Taylor Swift attended the US Open men's final with her boyfriend Travis Kelce to watch her namesake and compatriot Taylor Fritz, and Kelce admitted he wanted to heckle Jannik Sinner during the match.
Fritz became the first American man to reach the final of his home Grand Slam in 18 years at Flushing Meadows. Andy Roddick's final defeat to Roger Federer was the last time it had happened.
The 26-year-old overcame Frances Tiafoe in an epic five-set battle to make the final. It was heartbreaking for Tiafoe, who also lost in the semifinal in five sets against Carlos Alcaraz in 2022.
Defeating Sinner in the final was always going to be challenging. The Italian is the world No. 1 for a reason, and he had only dropped two sets in his six matches in New York heading into the final.
Sinner beat Fritz in a one-sided final 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. It looked like the home favorite would take the match into a fourth set when he served for the third at 5-4, but he could not take advantage, falling to a straight sets loss.
Fritz emotionally admitted he felt he had let a lot of people down by losing the final. The U.S. has not had a men's singles champion since Roddick triumphed against Carlos Alcaraz's coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, in 2003.
It must also have been strange for Fritz not to be the best-known Taylor inside the stadium despite being on the court for the final. That is because Swift is one of the most popular artists in the world.
Swift's boyfriend, Kelce, is a former NFL player, and the atmosphere at the match was quieter than he is used to. Kelce said he and Swift wanted to say something throughout the contest because he is not a quiet person.
"It’s [The tennis match was] very quiet and, you know us, when it’s very quiet we want to say something. I’m not a quiet person, I’ve never been a quiet person."
The NFL star then admitted he wanted to heckle Sinner, who he referred to as "the Italian." He felt he could have gotten inside the world No. 1's head, which seems unlikely since Sinner has played in many loud atmospheres during his career.
"The entire time I wanted to heckle the Italian, Jannik Sinner, the number one player in the world. And really try to get in his head to help my guy Fritzy out."
Luckily, Kelce decided not to heckle Sinner. He correctly assumed doing that would have been frowned upon, although a few fans heckled Sinner anyway during the match, especially when Fritz led in the third set.
"I played it cool, I played it respectful, knowing that's kind of frowned upon. I'm sure if I started heckling like the guy did in Happy Gilmore [...] if it had gotten to that point, I'm sure I would've been asked to leave."
Sinner has proven himself to be one of the coolest and most composed players in the game. A former NFL star shouting things at him from high in the stands on Arthur Ashe Stadium would not have impacted him in the slightest.
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