New York:
Day by day, climate after climate, Rafael Nadal keeps raising his game.
On the 15th day of the United States Open, with afternoon turning into night, he willed himself into a career Grand Slam, making himself a master of all surfaces. (See: Rafael Nadal's victory in photos)
Even the demolition derby of New York could not beat down this athletic, persistent lefty. He outlasted the heat and then the rain, ignored the bustle of the Open, the spectators with poor impulse control who kept calling out at inappropriate times, and he outlasted Novak Djokovic, too, winning the Open, 6-4, 5-7, 6-6, 6-2, on Monday night. (See pics: The world of Nadal)
"I played my best match at the U.S. Open at the most important moment," Nadal said later.
Nadal, 24, displayed the serve, the strokes, the patience, the stamina of a great champion, which he has now become. He won the ninth Grand Slam tournament of his still-young career, including his first Open, making himself only the seventh man to win all four Grand Slam events -- the Australian, the French, Wimbledon and now the demanding Open.
"Right now he is the best player in the world and he deserves this title," Djokovic said after the match, while paying homage to Roger Federer's 16 Grand Slam titles, the most by any man.
Federer still has the right to be regarded as the best player in history, just on that accomplishment. But Nadal has beaten Federer six of the last seven times they have played, and now Nadal has thumped the talented 23-year-old Djokovic, who outlasted Federer on Saturday. Wherever Federer was Monday -- and he promised not to watch -- he could hear the express train roar of Nadal catching up to him.
"All this talk of me being better than Roger is stupid because of his titles," Nadal said.
In the dampness and the darkness of Flushing Meadows, with autumn coming on, and tennis trying to hold its modest place amid all the football, Nadal blasted serves into the Bermuda Triangle far to Djokovic's right-handed reach.
"He has lots of time if he plays five, six, seven years," Djokovic said of his friend Nadal, who hugged him warmly after the final point. He added with admiration, "He has the game for each surface."
The final event of the Grand Slam season had to endure, just like the players who compete in it. The final was originally scheduled for Sunday after 4 p.m., always an interesting dance because CBS carefully squeezes in the final after the early N.F.L. games. This usually forces the spectators -- who pay prodigious amounts -- to stand around in public while waiting for some large galoots in some distant stadium to stop killing the clock with timeouts.
But Sunday's final was rained out, making this the third straight year in which the men's final was played on Blue Monday, as in the old Fats Domino song ("Blue Monday, how I hate Blue Monday").
The rainouts brought up the old question of why the United States Tennis Association has not put a roof over the joint, the way Wimbledon has done. The answer is that Wimbledon is in London, where it tends to rain, whereas the Open is in New York, where it does not rain that much in early September. Besides, it's a moot issue now. The real question is, what to do about a rainout?
The final could have been played at midday Monday, when it happened to be sunny. But networks tell sports what to do -- witness the glut of night games during the baseball postseason.
When Monday's match began, copious swaths of empty blue seats were leering downward at the court, although the crowd was eventually announced as 23,771.
After the long rain delay, the telecast had been lateraled from CBS to ESPN2 because CBS wanted to show off its prime-time schedule against "Monday Night Football" on ESPN.
I looked it up: from 8 to 11, CBS was showing: "How I Met Your Mother," "Rules of Engagement," "Two and a Half Men," "The Big Bang Theory" and "CSI: Miami." Supply your own punch lines. I'm saying Nadal was a better show than any of that stuff.
Nadal did not play Sunday, and then on Monday he had the strength and the game to add to Spain's great year in sports: he had already won Wimbledon, after Pau Gasol helped the Lakers win the N.B.A. championship and before Alberto Contador won the Tour de France again.
Right after Wimbledon, Nadal flew to South Africa and was allowed into the locker room, with a few members of the royal family, after Spain won the World Cup for the first time.
"I cried like a baby," he said. "We have to celebrate for a whole year, because this is unbelievable. It is very difficult to repeat this."
Two months later, Nadal made Spaniards cry and cheer again. He has the career Grand Slam, and it seems there is more to come.
