We learned that men's tennis has entered a new golden age, and that women's tennis is in disrepair. (Though that didn't stop the women's final from being surprisingly riveting, and the men's final from being something of a bore.)

We noticed that American men like Andy Roddick and James Blake are in the twilight of their careers, but that strong new Americans are emerging -- with more compelling fan support.

We ate (lots of) hot dogs and more exotic fare, and we marveled at the number of pizzas and hamburgers that everyone else consumed.

We walked the grounds and found hoodies, smokers, Anna Wintour, a perky lady with great skin, and some free beer.

We admired Obama earrings and drank Honey Deuces.

We watched, with amazement, as Novak Djokovic transformed himself into a villain, but we found an Austrian lefty to fill the void in our heart.

We talked to Maria Sharapova about her lack of interest in the Open, and we entered the stormy mind of Jelena Jankovic.

And we watched Roger and Serena, each desperate to win, return to the top.

What a year! We'll see you in 2009, by which time an oversized T.G.I. Friday's will have replaced our beloved Shea Stadium.

-- John & Zack

The Roger Federer of old returned this evening and dispatched Andy Murray in a quick and breezy 1 hour, 51 minutes, in three sets, at 6-2, 7-5, 6-2

It was evident early on that Federer wasn't going to let Murray touch him tonight. He blitzed when he needed to, and showed that elegant game that he displayed to devastating effect against Novak Djokovic in the semis.

With Federer's triumphant return, men's tennis leaves this U.S. Open in its best shape in two decades. The parity is incredible: Djokovic grabbed a championship, Nadal found a way to win on clay and grass, Federer won, and newcomer Andy Murray has nudged his way awfully close to the first-tier of top tennis players in the world.

We've entered a new golden age, and Federer just capped off an incredibly stirring 2008 season for the game.

If he plays anything like the way he played yesterday, Roger Federer might have a real test.

But then again, these matches often come down to big-situation experience (please see: Serena v. Jankovic last night, or Djokovic v. Federer, 2007 U.S. Open final). Prior to this tournament, the 21-year-old Murray had never done better than the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam; Federer has won 12, and has been in the finals in 12 of the last 13 Grand Slams.

Reporters in the press center will be writing B-copy for two story lines: Can Federer shut up all his critics and win his first Grand Slam of the year, his 13th of his career, and his fifth consecutive Open? And can Murray put his stamp on the game and nudge his way into the game's elite group of Federer-Nadal-Djokovic with a major upset?

Murray owns the head-to-head against Federer (he's 2-1), but Federer hasn't lost here since 2003.

In a graceful press conference after his semifinal loss against Andy Murray, though, Rafael Nadal told the truth: Murray just played better.

"Injuries? What injuries?" he said in response to a question which seemed to assume that Nadal must have been dealing with a handicap. "No, no. Not one during all the season."

So, if it wasn't Nadal's injuries, what could possibly have led to this unforeseen victory?!?! "He play better than me and he beat me."

Simple.

In six hours, there will be more than 23,000 fans here.

Serena Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic in an often nervous but ultimately riveting match 6-4, 7-5.

It lasted over 2 hours, including a 1 hour, 17 minute second set that brought everything to the table: dramatic rallies, set points saved, a match point saved, key errors and stirring winners.

For Serena, it was a coronation of a long road traveled back to the top spot (literally--she's now the no. 1 player in the world). With the top players in women's tennis knocked away with an injury (Sharapova), early retirement (Henin) and a bad loss (Ivanovic), the sport is rewarding the player who hung around the longest, even if it wasn't exactly playing the best tennis we've seen from the game, or the best tennis we've seen from her.

Jankovic had her chances, including four set points when she was serving 5-4 in the second set. But she hit into key double faults, and, in the match, won an inexcusably low 54 percent of her points off her first serve; it was her first Grand Slam final, and it clearly showed. Serena herself was only 2 of 12 on break point chances in the second set.

Even if the match wasn't perfect, it was certainly dramatic. Thanks to her fitness, Jankovic has a knack for inducing really long rallies, and when Serena is in the heat of the match there's nothing she loves much than a long rally. Ultimately, Serena's strength--mental and physical--is what led to her to the victory.

