Lost chance for a Grand Slam and historical records for women. US Open results

In the men’s category, fans at the last moment missed the chance to see a historic event. Novak Djokovic was one step away from the Grand Slam. The Serbian has won three previous top tournaments (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon) and was the favorite for the final match at the US Open. But without a chance lost to Daniil Medvedev.

In the entire history of tennis, only six times it was possible to win four major tournaments during one season. Laver did it twice in 1962 and 1969, and his accomplishments look timeless. Steffi Graf was the last to achieve this peak in men and women in the single elite. In 1988, she took the Golden Grand Slam (she also won the Seoul Olympics). Since then, there has not been such a dominant athlete. More precisely, so successful – after all, there were periods of dominance of several tennis players, but the character turned away from them when it came to four major tournaments a year.

So, you can remember the cover. That the American hard is very different than the Australian super-fast “surface”. But in the context of a player who won Roland Garros, this is a so-so explanation.

Of course, Medvedev is also not an accidental winner. The second racket of the world, won the Final tournament, repeatedly played in the finals of Grand Slam tournaments. And finally, a very difficult opponent for Djokovic.

But there is another component, psychological. Great expectations and unprecedented moral pressure on the Serb, which was superimposed on a certain “vacuum” of rivalry. Novak Djokovic is used to facing off against Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He did the almost unbelievable – he won Roland Garros against Nadal. But after Wimbledon, he could not win two top tournaments. At the Olympics, he drove his anger on the grid, losing to Carreno-Busti. In the USA, he got a psychologically stable opponent in his best form.

Novak will come back and win, perhaps in the US too. And in the history of tennis, he has already entered many records. But the chance of a lifetime at the Grand Slam is lost.

The women’s tournament gave a much bigger sensation. For the first time in history, a Grand Slam was won by a qualifier. Emma Radukanu also became the first British champion in 44 years. Emma set several more records together with the finalist Leila Fernandez. Both are very young, Radukan is 18 years old, Leyla turned 19 already during the tournament. But even in the confrontation between two very young athletes from the bottom of the rating, the famous “women’s tennis” left its mark.

Leila Fernandez had an amazing tournament. In general, the Canadian is not an upstart player, the ex-first racket of the world among juniors. She entered the “adult game” quite normally, although without enchanting jumps. And in the USA she caught the right rhythm. The left-hander is traditionally an uncomfortable opponent, and Leyla also added to this a competent choice of position and excellent court movement. Starting from the third round, Fernandez knocked out top rivals in turn: Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina, Arina Sabalenko.

But the path of Emma Radukanu is the same “women’s tennis”, so that they don’t invest in this bizarre concept. No top 10 opponent. Shelby Rogers knocks out Ashleigh Barty – and can’t oppose anything to the British. Maria Sakkari “clears” the entire upper bracket with Kvitova, Pliskova and Andreescu, but is completely crushed by Emma. The most rated rival is Bencic, who previously knocked out Iga Sventek (so, remember that Sventek is far from the best player on hard).

In the final, Radukan succeeded in almost everything – strokes, shortening. Iron nerves, a very high-quality pitch – and we have the one hundred and fiftieth racket of the world, who has not lost a single set in the qualifying tournament.

The Ukrainians did not break any records at the tournament, but in general they performed normally. Elina Svitolina again lost a great opportunity to win the tournament. This is already a very sad trend. Little-known rivals from the middle of a hundred ratings are a punishment for Elina. Svitolina arrived in the United States in great shape, confidently dealt with her starting rivals. The spectacular match with Halep was worthy of even the later rounds, and it seemed that the winner of it should be at least in the semi-finals. But Elina was unable to put the squeeze on Fernandez in three sets, losing to her in a tie-break.

However, reaching the quarterfinals also had a positive effect on her rating, because the main rivals performed much worse. Naomi Osaka lost over 1800 points after losing in the opening rounds. Elina even climbed one step in the WTA rankings.

However, it’s too early to rest. Svitolina is currently thirteenth in the championship race. The difference from passing 8th place to the final tournament is not so big (about 200 points), but it needs to be won back.

Other Ukrainians dropped out fairly quickly, although there were objective reasons for that. The lot chose difficult opponents for them, and here they had to jump above their heads. Angelina Kalinina defeated the qualifier, but Kerber could not go further. Marta Kostyuk immediately hit the powerful Sakkari.

Dayana Yastremskaya also lost in the first match (in singles) to the same Kerber. But this is the case when a defeat in a match leaves a positive impression of the game. After a fighting duel with Anzhelik, Yastremskaya, along with Marta Kostyuk, reached the third round of the doubles tournament. It was difficult for Dayana to return to the game after a spoiled season. But now it is step by step approaching its previous level.