After a banner year that saw two American men in the US Open semifinals—and the first American, Taylor Fritz, to play in a final since Andy Roddick in 2009—in the end it was Italy’s Jannik Sinner who came out the victor against Fritz today at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

“This title means so much because the last period of my career was really not easy,” Sinner said before raising the Tiffany-designed winner’s trophy, handed to him by two-time Open champion Andre Agassi. And while that statement seemed at first to refer to the recent news that he had tested positive, months ago, for a miniscule amount of a banned substance (he has since been cleared of any wrongdoing), there seemed to be another reason behind it. “I love tennis, and I practice for these kind of stages, but I also realize off the court there is another life—I’d like to dedicate this title to my aunt, who’s really not feeling well, and I’m not sure how long I’ll still have her in my life. It’s so nice that I can share positive moments like this with her—she’s a very important person in my life.”

In front of a record crowd that included Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, Usher, Bad Bunny, Maria Sharapova, Roddick, Tracy Austin, Eddie Redmayne, Matthew McConaughey (donning an American flag bandanna around his head), Jon Hamm, Molly Ringwald, Dustin Hoffman, Mikaela Shiffrin, Jon Bon Jovi, and Elon Musk, the two played three sets of intense, big-serve tennis. And while many tennis experts were, in advance, skeptical of the 12th-seeded Fritz’s ability to hang with the first-seeded (and world number one) Sinner, he did just that—when he broke Sinner’s serve at 3-3 in the third set, the crowd went nuts. But when Fritz served for the set two games later, Sinner broke him back. And when Fritz served two games later and 5-6 in the third, Sinner broke him again, taking the game, the set, the match, and the title. (And along with the now-traditional winner’s journey into the stands to hug his or her team came another friend that Sinner hugged and thanked: the singer and producer Seal.)