The Fourth Set; a fortnight ago

Almost a fortnight ago, the people of New York woke up to a Monday morning which was anything but blue. The play Billie Jean King Tennis Centre, had extended into the third week due to the ominous rain delays, but tonight was going to be the deciding night, the Champion would rein out once and for all, who would be the one to bag all the glories 2013’s peak could provide?, the invincible Spaniard and the World No. 1 had to contest for the answer to that question.

Evening arrived and a storm of crowd was witnessed entering into the royal hallows of The Arthur Ashe. The legendary battle was about to commence, the long and hard fast rivalry of World No.1 Novak Djokovic and his closest rival on hard courts who had a abominable 21-0 record on this turf in 2013, Rafael Nadal. The world’s best tennis stadium was pouring with people and celebrities like David Beckham, Sean Connery, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Leonardo Di Caprio were in attendance for a fortifying evening. Rod Laver and even the queen of Spain were present for a brilliant pack of world-class entertainment.
     

So the contest began, right since the first game, Djoko showed a very aggressive demeanour, charging right down ahead on the shots of Rafa. He played some fearless strokes which unappealingly found the bottom of the net quite a number of times and many found themselves OUT at the base lines, giving a flurry of points to the Spaniard. A total number of 53 unforced errors were the result of such unbound devilry. Nadal who was broken just once in the entire run of the US Open, was disturbed 5 times, while he saved 7 of the total 12 broken points against him. Djoko showed some fearless tactics on the net as well where he phenomenally won 22 times out of the 36 times he approached the net. The first set, was easily bagged a 6-2 by Nadal, but it was the second and the third set where the entire game was played. Djokovic showed no mercy, and with ounces of luck going down with the Serb, he equalled the match a 6-3, and continued his rampant form in the 3rd set breaking Nadal in the opening serve. All was almost, as it seemed when Djoko gave his fans all kinds of shots to cheer about, best of which where he won an ecstatic 54 shot rally to break Nadal.

It was somewhere in the middle of the 3rd set when Nadal, like a dead phoenix rose from it’s ashes breaking back the World No. 1 twice to win the most crucial of all the 4th set. He found his drop shot back in lieu and his cross forehand which he had forgot to connect somewhere around the starting of the second set. The final set was a jiffy taking a mere 40 minutes off the clock Nadal registered his second win over the Serb, thus stating, even though he doesn’t hold the top spot, he is the most amazing player of tennis on this planet. It was just an year ago while he watched Djoko loose to Murray in another of those dramatic finale, while he was injured. Coming back strong with an impeccable 22-0 wins to end with, he lifted the silver armour with well deserved ease, retorting back at his critics on the fact that he isn’t just a master of clays but can win any other major tournament if he strives to. With 13 Grand Slam titles he trails only Pete Sampras and Roger Federer who have won 14 and 17 titles, respectively.