An ambidextrous tennis prospect comes to New York

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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 8, a rare sight on the U.S. Open’s outside courts, a perfect record for a U.S. favorite and a champion’s unlikely superpower.

How did an ambidextrous tennis prospect arrive at the U.S. Open?

Sunday at the U.S. Open, Court 6 played host to something unique before the night session began. Fans sitting on the benches and end bleachers witnessed Teodor Davidov, the 16-year-old American wild card, play ambidextrous tennis during his junior boys’ singles first-round match against South Africa’s Connor Doig.

Davidov hits two forehands, changing hands depending on where the ball is hit. He also uses left- and right-handed serves for hitting toward the deuce and ad courts respectively.

“That’s crazy,” said one fan in the bleachers about Davidov’s distinctive style.

Davidov originally started playing tennis as a righty, with a regulation forehand and backhand. When he started using a left-handed forehand as a practice tool for his backhand, Kalin, his dad and coach, noticed that his son could play as a lefty.

“My dad saw that I was pretty coordinated with the left hand, so it popped up an idea for him to start training me with two forehands, two serves, and just slowly but surely, lots of practice,” Davidov said during an interview.

It depends on the match which side Davidov prefers. Against Doig, Davidov admitted it wasn’t his best performance. He lost 7-6(4), 6-3, dropping a break advantage in the opening set. Davidov tallied 58 unforced errors for the match with only seven winners, and struggled on his second serve, only winning 41 percent of points.

As the match progressed, Doig attacked Davidov’s lefty side, which didn’t have the same pace as the right-handed forehand. One of many examples came when Davidov served down 3-2 in the second set. Leading 30-0, Davidov served right-handed. Doig hit a powerful return to his lefty side, so Davidov was forced to change hands quickly before dumping a left-handed forehand in the net.

“My lefty, I didn’t think I was hitting it enough,” Davidov said. “The righty, I was making more errors than usual.”

Davidov, who trains at the Inspiration Academy in Bradenton, Fla., earned his first ATP ranking points in February when he qualified into the ITF M15 tournament in Naples, Fla. He won two main-draw matches on the third tier of professional men’s tennis.

Asked whether he has plans to become a full-time right- or left-handed player, Davidov gave a simple “no.”

The ambidextrous approach is here to stay as he continues to play ITF junior tournaments, as well as a smattering of pro events.

Why does Frances Tiafoe love Louis Armstrong Stadium?

Players have a favorite court at every Grand Slam. At the U.S. Open, some folks like to park themselves on Arthur Ashe Stadium — generally, those are the ones who think they’ll end up there on finals weekend anyways — while others prefer the vibes on the smaller stadium courts.

Iga Świątek talked this week about how she’s enjoyed her two matches on Grandstand, because it’s a bit quieter than the tournament’s main stage. Court 17, now known as Stadium 17, is often used as an incubator for young Americans.

Nobody owns Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second-largest stage, like Frances Tiafoe. Tournament organizers like to schedule big personalities that can whip a more intimate crowd into a frenzy over there.

That makes Tiafoe and the No. 2 stage a perfect match — literally. The No. 11 seed improved to a perfect 10-0 on Louis Armstrong Stadium on Sunday by winning one of the most-anticipated matches of the tournament against a resurgent Daniil Medvedev. His 7-6(1), 6-4, 7-6(6) win was the latest example of the inspired tennis he’s been playing lately, marked in part by his efficiency.

Tiafoe has made at least the third round at a Grand Slam 19 times in his career, but this is just the fourth such tournament where he’s won three consecutive matches in straight sets.

Still, this is Tiafoe, and just because he’s efficient doesn’t mean he’s being boring. His match against Medvedev electrified a rapturous crowd on Louis Armstrong, which in the third set stopped admitting fans because the stands were so packed.

The third-set tiebreak brought a few of the most exciting minutes of the U.S. Open this year. Trailing 6-5 on Medvedev’s serve, Tiafoe came into the net to go toe-to-toe with Medvedev — despite the fact that he’d missed on a backhand approach shot in the previous point. This time, he outfoxed the Russian with his reflexes and touch to rouse the crowd into a chorus of “Let’s go, Foe!” Take a look at that shot a bit further down.

Then, with a flick of his wrist from the back corner of the court, he sent a crosscourt backhand zipping low just over the net to land at Medvedev’s feet and set up match point. Medvedev sent a forehand into the net, and it was Tiafoe’s turn to roar.

He faces his countryman Alex Michelsen next, the world No. 46 who beat No. 27 seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4 to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time in his career. The 22-year-old might not yet have much sway with the tournament, but he might want to put in a request for that match to be on any court other than Louis Armstrong Stadium.

How did a Wimbledon champion build a superpower that comes from adversity?

Linda Nosková is developing quite the superpower.

It’s not the sort of superpower that anyone in tennis would really choose to have, but it’s valuable nonetheless.

Go back to the Wimbledon final. Nosková is up 6-2, 5-2 over her Czech compatriot and friend, Karolína Muchová, in mid-July. She squanders five match points, and loses the second set 7-5.

The 21-year-old goes off court for a toilet break, but really just to get some quiet. She sees the trophy. She gathers herself and wins the final set 6-3 to become the Wimbledon champion.

Flash forward to Sunday’s fourth-round match at the U.S. Open against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, a rematch of a Wimbledon semifinal. Nosková is serving at 7-5, 5-4. She’s up 40-15. But then the error bug starts to bite. Kostyuk, who has been building a banner season, surges and wins the next three games. Louis Armstrong Stadium explodes.

