If there\u2019s something she\u2019ll take away from her best performance at a U.S. Open to date \u2014 Noskov\u00e1 had previously never made it past the third round \u2014 it\u2019s existential, not about her tennis game.<\/p>\n
Playing this Grand Slam so well, and losing such an intense match so closely, helped her find the motivation she\u2019d briefly lost<\/a> after winning Wimbledon.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, definitely feel like I have that back. You know, it was a new Grand Slam, so I definitely stepped it up since the beginning of the tournament, which helped me to get into the flow, kind of,\u201d she said in a news conference<\/p>\n \u201cSuch loss is good for the motivation, but, you know, obviously bad itself. So I have to take some positives from it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Achieving her lifelong dream at 21 meant Noskov\u00e1 had to find her footing in the tennis world again. She who struggles to enjoy both wins and losses, she said in a news conference Tuesday, but feeling like her life changed after winning a Wimbledon title only for the world \u2014 and tennis calendar \u2014 to roll along was unsteadying for a time.<\/p>\n The U.S. Open reminded her of who she is as a player.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like especially after these matches when you\u2019re so close to getting to another semifinal of a Grand Slam in one year or, you know, beating the best player in the world, it kind of reminds you of where you are standing or what position you\u2019re in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026I will just try to keep going, you know. I feel great on court, which is always my main point, and ranking doesn\u2019t really matter. But it gets me to some cool places.\u201d<\/p>\n As for how she\u2019ll recover from Tuesday\u2019s loss, she plans to distract herself by hanging out in New York for a few more days.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to get drunk and forget about this, I guess. I\u2019m old enough to do that, thankfully,\u201d she said, laughing.<\/p>\n \u2014 Ava Wallace<\/p>\n How did two American talents manage two heartbreaking defeats?<\/p>\n Learner Tien and Alex Michelsen do just about everything in tennis together. They are close friends who grew up training together in Southern California.<\/p>\n On Monday and Tuesday, they lost five-set heartbreakers within about 20 hours of one another. Tien went down to Russia\u2019s Karen Khachanov from two sets to one up; Michelsen lost to compatriot Frances Tiafoe, from two sets up and serving for the semifinals at 5-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe first three sets I was on top of him. I feel like he didn\u2019t really \u2014 he wasn\u2019t playing like Frances,\u201d Michelsen said in a news conference. <\/p>\n \u201cThen after that, he was playing, you know, like Frances does on Ashe. After that, it was a dogfight. In the fourth set I wasn\u2019t fully there mentally, but fifth set I\u2019m super proud of myself the way I handled myself. I was playing every single point full. No complaining about anything to anyone. You know, I did everything right in the fifth. Just didn\u2019t go my way.\u201d<\/p>\n No it did not. Tiafoe came alive and found the openings, as Khachanov did against Tien at the end of their match.<\/p>\n Even though they know each other so well, Michelsen said he didn\u2019t talk to Tien after the match. They give each other space in these moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re usually just sending memes to each other, that\u2019s kind of our form of communication,\u201d Michelsen said. \u201cHe has a lot of good people around him, so hopefully he was using them last night. Just like me, I\u2019ve got good people around me, and I\u2019ll try to use them tonight as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Futterman<\/p>\n Why did a men\u2019s quarterfinal slate go quicker than the draw\u2019s earlier rounds?<\/p>\n After a wild Tuesday of tennis, maybe it was inevitable that there would be fewer fireworks for the second set of quarterfinals., especially on the men\u2019s side, where the matchups didn\u2019t have much box office appeal for a local audience.<\/p>\n That prophecy came true fairly quickly, with Belgium\u2019s No. 28 seed Alexander Blockx taking on Russia\u2019s Karen Khachanov while running on fumes.<\/p>\n \u201cToday my body just gave up,\u201d Blockx said in a news conference after retiring down two sets and 3-2 early Sunday evening.<\/p>\n Blockx had warned everyone that his body was failing in the fourth round against Francisco Cer\u00fandolo. He nearly retired that day before winning in four sets.<\/p>\n What was wrong? In a word, everything. Rib. Leg. A blocked nerve in his back. Blockx, just 21 years old, and could barely move at moments in the match. He spent time between points twisting and turning in every direction to try to stretch.<\/p>\n Still, ths was Blockx\u2019s best performance at a Grand Slam. Earlier this year, he made the semifinals of the Madrid Open. He\u2019s played a lot of high-level tennis. His body has said enough \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n Blockx said he found the whole situation pretty funny. Every time he moved, something else started to hurt. He tried shifting his motions on his strokes to try to mitigate the pain. It worked for a bit, and then it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \n Alexander Block\u2019s best Grand Slam run took a toll on his body. (Pete Staples \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u00a0He played on hoping for a miracle. When Khachanov went a break up, he decided to not risk further injury.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t land without feeling pain, without feeling my back, my ribs. So I just didn\u2019t want to maybe make it worse to miss the entire season,\u201d he said. \u201cI was feeling so bad on the court. Eventually, I felt like it was the right moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Khachanov will meet No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, after Zverev defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2, 7-5, 6-1. The victory means Zverev has reached the semifinals at all four majors in a single season, which only eight other players have ever done.<\/p>\n Zverev, who went to the Wimbledon final and then had two rough losses at the Canadian and Cincinnati Opens between coming to New York, said he is taking nothing for granted.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the more often that you get to that stage, the more normal it becomes, which is something that you should never take for granted. I think it\u2019s a very special feeling when it becomes normality,\u201d the German said in a news conference.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t take it for granted at all. I know it can change in a heartbeat in tennis. I think confidence is something that is incredibly important but also can go away quite quickly, and I found that out after Wimbledon where I didn\u2019t play well throughout the two tournaments on the hard courts, and then I found it again here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Futterman<\/p>\n Shot of the quarterfinals<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible this has come up already, but what an angle of a stupendous all-court point between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf1 A week at the U.S. Open with two tennis fans coming of age in a sports betting world<\/a>.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc8 How Zheng Qinwen produced her rise back to the top of tennis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u23f0 Why U.S. Open late-night tennis<\/a> is happening earlier in the tournament.<\/p>\n![\"Alexander](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Alex-Blockx.jpg\")
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Drop Shots<\/p>\n