What Ash has and hasn’t done since
Ashe then defeated Tom Okker 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in front of 7,100 people at the West Side Tennis Club, serving more than 25 aces. It was the first game of the tournament open to professionals, and Ash was not one; he was an amateur, a UCLA graduate, and a US Army officer, and the $14,000 first prize went to Okker, while Ash collected $20 a day.
He was 25 years old. He became the first black man to win a Grand Slam singles title at the Open, five months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and three months after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. He died in 1993, at the age of 49.
No black American has won the title since. The closest anyone has come is MaliVai Washington, a Wimbledon finalist in 1996. Shelton and Tiafoe have both been to the semifinals in New York before, but not in the same year; Tiafon in 2022 and 2024, Shelton in 2023. No American-born man has won a major in 23 years.
The women’s side of the sport has a pedigree that the men never built. Althea Gibson won at Forest Hills in 1957 and 1958, eleven years before Ashe, becoming the first black player to win the major in France in 1956. Venus and Serena Williams turned it into a dynasty, and the streak hasn’t been broken since; In 2023, from the same generation as Madison Keys and Taylor Townsend.
Gauff is still the most recent American of either gender to win here. After Ash, men have had no one at all, which is why the writer William C. Roden, who knew Ash and called him a mentor, writes that he would be proud of Tiafoe and Shelton and disappointed that it took nearly sixty years.
Two players who got here the hard way, hours apart
The 28-year-old Tiafoe and the 11th seed came from two sets and a break down to Alex Michelsen and four points from the end of his tournament to win 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (6). When it was over, he cut short his celebration and went to the net to stand up for his 22-year-old compatriot. “As soon as I hugged her, I saw that she was already crying,” he said. “I was like, man, I know. I know how much it hurts, but you’re going to be here many more times, man.”
The 23-year-old Shelton and No. 8 followed suit to defeat two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7) in the final in tournament history, taking the deciding tiebreak 10-7 with three aces in the morning. He had lost all of his previous 17 matches against top 3 opponents, winning all of them in one set. “It was a war, epic, so physical,” he said. “Definitely the most enjoyable match in my career” He described it Andscape:, An ESPN-owned media outlet that covers sports and culture from a black American perspective, “the greatest moment of my life on the tennis court.”
This is the third Grand Slam semi-final for each of them
Tiafoe reached this stage here in 2022, losing to Alcaraz in five sets, and again in 2024 to top seed Taylor Fritz in two sets before losing in five. All three of his major semifinals have come in New York. Shelton lost his first two sets to Novak Djokovic at the 2023 US Open and Yannick Sinner at the 2025 Australian Open.
Tiafoe says that the man who achieves this one is not the one who achieved the others. “I am a completely different person,” he said Andscape:. “Those two runs were great, something I’ll carry forever, but I’m not the same person I was when I ran in 2022 and did one in 2024.”
I’m still excited about it, excited about it, but I have higher hopes for myself. The tournament is still ongoing
And what has replaced the miracle? “I’m still excited about it, excited about it, but I have higher hopes for myself. The tournament is still ongoing. There’s a lot of tennis to be played.”
Their backgrounds are as diverse as their games. Tiafoe’s parents fled Sierra Leone during the civil war that began in 1991, and his father worked at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in Maryland, where Francis and his twin brother learned the game. Shelton came to the tour late, playing two seasons at Florida under his former pro father.
Gauff, who lost to fellow semifinalist Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday night, had already said what she would do on Friday. “I have so much respect for both Ben and Francis so I’m just looking for a good game and hopefully whoever wins can bring it home.”
US Open Schedule September 11, 2026
Day session from 12:00
- Women’s doubles final. Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) and Taylor Townsend (USA), the No. 1 seeds, against American Ashlyn Kruger and Robin Montgomery.
- Men’s singles semi-finals, no earlier than 15:00. Alexander Zverev (Germany), No. 1 seed, vs. Karen Khachanov (Russia), no draw
Evening session from 19:00
- Men’s Singles Semi-Final: Francis Tiafoe (USA), No. 11, vs. Ben Shelton (USA), No. 8