TENNIS: US Open 2021
Sep. 13th, 2021 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllContinuing/completing the uncharacteristic run of sporty posts, I mostly followed the US Open via headlines. Women’s tennis continued to surprise, this time because most of the top seeds made it through to where they were seeded at one stage, which is by now surprising (notable exceptions being Serena Williams who didn’t play, Osaka and Barty.) But it was the tournament of the teenagers, with new names shining on both the men’s and women’s sides. Focusing on the latter, there was Fernandez who beat said Osaka and whose ‘youngest ever since Maria Sharapova’ records kept being matched by Raducanu, delightfully backing up her Wimbledon form. First the quarter finals, then the semis, then, crazily, the finals!
Fernandez was particularly impressive for beating former champions and top 5 seeds. Raducanu, beat the players in front of her, but that’s all you can do. There would be ten of them, because she’s the first qualifier, female or male, to reach the finals at a slam, let alone win it. This is only her fourth senior/pro tournament, she’s sprinted up the rankings, rising up to be British number 1 from being British number 12(?) back in the early summer. Now. not only will she be able to enter the Australian Open draw on the strenth of her ranking, she’ll be seeded, because whatever she does next, she has no points to defend. Oh, and in that whole ten-match run she didn’t drop a single set. Granted, she didn’t face a top 40 player until Belinda Bencic, the gold medallist at the recent Olympics, so it would have been no disgrace to lose to her or Sakkari, who was in her second slam semi-final. But Raducanu beat them.
I realised that I could listen to the radio coverage – I only found out on the Sunday morning after that Channel 4 had nabbed the rights to show the match live on free to air as well as Amazon at the last minute, and to be honest, I don’t know if I’d have been able to watch it. As it was, I wasn’t able to follow the fast-moving commentary during play as much as the result and the analysis.
It was clear from early on that the two best players of the tournament, these two talented teenagers, had turned up to play, which you always hope to happen in a final, but are often disappointed instead. It was close, perhaps more so in the first set than the scoreline suggests. There was talk of Raducanu facing play she wouldn’t have seen before, but she found a way. It seemed to me that at 5-4, she decided she was going to to take the set, believed that she could…and did.
How would they react? More of the same? Well, it became clearer that Fernandez’s serve was not standing up to the strain of Raducanu’s returning. Her second serve was particularly weakened, putting pressure on the first serve. Yes, when Raducanu came back and took a lead, we were reminded that Fernandez had been in this position before, and had come back from there against much more heralded players. The fall in the final game was unfortunate, because the timeout (that had to take place if there was a bleeding cut) stopped Fernandez’s momentum after gaining a breakback point. But she went on to get another, and it was saved by Raducanu. Suddenly she had a third championship point, but on her serve.
Tennis players must dream of acing that that point. Well, the dream has come true. Staggering. I’ve been laughing every time I think of all the facts I reeled off above. It was obvious from Wimbledon that Raducanu was a top-drawer player, but to string it together this fast! What a competitor, what an athlete. (And what a shame that thanks to COVID her family couldn’t be there.)
Of course, I would remind anyone who pontificates about what happens next that this is women’s tennis. Osaka has been the best recently at backing up her big wins, but just think of all the different slam winners there have been this year. Raducanu is the most improbable, but we’ve known that so many players believe that this could be their turn because several have succeeded. I would like to actually see her and Fernandez join battle at a grand slam final again, but we’ll see, shall we?
On the men’s side, A-A came through (a seasoned pro in his very early 20s), Zverev backed up his gold medal and Medvedev his seeding. Berrettini faced Djokovic again (third slam running) and got beaten again (as have so many others, when you consider that at that point Djokovic was still on for the calendar slam and winning more slams than Federer and Nadal, words that seem incredible so soon.)
But the men would stay true to seeding and it would be Medvedev in his third sllam fina, who would be facing Djokovic.
I woke up this morning to the surprising news that Medvedev had won his first Grand Slam in three sets, thus denying Djokovic from resounding answer to the GOAT question. I never epected it to be a three setter! Admittedly, I was paying less attention to the men’s side, because Raducanu and thus the women’s tournament were capturing more media attention. It really was a case of so and so’s got through, but having read beyond the headlines, I see Medvedev had won a lot on hard courts this summer and only dropped one set this fortnight, while Djokovic was more troubled. So, the Russian was in form, and it sounds like the best returner in the men’s game got no purchase on his serve this time. He’d also broken through, for him, at Wimbledon, and made it to the Aussie final this year. Well, well. Congratulations to him, another of ‘the Next Gen’ having broken through at a time when the generation after that is starting to make itself known also. Quite possible Federer and Nadal don’t know whether their bodies will give them another opportunity, while Djokovic will probably need a reset after this and the Olympics, while other, younger talents continue to row stronger.
