US Open Finals Weekend

Finals weekend at Flushing Meadows and the end of my stint as an insomniac, for the time being at least.

It was another hot, humid day in New York on Saturday and the protagonists of the first men’s semi final – Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer had to suffer the worst of the conditions.

Ever since his second round thriller with Stepanek, Djokovic has looked out on his feet during each match and today was no different, as he had the trainer and the doctor out frequently, but managed to see off the challenge of Ferrer in straight sets.

Retirement through fatigue appeared to be the Serb’s only real likelihood of defeat in this one, as he was just too good for the Spaniard, who doesn’t possess the weapons required to beat Djokovic over five sets on a hard court and so Novak proudly became his country’s first male Grand Slam finalist.

So, both of my pre-tournament wagers had made the final, but this will mean little in terms of profit unless they go close in their respective championship matches, due to the fact that they will both be massive underdogs.

I hoped, therefore, for a Davydenko victory in the second semi final, but it seemed unlikely, given all the evidence pointing to a Federer success.

During the pre-match chat, Greg Rusedski, who is becoming camper as the tournament progresses, stated “the public will warm to him” when discussing Nikolay Davydenko. Sorry Greg, but the public haven’t and never will warm to this dull little man, in a similar fashion to the way they haven’t warmed to your maniacal grin and bizarre fluctuating tones of voice.

The Russian broke the Federer serve in the first game of the match, but from 1-3, Federer took it up a couple of notches and served for the set at 5-3.

Davydenko fought back and with some great play, earned himself a couple of break points and took the second one to stay in the set.

A trademark forehand service return winner and a brilliant backhand pass did the trick for Davydenko and he followed it up with a love service game to level at 5-5, but he couldn’t fend off Fed for long and the Swiss maestro broke to take the set 7-5.

Fed took the next 6-1, but the third set was surprisingly competitive, with many breaks of serve and some thrilling baselines rallies and Davydenko had the first set point at 4-5 on Federer’s serve, having broken the Swiss three times in the set already.

Federer fired himself up though and somehow fought off the break point and a brilliant forehand running pass preceded a Davydenko double fault in the very next game and suddenly, Federer was serving for a place in the final.

He served it out to love to post a 7-5, 6-1, 7-5 success and so my wagers will both need to overcome the number one seeds, or at least run them close, if I am to record a profit on the tournament. Typical.

The less said about the ladies final the better. Henin walked it in straight sets, playing superb tennis and giving poor Sveta no chance whatsoever and giving me no chance whatsoever to profit on my wager.

Finals night began with the usual nonsense in the name of hype and ‘entertainment’. This year it was a wired looking Liza Minelli banging out God Bless America on court, accompanied by a suited pianist and a troupe of soldiers, unfurling the star spangled banner underneath an air force fly-by.

In the studio, Annabel Croft was looking her glamorous best and Rusedksi’s grin had reached a width of Julia Roberts proportions, as he recalled his own participation on the corresponding day a decade ago.

Back on court, Federer arrived in the all black gear and Djokovic patriotically decided upon the red, white and blue of Serbia.

For the second consecutive night I was holding a wager that looked highly unlikely to come in, and I desperately required Djokovic to start strongly and he was the first to find break points, at 5-5 in the opener.

Federer put a forehand long on the second break point and the New York crowd, who have really taken to the Serb and included Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, went wild when Novak went 40-0 up and had three set points.

He couldn’t take advantage of them though and wasted five set points in total. Surely he would be made to pay for his profligacy in the resulting tie-break?

He would and you can’t expect to beat Roger Federer if you throw away golden opportunities such as the Serb did. Djokovic’s racquet hit the floor, as did my spirits when a double fault gave the set on a plate to the Swiss.

It was a similar story in the second set, as Djokovic had two set points at 6-5, but again he failed to convert and again it ended the same way as the first, in a tie break win for Federer.

Same again in the third, as Djokovic had three consecutive break points at 2-2, but failed again and both the Serb and myself were done.

Game over and the male and female world number one’s had delivered and it meant that I failed to make a bean from picking a 36-1 finalist and a 50-1 finalist, which seems a bit harsh.

So, it’s all over for another year and it just leaves the annual awards, which are as follows: -

Worst temperament award – Stanislas Wawrinka (runner-up Novak Djokovic)
Worst outfit – Bethanie Mattek’s tiger print shocker
Best outfit – Agnes Szavay’s little white dress
Best match – James Blake v Fabrice Santoro
Best commentary – Peter Fleming
Worst commentary – Sam Smith & ‘Rick’ from US TV (impossible to split them)
Most graceless loser – Serena Williams
Dullest personality award – Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko, Justine Henin
Scruffiest player – David Ferrer
The ‘my, haven’t you grown?’ award – Marcos Baghdatis & Bethanie Mattek