In flashes, Serena's performance tonight reminded me of the Serena Williams that last won here in 2002 and dominated the game so profoundly five years ago. She's back at the top now by virtue of the game's problems just as much as her own determination, but she has the chance to prove that she, unlike every player after Justine Henin retired, is a worthy No. 1.

Case in point: Novak Djokovic.

Last year, in his two weeks at the Open, Djokovic transformed himself, on our stage, before our very eyes, from a gifted-but-little-known Serbian up-and-comer into a full-fledged star. Yes, it had much to do with his daring, nerveless play, but it was more than that.

Robert De Niro and wife Grace Hightower sat in the Djokovic player's box during his Open final against Roger Federer; they treated him to dinner at Nobu during the tournament and at Wakiya after he lost the final. Maria Sharapova cheered him on every step of the way, and rumors started running high that they began dating at the Open.

He was a total stud.

"To get, you know, American people behind you, especially a crowd here in U.S. Open, is not so easy," he said last year. "Obviously they like my character on and off the court."

That was last year. By the end of his run at the 08, U.S. Open all that good will was lost.

After he lost to Roger Federer in the semis, The New York Post called him a "villain," the New York crowd began booing him. When he was asked about what he would take away from the tournament, he bristled.

"Well, look," he said, "I just want to forget some things, you know, as soon as possible."

Oddly, it was nearly all self-inflicted.

On Thursday night, in a quarter-final match against Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic won a tough, hard-fought match in four sets.

Naturally, most of the crowd support belonged to the American, Roddick. Rather than acting graciously in defeat, Djokovic used his post-match on-court interview as a way to exact some revenge on Roddick, who had poked fun at Djokovic for making a meal of various unspectacular physical ailments.

"Well obviously, you know, Andy was saying I have 16 injuries after last match, so obviously I don't, right?," said Djokovic in the very public interview.

The boos began to rain down, but Djokovic wasn't fazed.

"Like it or not, it's like that," he said.

The USA anchor Michael Barkann tried to get him out of it, but Djokovic dug himself deeper.

"Well, I know, they're already against me because they think I'm faking everything, so it's alright." he said.

He wasn't quite done, but that was that.

"That's not nice, anyhow, to say in front of this crowd that I have 16 injuries and that I'm faking it," he went on.

"He’s a professional and he knows he’s got to pay the consequences for his behavior, good or bad," said his agent Benito Pérez-Barbadillo after the match.

And he would.

When he came out for his match yesterday against Roger Federer, the crowd was completely against him; at one point, when someone shouted something just as he was about to serve, he threw up his arms in an expression of exasperation, if not something stronger.

There was a way to handle this. Roger Federer, who beat Andre Agassi in back-to-back Opens in 2004 and 2005, and then beat James Blake in 2006 and Andy Roddick in 2007, found a way to stay popular, or at least reasonably well-liked here. This year, he's become a sentimental hero in a way that Agassi or Sampras did.

Still, it's a particular wonder that Djokovic now finds himself in this situation.

The anticipation was so high again for him this year that when he strolled onto the rooftop of the Empire Hotel on West 63rd street the Friday night before the Open at a Heineken-sponsored tennis party packed with celebs, he was treated like royalty. Party-planners told him how they were waiting for him to arrive all night, and how he must get a stamp so he could go into the VIP-section; and a Maria Sharapova-handler said that she was asking for him all night.

Then again, maybe we knew this would be happen. Last year, when Djokovic was just emerging, the veteran Times columnist George Vecsey warned me that the Djokovic adoration wasn't a permanent phenomenon.

"He'll get bored with it after a year," he said. "It's refreshing right now because it's so new, but then he'll get bored with telling the same life story over and over again.

"He won't be as funny or expressive," he continued. "All it'll take is one bad experience."

It is, also, bigger than a Saturday night match or a Sunday evening match--the traditional time for the women's and men's finals, respectively--and the biggest primetime slot ever dedicated for tennis: 9 p.m., CBS, Sunday night (the only other primetime Sunday night match was that ridiculous "Battle of the Sexes" exhibition in 1973).

The downside is that the women's final will have plenty of competition tonight: NBC has the first Sunday night football game of the 2008 NFL season; ABC has a primetime benefit concert that's featuring Janet Jackson and Jessica Simpson; MTV has the Video Music Awards; HBO has the season premiere of Entourage.

