U.S. Open

Invincible Once Again: Federer Wins Fifth Straight U.S. Open by Mauling Muray

NEW YORK — It must have been devastating for Roger Federer, even though he’s one of the most even-tempered, intelligent players ever to walk the Earth.

His five-title streak at Wimbledon was gone, snatched away in gloomy darkness by his chief rival, Rafael Nadal, who would soon be crowned the new king of his sport. He was no longer impenetrable, no more than a wand-waving magician, having fallen at three consecutive Grand Slams. Some thought he might mimic Bjorn Borg’s career after John McEnroe stopped the Swede’s Wimbledon streak at five — a slow slide into oblivion.

“It was hard for me the next three days,” said Federer’s father, Robert. “I suffered. There’s this pressure on you that doesn’t feel nice. But the thing I like about Roger is how relaxed he is and how even his life is.”

Not everyone believed Federer when he said that he was staying positive and knew that his time would come again. But like he has been on court on so many occasions during the past five years, he was correct in gauging his own level. After he smoked Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 for his fifth successive U.S. Open crown and 13th Grand Slam title, he raised a glass of his champagne to himself.

“I played great,” Federer said. “I felt like I was invincible for a while again, and that’s exactly how you sort of want to finish a tournament.”

Whether Federer’s ‘08 slump was mental, physical or both, it was very real. A bad case of mono and a charged-up Novak Djokovic took him out of the Aussie Open, and then Nadal thumped him once again in Paris and stunned him in London. At the Olympics, he moved slowly and framed balls against James Blake, even though he did manage to win the doubles. In between, there were a few losses to some men whom he would have spun around last year.

“The French Open loss was brutal, but I got over that one pretty easily, played great on the grass and had a really tough loss at Wimbledon, which I was proud to be part of such a great match, but at the same time it sort of made me sad, not having won that great epic match,” he said. “Maybe I was always dreaming about it and not winning it. [But] I was always positive. I lost quite a few matches I should have never lost, and they hurt.”

The Swiss did not come to New York as the flat-out favorite. He had to show that he could still produce blinding shots, face down the youngsters at crunch time and still design strategies that his body and mind could respond to. And he did, although it didn’t come easy.

He needed five scratchy sets to repel Igor Andreev in the fourth round and it took Federer until the semis to trot out his top level, but once he did, no player had the goods to keep his foot off the pedal in his drive for five. He hit through and around Djokovic, running gamely with him and intercepting his most hard-thrown passes.

Then came Murray in the final, who looked prepared to come of age with his grit, guts and high- variety game that had earned him a 2-1 record against Federer entering the match. But like the other men who Federer stung in U.S. Open finals — Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Djokovic, Murray seemed a step slower, a little out of place, trying to fit the wrong key into the front door of Federer’s house.

Federer served huge down the middle and twisted high kickers to the corners. His forehand was world class again, crosscourt and inside out, and as much as Murray tried to flatten out his own wing to match the Swiss, Federer’s balls flew through the concrete with more venom. He mixed up his backhand brilliantly, and continued to charge the net even though he missed a number of negotiable volleys. He chipped, charged and ripped returns.

Murray only dug into the match once, coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the second set. But serving down 6-5, the Swiss charged hard and kissed every corner of the court, winning the set when he raced up to a Murray drop shot and slapped a forehand pass down the line.

The match was essentially over there, as the despondent Scot fell behind 5-0. He managed to creep back to 5-3, but then Federer put the hammer down and won the match when he leapt into a backhand crosscourt winner. He then slid to his back and celebrated wildly. When the two hugged at the net, Murray had a message for him.

“He told me that it was a great tournament for me, and I said that I agreed with everyone that he’s had a terrible year,” Murray said with a laugh. “Making the semis of Australia, final of the French, the final at Wimbledon, playing one of the best matches of all time, winning a gold medal [in doubles], and obviously winning the U.S. Open. I told him that he had a phenomenal year, regardless of what anyone said.”

Federer became the first man since Bill Tilden in ‘24 to triumph five times in a row at the U.S. Open, and the first man in history to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open on five straight occasions. With 13 Grand Slams, he’s one within Pete Sampras’ all-time mark of 14, and it’s hard to imagine that at age 27, he won’t pass him.

“It’s nice to compare five Wimbledons to five U.S. Opens, no doubt. Not many guys — nobody can do that,” said Federer, who spent a good 20 minutes on court after the trophy presentation celebrating with his friends, family and, yes, fans.

“I’m quite proud obviously of my achievement. It’s been a tough summer. Now, getting the fifth U.S. Open, it really means a lot to me. And losing my No. 1 ranking, that’s also what meant a lot to me this season. So to bounce back straightaway after losing the No. 1 ranking, this is the best scenario ever.”

If and when Federer ties Sampras, there will be little debate as to who the greatest player ever is, because the Swiss has been just as good if not better on hard courts and grass, and even though he’s never won Roland Garros, he’s been a whole lot better on clay. Murray tabbed Federer as the best the sport’s ever seen.

“In the big tournaments, he never has early losses,” Murray said. “He’s been so dominant in terms of ranking for the last five years, even when I think Nadal might get very close to winning the same amount of Slams as Federer and Sampras. Even when someone as good as him who is right behind him, he’s still a long way ahead in points, and it’s only been until this year that Nadal has caught up to him. Five years of dominance, the runs here, and at Wimbledon, winning five in a row, and even at the French, he’s definitely a better clay-court player than Sampras. He’s coming up against definitely the best clay-court player of all time in Nadal. There’s a very strong argument for him being the best player.”

