US Open Champions : Nadal, Clijsters own the US Open.
Rafa was an odds-on favourite, except of course for that Federer guy. Kim Clijsters surely suffered from odds-makers’ vestigial sexism, forfeiting a few places in the seeding because she took time off for family life. Once again, players prevail and pundits blush. Both Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters made tennis history as they won this year’s US Open tennis championships.
Nadal claims the title and the season.
Playing an inspired Novak Djokovic in Monday’s night’s final, Nadal overcame both rain delays and Djokovic’s phenomenal court coverage, taking the match in four hard-fought sets. At the end of their three-hour and forty-three minute contest, the scoreboard read Nadal, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, and 6-2. Students of tennis history will read that, Monday night, Nadal became the youngest man in the Open era to complete a career Grand Slam. Nadal is just twenty-four years old. Challenged to put the words to his feelings about his championship and Grand Slam, Nadal said simply, “More than what I dreamt.” Djokovic, in the finest spirit of the game, acknowledged, “Right now he’s the best player in the world, and he absolutely deserves this title.”
Earlier this year, Nadal took home the big trophies from the French Open and Wimbledon. Monday night’s US Open championship left no doubt whatsoever that the summer of 2010 was Nadal’s. As he won match point, Nadal slowly fell back on the Open’s signature blue court, gazed skyward as if in disbelief and gratitude. Then, popping back up, he jogged to the net, embracing Djokovic and acknowledging the wildly cheering crowd.
Clijsters capitalizes on “the home court advantage.”
Tennis analysts need not break-down the numbers to prove Kim Clijsters always has played her best tennis in the United States, especially in New York. Married to American Brian Lynch, Clijsters now divides her time between a home in New Jersey and another in her native Belgium. Currently riding a twenty-one match winning streak at the US Open, Clijsters surely owns a home court advantage. This weekend, Clijsters schooled Vera Zvonareva, 6-2 and 6-1, making her the first woman in nearly a decade to win back-to-back Open championships, and distinguishing herself with history’s second longest streak, trailing only Chris Evert.
Speaking with reporters after the match, Clijsters said thankfully, “New York is an amazing place for me, It has brought nothing but happiness to my tennis life. Whenever I step [into Arthur Ashe Stadium], it feels like coming home. It is the support [from the fans] that makes me play better.”
