How a Midtown coffee shop has become the fuel of the US Open

NEW YORK — On a tennis tour that spans 30 countries and lasts 11 months, no one travels more than Australians. It’s a simple matter of geography.

And it can also be tough, with players missing their home comforts. For Australian players at the US Open, thousands of miles from home, that means good coffee. Coffee is something of an institution in Australia, particularly in Melbourne, where a flat white is an art form and where the ambience and culture is almost as important as the quality of the beans.

In Manhattan, the Aussies have found Little Collins, a café where many of them flock to every morning before matches or practice at the US Open.

Former US Open champion Sam Stosur and doubles champion Rennae Stubbs are not 100% sure who found it first, when it was in its old home, a tiny spot on Lexington Avenue. Now in a bigger building on 3rd Avenue between 44th and 45th Street, it’s perfectly situated near the player and media hotels. For two weeks every summer, it’s full of Australian tennis players, coaches and officials.

“Soon it was like every Australian in New York, at least from Tennis Australia, was there every morning,” Stosur said. “It was a real home from home. We love it.”

Former world No. 1 Ash Barty was regular visitor in the past, while Stosur, Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Chris O’Connell and Max Purcell are all repeat customers this year. India’s Rohan Bopanna, until recently the doubles world No. 1, has been spotted there this week.

Purcell, a self-confessed “coffee snob” has been going to Little Collins since 2018, disgusted with what he says is a “cult of iced coffee in America.” For him, the quality of the coffee itself and the attention to detail is crucial. And perhaps it’s even helping to fuel his success in New York: Purcell and Thompson will play in the doubles quarterfinals on Tuesday.

“Nothing for me is the same as Australia, but a good coffee place kind of feels like an embassy overseas, to some degree,” he said. “When I went to Little Collins this time and had that first sip, I was like, oh, yeah, this is what it’s meant to taste like. In Little…