After fifteen days of heated competition, Arthur Ashe Stadium is empty, quiet without its newly crowned champions and eager spectators. Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, ranked first and second tennis players in the world, bagged millions for their victories over Victoria Azarenka and Novak Djokovic, respectively.
Rafael Nadal logged 201 games and 23 sets with 150 unforced errors along the way; Serena Williams completed 120 games and 15 sets, as women traditionally play fewer sets than the men do at the Open, and counted 114 unforced errors. Both have overcome significant injuries to garner the US Open title. Serena Williams,
whose recent win marked her 17th Grand Slam title, was hospitalized in 2011 and treated for blood clots in her lungs as well as a pulmonary embolism. Rafael Nadal, winner of 13 Grand Slams, recently overcame a serious knee injury, which kept him from competing in last year’s US Open.
Despite the injuries, the heat, and the matches that ran overtime, the US Open has crowned its champions, two true tennis greats. Nadal and Williams are legendary, but rumored to be retiring in the near future. At the speculated close of their careers and the Open’s finale, the two remain, as always, champions.