During the tennis season, four pro-level tournaments stand out. These four, The Australian Open, Roland Garros (French Open), Wimbledon, and the US Open are known as Grand Slams. These four are not only the highest level tournaments, but also offer the best experience for both players and spectators. Every year, during late August and early September, tennis fans from all over the world flood into Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to experience one of the most riveting tennis tournaments of the year, the US Open. The prestigious grand slam holds 128 spots for the best from every country to compete for a share in the prize pool of almost one hundred million dollars. It’s safe to say that coming to this tournament will provide an experience like no other, watching players compete against each other at the highest level, round after round, until the last two battle it out in the final match.
Some of the heavy favorites for this year’s tournament on the men’s side were Novak Djokovic, coming off of his new Olympic Gold, Carlos Alcaraz, this year’s Wimbledon and Roland Garros champion, and Jannik Sinner, the current world number one who is one of the most consistent players on tour. On the women’s side, the favorites were Iga Swiatek, who has held the number one ranking for more than one hundred weeks, Aryna Sabelenka, one of the strongest players on tour, and Coco Gauff, defending champ and one of the only American women to win the US Open since Serena Williams’s reign almost a decade ago. Even though these were fan favorites, upsets can happen to even the best players on the tour.
This year’s US Open was no exception, as two of the best-loved on the men’s side, Alcaraz and Djokvoic, were out by the third round. Most surprisingly, Alcaraz lost to somebody nobody could have expected, Botic van de Zandschulp. The Dutch player played incredibly well against Alcaraz, leading to a smooth three set win. Djokovic, however, lost to a much tougher opponent, Alexei Popyrin, the number two Australian tennis player. On the women’s side Swiatek made it pretty far before surprisingly losing to Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinal. For the American players, this year’s US Open had unprecedented growth on both sides. In women’s singles, yet another American made it to the final of the US Open, following Gauff’s monumental run last year. Jessica Pegula made her way to the US Open final in quick succession, only dropping one set to Karolina Muchova in the semifinal, before losing to Sabalenka in the championship round. Emma Navarro, another up-and-coming American player, also had a great run at the US Open, making it to the semi-final where she lost to Sabalenka. On the way, Navarro beat both Gauff and Paula Badosa.
On the Men’s side for American players, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe took the spotlight. Both men had incredible runs in the tournament, especially Fritz, who made it all the way to the final. The most improved player was definitely Tiafoe, though, who found the key to his game after beating fellow American Ben Shelton. After this match it seemed that Tiafoe could not lose, going on to beat some of the best players in the world, Popyrin and Dimitrov, before losing to Fritz in a nail-biting five-set match.
Overall, this year’s US Open was full of insane moments. You can see just how much effort is put into each point, and how all of the training has paid off for every player, even if they lost in the early rounds, or made fairytale runs. Tennis is a sport of endurance, mentality, and physical prowess, and it’s no doubt that this year’s US Open shows how much work the players put into the game of tennis.
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