US Open highlights – Aug -Sept 2019
The US Open this year lived up to expectations in terms of being action-packed like previous tournaments. We saw several themes emerge:Young Players on the rise: The young talent that made a mark was Bianca Andreescu, aged 19 years. Andreescu, a teen prodigy lived up to the name. Media often says that she might be a One-Slam-Wonder. But the facts speak for themselves. She beat Serena Williams, Belinda Bencic, Caroline Wozniacki and went on to win the tournament. There were other amazing performances by Bencic and Taylor Townsend beating players like Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep.
Daniil Medvedev and Grigor Dimitrov were the young guns from the men’s game. Medvedev made the finals beating players like Wawrinka. Dimitrov beat Roger Federer.
These players are the names to watch out for in 2020 and beyond!
Never Give Up: Injuries had an impact on the US Open and were the reason for some of the upsets. The upsets were Federer (lost to Dimitrov), Djokovic (lost to Wawrinka), Osaka (lost to Benicic) and Halep (lost to Townsend). All of these upsets had the losing player involved in an injury of some sort. But none of the players gave up.
We also saw the “never give up” spirit highlighted when Dimitrov played against Federer. Dimitrov trailed two sets to one, came back and beat Federer. Another example was Medvedev trailing two sets to love against Nadal. He came back to equal the score before losing in the final set.
These prove that you should never give up because you never know what could happen if you give your best.
Camaraderie: We saw the camaraderie in the women’s game at a different level than the men’s game. For example, when you hear Nick Kyrgios’ name you think of broken rackets, flying chairs and shouting at umpires. If you see the women’s game, you will find Osaka who beat Corri Gauff; however, after the match, she consoled her and invited her to post-match interview which is meant for the winner. Naomi said, “I want Corri to go off the court thinking she is a winner”.
Conclusion: The US Open has been a great tournament. We saw great camaraderie, examples of players not giving up and young players rise. The tournament was great and I’m sure we all are looking forward to the next Grand Slam!