US Open tennis 2026 news, Dane Sweeny beats Lorenzo Musetti video, results, Aussie almost quit, prize money

Two years ago, Dane Sweeny walked away from tennis.

The Penrith product had tumbled down the world rankings to 700th and started questioning, for the first time in his career, whether he had what it takes to compete at the highest level.

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After Wimbledon in 2024 he decided to put the racquet away and spend two months doing anything else.

“I started to really dislike tennis,” he told The First Serve recently of his two-month sabbatical.

Then he rediscovered his love for the game. He returned to the tour, climbed back inside the top 200, and earned a reciprocal wildcard to the 2026 US Open.

On Friday morning in New York, he scored the “biggest win of his career”, as one commentator described it.

Sweeny, 25, knocked out men’s 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti, reaching the third round of a major for the first time and securing a minimum $402,000 payday.

“I’m so grateful to even be able to compete in a grand slam,” Sweeny said on-court after his second round win.

“I put a lot of work in. The tennis journey is such a rollercoaster. I’m so incredibly grateful to play in front of an awesome crowd and to soak up this moment.”

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The position Sweeny finds himself in now was hard to imagine when he briefly quit the game two years ago.

Friday’s win bumps him up to world No.109, and it could be higher by the time the US Open ends.

Sweeny is glad he decided to return to tennis.

“That’s the beautiful thing about pursuing something as hard as tennis,” he said.

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“Tennis can change on the flip of a coin. You’ve just got to keep persevering, and that’s what I did.

“I wasn’t getting results for a long while, but the law of probability, I knew it was going to swing in my favour if I just kept going, and I did. Now I’m here. It’s the best decision I ever made to come back after that two months (off).”

Musetti, who has a history of injury and fatigue during matches, was hobbled during the clash, but Sweeny made the most of his opponent’s ailments.

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Aussie tennis great Jelena Dokic called the victory “unbelievable”.

“It was the way he played… the court coverage, the amount of court he covered in this match to extend rallies, to push this match to be really physical, and the points to be physical, which is the right way to play against Musetti,” Dokic said on Nine.

“It was absolutely phenomenal.”

Sweeny faces another highly fancied Italian player in the third round. He takes on No.21 seed Luciano Darderi on Sunday.

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