US Open men’s final 2024: Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz bid for slice of history

Despite facing top seed Sinner, Fritz says he expects the final to be less stressful than his gruelling five-set win over Tiafoe.

“It was to make a US Open final, whoever won it was the American that made it to the final. It’s a stressful situation to be in,” Fritz said.

“It’s different from playing the world number one, who you’re probably not going to be the favourite against.”

The 26-year-old won his first encounter with Sinner at Indian Wells in 2021, but he fell to a 6-4 4-6 6-4 defeat by the Italian at the same tournament last year.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing him [Sinner]. To be honest, I don’t think I’m going to be put in a more stressful situation than I was today,” Fritz added.

Sinner, 22, arrived in New York in top form and is on an 11-match winning streak having won his third ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati last month.

By reaching the US Open final, he has seemingly put the controversy of testing positive for a banned substance earlier this year behind him.

“We went just day by day, really, with not so many expectations,” said Sinner, who beat British number one Jack Draper in the semi-finals.

“I was just trying to find confidence throughout the days. We practised very hard in the days in between trying to prepare each match in the best possible way.”

There will be a focus on Sinner’s left wrist, which he appeared to injure after falling in the second set against Draper.

“The physio loosened it up very fast on court, so I felt OK in the beginning. Then it went away by playing, which is good,” Sinner said in his post-match news conference on Friday.

“Hopefully it’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m quite relaxed, because if it’s something bad, you feel it straightaway a bit more.”