There was something immediately
schizophrenic about this year’s U.S. Open, as if the
tournament itself was torn between the past, present, and
future of the game. Adding to the Open’s inner turmoil
during the first week and a half were spates of wild weather
that led to extended washouts of play, almost in an
every-other-day pattern designed to stall the overall
momentum of the year’s final major championship.
Between raindrops, much of the early focus was on tennis
legend Andre Agassi as he played the final competitive event
of his storybook career. Agassi whipped the New York crowd
into frenzy during his first two matches, overcoming a
feisty Andrei Pavel on opening night before defying time in
a dramatic second-round upset of eighth-seeded Marcos
Baghdatis of Cyprus, the latter of which was the best match
of the tournament.
After enduring a painful cortisone injection in order to
physically recover from his victory over Pavel, Agassi took
a two-sets-to-none lead over the talented-yet-inconsistent
Baghdatis. However, the Cypriot is one of the best fighters
on the ATP tour, a quality that allowed him to reach the
Australian Open final early in the season and the Wimbledon
semis in July. Marcos rallied to win the next two sets and
forced the match to its limits. The crowd roared with every
Agassi winner and Baghdatis error; the actions betrayed
their overwhelming heart and unfortunately came the expense
of etiquette, for some spectators even booed when Marcos
began cramping in the ultimate stages of the match.
Yet even Baghdatis, who would
exit Arthur Ashe Stadium as a vanquished foe that night,
seemed to know that he was a part of something
extraordinary. He fought for every point and smiled through
both his cramps and the abuse of partisan New Yorkers,
losing the match but winning the hearts of many fans
worldwide. Tennis enthusiasts have long, loyal memories and
these fans may very well be the same people who ignore the
rules of civility in Baghdatis’s honor on some special night
in the distant future.
The pair of enthralling Agassi victories left Andre drained
and looking his age during a third round match against
unheralded Benjamin Becker. The 25-year-old qualifier from
Germany coincidentally holds a name that is reminiscent of
one-time Agassi rival and tennis legend in his own right,
Boris Becker. Although the two players are not related, the
nostalgic surname of Agassi’s opponent gave rise to memories
of more youthful days at the U.S. Open, most notably one
fan’s immortal cry to Jimmy Connors about Agassi during
their 1988 U.S. Open quarterfinal:
“He’s a punk. You’re a legend!”
And so it was somehow satisfying that the Becker would
become the last man to play Agassi when he scored a
7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 upset victory, an unknown triumphing
over the icon. The 23,000 fans who had packed into Arthur
Ashe Stadium rose to give Agassi a standing ovation after
the match. As the score was posted on video screens around
the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, fans
across the grounds also stood and added their applause. Even
Agassi’s fellow players applauded him as he entered the
locker room for the last time. In closing his career, it was
evident that Agassi has transcended a sport of athletes who
by nature must be at least partially self-absorbed in order
to survive and touched throngs of partisan fans in the
process, all of whom paid due respect to Agassi’s
achievements in tennis, no matter what their personal
opinions may have been over the preceding two decades.
The tournament lost its direction upon Agassi’s elimination.
There were other stories, but the events taking place were
not cohesive, as if the air had been let out of a balloon
and no one could summon the breath to inflate it a second
time.
Andy Roddick would seemingly be the man to accept Andre’s
mantle and become the next great Grand Slam champion from
the United States and he made a game attempt to pick up
where Agassi left off, both figuratively and literally, as
he dismissed Becker in the subsequent round. After suffering
through an extended string of sub-par results, Roddick began
working with Connors over the summer and the partnership
infused the 2003 U.S. Open champion with a confidence that
had been missing for much of the past year. Many
prognosticators expected the up-and-coming generation in
men’s tennis to make its presence felt in full during this
tournament; however, former champions and forgotten
journeymen held back the youngsters over the course of the
fortnight. Marat Safin, Tommy Haas, Lleyton Hewitt, and
Mikhail Youzny each stole headlines, but ultimately it was
Andy Roddick who took charge and led the veteran resurgence
as he pounded serves and shots en route to his second U.S.
Open final.
Connors’ influence on Roddick’s game can be seen not only in
Andy’s results, but also in his demeanor. Since teaming with
Jimbo, Roddick has adopted an arrogant swagger that is as
off-putting as it is effective. Pairing such aggressive
behavior with the biggest serve in men’s tennis clearly
gives Roddick the psychological boost he needs to play well,
and it may also intimidate lesser players over the course of
a match, but such theatrics were of little use against the
sublime play of the unstoppable Roger Federer in the
championship final. Federer dismissed Roddick 6-2, 4-6, 7-5,
6-1 to collect his third consecutive U.S. Open crown, which
was also his third major victory this season and his ninth
Grand Slam title overall. Only Rafael Nadal’s win at Roland
Garros in Paris prevented Federer from winning the Grand
Slam by collecting all four major championships in a single
calendar year. Federer is now the first man in the Open era
to compete in six consecutive major finals (and counting!)
and he is the only man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open
back-to-back over the course of three consecutive seasons.
