The U.S. Open has a special closeness to 9/11 — beyond being a few miles away from the former World Trade Center.
Lleyton Hewitt’s Sunday victory over Pete Sampras on Sept. 9, 2001, in the Open finals marked the last professional sporting event played on New York soil with the Twin Towers still standing tall. The Mets were off and the Yankees rained out on Sept. 10 — the following day.
Twenty years after 9/11, the women’s finals will be staged Saturday with two players who weren’t even born at the time: 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez and 18-year-old Emma Raducanu.
The Open’s 20th anniversary remembrance will include an anthem performance by two-time Tony Award nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega and the unfurling of a giant American flag by female cadets from West Point.
