For the past 5 years in the tennis world, we have come to know and love a great triumvirate of all time greats. That would be Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Together, they have dominated tennis for the past half decade. If one of them wasn't in a final, it was a sure thing the others would be. Men's tennis hasn't this type of stranglehold on the Grand Slams by only 3 players. Many have even dubbed this age the "Golden Era" of tennis, as we may never see 3 of the greatest players of all time play at the same time like this ever again.
Well, tonight, that changed. The "Big Three" will now virtually turn into a "Big Four", and the triumvirate will turn into some square-shaped power struggle. This is because, finally, Andy Murray of
Scotland has joined the party and won a grand slam. Yes, he is now the newly crowned champion of the U.S. Open. He did so by defeating Novak Djokovic in a 5 set thriller, winning 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.
While Murray almost blew his 2 set lead, his mental grit at the end to break Djokovic is what pulled him through. The brutal wind conditions really affected both players from the start, and Murray handled it better from the get go. However, it definitely seemed that he got tense and started pushing balls back in the 3rd set, as he realized what was at stake. In the 5th set, he went 180 and went back to the form that won him the first 2 sets.
With this historic victory, Murray becomes the first Brit to win a major title since Fred Perry, which dates to over 50 years ago. He now has a GS title and an Olympic Gold to his name this year, clearly putting him in the running for a possible Player of the Year award. With the way he's played as of late, who knows? But then again, with the season not totally over, a frustrated Djokovic and disappointed Federer may have something to say about that.
Congratulations, Andy!
Getty Images
No comments:
Post a Comment