The lights have gone out at the US Open 2011 - time to pick out some of the defining moments from this year's championship.

By Marcus Chhan

1 - The Men's Champion
Novak Djokovic won the US Open 2011 by beating Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 but the score line hardly reflected the type of tennis which was on display. Simply put: It was tennis from another planet. The fourth set was a bit of an anti-climax but take nothing away from Novak Djokovic - he was inspirational on Monday night and has been all year.

In fact, Djokovic's grip on the US Open trophy looked to be slipping when Nadal pulled out all the stops to take the third set 7-6. The Serbian's body wanted to quit right then and there, but his mind wouldn't let it happen. Not even when the pain in his back and ribs made it hard for him to hit his first serve with any juice. Not even when he was lying face-down beside the court in Arthur Ashe Stadium getting treatment from a trainer. Not when the US Open title was at stake!

Djokovic met the inner demons in his mind who were telling him to quit head-on and played some spellbinding tennis to win the fourth set 6-1 and lift his first US Open championship of his career.

In tennis matches of this caliber, the winner is decided by small margins and sometimes it rests solely on which player wants it more. Djokovic's return of serve was superb against Nadal throughout their encounter - he had a total of 26 break points on his opponent's serve - and by the end it was telling that the usually relentless Spaniard seemed to have given up the fight after falling behind in the fourth and final set.

No wonder Djokovic credits the change in his mentality as one of the main reason for his transformation from good player to great one.

2 - The Women's Champion
The Women's game is wide open at the moment and it has been interesting to watch different players stepping up to the mark at the four Grand Slams this year. Samantha Stosur did exactly this on Sunday night when she stunned home favourite Serena Williams 6-2 6-3 to claim her maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open. Boy, did she deserve the win as well.

Not only did she beat one of the strongest contenders for the crown in the final, but the Australian's run also included a third-round victory over Nadia Petrova which has now officially become the longest women's match in US Open history.

Her tennis at this year's tournament will be remembered for its astonishing power (have you seen her physique?) and poise in the face of the typically vocal New York crowd and, of course, that diva moment from Serena Williams as well.

3 - Federer falls (a little) from grace
Roger Federer. He epitomizes what being a great champion is about. The way he plays the game with so much grace is not dissimilar to how he handles himself outside of the tennis court. However, Federer fell down a notch for me in my estimation of him after his post-match comments following the semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic. Losing a five-set match to anyone is hard to take - on any level - whether you are a professional tennis player or playing against your dad, but Federer's refusal to accept he was beaten by a better player on the day (Djokovic) was not something I've grown to expect from the Swiss ace.

When asked about Djokovic's ability to hit that forehand return winner while down match point, Federer said: "Look, some players grow up and play like that. I remember losing junior matches. Just being down 5-2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots. It all goes in for some reason, because that's kind of way they grew up playing when they were down."

"I never played that way. I believe in hard-work's-gonna-pay-off kinda thing, because early on maybe I didn't always work at my hardest. So, for me, this is very hard to understand how can you play a shot like that on match point."

I don't want to harp on this for too much longer - my home will still be a Federer stronghold of support whenever he takes to the court - but you would've expected a bit more class from him. It was nothing less than a terrific shot from Djokovic.

4 - Serena goes too far
Serena Williams will go down in history as one of the great tennis champions and I'll admit to have chuckled a few times in the past when she blew her gasket at a line-judge or an umpire. I usually just put it down to Serena being Serena but I felt she went too far in her abuse of umpire Eva Asderaki in this year's US Open final.

The controversy began when Samantha Stosur brought up two break points in the opening game of the second set. After saving one with an ace, Williams powered away a forehand and yelled out 'Come on', but before Stosur had touched the ball. Umpire Asderaki, correctly according to the rules, awarded the point, and the break, to Stosur.

Williams then lost control of her emotions - calling Asderaki "out of control", a "hater" and "unattractive inside".

It was really poor on her part.

5 - Nadal crown already slipping?
It wasn't long ago (after Rafael Nadal won the French Open 2011) that we were calling him the best player of the moment and the natural successor to Roger Federer's throne and tag as ‘the greatest of all time'.

How can we now not say that Rafael Nadal's own crown is starting to slip? Nadal led his head-to-head series with Novak Djokovic 16-7 at the end of 2010 but since then the Serbian has won six straight times.

6 - Can Djokovic beat McEnroe?
John McEnroe went 82-3 in 1984, picking up two Grand Slam titles along the way. Novak Djokovic has already racked up a 64-2 record with a couple of months to spare in the season. With his new gluten-free diet and improved fitness and mindset, who says he can't go on to break that record?

However, the only record every professional tennis player wants to own is becoming the next player since Rod Laver in 1962 to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year.

7 - The USTA has some work to do
Rain delays are a part of tennis but from all accounts a lot of players are upset at the way things were handled by the USTA at this year's US Open. Whether you are talking about what a number of high profile players feel was a lack of information coming out of the referees' office with regards to rescheduled matches or that fact that some top stars felt their safety was put at risk by the USTA. Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick were just some of the big names the USTA made play in the rain - they were not happy about it and made their feelings known very publicly.

8 - Wozniacki deserves number one ranking
I get why some people find it ridiculous the number one ranked player on the women's tour cannot, for the life of her, break out the big guns at the Grand Slams.

However, it's not like she cheated her way to the top - she had to earn her ranking points just like everybody else did. She deserves her ranking.

9 - Spare a thought for Venus
Venus Williams was forced to withdraw from the US Open 2011 because of health issues. The 31-year-old revealed she has the auto-immune disease Sjogren's Syndrome. The seven-time Grand Slam champion made the shock announcement after withdrawing from the US Open prior to her second-round match against Sabine Lisicki. We wish her well.

10 - The tennis season is so grueling but...
This year's US Open was plagued by a number of withdrawals and retirements which brings up the debate on whether the tennis season is currently too long and hard on the players. While it's never nice to see players fail to complete a match because of an injury... I just can't get enough of tennis at the moment.