Andy Murray reaches U.S. Open final, and tennis' elite level
TENNIS
Scotsman's four-set win over No. 1 Rafael Nadal marks his arrival at the sport's highest echelon. He'll face four-time champion Roger Federer on Monday.
NEW YORK -- The common phrase "big three" in men's tennis might need to undergo some heavy editing because of the ascent of a 21-year-old Scot with a glistening game and an apparent inability to purchase a razor.
"Big three" has applied to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and the chasm between them and the rankings underlings, but "big four" seemed more operative early Sunday evening because of the sheer caliber of Andy Murray.
Scruffy in the cheeks and gifted in the backhand and increasingly self-assured because he's increasingly fit, Murray accessed a new echelon inside Arthur Ashe Stadium when, in his first Grand Slam semifinal, he stood right in there with No. 1-ranked Nadal and looked downright cozy.
He completed a two-day, rain-halted win by 6-2, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4. He moved to a final Monday opposite Federer, whom he's actually beaten twice in three non-Grand Slam meetings. He showed elite fortitude in rebounding from a 3-1, 30-love hole in the fourth set. He failed to mourn his break-point ratio that once stood at a frustrating two for 18. He displayed his typically excellent court coverage.
He played purposeful tennis that gave spectators the peculiar sight of Nadal being run to the extent of looking just one tiny smidgen haggard.
It wasn't the outcome so much as the look of the outcome.
Pondering Murray's long-term future, Nadal's coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, said jovially, "Bad luck for us! I think that Murray is a very good player. He has a good serve, a good backhand, intelligent on the court, has all the things and I think in the next years he can be where he is now, to be No. 1 or 2 or 3, I don't know."
Said the younger Nadal in his charmingly fractured English, "He can do it everything."
Said Murray, "I have the tennis to compete with these guys."
As the United Kingdom's tennis brains yearned forever for a superhero, Murray came along from Dunblane, Scotland, until he moved to Barcelona at 15. Inheriting Tim Henman's wearying mantle as the No. 1 British hope, Murray moved along somewhat promisingly in recent years but hadn't reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal until this year's Wimbledon.
There, he began a recent penchant for flexing his muscles, which, while well shy of Nadal's for similarity to Greek statues, reflected the heightened fitness he felt on court since he began traveling with a training "team," as he put it.
