Two weeks of breath-stopping action wound up this morning and whooooa, what a two-week! America sure knows how to take the lead in a lot of things, and even though this two-week-long extravaganza wasn’t solely an American affair or did not become the thrill it turned out to be because of any peculiar American flavor only, this was nevertheless, another American Wonder as we are wont to say in these shores.
The 2009 edition of the US Open tennis tournament will live very long in the memory of many fans of the sport. And there are reasons aplenty for this. First, there was the Cinderella story of Melanie Oudin, the previously unknown 17 year old Atlanta, Georgia-born American girl who took our collective breath away with her fiery brand of tennis. In her run-up to the quarter finals of the tournament – the first time she had ventured past the second round of a grand slam in her career –
pichichi (tiny) or
El-Nino (the little one) as I privately Christened her because of her suit case-size 5 foot frame, left four Russian players in her wake. These included three seeded players, Elena Dementieva (2nd round), Maria Sharapova (3rd round) and Nadia Petrova (4th round). Although she eventually met her waterloo in another teenager, 19-year-old Caroline Worziniacki of Denmark in the quarter finals, Oudin got many tennis fans to believe in dreams, fantasies and fairytales not just by having “Believe” inscribed on her tennis shoes, but by the way she consistently fought back from seemingly overwhelming positions for a player of her physical size, amount of experience and age. In each of her matches against the afore-mentioned, Miss Oudin had to do the Houdini by coming back from one set deficit to win the matches. If she keeps it up, we could well have an improved female version of Leyton Hewitt, the Australian tennis player who has carved a niche for himself as the most feisty and toughest character to beat on the men tennis circuit.
Then, of course, there was the fairytale comeback of 26-year-old mother of one, Kim Clijsters whose only career grand slam title was the 2005 US Open crown before she took two-and-a-half years off the game to start a family, during which time she gave birth to her 18-month-old daughter, Jada. The Belgian came back into the circuit only five weeks ago and entered the tournament as a wildcard. In doing so, she was attempting to do what only one other woman had ever done in the history of the women’s game – win a grand slam title after becoming a mother. The first and only time this had happened previously was back in 1980 when Evonne Goolagong Cawley beat Chris Evert to win Wimbledon in 1980. But Mummy Clijsters has ensured a second 29 years later. More impressive was the manner she did it – knocking out both William sisters, Venus in the fourth round, then Serena in the semi finals and becoming only the second woman ever (after fellow Belgian Justin Henin) to beat both sisters in a single tournament.
Added to the spectacle was the sight of John “Superman” McCenroe climbing down the stands for that mock game with Djokovic, and oh, who can forget Rafael Nadal being mauled in the semi finals by Del Potro like no other player had ever done before. and of course there was also the fact that lanky Croat Marin Cilic so comfortably defeated men’s second seed and one of the pre-tournament favourites, British world number two, Andy Murray. In dusting Murray in such convincing manner, Cilic also reinforced the belief of Doubting Thomases like me that though a good player Murray may be, he is obviously way better in the eyes of the media, as a tennis player simply because he is British and media opinion and reportage in world sports is right now firmly choreographed by the sensationalism of the British media. My meaning? Andy Murray is highly overrated.
One player who is certainly not overrated, however, is the amazing Roger Federer. If anything, I have for several years, personally underrated the Federer Express, but not because I have not been aware of what he can do with a tennis racket and a ball, but simply because I am a die-hard Pete Sampras fan. So, all these years, I have been directly backing any other player other than Federer. Even after he won the French Open earlier this year, equaling Sampras’ record of 14 grand slams, I still told myself and even said it openly that he only won because an injury-ravaged Rafael Nadal had been beaten in the semi finals by Robin Soderling. Federer also sauntered to the Wimbledon Open title a month later and my excuse was the same – Nadal’s absence. But I guess now, even though I was happy, just like some of the fans at the Arthur Ashe Stadium this morning, to see someone else apart from the Swiss master win the US Open for first time since 2004, I have to give it to the Roger. Hate him or like him, he is arguably (and there is scientific evidence to support this) the best male tennis player to ever step on a tennis court.
I have always attributed his dominance of the male game to the stark lack of strong tennis characters in the mould of John McCenroe, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Sampras, etc, in the modern game, but what I have consistently ignored is that Federer is the most complete racket swinger of his generation, and perhaps even backwards into some of the earlier generations. The man can serve-and-volley; his shot-making is second to none; he has the most solid backhand and a beautiful footwork to go with it ala Muhammed Ali; he has an amazing forehand and a strong serve – stronger than Sampras’ I must say; he is about the fittest player on the circuit – hardly gets injury lay-offs; his defensive game is as strong as his offensive game; and to crown it all, Federer has the killer instinct, the ruthless streak that the other players don't quite have – on court he seems so calm, irrespective of the situation, but look in his eyes and you see pure ice as he goes for each ball.
