The US Open did what Grand Slams Should: Showed us who’s best

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We say that sports are about everything and anything: community, identity, fitting in and standing out. Sports are political, cultural, artistic and often deeply personal. Those stories — narrative or allegorical — are in specifics or else in the context. They manifest through sports, but not without the prism of other factors.

In truth, though, what sports are actually about — all of them, always, when stripped down to the essence — is figuring out who is better than whom. And, ultimately, who is the best .

It would get boring if it was only ever that. But sometimes the straightforward pursuit of hierarchy is enough. No history at stake, no Americans for the hometown crowd to latch onto.

When the players were introduced for the women’s final of the US Open , the crowd swelled as it was explained that first up was the woman who would assume the top ranking in the world come Monday. The emcee didn’t make this part explicit, but her opponent Saturday afternoon was the same woman she’ll replace in that spot.

Aryna Sabalenka entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the world. She entered Saturday the two-time reigning women’s singles US Open champion.

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Isn’t it just perfectly neat and tidy then that Elena Rybakina , who will replace her as the former — a fact already sealed by virtue of her performance prior to the final — also took her crown for the latter? In a clash of comparable strength and contrasting styles, Rybakina beat Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

“This game is very simple and very binary,” Martin Blackman, who spent a decade as the general manager of USTA Player Development, told CNN Sports this week. “If I’m ranked 19 and you’re ranked 18, you’re better than me, until I beat you.”

Or, as it was on Saturday, No. 2 and No. 1.

Out of four billion women alive on planet earth right now, someone is the singular best at the sport of tennis. You could credibly claim that on Saturday in Queens, New York, we found her. How’s that for the stakes to make a compelling story? No fluffy stuff, no soft focus. Just a cold-blooded clash of elite athletes with a clear winner and a clear loser.

Especially early in the match, it was so quiet in the stadium that you could hear how quiet Rybakina was. Every volley created a consistent rhythm: a reverberating “Eeyugh!” from Sabalenka followed by a beat of silence.

In the first set, Sabalenka seemed caught off guard by an opponent who could not only match her power but best it. At 6-foot, Sabalenka is tall; Rybakina is ever so slightly taller. Sabalenka serves hard and fast; but Rybakina serves faster.

When Rybakina broke Sabalenka’s serve to take a 3-2 lead in the opening set, the outgoing No. 1 responded by earning a code violation from the umpire by smacking a ball into the stands. When she clinched the first set of the match that would make her a champion, Rybakina celebrated with a subdued fist pump. If she made a sound the entire match, it wasn’t louder than the squeak of her sneakers.

Robert Deustch/Imagn Images/Reuters

See, there I go - extrapolating the simple into something bigger. Poise versus pugnacity. But Sabalenka didn’t lose because she competed in 127 carats of ostentatious custom jewelry worth $400,000. She has succeeded plenty while refusing to temper her, well, temper or anything else about her fierce and demonstrative personality. This was her fourth-straight US Open Finals appearance, and her first loss since she fell to Coco Gauff on the same stage in 2023.

She lost because Rybakina was better.

For the final point of the women’s tournament, Rybakina froze her rival with a perfect serve. Sabalenka barely budged from her defensive crouch. There was nothing she could do but watch her grip on the top spot in the sport bounce away blithely. In the immediate aftermath, she threw her racquet to the ground, retrieved it, and hugged her defeater mutely, before retreating to her bench where the racquet took a beating that bent it out of shape.

Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

New world No. 1 Elena Rybakina wins maiden US Open title in three-set thriller

Meanwhile, the woman who won did very little worth noting.

“I wish I could perform a little bit better,” Sabalenka said as part of the on-court ceremony after the match. She seemed close to tears. “But I guess next year,” she concluded, her confidence overcoming the disappointment.

By contrast, Rybakina – who, again, had already clinched the top rank in the world – seemed stunned by her own success: “I didn’t expect nothing like this coming to this tournament,” she said as pyrotechnics waited behind to erupt in fiery fanfare befitting her serve far more than her soft-spoken persona.

“It’s so difficult to play against you,” Rybakina continued, addressing her opponent directly during the post-match ceremony. Difficult, but not impossible. After all, she started her rise to No. 1 by opening the season with a win at the Australian Open over Sabalenka.

Later, in a press conference with media members, Rybakina offered an anodyne review of the rivalry. “I feel like we push each other to be better,” she said of Sabalenka. Probably she didn’t know then that her rival had already thrown down another gauntlet.

Earlier, Sabalenka had said of her own run atop the rankings, “I think it’s an incredible achievement, and I don’t even know how many weeks I was able to be there.”

Someone else in the room supplied the answer.

“99 [weeks]? Well, that’s amazing,” Sabalenka said. “Let’s see if Elena can beat me in that.”

