Two Epic Tennis Players Equals One Epic Finals

If you were a betting person and said that Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the ATP's two highest ranked players and major champions of the past, would end in in the final, you would be making a very safe bet. But safe or not that is exactly what happened when the Men's Championship Final was contested Monday night.

The Semifinals
After a relatively boring quarterfinal that saw each of the world's top four players, Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, move on, the semis were contested and things got much more interesting. In the Nadal-Murray match, Nadal made quick work with his opponent and moved on to the final.

The Djokovic-Federer match went a little differently. Federer who since turning thirty has been talked about with the looming question, "will he win another major?" With 16 major titles already to his name, Federer is the winningest player in men's tennis history. He has complete the career grand slam and won an astounding five U.S. Opens. Despite all of this, Federer came into this tournament without being considered by many that he would contend. He had something to prove and in going up 2-0 over Djokovic, it looked that he doing just that.

But when the third set began, a different Djokovic took to the courts. He managed to break Fed's serve and win the next two sets. As most matches where top ranked players are pitted against each other, this one went to a 5th set. It was tied for sometime but then Federer pulled ahead and had two match points on his serve to win it. He was inches away from the finish line but was never able to reach it. Djokovic won those points and broke back. He then served for the set and for the second year in a row, Fed was ousted by Djokovic for a trip to the finals.

The Finals
And so it was set. The world #1 Djokovic, and the world #2 Nadal, would face off in the Final. It was a rematch of last year's final in which Nadal won making him the defending Champion. Nadal wasn't going to easily give up his throne but Djokovic was determined to make the reign short lived.
Putting the Isner-Mahut marathon Wimbledon match aside, this was one of the best tennis performances I have ever seen by both players. Nadal fought hard, fighting off break points but Djokovic fought harder. Both men put so much effort into every point and rallies often lasted 20+ strokes. Service points even reached deuce an astounding eight times on one of Nadal's serves before Djokovic got the break that appeared to seal the fate of the former champion.

The net play, the ripped forehands and absolute sheer strength and athleticism of both players was on display. Nadal broke Djokovic but Djokovic fought right back. Break point opportunities were plentiful and both men lost their serve more than once a set. After two sets, despite being down 0-2 in each set, Djokovic managed to head into the would be final set with a 2-0 lead.

Nadal was a fighter though and never gave up. After a 6-6 tie filled with again more service breaks, more astonishing plays and more just great tennis, the set went into a tiebreak. Nadal seemed to pull out another gear to his already quick game. He easily won the tiebreak over what it seemed was a gassed Djokovic. At this point the crowd was already cheering thankful for the great quality of play, but after this set, Nadal had the crowd on his side.

It wasn't just he crowd on his side however because it seemed like the tennis gods were also shining favor down on him. Djokovic appeared to be hurt. He called over a trainer and used hi medical timeout to get treatment. A lower back muscle strain was the diagnosis and it didn't look good for the world #1.

Then after the tie break and out of nowhere, Djokovic just turned it on. Despite the injury he managed to not only hold serve but break Nadal. Djokovic won the fourth set by a dominating 6-1 score and was crowned the U.S. Open Champion.

Djokovic seemed to have pulled off the impossible. He beat Federer after being down 2 sets to none making  it only the second time in over 120 matches that this happened to Federer. Then he beat Nadal after suffering an injury that looked like it might cause him to retire.

In winning the U.S. Open, Djokovic managed to win three out of the four majors and complete one of the greatest seasons in tennis history. In 2011, Djokovic went 64-2 only losing until to Federer in the French Open and retiring against Andy Murray in a tournament before the U.S. Open. Djokovic won ten title in 2011 including a record five Masters titles and three grand slam tournaments. He also had a 41 match unbeaten streak and was an unprecedented 6-0 against Nadal in 2011. So as Djokovic placed a FDNY cap on his head instantly winning over the New York crowd, he completed his stellar 2011 or what will be called the reign of Djokovic.

Best season ever? Maybe. It certainly will be almost impossible for anyone to duplicate.