It's been 23 years since an American man last won the U.S. Open. That may change soon

0:00Now a turn to sports. The US Open is the biggest tennis tournament in this country. And it's been 23 long years since an American man won the singles final. Could this year be different? An overnight thriller of a match last night says the answer may finally be yes. NPR Sports correspondent Becky Sullivan is with us. Hi Becky. Hey Sasha. So the reason we're having this conversation is because last night the highest ranked American man, Ben Schulten, toppled one of the current best two players in men's tennis. I understand this match ended at 3.30 in the morning. I really hope you were there. A little later to the very end. Well, certainly not there, but boy, I can tell you what I'm tired today. I mean, yeah, this was like an epic showdown. It was the most hyped match of the men's singles bracket so far, I think easily. Because as you say, it features the highest ranked player in the bracket. That's Carlos Alcarez, the Spanish phenom who is the defending US Open Champion. He's 23 years old. Already has seven grand slam singles titles to his name. Earlier this year, he became the youngest man ever to complete the career grand slam.

1:00But he's just come back from months away from the court with a wrist injury. And so that presented this opening for Ben Schulten. He's the most exciting young American man in the sort of top levels of pro tennis right now. He's also 23, but a very different player from Alcarez, who is like live and compact, whereas Schulten is very physical and athletic. You see right away when he's on the court. He's really tall as 6'4", super built. And so this match was like incredible, very physical. It was four and a half hours long. It began after a left infian Eastern time. And just true to the hype, it was a thrill. I mean, some of the points themselves were epic battles let alone the whole match. And they worked hard. I shelt needed five sets to win, is that right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and even that final set went to a tie break. And so, you know, very close. In the end, obviously, Schulten, who won, he did so that match point on a 146 mile per hour ace, which is his trademark move. And so, what to do in the middle of the night, I think was really especially impressive. So afterward, you know, the stands are still quite full. Having seen this amazing match. And he was giving his on court interview.

2:00And he just thanked everybody for staying, including his loved ones. Of course, here's what he said. I'm just hoping that my best friend and my sister up there don't have to be at work at 6 a.m. in three hours. It'd be huge from their employers to let them have the day off today. But... So, yeah, anyway, he's now on to the semi finals. That's on Friday. So he does have today to sleep in and recover. So I've got to ask again about this finish time, 3.33 a.m. I understand it's the latest in US Open History. Yeah. Why did that happen? I mean, this sometimes happens in tennis, right? You get these matches stacked one after another in the same stadium. And then, you know, sometimes they're short, but sometimes they all go the distance. And that's what happened yesterday. So it was these great matches all back to back. But this one was the headliner. Elkarez versus Schulten. You know, Schulten's this big star we talked about. Elkarez is one of this sort of powerhouse duo in tennis right now with Yonic Center. These two guys have dominated most of these Grand Slam's in recent years. And so for this like big headliner match, I think to start after 11 p.m. Eastern time was really rough, not ideal for the tournament or the broadcasters or the fans watching on TV. I mean, maybe not even the sport in general.

3:01If somebody who's trying to grow tennis popularity in the United States, it's difficult too for the players to play their best when it's the middle of the night. It makes the recovery for the next match a challenge. And so, you know, this is how the US Open has just long done it. But there's definitely I think some hand-rearing to it. Yeah. So for Schulten to break that 23 year old record, he still has two more matches to win. Yes, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so in the semi-final this Friday, he's going to face actually another American in Francis Tiafoe, who's a big fan favorite. Neither of these two guys has ever won a Grand Slam singles title. And in fact, whoever wins this semi-final will be playing in his first career as a Grand Slam final at all. And so, you know, the other thing I think that's important to note here is some history, you know, to have these particular two guys playing an Arthur Ashe Stadium, the iconic stadium that the big matches at the US Open hold. You know, so Tiafoe was born in Maryland to immigrant parents from Sierra Leone. Schulten's dad Brian Schulten, who's a former professional tennis player himself, is Black. And so the winner of this semi-final will be the first Black man to play in the US Open Final

4:01since Ashe himself lasted so more than 50 years ago. In fact, Ashe remains the only Black American man who's ever won the US Open or winbled in or are Australian open for that matter. And so, for the chance for that history to be made, I think is worth marking. And history will be made. That is NPR's Becky Sullivan. Thank you. You're welcome.