Men Tennis News – US Open 2012 and Davis Cup 2012

Written by: Staff on 10th September 2012

Men Tennis News - US Open 2012 and Davis Cup 2012

epa03393122 Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return to Andy Murray of Great Britain during the men's final match on the fifteenth day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 10 September 2012. The US Open has been extended a day for the fifth straight year due to weather. EPA/LARRY W. SMITH |

U. S. Open

Singles – Final: (3) A Murray def. (2) N Djokovic 7-6(12-10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2

The wind was still high in this match, but that didn’t shorten the rallies much — one point in the first set was reported to have lasted 54 strokes! And the tiebreak was the longest, in terms of points, in any U. S. Open final. Little wonder the set took almost an hour and a half.

By the third set, Andy Murray — who should have been more rested — seemed to be getting leg-weary, and Novak Djokovic started a comeback. Enough of a comeback, in fact, that the ITF sent a press release about coming back from two sets down in a Slam final. The last time it happened was in 2004 at Roland Garros; it had never happened in the Open Era in New York.

So, naturally, Murray broke in his very first chance in the fifth set. And broke again two games later. Djokovic at once broke back, but that was about the end of his resistance — after all, he had had to play the day before, and they had been out there for four hours. He seemed to be cramping or having a groin problem by about the seventh game, and called for the trainer down 5-2.

A few minutes later, Andy Murray had his Slam, and the Big Four really was a true Big Four. That noise you hear? That’s all of Britain screaming.

To make things more interesting, we had four different Slam winners this year. That hasn’t happened since 2003. This result by itself doesn’t change things much — Djokovic remains #2, and Murray had already clinched the #3 spot. But the Race, if our rough calculation is right, is dramatically altered:

Djokovic: 9910

Federer: 8895

Murray: 6730

Nadal: 6690

Ferrer: 4565

Djokovic obviously still has a big lead in points this year, but his loss keeps Roger Federer in striking distance of the year-end #1. And while Murray doesn’t appear to have any chance at the year-end #1 (since the most he can earn this year is about 4000 more points), he just might have a shot at #2. It really is a very different world now.

Especially for Murray.

Davis Cup

They sure don’t make it easy to write a preview in advance.

Last week brought an official announcement of Davis Cup teams, but changes are looking more and more certain. Juan Martin del Potro, who was supposed to be the star of Argentina’s team, has a wrist problem. Supposedly the doctors want him to take two weeks off but he wants to play. We’ll see how that turns out….

Topics: Andy Murray, Davis Cup 2012, Juan Martin Del Potro, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis News, US Open 2012