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Welcome to the U.S. Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.

On day 12 of the U.S. Open 2024, the strangest point of the tournament, British junior success, and a Paralympic shock.

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How Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper produced the strangest point of the tournament

Jannik Sinner was doubled over, grabbing at his left wrist. Jack Draper was using his racket as a support, barely off his haunches.

Arthur Ashe Stadium was on its feet.

At 4-4, 40-15 in the second set of their U.S. Open semifinal, the world No. 1 and the British No. 25 seed produced a point that went from being the most exciting of the tournament so far to the strangest.

Draper slid a serve down the T, coming in behind it and dinking an angled forehand volley into the front of the ad-court. Sinner sprung up to it and slid an angled backhand almost horizontal to the net, forcing Draper to scramble across the court. He was already on his way and got across to push another forehand deep into the deuce corner.

Sinner somehow sped back, looping a lob high into the air while facing the back wall of the court and getting ready to turn around and see what Draper had for him.

Then things got weird.

Trying to get out of the slide that had taken him into a position to hit the lob, Sinner popped up off the ground, spun in mid-air, and fell awkwardly onto his left wrist. He got up immediately. But instead of an overhead whistling past his ear, nothing happened; he had lobbed the ball so high that it hadn’t even come down. Draper was there, just waiting.

As it finally bounced, Sinner shook out his left wrist, before hitting a split step — the little on-the-toes hop that tennis players do to explode in either direction — as Draper sent a slightly complacent smash into play. Sinner got behind it and lasered a forehand winner straight through Draper. As the crowd roared up, Sinner took a furtive few steps forward before moving off to the side holding his wrist.

A couple of points later, Draper won the game and both players were receiving medical treatment at the side of the court.

James Hansen

A first British U.S. Open girls’ champion in 15 years, at 15?

Fifteen-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic is into the U.S. Open singles final without dropping a set — including a victory over Emerson Jones of Australia, the No. 2 junior in the world.

In the first set of her semifinal, Stojsavljevic routed American Iva Jovic 6-0.

Jovic, 16, played in the singles main draw, beating Magda Linette of Poland, who is double her age and ranked 347 places higher than her. Jovic then came within a game or so of knocking out No. 29 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. In short, she isn’t an easy out and she came back in the second set to level the match. But Stojsavljevic, who developed as a player at Ealing Lawn Tennis Club in west London, stayed calm in the third to win it 6-3 and move into the final against Japan’s Wakana Sonobe.

James Hansen

Dominant but defeated, a Paralympic legend is human after all

Diede de Groot has won it all in wheelchair tennis.

Three consecutive calendar Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open) from 2021 to 2023; the most wheelchair women’s singles titles in history (23); the Golden Slam three years ago — the four Grand Slam titles, plus gold at the pandemic-delayed Paralympics in Tokyo, where she defeated Japan’s Yui Kamiji 6-3 7-6(1).

At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, De Groot would face Kamiji twice, on a 29-0 winning streak against her former doubles partner.

She would win neither match. Read more below.

Charlotte Harpur

How are the crowds feeling?

The U.S. Open has been trying to be more tolerant of fans this year, a fair endeavor with costs of tickets and Honey Deuce prices going up, and bigger crowds through a parade of day and night sessions.

The biggest change may be allowing fans to take their seats — and leave them — not just during changeovers, but during any breaks in play.

That has led to some weird interactions between ushers and fans, especially on outer courts with more open seating, and awkward stirring in aisles during the shorter breaks on even games when players remain on the same ends and quickly get back to action.

It became a clear nuisance for Jannik Sinner during his semifinal win over Jack Draper on Friday, as he pleaded with the chair umpire, Marijana Veljovic, to do something about fans moving around as he was trying to serve up 6-5 for the first set.

Jannik Sinner’s biggest fans, the Carota Boys, have been present for the latter stages (Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images)

Veljovic was already not happy with the fans. She had just rebuked them for calling out during points. “It is very disturbing if you make a sound like that during the rally,” she said. “Please stay quiet.”

Of course, right on cue after she spoke, a crying baby’s screams echoed throughout the stadium and a cell phone rang loud enough to hear across the large octagonal stands.

The sounds momentarily stopped Draper from serving.

Some fans could be heard mocking Veljovic’s rebuke. And plenty of others during all the semifinals expressed “down in front” complaints for inconveniently blocked views.

It all added up to a reminder that tennis has some clear differences in fan sensibilities from many other popular pro spectator sports in the United States, where the ambient tone is louder and where there are more permissive rules on moving about the cabin.

Oskar Garcia

A big day for Kichenok, rather than the big day

Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko became a singles and doubles Grand Slam champion on Friday after winning the U.S. Open women’s doubles title with Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok.

The pair reached the Australian Open final in January and they went one better in New York, beating France’s Kristina Mladenovic and China’s Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-3.

For Kichenok, the run to the final had wider implications. She has been engaged to Stas Khmarskiy, a fellow Ukrainian (and Ostapenko’s coach) for around a year, and they decided upon arriving in New York that they would get married this Wednesday.

Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko won a title ahead of Kichenok’s wedding (Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Kichenok and Ostapenko’s progress meant they had to hastily rearrange it, however.

“I think it’s a good excuse to postpone it a bit,” Ostapenko said during the trophy ceremony.

Kichenok didn’t seem too disappointed by the delay and dedicated the win to her home country.

“They are fighting really hard for our freedom right now and I just hope I can give them some encouragement,” she said.

“My heart is with them.”

Charlie Eccleshare

Recommended reading

U.S. Open men’s draw 2024

U.S. Open women’s draw 2024

Tell us what you noticed on the twelfth day…

(Top photo of Jannik Sinner: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press; Design: Eamonn Dalton and Megan McMillan; Development by Alyssa Lum, Eric Mier and Tani Robinson; Design direction by Amy Cavenaile)