Nadal too strong for Murray, but the Scot remains positive
The schedule and the stormy weather were working against Andy Murray in New York this week, but in the end his quest for a maiden grand slam title was ended by a more familiar foe.
For the third time this season Rafael Nadal ended the Scot’s hopes of winning a major title, and it is the Spaniard who will now face Novak Djokovic in tonight’s US Open final.
Nadal’s aggressive play proved very difficult to deal with for Murray, and the Scot found himself two sets down before he began to assert his authority on the match.
In the third set the momentum of the match swung back and forth as the pair traded breaks, and eventually it was Murray who was able to secure the crucial break and then serve out the set to reduce Nadal’s lead.
Murray had a chance for an early break at 1-1 in the fourth set after fighting back from 40-0 down but Nadal was able to hold on and then regain control of the match with some heavy hitting from the baseline that allowed him to break for 3-1.
The Spaniard was brimming with confidence by this point and Murray had no answer for his power as he closed out a 6-4 6-2 3-6 6-2 victory, a disappointing but not unexpected outcome for Britain’s number one.
An already difficult task was made even harder for Murray last week when the US Open organisers opted to have him start his campaign on Wednesday, two days after Roger Federer and one after Novak Djokovic and Nadal.
Some wet and wild New York weather caused further disruption at the start of the tournament’s second week and as Murray resumed his fourth round match against Donald Young on Thursday he was facing the possibility of four matches in four days to reach the final.
After defeating Young in straight sets Murray had a more testing encounter with big serving American John Isner, eventually coming through after four gruelling sets 7-5 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-2). Nadal’s path to semi-final was less tiring; he dumped both Gilles Muller and Andy Roddick out in straight sets.
Murray cited tiredness as a possible reason for his semi-final exit but was also effusive in his praise of Nadal in his post match press conference.
He said: “I felt I did pretty well considering I had to play three games over three days. In my opinion Rafa is the best ever so you have to play great against him if you want to win.”
Despite the disappointment of another slam defeat to Nadal the Scot should be praised for becoming only the seventh player in the open era (and first Brit) to reach four grand slam semi-finals in one season.
That shows a great level of consistency, and the fact that four of those seven players are currently active on the tour is testament to the widely held belief that this is a golden age for tennis.
He will have other chances in the big tournaments but his career should not just be judged on how many grand slam titles he has won. Murray has come to terms with the possibility that he may never win one, but is still determined to give it his all.
Murray said: “It has been a good year. It’s difficult to take each time you get to that stage and come up a little short.
“Winning a slam is something I want to achieve but if you want to judge someone purely on slams, I would have had a terrible career. But I don’t really feel like I have, there have been other things I have done really well.
“I’m getting a little bit closer each year; this season was my best in the slams.”
The other half of the men’s top four met in the other US Open semi-final and produced a classic as Novak Djokovic came back from two sets down to beat Roger Federer 6-7 (7-9) 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5.
Federer held two match points while serving at 5-3 up in the fifth set but Djokovic produced a dazzling forehand return on the first and eventually fought back to improve his 2011 record to 63-2. It is the second grand slam in a row where Federer has lost a match from two sets to love up, and incredibly before his loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon his record at two sets up was 178-0.
The form of the sport’s top two players suggests that we could be in for a classic in the final tonight, which is due to start at 9pm BST. Djokovic has the edge, he has beaten Nadal in each of their five meetings this season, including in the Wimbledon final, and will be looking to join an elite group of players by winning his third grand slam of the season.
However, Nadal should never be written off. He has a huge hunger to regain the world number one crown and could set himself back on that path with victory tonight.
