Shock and awe in R3 of the US Open

The capital-U upsets have officially arrived. Let's break it down.

The Replay

The capital-U upsets have officially arrived in the third round of the US Open. In the words of one Esther Perel, where should we begin?

Warning: This issue is particularly North America-focused. Please do not accuse me of patriotism (blech)—it’s just how the dice rolled.

A shock exit for Shelton

Let’s start with one of the biggest bummers: Ben Shelton (6) was forced to retire at the end of the fourth set of his match against unc Adrian Mannarino (77) after injuring his left shoulder mid-match. Shelton has been on a tear (sorry, we need more words), and everyone expected him to go deep here, as he often does at slams, but in a moment slightly reminiscent of Dimitrov at Wimbledon (albeit a little less devastating given the context and scoreline), he instead walked off the court in tears.

“For him to pull the plug you know it has to be a really serious injury—or at least on the court he was really feeling something—because he’s an amazing competitor, he’s going to compete through …