The 2023 US Open will be forever remembered for Coco Gauff's teenage dream, but this year's Flushing fortnight also marked the final ride for some of the sport's veterans.
John Isner was the most notable of the farewells in Queens this year, as he announced he'd be retiring from tennis after playing his 17 US Open. Isner, as a wild card, made it to the second round before he lost to fellow American Michael Mmoh in a five-set thriller, in which he led two-sets-to-love and had a match point before it ended in—what else?—a final-set tiebreak.
"It's kind of fitting it finished like it did," Isner said afterwards. "My matches are always on a knife's edge there. Could go either way. It just didn't go my way today.
"It's a tough way to go out. At the same time, I mean, I went out in front of a packed stadium, a standing ovation. Pretty cool."
But Isner isn't the only player moving on after the US Open. Here are some other notable names who are entering a new chapter after this year's tournament.
The Ukranian-born Belgian is stepping away from tennis at the age of 29 "for now" due to a chronic back injury, having announced her decision in a lengthy Instagram post ahead of the tournament.
She played in the main draw of the US Open for the third time in her career in 2023, having lost in qualifying in six other occasions, and bowed out in the first round to eventual finalist Aryna Sabalenka.
Zanevska peaked at a career-high ranking of No. 62, won one WTA singles title in her career, and reached four WTA doubles finals.
Sock was set to just be Isner's doubles partner for the latter's retirement tour, but the four-time Grand Slam doubles champion turned their Round 1 match into a double farewell when he announced his own retirement plans on Aug. 27.
A former Top 10 player in singles and doubles, Sock, 30, won four career singles titles and 17 doubles titles on the ATP Tour; he peaked at No. 2 in doubles and No. 8 in singles, and fittingly, stepped away from tennis at the place he won his first Grand Slam title.
A standout junior, Sock, then just 18, partnered Melanie Oudin to win the 2011 US Open mixed doubles title as wild cards.
Vandeweghe was the second American former US Open doubles champion to announce reitrement at the US Open.
A 2017 singles semifinalist and the 2018 doubles champion alongside Ashleigh Barty, Vandeweghe's career came full circle in New York: In 2008, as a 16-year-old wild card, she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut with a loss to No. seed and eventual runner-up Jelena Jankovic, and also won the girls' singles title.
She eventually went on to be a Top 10-ranked singles player, a U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team stalwart; she also reached the semifinals at the 2017 Australian Open, and two quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
Vandeweghe's last US Open singles effort ended in the first round of qualifying with a loss to Germany's Eva Lys, and she bowed out in the first round of doubles with fellow major-winner Sofia Kenin.
Rounding out this year's notable goodbyes is the Czech Strycova, whose farewell tour went better than she could've possibly imagined. Strycova had initially retired from tennis in 2021, and gave birth to a son in her time off, but announced her comeback for one last ride early in 2023.
It paid dividends: Strycova and Hsieh Su-wei won Wimbledon for the second time, and here, the Czech won at least one match in two of the three events she entered.
Beaten in Round 1 in singles, the third round in women's doubles with Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, and the quarterfinals in mixed doubles.
"I am happy that I'm done," Strycova said. "I love tennis. It's a great sport. Also I love my life without it. I have so many things what I want to do, what I did, with my son, what I want. I can't wait to come back to my life without tennis."
But in her second retirement from tennis, Strycova says, she might be ready to take up a new career.
"Maybe I will one day write a book about a lot of things," she added, with a grin.
