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| Novak Djokovic |
Roger Federer and
a feverish Flushing Meadows crowd threw everything they had at Novak Djokovic,
and still they could not break him.
The 28 year-old
Serb is the immoveable object at the top of men’s tennis and amid the raucous
atmosphere of the Arthur Ashe Stadium he claimed a tenth Grand Slam title to
deny the great Swiss an eighteenth.
Facing a partisan
assembly that was like Switzerland on steroids, ignoring shouts prior to his
serve, the world No 1 beat back Federer’s attacking play to win 6-4, 5-7, 6-4,
6-4 in three hours and twenty minutes.
So after the tournament that was meant to be all about
Serena Williams winning four Majors in a year Djokovic ends it tying her with
three of them. Were it not for Stan Wawrinka’s Tour de Force against him in
Paris he would have been looking at the Grand Slam himself.
In terms of
mental fortitude this might have been his best yet. Faced with constant
catcalling and a late fightback from the world No 2 he still held firm.
Federer, who
played so beautifully coming into this, was left to consider the fact that you
cannot win at this rarefied level when spurning nineteen out of twenty three
break points that he did.
Partly due to the iron will and consistency of Djokovic,
and perhaps due to the nerve fraying a bit with age, the 34 year-old Swiss
could not quite muster the composure when he most needed it.
Yet he never gave
up, and an agonising final game saw him reduce the Serb to 15-40 on serve
before the champion forced himself across the line.
Federer remains
without a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon 2012 while Djokovic moves into
double figures. When the final reckoning at the end of their careers comes we
cannot know who will be ahead.
What was the 42nd
match between these two – the only rivalry between the fabled Big Four that
could really be said to still be on the boil right now – finally got going more
than three hours after the scheduled start.
Rain had fallen,
on cue, just fifteen minutes before the planned beginning, and it was clear
that some liquid refreshment had put the star-studded crowd in high spirits.
Robert Redford,
David Beckham, Paul Simon, Sir Sean Connery and Hugh Jackman were among those
eager to see whether the great Swiss could further add to his legacy.
The opening could
not be said to be of hugely high quality from a world number one and two, both
edgy and feeling each other out, and it was by virtue of Federer’s unforced
errors that the Serb went ahead.
Djokovic’s
movement shrinks the court, making his opponent cut his margin for error, and
there were sixteen unforced errors from his side in the opening set. Also, the
Serb’s high class return of serve also sees the Swiss’s first delivery
percentage go down, and that was again the case.
With the crowd
highly partial in the 34 year-old’s favour, almost like he was Jimmy Connors
reincarnated, early breaks were exchanged. Then Djokovic got the break with a
backhand pass down the line for 4-3. Neither man looked that solid on serve but
the world No 1 just about held firm to close it out.
When he did so
that was the first set that Federer had dropped in his twelve matches since
Wimbledon.
We did not see
his much vaunted SABR – Sneak Attack By Roger – until the first point of the
Djokovic’s next service game, and the chip-charge return worked. But the Swiss
could not convert any of his three break points, lacking that extra bit of
sangfroid he might have had against lesser opponents on lesser occasions.
He began to mount
more cavalry charges into the net but in the fourth game Djokovic responded
with two magnificent backhand lobs that served as the perfect deterrent.
As the volume
ramped up and the Swiss serve began to fire properly they played a pivotal
tenth game which had eight deuces and two set points for the increasingly
aggressive Federer. The second of them involved a mid court forehand with
Djokovic at his mercy, but he sent it six inches long to spurn a golden
opportunity.
The Swiss finally
clinched it when he won his ninth break point of the set at 6-5, uncorking a
vicious cross court backhand that his opponent could not fetch. Even Stefan
Edberg, his famously sanguine coach, got out of his seat to applaud.
It was very much
in Djokovic’s interests to turn this into a physical war, and Federer’s legs
seemed to feel it as he held on in the first six games in the third set, before
an unexpected lapse of concentration from the other end helped present the
Swiss with two break points.
On one of these
he dumped a very makeable backhand in the net, and in the next game he put the
same shot into the tramlines to allow Djokovic, who had been defending
frantically around the back of the court, to serve for the set.
Federer had two
more break points as he tried to do so, which he managed with the help of a
correct overrule from Greek umpire Eva Asderaki, the first woman to umpire a US
men’s final, who had an excellent match.
That seemed to
floor him and he went behind early in the fourth before forcing another break
point at 2-3 which he missed with an overpressed forehand, a shot that lacked
reliability when most needed.
Federer continues
to grace the courts but his unforced error count was up to 54 by the end and he
was broken a second time with a stunning forehand return pass. Then came the
late dart from 2-5 which was a huge credit to him.
As for Djokovic,
the man whose game has no holes in it, he looks equally as dominant at the top
of the men’s game as Williams has been among the women.
Djokovic, who
wins £2.15 million, said: 'It was a very difficult match, I have a tremendous
respect for Roger, playing the best player in history adds to the pressure.
'I knew he was
going to be very aggressive and not drop his level too much. I was serving at
5-2 in the fourth and Roger showed why he is a champion. I was fortunate to
come up with some big serves in that last game.'
Federer said: 'I
had a wonderful last two weeks, I’m pleased with where my game is at. I enjoyed
it and I thought it was a great match.'
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