In 2017, Sloane Stephens got wide-eyed as she prepared to receive the winner’s ceremonial envelope and got a reminder of the seven-figure prize coming her way.

Iga Swiatek took her envelope at the 2022 on-court trophy presentation and said she was just glad it did not contain cash.

But what was actually in these envelopes that U.S. Open winners received with their trophy?

Could it really be that they contained paper checks in this very modern era? It wasn’t impossible. This is America, after all, where we just can’t quit the things, including the cheesy oversize ones that were once a feature of Open trophy ceremonies.

And if the checks are real, who handles them for the players, and how do those people deposit them? Could we, like, accompany the check on its journey and have our best portraitist take a series of glamour shots, with bright-white lighting?

Our inquiries during last year’s tournament yielded no substantive replies from the United States Tennis Association. This year, we started asking in early June. And finally, late last month, came an answer: The envelope that U.S. Open winners receive contains no check at all.

And really, why would it?

It’s possible, after all, that Ms. Swiatek has never seen such a thing and wouldn’t know what to do with it. She hails from Poland, where banking is a bit more 21st century than it is in the United States. In America, checks are still common and a giant pain for many of the people who must use them and really wish they did not have to.