by Justin Bishop '24 on September 15, 2022
Sports Co-Editor
Professional Sports
The 2022 U.S. Open has come and gone, but the storylines that arose from this electric tournament will certainly be remembered for a while. The biggest headline to come out of the Open is that it was the great Serena Williams’ last major championship. She announced a few weeks prior that this would be her last tournament and that she would “move on from tennis and on to other things.” She adamantly said that she does “not like the word retire,” instead saying, “What I am up to is evolution.” Also, in that interview she mentioned the likes of Ashleigh Barty, who shockingly retired from tennis while being ranked No. 1 in the world at the age of 25, and her close friend Caroline Wozniacki, who retired this past year. Both helped make Serena’s decision.
“I don’t want it to be over, but I am ready for what’s next,” Williams announced.
Williams ended up making it all the way to the third round of the tournament and upset the No. 2 ranked player Anett Kontveit in three sets. However, the six time U.S Open champion fell to unranked Ajia Tomljanovic in three sets. Serena Williams ends her tennis career with 23 major championship wins, one behind Margaret Court who holds the all-time lead with 24 (U.S Open, Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon are the four majors).
The winner of this year’s women’s championship is Polish world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who ousted Turkish world No. 5 Ons Jabuer in straight sets 6–2, 7–6. Swiatek only lost 2 sets all tournament and dominated her opponents while proving why she is deserving of the No. 1 ranking in the world. The Americans that made it furthest on the women’s bracket were Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff. Gauff, who is currently ranked No. 12 in the world at age 18, lost in the quarterfinal to No. 17 in the world Caroline Garcia of France in straight sets 6–3, 6–4. Up until that point, Gauff had not lost a single set throughout the tournament, going four rounds before losing. No. 8 ranked in the world Jessica Pegula was beaten by the eventual champion Swiatek in the quarters in straight sets 6–3, 7–6. Pegula had only lost one set up until that point of the tournament and was Swiatek’s most difficult opponent.
On the men’s side of the tournament, world No. 3 , 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain won his first major championship of his young career. He defeated world No. 5 Casper Ruud of Norway in four sets 6–4, 2–6, 7–6, 6–3. This was an interesting tournament for the young Spaniard as he did not lose a set for the first three rounds, then each of his next three matches went to five sets, and he finally won the championship in four sets. He defeated the furthest American world-ranked No. 22 Frances Tiafoe in the semi-final. Tiafoe had upset pre-tournament favorite and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the fourth round in four sets and then upset world No. 9 Andrey Rublev of Russia in straight sets 7–6, 7–6, 6–4. Tiafoe made it to the semi-final, which is the farthest an American male has reached in the U.S Open since 2006. Australian and world No. 23 Nick Kyrios upset world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the fourth round but failed to advance further. Kyrios also lost in the final at Wimbledon this past summer to the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, proving that he is still a top player in today’s game.