Nosková goes off court, ostensibly for a toilet break. Really, it’s just to escape the noise.

No, she didn’t think about Wimbledon, she said. That part of it isn’t such a great memory. She told herself to start thinking about how she needed to play and what was coming next.

The result was a 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 win. It included a few more misses on match points, but for Nosková, that is seemingly no big deal.

“I had to restart. I had to refocus, kind of put it behind me, which was not easy at all, especially since Marta started, you know, very well in the third,” she said when it was over. “It’s always the most important thing to kind of get yourself back mentally after such opportunities.”

As for what’s next – a duel with the world No. 1 and two-time defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-4 in a seesawing match full of breaks of serve.

How did Carlos Alcaraz flash some warning lights to the rest of the draw?

Carlos Alcaraz appears to have his flow back.

The 23-year-old looked more like his pre-wrist injury self than he has all tournament on Sunday in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win against American Tommy Paul. The fluidity, timing and pop were back in his game and, most notably of all, everything seemed to come naturally to Alcaraz once again.

“You know, beating Tommy Paul is always great feedback to see where you are. Just really happy about everything I’ve done today,” Alcaraz said in a news conference after.

Unintended Paul shade aside, Alcaraz is right — he holds a 7-2 record over the American, who hasn’t beaten him since 2023. The last time they played, Alcaraz vanquished him in straight sets in a fourth-round match on his way to winning the Australian Open title this year. Beating Paul here must have felt like a good omen.

Not that he needs them. Alcaraz was dominant Sunday, and never looked more comfortable than early in the second set, when he went on a run of winning 14 out of 17 points. That run encapsulated a break at love in the second game, where it was as if Alcaraz had Paul on puppet strings.

At 0-0, Paul clipped the net with a forehand and the ball bounced high, so Alcaraz bounded forward to crack a forehand down the line. Two points later, Alcaraz chipped a return back then floated over to his forehand side to rifle a shot crosscourt that just clipped the line, for the type of jaw-dropping winner that only Alcaraz can produce. At 0-40, he made his way to the same spot halfway up the court where Paul had once again clipped the net to put away another sitter.

This time, the Spaniard seemed to pause for a millisecond, as if rummaging through his spice drawer, deciding which flavor to dust onto this shot. He went with an inside-out forehand before calmly walking back to the baseline to get ready to serve. Why should he celebrate? That’s regular Alcaraz stuff, after all.

Other notable results on Day 8:

Three more American successes started with Jessica Pegula (3), who got through another tricky match against Romania’s Sorana Cîrstea (16), winning 6-3, 6-4.

Ben Shelton (8) rolled past Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, to set up a quarterfinal with Alcaraz.

Emma Navarro (26) rolled too, defeating Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya (21) 6-4, 6-2 to set up her quarterfinal — against Pegula.

Shot of the day

Down set point against a master of turning the screw in five sets, Frances Tiafoe came up with some magic in his hands at the net:

Drop Shots

🌟 How Iva Jović and Alex Eala, the 18- and 21-year-old rising stars of women’s tennis, lit up primetime at the U.S. Open.

⚔️ At this tournament, some players have cruised while others have clawed. Is it better to be battle-tested?

🪧 The players might be the stars, but at this U.S. Open more than any other, their coaches are in the sponsorship spotlight.

⌛ Relive the 1991 U.S. Open fourth-round match that went down in history and ended a friendship.

Up next: Fourth round continues

🎾 Women’s singles: Iga Świątek (8) vs. Zheng Qinwen (Q)

11:30 a.m. / p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited

Just over two years ago, China’s Zheng Qinwen stunned Iga Świątek in their 2024 Paris Olympics semifinal, ending the Polish six-time Grand Slam champion’s 25-match win streak at Roland Garros in an upset win. From there, Zheng took the gold medal; since then, both players have had to reckon with rebuilding. Świątek’s journey to remould her tennis is seemingly close to fruition; Zheng’s run from qualifying to the fourth round here is her best run since a series of layoffs due to a chronic elbow injury.

🎾 Men’s singles: Francisco Cerúndolo (24) vs. Alexander Blockx (28)

1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN / ABC, ESPN Unlimited

A classic tennis dynamic here: Two players coming off serious upsets trying to back up their success. In the previous round, Argentina’s Cerúndolo stunned 2024 finalist Taylor Fritz from two sets down, and Belgium’s Blockx surged past 2026 French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli in four sets. Their half of the men’s draw is wide open, and both players have given Alexander Zverev, the favorite in that section, trouble in the past.

🎾 Women’s singles: Naomi Osaka (13) vs. Elena Rybakina (2)

Not before 2:30 p.m. ET on ABC, ESPN Unlimited

Naomi Osaka’s run to the U.S. Open semifinals last year rubber-stamped her return to the upper echelons of tennis. A match against world No. 2 Elena Rybakina is exactly what the four-time major champion wants as she seeks to maximise this phase of her career. For Rybakina, it has far more immediate importance: Win and she will be one victory away from reaching world No. 1 for the first time.

🎾 Women’s singles: Iva Jović (14) vs. Coco Gauff (4)

7 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited

Coco Gauff, 22, has a fine record of showing rising stars even younger than her that there are levels to this game. Iva Jović, 18, gave Gauff one of her tougher tests at the Italian Open, pushing her to three sets and having chances to defeat her fellow American in straights. A fizzing atmosphere at Arthur Ashe Stadium should make this night-session match a thriller.