This year’s US Open presented a fantastic opportunity for someone else outside the established order of Grand Slam winners to emerge victorious with the likes of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams all absent.
When so many top players are unable to take part in a major tournament there is a chance that the underdogs might well be able to seize their moment and make a piece of history.
Although the men’s competition didn’t provide a real shock with the outright winner, there were plenty of valiant efforts throughout the tournament.
Even though he finished runner-up Kevin Anderson enjoyed an impressive run to make it to the final, becoming the lowest-ranked men’s singles finalist since the start of the rankings over 40 years ago.
Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov was another who produced some comprehensive performances, including a hard-fought victory over 15th seed Tomas Berdych, making it all the way to the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
Despite the Spaniard comfortably booking his place in the quarter-finals Dolgopolov had taken full advantage of some of the sport’s star names being nowhere in sight, enjoying his best run at a Grand Slam since the 2011 Australian Open – the 28-year-old made it to the quarter-finals before losing to Murray.
No.1 @RafaelNadal wins his 50th match at the US Open, d. Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 to reach QFs
#usopen
A player that seemed to spring out of nowhere in the men’s event was 19-year-old Andrey Rublev. A pair of straight-sets victories over two top 20 players, Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin caused a number of heads to turn in New York.
Although the Muscovite would endure a similar fate to Dolgopolov, being swept aside by Nadal in one hour and 37 minutes at the quarter-final stage, his efforts in reaching the last eight were fairly noteworthy.
There were a number of sizeable upsets in the women’s tournament, most notably the remarkable rise of the champion Sloane Stephens, who was ranked 957th just six weeks before.
The American demonstrated a fantastic ability from the outset, playing like a seasoned veteran during her gritty victory over Venus Williams in the semi-finals.
Her opponent for the top prize, close friend Madison Keys, was also making her Grand Slam final debut.
When the mesmerizing fact sunk in that there would be four American women in the semi-finals for the first time since 1981, the one performance that arguably defied the greatest of odds was that of CoCo Vandeweghe.
The way the 25-year-old put in a dominant display against Karolina Pliskova, who needed a win to preserve her status as world number one, resulting in a straight sets victory simply breath-taking.
The tournament was littered with shocks. There were ample occasions where the players that were touted to go home early rewrote the script in the most fascinating manner.
Of course everyone enjoys the usually intense battles between the old guard but it is so intriguing when the underdogs go against the status quo and prove everyone wrong.
This US Open will be remembered as one of the best recent examples where the underdogs became the star attractions.
