that 2-7, dispatching the Russian in straight sets.

On his best days, the lanky Canadian is hitting tough angles like Jannik Sinner—with a bit more emotion behind his toothy grin. He’s a great underdog pick while you wait for an inevitable Sinner/Alcaraz final.