Tennis is simultaneously ripe for and antithetical to highlights. A single, gossamer drop shot or supersonic serve makes a wonderful clip; a wonderful clip cannot do justice to the tactical and athletic currents of momentum that wax and wane over 2, 3, 4, and 5 sets. A staggering thirty-shot rally is a highlight that might change a match indelibly; it might have no bearing on the result at all.
Blessèd, then, be the US Open’s TikTok, which thrives on this tension between sport and spectacle. It picks a side, going all in on spectacle; creating narrative and order not from the structure of its sport, but the use of trending sounds, viral formats, and cutting captions.
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