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| Chilling Out: At 31 years of age, Roger is allowed to relax a little! |
Federer, Djokovic & Murray look to claim US crown; Serena is the main women’s contender
The last week of August is upon
us and the time is ripe for the final Grand Slam event of the year, the US Open
held at Flushing Meadows in New York. Played on fast-paced hard courts, this
tournament, known simply as ‘the Open’ among players, is notorious for its
distractions. From boisterous crowds, to ‘hot dog’ sellers in the stands, to
loud music at changeovers, the US Open has it all!
The men’s event marks the return
of the great Roger Federer to the world No 1 position for the first time in two
years. The 31-year-old Swiss played a remarkable Wimbledon, outgunning both No
2 Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and No 4 Andy Murray in the final to annex a
record 17th major crown. He also added a silver medal to his resume at the
London Olympics. The speedy courts at the Open suit his game perfectly and his
hunger doesn’t seem to have diminished.
Defending champion Djokovic, the
Australian Open winner, seems to have lost some of his appetite from last year
where he won 3 Grand Slams. The Serb has had a solid year but failure to win an
Olympic medal stung him hard. He relishes playing at the Open and the only true
balm for a painful defeat is a Grand Slam title.
Great Britain's Murray endeared
himself to his nation by first playing a wonderful Wimbledon final that he lost
and then winning the Olympic gold medal in a sublime display. That both those
finals were against Federer at the All England Club was just icing on the cake.
Named the third seed because of world No 3 Rafael Nadal's unfortunate
withdrawal, Murray has always maintained that New York's hard courts are his
favourite.
The tenacious David Ferrer, No 5
in the world, leads ‘the dark horse group’ that includes No 6 Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga, No 7 Tomas Berdych, No 10 John Isner and No 16 Milos Raonic, all of whom
are capable of causing seismic upsets. Plus former champion and world No 8 Juan
Martin del Potro (the Olympic bronze-medallist) who outslugged the top stars to
win in 2009 seems to have regained his confidence and is a definite threat.
In the women’s section, the world
revolves around No 4 Serena Williams. She has proved that no matter how many
injuries or distractions come her way, when she is focussed, no other player
can compete with her. Now 30 years of age, she won Wimbledon in utterly
dominant fashion to clinch her 14th Grand Slam title and then dismantled world
No 3 Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 in the Olympic final!
It’s not that the other girls are
pushovers... world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion and
Olympic bronze-medallist had a great start to the year. No 2 Agnieszka
Radwanska, reached the Wimbledon final this year. Sharapova, the French Open
winner and Olympic silver-medallist, comes closest to matching Serena in terms
of raw power. But all of them have failed to find a way past the American on
the grandest of stages, which is testament to her character as much as her
longevity.
World No 5 Petra Kvitova, No 6
Samantha Stosur (defending champion), No 9 Li Na, No 12 Ana Ivanovic and
retiring former champion Kim Clijsters have all won Slams, but they would have
to overcome their inconsistencies to go all the way.
It is a wonderful time for tennis
as a whole with the present narrative being the established youngsters versus
the older legends of the game. And what better place to have this play out than
at the Celebration that is the US Open!
(Published in The Sunday Standard and The New Indian Express with some minor alterations)
