The Morning: The U.S. Open concludes

Considering the grief of the lapsed sports fan. Plus, a preview of the finals.

View in browser|nytimes.com September 7, 2024 SUPPORTED BY UPWAY By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. On the occasion of the U.S. Open finals, let us consider the grief of the lapsed sports fan. María Jesús Contreras Love all "It's like Black Friday at Walmart," a tennis fan told The Times of the record-breaking attendance at this year's U.S. Open. This sort of review might make a normal person glad they'd opted out of attending the tournament. But the more I heard of the colossal throngs, the endless lines attendees were enduring to procure a souvenir hat or a Honey Deuce or just to get inside the stadium complex, the more I wished I were there. I have, for most of my teen and adult life, defined myself as a tennis fan. It's been a sort of badge of honor: I may not remember the rules of football from one Super Bowl to the next, but I can recall in bright detail the intricacies of the John McEnroe-Jimmy Connors rivalry of the 1980s. Being into tennis has given me a connection to the larger fraternity of sports fans, the parking lot tailgaters and March Madness bracketeers and the people who get up at 4 a.m. to watch World Cup matches. John Jeremiah Sullivan wrote that tennis is "as close as we come to physical chess, or a kind of chess in which the mind and body are at one in attacking essentially mathematical problems. So, a good game not just for writers but for philosophers, too." For this mostly indoor cat who's more at home discussing literature than LeBron, tennis has provided a passage from the cerebral to the physical, a means of getting out of my head. In May, in a cafe in Dublin, I struck up a conversation with a woman at a neighboring table. She'd just finalized her plans to attend Wimbledon and was abuzz with anticipation for the players she hoped to see. We chatted about Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Frances Tiafoe, top seeds with good chances of going far. Sensing she'd found a confederate, she moved on to the Italian Open, which was going on as we spoke. As she reeled off the stats of players I'd never heard of, I felt my tennis bona fides slipping. I tried to keep up — it felt good to be connecting with a stranger in a foreign country through the lingua franca of tennis — but I was lost. I could still deconstruct every stroke in Stan Wawrinka's electric 2015 victory over Djokovic in the French Open final, but, for no good reason, I hadn't really been engaged with the game since Roger Federer and Serena Williams retired in 2022. I, who used to mark tournament dates in my calendar as soon as they were announced, had essentially retired from tennis myself. The grief of the lapsed fan is hardly a serious matter. With a little light internet research, one can get back into any sport — one could even accomplish this in the few remaining hours before the U.S. Open finals begin. My friend Justin, who texts me "!!!!" whenever something notable happens in a Grand Slam match on the (in recent years incorrect) assumption that I'm watching too, has probably not even noticed that I haven't been responding all year. I felt a little silly for even describing my U.S. Open FOMO as grief when I chatted about it this week with my colleague Sam Sifton. But he pointed out that he felt it, too, felt the poignancy of not attending the tournament, not taking part in the ritual of walking the boardwalk at Flushing Meadows from the train to the tennis center and back. I loved that part of going to the Open too, the magic-hour light radiant on the faces of fellow fans en route to a night match. If we define ourselves by who and what we love, and I think we should, then it's valuable to love as many things as we can, to accumulate enthusiasms and lean into them, to hold onto passions when we discover them and not let them fall away. This way, our identities become rich, multidimensional, expansive. Sometimes it feels like there's more to dislike than to like, more to disdain than to embrace. My longing for tennis feels like an opportunity, a reason to open my arms wider, to take more of the world in. I'm going to seize it. For more David Foster Wallace on Roger Federer as Religious Experience. "The most flamboyant and freakish player was Ezra Pound, who sported an enormous floppy beret to distract his opponent as well as to shade his eyes." From 1985, why tennis is the sport of poets. Attending the U.S. Open with the writer Philip Levine. A MESSAGE FROM UPWAY E-Bikes on sale Top e-Bikes at unbeatable prices! Use code SUMMER for an extra $150 off sale prices! Ends in 48h. Check Upway.co now U.S. OPEN FINALS PREVIEW Taylor Fritz, in his match against Frances Tiafoe last night. Karsten Moran for The New York Times American men's tennis has been lost in the wilderness. Before this weekend, the last American man to reach the U.S. Open final was Andy Roddick in 2006; Roddick was also the last to win the tournament, in 2003. Now, finally, the Yanks are back. Taylor Fritz beat Tiafoe in an all-American semifinal last night, winning in five sets, and on Sunday he has a shot to break the two-decade title curse. It won't be easy: He faces Jannik Sinner, the world's No. 1-ranked player. American women have had no such drought. Serena Williams reigned over the sport until recently, and Coco Gauff, one of her heirs apparent, won the Open last year. Today, another American, Jessica Pegula, is going for her first Grand Slam title. She faces Aryna Sabalenka, winner of the past two Australian Opens. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Michael Keaton Geordie Wood for The New York Times In "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," Michael Keaton returns to a role now enshrined in pop culture — with 35 years of ups and downs, plus an Oscar nomination, under his belt. (Read our review.) Read about the television shows to keep an eye out for this fall, including a "WandaVision" spinoff and Colin Farrell in "The Penguin." "Who TF Did I Marry," a popular 50-part TikTok series in which a woman recounted her troubled marriage, is being developed for television, Variety reports. The Times asked readers to share their favorite movies from 1999. Here's what they said. Fashion Zac Posen Nicholas Albrecht for The New York Times Zac Posen, known for over-the-top glamour, is trying to reinvent Gap Inc. The stakes are high for both the designer and the brand. The Venice Film Festival has been a showcase for new designs as well as vintage pieces. See 15 looks from the event. Music MJ Lenderman, whose particular brand of indie rock fuses Southern twang with tragicomic tales, has a new album. The Times profiled Lenderman, and our critic recommended nine songs to get acquainted with his style. "Transa," a 46-track album about transgender awareness that features Sam Smith, Sade and André 3000, is set to be released in November. Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian-born musician who brought bossa nova to a global audience through his ensemble Brasil '66, died at 83. Other Culture Stories OK McCausland for The New York Times Longtime friends Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow are appearing together in "The Roommate" on Broadway. They spoke to The Times about their return to the stage. Anna Sorokin, who claimed to be a German heiress and was convicted of theft, will appear on the next season of "Dancing With Stars." Astro Bot, out this week for PlayStation, is one of the best-received video games of the year. Our review calls it an "exceptional, imaginative game." THE LATEST NEWS 2024 Election Juan Merchan, the judge in Trump's Manhattan criminal case. Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times The judge overseeing Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal case postponed his sentencing until after Election Day, siding with Trump to "avoid any appearance" of affecting the race. Kamala Harris's campaign and the Democratic Party raised $361 million last month, nearly triple what Trump and Republicans did. Trump, who was found liable for sexually abusing a woman in the 1990s, said that his accuser was lying, and that another woman wasn't attractive enough for him to have harassed. Dick Cheney, the Republican former vice president, said he would vote for Harris. Trump, he said, "tried to steal the last election using lies and violence." Other Big Stories The U.S. labor market continues to slow. The economy added 142,000 jobs last month and earlier job gains were revised downward, boosting the Federal Reserve's case for cutting interest rates. Stocks fell on the news. The Israeli military appeared to withdraw from Jenin, a city in the occupied West Bank, after a 10-day raid that killed dozens of people and damaged homes, businesses and infrastructure. Elsewhere in the West Bank, a 26-year-old American woman protesting Israeli settlements there was fatally shot. Activists said Israeli soldiers had shot her. The Justice Department accused a Pakistani citizen of plotting to attack a Jewish center in Brooklyn on or near Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel. The Times analyzed millions of Telegram messages, and found the app has become a haven for drug trafficking, disinformation and terrorist groups. The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning. Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year. A MESSAGE FROM UPWAY E-Bikes on sale Top e-Bikes at unbeatable prices! Use code SUMMER for an extra $150 off sale prices! Ends in 48h. Check Upway.co now CULTURE CALENDAR By Andrew LaVallee 🎨 "Long Tail Halo" (Wednesday): If you're in New York, you can see one of the fall's major art exhibits without paying admission or even walking into a museum. Outside the Met's entrance, there will be four nearly-10-foot-tall sculptures by Lee Bul, one of South Korea's most important contemporary artists. 👩‍🎨 "Emily in Paris" (Thursday): For reasons only discernible to Netflix, this show's fourth season was released in two batches, and the second one is on its way. Escapism at its finest? A pure, unadulterated hate-watch? Deux things can be true. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Linda Xiao for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake Whew, you made it through the first week of September. Now, you deserve a reward for navigating that passage back to work and school — preferably something soothing and easy. My vote goes to Mollie Katzen's made-in-the-pan chocolate cake, a deep cocoa stunner further enhanced with a generous handful of chocolate chips scattered on top before baking. Ready in under an hour, it's exactly the kind of instant gratification the whole family can get behind. Make it with your kids, letting them mix and stir to their little hearts' content, and serve it for midafternoon snacking over the weekend. Then, save some to tuck into lunchboxes during the week. It will make Monday so much sweeter. T MAGAZINE Photograph by Ilya Lipkin. Styled by Jay Massacret Click the cover image above to read this weekend's edition of T, The Times's style magazine. REAL ESTATE Kevin, Teri, John and Bethanie Love near the family's new home outside Philadelphia. Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times The Hunt: A family left the Nevada desert for Greater Philadelphia. Which home did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $925,000: A saltbox-style four-bedroom house in Ancram, N.Y.; a Tudor Revival cottage in Richmond, Va.; or a 2018 house in St. Louis. Andy Cohen: The TV host is selling his 3,500-square-foot apartment in the West Village, painstakingly assembled over two decades. See inside. LIVING Men's wear: A group of experts chose the 25 most influential postwar collections. Party time: A 16-hour ferry trip between Stockholm and Helsinki is a festive summer ritual, featuring limbo contests (and maybe a bit too much to drink). Seashell art: Works encrusted with oysters and mussels are showing up in galleries and interiors. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER How to de-stink thrifted clothes The joy of scoring an amazing vintage find can quickly dissipate when you realize that it literally stinks: musty, old and dusty. Luckily, getting rid of funky smells from secondhand clothes is easier than you might think. Wirecutter's experts recommend the same formula some might use for a good spring break: the sun and a shot of vodka. The sun's UV rays can kill bacteria lingering in the fabric. And our testing has found vodka in a spray bottle works better against odor than Febreze. You'll then want to pre-treat any stains, wash the item gently and stay far away from your dryer. — Annemarie Conte NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was fivefold. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week's headlines. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa P.S. The most clicked story in the newsletter last week was a quiz to determines if you have healthy brain habits. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018