On top of all this, he reads the game better than anybody I have seen in the game. To illustrate some of this, in the semi final match against Novac Djokovic, Djokovic was serving at 6-5 down in the third and final set. At 30-0 up, Djokovic hit a ball over the head of Federer who had rushed to the net. Ninety-nine-and-a-half times out of 100, Djokovic would win that point with the shot, but Federer scampered back to the baseline and with his back to court, hit a winner between his legs that flew over the net and past Djokovic into the corner for match point (40-0). Another example of his inventiveness came earlier. He had played a bad ball presenting Djokovic the opportunity at the net, to smash the ball into any part of the court he wished. Somehow Djokovic did not hit the ball as everyone had expected,hitting it almost into the path of the wrong-footed Federer who was going right as the ball sailed through the middle towards the baseline. But even in that motion, and with so little time to maneuvre his body, Federer still somehow flicked his racket across from his back, hitting the ball back, although off the mark to Djokovic’s left side line. In the final match, Federer also pointed out to us why he is so successful – his perception and awareness are second to none. In the middle of the third set, he was serving and a couple of balls had sailed into the stands and were not returned, leaving him to serve with only four balls instead of six. But whereas most other players would never remain calm or focused enough to keep tabs on the number of balls they are serving with or the condition of the balls, Federer rightly pointed out to the umpire that the balls were in fact, short by two. Now, why won’t I give up trying to prove that such a man is not the best ever?
...And of course, the thrilling story of US Open 2009 had to fittingly cap off with the triumph of 20-year-old 6 feet, 6 inches tall Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, comfortable conqueror of Rafeal Nadal, in a spectacular tennis showpiece which ended 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 after more than four hours on court. Both men fought into the ground for every point, displayed an enthralling range of shot-making abilities, stayed steady, defended well and generally covered the court admirably. In the end though, the rangy Argentine surprisingly outlasted, outsmarted, out-broke and out-served the master himself, earning himself a maiden career grand slam in the process. And so US Open 09 ran all the way to the end with drama, intrigue, surprise and delight for all watching, especially the crowd at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, who got more involved in the final match than you could have ever before seen.
Gunpowder?
The 2009 edition of the US Open tennis tournament will live very long in the memory of many fans of the sport. And there are reasons aplenty for this. First, there was the Cinderella story of Melanie Oudin, the previously unknown 17 year old Atlanta, Georgia-born American girl who took our collective breath away with her fiery brand of tennis. In her run-up to the quarter finals of the tournament – the first time she had ventured past the second round of a grand slam in her career – pichichi (tiny) or El-Nino (the little one) as I privately Christened her because of her suit case-size 5 foot frame, left four Russian players in her wake. These included three seeded players, Elena Dementieva (2nd round), Maria Sharapova (3rd round) and Nadia Petrova (4th round). Although she eventually met her waterloo in another teenager, 19-year-old Caroline Worziniacki of Denmark in the quarter finals, Oudin got many tennis fans to believe in dreams, fantasies and fairytales not just by having “Believe” inscribed on her tennis shoes, but by the way she consistently fought back from seemingly overwhelming positions for a player of her physical size, amount of experience and age. In each of her matches against the afore-mentioned, Miss Oudin had to do the Houdini by coming back from one set deficit to win the matches. If she keeps it up, we could well have an improved female version of Leyton Hewitt, the Australian tennis player who has carved a niche for himself as the most feisty and toughest character to beat on the men tennis circuit.
Then, of course, there was the fairytale comeback of 26-year-old mother of one, Kim Clijsters whose only career grand slam title was the 2005 US Open crown before she took two-and-a-half years off the game to start a family, during which time she gave birth to her 18-month-old daughter, Jada. The Belgian came back into the circuit only five weeks ago and entered the tournament as a wildcard. In doing so, she was attempting to do what only one other woman had ever done in the history of the women’s game – win a grand slam title after becoming a mother. The first and only time this had happened previously was back in 1980 when Evonne Goolagong Cawley beat Chris Evert to win Wimbledon in 1980. But Mummy Clijsters has ensured a second 29 years later. More impressive was the manner she did it – knocking out both William sisters, Venus in the fourth round, then Serena in the semi finals and becoming only the second woman ever (after fellow Belgian Justin Henin) to beat both sisters in a single tournament.
...And of course, the thrilling story of US Open 2009 had to fittingly cap off with the triumph of 20-year-old 6 feet, 6 inches tall Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, comfortable conqueror of Rafeal Nadal, in a spectacular tennis showpiece which ended 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 after more than four hours on court. Both men fought into the ground for every point, displayed an enthralling range of shot-making abilities, stayed steady, defended well and generally covered the court admirably. In the end though, the rangy Argentine surprisingly outlasted, outsmarted, out-broke and out-served the master himself, earning himself a maiden career grand slam in the process. And so US Open 09 ran all the way to the end with drama, intrigue, surprise and delight for all watching, especially the crowd at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, who got more involved in the final match than you could have ever before seen.
