After the two hours sitting in silence waiting for someone to be crowned champion, the 2023 U.S. Open crowd roared with applause when Novak Djokovic made history by winning his twenty-fourth Grand Slam title.
The 2023 U.S. Open was filled with surprises in both the men’s and women’s singles’. The number one seeds (Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek) both won the U.S. Open last year and did not make it to the finals this year. This year also was a breakthrough for American tennis, marking the first year that three American men reached the quarterfinals since 2005. It was also when the second youngest American teenager won the U.S. Open women’s singles title. This year’s U.S. Open was also the fiftieth year of equal pay to both men and women players.
This year, many of the top five seeded players didn’t even make it to the semifinals. For example, women’s number one seed Iga Swiatek lost in the round of sixteen, the number three seed Jessica Pegula also lost in the round of sixteen, the number four seed Elena Rybakina lost in the second round, and the number five seed Ons Jabeur lost in the round of sixteen.
“I was surprised that Iga Swiatek didn’t make it to the semi finals,” Girls’ Varsity Tennis player Michelle M. Wang (‘27) said. While for the mens’, the number four seed Holger Rune lost in the first round while the number five seed Casper Ruud lost in the second round. The number one, two, and three seeded men’s players all got to the semifinals.
“The biggest surprise was how well Ben Shelton did and the run went on in the tournament,” Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Tennis Coach, Matt Copland, said. Shelton beat Frances Tiafoe (tenth seed) to get into his first Grand Slam semifinals. Boys’ Varsity Tennis player Ryan Qin (‘25) also had a lot to say about Ben Shelton. “Ben Shelton surprised me a lot this tournament. He hit some ridiculously fast serves in the first few rounds, which caught my attention, but I grew to appreciate his aggressive groundstrokes, exciting playstyle and entertaining playstyle.” And his “dialed in” celebration ended the match “with a great celebration”.
Up first: the womens’ singles. Coco Gauff, a nineteen year old teenager, won the U.S. Open women’s singles title by beating Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. Sabalenka was the number two seed who is now world number one. Guaff is the youngest American to win the U.S. Open women’s singles title after Serena Williams in 1999.
“It was a well deserved win for Gauff, and it was a good three set match,” Michelle said. Coach Matt had an amazing time watching Gauff play. “The women’s final was great for Coco; she was able to overcome a nervous start and then found her legs and in the end ran away with the match. She truly was the player to beat in the tournament,” he said.
Coco had an amazing comeback after her devastating first round loss in Wimbledon in July. She has now won eighteen of her last nineteen matches, only losing to fellow American Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open in August. This year, Coco Guaff has four singles titles with one WTA 250 in Auckland, one WTA 500 in Washington D.C., one WTA 1,000 in Cincinnati, and the U.S. Open title.
Coco’s glory doesn’t end there; as of now, she and Jessica Pegula are world number one in women’s doubles. Coco also played mixed doubles with Jack Sock, who is retiring from tennis and playing pickleball instead. Another American, John Isner, is also retiring after his second round, five set loss to Michael Mmoh. John Isner was a great player having the most aces ever at 14,470, having the fastest serve at 157.2 miles per hour, and playing the longest match that lasted over eleven hours, was played in a span of three days, had 183 total games, and just at the last set, John Isner won seventy to sixty-eight. They played a total of 183 games, and 138 games alone in the fifth set. Usually, you just have to win six games (or seven depending on the score), but this was before they added a rule of the six game set in the deciding set. So, this game Isner played really was extraordinary.
For the mens’, Novak Djokovic, a thirty six year old veteran, won his twenty fourth Grand slam by beating the number three seed Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev also defeated Djokovic in the 2021 U.S. Open finals, in three grueling sets. And he got into the finals by beating the number one seed, Carlos Alcaraz, in the semifinals.
Coach Matt loved Djokovic’s amazing win, “His performance was strong right from the start of the match. When he faced some adversity in the second set he found a way to overcome it. Medvedev gave his best but was not able to adapt enough to Djokovic’s game plan… His consistency over his career is outstanding. Next year I believe he will continue to dominate.”
After this win, Djokovic is the oldest player to win the U.S. Open and he has tied Margaret Court for the most Grand Slam singles titles. He will reclaim his spot as world number one. He now has two more Grand Slam titles than Rafael Nadal and four more than Roger Federer, other tennis legends.
At the end of Djokovic’s match, he also paid tribute to the Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant, who sadly passed away in 2020, after being asked about his “Mamba mentality” in an on-court interview. Djokovic wore a custom made shirt with a photo of him and Kobe on it that said, “Mamba Forever.” He said, “Kobe was a close friend… 24 is the jersey that he wore when he became a legend… so I thought it could be a nice symbolic thing to acknowledge him for all the things he’s done.”
But there was also some controversy in the U.S. Open. During Guaff’s first round matchup against Laura Siegemund, there were some serve clock issues. There is a twenty five second time limit to serve. When Coco was serving, Laura used up all 25 seconds on Coco’s serve. Coco complained to the umpire after this had caused her to lose a very critical point saying, “She’s never ready when I’m serving… how is this fair?” Coco went on to win the match after losing the first set and when Laura was asked about the controversy she later said, “There is no doubt that I am slow. There is no doubt about that. I’m getting time violations. There is no doubt about that I should be quicker…but at the same time, it’s how I play.”
The U.S. Open was filled with jaw dropping performances with new champions and rising stars. Now it’s time to wait for the Australian Open in January 2024. Who will win?
