Major Murray! Grand slam glory for Andy after one of history's greatest matches
By MIKE DICKSON
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From some source - who knows what? - Murray found the momentum to take a dramatic deciding set with a monumental display of guts when it had looked like his legs were going to buckle.
Just champion: Andy Murray has made history with victory in the US Open final over Novak Djokovic
Epic: Murray sealed glory with a kiss after a match which fell a minute short of the longest ever US Open final
This time he was too tired to cry, he could barely walk. History will record it as a minor detail that the 25-year-old Scot, like Perry something of an outsider, just about handled the prevailing gusts better than his old rival Novak Djokovic to win his first Grand Slam title.
Far more important is the fact that Perry’s ghost may have exhaled its last breath in its haunting of British tennis, with the 76-year wait to find his successor as a major winner finally at an end.
That finally came to pass as New York was brought to its feet when Djokovic blasted a final return long, the two men embracing at the net. It concluded a wildly undulating, gripping 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 victory that took four hours and 54 minutes.
Disbelieving: Murray's reaction was one of wonder and amazement as he dropped to his haunches
Welcome to the club, pal: Djokovic was gracious in defeat and hailed his old friend's achievement
Murray said: ‘It was incredibly tough conditions. After the third and fourth set it was tough mentally. Novak is so strong, he fights until the end in every match. I don’t know how I came through in the end.
‘Ivan Lendl has been one of the greatest players that ever played, it has been great to have him helping me in the tense moments, not just him but everyone who has been here from the start .’
In front of Scottish knights Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Sean Connery, Murray met with the destiny that had been denied him four times before, and there will be those who believe the younger man now deserves the same prefix.
Stunning: Both players had to contest with high winds early on, but Flushing Meadows still looked beautiful
The biggest set of Murray’s life, the fifth, began with the momentum in the defending champion’s favour, but Murray, who in sets three and four had drifted into the back court, showed new purpose and secured the break.
The Djokovic fightback further had its sting drawn when Murray consolidated the break for 2-0, the athleticism of the two players belying the the four-and-a-quarter hours they had played.
Suddenly the Serb started to miss again and, when a forehand was sent limply into the net, Murray was two breaks to the good.
Reaching for the top: At times Djokovic seemed out on his feet but he kept on fighting for each point
Eyes on the prize: Murray, too, wobbled when seemingly comfortable, but regained his full focus
But then that jaw-jutting, proud Djokovic pout returned, skidding around the court to pull back to 3-2 down. When the Scot easily held for 4-2 to deafening acclaim, we started to see the Serb crack physically, his legs going into cramp.
Djokovic called the trainer on for a rub of his thighs while the crowd booed and Murray waited to serve. The legs went again, though, and Murray’s path to glory was cleared, serving it out superbly, courageously to 15.
Anyone who saw the opening-set tiebreak would have been glad they did, not that the passages before it were shabby in view of the conditions.
Famous faces: There was no shortage of interest from the usual, and not so usual, suspects
With the wind cascading down the steep banks of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Murray’s gale force win against Berdych was proving perfect preparation, but even when he wriggled ahead to 4-2 Djokovic kept snapping away.
With risk management to the fore, one rally took a staggering 54 strokes to complete before Murray capitulated. By the time the tiebreak was forced it was the British player holding on, as he was obliged to do at 5-3 down in the shootout, with American umpire Jake Garner demanding the boisterous crowd calm down.
Then came the first five set points, the loss of which would have been a spear to the heart. Three of them were spurned with nervous jabs either wide or, on the easiest first one, a backhand driven into the net. The two others were purely down to the Balkan warrior, with an ace taking it to 10-10.
Tit for tat: There were occasions when both players seemed to let the occasion get to them
But another groundstroke from the world No 2 went long and this time Murray, steadying himself as the breeze ruffled his shirt, pulled out a first serve which Djokovic sent beyond the baseline.
Tellingly the Scot had stepped up the power and cut his margin for error in the last few points.
Though he would never show it, old stoneface Lendl will have been doing cartwheels inside. The tiebreak’s duration would have taken you much of the way to half-time in a football match, the whole first set had taken 87 minutes and the points tally in it was 46-44.
Tricky times: Murray and Djokovic had to find that little bit extra as they teetered on the brink of despair
There was going be a psychological backdraft from it, and this time Murray was able drive on, as we have only seen him do in the Olympic final among the biggest matches of his career.
With Djokovic starting to wear a rueful grin the first four games were won, and even after ceding a break it was 5-3. A horrible, error-strewn bid to close it down came to nothing and the Serb was believing again with the purpose that has seen him win five Grand Slams.
Murray was now intermittently grabbing his thigh, signalling tension-induced cramp. With the two and half hour mark looming after less than two sets that was an ominous warning with the threat of an attritional war coming on.
Court coverage: The athleticism of both men was awesome, with rallies lasting more than 30 shots
Drama to the last: With one game to go, Djokovic, who had seized up, called for a medical time out
But a difference between this year and last for Djokovic is his shifting focus and at 6-5 he pulled out a hideous wide smash, which was followed by a dragged forehand to give Murray the biggest break of his career.
What he has not forgotten is how to fight and, cutting his error count to virtually nothing and serving better, came back ferociously to take the third and fourth sets, before the strain of pulling level led to a sensational conclusion.
WHY MURRAY'S WIN WAS NEVER IN DOUBT
The omens were good. Fred Perry (below) was the last British man to win a major, the 1936 US Open, and three years earlier broke his Grand Slam duck at the tournament... on September 10.
The only other British winner of the US Open was Laurence Doherty in 1903 - after winning Olympic gold at the 1900 Paris Games, just as Murray did in London.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2201319/US-Open-2012-Andy-Murray-wins-beating-Novak-Djokovic.html#ixzz2698JVjP3
