Rafael Nadal took a small step towards US Open victory and a career revival on Sunday as he won his 26th ATP Masters title (the titles which are one below Majors).
The Spaniard fought off competition from the likes of Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych before beating big-serving American John Isner in straight sets (7-6 7-6) to gain some momentum in winning the final tournament before the US Open as well as some much needed confidence.
Confidence Boost:
Although he has cruised through most French Open tournaments throughout the years, Nadal has struggled recently with numerous injuries as well as having some disastrous losses. At the start of 2011, whilst bidding to win four consecutive majors in a row, he suffered a hamstring injury in the Quarter Final of the Australian Open against compatriot David Ferrer and went on to be beaten in straight sets. After an inevitable win at the French Open, at Wimbledon, despite playing like the legendary player he was between 2007-2011 he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the Final (Djokovic’s fourth victory over Nadal that year, which were all in Masters Finals). He suffered the same fate to Djokovic in the US Open (having suffered cramp in a post-match press conference in an earlier round).
2012 ended up being a difficult year for Rafa. He made yet another Final at the Australian Open (meaning that he’d made the Final at all four majors consecutively) and (naturally enough) won the French Open, but had a disastrous Wimbledon, losing to World no.100 Lukas Rosol in the second Round. It transpired that he had tendinitis in his knee, and he withdrew from the Olympics, Rogers Cup, Cincinnati Masters and US Open.
Although he won his eighth French Open this year, Nadal will be desperate to win his first major apart from the French Open since 2010. This victory should give him the confidence to go on and play his best tennis in the US Open next week.
But what for Andy Murray?
The holder of the US Open trophy and Wimbledon champion hasn’t had a big result since his breathtaking straight-sets win against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon Final on the 7th of July. Although we needn’t read into that; I can assure you that he’s been training hard and that he hasn’t been able to play in many tournaments due to the British public constantly wanting to adore him (look at how hard Bradley Wiggins had to work to get himself ready for the Olympics after his Tour de France victory: even though he only had nine days to prepare). Call me biased, but Andy really is a winner now and during the period that his only main rival is Djokovic (i.e. until Nadal comes back to prominence and a new kid on the block replaces the ageing Federer) Murray will be desperate to win as many majors as possible in that time.
Nadal has gained himself a huge advantage in leap-frogging Murray to second spot in that he’ll have a slightly easier draw in the build up to the latter rounds of the US Open.
Victoria Azarenka took the Womens’ title after coming back from the brink against Serena Williams to win the title, having played some breathtaking tennis in the build up to it.
Although she has picked up two wins at the Australian Open, the Belorussian has not quite been able to justify her former no.1 title. She has made a number of Semi-Finals (and even a US Open Final last year) and won plenty of WTA titles, but she would definitely have wanted to win at least a few more Majors by now. Although she is only twenty-four years old, Womens’ tennis is a young girl’s game (look at Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli’s retirement aged just twenty-eight). Azarenka isn’t necessarily making up for last time, but she must be desperate to win this US Open to cap a successful ‘Major season’.
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