Guy Sasson’s Grand Slam Dream Falls Short at US Open
Guy Sasson’s Grand Slam dream ended on a knife-edge tiebreak in New York, one match – and a handful of points – short of history.
The Israeli quad wheelchair star, partnering Dutch world No. 1 Niels Vink, arrived at the US Open with three major doubles titles already in his pocket this season: Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon. One more, in Flushing Meadows, would have sealed a rare calendar Grand Slam in doubles.
It slipped away 2–6, 6–3, 7–10 in a tense match tiebreak against second seeds Sam Schroder of the Netherlands and Australian Jin Woodman.
One match from immortality
Sasson and Vink walked into the tournament as the top seeds, the dominant pair of the year. They played like it early in the final too, racing through the opening set 6–2 and looking every inch the team that had swept the majors.
Then the resistance stiffened.
Schroder and Woodman dug in, changed the tempo, and wrestled back control of the baseline exchanges. The momentum swung. The second seeds levelled with a 6–3 second set, forcing the title to be decided in a match tiebreak.
It became a shootout under pressure. Sasson and Vink, so composed all year in the biggest moments, finally blinked. Schroder and Woodman held their nerve to close it out 10–7, denying Sasson the perfect season and handing the Dutch-Australian duo the US Open crown.
For Sasson, it was not just a lost final. It was the end of a season-long chase for something that almost never comes around: a clean sweep of all four majors in a single year.
Partner one day, opponent the next
Sasson’s campaign in New York was not limited to doubles. In quad singles, the world No. 3 and third seed pushed deep again, reaching the semifinals – only to run into the man who has shared his greatest successes this season.
Vink, his doubles partner, stood across the net.
The semifinal unfolded like a tug of war. Sasson trailed 2–5 in the first set but refused to fold, clawing back to 5–5 and dragging the contest into a tight finish. Vink, though, found the answers when it mattered most, edging the opener 7–5 and tightening his grip in a 6–3 second set.
Sasson’s run ended there. Vink went on to complete the job and lift the singles title, underlining his status as the dominant force in the division.
“A long and difficult journey”
Back home, the performances in New York did not go unnoticed.
Israel ParaSport Center CEO Boaz Kramer highlighted the scale of what Sasson and fellow Israeli Sergei Lysov have been building toward. He stressed that winning a Grand Slam is never an overnight story but the product of a “long and difficult journey” that demands relentless commitment from athletes and their teams.
Kramer underlined that the center will keep backing both players and their head coaches, Ofri Lankri and Damien Martinique, as they drive toward the next major target on the horizon: the LA28 Paralympic Games.
The message was clear. New York was a setback, not a ceiling.
Tough lessons for Lysov
For Lysov, competing for the second time in the men’s wheelchair division at the US Open, the tournament delivered hard edges rather than deep runs.
He bowed out in the opening round of singles after a three-set battle, then suffered more heartbreak in doubles, where he and his partner lost in a first-round match tiebreak.
No big-stage breakthrough yet, but valuable time on the Grand Slam stage – the kind of experience that often pays off a year or two down the line.
A first taste of the big time for Brand
If Sasson was chasing history, Dan Brand was just getting his first taste of it.
The 17-year-old made his junior US Open debut and immediately showed he belongs, winning his opening singles match. In the second round he pushed the contest to a deciding set, only for severe cramps to hit midway through that final frame. He fought on but could not turn the tide, eventually losing in three sets.
In doubles, Brand teamed up with Austrian Tilo Berman. Seeded fifth, they advanced to the second round before falling to Yannick Alvarez of Puerto Rico and American Ryan Cozad.
It was not a storybook run, but it was a statement: a teenager from Israel, competing and winning at junior Grand Slam level, and learning what it takes to survive the physical and mental grind.
There will be no long break to digest it all. After a brief visit home with his family, Brand is scheduled to head to Japan for the J500 Osaka Mayor’s Cup World Super Junior Tennis Championships from September 21–27, another serious test in a rapidly accelerating career.
Sasson, Lysov, Brand – three different stages of a journey, one clear direction. The Grand Slam trophies and Paralympic podiums they chase are not far from view now. The question is no longer whether Israeli wheelchair tennis belongs at this level, but how high this generation can push the bar.
