The 2019 US Open is over, it is done, until 2020, when Flushing Meadows opens up again.
Let’s start with the women, those who went deep, and those were the good players who lost, and who were very disappointed.
But first, the three-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters announced that she will return, on court, even though she is 36 years old. Of course, she loves to play, and that is why she will return in January.
She retired seven years ago, she won two US Opens and the Australian Open. She has won so many events, “only” 41 titles. She won on different surfaces, but when she competed, she liked the hardcourts much better.
Clijsters was always very fast, side-to-side especially, her forehand and her backhand was hard and deep, and towards the end, she mixed it up better. She is bright, she can focus and she can really think, on court and off. She now has three children, and they are old enough to see her watch the match.
But can Clijsters win another Grand Slam? Sure, she can, but it will be difficult, as the young players have become better, and they will take on anyone. They won’t be afraid. Just like the Belgian, when she start playing on the court, she will go for the lines and slide so close to the ground. And off the court, she will laugh, because when she started at the WTA 20 years ago, she would always smile. She will do it again.
We already covered Bianca Andreescu, who won the 2019 US Open title. She is just so powerful and thoughtful. As I said before, if she stays healthy, she will reach No. 1 early next year…
In the semis, she out-hit Belinda Bencic, which was a little bit surprising, because I always thought the Swiss would win the title. When she is feeling great, she can swing away, left and right, and she can be very patient. But she isn’t quite there yet. There are times when she gets frustrated, and she over-thinks. We will know next year, but as long she doesn’t get hurt, she will be right there again.
There are two players who have a chance to becoming No. 1, the No. 2 Karolina Pliskova and the No. 3 Elina Svitolina, but they have yet to win a Grand Slam yet. So many times, it looked like the huge-hitter Pliskova was going to grab it, and then she falls back. She can look fantastic at times, but at the majors, she checks out at some point. ..
Svitolina is younger than Pliskova, so perhaps next year the Ukranian will reach the final at a major. She reached the semis last week, and it looked like she was going to seriously push Serena Williams, but the American destroyed her. Yes, Williams can play terrific, and she did during the match, but Svitolina was very erratic. She has to keep her head up …
The former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki lost pretty early in the third round, losing to Andreescu. At the end of the tournament, then we knew that the Canadian is a darn good player, but if you look at this year, Wozniacki hasn’t won much. Clearly, she has been hurt over the past year, but before that, the 29-year-old played all the time. Every week, just abpuy. Eventually, her body begins to break down. How long will Wozniacki will continue to play, or retire? That is very hard to say. She just got married this season (to the former NBA basketball player, the American David Lee), so maybe she will want to have a child. She has always loved playing tennis. She is sort of the same with Clijsters: they both just want to crush the ball, as a winner, of course.
It should be mentioned that the No. 1 Ash Barty has had a fantastic year, and I would think that she could finish No. 1, in October, when it ends. Yes, she lost at the US Open, put she also won Roland Garros. That was gigantic, and be with her as the first important step in her career.
