Stephens wants to buy Keys 'something nice' to cheer her up

There was a bittersweet element in Saturday's US Open final for each participant, with the pair's friendship adding a complicating emotional factor to both the joy of victory and the pain of defeat.

Madison Keys was understandably gutted after her loss, but said that if she had to lose to someone, she was glad it was Sloane Stephens. The newly crowned US Open champ, meanwhile, felt for her friend who wound up on the losing end. She just hopes there's something she can do to cheer Keys up.

"Maddie's one of my closest friends, and honestly there's no one else I would've rather played in the finals," Stephens told TSN's Mark Masters after the match. "It's a tough moment for her, and I know that obviously she didn't play her best today. But when she's down I'm going to pick her up, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to buy her something nice and she'll be happy again."

Keys appeared to have a similar idea, although she doesn't need anything extravagant.

"She can buy me drinks," Keys said in her post-match presser, according to ESPN's Arash Markazi. "All of the drinks."

With a $3.7-million winner's check in her pocket, that shouldn't be an issue for Stephens.