Hard to believe this is the same Rafael Nadal who was home during the U.S. Open a year ago, nursing a bad left knee.
Hard to believe this is the guy sent packing in the first round of Wimbledon in June, losing against someone ranked 135th.
Looking fit as can be and maybe even better than ever, the No. 2-ranked Nadal pulled away from No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday in a taut, tense U.S. Open final for his 13th Grand Slam title.
"Very, very emotional, no?" Nadal said during the on-court trophy presentation. "Probably only my team knows how much (this) means for me."
They started in sunlight and finished at night, a 3-hour, 21-minute miniseries of cliffhangers and plot twists and a pair of protagonists who inspired standing ovations in the middle of games.
There was no quit in either of them, during points that lasted 15, 25, even more than 50 strokes.
"Probably nobody brings my game to the limit like Novak," said Nadal, who collected $3.6 million in prize money, including a $1 million bonus for results during the North American hard-court circuit.
Benjamin Jealous, the president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, says he plans to step down by the end of the year.
Jealous announced his plans to resign on Sunday. He says he plans to pursue teaching at a university and spending time with his young family.
The Baltimore-based NAACP is the nation's largest civil rights organization. When Jealous was hired as its president at age 35, he became the youngest leader in the group's history.
Jealous is credited with improving the NAACP's finances and donor base over the past five years and for improving its outreach.
Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge Friday following his indictment in the killing of a friend authorities say was shot five times in an industrial park.
Hernandez firmly answered "not guilty" to six charges, including murder and weapons and ammunition possession charges.
His attorneys agreed ahead of the hearing that Hernandez, 23, will continue to be held without bail, but reserved the right to request bail later. The next court hearing was set for Oct. 9.
Defense attorney Charles Rankin said outside the courthouse that Hernandez's legal team is confident the ex-Patriot will be exonerated during a trial. "Not one shred of evidence has been presented yet," he said.
The arraignment "is like the opening kickoff," Rankin said. And, he encouraged people to keep an open mind and let the lawyers and the justice system do their work.
Bristol District Attorney Samuel Sutter said, in fact, a "tremendous amount" of evidence has already been presented. He cited 500 pages of documents released to the press and public, including search and arrest warrants, affidavits and photographs taken from a surveillance system at Hernandez's home.
"I think that evidence speaks for itself," he said.
Sutter said he hopes the case will go to trial within a year but that it can sometimes take two years or more.
A Massachusetts grand jury last month returned the indictment against Hernandez in the death of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-professional football player from Boston who was dating the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend.
Hernandez was arrested in June and pleaded not guilty to murder and weapons charges in district court. The indictment moved the case to superior court, where jury trials in murder cases are held.
Hernandez, who was cut from the Patriots within hours of his arrest, has been held at a county jail without bail.
Prosecutors say the former NFL star orchestrated Lloyd's killing because he was upset at Lloyd for talking to some people with whom Hernandez had problems at a nightclub a few days earlier.
Defense attorneys say the evidence is circumstantial and that the state's case won't hold up.
More than a dozen members of Lloyd's family attended Friday's hearing, most of them wearing purple. Among them was Ursula Ward, the mother of Odin Lloyd, who had tears streaming down her cheeks at one point during the hearing.
Hernandez's girlfriend, Shayanna Jenkins, and his mother, were seated on the opposite side of the courtroom.
Some people who appeared to be fans of Hernandez gathered outside the courthouse, including one woman with a "Team Aaron" shirt bearing his old jersey number.
Two other men who prosecutors say were with Hernandez when Lloyd was killed are also facing charges. Ernest Wallace was indicted on a charge of accessory to murder after the fact. He earlier pleaded not guilty to the same charge in district court and was ordered held on $500,000 bail.
Carlos Ortiz pleaded not guilty to a firearms charge and is being held without bail. He has not been indicted.
Lloyd's body was found by a jogger on June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, about a mile from Hernandez's home. Authorities say Lloyd was killed with a .45-caliber Glock, which they have said hasn't been recovered. But prosecutors say they have video footage of Hernandez at his home holding what appears to be a Glock, in the hours before and just after the killing.
Prosecutors have not identified the triggerman, but according to court documents, Ortiz told police Wallace said it was Hernandez.
Hernandez's cousin, Tanya Singleton, also was indicted on a criminal contempt charge after prosecutors say she refused to testify before the grand jury hearing evidence in the case, even after they offered her immunity. Her attorney has agreed she be held without bail.
Hernandez is also connected to the investigation of a 2012 double homicide near a Boston nightclub. While probing Lloyd's death, police found an SUV, sought in the earlier killing, at the home of Hernandez's uncle in Bristol, Conn., the former football player's hometown. It had been rented in Hernandez's name.
Boehner's intention to step down after this cycle or the next changes what has been the conventional wisdom since 2010, namely, that Boehner is doing all he can to stay atop the wild tiger that is his tea party caucus. But if Boehner is looking for his exit, that reduces the power that his conference has over him to some degree.
