Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.

This week, a riveting and discourse-laden U.S. Open ended with a new queen at the top of women’s tennis and a second men’s Grand Slam title for a player who waited longer than most for his moment.

In the women’s final, Elena Rybakina backed up her rise to the top of the sport by dethroning reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka. Rybakina, a 27-year-old who represents Kazakhstan, becomes world No. 1 as of this week. Saturday in New York, she manacled Sabalenka, registering a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win to lift her first U.S. Open trophy — her third Grand Slam title overall and second of the year.

In the men’s final Sunday, No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev deflated Ben Shelton and the New York City crowd by winning his first U.S. Open title. The 29-year-old German staved off a budding comeback from the 23-year-old American to win 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 and claim the second major title of his career — and of 2026.

Here, Ava Wallace, Matt Futterman and James Hansen present their takeaways from the final Grand Slam of 2026, from the best matches and biggest upsets to their abiding memories.

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How Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton made tennis history

Ava Wallace and Johnny Sweet

Best match?

Ava Wallace: Watching Alex Eala and Iva Jović light up Arthur Ashe Stadium in the third round felt special. Jović, 18, of the U.S. defeated the Philippines’ Eala, 21, in three sets, but the outcome was not what mattered.

The tennis was captivating, the atmosphere was exciting, but beyond that, it felt like a match that could only happen the way it happened at this exact moment in both of these rising young stars’ careers.

Matt Futterman: Ben Shelton vs. Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. A 3:33 a.m. finish, in which rackets and balls and deuces and commercials were mere details in the roars and cheers and can-you-top-this? feats of artistry.

James Hansen: Naomi Osaka vs. Elise Mertens in the third round of the women’s draw. In the men’s, it’s probably Shelton vs. Alcaraz, but a special mention to the epic between American wild card Sebastian Gorzny and Belgium’s Raphaël Collignon in the first round on Court 11.

Favorite match?

Wallace: Frances Tiafoe’s fourth-round barnstormer against Daniil Medvedev was so joyful. There were so many highlight-reel points, and Louis Armstrong Stadium was the perfect court for it. Medvedev was understandably unhappy after, but it was a fabulous showing of what Tiafoe’s game looks like when he’s really firing. I wish more players came to the net as often (and as confidently) as he does.

Futterman: Shelton vs. Tiafoe in the semifinals. A match that was part of a much larger arc of history in American sports, which both players felt in the best kind of way.

Hansen: For sheer drama, s–––housery, whinging, underarm serving and so nearly a stunning recovery from oblivion, the one France’s Térence Atmane played during a cramp-stricken first-round defeat against Jaume Munar of Spain.

Favorite quote?

Wallace: “You forget, I am also crazy.”

That was Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, giving an earnest response to the on-court interviewer calling him “energetic and dynamic” after his first-round, five-set win over Francisco Comesaña of Argentina.

Futterman: “He suffocates you with his movement.”

Tommy Paul on Alcaraz in a news conference after losing to him in the fourth round.

Hansen: “My dad came up. He was, like, ‘You accomplished so many great things this summer’. I was, like, ‘I don’t care about the summer’.”

Coco Gauff, encapsulating the tennis player’s existence after semifinal defeat to Rybakina.

Best moment?

Wallace: One of the best moments of the year, not just this tournament: Tiafoe jogging over from the other side of the court to bear-hug a sobbing Alex Michelsen, after coming from two sets down to break his heart in their quarterfinal. 

Futterman: Tiafoe’s volleys on Louis Armstrong to save set points in the third-set tiebreak against Medvedev. No one holds a shot and a crowd the way Tiafoe does at the U.S. Open:

Hansen: The end of Emma Navarro’s win over Loïs Boisson in the first round. As Navarro smiled and acclaimed the crowd, Boisson smashed her racket on the court directly behind her.

Worst moment?

Wallace: The dawning realization that the U.S. Tennis Association was, in fact, going to let Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin walk onto court after midnight. 

Futterman: Alexander Zverev bouncing a tennis ball between serves.

Hansen: Every time a new U.S. Open fan discourse landed in the stadium. The U.S. Open has been raucous, busy and full of people taking photos for years. But the ticket resale prices were a real low and they are badly in need of tournament regulation.

Best player not to reach the quarterfinals?

Wallace: Iga Świątek. I thought she had a chance to win this thing a month ago. 

Futterman: Serena and Venus Williams: An incredible match from two women with a combined age of 90 in the first round of the doubles, even if they could not quite get over the line.

Hansen: It’s Novak Djokovic, and it means an awful lot.

Abiding memory?

Wallace: Either watching the objectively terrible Shelton vs. Denis Shapovalov third-round match that went until 2:15 a.m., because it encapsulated how brutally late some of this U.S. Open was, or the image of Alcaraz grinning like a madman as he walked off Arthur Ashe after losing to Shelton in the quarterfinals.

Futterman: “Sweet Caroline” on the sound system at 2:48 a.m. during Alcaraz vs. Shelton and something like 10,000 people rocking along.

Hansen: Walking out of the complex and seeing which early hour of the morning was showing on the clocks around the grounds. To lay some cards on the table: best-of-five-set tennis happening four times a year doesn’t destroy everything else; there was nothing to be done about that 3:33 am finish without unintended consequences and there doesn’t appear to be a good solution to these late nights yet. But they were still late, and there were a lot of them.

Shot of the tournament

Not so much a shot but a series of increasingly ludicrous ones. It can only be this point between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz in their record-setting quarterfinal:

🏆 The winners of the week

🎾 ATP: 

🏆 Alexander Zverev (1) def. Ben Shelton (8) 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 to win the U.S. Open in New York City. It is his second Grand Slam title.

🎾 WTA:

🏆 Elena Rybakina (2) def. Aryna Sabalenka (1) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to win the U.S. Open in New York City. It is her third Grand Slam title.

📈📉 On the rise / Down the line

📈 Elena Rybakina moves up one place from No. 2 to No. 1, ascending to the top of women’s tennis for the first time.
📈 Ben Shelton ascends five spots from No. 9 to No. 4, a career-high ranking.
📈 Qinwen Zheng reenters the top 60 after rising 69 spots from No. 121 to No. 52.
📈 Michael Zheng climbs 19 places from No. 107 to No. 88, a career-high ranking.

📉 Novak Djokovic falls seven spots from No. 5 to No. 12, leaving the top 10 for the first time since July 2018.
📉 Barbora Krejčíková slides nine places from No. 29 to No. 38.
📉 Jan-Lennard Struff tumbles 21 spots from No. 44 to No. 65.
📉 Daria Kasatkina moves down 24 places from No. 61 to No. 85.

📅 Coming up

🎾 ATP 

📍Various locations: Davis Cup qualifiers featuring Taylor Fritz, Rafael Jódar, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Kwon Soon-woo.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV

🎾 WTA

📍Guadalajara, Mexico: Guadalajara Open (250) featuring Janice Tjen, Bianca Andreescu, Loïs Boisson, Taylor Townsend.
📍São Paulo: SP Open (250) featuring Leylah Fernandez, Paula Badosa, Solana Sierra, Naná Silva.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel

Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.