Now onto the men's US Open singles final which was between the worlds two best tennis players, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as they slugged it out for the title.
And slug was the right word indeed as these two went at it not so much hammer and tongs, but sledgehammer and battering rams in what was an absolute epic battle of immense proportions. This match was of unrivalled quality and was without a doubt the best match of 2011, as it even toppled the French Open semi final between Djokovic and Federer for quality. If there is a better match to come this year, its going to take some doing to outdo this one!
From the first game we could see we were going to be in for a treat as Rafa came onto court with great purpose and power and moved to break Djokovic 2-0, who after broke straight back, and much to Rafa's shock and surprise he rattled off the next 6 games to take the opening set. In the second the men traded breaks once again, with Rafa breaking Djokovic straight away again and then Djoky breaking straight back, until they were all even at 4-4, but on Rafa's serve Djokovic broke again and sealed out the set. In the third set it was a more evenly pegged contest, but again breaks of serve aplenty, but this time Rafa wasn't going to give up as he pushed it to a thrilling tiebeaker, which he won to seal the 3rd. However despite getting his trainer onto court at the start of the 4th set for back pain, Djokovic managed to fight the pain and exhaustion to produce an unbelievable effort, in breaking Rafa in half to close out his first grand slam US Open title, winning in 6-2, 6-4, 6-7(3-7), 6-1 in an exhaustive and punishing 4 hours and 10 minutes (which was four times longer than the ladies final!). It seems almost incredible in a way that Djokovic managed to win that 4th set and the title by fighting through his growing back problem, but I think going for his big shots from the back of the court, was enough to overpower Nadal at that point.
To say this match was amazing would be an understatement, right from the start you could see Rafa's intentions to boss Djokovic about and try and take the game to him. But Djokovic having already beaten Rafa 5 times in a row was not about to let him, and he fought back with some amazing play, both men also traded some of the greatest rallies you will ever see. In fact the rallies were so incredible, you thought at certain points that either man had hit the definite winner, but then they carried keeping the ball in play until the point was eventually won. And while the first two sets showed a pretty easy scoreline for Djokovic, they were anything but as both those sets were packed with long duece games before either man won the game or the break. Rafa also in this match produced an unbelievable effort, and out of all their matches this year, it was undoubtedly the best Rafa played against Djokovic this year, it was just a shame he wasn't able to push it to a deciding set after winning the 3rd, which must have been the hardest fought set of his entire career! Its a testament to Rafa's fighting spirit to carry and fight for every point and play until the last ball.
But I think Djokovic given his back strain wanted to try and close it out as fast as he could without taking it further, as maybe a retiral would have been on the cards. The match was also noteworthy not only for the amazing quality of play the two men displayed but also how hard they were hitting the ball, as the rallies grew more and more intense, it was tough to tell who was hitting the ball hardest or grunting the loudest. One thing for sure is that both men had the New York crowd in the palms of their hands, as they metaphorically blew the roof of the place (well Ashe stadium of course doesn't have a roof!) and I'm sure the audience made enough noise loud enough for people in New Jersey to have heard them!
Anyway so that's Djokovic now truly cemented his World No.1 ranking, as he has now defeated Rafa six times in a row, and two of them were at grand slam level. And despite my misgivings and wariness of his unending winning streak earlier this year, I really have to say that Djokovic totally earned his win in that match today, and he has spent the whole year earning that ranking, and he thoroughly deserves it. Its a shame for Rafa, as he now knows what it must feel like for Roger and Andy, having stepped into their shoes and faced a virtually invincible opponent. And its not like Djokovic is an infallible player, because he isn't and even throughout this tournament he showed signs of fatigue and struggle, and again he dropped four sets, as earlier this year at the Australian Open he dropped only one. But when Djokovic faces Rafa now, he just knows what to do and how to win against him. And this has definitely left Rafa confused, rattled and most probably irritated at how he can beat Djokovic, its something he will definitely have to work at, maybe next year he can get his own back, but for this year I think its all about the Djoker and we know it and so does he.
So that's the US Open over for another year and it has been quite a tournament for both the ladies and men's and it also sees two new champions. But of course there is plenty of tennis to follow with some more events on both the mens and ladies tournaments.
Until then that's enough for now. Next up I need to do some posts that have nothing to do with tennis, well until the Davis Cup and that's this weekend, it never ends!
Ta the now anyway.
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