2026 US Open Men's Final: Zverev vs. Shelton

[El Dude]

I think of Hewitt as an interim champ, kind of like Jim Courier about a decade before, who was a tough guy between the reigns of the fading 80’s greats like Lendl, Becker and Edberg, and the record breaking reign of Pete.

When Pete began to show serious signs of fading, Hewitt clipped him a few times, and then when Federer began to dominate, Hewitt became a watered down champ.

Fun fact: in an old job, my gaffer was a serious gambler. When Sampras lost to a Brit at Wimbledon in 2002 (not Henman), I told the gaffer to bet on Pete winning the USO, and to make it tasty, he’ll beat Agassi in the final. He told me to f-off. I told him to lay the bet, I’m so sure of this that I bought my ticket for the flights - and final.

Well this came true and he didn’t place the bet. In 2003 I told him to bet on Karlovic v Hewitt in the first round of Wimbledon. He said, wuh, who, wuh? I don’t know what the odds were but he placed the bet. And won fairly big. He offered me some but I knew he was strapped and I told him no thanks.

Lovely fella, but a lousy gambler, unfortunately..

I think "interim champ" is pretty accurate with regards to Hewitt, even if it can sound a bit harsh. 80 weeks at #1 is a solid tenure, after all. Yes, it was a week field, but he was still the overall best player for a year and a half. But I agree in that Hewitt was a default #1 because there were no greats having great years. This has happened several times over the Open Era, though mostly within a season, and not as the YE1. Agassi was still in good form, but let's be honest: Andre really only had two great years (1995, 1999) and then a ton of years in which he was more of a #3-10 guy.

Anyhow, I think you could argue that Hewitt's 2001-02 years were the worst #1 seasons in Open Era history. Ignoring the shortened 2020 season, other candidates include Connors in 75, McEnroe in 82, Sampras in 98, Kuerten in 2000, and Carlos in 2022 -- all weak #1 seasons, and most in which another player or two was arguably better. Ashe and Borg were both probably better than Connors that year; Lendl and Connors were better than Mac; you could make an argument for Rios in '98, Safin in 2000, and Rafa in 2022. Kuerten was better for most of 2001, but then faded late. But Hewitt was the clear best player in 2002.

Courier is an interesting case. I don't think Edberg really started fading until 1993. He was still in prime form in '92, but Courier wrestled the #1 ranking from him, first by vanquishing him in the AO, then winning the French Open. But certainly Lendl was on the downslope after '89, Wilander was basically done, and Becker was wobbly in 92-93. Pete didn't find his full form until '93, when he eclipsed Courier (and everyone else). But my point is that Courier wrestled the #1 ranking from Edberg while Stefan was still basically as good as ever.

Courier has an unusual career arc, because his 91-93 seasons would fit right in with the peak years of Wilander, Edberg, and Becker, but he dropped too far in '94 and after for him to accumulate a similar career resume. But my point is, peak Courier is--at least--close to those three.

Or consider this: Courier's best year was '92. By my accounting, Agassi (1999), Wilander (1988) and Becker (1989) only have one season each that was better than it; Edberg's best (1990) was a hair below. If you look at three best years, Courier's 91-93 is comparable to the three best of all four of those guys.

Meaning, Courier had a similar peak to those guys, but the separation comes from everything else. This is illustrated by his lopsided year-end rankings: top 3 for three years, but only made the top ten in one other season, top 20 in one more, and then six years in the 21-43 range.

 

[El Dude]

That 2003 Karlovic-Hewitt match was very shocking at the time. In hindsight, this is clearly the moment you could start to see his decline.

I dunno, he seemed to bounce back in 2004-05, but by then Roger and then Rafa were crushing everyone. Meaning, I think prime Hewitt is 2000-05, even if his very best was 2001-02. But he was an elite player for all of 2000-05, except for an off year in 2004 (I think he was injured for part of the year).

 

[Kieran]

Yeah, Jim Courier is another one with a very high peak, but a very short prime. He was good from 1991-93, then just suddenly dropped off the face of the planet.

I'm a huge Pete fan, but I know his last really great year was in 1998, and his last good year was in 2000. Pete singlehandedly made Safin and Hewitt Hall of Famers. If Pete had just won those matches, he has 16 slams (and a record 7 US Opens), but more importantly, Safin and Hewitt would have been one slam wonders.

Pete winning the 2002 US Open was either a feeling you had or not because based on his form that year, there's no way that anyone can foresee that. Pete was really bad in 2002, and that's putting it nicely. He was losing in the first or second round of every tournament that year, even in the US Open warm-up tournaments. That 2002 US Open run was like nostalgia in real time!

That 2003 Karlovic-Hewitt match was very shocking at the time. In hindsight, this is clearly the moment you could start to see his decline.

I predicted it, brother. I predicted it on the forums too. I told the missus, we’re heading to New York, and we watched Pete beat Andy in the QF, and had our tickets already for the Final. Yes, it’s a fluke also because there’s no way I’d guess the exact final, but I did. I wish I was a gambler, but I’m not.

I watched the semis on a big screen outside the Rockerfeller Center. I’d followed Pete’s progress across the North American swing and he was still losing, but he was losing close matches. But the icing on the cake was that he faced Rusedski in round 2 of the USO. Myself and the missus listened to it on BBC Radio 5-live, in the middle of the night. That was a close match too, but he was never going to lose to the nouveau Brit. That match brought the old Pete back to unbeatable form. By the way, listening to tennis on the radio is a great experience, depending on the commentators.

We flew out straight after staying up all night listening to the Tommy Haas match, in round four, which was his first big victory in a while…