The assumption that Boehner's departure is imminent has set off a round of jockeying for the positions that would open up. The current power structure includes an ad hoc leadership-in-waiting, consisting of five conservatives who serve as a go-betweens for the leadership and the tea party. Getting the blessing of that group is usually the first step toward getting broader tea party buy-in. According to GOP sources, this group includes Reps. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Tom Price (Ga.) and Steve Scalise (La.). All but Ryan have chaired the Republican Study Committee, the bloc of arch-conservatives in the House. Much of the speculation has focused on Hensarling, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, who is considered a viable candidate for either speaker or majority leader. Price, who lost a leadership race last round to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), is considered a viable challenger to current Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.
While some in Boehner's circle said he'd like to stay to build his legacy, none expect him to remain past 2016. But sources also universally agreed that the one thing that would keep him in place through 2016, if he could somehow manage to win, is the possibility of locking in a grand bargain that cuts entitlement programs and spending generally.
The approaching fights over a continuing resolution to fund the government and over raising the debt ceiling both offer some chance at pushing for broad agreements on reforming entitlements. Boehner on Tuesday penned a USA Today op-ed calling for Obama to agree to spending reductions in exchange for a debt ceiling increase. But optimism for such a deal is scarce.
"I personally think he'd like to try for a grand bargain this fall. If he doesn't get anything to leave a legacy, I could see him trying to stick around," another former Boehner aide said.
As evidence of Boehner's resolve to stay, his staff touted the speaker's fundraising totals on behalf of House Republicans, coming to more than $30 million through June, with more in July and August.
"He hasn't slowed down one bit. For example, he has spent the ENTIRE August recess on the road doing events for his colleagues," a source close to Boehner wrote by email on Tuesday. "He flew in today for meeting at the White House and then immediately went back on the road."
But citing fundraising activity as proof positive poses a duck-and-egg problem: If Boehner did relax and stop fundraising, it would be immediately clear he was a lame duck and his power would vanish as quickly. Only by appearing to stick around does he retain his influence.
Nonetheless, Boehner's preference, according to sources, would be to leave if he could. But they also suggested that Boehner is wary of leaving negotiations with the Obama White House over spending and debt to others in the House GOP, and is also concerned about the prospect of total civil war within the Republican House conference if he is not around to smooth ruffled feathers and restore order.
He may not want to stay, but Boehner may have no choice. And in the end that might not bother him all that much. "He has a pretty healthy perspective on life," said one GOP operative. "He likes to golf, he likes to travel. You have limited time left once you get close to 70."
One former leadership aide put the speaker's alternative succinctly: "Join Augusta and go live the good life."
Former aides to John Boehner and other high-level GOP operatives are increasingly convinced that the House speaker will step aside after the 2014 midterm elections, according to interviews with a dozen Republican sources.
All summer, rumors have been swirling around the Hill and K Street that the speaker has had enough and that 2014 would be his last year with the gavel. Then the message went out in July: Boehner is not leaving.
Boehner told his inner circle at dinner that there was no truth to the talk, and authorized his people to spread the word around town. A story appeared in Politico the next day, reaffirming Boehner's stated commitment to stay past 2014.
"These inside-the-Beltway parlor games take place every two years. The speaker has made clear publicly he intends to remain in his position in the next Congress," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told HuffPost.
But not everyone close to the 63-year-old speaker is so sure. "He has to say that. He can't not say that. The minute you say [you're leaving], you're done," said one former GOP leadership aide who is part of Boehner's circle. "Everybody around him thinks this is his last term."
Despite the effort by Boehner to tamp down speculation that he will depart the House after the 2014 midterms, multiple cooks in Boehner's kitchen cabinet think the Republican is still strongly considering making his exit just over a year from now.
"I'd be surprised if he did [stay]," said one former senior aide to Boehner, who, like many consulted for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their relationships. (HuffPost spoke to four top former Boehner aides, two current aides, five former leadership aides close to Boehner's inner circle, and a GOP operative on familiar terms with his circle.)
Boehner has plenty of reasons to make this coming year his last, but one may be more compelling than the others: It's not at all clear he could win. His deputy, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), is not expected to challenge him, but during the last election a bloc of insurgent tea partyers threatened to derail Boehner's election by depriving him of the 218 votes he needs to hold the gavel. The insurgents pulled back a bit, and Boehner won the speakership with 220 votes. "He barely won the last one and that group of opposition has only grown," said one former leadership aide. "The ones who were in on it and got cold feet basically gave him a reprieve. They won't be willing to do that again."
Only three more tea partyers would need to join the effort to block his next reelection -- hardly a difficult feat, given the challenges Boehner presently faces: a vote on military action in Syria, immigration reform, a government shutdown and a debt ceiling standoff, all in the context of a full-scale effort to stop the implementation of Obamacare, which Boehner is entirely powerless to do.
"It's probably not up to him," said one GOP operative. "The natural assumption is that he leaves. It's the overwhelming, working assumption as people are making strategy going into 2015 and 2016."
Given the difficulty of retaining the gavel, plus the scant prospect for a so-called grand bargain later in the midst of a presidential election year, stepping down after the midterms would allow Boehner to leave on his own terms.