Roger Federer entered this year's US Open as a public underdog. His less than perfect year had the press asking if he could win this again. The Swiss owned the US Open four years in a row and you're asking if he can do it again?! Nonsense. Of course he can! Why would you ever consider the #2 player in the world out of contention? This season, Roger has merely shown himself to be human like the rest of us. How dare we assume his unprecedented dominance to be over just because he didn't win Wimbledon or Rolland Garros?
Well, Federer nicely shut the critics up with his 111-minute dismissal of young Andy Murray to win his fifth consecutive US Open title and made history by doing so. Only Roger has been able to dominate two separate major tournaments for five straight years. He has shown that many were much too quick to write him off. Even US Open match analyst Matt Cronin had predicted the inexperienced Murray to push Federer to five sets and that Federer would have as hard of a time as he's had against Nadal. Some prediction...
There isn't much to say about the match itself. Murray didn't play as well as he did to get there, but it wouldn't have made a bit of difference anyway. Federer's legendary forehand did not disappoint him and thrashed every short ball Murray threw in. The Swiss, who served at an astounding 79%, played a close to perfect match and, in Murray's own words "set the record straight."
Federer may still end the year at #2, but things are certainly getting back to normal.
1 comment:
It's such a shame that for so long, so many in the media have gotten bored with the "Federer wins another major, NOW do we call him the best ever?" stories and thus latch on to any opportunity to be the first to pinpoint the beginning of his supposed downfall.
Surely it's a statement of how much Roger's set the standard for the game as we know it, that reaching the semis at one major and finals at two has suddenly become a "terrible year".
-Woon
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