US Open’s one-time champs: Tales of turmoil after triumph

Of the six players with a lone Slam victory, only Emma Raducanu and Daniil Medvedev are this year's tournament

- Rutvick Mehta

It’s strange that for a city and tennis court that gave a teenager her life’s most unforgettable couple of weeks, it took her four years to feel like she was back to her “happy place”, as 2021 champion Emma Raducanu called the US Open.

“I really struggled when I came back in 2022. I didn't enjoy coming back here,” the Briton said in New York ahead of the 2025 tournament. “I think now is the first time that I feel like I can come back to the US Open and really enjoy the memories that I made here.”

‘A few other players could well relate to that sentiment - of conjuring their carer's finest memories at the US Open followed by spiralling struggles.

The season's last Major has been home to six onetime Slam winners in the last decade, across gender. Onetime wonders aren't a one-Slam phenomenon, yet at the US Open it tends to be more frequent, and the boom-and-bust cycle of the champion steeper.

Of Raducanu (2021), Daniil Medvedev (2021), Dominic Thiem (2020), Bianca Andreescu (2019), Sloane Stephens (2017) and Flavia Pennetta (2015) whose CV has the solitary Slam, only the 2021 winners are in the 2025 draw. Pennetta and Thiem have since retired while Stephens, the former world No.3 currently ranked 909, has swapped her racquet for a mic this US Open asa broadcaster.