History is history and this week marks two decades of a historic moment at the US Open and in world tennis itself, when Pete Sampras beat his compatriot Andre Agassi in four sets, won the American Major for the fifth time and reached 14 Grand Slams. Although his career did not officially end there (something that would come a few months later), this was the last real meeting in which he was one of the best players of all time and which, it was thought, He would always have a reserved place at the top for being the figure with the most Grand Slams, two more than Roy Emerson and three more than idol Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg. A year later, Roger Federer won the first Major, at Wimbledon. And everything changed.
That Swiss triumph with the Australian Mark Philippoussis was like opening a Pandora’s Box that would change tennis and world sport. in the two decades so far. Rafa Nadal, in 2005, beat Argentina’s Mariano Puerta in the Roland Garros final and also won his first Grand Slam. Novak Djokovic, in 2008, beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the Australian Open and won his first Major. What everyone would be far from thinking is that, 20 years later, those who became the Three Musketeers added a total of 63 Grand Slams, all with more than Sampras and with a division of land and records between Djokovic (nine victories in Melbourne ), Nadal (14 wins in Paris) and Federer (eight wins in London). Now a new era begins to open.
After five players left for this 2022 edition (marked again by the absence of Djokovic for not being vaccinated) with the possibility of reaching the leadership of the classification ATP, the final of the US Open puts everything at stake between Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz, from the first Grand Slam to the world number. And each one already making a bit of history on the way to that decisive match this Sunday.
In the first semi-final played tonight/dawn in New York, Casper Ruud beat Russian Karen Khachanov in four sets (7-6, 6-2, 5-7 and 6-2) and qualified for his second Grand Slam final of the season after reaching the Roland Garros final where he lost to Rafa Nadal. And to get an idea of the feat, just remember that the 23-year-old Norwegian had never reached a second week of Major until 2022. Bola Amarela highlights another point in Rudd’s path: he became the first tennis player. player born in the 90s to arrive two Grand Slam finals in the same year but on different surfaces, something that the winners Medvedev or Dominic Thiem have not achieved.
Then, and in a marathon that seemed more or less “promised” before the road to this stage of the US Open, Carlos Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe played again for more than four hours for the Spaniard to win in five. sets 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 and 6-3 (even shorter than what he had done in the quarterfinals with the Italian Jannik Sinner). After reaching the quarterfinals of the competition last year, the 19-year-old Alcaraz reached his first Grand Slam final, also being the youngest to achieve this feat since Rafa Nadal beat Mariano Puerta in the Roland Garros final in 2005. And with another curiosity that brings us back to the beginning of this text: the Spaniard is the second youngest finalist in the history of the US Open in the Open Era (since 1968), only from behind… Pete Sampras.
Source: Observadora
