Two musicians from the New York Philharmonic attend a concert at Carnegie Hall introducing a young violinist from Vilna named Jascha Heifetz. “Kind of warm in here, wouldn’t you say?” one says, mopping his forehead and tugging at his collar.
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His friend smiles and says with just a drop of condescension, “Not if you’re a pianist.”
This is the U.S. Open, biggest tennis tournament in the world in attendance and everything else and you get the same worried buzz sometimes if you are sitting by an older star’s “team” during a match against an unknown. It was the case the other day when Lorenzo Musetti gradually and then quickly lost his mojo while up against a young Australian named Dane Sweeny.
At 24 Musseti is not someone you’d describe as “older” but he has been on the tour since 2019 and was ranked in the top five as recently as this year’s Australian Open, where he lost in the quarters. Sweeny is, in fact, a year older; he entered the draw with a wild card under the Slam exchange system. He was a qualifier at the year’s first major at Melbourne Park, lost in the first round; getting the nod from the bigs who run Tennis Australia is a confidence booster. He proved to be unfazed by the odds.
With flashes of brilliance, elegant and stylish as ever, Musetti could not find momentum.
Sweeny beat a treacherous Frenchman, Cotentin Moutet in the first round; nothing personal here, I only mean Moutet plays a brilliantly shrewd and varied game that flummoxes many players. Musetti overwhelmed a rising English hope, Arthur Fery, in three strict sets.
Court 17 has the intimacy hard core fans appreciate. During the USTA’s renovation program that began a few years ago and continues, some say with reckless over-ostentatiousness, it replaced one of the most beloved courts, the old Grandstand, which had to make way for an expanded and retractable-roofed Armstrong. The new, bigger Grandstand, on which Musetti won his first round match, is fine once you accept it, seats 8,000 with good visibility. But it is 17 that brings back the old favorite’s intimacy, with seating for only about half of the old Grandstand’s five thousand.
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Sitting by me just near a contingent of Lorenzians (in tennis parlance the entourage is called a “team”) were a couple of real tennis fans who were quietly rooting for Sweeny. Court 17 was packed, the temperature a reasonable 85 that felt heavier due to the humidity and the emotional heat. It had just been the scene of a thrilling comeback by American darling Maddie Keys (Mrs. Bjorn Fratangelo), a favorite for her grit and her ability to raise her game in tough matches.
Tough is the word: she was down 2-5 in the third set and the crowd was roaring for every point as she fought her way back into a tie at 6-6 which under current scoring rules — you can lose track of the changes — sets off a 10-point tiebreak. There is no word for that comeback but the one the Mets made famous, amazin’. It was sweat and passion but I will say this, the fans applauded fairly when her opponent, Anna Bondar, a lovely player with a graceful mix of shots, set up impressive winners. But she could not meet the pressure of holding on to a big lead. Reverse momentum I suppose, like American conservatism, though I allow as how the comparison is inapt.
Miss Keys’ inspiring win on that new old court went on well into the hotter hours of the day, but soon more sweating thirsty fans were back, as word got out that another big fight was shaping up. (Ground pass holders can enter Court 17 free, a compensation for pricey seats at the big stadia.) Lorenzo Musetti won the first set as handily as he had won three against Arthur Fery, but there were signs of cracks in his game, one of the more classically beautiful on tour but susceptible to chokes.
Sure enough, Dane Sweeny’s grit was decisive. He began regularly going to the net and cutting off Musetti’s passing shots with sharp overhead volleys. He maintained his consistent serve. Musetti’s serve can hit 130 mph and he can surprise with a change-of-pace that catches his man way behind the baseline. But Sweeny, small at five-seven by today’s tennis average (Musetti is six-one), is quick like a fox and tough like a badger. Suddenly it was 6-1 Sweeny and he was a break up in the third set.
With flashes of brilliance, elegant and stylish as ever, Musetti could not find momentum. Sweeny’s upset seemed inexorable. He held at love, stayed agressive through long rallies, matched the other’s pace, fought for every point while Musetti threw some away in frustration.
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It was a hot day on Court 17, and not only for fans — or violinists.
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