Less concerned with the record books and more in need of a
personal resurrection was Maria Sharapova. After winning
Wimbledon in 2004 at the tender age of 17, Sharapova had
stalled time-and-again in the penultimate moments of
tennis’s biggest events. Her game had become predictable;
her strategies were limited; and her high decibel, high-risk
shot making had proven unreliable during close contests.
Although Sharapova fights
better than any woman on tour, she had consistently advanced
deep into majors only to lose to the eventual champion.
Worse still, Maria was far short of the form she would need
to win her second major title during a sloppy quarterfinal
match against Tatiana Golovin, but she overcame an off day
on serve to advance to the semifinals against world number
one Amelie Mauresmo. Mauresmo was winner of the Australian
and Wimbledon championships this season and a player whom
Sharapova had not beaten in three previous attempts.
Sharapova had historically
struggled with Mauresmo’s superior movement and variety of
spins, but she took advantage of a flat start by the
Frenchwoman and blitzed Amelie on the way to claiming a 6-0
first set lead. Yet Mauresmo managed to hang with Maria as
the match continued and closed out the second set with a
late break of serve. Suddenly, the match was tied at a set
apiece and Maria’s recent history in majors seemed to once
again be rearing its ugly head. Sharapova, however, would
have none of it. She powered shot after shot deep into the
court, her signature shriek echoing throughout Arthur Ashe
Stadium as she dismissed the top-ranked Mauresmo by the
rather embarrassing and downright odd score line of 6-0,
4-6, 6-0.
In the other women’s semifinal, Justine Henin-Hardenne was
looking to advance to the final of all four majors in one
calendar year by making it to the championship round in New
York, but surprise semifinalist Jelena Jankovic was
apparently unimpressed by Henin-Hardenne’s successes in
Melbourne, Paris, and London. Jankovic was in full command
of the encounter as she amassed a 6-4, 4-2 lead over the
world’s second-ranked woman and reigning French Open
champion. Jelena held a point to take a 5-2 second set lead,
but could not convert. Her first serve was called long,
which Jankovic disputed with the chair umpire but oddly did
not elect to challenge by using the electronic line call
technology available to her. The young and immature Jankovic
became flustered and the emotional outburst would be her
undoing. Jelena served a double fault to let the tenacious
Henin-Hardenne back into game and the match, ultimately
dropping the final 10 games of the contest. Replay showed
the serve Jankovic was arguing did indeed land well beyond
the service box and Henin-Hardenne was in another major
final by way of a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 comeback win.
The Jankovic meltdown was not the only melodrama to unfold
during the women’s tournament. Television cameras caught
Yuri Sharapov – Maria Sharapova’s overbearing father and
coach – gesturing to Maria during a quarterfinal match,
obviously indicating that she eat a banana and drink some
water. Maria would always comply with her father’s signals,
despite the fact that coaching is currently against the
rules in professional tennis. When questioned about the
incident by reporters, Sharapova refused to give a
straightforward answer. The media-fueled scandal would dog
Maria for the remainder of the tournament, sadly
overshadowing the brilliant tennis she was producing on
court.
Henin-Hardenne’s head-to-head record against Sharapova was
nearly as stellar as Mauresmo’s. Past matches against both
women made it clear that Sharapova did not adjust well to
their varied style of play and judicious net attacks.
Furthermore, Henin-Hardenne can be as equally gritty as
Sharapova and is naturally more aggressive that Mauresmo. On
paper, Justine appeared to be the toughest of obstacles in
Sharapova’s quest for the title. Nonetheless, Maria was
overdue for a second major victory and hungry to take the
title (despite that banana).
Saving some of her best shot
making for the tournament finale, Sharapova’s breathtaking
pace and weight of shot subdued Henin-Hardenne in an almost
routine 6-4, 6-4 win. Sharapova became only the eighth woman
in Open era history to defeat the world’s top-two ranked
players in a Grand Slam event. Sharapova was not ready to
dominate tennis after her surprise win in London two years
ago, but she has matured as a player and as a competitor
since that time. Her closest rivals for major championships
are all significantly older than she is; therefore, it is
hard not to see this win as a watershed victory for
Sharapova, the world’s highest paid female athlete. She may
soon be ready to dominate the women’s tour in much the same
manner as she does the advertising market place.
So went another fortnight of New York tennis. There was a
tip of the hat to the past, as Agassi retired; the
complex grounds were renamed in honor of Billie Jean King;
and Martina Navratilova paired with Bob Bryan to win the
last competitive match of her career when the team won the
mixed doubles title. There was Federer, newly crowned
three-time U.S. Open champion and a man who has a
stranglehold on the present state of men’s tennis. And there
was perhaps a glimpse of the future as Sharapova pocketed
her second Grand Slam title, issuing a challenge to today’s
mainstays and surpassing her fellow teenage peers. Judging
from the tennis they displayed at the USTA Billie Jean King
National Tennis Center, Sharapova and Federer promise to
reign together at more majors in the year(s) to come.
Wyman Meers is a writer living
in New York. He is
Gaga4Gaby on the Outsports Discussion Board.
