Dane Sweeny's Remarkable US Open Victory
Dane Sweeny had already called it “the best decision I ever made” to come back to tennis. On this evidence, that might be an understatement.
On a steamy day in New York, the 25-year-old from Penrith tore up the script, bundled 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti out of the US Open, and walked off court with the biggest win – and the biggest payday – of his life.
World No.123. Third round of a major for the first time. At least $402,000 guaranteed, more than doubling his earnings for the entire year. Not bad for a player who once walked away from the sport because the results simply refused to come.
A career at the crossroads
There was a time, not long ago, when Sweeny had stepped away for two months, worn down by the grind and the lack of progress. The ranking stalled, the belief wavered. Plenty in his position never come back.
He did.
“Tennis can change at the flip of a coin, you’ve just got to keep persevering,” he reflected. The numbers back him up. Before this fortnight, Sweeny had earned just over $1 million in prize money in his entire career. One afternoon in New York has shifted his financial reality and, more importantly, his place in the sport.
“I wasn’t getting results for a long while,” he said. “But the law of probability, I knew it was going to swing in my favour if I just kept going, and I did. Now I’m here.”
Here is centre stage, sending a seeded star home and soaking in a crowd that roared with every point. Here is a player who once doubted if he belonged at this level, now proving it under the harshest lights tennis has to offer.
Musetti falls, Sweeny rises
Musetti, the elegant Italian shotmaker, was hampered during the match, his movement clearly compromised at times. But this was no fluke. Sweeny still had to hold his nerve, still had to hit the ball through the court, still had to close.
He did all of that, and he did it with conviction.
When the final point landed and Musetti’s challenge ended, Sweeny’s reaction said everything: a mix of disbelief and joy, almost lost for words in his on-court interview.
“I don’t know, I’m so grateful to be able to compete in grand slams, I put a lot of work in,” he said, voice catching slightly as he tried to take it all in. “Tennis [is] such a rollercoaster, I’m so incredibly grateful to play in front of this crowd, and to soak up the win... it’s awesome.”
No clichés needed. Just raw relief and gratitude from a man who has lived the grind.
The Aussie surge and a brutal slog
Sweeny’s breakthrough came on a day when Australian fortunes swung wildly across the grounds.
Tristan Schoolkate, backing up barely 24 hours after a straight-sets win over Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri, found his own magic run halted in brutal fashion. He had come through that first-round match efficiently, not burning too much energy, and walked back on court believing he could push again.
For long stretches against Italian No.5 seed Flavio Cobolli, he did more than that. He fought. He chased. He refused to fold.
But at 5-5 in the fourth set, the pressure finally cracked. Schoolkate took the opening point of the game, then two forced errors – one forehand missing the line by a hair – opened the door. Cobolli smashed through it with two clean winners, snatching the decisive break and, moments later, the match.
The Italian needed only one of his two match points, sealing the contest with a booming serve out wide. The handshake at the net was genuinely warm, a nod from Cobolli to an opponent who had asked serious questions but could not quite find that rabbit out of the hat when it mattered most.
On another court, Alexei Popyrin and Alejandro Tabilo were locked in a war of attrition. Popyrin had come out flying, taking the first set 6-2, but the match twisted sharply after that. Tabilo edged both the second and third sets in tiebreaks, each by near-identical scorelines, and suddenly the Australian found himself chasing.
The numbers told a strange story. Popyrin had already fired down 22 aces and was landing 70 per cent of his first serves, yet he was winning only 72 per cent of those points. Tabilo, more efficient, was up at 85 per cent behind his own first delivery. On serve deep in the fourth, the contest looked destined for a fifth set, every hold a small act of defiance.
From the brink to belief
All of it fed into the same narrative thread: Australian players pushing, some falling just short, one breaking through in spectacular fashion.
Sweeny stood as the day’s headline. The kid from Penrith who once questioned whether the sport would ever give back what he poured into it now finds himself staring at a third-round match at a grand slam, his bank balance transformed, his belief finally aligned with his talent.
“Best decision I ever made to come back after that two months,” he said.
On this evidence, it might also be the decision that changes the course of his career.