But! It's women's tennis on a Sunday night with tons of ratings potential. The USTA is giddy over the fact that they've got Serena Williams to showcase their game in an Open final for the first time since 2002.

It's also going to be a really good match. For all the talk over Jelena Jankovic's nerves, and her inability to win in big matches, she's never really crumbled under high pressure. Last year when she played Venus Williams in an incredibly close quarterfinal match at the Open, Venus took command to win it--Jelena didn't choke.

With expectations sky high for Serena, don't be surprised if we have a major upset tonight.

"Oh, I'm not talking about politics tonight!" she said, frowning faintly and shaking her blonde, well-coiffed head. Instead, she discussed her friendship with Ms. King—"We're always getting or giving each other awards"—who was just then milling about with Monica Seles and the first female president of the United States Tennis Association, Jane Brown Grimes.

"I watched the Bobby Riggs match," Ms. Walters said, referring to the supremely-hyped 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" exhibition that Ms. King is best remembered for. She defeated and humbled Riggs, a former Wimbledon star-turned-hustler: he claimed the men's game was vastly superior to the women's. But this year, people don't seem to care very much about the women athletes either. How depressing!

Ms. Walters didn't think so. "That was an enormous occasion for women, and it changed women's tennis for all time," she said of the tournament. The View doyenne went on to mention that she feels this is the talk-show's best year yet. "We're all very happy. We've had the political candidates on in the past, and we're going to have them again."

Really? The ladies didn't give a particularly blissed-out impression during the September 2 kick-off of their 12th season. In fact, they seemed pretty fed-up with each other, even after a vacation! Doesn't it get extra-stressful at that varnished "Hot Topic" table, particularly during election season?

"It's not stressful... It's wonderful to be able to get on and argue about all the different candidates. I have to be a little careful, because I try to be somewhat impartial," she said. "But everybody else on the program has very strong opinions, and that makes it fun."

Inside the elegantly lit Bowery Savings building, dozens of guests circulated around the tables of charity auction items, including a private Andre Agassi hit session in Las Vegas that sold for $16,000. We found Ms. King calmly applying a last coat of lipstick in a small room off the edge of the ballroom, just before the presentation of her award. Given her blazing career of 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles tennis titles and her own life-long fight for equal rights both in and outside of the tennis court, we wondered: What was her take on the media's treatment of Republican vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin?

"Now we're back to the experience. Remember how they were talking about how the experience for Hillary wasn't necessary? Do you notice how they're talking about experience again? I'm just cracking up. I'm just like, whatever!" Ms. King said. "I think Palin's great. I think she's awesome. I think she's honest, I think she's real."

But would the Governor of Alaska have been so quick to release public statements about her family if her daughter Bristol was revealed to be gay, instead of pregnant? "That was one question I had in my mind," said Ms. King, who was first prominent professional female athlete to come out. "I have no idea. Her, I think she'd embrace the child and then have to start thinking about the issue."

As someone tapped her on the shoulder, Ms. King paused for one last question. We had to know how on earth Regis Philbin managed to win their amusing little Court 13 match, which had aired on Live: With Regis and Kelly that morning. Mr. Philbin seemed to be barely breaking a sweat and, post-win, appeared to fancy himself the next Roger Federer.

"He edited it the way he wanted it!" laughed Ms. King. "You always let the host win. Psychologically. Always. That's what you're supposed to do," she said, nodding confidently as she glided out the door.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, Ms. King issued a statement to 365gay.com affirming her support for Barack Obama. The statement reads:

Murray just defeated the 5-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in four sets, winning the fourth set on the biggest stage in tennis with a 6-4 victory. He broke Nadal twice, and owned the entire game on his racquet. In the match, he had 65 winners, and 54 errors, compared to the 32 and 40 for Nadal.

Unfortunately, we will not have a Nadal and Federer final for a third consecutive Grand Slam. The good news is Murray is worthy of the men's finals--this is clearly his breakthrough tournament and he absolutely exhausted Nadal today. He won it; Nadal did not lose this.

At the conclusion of the match, Andy Murray told the New York crowd that the Open is his favorite tournament--not Wimbledon. A large contingent of the European press corps in the media center, which cheered his victory, booed when he said that and one reporter exclaimed, "Disgraceful!"