Welllllllllllllllllllll its time to wrap up my posts on the 2012 US Open as this post will cover the two finals, the ladies and mens single finals, as Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka went at it in the ladies final, and Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray went at it in their final. So without further ado let's get doon to brass tacks.
OK well starting with the ladies final, Serena Williams, the former US Open champion was up against the current World No.1, Victoria Azarenka for the title. Up until the final Serena had life pretty easy, as she barely conceded more than six games in a match. However the final promised to be quite different and certainly was that as the world's two best players went at it, toe to toe in trying to win the title. In the first set, Serena took control breaking Vika twice, to take the opener, however in the 2nd, Vika fought back and broke Serena in a similar vein, i.e. twice, to take the 2nd set. But in the 3rd it was a more even contest, even though Victoria went up a break twice, she was broken back by Serena, and even with Vika having the 5-4 lead to serve it out for the title, she couldn't quite manage it, as the stubborness in Serena wouldn't let Vika slam the door shut (pardon the pun!) and she broke back to level 5-5. And from thereoin you could see that Serena was going to win this match and win it she did by breaking Azarenkna's serve for the last time to seal her 4th US Open crown with a hard fought 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 win.
After so many ridiculously short ladies finals, this one was a breath of fresh air, and the fact that it was a 3 set battle more than made up for the disappointments of previous US Open finals. And strangely enough this was actually the first ever US Open ladies final to go the distance, which sounds bizarre in itself! But both players put on an excellent high quality match for the crowd, and Victoria especially deserves credit for putting up such a great fight against the mighty Serena, who blitzed her way into the final and it feared to be the same result in the final, so that it ended a real fight was great.
As for Serena, well this sees her win her 15th grand slam title, and her 4th at Flushing Meadows and she shows no signs of stopping and I'm sure she will go onto win many more majors before she finally decides to put down her racquet. And for Victoria well it shows she can live with the best out on a tennis court, and already this year she has shown she is champion herself winning 26 matches in a row at the start of the year, that including her first grand slam title at the Australian Open, so the future is looking very bright for Vika, and just imagine how many more she could win if it wasn't for Serena!
Right so now onto the men's final, between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, which promised to be a real barnburner of a match, and boy did it live up to expectations, as the two best players in the world in action just now (Roger and Rafa aside) went at it for the right to win the US Open title. From the start we knew we would in for something a little special, despite the blustery conditions on court the two guys traded some incredible points, and one of which had a record 54 shot rally, which was the longest rally of the tournament! And the first set was concluded by an epic tiebreaker, which must rate as one of the best breakers of the year, and it was a real see-saw as you just didn't know what way it would go, but in the end Andy took it 12-10. In the 2nd set Andy went a double break uo, with Djokovic still struggling in the windy conditions, but he soon gained momentum and broke back twice to level the scores at 5-5, but at 6-5 with Djoko serving to go into the breaker, Andy broke to take the 2nd set. In the 3rd however, there was a sharp shift in momentum as Djokovic finally took the initiative by breaking Andy to go 2-0 up, and from there the 3rd set was his. In the 4th it more of the same, with Djokovic taking control with an early break, and despite a tough deuce game at 5-3, with Andy serving to stay in the set, Djokovic finally broke to level the match at 2 sets all.
But in the final set...... it was Andy who took the initiative straight off, finding new energy and clearly not wanting to go down in flames, broke Djokovic straight away to go a break up, and he even broke him again to go 3-0 up. However with a touch nerves Andy dropped his serve to hand one of the breaks back to Djokovic, but from hereoin Andy managed hold his nerve to stay in the match. Both players by now were starting to feel the fatigue of playing on court for over 4 and a half hours, and after Andy broke Djokovic again to make it 5-2, Djoko got the trainer on to treat cramp in his legs. And when it came to crunch time, with the weight of Britain's expectations on his shoulders, Andy...... held..... his..... serve.... to clinch the biggest title of his career, and his first ever grand slam title at the 2012 US Open, with a totally remarkable 7-6 (12-10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 triumph in just under 5 hours.
