by PAM
And no tears, too.
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| Spotlight on Andy Murray, the new "King of Queens"... sweet! (Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) |
And so, it goes... Andy Murray, the "perennial #4", always in the semis, sometimes in the final, always the one who came close, and not quite taking the biggest prize. Well, not tonight in Queens. Tonight, he had the audacity to appoint himself as "the one". He barked himself into gritty fighting mode from one point to the next, got the New York crowd on his side, eyeballed Lady Luck... she blinked, gave him a smile, and Andy quickly snatched the winner's cup from Novak Djokovic. No catastrophic hiccups this time, no emotional blinking. Aw, relief!
September 10, 2012... a date to remember, the day Andy Murray finally won his first Major Title at the US Open, becoming the first British man to win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry did in 1936 in Wimbledon. The dream is finally realized... at the most glorious time in Men's tennis no less, when four of the most talented and ferocious court warriors share the name of greatness - equally now! The Australian Open "quadrant" held by Djokovic, the French Open by Rafa Nadal, Wimbledon by Roger Federer, and now, the US Open by Andy Murray... all the finals of those Majors were played between any two of the four, plus the 2012 Olympics final. Yeah, Andy is definitely one of the "Big Four" now... and he has the silverware to show for it, too - and it ain't flat, it holds water!
The Djokovic-Murray US Open final was a championship match peppered with drama, which lasted just a few minutes less than five hours under extreme conditions in the cavernous Arthur Ashe arena. Two of the toughest "iron men" of tennis measured each other up, the Serbian with blazing eyes stretching his bronze body to near plasticity, the Briton howling wolfishly to scare off whatever defeat demons left lurking in the corners of his mind. Murray brought the "big house" down when, in the fifth set at 4-2, he broke Djokovic on the latter's serve and stared the exciting chance to serve up the championship point to Djoker. And the Briton triumphed emphatically, 7-6(10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2, to the delight of the New York crowd.
Congratulations, Andy! Tennis fans cheer for you... it's been a loooong journey, but you found your way - through all the winding roads of heartaches and disappointments. If only for that, your victory is the sweetest, not just for you but for us, tennis fans, too. It's your time... and it's the right time. Awww-woooo!
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