"Wait until we meet outside of the United States," threatened the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko to the American Taylor Townsend in the middle of a brawl after the match. Townsend had defeated her in the second round of the US Open, but that wasn't the issue. Ostapenko had been angry for a while because a ball had touched the net, and her opponent had not apologized. "She has no class or education. Even if she plays in her country, she can't stop behaving and doing whatever she wants," Ostapenko said.
The argument between them lasted a while, but no harm was done. Unlike the outburst of Daniil Medvedev. In the first round, against Benjamin Bonzi, there was a misunderstanding. With Bonzi struggling with his second serve on a match point, a photographer mistakenly entered the court, causing a pause, and the chair umpire allowed him to redo his first serve. Medvedev became furious: he insulted the referee, riled up the crowd, and at the end of the match, enraged, he destroyed his racket.
These are days of rage at the US Open. Stefanos Tsitsipas confronts his conqueror, Daniel Altmaier, just because he hit underhand serves. Federico Gómez and Hugo Grenier almost come to blows over the former's celebration. What's happening? There are two theories: one suggests it's circumstantial, the other suggests that the sport has changed forever. The conclusion is up to each individual because there are reasons to support both.
The first conclusion blames the US Open itself, and it has its reasons. "It's a stressful Grand Slam. I am a calm person who prefers to be without many people around, and in the end, in New York, there are many people, a lot of traffic, everything is fast-paced, and that can stress you out a bit," described Carlos Alcaraz. And it's true. In Flushing Meadows, Bad Bunny plays constantly, the audience stands up, celebrates, dances, shouts, even when a tennis player is ready to serve. There's a lot of commotion, everything encourages chaos. If things go well, it's a party; if they go wrong, it's trouble. In a way, fans provoke arguments among tennis players, also because it's common in other American sports, from the NBA's trash-talking to ice hockey's fistfights.
"I don't know what's happening. I guess it's just New York, which tends towards drama," joked local player Jessica Pegula. "I love New York fans, but they are very involved in the match. They are very passionate and are used to watching other sports happening in the city that are not tennis," assessed Coco Gauff, who added a second variable: "It's also the end of the year." With many, many matches in their bodies, tennis players are tired and have short fuses. Some have already faced each other two, three, four times in recent months and carry grudges that need to come out somehow.
What if tennis is already different?
There are also hypotheses that consider modern tennis to be more violent, and they have arguments too. "After the Covid pandemic, we saw a change in people's behavior regarding the atmosphere," said Amélie Mauresmo, director of Roland Garros, after banning alcohol at the French Grand Slam venue last year. Worldwide, perhaps with the exception of Wimbledon, tennis is evolving alongside society towards a faster, more explosive, and at the same time more aggressive sport.
The retirements of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, who served as examples for decades, as well as the continuous exposure to social media, have an impact. "You receive too many opinions, thousands of comments; that hardly helps," explained Pablo Carreño, who also criticized the excessive promotion of matches between Alcaraz and Sinner - "There is more tennis" - and there could be another reason there. Beneath the dominance of the current Big 2, there is a whole generation, with players like Medvedev or Tsitsipas, immersed in frustration. In any case, whether it's circumstantial or permanent, these are days of rage at the US Open.