The narrative entering the U.S. Open was that a wide-open men’s draw could lead to an American men’s breakthrough.
No Jannik Sinner. No Novak Djokovic after the opening night. A rusty Carlos Alcaraz coming off a wrist injury.
But in the early going, the tournament hasn’t gone according to that plan.
Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe haven’t looked sharp, struggling in early-round victories, and Wednesday afternoon, Brandon Nakashima was sent home.
The 16th-seeded American fell in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to Alex Michelsen at the Grandstand.
“He played a solid match, but from my end, that wasn’t close to the level that I can play at,” Nakashima said.
It was a surprising result. Nakashima has had a strong year, reaching the semifinals at the Cincinnati Open and the final of the Canadian Open.
He recently rose to a career-best singles world ranking of No. 17.
“It has been a lot of new experiences for me, with maybe a little bit more added pressure, a little bit more with media and everything,” Nakashima said. “I have to embrace it as much as possible, and try to find a way to kind of block out all the added noise and pressure, and just kind of focus on what I need to do out there and try to play well.”
For the second time in as many matches, Shelton dropped a set.
Hubert Hurkacz pushed him in the four-setter at Arthur Ashe Stadium that wasn’t decided until Shelton broke Hurkacz’s serve to close out the match.
“I know I was never down in terms of set score, but the momentum definitely shifted. I mean, he hit another gear when I was up a set and a break, and the match [went from] fully in my control to up in the air,” the eighth-seeded Shelton said after his 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory. “So I think the second half of the match, the level that he was playing, to be able to get out of that one in four sets, close it out the way I did, I thought that I found so many things in terms of game style that I want to be playing towards the end of that match. That was a big one for me.”
Shelton has the potential to end the 23-year U.S. men’s major title drought.
He reached the semifinals here in 2023 and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January. But he insisted that’s not on his mind.
“I’m kind of just running my own race and focusing on the next round, thinking about the ways that I can improve and get better and continue to improve my game,” he said. “I think that this is a tournament that I always want to do well in, that I would love to be contending for and in the second week of.”
