ROME -- Contending with New York City’s heat, humidity and normal chaos, Italians made a good showing over the first two days of the US Open. Matteo Berrettini made short work of Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets. Lorenzo Musetti, fresh from winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics, faced more formidable competition in the seven-foot shape of America’s Riley Opelka.  In four hard fought sets, Musetti cut Opelka down to size.

 In matches on Tuesday, Matteo Arnaldi easily took the measure of American wild card Zachary Svajda, 6-2/6-2/6-1. But of far greater interest to the Azzurri, Jannik Sinner played his first match since the revelation of his two failed drug tests and his escape without a suspension. He figured to be distracted and that certainly proved to be the case against American journeyman Mackenzie McDonald. The world number one looked lackluster and unfocused in the first set, losing 6-2. But then he found his rhythm and settled down, winning the next three sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. During the third set a telltale statistic flashed on screen, showing that Sinner had won 28 of the last 30 points. Whether Sinner has weathered the storm remains to be seen in the face of stiffer competition. These days the tour is stuffed with lower ranked players who are capable of rising up and beating their betters. Take the example of Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis who today dismantled Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets.

 Italian women’s number one, Jasmine Paolini, has played Bianca Andreescu, a US Open champ in 2019, in three straight Grand Slams. They’ve all been energy-sapping encounters, but the pint-size powerhouse Paolini has managed to win all three. Today Paolini dropped the first set, but bounced back and over three hours held on for a gritty 6-7/6-2/6/4 victory, just the sort of performance that carried her to the finals at this year’s French Open and Wimbledon.

 Naomi Osaka, a player of Japanese and Haitian ancestry, came on court in an outfit that looked to be a pinafore worn backwards. There was a bow on her back that resembled angel wings. Two more bows adorned her shoes. Like a butterfly capable of stinging, Osaka, who has twice won the US Open, defeated Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.

 Despite the ruthless competition, the pro circuit can occasionally be a sentimental, not to say, treacly place. Several veteran players announced before the US Open that this year would be their last Grand Slam. Austrian Dominic Thiem won the title in 2000 playing during Covid when the stands were almost entirely empty. A wrist injury and a rumored bout with depression then ruined his game. He came into this year’s tournament around 200 in the world and needed a wild card to gain entry. In the first-round he confronted the powerful American lefty Ben Shelton. Before and after the match, Shelton said all the right caring-sharing things, but clobbered Thiem in straight sets. Breaking precedent, the US Open interviewed Thiem, the loser, on court, wished him good luck in retirement and presented him with a framed collage of photos of his matches. There wasn’t, one supposes, a dry eye in the house.

 Later in the day, Diego Schwartzman of Argentina played Frenchman Gael Monfils in what was announced as Schwartzman’s last US Open. The diminutive Argentine was at best what the English call “a useful player.” He was indefatigable, especially on clay courts and seldom lost a match he should have won. But he never held a major title or left fans with the impression that  he belonged among the game’s top players. Yet after he was blown away by Monfils, the US Open chose to keep him on court for a retirement tribute full of flowing tears and quavering emotions. This might have been a touching farewell if it occurred in Buenos Aires, but it seemed passingly strange in cynical New York City.

  By the time American Danielle Collins lost her first-round match to fellow American Caroline Dolehide, someone seemed to remember that this was Collins’ final Grand Slam. A feisty competitor and also a moody one, Collins had had an up and down career. But this year she put together a string of good results and broke into the top ten. People suggested she should reconsider and continue to play. But she insisted that a combination of physical problems and mental burn-out persuaded her that she had had enough. She won the first set against Dolehide, but after dropping the second set in a tie-break, she left the court for 8 minutes. When she returned for the third set, she seemed unwell. She lost, and quickly collected her equipment bag. She brushed past a lady, presumably a tournament official, who rushed out to hand her a bouquet of flowers and no doubt to ask how she felt to be retiring. Well, Danielle Collins stayed in character and bustled into the locker room without a backward glance.