“I was just glad that, finally, the run is over. At the same time, I felt sadness, disappointment — and also gratitude for the crowd and for that special moment that they’ve created for me on the court.” Novak Djokovic came up just short of his quest to win a calendar year grand slam. But in doing so, he showed he’s human. That was a lesson tennis crowds needed to learn. Djokovic’s bid for year Slam ends against Medvedev. Just look at this photo of Novak reacting to the crowd chanting his name as it became clear he wouldn’t reach his goal. At long last, he felt the tennis love.

+ Daniil Medvedev earned his way to his first grand slam title. And in a US Open dominated by youth, he went full kid by borrowing a celebration from a video game.

+ “British teenager Emma Raducanu arrived in New York last month with a ranking of 150th, just one Grand Slam appearance to her name and a flight booked to head out of town after the U.S. Open’s preliminary rounds in case she failed to win her way into the main tournament.” Qualifier to champion: Britain’s Raducanu, 18, wins US Open. Unthinkable. Raducanu said her initial goal was to win enough prize money to replace her lost AirPods.