Conratulations also to Joe Salisbury at winning both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles (I wonder how long his mixed doubles partner thought after weighed up whether to return to him or stick with Scudski after what happened at the French and Wimbledon. Congratulations too to Hewitt and Reid, particularly after the rollercoaster of the Paralympics and Hewitt’s uncertainty about his future in the sport.
Fernandez was particularly impressive for beating former champions and top 5 seeds. Raducanu, beat the players in front of her, but that’s all you can do. There would be ten of them, because she’s the first qualifier, female or male, to reach the finals at a slam, let alone win it. This is only her fourth senior/pro tournament, she’s sprinted up the rankings, rising up to be British number 1 from being British number 12(?) back in the early summer. Now. not only will she be able to enter the Australian Open draw on the strenth of her ranking, she’ll be seeded, because whatever she does next, she has no points to defend. Oh, and in that whole ten-match run she didn’t drop a single set. Granted, she didn’t face a top 40 player until Belinda Bencic, the gold medallist at the recent Olympics, so it would have been no disgrace to lose to her or Sakkari, who was in her second slam semi-final. But Raducanu beat them.
I realised that I could listen to the radio coverage – I only found out on the Sunday morning after that Channel 4 had nabbed the rights to show the match live on free to air as well as Amazon at the last minute, and to be honest, I don’t know if I’d have been able to watch it. As it was, I wasn’t able to follow the fast-moving commentary during play as much as the result and the analysis.
It was clear from early on that the two best players of the tournament, these two talented teenagers, had turned up to play, which you always hope to happen in a final, but are often disappointed instead. It was close, perhaps more so in the first set than the scoreline suggests. There was talk of Raducanu facing play she wouldn’t have seen before, but she found a way. It seemed to me that at 5-4, she decided she was going to to take the set, believed that she could…and did.
How would they react? More of the same? Well, it became clearer that Fernandez’s serve was not standing up to the strain of Raducanu’s returning. Her second serve was particularly weakened, putting pressure on the first serve. Yes, when Raducanu came back and took a lead, we were reminded that Fernandez had been in this position before, and had come back from there against much more heralded players. The fall in the final game was unfortunate, because the timeout (that had to take place if there was a bleeding cut) stopped Fernandez’s momentum after gaining a breakback point. But she went on to get another, and it was saved by Raducanu. Suddenly she had a third championship point, but on her serve.
Tennis players must dream of acing that that point. Well, the dream has come true. Staggering. I’ve been laughing every time I think of all the facts I reeled off above. It was obvious from Wimbledon that Raducanu was a top-drawer player, but to string it together this fast! What a competitor, what an athlete. (And what a shame that thanks to COVID her family couldn’t be there.)
Of course, I would remind anyone who pontificates about what happens next that this is women’s tennis. Osaka has been the best recently at backing up her big wins, but just think of all the different slam winners there have been this year. Raducanu is the most improbable, but we’ve known that so many players believe that this could be their turn because several have succeeded. I would like to actually see her and Fernandez join battle at a grand slam final again, but we’ll see, shall we?
On the men’s side, A-A came through (a seasoned pro in his very early 20s), Zverev backed up his gold medal and Medvedev his seeding. Berrettini faced Djokovic again (third slam running) and got beaten again (as have so many others, when you consider that at that point Djokovic was still on for the calendar slam and winning more slams than Federer and Nadal, words that seem incredible so soon.)
But the men would stay true to seeding and it would be Medvedev in his third sllam fina, who would be facing Djokovic.
I woke up this morning to the surprising news that Medvedev had won his first Grand Slam in three sets, thus denying Djokovic from resounding answer to the GOAT question. I never epected it to be a three setter! Admittedly, I was paying less attention to the men’s side, because Raducanu and thus the women’s tournament were capturing more media attention. It really was a case of so and so’s got through, but having read beyond the headlines, I see Medvedev had won a lot on hard courts this summer and only dropped one set this fortnight, while Djokovic was more troubled. So, the Russian was in form, and it sounds like the best returner in the men’s game got no purchase on his serve this time. He’d also broken through, for him, at Wimbledon, and made it to the Aussie final this year. Well, well. Congratulations to him, another of ‘the Next Gen’ having broken through at a time when the generation after that is starting to make itself known also. Quite possible Federer and Nadal don’t know whether their bodies will give them another opportunity, while Djokovic will probably need a reset after this and the Olympics, while other, younger talents continue to row stronger.
Conratulations also to Joe Salisbury at winning both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles (I wonder how long his mixed doubles partner thought after weighed up whether to return to him or stick with Scudski after what happened at the French and Wimbledon. Congratulations too to Hewitt and Reid, particularly after the rollercoaster of the Paralympics and Hewitt’s uncertainty about his future in the sport.