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我们常说，体育包罗万象：它关乎社群、身份认同、融入群体和脱颖而出。体育具有政治性、文化性、艺术性，而且往往蕴含着深刻的个人意义。这些故事——无论是叙事性的还是寓言性的——都体现在具体事件或特定语境中。它们通过体育运动展现出来，但并非脱离其他因素而独立存在。

但事实上，体育运动的本质——所有体育运动，归根结底——都是在比较谁比谁更强。最终，谁才是最棒的。

如果只有这些，那就太无聊了。但有时候，直截了当地追求等级制度就足够了。没有历史包袱，也没有美国人可以依附于本地人。

当美网女单决赛的选手们被介绍出场时，现场观众顿时沸腾起来。主持人解释说，第一位出场的选手将在周一登上世界排名第一的宝座。虽然主持人没有明确说明这一点，但她周六下午的对手正是她将要取代的那位选手。

阿丽娜·萨巴伦卡以世界排名第一的身份参加了本次比赛。她是两届美国网球公开赛女单卫冕冠军。

爱德华多·穆尼奥斯/路透社

那么，埃琳娜·莱巴金娜（Elena Rybakina）取代萨巴伦卡（Sabalenka）成为前者（决赛前她的表现已经确保了这一点）的同时，也夺得了后者的桂冠，这难道不是完美无缺的吗？在实力相当但风格迥异的对决中，莱巴金娜以6-4、5-7、6-2击败了萨巴伦卡。

“这项运动非常简单，非此即彼，”曾担任美国网球协会球员发展部总经理十年的马丁·布莱克曼本周告诉CNN体育频道，“如果我排名第19，你排名第18，那么在你被我击败之前，你都比我强。”

或者，就像周六那天一样，是 2 号和 1 号。

地球上现存四十亿女性中，只有一人是网球这项运动的绝对王者。周六在纽约皇后区，我们找到了她，这足以成为一个引人入胜的故事。没有花哨的噱头，没有粉饰太平，只有精英运动员之间冷酷无情的较量，胜负分明。

比赛初期，球场内静得出奇，甚至能听出莱巴金娜的声音有多轻。每一次凌空抽射都形成一种固定的节奏：萨巴伦卡一声响亮的“哎哟！”之后，便是一阵寂静。

第一盘比赛中，萨巴伦卡似乎被对手打了个措手不及，对手不仅能与她匹敌，而且力量更胜一筹。萨巴伦卡身高1米83，身材高挑；莱巴金娜比她略高一些。萨巴伦卡的发球强劲有力且速度很快；但莱巴金娜的发球速度更快。

首盘比赛中，莱巴金娜破发萨巴伦卡，以3-2领先。这位即将卸任的世界第一随即怒击球上看台，被裁判判罚违例。最终，莱巴金娜拿下首盘，赢得了这场足以让她夺冠的比赛。她只是低调地挥了挥拳头。整场比赛，她几乎没发出任何声音，最多也就是球鞋摩擦地面的轻微摩擦声。

Robert Deustch/Imagn Images/路透社

瞧，我又来了——把简单的事情放大成复杂的东西。沉着冷静与好斗精神的较量。但萨巴伦卡输球并非因为她佩戴了价值40万美元、重达127克拉的奢华定制珠宝。她一路走来，始终保持着她那桀骜不驯、热情奔放的个性，并且取得了诸多成就。这是她连续第四次闯入美网决赛，也是自2023年在同一舞台上输给科科·高芙以来，她首次尝到败绩。

她输了，因为雷巴金娜更胜一筹。

在女子组比赛的最后一分，莱巴金娜一记完美的发球彻底击溃了对手。萨巴伦卡几乎纹丝不动地保持着防守姿势。她只能眼睁睁地看着自己对这项运动最高荣誉的掌控一点点地消失。赛后，她将球拍摔在地上，又捡起来，默默地拥抱了她的对手，然后回到替补席。球拍在那里被狠狠地摔了个稀巴烂，变形了。

Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

新晋世界第一埃琳娜·莱巴金娜在三盘激战中赢得首个美网冠军

与此同时，那位获胜的女性却几乎没有什么值得一提的成就。

“我希望自己能发挥得更好一些，”萨巴伦卡在赛后场上仪式上说道。她似乎眼眶含泪。“但我想明年吧，”她最后说道，自信战胜了失望。

相比之下，莱巴金娜——她已经再次锁定世界排名第一——似乎对自己的成功感到震惊：“我没想到来参加这次比赛会取得这样的成绩，”她说。此时，她身后的烟火正等待着爆发，那热烈的欢呼声与她的发球相比，更符合她温柔的个性。

“和你比赛太难了，”莱巴金娜在赛后仪式上直接对对手说道。难，但并非不可能。毕竟，她正是凭借在澳网击败萨巴伦卡，开启了自己登顶世界第一的征程。

之后，在与媒体的新闻发布会上，莱巴金娜对两人之间的竞争做出了轻描淡写的评价。“我觉得我们互相激励，共同进步，”她谈到萨巴伦卡时说道。或许她当时并不知道，她的对手已经向她发起了新的挑战。

此前，萨巴伦卡曾谈到自己登上世界排名第一的时期：“我认为这是一项了不起的成就，我甚至不知道我究竟保持了多少周的领先地位。”

房间里的其他人给出了答案。

“99周？哇，太不可思议了，”萨巴伦卡说。“看看埃琳娜能不能在这方面超过我。”