Two fantastic finals ended this years US Open tournament which concluded the grand slam season in spectacular fashion. Rafael Nadal claimed only his second US Open title but 13th major overall, whereas Serena Williams clinched her fifth US title and 17th major in total. Two players who were favourites from the very start of the tournament stood firm in the heat of the moment against two opponents who threw everything at them to push for victory. In the end the favourites prevailed and now both Nadal and Williams can look towards the record books in the hope of creating history.
This may not have been a classic tournament but just like a fine wine the event got better the longer it went on. Surprisingly Swiss No.1 Roger Federer was outshone by the talented Swiss No.2 Stanislas Wawrinka who upset all odds to beat Andy Murray in straight sets and take Novak Djokovic to five sets in the semis. From someone who has become to be known as the choker, Wawrinka delivered some of the best tennis of his career and may yet prove that 2014 could be a surprising year for the chasing pack below the "the big three". But compatriot Federer had a somewhat poor tournament. Having lost in round two at Wimbledon, the Swiss then failed to get beyond the fourth round losing to Spaniard Tommy Robredo in straight sets. This came as a big shock especially considering the Swiss maestro had a 10 - 0 win record against the 31 year-old Spanish player. But Tommy played with aggression and Federer made too many unforced errors something that has plagued his game for the majority of the calender year. So far in 2013 the only notable achievement for Roger at grand slam level is taking Andy Murray to five sets in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. But claiming the end of year ATP World Tour Finals may somewhat redeem his lacklustre year and give him some renewed hope for the start of 2014.
I think the biggest shock of the tournament however was the five set thriller between Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro and Australia's Lleyton Hewitt. As good as Hewitt is, someone of Del Potro's calibre should be winning these matches, lets not forget Del Potro is the only player since Marat Safin in 2005 to win a grand slam outside of the "big four" (Djokovic, Nadal, Murray and Federer) clinching the US title in 2009. But since then, he has had a re-occuring wrist injury that has hampered him for a good two years and with his excellent showing at this year's Wimbledon and with him being a past winner at the US, a quarter-final appearance was the least I expected from the big Argentine. Nevertheless, Hewitt can never be underestimated, a two-time grand slam winner, the Australian yet again proved why he is such a natural born fighter and knocked out the 6th seed for the second time this year. But the 2001 US Open champions run eventually ended in the fourth round to Russian Mikhail Youzhny having at one point served for the match. However I do expect big things from Del Potro next year, a grand slam win would not be surprising but will still come as a shock to many if he can add to his sole victory at Flushing Meadows. It seems that the old starlets of tennis had a good run out at New york though, the aforementioned Hewitt, Robredo, Youzhny and Ferrer all made steller runs through the tournament, proving very well that age is just a number.
Britain's hopes were in the hands of Andy Murray and Dan Evans. The latter produced some shock victories on his way to a third round loss to Robredo. Nevertheless the future is looking bright for Dan Evans, if he continues the way he did against Kei Nishikori in the first round, we can expect Andy Murray to have a companion for the latter stages of grand slams. Andy Murray on the other hand had somewhat of a disappointing tournament, the first grand slam he has gone into as defending champion. His head just never seemed into it from the start and the defeat against Wawrinka was ridiculously one-sided even to Wawrinka's credit. Murray has admitted to feeling the "Wimbledon blues" which of course is hard to come down from, but the way he reacted to his performance throughout the quarter-final match was reminiscent of the younger days of Murray, something I'm sure coach Ivan Lendl will yet again have to work on.
But Wimbledon runner-up Djokovic seemed to be suffering the same way he did a few months ago. From the off-set, Djokovic never really showed up in the final and although he did take the second set and have opportunities to take the fourth he didn't, and this was kind of the same story in the Wimbledon final. Djokovic is not taking the chances that are handed to him, and this is something that definitely needs to be worked on if he wants to add to his six majors. The 2011 Djokovic is a long way off at the moment and with Nadal hungry for more slams and a new contingent of players challenging for the top four, Novak will have to rise to the challenge and hope that the task of defending his Australian Open crown will give him some renewed focus. The ruthlessness of Nadal proved too much for Djokovic and the rest of the field at this year's tournament, I can honestly say that not one of the 128 players in the mens draw would have beaten Nadal, he was just that good. Can Nadal beat Federer's haul of 17 slams? I'm not so sure. With 13 slams currently, it will take at least two years to equal that record and then it all depends how fit and healthy Nadal is by then if he can overtake Federer's standing. Lets not forget, Federer still has a Wimbledon victory left in him so we are in for a exciting year in 2014.
Before I sign off for yet another slam tournament, the women's tournament ended almost the way I predicted. I really thought this would be Azarenka's year, so I was disappointed for her but also happy, because she lost to one of the all-time greats of the game and now Serena's main focus will be just like Nadal's, overtaking Steffi Graff's 22 grand slam titles. With 17 to her name now, Serena isn't far off but just like Nadal it will all depend on how fit and healthy she stays. For Victoria Azarenka it's back to the drawing board, but I can see both these players dominating in 2014, I think even the return of Maria Sharapova won't ruffle too many feathers in the Vika and Serena camp.
With the World Tour Finals just a few months away, players will be fighting for the eight berths that are available for the competition, something that will be interesting to see unfold as the tournament approaches. But here's to a fantastic end to the US Open!!
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