US Open: Long Island's Noah Rubin sees Ben Shelton-Frances Tiafoe match as big moment for American tennis
Long Islander and former tour pro Noah Rubin at the National Tennis Center. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
An American man hasn’t won a tennis Grand Slam tournament since 2003.
Going into the final weekend of the U.S. Open, there was a chance that streak would end as No. 8 Ben Shelton defeated fellow American and No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe in Friday’s late semifinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
That guaranteed that there will be an American in Sunday’s final against No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev, the winner of the earlier semifinal against unseeded Karen Khachanov.
To Long Islander and former touring pro Noah Rubin, it’s the right time for an American to end the drought. And the National Tennis Center is the right place.
“I think it’s pretty clear that Grand Slams is truly what the outside world cares about,” Rubin, 30, told Newsday on Friday in a telephone interview. “I don’t even know if Masters 1000s did it. Taylor Fritz taking Indian Wells [in 2022] I don’t think was really enough to move the needle.”
An American winning one of the other majors would be sweet, too, but there would be nothing like the feeling of an American becoming the first home-country player to win the men’s singles crown at the Open since now-ESPN commentator Andy Roddick.
“Especially on home soil, to have a finalist and potentially a champion is a monster deal,” Rubin said. “Especially on home soil, Ashe is going to be rocking.”
Rubin, of Merrick, was the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion and 2015 NCAA singles runner-up before going pro and reaching 125 in the rankings. He currently is director of tennis at The Racquet Lounge in Southampton, the Hudson River Tennis Club in Manhattan and Kings Athletic Club in Brooklyn Heights, which opens inside the historic Hotel St. George site on Monday.
Speaking about seven hours before the all-American match was scheduled to begin, Rubin said it was “tricky” to handicap the Shelton-Tiafoe matchup.
“You have somebody that’s potentially more experienced in Tiafoe,” he said. “They both love that stage. I think just the pure, unadulterated athleticism in Ben Shelton is just something exciting for a lot of people. I don’t know if we know who the crowd favorite will be, and I think it’s almost a benefit that way, because we’ll just watch and enjoy and there will just be an understanding that no matter what, there will be an American in the finals.”
Is that important? Tennis fan Michael Dowd of Washington, D.C., said it “absolutely” is a big deal for an American man to not only get to the final but finally win the whole thing.
“I think it’s important,” Dowd said as he prepared to attend his sixth session of this tournament. “I think American tennis is always one of the strongest with the most tennis players in the top 100. But we haven’t had a Grand Slam winner for over 20 years. It would be nice to see the men do it.”
It’s also important to inspire the next generation of American tennis players. Steven Ferrantello, the varsity boys and girls coach at Half Hollow Hills East, said having U.S. players in the running at the Open matters because it has caught the attention of his players.
“I think, actually, it really does because it brings that community aspect,” Ferrantello said. “You see all the kids on our team, they all like Shelton, they all like Tiafoe. They’re that younger, newer era. The energy they bring and our kids are really into it, so they’re able to support it. When it’s the same people winning over and over again, maybe it doesn’t like hit home as much. It’s nice that it inspires our students.”
Of the all-American semifinal, Ferrantello said, “I know a bunch of them are going to watch. I think a couple of our boys are actually going, so that’s going to be really cool for them. They’ve been talking about it. They talked about it earlier today in practice and the whole week, like, ‘Did you watch the match last night? Did you watch this one?’ ”
The match of the Open to this point — for better or worse — was Shelton’s five-set victory over defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals in a thriller that ended at 3:33 a.m.
That was a little late for most tennis fans, but Ferrantello saw the ending.
“I fell asleep,” he said. “I woke back up. I watched the end of it. At like 2:30 I was like, ‘Oh, they’re still playing.’ That was unreal. That was an amazing match.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
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