The 2017 US Open has its men’s singles champion in world number 1 Rafael Nadal who defeated 28th seed Kevin Anderson in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Dominant Nadal blew away Anderson in the final with his big serve and counter attack game play.
Anderson who had reached his first ever Grand Slam came into the match as the underdog against Nadal who already had 15 Grand Slams to his name before the final on Sunday.
Nadal won his third US Open trophy on Sunday taking his overall tally to 16 Grand Slams only behind the Roger Federer who has 19 Grand Slams to his name. With Nadal winning the US Open title, this year’s major titles are now shared by Roger Federer (Australian Open and Wimbledon) and Rafael Nadal (French Open and US Open).
This feat happened the first time since 2013 that Rafael Nadal has won two Grand Slams in a year. Nadal was playing in his 23rd Grand Slam final losing just seven out of them. Nadal was high on emotions after winning the final:
“It’s just unbelievable what happened this year, after a couple of years with some troubles, injuries, sometimes playing not good – since the beginning of the season it has been very, very emotional.”
This was also his last Grand Slam working alongside his childhood coach Uncle Toni, with former tennis player and Spaniard taking over as a single coach from 2018. Nadal said:
“I can’t thank him enough for all the things he did for me, probably without him I would never be playing tennis, and it’s great I had somebody like him pushing me all the time.”
Anderson, on the other hand, was the tallest Grand Slam finalist at 6ft 8in. He relied heavily on his service, coming into the final with 114 aces. However, his run at the US Open did not end in a fairytale manner as Nadal had the better of him in every aspect. Anderson had 40 unforced errors in the final.
Martina Hingis dominated the doubles category in yet another Grand Slam as she won the women’s double final with Taiwan’s Yung-Jan Chan beating the Czech pair of L. Hradecka and K. Siniakova 6-3, 6-2. This was also her 25th career Grand Slam title.