Whack! A small green blur flashes across the court, darting back and forth at lightning speed. The audience leans on the edges of their seats watching intently and full of anticipation. The players express grunts of pain and passion as they fill each swing with all their might. Finally, the ball slams against the back wall with a resounding thud. A thunderous roar of applause echoes throughout the stadium. These are the sounds that are heard at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships that have been held for over 130 years since 1881.
The U.S. Open has greatly expanded its role in American culture over the years, attracting audiences of up to 66,000 with celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Beyonce seen enjoying the games. When asked about the U.S. Open, Wilcox junior varsity tennis player Nikhil Mandava commented. “It’s fun for me to watch how the pros play and then implement their strategies in my own games.”
The tournament has become iconic not only for its popularity in America, but also in the way that it brings people together from different countries to celebrate the best tennis players in the world. The men’s finalists, Novak Djokovic (Serbia), and Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), share similar backgrounds in that they both started learning tennis at an early age and took private lessons from coaches that were already deeply integrated into the professional tennis scene.
The road to the finals was not easy for Wawrinka, as he narrowly slipped past Daniel Evans in the third round with a clutch win in the 5th set tiebreaker. Djokovic had a rather unusual tournament route, as one of his opponents gave him a walkover while two others retired before the games ended, providing him significantly less time on the court. While Djokovic never had to play to a 5th set in the tournament, he suffered from a toe injury which affected him the most during the finals match against Wawrinka. Djokovic called two medical timeouts for his toe, which violated tournament rules–only one timeout is allowed per injury-but passed the second time as an exception since he had visible blood seeping out of his sock. Some audience members were upset at Djokovic for diminishing the intensity of the game and suspected that he was abusing gamesmanship. Wawrinka stated in a post-game interview, according to Tandon Tennis, “Sometimes, some players abuse the rules… but sometimes it’s real pain, so when he took the injury I had no problem with that.”
The Men’s Championship Finals ended in a convincing four set victory by Wawrinka (7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 3-6). After the game, Djokovic and Wawrinka exchanged friendly comments, ending the finals in sportsmanlike fashion.
On the other side of the tournament, the women’s finalists Angelique Kerber (Germany) and Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) also experienced unexpected routes when Pliskova defeated the number one seed, Serena Williams, in a surprising two set victory (6-2, 7-6) late into the tournament. The loss was crushing for Williams, as it made it her second year in a row to be knocked out in the semifinals. Kerber seized the opportunity as the new favorite and beat Pliskova in an intense three set match (6-3, 2-6, 6-4) as she clawed her way back to victory in the third set after being behind 3-1. According to ESPN, although it was a disappointing loss, Pliskova graciously stated, “Even though I couldn’t get the win, I’m really happy.”
The U.S Open continues to be an outstanding icon of sports entertainment internationally, as it amazes its viewers with intense games, unbelievable upsets, and the best tennis players in world.