By: Brendan Burris ~Staff Writer~

In the world of tennis, the “Big 4” of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal dominate men’s tournament play. On the women’s side, Serena Williams rules the court, having won four of the last eight Grand Slam titles.

After this year’s 2016 US Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., it looks as if we are in for a total change of the tides in the tennis world.

Before Sunday, Stan Wawrinka was only a two-time major champion, with titles at the Australian Open in 2014 and the French Open in 2015. Though still considered outside of the elite group of men’s tennis players, Wawrinka was able to win his third major title in as many years, defeating Djokovic 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 Sunday evening.

Djokovic and Wawrinka have brewed quite the rivalry between themselves over the past couple years, with Wawrinka slowly turning the corner and becoming more and more competitive in their highly entertaining matches. Although losing the overall headto- head matchups 19-5, Wawrinka consistently takes Djokovic to the brink of his incredible game and has defeated him on the way to all three of his major wins. Two of those wins came in the finals. Now on par with Andy Murray’s three career major titles, look for Wawrinka to continue to be a huge force in the incredibly deep field of men’s tennis.

After Karolina Pilskova defeated previous world No. 1 Serena Williams in the semifinals, the door was left wide open to claim the women’s US Open championship. Pilskova’s victory set up a championship rematch of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, as the Czech Republic native took on Angelique Kerber, whom she defeated a month ago.

Kerber would not be denied a championship this time around, topping Pilskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and becoming the new No. 1 player in the world in the process.

Coming off a season where Serena Williams looked virtually unbeatable, Kerber’s breakout campaign and new top ranking have sent shockwaves throughout the women’s tennis world.