Well....... (phew!) what can you say about this victory??? It really showed just what a true champion Andy Murray has become and that he really has matured and blossomed into a truly great player. Throughout this match he showed true mental strength, and sheer utter grit and determination to finally claim what was righfully his. The match itself whilst it wasn't actually a classic, as the blustery conditions prevented both players from being at their absolute best and they seemed limited to mostly trading lengthy exchanges from the baseline, it did have some great moments, with the 1st set tiebreak, a fightback from Andy in the 4th, and the 5th set being real highlights. And the New York crowd once again played their part in this important and historical match, as Andy grew closer to victory, they cheered him on and on even more with every point, it was great. And it really does confirm at long last that Andy's relationship with Ivan Lendl really has paid off, and now that he has won his first grand slam he can now go on and win at least a few more.
And I can't leave the match without a saying a word or two for Novak Djokovic, who valiantly tried to hold onto his US Open title as long as he could, and he too played his part in this historic match. And the way in which Djokovic fought back into the match in 3rd and 4th sets, well we wouldn't expect anything less from the 5 time major champion. Novak was also very gracious at the trophy presentation and in his runner up speech where he congratulated Andy for his first grand slam and he absolutely deserved it, and it was nice moment when they shared a hug at the net, as there clearly is alot of mutual respect between these two childhood friends.
And in the back of my mind I knew all along that Andy would win a grand slam, it was just a matter of time, and after years of struggling, he finally pulled it out the bag, and he thoroughly deserves it. It also has to be said he also owes a fair bit of credit to Ivan Lendl for aiding him in reaching this stage, and we already knew that Andy had the tools to do the job, he just lacked that mental edge to see it through, and that's what the 8 time major champion did for him. And just a year ago Andy had shown promise that he could win in the majors, especially in the first set and a bit of his Wimbledon semi final against Nadal, before he missed one shot and blew it, but that mental resolve was what was missing, and now he has it.
But as a player throughout his career, Andy has broken records (here's my geeky stats bit!!) reaching his first grand slam final at the age of 21 at the 2008 US Open, and then his second at the Australian Open in 2010, by doing this he became the first British man to reach more than one grand slam final since Fred Perry. He also became the first British player in over 70 years to have won the Queens club championship back in 2009, which Tim Henman was a finalist in years before, and he broke that record again by winning it again in 2011, and the last man to have done that was Arthur Lowe back in 1913-14. He also most notably became the first British player to have reached the Wimbledon final in 74 years since Bunny Austin, and also he became the first British man to wind the Olympic gold in tennis since Osiah Richie over 100 years ago. And now at the age of 25, Andy Murray became the first British singles player to have won a grand slam since Fred Perry back in 1936, who by coincidence, Perry's last major title was in fact the US Open, so there's quite a nice symmetry there. So the stats speak for themselves, he is quite a player, and after 5 attempts he's gone and achieved his main goal, and this could only be the beginning.
Sooooooooooooooo that's it for my US Open posts, it was quite was a tournament, bit of a slow burner, but once it took off it became quite something, and it ended with two great finals, and one of the best possible results that Great Britain and Andy Murray could ever possibly wished for. So Andy old, son, a massive congratulations, this was your time and it was your destiny to win this title (ok bit wanky, but you know, give me a break ;-) and with it, it will give you the confidence to go on and win many more. And as not so much a prediction but more a good wish, I wished earlier this year for once that they would share out the four grand slams between the top four players, and that's exactly the way it worked out for 2012, and whether or not it has ever happened in a full season before in the past, God knows, but if it has its the first time in a long long long time!
Its also been a historical year for the four grand slams in 2012, as at the Australian Open, Rafa and Nole played the longest ever final just under six hours, and at the French Open, Rafa won his 7th title, surpassing Bjorn Borg's record of six in the process. At Wimbledon Roger won his 7th Wimbledon title, equalling Pete Sampras's record as well as getting back to the World No.1 spot, and at the US Open, Andy won his first ever grand slam title, and the first British player to do so for 76 years. So its been quite a year in the majors!
And with that very chripy note, I will say bye bye! :-))
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