Coco Gauff and co. claim their spot at the US Open

Led by Coco Gauff and a group of charismatic newcomers, tennis at this year’s US Open was in full swing with a diverse mix of old and new, signaling that the sport is entering a new era fresh and full of energy.

No Serena Williams. No Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.

No problem.

It is true that Novak Djokovic, who won the 24th major title of his career on Sunday by beating Daniil Medvedev in the men’s singles final, is still working his magic. But conventional wisdom held that tennis would be in trouble if the legendary champions who kept the professional game afloat for the past two decades left the sport en masse.

At this tournament, the impressive finish of Gauff, who won the women’s singles title on Saturday night, and memorable performances from Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe proved that notion wrong.

At the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a quartet of legends no longer stifled the game, overshadowing the sometimes-stalled forward momentum of the young players who came after them. You could feel it on the court, which was packed with so many spectators it often felt like there was no room to move without hurting a shoulder. This year’s event set attendance records nearly every day.

“It’s incredibly refreshing to see a shift in personalities,” said Kate Koza, a Brooklynite and Open regular since 2016, echoing a sentiment I heard repeatedly during the event’s two-week run. “We’re not just seeing the same faces with the same mythical backstory.”

Tennis is changing, and no player embodies that better than the 19-year-old Gauff. Since her breakthrough four years ago with a first-round victory over Venus Williams at Wimbledon, she has seemed destined for this moment.

During those two weeks at the US Open, she grew into herself. Her dutiful parents — always by her side on tour, with her father as her coach — gave her extra freedom and just enough of a back seat. Gauff blossomed and made it clear that she was her own woman now. Think of how she demanded that her new coach, Brad Gilbert, tone down his chatterbox instructions during her fourth-round match against Caroline Wozniacki.

“Please stop,” she instructed, with a determination that showed she was the one dictating her actions at this event. “Stop talking!”

She dominated the stage at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens.

She used her speed and forehand to win four three-set matches during the tournament, playing like a wily veteran in the most exciting moments.

She was energized by the audience — look, there’s Barack and Michelle Obama, and there, Justin Bieber. “I saw pretty much every celebrity they put on that screen,” she said, adding that she embraced the moment and vowed to “win for these people.”

As she slid a final passing shot past Aryna Sabalenka to clinch the title, fell to her back and then knelt to tearfully absorb the moment, Gauff claimed eternal space in the collective memory. Sitting a dozen rows back from center court, I felt goosebumps and shivers. The vast stadium shook and swayed, most of the 23,000 fans inside standing, cheering and chanting. They wanted this moment, this champion, this new beginning.

Since Serena Williams won her first major title as a 17-year-old at the 1999 US Open, the Open has had other black champions. Her sister Venus, in 2000 and 2001. Sloane Stephens, in 2017. Naomi Osaka, who is Black and Asian, in 2018 and 2020.

But Gauff is the first in a new era — a new champion in a new tennis world — one without Serena’s shadow. The torch has been passed.

Sure, most fans hated to see men’s No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, the Wimbledon champion, lose to Medvedev in the semifinals. The dream match was a championship between Alcaraz and Djokovic, the owners of the hottest rivalry in men’s tennis.

But if the lockdown grip on tennis that four brilliant players have had on the stage has taught us anything, it’s that the expected progression eventually becomes monotonous. Think of it this way: when Djokovic and Alcaraz finally meet at the US Open, the fact that they were narrowly denied a clash with Flushing Meadows in 2023 will make their matchup all the sweeter.

Last year’s US Open, with its farewell party to Serena’s retirement and career, turned a page. This year’s tournament closed the book and put it back on the shelf.

From the start you could feel the exuberance in the air, an energy that told a story: Djokovic remained – the same as ever – but everyone else in the two courts seemed liberated by the loss of the shadows of Serena, Nadal and Federer.

In the men’s quarterfinals, Alcaraz and two American twenty-somethings were not the only ones nominated to compete: Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. He is a fan favorite for his willingness to connect with the crowd.

Heralding that black players are a rising, blossoming force in both men’s and women’s soccer, Tiafoe and Shelton became the first African-American men to compete against each other in the final eight of a major championship.

That wasn’t the only notable footnote. The fast-rising Shelton, 20, was the youngest American to reach a U.S. Open semifinal since 1992. He crushed Tiafoe to get there, stunning the crowd with 149-mph serves and a direct competitiveness that showed he wouldn’t back down from any challenge — even if that challenge was Djokovic.

After defeating Shelton in a hard-fought three-set victory to advance to the men’s final, Djokovic mimicked the celebratory gesture Shelton had been displaying throughout the tournament after winning: holding an imaginary phone to his ear and then throwing it hard on the ground, as if to say, “Game, set, match, conversation over.”

The wise master remains, still willing to teach the young for a while longer.