Trophy Presentation | Jannik Sinner is Crowned Champion | 2024 US Open

Please welcome the participants for today's Men's Singles Championship trophy presentation. Tournament Director Stacy Allister, USTA Chairman of the Board and President, Dr. Brian Hainline. Representing JP Morgan Global, Co-Head of Sales and Research, Claudia Jury. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of his first US Open victory, Andre Agassi. Chris McKendry. What a terrific afternoon of tennis, everyone. One more round of applause for our two players. Now please welcome the future American Tennis Champions, 12-year-old Lucas Lee and 11-year-old Mary Podnihenchenko from the John McEnroe Tennis Academy. Thank you both. To begin our trophy ceremony, we'd like to recognize our Chair Umpire this afternoon, Eva Azdouraki-Moore. It's now my pleasure to introduce again the Chairman of the Board and the President of the USTA, Dr. Brian Hainline. Thank you. Taylor, you are leading the wave of the next generation of American Champions, five of whom are currently ranked in the top 20 in the world. You speak of your American colleagues with a certain fondness. You call them family. How all of you push each other to tennis greatness and to greatness in life. Taylor, you have responded. You have been pushed, and you have, through your grit, determination, and perseverance, reached your first Grand Slam singles final. And we know there is a Grand Slam champion in you. Yannick, when you won the Australian Open this year, you thanked your parents for allowing you to choose tennis. What a remarkable life lesson, as tennis has become your journey and your humanity. Congratulations on your second Grand Slam singles title and your first U.S. Open singles title, and congratulations on being the number one tennis player in the world. To the U.S. Open staff, thank you for orchestrating the most brilliant three weeks of tennis in history. And to our fans, thank you for making Arthur Ashe Stadium rock and roll. You are the greatest. And to our global tennis community and the world at large, let's play tennis, the world's healthiest sport, and a journey for the good of life. Thank you. Now it's time to hear from our finalist, American Taylor Fritz. It's been a long time since we had an American in this match, Taylor. I know it wasn't a victory today, but it was a win overall. How would you describe the run? It's been an amazing two weeks. And first off, congrats to Yannick. He played a great match. Congrats to his team. It's really impressive. He was too good. So, I mean, it's amazing. But I want to say thanks to my team, my coach Mike, Wolf, Morgan. My parents are here, just my whole team. It's amazing to have such a great support system around me. They really make this possible. Also to my other coach, Paul, who's not in the box today. But, yeah, it's been an amazing run. And thank you to the fans for everything this week. Being an American at the U.S. Open is just incredible. Feeling the love all week. So, thank you so much. I know we've been waiting for a champion for a long time. So, I'm sorry I couldn't get it done this time. But I'm going to keep working and hopefully I'll get it done next time. So, thank you. Congratulations, Taylor. You're getting closer. You're going to get one. Now to present Taylor with the finalist trophy, Dr. Heinlein. Thank you. Now it's time to hear from the champion, Janik Sinner. Your first U.S. Open, the first Italian man to claim this title in history. What does it mean to you, Janik? Yeah, hello, everyone, first of all. And I would like to start with Taylor. I know how much work he puts in. You're doing an amazing job. Congrats to you, Taylor, and the whole team. It's so nice to see you in big stages like this. And I'm quite sure that you are going to play many of those. So, I wish you best of luck for the future. This title, for me, means so much. Because the last period of my career was really not easy. There is my team who supports me every day. The people who are close to me. I love tennis. I practice a lot for these kind of stages. But I also realize that off the court there is a life. I would like to dedicate this title to my aunt. Because she is really not feeling well health-wise. I don't know how much I still have her in my life. It's so nice that I can share positive moments still with her. She was a very important person for my life. And she still is. If there would be the biggest wish, I would wish the best health to everyone. But, unfortunately, it's not possible. You came into this tournament saying, I'm not sure I have very high expectations. For someone with low expectations for how he might perform, how did you get this done over two weeks? I did pretty well, I guess. We just went day by day. Trying to practice well, even in the days off. Believing in ourselves, which is the most important. I understood, especially in this tournament, how important the mental part is in this sport. And, I guess, in every sport. I'm very happy, very proud to share this moment with my team. I know there are a lot of people watching from home. I would like to thank everyone for being so fair in this amazing arena. It's such a huge pleasure. Sedid, you are number one in the world, far and away. You've now won two major titles this year. To put in perspective how difficult that is, you are only the fourth man in more than 50 years to win your first two major titles in the same calendar year. You have had a hell of a year. How would you phrase it? How would you describe the year? Incredible. So many big wins for me this season. Starting off with Australia, and then playing so well there, which then gave me confidence for until now. But the work never stops. I know that I still can improve. As we saw today, a couple of things. But you have to be proud with what you have. And the rest, you have to go for it, you have to work for it. So I can't wait for my continued process. Thank you. Congratulations. And now comes the real fun stuff. First, to present you with a check for $3,600,000, Claudia Jury from J.P. Morgan. Congratulations. You have made Italy proud, and that's for you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Congratulations. Thank you so much. And now to present the champion's trophy, Andre Agassi. Take a step forward. Your 2024 U.S. Open Men's Champion. Pretty thoughtful young man, huh? Talking about family. Perspective. He's gained perspective in many ways this season. He's also gained a lot of fans, and a nice slew of titles to go with it. He's kind of like that duck paddling on the water, isn't he? Looks real smooth on the surface. You talk about how languid his movement is, but there's been a lot of turbulence under the water for him in this season, and he's persevered. He's got a good ball team around him to help him manage a lot of those moments. Same could be said for Taylor Fritz. Without a doubt. What a transformative tournament for Taylor. Another guy who has been the alpha among his peers in American men's tennis now for a few years, but he was the last one to go as far as a semifinal of that group, and he went one further. Andre Agassi a two-time U.S. Open champ between them. Agassi didn't win his first couple of times in a major final. It took him a while until he felt comfortable in that environment, and once he did, got his legs underneath him, and he was off and running to eight in total. Where will it end for center? We don't know. Will Fritz get his hands on one? Certainly looks like he has the game, too. It just depends on the matchups. This was a bad matchup for him. Exactly right. Robbie Koenig, courtside. Do you see Taylor Fritz winning majors? That's a good question. I think he'll put himself in a position, again, to contest for a major final. But with the likes of Sinha and Alcarez in the mix, it's going to be tough. I think you're going to have to go through at least one of those in a championship match, and I think doing it for the first time against one of those guys, Mary, is very, very difficult. But at least he's got this experience, and that's going to serve him well in the future. And I hope for American tennis that he does win one of these because it'll be fantastic. They've got so many guys contesting now, and I think they're all pushing each other in the best possible way. But they're up against two guys, and Alcarez and Sinha. And you heard it there in Sinha's speech. He has this incredible growth mindset of always wanting to improve, never being content with what he's got, in a good way. Enjoy the victories, but always enjoy the process, and that's pretty scary for the rest of the field. What we saw from Janek's center today is a player who, like the great champions, one of which is still very much present, Novak Djokovic, but also Federer, who's gone, Nadal, who's hanging on, trying to play more. His ability to withstand an offensive charge from his opponents and bide his time in rallies until he had his chances, his ability to play both sides of the ball, that is what looks likely to make him a force in this sport for a long time because he doesn't have those bad days.