Sports fans, casual and devoted alike, are all too familiar with the infamous “home-field advantage,” where the familiarity and comfort of competing in the same environment heightens an individual or team’s ability to get results.
It’s more commonly seen in team sports, especially ones like football or soccer, as loyal fans get behind their players and want nothing but for their squad to run the other out of their stadium. Not only do the players feed off that energy, but they develop a sense of pride each time they step on the field, as if it were a part of themselves.
However, in sports that have traveling tours, like golf and tennis, there’s a different type of home-field — or should I say, court and course — advantage. Instead of having the familiarity of playing in the same place week in and week out, players usually don’t know what to expect of the crowd or atmosphere, even if they’ve played in a certain competition before.
However, in golf or tennis, the advantage doesn’t come from a specific arena or stadium. Instead, it’s often determined by country.
There’s no doubt that at the U.S. Open, which is now halfway through the second week of play with the semifinal matchups set, there is a home-court advantage feel. The crowd certainly erupts more when an American is playing, and you can tell in the way a player competes that it means more to be vying for a major title on native soil.
“I think in the past, there’s a little bit of pressure playing at home,” said Coco Gauff while playing in the Miami Open last March. “I feel like because I play my best tennis when I’m playing relaxed and playing loose, I think that’s what I was trying to emulate today.”
That advantage, though, hasn’t proven to do much good, at least on the men’s side.
Since Andy Roddick won the tournament in 2003, no American male has won at Flushing Meadows, and the last two decades have been dominated by international talent.
Now, more than ever, the pressure is on for someone to pull through and carry out what many American tennis fans have been begging to have happen for over 20 years. Yet, that burden already rests on one player’s shoulders: 27-year-old Taylor Fritz.
In this year’s tournament, six American men were ranked, giving fans hope for a successful tournament and more opportunities for deep runs. However, it’d only take the first three rounds for Fritz to be left all alone as the sole surviving American.
17th-seed Frances Tiafoe came up short against unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff, losing in straight sets. Tommy Paul, who seemed to be the next up-and-coming American talent last year and entered the tournament as the 14th seed, ultimately fell to Alexander Bublik in five sets. Lastly, sixth-seed Ben Shelton was unfortunately forced to retire from his third-round match due to shoulder problems.
To take an optimistic view on a disappointing situation, Fritz was likely the best bet for the Americans in the first place. After all, he made the U.S. Open finals last year, having to go through top-ten seeds Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev, as well as Tiafoe in the semifinals, before losing to one-seeded Jannik Sinner.
While Fritz hasn’t had great success at this year’s majors beyond a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon, he’s optimistic about his play at this iteration of the U.S Open.
“I had some battles [the] last couple of matches, but I felt very dialed in, very ready to go tonight,” Fritz said after his fourth-round win over Tomas Machac. “[I] thought I played really solid, put a lot of balls in the court, was aggressive at the right times, and backed it up well with good serving.”
Fritz knows the pressure on him has been elevated as his fellow countrymen were knocked out of the tournament earlier than expected.
“I guess I wasn’t expecting everything that happened,” Fritz said. “I felt really good about all our chances this week, but I’m happy to be here, I’m happy to be the last one standing, at least. Hopefully, since I’m the last one, the crowd will really get behind me and will me through it.”
The path ahead for Fritz doesn’t get any easier, either, as he’s set to face Novak Djokovic on Tuesday. He’ll need as much of the crowd’s backing as he can get to get through that one, while American tennis fans keep their fingers crossed that any home-court advantage can help him earn his first Grand Slam title.