Murray added that Federer has at least four years around the top of the game, which might be a bit of stretch, but given that he almost never gets injured, you would have to concede Federer at least three more terrific seasons in front of him.

The youngsters have come at him hard this year, with three of them reaching the U.S. Open semis: the two 21-year-olds in No. 3 Djokovic and No. 4 Murray and the new No. ,1 the 22-year-old Nadal, who ruled the roost from early April through Sept. 7, until Murray finally stopped him cold in New York.

But now, Federer is clearly back in the mix. It’s unlikely that he’ll end the year at No. 1, as Nadal would have to completely fall apart in order for him to do so, but he held that spot for long enough. It’s adding more majors that will satisfy him the most.

“I would have been disappointed losing today and having three finals and one semis of Slams,” he said. “ You feel like you missed an entire year, being so close but yet so far, because semis and finals don’t help me a whole lot anymore in my career. It’s all about the wins, and that’s why this is huge. This is massive and I’m very, very happy. It’s a different type of flavor, this one, to me, no doubt.”

Perfection: After a Trying Year, Perfectionist Serena Grabs U.S. Open Title No. 3

NEW YORK — About nine days after Serena Williams lost in the Wimbledon final to her elder sister, she was still killing herself, unable to shake her mind of the errors that came late in a match she felt should have avoided.  She couldn’t fully accept  that a player who has a better feel for grass simply outplayed her. There was nothing to be happy about.  But as it turrns out, there are some benefits to being a perfectionist.

Instead of kicking back and enjoying another amazing title run, Serena kept her nose to the grindstone and, finally, after a season of hard work that wasn’t yielding the results she desired, broke her own glass ceiling by winning her third U.S. Open title with a highly entertaining 6-4, 7-5 victory over Serbian diva Jelena Jankovic in the final.

“If Serena stops trying to stay perfect, she’ll win more and easier because she can be difficult to work with,” her father and coach, Richard told IT. “No one is perfect. If you lose, take your ass to the next match. To sit there and dwell over a match, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

There were moments at the end of the second set when it looked like Serena’s legs might give in as Jankovic was delighting in quick-handed blows and full sprints sideline to sideline, but the gutsier player with more self-belief came though to her ninth Grand Slam title.

“She’s between a pit bull, a young Mike Tyson and an alligator, and that’s what it took for her to win tonight,” Richard said. “I just tell her to compete like hell, win or lose. Compete like Connors.”

Serena celebrates in a different way than Jimmy but has the same roar and love of the battle. Sure, she’ll say she likes to win her matches easy, but that’s not what created her legend. It’s how she gets in the trenches, grits her teeth and gets downright mean when the chips are down.

When she was huffing and puffing deep in the second set, her sweaty and sore back could have melted against the blue court. But after she won the two-hour, four-minute contest, fighting off four set points in the second set, she was downright ebullient, taking a page out of Venus’ celebration book and jumping up and down like a pogo stick.

“I’ve never known Serena to be very excited, only to be mean and arrogant, and if she doesn’t like what you’re saying, she might try to hit you with the ball, even when she was young,” Richard said. “She might have a soft side, but I’ve never seen it except toward me.”

That may be just a taskmaster’s view, because Serena can be downright charming. Just ask her significant other, the rapper, Common, who has been allegedly smitten with Serena for more than a year and attended the final. It’s just that on court, the bubbly part-time actress takes a dictator’s attitude.

Serena entered into the tournament pining for a major title in ‘08 and was by no means the clear favorite. She had to survive 10 set points against her sister in the quarters  (Venus’ first big choke job in memory), the red -hot Dinara Safina in the semis and then Jankovic, the fleet-footed backboard in the final. The Serbian, who spent the first week of the tournament complaining about injuries, illness and fitness, finally turned the mental corner in a three- set win over promising Danish teen Caroline Wozniaki in the fourth round and then out-thought Sybille Bammer and Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva to reach her first Slam final.

The two were facing off for the world No. 1 ranking and entered the match with a 3-3 head-to-head record. Closely matched, Serena would depend on her big serve, scalding returns and sure-handed net game to keep herself out of endless rallies with the spotlight-loving Serbian, an ambitious shotmaker who adores a big audience.

And Jankovic almost stole the evening, doing splits, smiling widely and engaging the crowd after spectacular winners.  But there’s a reason why Serena has a much more impressive resume than the 23-year-old – she knows how to compose herself on big points and stops messing around.

After the resourceful Jankovic broke to cut Serena’s lead to 5-4 in the first set, Serena bore down to break back. Serena knew that she had to attack Jankovic’s second serves if she was to avoid a marathon, where Jankovic could rally and punish her legs.

Gunning for her first Grand Slam title, Jankovic broke Serena and established a 5-3 lead. But that’s when Williams gritted her teeth.  She fought off three set points with a gorgeous backhand, a crisp overhead and then watched Jankovic push a backhand wide to hold at 5-4.

“I let it go,” Jankovic said. “I had it, a lot of chances. Second set I had a lot of set points and didn’t do the right things.”

Serena then threw down the gauntlet in a thrilling, no-holds-bared game that featured a fourth set point for the Serbian (where, incredibly, she double faulted) and six break points for Serena, which the American finally won with a searing forehand.

But the match wasn’t over there — not by a long pull of Jankovic’s ponytail. Serena knew she had better close or she might be locked into a three-hour battle with a woman who doesn’t mind running marathons.

Serving again, Serena held for a 6-5 lead with a lunging volley. And with Jankovic serving the next game, she grabbed her second match point by the throat with a beautiful crosscourt backhand that sealed the deal.