Novak Djokovic (photo ©Spekoek) reached the final defeating Conor Niland, Carlos Berlocq, Nikolay Davydenko, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Janko Tipsarevic and Roger Federer. He lost three sets: one to Tipsarevic and two in the epic semi-final against Federer that for the second straight year saw the Serb prevail after a lot of emotions.
Rafael Nadal reached the final beating Andrey Golubev, Nicolas Mahut, David Nalbandian, Gilles Muller, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray. He lost only one set to Murray in the semifinals. Nadal didn’t have great consideration to retain the title he won last year because after Wimbledon he had no good results but during the tournament he got into shape better and better.
Rafael Nadal struggled throughout the match during his serving games because Novak Djokovic often returned in a devastating way. Curiously, in the first two sets it was the Spaniard who broke his opponent’s serve first, despite that overall in the first set the Serb dominated with a final 6-2 and in the second he was still superior winning it 6-3.
The third set was closer, with many breaks. Novak Djokovic, who seemed a bit tired, served for the match but lost the service and Rafael Nadal, who never gave up, won the tie-break 7-3.
Novak Djokovic needed a medical time out to get a massage to his aching back and at that point it seemed that Rafael Nadal might turn the match around, instead it was the Serb who took the lead incredibly dominating the set. The Spaniard showed clear signs of fatigue too after an incredibly hard battle and the Serb won the fourth set 6-1 to conquer the match and his first title at the U.S. Open.
For the fourth straight year the final was played on Monday and this year the situation has been made even worse by the fact that the surface of the Louis Armstrong Stadium was damaged by rain. It’s well established that covering the Arthur Ashe Stadium wouldn’t only cost an awful lot of money but it would pose considerable engineering challenges because of its weight with the need for some structural changes to distribute it over a larger area. On the other hand, players demand that their health is protected allowing them to play on courts that aren’t wet and television demands the schedule to be respected: the answer to both is a roof.
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On the bright side the delays allowed the two finalists to have a rest day. If the final had been played on Sunday it would’ve been impossible for Djokovic and Nadal to go on for more than four hours with such incredible intensity. Eventually they were both exhausted and this makes us understand even more the absurdity of the normal U.S. Open schedule that has men’s semifinals on Saturday and the final the next day. Unfortunately, television pays for this so we must be happy when it rains and the schedule must be modified.
Novak Djokovic won his third Grand Slam title in 2011 defeating Rafael Nadal for the sixth time in a final. Everything possible was already said about the Serb’s extraordinary season and now he can deservedly enjoy another great triumph.