On the 15th day of the United States Open, with afternoon turning into night, he willed himself into a career Grand Slam, making himself a master of all surfaces. (See: Rafael Nadal's victory in photos)
Even the demolition derby of New York could not beat down this athletic, persistent lefty. He outlasted the heat and then the rain, ignored the bustle of the Open, the spectators with poor impulse control who kept calling out at inappropriate times, and he outlasted Novak Djokovic, too, winning the Open, 6-4, 5-7, 6-6, 6-2, on Monday night. (See pics: The world of Nadal)
"I played my best match at the U.S. Open at the most important moment," Nadal said later.
Nadal, 24, displayed the serve, the strokes, the patience, the stamina of a great champion, which he has now become. He won the ninth Grand Slam tournament of his still-young career, including his first Open, making himself only the seventh man to win all four Grand Slam events -- the Australian, the French, Wimbledon and now the demanding Open.
"Right now he is the best player in the world and he deserves this title," Djokovic said after the match, while paying homage to Roger Federer's 16 Grand Slam titles, the most by any man.
Federer still has the right to be regarded as the best player in history, just on that accomplishment. But Nadal has beaten Federer six of the last seven times they have played, and now Nadal has thumped the talented 23-year-old Djokovic, who outlasted Federer on Saturday. Wherever Federer was Monday -- and he promised not to watch -- he could hear the express train roar of Nadal catching up to him.
"All this talk of me being better than Roger is stupid because of his titles," Nadal said.
In the dampness and the darkness of Flushing Meadows, with autumn coming on, and tennis trying to hold its modest place amid all the football, Nadal blasted serves into the Bermuda Triangle far to Djokovic's right-handed reach.
"He has lots of time if he plays five, six, seven years," Djokovic said of his friend Nadal, who hugged him warmly after the final point. He added with admiration, "He has the game for each surface."
The final event of the Grand Slam season had to endure, just like the players who compete in it. The final was originally scheduled for Sunday after 4 p.m., always an interesting dance because CBS carefully squeezes in the final after the early N.F.L. games. This usually forces the spectators -- who pay prodigious amounts -- to stand around in public while waiting for some large galoots in some distant stadium to stop killing the clock with timeouts.
But Sunday's final was rained out, making this the third straight year in which the men's final was played on Blue Monday, as in the old Fats Domino song ("Blue Monday, how I hate Blue Monday").
The rainouts brought up the old question of why the United States Tennis Association has not put a roof over the joint, the way Wimbledon has done. The answer is that Wimbledon is in London, where it tends to rain, whereas the Open is in New York, where it does not rain that much in early September. Besides, it's a moot issue now. The real question is, what to do about a rainout?
The final could have been played at midday Monday, when it happened to be sunny. But networks tell sports what to do -- witness the glut of night games during the baseball postseason.
When Monday's match began, copious swaths of empty blue seats were leering downward at the court, although the crowd was eventually announced as 23,771.
After the long rain delay, the telecast had been lateraled from CBS to ESPN2 because CBS wanted to show off its prime-time schedule against "Monday Night Football" on ESPN.
I looked it up: from 8 to 11, CBS was showing: "How I Met Your Mother," "Rules of Engagement," "Two and a Half Men," "The Big Bang Theory" and "CSI: Miami." Supply your own punch lines. I'm saying Nadal was a better show than any of that stuff.
Nadal did not play Sunday, and then on Monday he had the strength and the game to add to Spain's great year in sports: he had already won Wimbledon, after Pau Gasol helped the Lakers win the N.B.A. championship and before Alberto Contador won the Tour de France again.
Right after Wimbledon, Nadal flew to South Africa and was allowed into the locker room, with a few members of the royal family, after Spain won the World Cup for the first time.
"I cried like a baby," he said. "We have to celebrate for a whole year, because this is unbelievable. It is very difficult to repeat this."
Two months later, Nadal made Spaniards cry and cheer again. He has the career Grand Slam, and it seems there is more to come.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
