US Open Takeaways: No. 9, Sharapova swings away

This 17-point roundup is about the men and women who put it all on or inside the lines at the rowdiest major event of the season. The hits started early, and they simply kept coming.

Check out No. 10 here.

9

If not simply the best quote of this U.S. Open, she certainly delivered its most marketable.

"Behind all these Swarovski crystals and little black dresses, this girl's got a lot of grit, and she's not going anywhere," Maria Sharapova told on-court interviewer Tom Rinaldi after her first-round takedown of No. 2 Simona Halep in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Product placement and all, Sharapova spoke truth. In her post-meldonium world, she and Halep gave tennis fans one of the most spirited, well-contested matches at this season's major finale. Shame that it arrived in the first round, when so many balls were yet to be struck and star turns yet to be taken.

Still, Sharapova made the most of her stay in New York City, the site of one of her five Grand Slam crownings. Sartorially speaking, she harked back to yesteryear's Audrey Hepburn–inspired LBD, in which she beat Justine Henin for her lone U.S. Open title. She gained or retained admirers even amidst all the cries – yea, the un-self-conscious shrieks – on social media and elsewhere that she should never have received a wild-card entry to the event in the first place.

There came a time when that was beside the point. And leave it to Sharapova to flip the script to suit her. Against higher-ranked though ultimately lesser foes, she walked out first onto stadium court – yes, always stadium court – and was visibly beyond glad to be competing again.

When it was over, after Sharapova had fallen to No. 16 seed Anastasija Sevastova in three struggle-y sets in which the Russian's game wobbled against a tricksy foe, she knew what had gone wrong. If "Fight Song" had been pumped through the stadium speakers after she beat Halep, "Let's Get Physical" was not to be her anthem on that day of fourth-round action.

The girl may have grit yet, and in spades. She also has grace, which we'd known before. She also showed in New York, even more so than she did when returning from what could have been career-ending shoulder surgery in the aughts, a different attribute: gratefulness.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.