US Open 2018 finals experience

I still remember the days back at home in India staying back late in the night when my family would already be in deep sleep, looking forward to the US Open finals which used to start at 1:30 am IST and always dream about one day watching it live when Rafa played the finals and probably won. It couldn’t happen this time (2018) and I was heartbroken when he had to retire in the semis (of course you have to feel for him as he had already spent almost 15 hours on court even before the semis of which there was the almost 5 hour classic against Thiem in the quarterfinals, arguably one of the best matches of this year and decade).

Nevertheless come Sep 9th and we were on our way to the iconic and biggest tennis stadium in the world ‘Arthur Ashe Stadium’ and as each footstep took me a little closer to it, my heart skipped a beat anticipating the spectacle that I was about to experience. After reaching the main entrance of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, we walked a little more surrounded by frenzied fans from all across the US and the world, also passing by the numerous stalls and merchandise shops displaying the choosiest and latest collections adorned by their tennis idols. After climbing a combination of stairs and elevators we reached our level and were about to get inside the stadium. Due to heavy downpour over the past few days and like expected, the roof was already closed even before the start of the match. Once I set my foot inside the stadium the atmosphere was just electric and surreal giving us all goosebumps, filled by the soulful performance of some musician whose name I couldn’t remember and it was a concert like aura. Fans were still gathering in huge numbers before the kick off of the finals of the last grand slam for the year.

After finishing off their pre-match interviews, it was time for two of tennis’s star players to enter court amid commentator announcements about their past accomplishments and what they bring to the game and thunderous applause from the crowd as each one took center stage. It was going to be a contest between one of the most popular players on tour and especially more so here at the US Open (may be because he won his first and only grand slam as a teenager here back in 2009 ending the consecutive 5 year reign of another great player, Mr. Roger Federer himself), Juan Martin Del Potro or ’Tower of Tandil’ as he’s fondly called by fans against 13 time major champion and 2 time US Open winner, Novak Djokovic or Nole (surprisingly even after winning so many grand slams and in-spitete of the fact that he plays near perfect tennis for which even I admire him, he is most often cold shouldered by the spectators and I feel bad for him).

Anyway as the match progressed, chants of ‘Ole ole ole Deplo’ filled the stadium almost for each point and the atmosphere seemed more like a soccer match as was pointed out by Djokovic during the presentation ceremony. Even though the match went on for almost about 3 and half hours, Djokovic always seemed under control of the proceedings. There were a few good opportunities for Delpo to come back and the raucous crowd was always behind him (he did indeed break Djokovic both in the 2nd and 3rd set but couldn’t capitalize on the breaks and let Djokovic break back and dictate terms immediately). When each set lasted for about an hour, you would expect some scintillating rallies and magic moments but there were very few of them, one of which I think almost everyone who watched the match would remember is the almost 15 minutes service game by Djokovic in the second set when he was down 3–4 (which he eventually won after I think 6 deuces and saving 2–3 break points). Had Delpo won this game, he would have had a chance to serve for and probably take the set and put pressure back on Djokovic but it was not to be. With all due respect for Delpo, got to admit Djokovic won the set and the match quite convincingly. We stayed on for the presentation ceremonies and as usual both of them were quite gracious in their respective victory and defeat. “Winning isn’t the score on the board, its seeing something through to the end and then congratulating the opponent”. And I am sure Juan Martin will have more opportunities again in the future and could probably cross the thin finish line next time.

So these kind of moments that we dream about and live for, I would say I was fortunate enough to experience it live and encourage and hope others who have similar dreams can also come true. I would like to end with this beautiful quote “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you”.