Last year, there was a hurricane moving up the east coast. Rain was predicted to hit the US Open on Super Saturday, the day both men’s semifinals would be played in addition to the women’s final. Tournament organizers, concerned the day may be washed out decided to move up the first match.
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic started their match at 11 AM. As this match was proceeding and New York was dodging the rain, there was concern that it was only a matter of time before rain hit New York. So it was decided, rather than wait for the Federer-Djokovic match to complete, to start the Nadal-Murray match at about 12:30 in another court. A little over two sets were played before rain fell. The rain kept falling throughout the day and the women’s finals were not played. The following day, Murray completed his match against Nadal and made his first men’s semifinals. The men’s final wasn’t played until Monday.
This is important to note. The US Open is the only Slam that makes its players play back to back semifinals and finals. The men play the semifinals on Saturday, then the finals on Sunday. Except Roger Federer played his semifinals on Saturday, then got Sunday off, then played late Monday afternoon. Although Murray only played two sets and was in great shape, some argued Roger got more rest and was the fresher of the two heading to the finals.
Fast forward to this year, and the rains fell on Thursday evening. Roger Federer had already played his match, a four set victory that started off looking like Roger would dominate his Swedish opponent easily, and ended with Roger squeaking out a victory over Soderling, who took the third set in a tiebreak and nearly took the fourth set too. Djokovic also complete his match on Wednesday. Even del Potro, scheduled to play a later afternoon match with Marin Cilic had a comfortable four set victory completed.
That left Rafael Nadal, who had played more night matches than usual (perhaps by request–the night matches being cooler and less likely to create fatigue), ready to play his old rival, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez. The rains were against expected to hit the US Open, but for a few hours, they had managed to avoid the rainfall, enough to get the del Potro-Cilic match in.
Normally, Gonzalez struggles with Nadal. Gonzalez court movement is not as good as some. Since his forehand is so good, he often feels the need to hit everything with his forehand. Nadal knows this and uses his accuracy to thread shots up Gonzalez’s ad sideline and moves Gonzalez around. This makes some of Gonzalez’s shots awkward as he doesn’t get fully set up, and then tries to power shots to Nadal.
Despite this, Gonzalez did a very good job of holding serve, perhaps because Nadal’s abs were bothering him more than usual. Uncle Toni admitted as much during a rain delay.
The two got into a first set tiebreak, one that Nadal won and were playing even in the second set, when, at 2-all, the rains fell. This caused the match to be delayed for an hour or so. Play resumed after 9 PM, and the two continued to work their way to a second set tiebreak. With the wind swirling, pieces of paper and plastic were falling on the court. Indeed, at one critical juncture, with Gonzalez at break point, Gonzo hit a serve out wide and Nadal hit a very good forehand. Gonzo hit a weird forehand looper, born of bad positioning, when a piece of paper blew across the court, and let had to be called. Gonzo served again, this time more into the body, and Nadal missed the return. Gonzo would go on to get himself out of that game. The two would then head into another tiebreak.
At 2-3 down, Gonzo decided the rain was causing the lines to be too slippery. The officials eventually agreed, and the match was suspended a second time. Both players left the courts around 10:30 and the hope was they could play again around 11 or 11:30. It was closer to midnight, when it seemed like the skies were clearing enough. The grounds crew with their oversized blowers had dried the courts. The ball-kids were ready. The audience was making noise, and was ready to watch play resume.
Pam Shriver told the TV audience that she had received word that play was going to be called for the whole evening due to imminent rain. The brief respite would only last a few more minutes. A minute into her news-breaker, the audience, who had been looking for late-night tennis, were told the same information. As rains began to fall, the audience seemed to agree, and headed out.
The match has been rescheduled to 2 PM today, weather permitting.
Marin Cilic had just come off his best victory, a shocking upset over Andy Murray. Andy Murray, recent number 2, had been criticized for being like Dinara Safina, a player that reached number 1 with no Slams to her resume. Murray had reached the semifinals of Wimbledon, losing in four close sets to Andy Roddick. Criticized for not making the Wimbledon final, Murray pointed to the US Open as the tournament he felt best suited to win.
Murray would make his case for US Open favorite by winning in Montreal over Juan Martin del Potro, and then making the semifinals of Cincinnati where he’d lose to Roger Federer in rather convincing fashion. So it came as a shock when Cilic was playing strong but not dominating groundstrokes that Murray would find himself unable to keep in the rallies, unable to take over rallies, and worse, having problems returning Cilic’s serve. Murray’s game has always had a passivity, waiting for his opponents to make errors, rather than trying to impose his game on others.
Marin Cilic is one of the young players of the Nadal/Djokovic/del Potro generation that is still working his way up the rankings. Was the fourth round match an indication he was ready to move up the rankings or was it merely mediocre play? Cilic is coached by Aussie, Bob Brett, who has made a living coaching Croatians, including Goran Ivanisevic and Mario Ancic.
Cilic would start off very well, moving the ball around, making del Potro struggle to reach balls and impose his game. In particular, Cilic was taking ball that edged to his forehand side, slightly inside out and short. del Potro was having a hard time getting to this shot. del Potro wouldn’t get a break until early in the second. Cilic, meanwhile, would find himself losing accuracy, missing balls. del Potro would play stronger and stronger garnering more breaks, and eventually win comfortably in four sets: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to reach his second Slam semifinals this year (the other being the French Open semifinal).
So now we wait to see whether today’s play can conclude. The rain clouds appear to have cleared up in New York, though it is swirling, and there may be another chance of rain. It does look like the day will be clear enough to get the matches through however.
Here’s hoping to some good weather!
