Djokovic and Gauff among winners and losers from 2023 US Open

The 2023 US Open is now finished and what an excellent tournament it was. We saw some high-level tennis (of course!) and some weirdness as well. In the end, we had a familiar face win on the men’s side and a new face be victorious on the women’s side.

We learned a lot about some players on both sides. Madison Keys, for instance, can still hit away with the best. Meanwhile, Holger Rune (a first-round loser) isn’t quite ready to challenge Carlos Alcaraz for the foreseeable future.

But New York was New York and the crowds were rowdy. Maybe sometimes even a bit too much. So who were the winners and losers from the final Grand Slam of the year?

US Open 2023 winners and losers

Winner No. 1 – Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff, of course, won the women’s singles title, but this is by far the reason she is the biggest winner of the US Open. Prior to the tournament, one could just feel the slow burn of the ascending star that Coco Gauff has now become. She has a fantastic personality, and women’s tennis honestly just does better when there is a top American player. Guaff could easily become number 1 in 2024 and stay there for some time.

Now Coco Gauff is all over the United States news doing interviews and being highlighted in the intro to the news. This is not only a great thing for the player, though. This is an excellent thing for the sport. So really, tennis fans everywhere are winners because of what Coco Gauff accomplished.

Loser No. 1 – Iga Swiatek

Poor Swiatek lost a lot over the US Open fortnight. Her top ranking was taken by US Open runner-up Aryna Sabalenka, and her tournament title was claimed by Coco Gauff. Swiatek is now the number 2 player on the WTA tour, but Gauff is gaining on her quickly. By the time the Australian Open is done in January, Swiatek could be no better than third in the world.

Winner No. 2 – Novak Djokovic

24. Just think about that number for a minute. That represents two more Grand Slams than any other male player ever and ties Margaret Court for the all-time lead in major titles. And no offense to Court, but she played in a different time and likely wouldn’t have gotten to 24 had she played in a slightly later era.

But Djokovic didn’t just win the US Open. He proved once again he could defeat any who oppose him as he wasn’t allowed to play in the United States last year. And he got revenge against Daniil Medvedev who defeated Djokovic in the 2021 US Open final.

Loser No. 2 – Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz is going to get back to being number 1 on the ATP likely by the end of the year. Djokovic has points to defend at upcoming tournaments and because Alcaraz was injured late last year, he has none. Djokovic could keep winning and still lose his top ranking.

But for whatever reason, Alcaraz hasn’t played with the same quality he did at Wimbledon. He just didn’t seem ready to take the mantle of Wimbledon champion and carry that into his next tournaments. He hasn’t won a title since the grass-court major. He even said that he needs to be more mature. But, of course, in 10 years we will probably be discussing Carlos Alcaraz and his 15-plus major titles.