Sharapova & Murray Battle With “History” In U.S. Open Series.

From rain delays to tape delays, today’s finals in both Toronto and Cincinnati seemed to take days rather than hours and eventually may have cost Maria Sharapova more than just a shot at re-entering the top 10. And even though Andy Murray earned his first ever victory over Roger Federer in a final, plenty of people still weren’t that impressed. But probably my favorite moment today came when Mary Joe Fernandez was asked on ESPN about what “we” had learned so far in the past few weeks of the Olympus U.S. Open Series. Although Fernandez correctly listed who had won what titles where, the reality of what to expect in New York at the end of the month is probably best summed up by one of Sting’s solo hits, “History Will Teach Us Nothing.”

It certainly did look like Maria Sharapova was ready to write some more history in her epic career as she was only a few games from blowing out Kim Clijsters in the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women’s Open Finals. Not only would Sharapova have cemented herself a prime contender for the U.S. Open, but a win would have sent her back into the top 10. But even when an over hour long rain delay gave Clijsters a needed break to charge up her game to hold serve after having saved three match points earlier, Sharapova was expected to step up to the line at 5-4 on the next game and serve it out.

But then history was re-written. In a dramatic freefall that made last week’s self-admitted choke by Svetlana Kuznetsova in Carlsbad seem almost like a lack of concentration, Sharapova dropped serve allowing Clijsters to force a tiebreak which the Belgian then won to the delight of the few people in the stands who stayed to watch. Then, in a cruel twist almost out of a script from some HBO drama, Sharapova suffered a heel injury early in the third set that limited her serving ability. Sharapova, to her credit, didn’t retire and still fought as best she could before succumbing 6-2, 6-7, 2-6, but the look on her face told everyone even she knew her moment was lost. So, instead of making a strong declaration of being back among the elite of the game, Sharapova, who was later forced to withdraw from Montreal next week, stays mired in the top 20, and is now a question mark for New York.

Another piece of history was written and then quickly forgotten up in Toronto at the Rogers Cup where multiple rain delays forced Andy Murray and Roger Federer to start and stop their match several times before Murray finally prevailed 7-5, 7-5, finishing off Federer with some booming first serve aces the like few had ever seen before from the “sleepy” Scot. But despite joining a select group of active players who have beaten Federer and Rafael Nadal in the same event and also equaling Andre Agassi’s feat of winning back to back titles in Canada in 1994 and 1995, Murray’s title run was met with a collective yawn by many in the tennis press who were quick to remind everyone that Murray has yet to win a Grand Slam. It’s almost as if the press, who for so long had picked Murray to win a major, have now grown tired of waiting (and being proven wrong) and now want the Scot to hurry up and win New York so they, and we, can move on to more important stories like, “When will Federer return to No. 1?” and “Will 2011 be Andy Roddick’s last year?” Even if Murray does well next week in Cincinnati and wins the U.S. Open Series points race, the press will still keep holding that “but you haven’t won a Slam yet” barb over his head. If Murray can use that as motivation to finally secure his place in tennis history, well, we’ll find out soon enough.

Finally, speaking of the “horse race” that is the U.S. Open Series, the question that bugs many fans right now is does any of this really matter? On the WTA side, the absence of Serena and now Venus Williams from the warm-up events continues to put an asterisk on victories from the other players. Add in a growing list of injured, or just literally “walking wounded” players like Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic, and you have to wonder if the favorites for New York will be those who a) show up healthy and b) just show up at all. On the men’s side, the early title wins by Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey have been long forgotten as the top guns of the ATP returned to action this week and even if Nadal and Federer looked rusty (or at times downright awful), no one expects either to display the same bad form in New York.

So if you’re expecting Cincinnati (which is hosting the men this week) and Montreal (which has gone from an A-List draw to a B-minus at best) to reveal any clues for the U.S. Open, think again. As we all know, only the victorious write history at the end. And if you don’t believe me, a quick question. Who do you remember first? Who won the 2009 U.S. Open or who won the 2009 Olympus U.S. Open Series.

Thought so.

No related posts.