The U.S. Open, home to too many honey deuces and influencer ring lights, came to a close last weekend, showcasing several thrilling performances. After a circuit that began in January with the Australian Open, the last of the Grand Slam tennis events closed out this year’s professional tennis season in New York City.
Qinwen Zheng made an unforgettable mark on this year’s tournament. Known as a top five player and gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Zheng missed significant time in 2025 due to a chronic right elbow injury. In that time, her rank fell from No. 4 to No. 121 just before the U.S. Open began. Due to this fall, she was not selected for the Open’s seeding and had to play qualifying matches.
During the qualifying matches Zheng impressively knocked out 2025 Australian Open major winner Madison Keys in the third round, and six-time Grand Slam winner Iga Świątek in the fourth. Zheng came back from a 0-5 deficit in both matches. This was before her match against former world No. 2 ranked Elena Rybakina, where Zheng lost in three sets, 6–3, 1–6, 4–6. However, Zheng had an amazing run and she became the first qualifier to reach the Grand Slam quarterfinals since Emma Raducanu in 2021.
In women’s doubles, Taylor Townsend completed her career Grand Slam with her partner Kateřina Siniaková. After winning Wimbledon in 2024, the pair claimed the Australian Open title in 2025, followed by victories at the French Open and U.S. Open this year. With this victory, Townsend took home her Career Grand Slam, one of the most impressive milestones in international competitive tennis.
Rybakina’s path to the women’s title included a crucial victory against fan-favorite Coco Gauff, with her winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Rybakina then advanced to Saturday’s final against two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. In an intense three-set match, Rybakina won her first U.S. Open title with scores of 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. The win also advanced Rybakina to world No. 1, ending Sabalenka’s 99-week reign at the top of the rankings.
On the men’s side, there were multiple impressive games. One of the more shocking matches was early in the tournament when No. 4 Novak Djokovic received a swift out in the men’s singles, after losing to unseeded Mariano Navone. Looking to the end of the championship, Ben Shelton had a remarkable run. On Sept. 8, he played a quarterfinal against Carlos Alcaraz, who sat out of the French Open and Wimbledon this year due to a wrist injury break. Their match hit a new record for the longest running match, ending at 3:33 a.m., after a five set duel leading to Shelton winning the upset with a 146 mph ace (6-7, 6-1, 6-3,1-6, 7-6). Though exhilarating to watch, it received much criticism as the match didn’t start until a little after 11 p.m. Compared with Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew, the scheduling seemed particularly unusual.
On Sunday, Shelton and Alexander Zverev faced each other in the men’s final on the Arthur Ashe court. Zverev came out strong in the first set and put pressure on Shelton for the remainder of the match. Briefly shifting the momentum, Shelton took the third set, but Zverev regained control to close out the match. Zverev, the champion, dominated the match with his powerful serve, consistency and composure, while Shelton relied on his aggressive serve and home U.S. crowd. Although Shelton showed an impressive fight in his first Grand Slam final appearance, ultimately it was the number one seed of the tournament that took home the trophy for Germany.