US Open Takeaways: #1, Sloane Ranger

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

Check out No. 2 here.

Sloane Stephens was having a hard time. Seven weeks ago, she had dropped her second consecutive match in her comeback from foot surgery. She was in Washington, D.C., and she remained fairly upbeat about it. "Eventually I will beat someone," she told the press, with a wink in her eye and in her voice.

She wasn't wrong. The victories came, including two at the expense of a Wimbledon winner, Petra Kvitova, and more stars of the sport. Then all eyes descended on New York, and Stephens, over seven matches, didn't bat a lash. She didn't blink.

She did, however, recoil at the sight of an insect and drop out of her chair at one point:

It was the Anastasija Sevastova match—a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) bout—that revealed how thoughtfully Stephens could play tennis. Then her semifinal quirkfest against Venus Williams—a 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 oddity—showed just how truly athletic she is. Scampering for shots Venus landed behind and/or far from her, Stephens outlasted her elder, her contemporary, her "leader."

To the final she went, Sloane Stephens, with a world of expectations on her to claim the title. She edged out Madison Keys in the oddsmakers' eyes going in, and then she pasted any plans that Keys had to the court. And with that, she garnered a $3.7 million payday ...

... and the ensuing week's Sports Illustrated cover placement.

This is a 24-year-old with a wonderful story, from loss and setback to the pinnacle of her sport. From finding herself fatherless while at the US Open transporation tent to flying up the rankings from No. 957 in the world to No. 17 in less than two months.

It's a shocking rise to the top for Sloane Stephens, who has hovered near it before. With her final two victories at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, everything has changed.

"When Venus made her Open debut in 1997 and went all the way to the final, she was called a 'party crasher,'" Steve Tignor wrote for TENNIS after this event concluded. "Twenty years later, African-Americans are no longer the outliers in U.S. women’s tennis; they’re the tradition."

Stephens won her title with grace, surrendering just three games to Keys in the final, but showing kindness for her disappointed foe after the last ball had been struck. As to how it felt beating Madison Keys to win title, Stephens had one word for late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel: "Sucky."

She expounded on her answer from there, and with the huge championship that is hers now, her orbit is expanding. There she is on the SI cover, to be sure, and also on programs hosted by Kimmel, Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, and the rest of their ilk.

Consider this: Stephens had won a total of six matches at her previous six Grand Slam events leading into this U.S. Open. She then won seven, of course, to grab the title.

With that in mind, she must think there's not much she can't do at this point. Over two weeks' time, she made the Big Apple – if not the world – her oyster.

Follow Jon on Twitter: @jonscott9.