Djoker equals Pistol Pete with 14th Slam
US OPEN Serb defeats Del Potro 63, 76, 63 to catch up with his idol Sampras
NEWYORK: The rankings do not yet reflect it, but there can be no doubt which man is playing the finest tennis in the world. On his last visit to American hard courts, in March, Novak Djokovic looked like a man in a dinghy without a motor or a sail, losing his opening-round matches in Indian Wells, California and Miami. But that confounding trip, part of a malaise that lasted nearly two years, is now in the past.
After returning to the fore by winning Wimbledon in July, he returned to dominance by winning the U.S. Open for the third time on Sunday night. His 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Juan Martín del Potro under a closed roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium was a brilliant display of Djokovic’s suffocating skill set.
It was all there: the precision serving, the fast-twitch returns, the baseline consistency under greatest pressure, and, above all, the full-stretch defense that can buckle the knees and spirit of even a player as resilient as del Potro. “He was back at his best,” said his coach, Marian Vajda, who helped Djokovic back to that level after he rejoined his team in April, helped to retool his serve and restored his confidence. Djokovic has routinely gone deep at the Open, but was often stopped short of the title. But he is 3-5 in Open finals and is tied with the former US star Pete Sampras for third on the career list with 14 Grand Slam singles title.
Roger Federer has 20. Rafael Nadal has 17. One more Grand Slam victory, which hardly seems out of the question at next year’s Australian Open in light of Djokovic’s affinity for hard courts in Melbourne, and the top three players from this golden era of men’s tennis will hold the top three spots on that career list.
“I mean, the 14 is a number,” Vajda said. “Years ago, I would say Rafa and Roger went too far from him, too ahead of him with the Grand Slams, and now I have the feeling, he catches up with them.”
For now, Djokovic has at least caught Sampras, the big-serving Californian with the fabulous running forehand.
Sampras has more in common stylistically with Federer than with Djokovic and his two-handed backhand and his ability to turn defence into offense.
On Sunday, Djokovic had to deny a player who had endured a long wait to be back on this stage. The last time del Potro played the final here, Ashe Stadium did not have a roof and Barack Obama was still in the first year of his presidency.
That was in September 2009, and del Potro swept past Nadal in the semifinals and rallied to beat Federer in the final.
The tennis world was at his big feet and forehand. He was just 20. But four wrist operations stopped his rise and left him contemplating retirement in 2015. He is in the midst of a fine season and was a clear crowd favorite as the Argentine fans and others familiar with his backstory threw their support behind him from the start.
But there was no masking del Potro’s pain at losing his first Grand Slam final in nine years. He had a few chances to turn this match in his favor, but he failed to take advantage, including when he lost a service game in the first set after going ahead by 40-0.
He sobbed in the locker room after the defeat, and he was crying again an hour later, with a group of his friends from his home city of Tandil, Argentina, gathered around him in a tight circle in the player garden.
“I’m very sad for being a loser today,” del Potro said. “But Novak deserved to take the trophy. He played a great match, a very smart game. I had my opportunities during the second and third set. But I was playing almost to the limit all the time, looking for winners with my forehand, backhands. And I couldn’t make it because Novak was there every time.”
It is difficult, even for a player as powerful as del Potro, to knock down a wall, and that was often what Djokovic resembled on the gritty blue surface. Then again, that metaphor has its limits because walls do not run. Djokovic seemed to be everywhere at times: extending rallies or finishing them off with winners, often in the forecourt.
The actress Meryl Streep was not acting when she put her hands to her face, looking like something Edvard Munch might have painted, after one particularly thunderous del Potro winner. But more often than not, Djokovic managed to retrieve del Potro’s signature shot and maintain the suspense and the frustration. It takes great energy and resilience to play Djokovic’s style of tennis, but his eyes were often wide amid the tussle, enjoying the process again after the burnout and injuries that knocked him off the top rung in men’s tennis after he last reached the final here in 2016.
This year, he had surgery to repair a right elbow problem in early February after playing the Australian Open with a sheath on his right arm and an abbreviated service motion.“If you told me in February this year when I got the surgery that I’ll win Wimbledon, US Open, and Cincinnati, would be hard to believe.” Djokovic said.