Nadal is primed for his Sweet 16
AS KEVIN ANDERSON tries to pull off one of the greatest upsets ever in tonight’s US Open final against Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray might be watching with a frustrating sense of whatmight-have-been.
The towering South African has come through the half of the draw that Murray vacated on the eve of the tournament, taking advantage of the path that opened up for him. While the Scot would, if fit, have fancied his chances of doing the same, he can also look at both players tonight and find some inspiration.
Aside from anything they are both a year older than Murray — and the two of them have shown what is possible after coming back from the kind of long-term injury he is nursing. In Anderson’s case his most severe ailment was to do with the hip, the part of the body that looks to have ended Murray’s season prematurely.
Looking back on last year, Anderson said: ‘There were constantly nagging injuries not allowing me to play the tennis I needed to be playing. One thing sort of led to another. Towards the end of the year, my hip really played up, and that was probably the most severe injury. Surgery was maybe even on the table. I was fortunate to have escaped that whole thing.’
He did so through months of painstaking work with his physio, which is the route Murray has elected to go down, for now at least. Nadal’s problems have been his knees and he missed much of the second half of last season, finally calling an end to his 2016 campaign in October.
The dividend has been a year which has seen him make three Grand Slam finals, the fourth round at Wimbledon being the only let-down. Murray will have looked at him and Roger Federer and hopes a long break can be similarly restorative. The Spaniard appeared near the peak of his powers in Friday night’s four-set win over Juan Martin Del Potro, to the extent that nobody is giving Anderson, the 31-year-old world No 32, much of chance.
His only way to victory will surely be through brilliant serving and the hope that Nadal gets nervous. The Spaniard did, after all, get very shaky in losing early in the tournament here in the last two years against opposition he was expected to beat, and he has so far had a comfortable draw.
But Nadal looks in very good shape to claim Grand Slam number 16.