What a US Open that was

Contrasting but compelling results in both the men's and women's singles events at the recently concluded US Open. Serena Williams eased through her draw as she won the US Open title. This is now her 6th trophy at Flushing Meadows and her 18th Grand Slam title overall and it puts her alongside Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert who both have that same number of majors. Only three other women have won more in history (Margaret Court with 24, Steffi Graf with 22, and Helen Wills Moody with 19).

Interestingly enough, Roger Federer was gunning for the same thing. A win her would be his 6th US Open title and his 18th overall. When Novak Djokovic was stunned in the first men's semifinal by Kei Nishikori, lots of people started thinking Federer would walk away with the title and the US Open results would be symmetrical on the men's and women's sides. However, Saturday proved to be the day of shockers. Marin Cilic played utterly sublime tennis and channeled the amazing serving ability of his coach Goran Ivanisevic as he swept past Federer en route to his first Grand Slam tournament final.

I don't think anyone in the world expected that. People were predicting a Djokovic-Federer final, a battle between the top 2 seeds of the tournament (current world #2 Rafa Nadal didn't play), and when both of them were in the semis, it seemed all but certain. Clearly, Nishikori and Cilic didn't get the memo. As such, we witnessed the first time since the Australian Open 2005 (more than 9 years ago) that not one among Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic made it to the final. It was also the first time since 1997 where both US Open men's finalists were appearing in their first ever Grand Slam event final.

In the end, Cilic maintained his superb level of play all the way to the end as he took home the title. Nishikori just didn't have the answers he had against Raonic, Wawrinka, and Djokovic. For the first time since 2003, two of the year's four majors didn't go to the tennis big three. End of an era? Maybe not, or at least not yet. But it is clear that Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are no longer as absolutely dominant as they used to be. Should be interesting to see how things pan out in 2015.