Players’ tempers have frequently flared at Flushing Meadows, with end of season tension and boisterous New York crowds offered as explanations
D
aniel Altmaier had nothing more to say. Moments after one of the biggest wins of his career, the German unwittingly found himself on the receiving end of Stefanos Tsitsipas’s ire during their handshake at the net. Before Tsitsipas could finish, though, Altmaier had walked away from the net and he refused to engage in the Greek’s attempts to argue with him.
Altmaier shrugs at the first mention of the incident: “Even if I would have lost, I would not enter discussions because it’s just like heat of the moment. You need to cool down; let’s see if he reacts to it or he sticks to his opinion while cooling down on an exercise bike in the player gym late at night.”
Although Altmaier had the wherewithal to think clearly in the heat of battle, the same cannot be said for many other players in New York over the past week, a tournament that has been dominated by outbursts of anger and frustration from players. “Lots of drama,” says Jessica Pegula, laughing. “I don’t know. My matches have been pretty no drama, so I’m not really sure what’s going on with everybody else. I don’t know. It’s just that New York City tends to bring out just a lot of drama, I guess.”
