With a 6–4, 7–5, 6–4 victory over world number one Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray became the first Scotsman to win Wimbledon in 117 years (Harold Mahony won it in 1896[1]). It is his second Grand Slam title and his second consecutive win at Wimbledon, as he won his Olympic gold medal there last year.
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By beating David Ferrer 6–3, 6–2, 6–3, Rafael Nadal became the first man in tennis history to win one of the four Grand Slam events eight times. Since his debut in 2005, Nadal has won eight of nine possible titles at Roland Garros, missing out only in 2009. His record there is an astonishing 59–1. He now has 12 Grand Slam titles overall, putting him behind only Federer (17) and Sampras (14).
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Today Novak Djovokic won his sixth Grand Slam title, defeating Andy Murray 6–7 (2), 7–6 (3), 6–3, 6–2 in the Australian Open men’s final. In doing so he became the only male player in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Opens.
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Last Monday Novak Djokovic won his second ATP World Tour Finals title, defeating Federer in straight sets, 7–6 (6), 7–5. Although it had spectacular moments, the match wasn’t spectacular throughout, and the performance of both players was uneven. It was Federer’s second loss in the YEC final match, but this one didn’t have the drama of his classic five-set loss to Nalbandian in 2005[1].
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The US Open overran its schedule for the fifth year in a row, and once again the men’s final was on a Monday. It was also Andy Murray’s fifth chance to win a Grand Slam final, and this time he took it, defeating defending champion Novak Djokovic 7–6 (10), 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 6–2.
Further, it was the first time a player from the United Kingdom has won a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry’s US Open win in 1936[1]. More significantly for modern men’s tennis, it meant that for the first time since 2003, all of the Grand Slams have different champions, with the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon having gone to Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer respectively[2].
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Andy Murray beat Roger Federer in a best-of-five-sets match for the first time today, comprehensively defeating him 6–2, 6–1, 6–4. That is Britain’s first men’s singles tennis gold medal in over a century, although that gap is less meaningful given that tennis was absent from the Olympics for an extended period. It was certainly an impressive feat for Murray, who went through both of the top two players in the world in order to win.
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Nadal stumbled early, Djokovic managed a set, Murray did the same, and today, atop the men’s game once more, is Roger Federer.
By beating Andy Murray 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–4 today, Federer tied the record for most men’s singles Wimbledon titles (sharing it with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw)[1], extended his record number of total men’s singles Grand Slam titles to 17, and reclaimed the number one ranking for a record-tying 286th week.[2] Those are phenomenal numbers, and none of them looked likely to become fact during the first set.
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Today, one day behind schedule[1], Rafael Nadal won his record[2] seventh French Open, breaking a tie with Björn Borg. He also gained his 11th Grand Slam title, tying Borg and Laver. He also got back on track in his pursuit of Federer for the all-time Grand Slam record—and at the moment it looks as if he could catch him simply competing at Roland Garros alone[3].
He defeated Novak Djokovic in the final, halting a couple of streaks in their rivalry: Djokovic had won seven straight finals against Nadal, and had defeated Nadal in the previous three Grand Slam finals. Perhaps more significantly, he prevented Djokovic from becoming the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once, and from completing his own career Grand Slam.
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Yes, really: this week’s post is on the French Open, and rain delayed the men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The post will show up after the tournament is actually over.
Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7 (5), 7–5, in 5 hours and 53 minutes. It was an incredible final, one in which both players exhibited astonishing speed, endurance, and resilience. Djokovic was not quite at his best, but still had enough—eventually—to overcome Nadal. I rank it among the best matches I’ve seen, probably just behind the 2008 Wimbledon final.
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Roger Federer added yet another record to his list by beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6–3, 6–7 (6), 6–3 to win the ATP World Tour Finals. Federer has now won it six times, more than any other player in history (Sampras and Lendl both won it 5 times), with three sets of back-to-back victories, 2003–2004, 2006–2007, and 2010–2011. It was also his 100th final appearance, his 70th tournament victory, and his 807th match win.
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Last Monday (the final having been delayed for the fourth consecutive year), Novak Djokovic continued his remarkable year, winning in New York for the first time and extending his 2011 record to a ridiculous 64–2—with one of those losses from a retirement due to injury.
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The men’s final was the dream matchup, the players ranked number one and two in the world, defending champion Nadal against a Wimbledon final newcomer, Novak Djokovic. Unfortunately, while not a bad match, it didn’t quite live up to that billing.
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On the men’s side, it hasn’t been an eventful tournament so far, with the Big Four all through to the second week and looking like they’ll meet in the semis. The only other major threat is Juan Martin del Potro, who has looked strong, and who plays Nadal in the fourth round.
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For almost an entire set today, it looked as if Rafael Nadal would have considerable difficulty in reining in Roger Federer’s resurgent play. Trailing by a break in the first set, 2–5 down, Nadal faced a break point and an opponent who had hardly put a shot wrong through seven games. On that point, Federer went for a drop shot that landed oh so barely wide, and Nadal survived that set point.
He wouldn’t face another for quite some time, as he reeled off that game and the following four to take the set 7–5.
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Way back when, Federer stopped Pete Sampras’ streak of 31 straight Wimbledon wins. He stopped Rafael Nadal’s streak of 81 straight clay court wins. And today he stopped Novak Djokovic’s overall win streak at 43, in a match very few people expected him to win. The story of this French Open was supposed to be whether Nadal could fend off Djokovic in his stronghold—instead, it’s another Federer–Nadal Grand Slam final, their first since the Australian Open final in 2009.
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On the men’s side, the main stories remain what they were before the tournament: Djokovic’s win streak, whether Nadal can retain his title, and (to a lesser extent), Federer’s attempt to break the consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal streak.
On the women’s side, however, many of the storylines have been disrupted—or resolved, depending on how you look at it.
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Novak Djokovic, currently ranked #2 in the world, long considered a distant third behind the Federer/Nadal duo, is playing astonishingly good tennis. How good?
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I was watching this when Nadal hit it and was rather stunned:
Absolutely amazing shot. Nadal still lost the match, however; Djokovic is playing unbelievably good and consistent tennis, and is closing on McEnroe’s record of 42 consecutive match wins to start the year.
(I do have to wonder whether Novak brings this out in his opponents.)
Novak Djokovic won the 2011 Australian Open men’s final last night in straights, 6–4, 6–2, 6–3. That’s his second Australian Open title, coming three years after his last victory (against Tsonga, and also after defeating Federer in straights in the semis). I watched the final on replay this morning, and frankly am quite glad I didn’t stay up for it, as it fairly poor.
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Rafael Nadal lost to David Ferrer, playing injured against possibly the worst opponent to face when injured—Ferrer is a fantastic retriever and is in ridiculously good shape, and if possible will wear opponents down by stretching points out. That straight-sets loss meant a sad end to Nadal’s attempt to make history by becoming the first man since 1969 to hold all four titles at once. He was clearly injured but refused to quit, and his post-match interview shows that he was very respectful of Ferrer and trying not to take anything away from Ferrer’s achievement.
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