The U.S. Open concluded on Sunday with the men’s singles final, where Novak Djokovic defeated Daniil Medvedev to win his fourth U.S. Open and record 24th Grand Slam. The 36-year-old Serbian is considered by many to be the greatest tennis player of all time, and he only further cemented his legacy by widening the gap in Grand Slam titles between him and the Spaniard Rafael Nadal. The women’s singles final was held on Saturday between Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and the young American Coco Gauff. It was Gauff who emerged victorious for her first career grand slam at the age of 19, winning the second and third sets handily after dropping the first set.
The men’s singles division has been run by three men for the majority of the last 20 years. The aforementioned Djokovic and Nadal, along with the now retired Roger Federer, combined for 66 Grand Slams since Federer won his first in 2003. There are four Grand Slams every year, so this trio won more than 75% of them in that 20-year span. With Federer having retired, Nadal struggling with injury and getting up there in age and Djokovic — while still on top of the world — also beginning to creep towards his late 30s, a changing of the guard could soon be due in the world of men’s tennis. The man widely anticipated to be the heir to the throne is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Alcaraz is just 20 years old and has already won two Grand Slams. He was surprisingly upset in the semifinals by Medvedev this year, but the youngster has drawn comparisons to his compatriot Nadal.
Alcaraz is the best young star in the game, but it was American Ben Shelton who stole the show at the U.S. Open. Shelton was the 2022 NCAA Men’s Singles Champion and entered this tournament unranked before embarking on a surprise run to the semifinals, including upsets of ranked Americans Tommy Paul and Francis Tiafoe. Shelton’s magic eventually ran out as Djokovic was able to defeat him in straight sets to secure a place in the final. While youngsters like Alcaraz and Shelton are on the rise and may take over the game soon, Djokovic’s victory in New York has shown the world that he’s not stepping down just yet. One player who did step down was American Jon Isner, who announced his retirement following the U.S. Open. Isner stands at a towering 6-foot-10 and is known for his powerful serve. He is best known for emerging victorious in the longest tennis match in history against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010.
The women’s singles division brought a bit more surprise. There were two major upsets in the round of 16 as three-seed Jessica Pegula went down to 17th Seed Madison Keys and the top seed Iga Świątek was defeated by the 20th seed Jeļena Ostapenko. This set up a semifinals in which the eventual runner-up Sabalenka, seeded second, was the only top five seed remaining at this point in the tournament. Gauff’s victory made her the youngest woman to win the U.S. Open since Serena Williams in 1999. She was also the first American to win a Grand Slam since Sofia Kenin took home the Australian Open in 2020. It wasn’t all bad for Sabalenka though, as her impressive performance in the tournament saw her become the top ranked women’s tennis player.
There was also a former top ranked tennis player who made headlines at the U.S. Open as Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki made her return to Grand Slam tennis after a three year hiatus. The 33 year old has spent 71 weeks ranked number one across her illustrious career, and was able to make it to the fourth round until falling to the eventual champion in Gauff.
There are also men’s, women’s and mixed doubles events that occur at the U.S. Open. In the men’s doubles event, Indian Rohan Bopanna became the oldest Grand Slam men’s doubles finalist in the Open Era (since 1968), as he and Australian Matthew Ebden fell to the American/British duo of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury by a score of 6-2, 3-6, 4-6.
