My Take on the Recent U.S. Open Tennis Tournament

The U.S. Open major tennis tournament has just ended...it began on August 30th.  Being at home in my current situation with a lot of time to watch TV, I picked up on it in the first round of the men's and women's singles divisions...each of which had 128 entrants to play for the title over seven successive rounds.  Naturally, ESPN, which carried the tournament, couldn't show all the early matches but I still saw enough to get to know some of the principals.  Novak Djokovic was aiming for a calendar year Grand Slam, not accomplished on the men's side since Rod Laver...in attendance for the finale...won the four majors in 1969.  Aiding him in his quest this year, after winning the first three majors, was the absence of 2020 Open champion Dominic Thiem..as well as superstars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer...all from injuries.  Still, there was stiff competition from others, including Daniil Medvedev, whom Djokovic had defeated in the Australian Open finale at the beginning of the year.  Djokovic seemed to struggle early on in each round I saw, but wore his opponent down in the later sets.  As for his final adversary, Medvedev, I did see him play until he faced Djokovic, and in that match he was nearly perfect with his placements, serves, and strategy while the Grand Slam aspirant seemed flat much of the time. Medvedev won the title in three straight sets and was clearly the better player that day.  On the women's side I remember seeing 18-year-old Emma Raducanu play very well in some early matches but didn't think she would last all the way to the final match, which she won in straight sets over 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez, another player seeming to come out of nowhere to upset higher-ranked players, including defending Open champion Naomi Osaka,  Angelique Kerber, Evita Svitolina, and Aryna Sabalenka.  It was fun getting to know the different players with their idiosyncrasies, but I was often annoyed at the heckling from some in the spectator stand against players they disliked.  For most of the earlier matches the crowd was clearly vocal against Djokovic but turned in his favor when the end drew near...pretty fickle of them if you ask me.  I also enjoyed the TV commentators, including Chrissie Evert and John McEnroe.  What made this tournament more meaningful than others I've seen is that I was able to watch the weekday afternoon and evening matches, something that normally would conflict with my work schedule.  It was a bit scary the night that the remnant of Ida struck New York City (Queens), the site of the tournament: not only did the intense rain interfere with the matches by rendering some of the courts useless, but many fans, upon leaving the stadium, found themselves in the middle of a driving flood with water up to their knees or even higher.  I'm looking forward to seeing the Williams sisters, Nadal, and Federer return to the court, although it looks as if the younger players are rising up to take over.  By the way, it's no accident that I didn't refer to the different players' affiliated countries: I'm sick of the crass nationalism on the part of some that gets in the way of appreciating and respecting the players' individual talent, fortitude and discipline that got them there in the first place...