Hey Sippers,
Alexander Zverev won the US Open on Sunday and needed a few seconds to work out that he had.
It takes six games to win a set. Zverev had the fourth set in his head as 5-1, one game short, when it was really 6-2 and finished. So when the last point ended he turned, walked back behind the baseline and got ready to return the next serve. There wasn't one. His older brother Mischa folded his arms in the player box and waited for him to catch up.
"I knew I broke him twice," Zverev said afterward, "but I thought it was 5-1 instead of 6-2."
The Rundown
Giants 28, Cowboys 20. John Harbaugh spent 18 years coaching Baltimore, got fired in January, and beat Dallas on Sunday night in his first game running New York. The Giants led from their opening drive and held the ball for 36 of the game's 60 minutes.
Zverev d. Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2. Zverev needed three hours and 33 minutes to win his second major in three months. Ben Shelton was playing to end an American drought that started when Andy Roddick won this tournament in 2003. It now runs 23 years.
Lions 31, Saints 30 (OT). Detroit led 21-0 and lost all of it. The Lions scored first in overtime, then broke up a two-point pass from Saints quarterback Tyler Shough to end the game. Jahmyr Gibbs did most of the work for Detroit: 34 touches, 186 yards.
The Sit-Down
Hire power
Ten NFL teams changed head coaches this offseason. The new ten went 6-4 on opening Sunday.
John Harbaugh had coached the Ravens for 18 seasons when Baltimore let him go on January 6. On Sunday night at MetLife Stadium, in front of 83,286 people, his Giants dominated, converting nine of eleven third downs while Dallas spent the final 5:21 watching.
Jaxson Dart threw 29 passes, completed 23 of them for 230 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for 54 more. Isaiah Likely caught eight balls for 78 yards and two of the three scores in his first game as a Giant. Dak Prescott threw for just 175 yards all night.
The rest of the new class split the day. Mike McCarthy's Steelers beat Kevin Stefanski's Falcons 20-13. Joe Brady won his first as a head coach, 36-31 in Houston. Jesse Minter, who got Harbaugh's old office in Baltimore, beat Indianapolis 41-23. Robert Saleh's debut in Tennessee ended in boos, and Todd Monken's Browns scored their first touchdown with under two minutes left in a 34-10 loss.
"This is a humbling business," Brian Schottenheimer said in the other locker room. "And we got humbled tonight."
The Take — One Sunday proves nothing about the ten hires, and the two most interesting ones traded places in January. Baltimore kept the roster and changed the coach; New York kept almost nothing and hired the coach Baltimore fired. Baltimore won by 18, New York by 8, and neither result settles anything. Check back in December.
— Landen Hull
Pit fall
The fastest man at Formula 1's new €83.2 million circuit finished third, and every place he lost, he lost in the pit lane.
Lando Norris qualified at 1:31.824, 0.011 ahead of Kimi Antonelli. On lap 15 Lance Stroll's brakes failed, the virtual safety car came out, and Norris was too far from the pit entry to take the cheap stop everyone else took. When he did come in, the tyre change took seven seconds. He rejoined fifth and climbed back to third. Antonelli won his eighth race of the year and now leads his own teammate, George Russell, by 81 points.
The Madring runs 5.414 km over 22 turns, 4,100 metres of it inside the IFEMA convention grounds and 1,300 metres on public roads that Madrid gets back after the race. Roughly 700,000 tonnes of excavated earth were reused on site. The signature corner, La Monumental, is a 550-metre banked curve at a 24% gradient with about 45,000 seats built along it, out of a circuit capacity of 110,000.
The Take — Those 45,000 seats tell you what the Madring was built to sell tickets, and selling is the easy part.
Chasers
Third all-time: Derrick Henry ran 24 times for 144 yards and three touchdowns in Baltimore's win, passing Marcus Allen for third on the career rushing-touchdown list. "Love Marcus Allen," Henry said. "He's a great dude, and for my name to be mentioned over his is an honor."
Fifty-one races: Kyle Larson won at Gateway by 0.333 seconds over his own teammate, his first win in 51 races. He got there through 18 cautions and seven overtime laps, took 73 points for the day, and went from seventh in the Chase to second.
Five in a row: The United States beat France 97-79 in Berlin for a fifth straight World Cup and a 36th consecutive World Cup win. France led by 14 in the first half, the largest deficit an American team has faced at the tournament since 2006.
Ten men: Manchester City lost Phil Foden to a red card in the 23rd minute at Old Trafford, then beat Manchester United 1-0 anyway on an Erling Haaland goal. United have not won a match this season.
Call It
Broncos at Chiefs
Tonight · 8:15 p.m. ET · ESPN and ABC
Week 1 ends at Arrowhead. Who takes it?
Tap to pick in N1. Free, and no odds. Just bragging rights.
Quick Sip
Zverev is the second German man to win the US Open men's singles title. Who was the first, and in what year? (Answer at the bottom.)
One Number
96
Combined points in Chicago's 59-37 win over Carolina, the highest-scoring Week 1 game in NFL history. The Bears ran for 291 yards and scored eight touchdowns. Carolina's Bryce Young threw for 361 and lost by 22.
The Week Ahead
When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
Mon 8:15 p.m. | Broncos at Chiefs | ESPN/ABC |
Thu 8:00 p.m. | Sparks at Wings, the WNBA back from the World Cup break | USA |
Thu 8:15 p.m. | Lions at Bills | Prime Video |
Sat 7:30 p.m. | No. 7 LSU at No. 8 Ole Miss | ABC |
Sat 7:30 p.m. | NASCAR night race at Bristol | USA |
What else we're watching
The Harbaugh era starts 1-0 — Giants.com
Zverev explains the delayed reaction — World Tennis Magazine
Antonelli takes the first race at the Madring — Formula1.com
Quick Sip answer: Boris Becker, in 1989.
Bottoms up. See you Wednesday.