US Open Takeaways: #12, Roger Federer's famous friends

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

Check out No. 13 here.

12

There was Roger Federer. A vision in predominant black under the lights in Queens, he saw red by day during this US Open.

The GOAT alternately toiled and rolled through four rounds, besting four players against whom he has never lost despite a dozen or more matches against a trio of them. Through it all, he lapped up the attention of famous friendlies ...

... and also doled out some to other people. (How selfless.)

He never veered from Arthur Ashe Stadium, playing each of his five matches there until he succumbed to Juan Martin del Potro's hammering forehand in the quarterfinals.

After shirking the clay-court season this year, he could have acknowledged his bad back – there's no way he wasn't feeling it during this major – and sat out as so many of his top-flight foes did. (Djokovic. Murray. Wawrinka. Nishikori. Raonic. Seriously.) That's the thing about Federer, though: He and Rafael Nadal "are always willing to accept the psychological consequences of defeat, and that’s what helps them win so much."

Such a mentality sets the titans of tennis apart from the also-rans. They of all pros happily suffer from post-loss amnesia. Why, there was Federer, but one day after dropping a second-week showdown to Delpo, off to lunch with Bill Gates. If he's not in mourning about it, well, the GOAT faithful shouldn't don their funereal best just yet either.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.