This was a year filled with glorious moments, but none stands out more than the richness and resonance of the French Open men's singles final, in which No. 8-seed Stan Wawrinka pulled off a stunning upset of top-seeded Novak Djokovic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
This would be the only Grand Slam match Djokovic lost all year, but that's just one of the details -- and not even the most significant -- that made this the greatest moment of 2015. Let's consider them all.
The French Open this year was Djokovic's to lose. He was 41-2 for the year before the final, and toting a 28-match winning streak. In a much-anticipated quarterfinal, Djokovic had crushed the defending champ -- and everyone's Roland Garros nemesis -- Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic's record against Wawrinka going into the final was 17-3, but Wawrinka had beaten him just once since 2006, and never in a completed match on clay.
While Djokovic was a beast, Wawrinka was all over the map in his warm-up tournaments for Paris in 2015 -- a poor omen for a guy who had been battered out of Roland Garros in the first round the year before. And then there were those famous red-and-white checked shorts that just looked so wrong, in so many ways.
You know what happened. Wawrinka's one-handed backhand happened. Power tennis happened. Djokovic handcuffed happened.
The dream of every player is to play his absolute best on the biggest stages at the most important times, and that was what Wawrinka managed to do.
Wawrinka, a guy who was no stranger to choking, didn't gag on that sunny Sunday in Paris. He was tucked into the zone, and he stayed in it the entire time, smacking 60 winners to Djokovic's 30. It's a telling stat, because this match was very much about first-strike tennis, going for the angles and leaving the court open for the counterpunch winner.
This match, then, is burned into memory because it was such a shocking upset. Second, it remains a highlight because it was of such high quality. That brings us to a third outstanding characteristic: the pathos of the moment.
Everyone in Chatrier Court that day knew how desperately Djokovic wanted this title, how frustrated he had been for so long. The ovation he received when he was awarded his silver runner-up plate seemed to go on forever -- for so long that Djokovic's eyes welled up with tears. When he finally spoke, his words were simple, sincere -- and pitch-perfect.
"Not easy to stand there as a runner up again," he said. "But I lost to a better player who played some courageous tennis," Djokovic said.
Wawrinka felt for Djokovic, too, saying in his own victory speech: "I know he's looking for that title. I hope he will get one, one day, because he deserves one."
Wawrinka's empathy was heartfelt. It was not surprising, given what he had just accomplished. More surprising was the way Djokovic held back his disappointment after so painful a loss. He was reminded in his postmatch news conference of just how much he wanted the title (as if he needed the nudge) and asked how hard it was to overcome or block out wanting it so much.
He replied: "You know, there are two players who want to win this trophy, not just me. It feels [from what you're saying] like I'm the only player who wants to win this trophy, and nobody wants to win it as much as I do; this is completely untrue.
"Every single player who is here, especially the top players, want to win this trophy as much as do. I think that's something that we have to keep in mind. I'm not trying now to release the pressure for myself. Pressure is part of what I do. I got used to it. I had many tough matches in my life.
"Today I went out on the court knowing I'm close, but across the net I had also player that wanted to win and he had a match to lose. He was, you know, playing very well. He deserved to win. That's all I can say."
This is about as astute and thoughtful a comment as you will ever hear coming from the lips of a defeated, heavily favored champion. Some of the words ought to be carved on a plaque and put up over the entrance to some center court some day, like that Rudyard Kipling quote at Wimbledon. Djokovic spoke well of Wawrinka, but the words he chose also spoke articulately of Djokovic, on a day when he was a paragon of sportsmanship.
Oh, and one more thing. Let's add a humor to the elements that made this, a day on which tennis never looked better, the greatest moment of 2015.
Badgered about those hideous checked shorts, Wawrinka cracked the smile of a guy getting the last laugh and remarked, "I enjoy [those] shorts. Apparently I'm the only one," he said as reporters laughed, "and it's quite funny that it won the French Open."
It was a win that earned those shorts a place in a display case at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
After laundering, we hope.