CILIC BEATS NISHIKORI TO WIN THE U.S. OPEN, BECOMES 2014’s SECOND FIRST-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION

Written by: Staff on 8th September 2014

CILIC BEATS NISHIKORI TO WIN THE U.S. OPEN, BECOMES 2014's SECOND FIRST-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION

epa04391865 Marin Cilic of Croatia reacts with the championship trophy after defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan to win the men's final match on the fifteenth day of the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 08 September 2014. The US Open runs through 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JUSTIN LANE |

Editors Note : Please check out Ricky Dimon’s website The Grandstand, www.tenngrand.com – It’s great! This was Ricky’s first US Open as a member of the media. He did a totally “amazeballs” job. He was writing at all hours of the night. He filed stories at midnight. At one am. Two am. Three am. We think he slept on site one night. We thank you Ricky Dimon you really did a super job. Hard to believe the USTA would give a huge global tennis website one media credential. Ricky had to work from ( be on site by 11 am ) till the last ball was hit, which one night was after 3 a m. Rock stars don’t have to work those hours. Everyday for 2 weeks. Back in the day, when the Flushing layout was not half as big, I was part of a team granted 6 passes DAILY to report for UPI. But in 2014 with more land to cover. More show courts. More divisions. More big stars. More crowds. This year college was added. Nice addition. Maybe one day the USTA might understand the difference between vanity sites and the real deal like us 10sBalls.com. We hope that we kept you all as up to date as possible. Re TV coverage. We were at a loss for what channel the tennis was on. Fairly certain CBS in America had its worst men’s finals numbers ever. Sad to see but interesting. No Nike. No Adidas. Not even FILA or Asics. Or Lacoste. It was Li Ning over Uniqlo. Bottom line. For all that ails the sport. And big congrats to Bryan’s 100 WINS !

Tennis needs a commissioner.

Cilic wins U.S. Open, becomes 2014’s second first-time Grand Slam champion

By Ricky Dimon

The 2014 tennis season may not be over quite yet, but it will undoubtedly go down as a year of incredible parity on the ATP Tour. Four different men captured Grand Slam titles, including two for the first time. Marin Cilic joined Stanislas Wawrinka as a new major champion by triumphing over fellow first-time slam finalist Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 at the U.S. Open on Monday evening.

Maintaining his incredible form that had been on display in respective quarterfinal and semifinal drubbings of Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer, Cilic needed only one hour and 54 minutes to prevail. He fired 17 aces in just 14 service games and struck 38 winners to a mere 27 unforced errors.

“Seems completely unreal to be called Grand Slam champion,” Cilic admitted. “I was dreaming about this all my life, and suddenly (the) last four, five days everything started to change. I started to play absolutely unbelievable starting with the fifth set with (Gilles) Simon. After that I had unbelievable run of the matches against these top guys.

“And what it means to me, it means everything. It’s just a huge accomplishment and huge moment for myself and for my team and for everybody around me who was with me all these years supporting me, believing in me and never giving up. So this is just the peak of the world.”

Kei Nishikori of Japan hits a return to Marin Cilic of Croatia during the men’s final match on the fifteenth day of the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 08 September 2014. The US Open runs through 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JUSTIN LANE

There was little Nishikori could do against such a red-hot opponent and it did not help that a long fortnight seemed to catch up with him at the final hurdle. Japan’s top player had previously gone to five sets with Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka before upsetting world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in four on Saturday.

“There [are] a lot of things, positive things, that I learned from these two weeks,” Nishikori assured. “Yeah, it was one of (the) worst [matches] I played today, but also he was very aggressive and very fast. I was a little bit nervous. But (I’m) very excited (for) these two weeks. I didn’t expect nothing coming here. Before I was injured and (had) little practice. There [are] so many positive things for sure that I can have from these two weeks, beating Stan and Novak again. (I’m) disappointed today, but very good two weeks.”

Nishikori added that he hopes the presence of different players in Grand Slam finals becomes a trend.

“I think it’s good news for tennis,” he explained. “A lot of young guys are coming up: (Grigor) Dimitrov (and) Raonic (reached the) semis in Wimbledon. I think it’s great for tennis. Cilic and…I don’t know, (Juan Martin) Del Potro is not here but he’s still top player. I hope I see more changes.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 2014 US Open, Atp, Grand Slam Champion, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Juan Martin Del Potro, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, milos raonic, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych, US Open final

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10sBalls_com says:

September 8, 2014 at 10:01 pm

@cilic_marin BEATS @keinishikori TO WIN THE @usopen BECOMES 2014’s SECOND FIRST TIME #GRANDSLAM CHAMPION http://t.co/k5GKSkUwrV #USOpenFinal
RD_Tennistalk says:

September 8, 2014 at 10:09 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: @cilic_marin BEATS @keinishikori TO WIN THE @usopen BECOMES 2014’s SECOND FIRST TIME #GRANDSLAM CHAMPION http://t.co/k5GK…