The last two weeks have surely been a rollercoaster for the tennis world. It was the final Grand Slam of the year: the U.S. Open. Even though the year is not over for the tennis players, this is the last of the big tournaments. It was certainly a great way to cap off 2022’s Grand Slams. The U.S. Open has historically been the tournament that goes a little crazy, and this year was no exception. In fact, I would say this tournament was even wilder than last year. The women’s side had a fairly predictable final, with the rest of the draw being a little all over the pace. Then on the men’s side, it felt like a tournament where anything could happen. We even have a brand new No. 1 tennis player for the men. I made my predictions for the tournament a few weeks ago. My top choices did not make it to the finals, or even the semi-finals. I’m not saying that I am dumb for the predictions that I made. I am saying that it is hard to tell what can happen at the U.S. Open. I did mention the winners in my article as possibilities, so nothing was totally out of the blue, but it was still exciting. If you missed watching this tournament, then here are the highlights from the U.S. Open and a reminder to mark your calendar in 2023 so you don’t miss it again.

Let’s start with the men. At the end of the two weeks, the last man standing in the draw was none other than No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz, who beat No. 5 seed Casper Ruud. With this win, Alcaraz has now become the No. 1 male tennis player in the world and the youngest No. 1 male tennis player ever at 19 years old. It was just last year Alcaraz came onto the scene and he is now making waves, winning in his first ever Grand Slam final. This was Ruud’s second Grand Slam final and he definitely showed in this tournament that he deserved to make it at least this far. Both of these players were extremely talented and I would have been happy if either of them won. While people might have had an inkling that Alcaraz could win, there were some big players that originally stood in the way. First, there was the No. 1 seed and reigning champion Daniil Medvedev. People expected he would do well and he definitely did a fantastic job. However, he got out in the Round of 16, which was a bit earlier than people expected. Medvedev lost to the bad boy of tennis, Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios had been on a hot streak lately and people had a feeling that despite his No. 23 seed, he was going to do well. A month ago in Montreal, Kyrgios beat Medvedev in the second round. In the U.S. Open, he recreated that magic against the reigning champ. Kyrgios then ended up losing to Karen Khachanov in the next round, but certainly put up a fight. 

Another big competitor was Rafael Nadal, who currently has the most Grand Slams of any male tennis player, two of which he received this year. Even though he was recovering from injuries, he’s still Rafael Nadal. However, like Medvedev, Nadal got out in the Round of 16. He lost to American hotshot Frances Tiafoe. Tiafoe is a fairly consistent player but has not really made it far in any big tournaments and was not expected to beat Nadal at all. However, he was able to use a lot of strength and energy to take out Nadal, marking the biggest win of his career. Tiafoe brought a lot of excitement to this tournament and he is obviously only getting better. He made it all the way to the semi-final—his first Grand Slam semi-final—before losing to eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz.

There were also some other big wins of the tournament that should be highlighted. It was interesting the amount of big people we lost early. For instance, No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas lost in the first round to qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan, and No. 10 seed Taylor Fritz lost to qualifier Brandon Holt, a player who had never played in a professional tournament before. It wouldn’t be a good tournament if there weren’t any upsets, so it is always interesting to see them happen. One of the most thrilling matches of the tournament was between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Sinner was my original choice to win the tournament and even though he lost this match in the quarterfinals, I can’t say I am disappointed in him. He truly put up a fight. This match lasted over five hours, ended at three in the morning and it was impossible to tell throughout the match who was going to win. It is matches like these that make tennis such a fascinating sport.

Now on to the women. This side of the tournament ended with No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek defeating No. 5 seed Ons Jabeur. This is Swiatek’s third Grand Slam and her second one this year. However, this is her first time winning the U.S. Open. Her previous Grand Slam trophies came from the French Open and people mostly saw her as a clay court specialist, but she has now shown that she can succeed on hard courts. With Jabeur, even though she has still not won a Grand Slam, she certainly proved herself this tournament and it was easy to see that she can be a tough player. Clearly, Jabeur will get that Grand Slam victory one day. This is one of the rare finals in women’s tennis where both finalists were already seen as two of the best and were expected to do well. It was very different from last year where Emma Radacanu won out of nowhere. Unfortunately, Radacanu could not recreate that magic this year. She lost in the first round to Alize Cornet, which brought Radacanu’s ranking down from 11 to 83. Is she a flash in the pan or can she bring herself back? Only time can tell.

Another name that people were paying attention to this tournament was none other than Serena Williams. She has been a legend of the sport for decades and her career may be coming to an end soon. While she hasn’t made an official announcement, she has implied that she will be retiring soon. This means that this could be her last U.S. Open ever. This definitely put the focus on her for a while and brought out a lot of the crowds. While she seemed to do really well at first, including defeating No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit, she was defeated in the third round by Ajla Tomljanovic. Williams put up a good fight and she showed why she will be remembered for years to come.

Speaking of Tomljanoivc, she had a good showing in this tournament. She was unseeded but she showed that she has talent. Along with beating Williams, Tomljanovic was able to make it to the quarterfinals of this tournament before losing to eventual runner-up Ons Jabeur. She actually also made it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon this year, but unfortunately, there were no points for that tournament. If she keeps it up, she could be a force to be reckoned with soon enough. There were also some notable upsets for the women’s draw that brought some thrills to the big event. For instance, my original pick Simona Halep lost in the first round to qualifier Daria Snigur. Halep has had a few injuries lately, and those could have gone back to bite her. Other upsets include No. 3 seed Maria Sakkari losing to Wang Xiyu, as well as No. 25 seed and most recent Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina losing to qualifier Clara Burel. Anything can happen at the U.S. Open, and it shows that all it can take is someone to have a particularly bad day, or a particularly good day in other cases, for a lot to change.

We are approaching a new era of tennis. We have people like Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams losing early in Grand Slams, and people like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic not even competing. When these players lose or don’t compete, it helps make room for the next generation. All of the semi-finalists, men and women, were under the age of 30. The men’s winner was only 19. Tennis is becoming less predictable as we make room for the younger crowd. This tournament shows what it is like when that crowd is in action. That is one of the reasons why I found this year’s U.S. Open to be very entertaining. I liked seeing the young guns show their skills, their strength and their tenacity. I look forward to seeing what they are going to be like at next year’s U.S. Open, and all of the U.S. Opens after that for the next 10 or so years. I am proud of our winners, as they demonstrated what makes this sport great.