Roger Dodger

They said it was an off year for Roger Federer. He has 12 losses this year, which is nearly twice what he's had in the previous four years. It's strange to say that because Federer has reached the finals of three of four Grand Slam majors, and the semifinals of the other one.

To compare, Nadal reached two semifinals and two finals. Now, Nadal did win both those finals and beat Federer in the those finals.

Still, you wouldn't think a guy that reached three finals and a semifinal of the four majors was having a bad year. Such is the life of Roger Federer who people expect to win at least 2 of every 4 majors he's in. He's remarkably consistent, except that everyone expected Rafael Nadal to take that leap into transcendency.

Only no one told Andy Murray. While Nadal is the undisputed king of clay, and has become the best or perhaps the second best grass court player in the world, there are many more people who can give Nadal a run for his money on hard courts. For one, there's number 3 Novak Djokovic, who did just that against him in Cincinnati. For another, there's now Andy Murray, who I believe is one of the smartest, if not the smartest, male tennis player out there.

Most players have a one size fits all strategy. They play the same way against most people, and it usually does the trick. Many fewer things to think about this way, don't you know? Murray, on the other hand, seems to adjust his tactics to whoever he plays. All that thought makes it tough to decide how to play someone. First on Murray's list appeared to be world's number one, Rafael Nadal.

Now Nadal has a style that's bruising, and while it hurts others, it hurts himself in the process. He came into the US Open weary, but even a weary Nadal can beat most players. Except Murray. Murray used a combination of no pace and hard pace to throw Nadal off his game until, dare we say it, Nadal was frustrated and impatient, two traits that rarely define Nadal's game.

By outthinking and outplaying Nadal, many people, including myself, thought Murray had a good shot at beating Roger Federer. However, many others thought, with his strong victory over Novak Djokovic, that the four time consecutive winner of the US Open wasn't ready to concede his crown, that the hugeness of the moment, so familiar to Federer, and so new to Murray, would be enough to rile Murray. And perhaps the Roger Federer of old, the one that was so dominant, that seemed poised to knock Pete Sampras's record 14 majors into a footnote of history, might be back.

And with a superior serve and aggressive play, Federer put a 6-2 beatdown on Murray in the first set, bewildering the poor Scot, before he started to string a few points together. And when Murray had a chance to break, and failed to challenge a call that turned out to be clearly out, and then lead to a Federer hold instead of a Murray break, Murray's chances, which seemed to be decent, began to dim.

Federer managed to break in the second set as well, and with two sets firmly in hand, Federer started to really relax. He drop-shotted, he chipped and charged, he served and volleyed. Murray, who had been content to hit off-pace shots, hoping to elicit errors from Federer, found himself retreiving hard hit shots which only weeks ago had not made it inside the lines, which had let players that hadn't had a whiff of victory against Federer, feel they had a chance.

Murray, ranked number 6, wasn't really feeling sorry for himself. With a successful summer, he was ready to move up to number 4 in the world, ahead of Ferrer, ahead of Davydenko, guys who play consistent, guys who make the semifinals, but not guys who people seriously consider as potential winners of the majors. Murray was better than these guys, and finally, he strung enough victories, played confident enough tennis, played smart against good players, and pushed himself ahead of those guys to be number 4 in the world. And he's had 2 victories over Djokovic. Though he lacks the bruising precision of the 3 players ahead of him, he plays with his brains, and perhaps soon, the power and precision will come for Murray too.

He's only 21, after all, much like the power youth movement. Nadal, 22, Djokovic, 21, trying to fend off the youth of 19 like del Potro or Querrey or Nishikori.

Meanwhile, Federer has asserted that he isn't quite ready to cede the mantle of king. Not yet, anyway. He's going to have to go back to the drawing table, figure out how to get his game to resemble years past, rather than the year that is. He's in a battle against time, to win 2 more majors before age gets to him, before the new kids start to draw even.

Federer's smiling now because he knows his time hasn't past yet, that the old man of tennis, at 27, still has some punch for the young'uns. Maybe he'll learn a lesson from Murray on how to play a Nadal, and maybe that will serve him well, lead him to a French title that is missing from his prodigious resume.

Who knows? The dream of break 14 majors that had been put on hold is now breathing life again, and that elegant player from Switzerland is all smiles. The year wasn't all bad, after all, don't you know. The golden boy of doubles took something positive and made one more golden trip to New York.