Murray Rolls

Rafael Nadal came into the US Open ranked number one for the first time coming into a major. He had gained number 1 when Roger Federer played poorly at the two master series tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati, losing to Gilles Simon and Ivo Karlovic, respectively. Those losses, combined with Nadal's semifinal loss in Cincinnati (and win in Toronto) meant Nadal would become number one shortly after the Olympics concluded.

Players that have reached number 1 have traditionally had difficulty winning the next major they are entered. Perhaps it's the pressure, or the fatigue of having to play so many matches to get to number 1.

Coming into the US Open, there were the usual suspects of favorites. Federer was the four time defending champion. Roger had been having an off-year for him. He had nearly twice as many losses as he's ever had. He lost to Nadal badly in the French, then lost to Federer in a five set thriller, and then lost early in the next three tournaments he was in. Many people didn't think he had what it took to regain the title this year, despite having reached the semis of Australia, the finals of the French and Wimbledon.

Djokovic, who had a wonderful 2007, and played well in 2006 too, was becoming a solid number 3. When he won the Australian Open, many thought he might be poised to take number 2 from Nadal, and there were chances. But each time Djokovic had an opportunity, he faced Nadal, and Nadal held him off, and held to number 2.

And of course, there was Nadal, who had been the bridesmaid for so long, ranked number 2, until a series of hardcourt victories meant he would become number 1, replacing the magical Roger Federer, who suddenly wasn't himself.

Outside of the three favorites, a few other players were considered contenders. Andy Roddick was the only top player to forgo the Olympics and stay in the US to prepare. This turned out to be a little bit of disaster. In LA, Roddick lost in the final to unheralded Argentine, Juan Martin del Potro. It would turn out that del Potro would have a magical summer winning four tournaments in a row to head into the US Open.

Roddick then lost to Viktor Troicki, a Serbian who found himself in Washington DC when he discovered he wouldn't be in the Olympics after all. These losses encouraged Andy Roddick to make a break with his brother, and work with Patrick McEnroe who knew Andy's game because he was Davis Cup captain.

James Blake also plays best on hard courts. He missed out on a bronze medal, but beat Federer en route. His risky tennis has never lead him to the semifinals or finals of a major, but otherwise, he's quite tough.

But the real outside shot was Andy Murray. Fresh off a five set Wimbledon win over Richard Gasquet, but a drubbing by Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, left Murray hoping for better results in the US. Hardcourts has always been Murray's best surface. He won the 2004 US Open juniors, the year Gael Monfils had won 3 of 4 junior Slams.

Murray reached the semifinals of Toronto, but lost to Nadal in straight sets. However, that tournament was a breakthrough of sorts because Murray beat Djokovic for the first time in Toronto. He would then win Cincinnati over Djokovic the following week. Djokovic had played a brilliant match to beat Nadal in the semifinals.

Murray barely escaped Jurgen Melzer, a hard hitting Austrian who had beaten Agassi back in the day. Murray stayed patient until Melzer started to cool down. When Murray played del Potro, who had been considered an up-and-comer, he took advantage of del Potro's on court time which had been a few hours longer than Murray, and Murray's fitness. En route to a straight set win, Murray found himself mired in the middle of a fourth set, but hit slice forehands, and off-pace shots, while moving around del Potro, trying to make fatigue del Potro's enemy.

del Potro eventually lost as he was too weary to chase down any more shots.

Against Nadal, Murray varied the pace, trying to open up hard hit forehands or down the line backhands. Two things helped Murray on the first day. First, Murray served fantastic. Nadal had a tough time tracking down Murray's serve. Second, Murray returns Nadal's serve better than nearly anyone. Murray stands 10-12 feet behind the baseline, then rushes up a few feet as Nadal serves.

Nadal had complained a bit about fatigue, but he's so good, and his opponents are often so intimidated trying to play Nadal that they play way above themselves, making numerous errors. While Murray's errors outnumbered Nadal's, his shots seemed very much in control.

Murray played lots of shots up the middle, to remove the angle that Nadal likes to work with. Murray also knows that Nadal doesn't like to give away points, so if Murray were to play shots up the middle, Nadal was content exchanging shots, rather than go for an ill-advised winner. Murray himself would then look for a short-ish ball to try to open up the court.

Murray was serving so well the first two sets that Nadal didn't see any break points, while Murray had broke twice in the first set, then had to work his way to a tiebreak, before winning that.

In the third set, Nadal got up an early break before the rains came. Most people felt the break would help Nadal who would get coaching and try something different. Indeed, Nadal became more aggressive the next day, while Murray was not nearly as hot, having some troubles returning serve, and dumping easy shots into the net. As both players held serve, Nadal took the third set, 6-4.

The fourth set had a very long game where Nadal staved off 7 break points, and eventually held on his second game point. That was to get to 1-all. Murray served, but his inability to break lead to some poorly played points, and Murray found himself a break down. Murray looked like he had simply collapsed and that he'd have to wait until the fifth set to recover. Nadal took the lead 2-1. Nadal then held to 3-1, and Murray needed his hold to 3-2.

At this point, Murray was feeling better again, and again started to work on Nadal. Murray used a combination of very deep shots, changes of paces and height, to cause Nadal to make errors he's not accustomed to. Murray eventually broke back to tie the match.

Murray was up 5-4 with Nadal serving. Murray was at deuce, and played a long point where he would hit the ball inside out. Nadal, rather than go for a winner, hit a hard shot somewhere between down the line and down the middle. Murray could have gone for the winner. Instead, he looped it crosscourt, forcing Nadal to have to reach up. He then hit another shot inside out, and then another crosscourt. Eventually, he hit a shot inside out, and attacked the net. By that point, Nadal was a bit fatigued, and gave Murray an easy volley. Nadal was really tired, more than he usually ever is.

On the next point, Nadal got a short ball and decided to drop shot, probably showing more evidence of fatigue. Murray ran the shot down, hit the pass, and got himself into the finals.

Murray played a very intelligent match, using tools to his advantage. In particular, Murray has a very compact backhand. He can hit down the line very accurately, as well as hit a powerful crosscourt shot. This makes his backhand versatile and dangerous, and he doesn't need much time. Even when Nadal managed to hit a hard forehand that forced Murray to run, Murray has such great defensive skills that he invariably made Nadal have to hit another shot he didn't expect.

Credit Murray with coming back and playing a solid match against Nadal when Nadal came out more aggressive, and looked like he had mentally beaten Murray. However, it turned out it was Nadal who was beaten.

Rarely do you see a player like Murray who adjusts how he plays to his opponents. More often than not, you see a Nadal-like player, who plays the same way, regardless of opponent.

Now Murray sees if he can be the roadblock to Federer winning his 13th major and his fifth US Open in a row. Federer got a day's rest and is hoping that he can find the same magic that allowed him to play the best match he's played since Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic. However, Djokovic lost to Murray twice, and now Murray's beaten a guy he's never beaten before in Nadal. Can Federer figure out a way to beat Murray before Federer really does get too old?

The answers will be found out Monday when the finals are played.