Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray making the US Open great

Written by: Global Chick on 12th September 2011

Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray making the US Open great

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after defeating Andy Murray of Great Britain during their Semifinal round match on the thirteenth day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 10 September 2011. The US Open has been extended due to weather for the fourth year in a row and the men's final will now be played on 12 September 2011. EPA/JUSTIN LANE |

Tomorrow’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic is something to look forward to. This year’s US Open has had the best of semi-finals with Djokovic playing Federer and Murray vs. Nadal.

Tennis fans around the world yesterday were treated to a very good match between Novak and Roger. The Swiss supreme had match points in the fifth set and still lost. He said after the match, “I mean it’s awkward having to explain this loss because I feel like I should be doing the other press conference. But it’s what it is, you know. He came back, he played well. I didn’t play so well at the very end, but I have myself to blame.”

Novak Djokovic has had a dream run this year. The Serb has lost two matches this year once to Federer at French Open and the other was when he was forced to retire against Andy Murray in the Cincinnati final. He won the Australian Open (d. Murray), reached the semis at French Open (l. Federer) and he won Wimbledon and took over as the number one player in the world. The World No. 1 also won five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments this year in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome and Montreal. The list goes on.

Only five times in the modern era has all the four top seeds made it into the semi-final. Last time it happened at the US Open was in 1992.

British No. 1 Andy Murray always seems to be the unlucky player in Grand Slams. The British population have been waiting for a Grand Slam Champion long enough but Murray always seems to fall short when it comes to the later rounds of Grand Slams. The World No. 4 lost to Novak Djokovic at the Autralian Open final in January. He lost to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of French Open. We all remember Murray losing to Nadal at Wimbledon in the semis and now losing to Nadal in the semi-final this week.

Spanish star Rafael Nadal has had some strange results leading up to the US Open. Last year Rafa seemed unbeatable. In Montreal he lost to Croatia’s Ivan Dodig in the second round and in Cincinnati he lost to in-form Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals. The World No. 2 doesn’t look as comfortable on court like he used to or could it be that Djokovic has moved ahead and left the others behind? Can the defending Champion put a stop to Djokovic’s amazing year?

Rafa’s match record against Djokovic is 16-12. Novak has not lost to Nadal this year, he has beaten him five times in 2011. The last time Nadal won was at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in England at the end of last year.

Tennis fans from around the world are looking forward to tomorrow’s final. We are hoping to see a tense five sets battle on Arthur Ashe Stadium.