The 2020 US
Open is the 140th edition of
tennis' US Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It is held on
outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in
Queens, New York. Rafael Nadal and
Bianca Andreescu were the men's and women's singles defending champions;
however, both decided not to compete. Nadal withdrew from the tournament citing
safety concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the switchover to
the European clay court season immediately afterward, while Andreescu stated
that the pandemic had compromised her ability to prepare and compete at her
highest level. .. .. and we read about
Djokovic’s ouster in strange circumstances !
Ranked 4th in Men’s
Tennis, Daniil Medvedev was seen lambasting the officials quite early in the US
Open semi-final game against Dominic Thiem, on Friday, Sept 11. Medvedev, so
out of control with his anger, went on to declare that “US Open is a joke”. Early in the game, during the first set when
Medvedev was trailing by 3-2 and at the receiving end of another break point,
Daniil Medvedev’s long outburst was seen when a line judge missed the Russian’s
first serve. As soon as Thiem returned to his serve and the umpire failed to
call the serve out, Medvedev angrily hit his next shot into the net. It only
went on to be worse as the No.3 seed in the US Open, Medvedev totally lost his
calm and lashed out at the chair umpire after the official denied the player to
challenge the call. In fact, what came as a surprise was, Medvedev breached a
code by crossing the nests to the other side in order to point out exactly
where the ball had landed.
After high drama
it is going to be Dominic Thiem Vs Alexander Zverev
Dominic Thiem is an Austrian professional tennis player. His
career-high ATP ranking is world No. 3, which he first achieved on Mar 2020. He is the second highest-ranked
Austrian player in history, behind Thomas Muster (No. 1, 1996). He has won 16
ATP Tour singles titles, including a title at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open, and
reached four Grand Slam finals.
Alexander
"Sascha" Zverev is a German professional tennis player. He is the
second-youngest player ranked in the top 10 by the Association of Tennis
Professionals (ATP), and was a permanent fixture in the top 5 throughout 2018. Zverev
has won 11 ATP titles in singles and two in doubles. Zverev was born into a tennis family. His
parents Irina and Alexander Sr. both played professionally for the Soviet
Union, and his older brother Mischa is also a professional who has been ranked
as high as No. 25 in the world. Zverev is a former world No. 1 junior, and won
a junior Grand Slam singles title at the 2014 Australian Open.
In spite of
the overwhelming odds against it and the impossibly high hurdles that had to be
overcome, the 2020 US Open comes to a close today. The historic decision to
restart the Grand Slam tennis season amidst the height of COVID-19 pandemic, is a success of planning
indeed. Held every year
since it originated in 1881, the U.S. National Championships, which in 1968
became the US Open, has been staged amid such global events as the pandemic of
1918, the Great Depression and two World Wars.
Dominic Thiem surely knew
the question was coming, so he addressed it front and center. After dismissing Russian Daniil Medvedev and
reaching his fourth Grand Slam final at the 2020 US Open, the 27-year-old
Austrian talked about the elephant in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Thiem has played in
three major finals, and Thiem has lost three major finals, becoming only the
fifth man in the Open era to start 0-3 in Grand Slam title matches. His elite company are : Andre Agassi (went on
to have 8-7 record in major singles); Goran Ivanisevic, my favourite Ivan Lendl
(8-11 but none at Wimbledon – grass is for cows !); Andy Murray.
Speaking on Friday night,
Thiem already knew his next steps should he lose against Germany’s Alexander
Zverev in Sunday’s final and fall to 0-4 in Grand Slam title matches. “If I
win, I have my first,” Thiem said. “If not, I probably have to call Andy
Murray.” Murray and former coach Ivan
Lendl are the only men who started their careers 0-4 in major singles finals.
But both went on to win multiple Grand Slam titles. “It’s easy for Andy because
he has won three in the meantime,” Thiem said. How quickly Thiem brought up Murray’s poor
start in title matches leads one to wonder if Thiem’s 0-3 start has played on
his mind.
However, Thiem was quick
to say : “I was joking about it…
That's not what I'm thinking about Sunday. [I’m] just going to go in fully
focused, like in all the six previous matches. Well, the world continues no
matter what's result is, so it's going to be fine,” Thiem said. Thiem has beaten the 23-year-old
German seven of the nine times they’ve played, including the past three. Most
recently, Thiem beat Zverev in four sets to reach the Australian Open final.
Interesting !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
13.9.2020
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