US Open 2012 (By: Shubham Soni)
This year in New York City, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the annual US Open was held. The US Open is one of the four Grand Slams in tennis (the four consisting of Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open). Each of these slams are held once a year: the Australian Open in Melbourne, French Open in Paris, Wimbledon in England, and the US Open at Flushing Meadows. Grand Slams in tennis are the most important tournaments of the year. Unlike normal tournaments where men play a best of three sets, in the slams, men play a best of five sets.
During late August and early September, the US Open was held. This year, was different from all of the other years. Normally, you’d expect to see two of three people in the finals: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic. However, this year, Andy Murray went home with his first title as a champion.
The 2012 US Open was the first time Murray’s career where he won a Grand Slam. This win is signified as his most important win in his career. Murray played six matches to get to the finals. In Round 1, he beat Alex Bogomolov (6-2, 6-4, 6-1). Round 2 he beat Ivan Dodig (6-2, 6-1, 6-3). Round 3, he beat Feliciano Lopez (7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4)) in a very tough four setter match. In Round 4 he defeated Canada’s highest ranked player, Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Then in the Quarter-Finals he defeated Marin Cilic (3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-0). As he fought his way into the semis, he beat Tomas Berdych (5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (9-7)). Finally, he beat the former world Number 1 ranked player in an excruciating five hour match with a very tight score of 7-6 (12-10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.
"When I realized I had won, I was a little bit shocked, I was very relieved and I was very emotional," said Murray.
On the other hand, this was a fairly sad day for the Djokovic fans. Despite the great effort by Murray throughout the whole match, this could’ve been won by the Serbian. Djokovic had been complaining about his shoulder for 10 days. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to play through the pain against Murray. However, being one of the world’s best he made it clear he wasn’t trying to make an excuse when he said, "I could have maybe played another couple of games, but what for? I cannot beat a player like Murray with one stroke." After the match, during the trophy presentation, he also commented "I want to congratulate Andy on his first grand slam, he thoroughly deserves it. I really tried my best. I gave it my all. It was a tremendous match."
Luckily, Murray played at his very best to win the championship. Despite how effortless Murray may look at times, he actually felt somewhat fatigued. "They were incredibly tricky conditions," Murray said. "After the third and fourth sets it was really tough for me. Novak is such a fighter. I just managed to get through…"
This great outbreak on the men’s side of the US Open was well deserved; however, on the women’s side of things, the results were somewhat expected.
In the finals, the World’s #1, Victoria Azarenka (Belarusian), fought it out with the American Serena Williams. Azarenka is a great player, hence her #1 status, but in a direct comparison (head to head) of her and Williams, Williams has the advantage 10-1 (matches won). As many American fans expected, Serena Williams ended up winning the match 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
