The 2022 US Open may have been a welcome return to complete normalcy after two pandemic years, but that doesn’t mean it was without surprises.
All in the family: Norway’s previous greatest men’s player, Christian Ruud was displaced by a much younger version–in fact, his own son, Casper Ruud. Ruud senior rose to a career high of No. 39 in the world and notched wins over the likes of Gustavo Kuerten and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Ruud junior, 24, is now the greatest player in Norwegian history; he will rise to No. 2 in the rankings after making it to his second Grand Slam final this year. Tracy Austin, the youngest champion in the US Open history (she won in 1979 as a 16-year-old) was back on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center this year to watch her son, Brandon Holt, ranked No. 303. Holt, 24, vaulted out of qualifying to shock his good friend, No. 10 seed Taylor Fritz, who many believed had a chance to win it all this year. And to top off the family connections, Micaela Bryan, the 10-year-old daughter of the American doubles champ Bob Bryan, took to the court to sing “America the Beautiful” before the women’s singles final on Saturday.
From the one to the many: The Open began with an understandable focus on one player: the all-time great—and most people’s GOAT—Serena Williams, who had announced she was in all likelihood playing her final professional tournament as she “evolved” away from the game to other interests. When she exited stage left, the US Open itself evolved from all Serena, all the time, to become the most open of Opens, with perhaps two dozen women having a real shot at the title. It was only in the final weekend that things reverted to the norm, with the Nos. 1 and 2 in the WTA race, Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur, contesting the title.
The late show: The US Open night sessions, like the city they’re staged in, always go late. But one man, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, took things to a whole new level this year. He won his fourth-round match against Marin Cilic in five sets, finishing up at 2:23 a.m., just three minutes shy of the late-night (or early-morning) record. Then in his very next match, in the quarterfinal, the 19-year-old Alcaraz–who seemed to be impersonating a college kid pulling all-nighters before final exams–played Jannik Sinner of Italy. The two battled for five insane sets–among the best matches many, including this observer, have ever seen at the Open–and finished at 2:50am, the latest finish in Open history. The two youngsters bested the previous record by a surprising 24 minutes. Pat McEnroe observed that Alcaraz had spent more time on court in just three matches than it takes to watch the entire Godfather trilogy.
All first-timers: The men’s semifinals featured four first-timers for the first time since the inaugural US Championships in 1881. For those of you without a calculator handy, that’s 141 years—hardly your run-of-the-mill record!
A first for the Arab world: The Tunisian Jabeur–the self-appointed “Minister of Happiness” in her home country–ushered in a new era in women’s tennis by becoming the first Arab and first African woman to play in the final of the US Open. Jabeur spoke openly about her mission to inspire generations of women from Africa and the Arab world to play tennis, participate in sports of all kinds, and be independent, modern women. In the final, family and friends in her player’s box donned black T-shirts emblazoned with a message in Arabic: “Yalla Habibi!” (“C’mon my love!”).
Frances the fortune teller: Turns out Frances Tiafoe can see the future. After the American sailed through a straight-sets match over No. 9 Andrey Rublev in his quarterfinal match on Wednesday afternoon, Tiafoe had this to say about the evening’s other quarterfinal: “I just hope they play a marathon match, super-long match, and they get really tired come Friday.” With Tiafoe’s hex firmly applied, Alcaraz battled Sinner for five hours, 15 minutes, until 2:50 a.m.–the latest US Open finish ever. The only part of Tiafoe’s prediction that didn’t come true: Alcaraz somehow did not get really tired, and the Spaniard beat Tiafoe in yet another five-setter to advance to the final.
No. 1 Free-for-all: Heading into the final weekend and the men’s semifinals, three men had a chance to emerge after the US Open as No. 1: Rafael Nadal, who was upset by Tiafoe in the Round of 16; Ruud, who entered as No. 5; and Alcaraz, the world No. 4. Once Ruud and Alcaraz made the final, the battle for the US Open title also had the No. 1 ranking riding on the result.
No Big Three, no Serena: For the first time since 2003, the US Open quarterfinals did not feature a member of the men’s vaunted Big Three–Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer—or, on the women’s side, Serena Williams. Though Nadal and Djokovic had taken the year’s other three majors, many still took it to herald a new era in tennis, one without those megastars we’ve become so accustomed to seeing split up the spoils of tennis.
Freaky number of fans: The 2022 US Open broke all kinds of attendance and viewing records this year. (What’s probably not a surprise is that it had a lot to do with Serena Williams). Through the first eight days, 549,657 fans came out to the BJKNTC, the highest-ever attendance. The US Open also set an all-time single-day attendance record on Friday, September 2, with 72,039 fans (day-session attendance was 42,202, while the night session—featuring Serena Williams playing Ajla Tomljanovic—was 29,837). ESPN, meanwhile, scored a record 4.8 million viewers for Serena’s final match, making it the the most-watched tennis broadcast in the cable network’s 43-year history.
Spectator sillies: Most fans go to the US Open to intensely watch the matches and cheer on their favorite players. And of course some go for the chance to hobknob and enjoy a day or night out with tennis as a backdrop. Then there are those who have something else entirely on their minds. During the Nick Kyrgios-Karen Khachanov, the YouTuber JiDion got a haircut in the stands, designer bib and all. Then, during one of the most thrilling matches of the tournament, the four-hour, 19-minute epic semifinal between Alcaraz and Tiafoe, cameras caught a woman in the (very) expensive courtside seats contentedly… knitting.
Post-match madness: You can always expect a surprise or two when a match is over. Athletes have just given it their all, so they can be excused. Jessica Pegula showed up to her press conference sipping from a can of Heineken. She said it was because she needed to get a doping test, but— having just lost her quarterfinal match to Iga Swiatek—the American also said it made the loss go down easier. After also being bested by the same Pole in the semis, Aryna Sabalenka showed up to her presser with the kind of mirrored shades you might see on the slopes, and she never took them off—giving the appearance more of a rock star with a hangover than a tennis pro talking to the press. And Swiatek—again, the Pole!—confessed in her on-court interview that a change in momentum brought on by her bathroom break was due to, well, her lightening her load. TMI, Iga!
