He’s Back!

By Lee | September 9th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

It has been a tumultuous year for the best tennis player of all time but Monday, Roger Federer was able to wrap up his fifth consecutive US Open championship and 13th overall major title. He thoroughly manhandled Brit Andy Murray who was making his grand slam final debut after his convincing win over top ranked Rafael Nadal. As a huge Federer fan, I was delighted to see him back on top after losing the past two major finals to Nadal. Combine those finals with his Aussie Open semifinal appearance and his semifinal major streak reached 18-which is unbelievable and has never even been approached and probably never will be. Federer’s “off” year, which would be anyone else’s best year was punctuated by this historic win as he sets his sights on regaining the top ranking by the end of the year.

Federer has some making up to do but with two Masters Series stops left in Madrid and Paris along with the season ending Masters Cup in Shanghai in November. He will also be appearing in the Stockholm Open for the first time along with his hometown tournament in Basel. If he wins out he will regain the top ranking no matter what Nadal does and can afford a few slip ups as well. I look forward to the rest of the race this season.

This years US Open saw the emergence of several young stars. First and foremost, Andy Murray finally capitalized on his considerable talent by beating Nadal and reaching number four in the world. Juan Martin Del Potro also emerged as a force making the quarters along with Luxembourg ace Gilles Muller. American Sam Querrey, who you can’t help but root for, beat Ivo Karlovic and then gave Nadal all he could handle before succumbing but made the fourth round for the first time and set the table for next year. Finally, Mardy Fish made the quarters and also gave Nadal a run for it but continued his high and low play this year-hopefully he can turn it around next year and stay consistent.

This years US Open went according to form for the most part with the worlds top four players making the semi’s but in the end order was restored to the world and Roger Federer is still champion in New York.