Day 14
Embed from Getty Images
Context and Background
The U.S. Open, which started August 27th and ran through September 9th, is the last tennis major of the year. There was a week of qualifying (the qualifying started on 21 August)before the tournament commenced.
Results
Men’s Singles Championship:
- Novak Djokovic defeats Juan Martin Del Poltro 6-3.7-6. 6-3
Djokovic is truly back after another major win with the Championship at the 2018 U.S.Open. It was simply a case of Novak being quicker and more powerful than Del Poltro in the Men’s Final. Last July, Djokovic announced he would not compete again until 2018, due to a persistent elbow injury (the way the pros hit the ball now, with the extreme topspin, it’s amazing they all don’t have elbow issues). Djokovic previously won the 2018 Wimbledon tournament, which marked his return to the top tiers of the sport, and with his U.S.Open win, he has now won 14 Majors and is tied with the U.S. pro, Pete Sampras. Roger Federer has 20 Grand Slams; Rafa Nadal has 17. Djokovic’s victory over Del Poltro showed again, dramatically, the role that injuries can have in a career. It was Del Poltro who won the U.S. Open 9 years ago, at age 20, and who then seemed on the path to being a dominant force in the sport. Instead, Del Poltro had to battle back to this year’s final through four wrist surgeries, enough hospital time to derail other, less focused competitors. To reach the finals, Del Poltro had to take out Nadal, who retired from their semi-final match with knee problems. A very good article on the meeting Del Poltro and Djokovic–written before the finals match on Sunday–was published in METRO.
In tennis–as in every other sport from football to golf–it’s hard to be a superstar or achieve legendary status, if you can’t stay in the game. Injuries increasingly take the most talented players out of the game for a variety of reasons: over training, packed competitive schedules, changes in equipment, just plain bad luck. Who’s coming up that can achieve the results of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic? On the men’s side, there are no clear successors. On the women’s tour, maybe it will be Osaka who at 20 played a powerful and measured game against one of tennis best ever players, Serena Williams. It’ll be fun to see the next generation emerge, hopefully without promising careers cut short or ended by injuries.
Links
Heavy Topspin
New Yorker Coverage of US Open
New York Times continuing coverage (i.e. constant refresh) of Women’s Singles Championships today (8 Sept 2018)
New York Times Coverage of Friday’s Matches
Direct Link to U.S.Open Website
New York Times Coverage
Nadal/Theim/BBC Coverage
Direct Link to Men’s Draw
Direct Link to Women’s Draw
Direct Link to U.S. Open Draw ( all classes)
U.S.Open Schedule of Play
Players in the 2018 U.S. Open
How to Watch: International
How to Watch: USA
Favorites for 2018
U.S.Open history
The Kyrgios Drama
2018 Wimbledon Final Results
2018 French Open Results and Stories
2018 Australian Open Results
U.S. Open Draw/Results
U.S.Open Sponsors
Federer Vs. Krygios
A Day in the Life of Court 15
Marin Cilic Profile
The Shot
Osaka and Serena
USTA Membership Info
Equipment resources
Nike Tennis
Head Tennis Racquets
Babolot Tennis
Yonex
Wilson
ASICS
Fila
Polo/Ralph Lauren
Addidas
Lacoste
New Balance
Tennis Express (Online ordering)
Tennis Warehouse (Online ordering)
Lotto
The Fine Print: Image embeds courtesy of our friends at GettyImages.com, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. Images are not been altered in any way. All rights reserved by GettyImages.com. Video clips courtesy of U.S. Open Tennis Championship and ESPN. Videos are not been altered in any way. All rights reserved. We thank them for sharing. Nightshift Sports coverage of the 2018 U.S. Open tennis championship is produced by Perception Engineering and the Media Bunker. Text copyright (c) 2018 donald pierce. Follow Nightshift Sports for the entire tournament as we update on a regular (and irregular) basis). Thanks for reading.