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By Ira Kaufman
For the Mirror
Of all the sporting events I have the privilege to attend each year, the U.S. Open is one of my favorites. Over the past two weeks, I was lucky to attend 12 of the 14 days of the Open.
The 2023 Open will be forever known for one: Coco Gauff's emergence as the most dominant women's tennis player (at only 19 years old) as she captured her first grand slam title, and also Novak Djokovic cementing himself as the GOAT by winning his record 24th grand slam championship.
The Open is truly an experience, even if you are not a tennis fan.
The cheapest and most exciting way to attend the Open is to spend the first four days bouncing between the courts outside the two main stadiums with a grounds' ticket. Some of the biggest upsets and most exciting matches occur on these courts, and the tickets are mostly general admission.
For some matches, I literally sat right next to the players' towel box and could hear the players try to catch their breath in between points.
For many other matches, I sat near right behind one of the players' boxes, which were filled with their family members, coaches and trainers. Coaching is now permitted, and it was interesting this year to see the interaction between the players and their coaches between points.
Coco debuted at the Open when she was just 15 and has steadily improved, but after a disappointing Wimbledon first-round loss in July, her decision to change coaches to Pere Riba and television commentator Brad Gilbert has elevated her.
Ashe Stadium is now Coco's home court, and for at least the next decade, her opponents will need to be at their absolute best to defeat Coco in her house.
Another American player who had a "hello world" moment was 20 -year-old Ben Shelton. Even though Ben's father was a pro tennis player and his mother was a top junior player, Ben grew up playing other sports, most notably football, and did not even begin to play tennis until he was 12.
I had watched Ben play on TV, but I didn't appreciate just how incredibly talented and athletic he was until I saw him play in person. Plus he's 6-foot-4. While most players struggled in the heat and humidity, Ben looked like he could have played all day.
Djokovic was laser focused on winning the title, considering his history at the Open. In 2020, he was defaulted for accidentally hitting a linesperson with a ball; in 2021, he lost in the finals and denied a chance of winning the Grand Slam; in 2022, he was banned from the tournament for his vaccination status, and in July at Wimbledon, he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in an all-time great match.
The expected finals rematch with No. 1 seed and fan favorite, Alcaraz, did not occur because, in my opinion, Carlos took his semifinal opponent, Danill Medvedev, too lightly.
Djokovic avenged his 2021 loss (which denied Djokovic a chance to win the grand slam) by beating Medvedev in three sets on Sunday.
If I was the King of Tennis, I would move the men's final to Tuesday night and not have it scheduled against the first weekend of the NFL.
After the match, Djokovic gave a remarkable tribute to Kobe Bryant upon Joker's winning his 24th title (Kobe wore No. 24) by saying that in 2018, when Djokovic's career was in doubt after elbow surgery, it was Kobe's calls and talks that fueled his comeback.
There was some concern that without Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the U.S. Open would lose some luster. But the tournament set an all-time attendance record of 800k fans and was filled with phenomenal players, matches and story lines.
I can't wait until next year.
Ira Kaufman, an Altoona native, hosts IRA on Sports on trueoldiesfla.com on Monday night from 7-8 p.m. It is also available on Soundcloud & iTUNES, search Ira On Sports.