american sloane stephens dominated american madison keys 6-3, 6-0 on saturday to win the 2017 u.s. open singles championship in new york. stephens collected $3.7 million for capturing her first major singles title in her first major singles final.
stephens, 24, warmly embraced her compatriot and close friend keys at the net after match point. about the hefty paycheck, she later joked, "i should just retire now. i told maddie i'm never going to be able to top this. i mean, talk about a comeback." she missed 11 months due to foot surgery.
the 83rd ranked stephens is only the second unseeded women to win the tournament since the open era began in 1968. she beat five seeded players along the way. her 2017 record since losing first round matches at wimbledon and washington is 15-2, and her ranking, which plummeted to #943 last year, will be #17 on monday.
this was only the second time in the open era two women made their grand slam final debuts against each other in new york. the first two women to achieve that feat were serena and venus williams in 2002. all four women are black - a powerful cultural dynamic in a historically lily-white sport.
rafael nadal of spain defeated kevin anderson of south africa 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on sunday to win the 2017 u.s. open singles championship in new york. nadal collected $3.7 million in capturing his third career u.s. open title and 16th major singles crown.
the world #1 struggled in 2015 and 2016 with knee and wrist injuries, but played in three grand slam finals this year. nadal lost the australian open to roger federer, dominated stan wawrinka for a record 10th french open and beat anderson, 31, the lowest-ranked (#28) u.s. open finalist since 1973.
"i always accepted all the challenges that my career present to me. the good news and the negative news, i accepted in the same way, in a very natural way. i am a person that i don't have much ups and downs. when i am in a negative moment, i don't go very down. when i am in a positive moment, probably like now, i don't believe that i am that good," nadal said.
not since pete sampras at wimbledon in 2000 had a man won a grand slam title without facing any opponent ranked in the top 20. five top 10 players withdrew due to injuries; as such, nadal, 31, did not have to face past defending champions andy murray, novak djokovic and stan wawrinka. federer lost to juan martin del potro in the quarterfinals, and nadal beat him in the semifinals.
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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