Had to watch live scores, but even that was exciting. Congrats to Andy on winning his first slam. Hopefully, Tennis Channel will be showing this match sometime this week.

huykle said it best:
"It's fitting the Big 4 won 1 slam each on their corresponding best surface."

2012 will be exciting. But we still have a few more months left in the year!

Well done to Muzza. What a battle!

I'm really chuffed for Andy.

I was very sure he would do it one day.... we could see it coming. But until it happens... I was feeling bad for him all these years for not having yet won one slam. Even with the calibre of the top 3. Andy is far more talented than Henman was and has worked so hard for so long. It is great to see that he is having a stretch of months of greater mental strength. May this become the norm for him.

Here's what we learned:
1. Djoiker stinks in windy conditions against good opposition
2. Playing on 5 of the last 6 days of a GS got to even the Djoker physically
3. When up against it and cramping Djoker appeared to fudge the rules a bit
4. That slap shot winner against Fed on match point last year WAS luck
5. Murray has finally grown up mentally
6. We should never have to hear about Fred Perry again..at least til Wimby
7. Judging by how spent both guys looked after the match Fed has an excellent chance of ending the year at #1
8. :-)

If Nole had won, Fed had virtually 0 chance. But now that Muzza has won, Fed has the best chance especially as he benefits from rigged draws.

Nole and Murray may end up being the top two guys by end of season. There're about four or five more events to play, including two Masters and WTF, so there's a possibility of Murray winning everything and ends up as no.2. Nole will most likely finishes as no.1 again, he's leading with 9910 race points, about 1000 more than Fed.

Here's what we learned. Muzzette won this because Djoker sucked in the wind and still it took him five sets to win. Muzzette didn't have to face Fed or Nadal along the way. Djoker got one day less rest. End of story

Anyone may have learnt anything but pennster hasn't learnt anything. Any self respecting chap in his shoes after embarrassing himself so thoroughly would never have shown himself in this forum. But it is too much to expect a hater to have self-respect.

^^^^

It's not only pennster! He has company! How anyone can think that Nole's winner against Fed when he had TWO match points was luck, just blows my mind! Also this idea that now Fed has a good chance of ending the year at #!

It's just always about Fed, even in the midst of this great victory for Murray! Nole put up a fierce fight and had enough to go five sets. It doesn't prove that the schedule did him in. It shows that you can't go down two sets and expect to come back. Just because Nole did it against Fed, didn't mean it was going to happen against Murray.

Unlike Fed, Murray took his chances when it counted near the end of this match!

Andy deserved the victory and I'm not buying into the wind story - Nole just checked out mentally in the second set and it cost him. And I fully agree with NNY above, Andy could have gone away and lost the match but he hung on and took it to Nole. He has my full respect for that.

I'm still worried about Nole though - not because of his level of play - because he is certainly capable of producing good tennis but because he seems to have taken a step backwards mentally. He seems to be playing himself into trouble before finally breaking free and you can't keep winning if you do that. Hope he rights this problem and his serve.

I am happy for Deuce. I know she will be delighted when she heard the news ;).
It's great that we have five different USO champs in the last five years (if I am not mistaken - Roger, DelPo, Rafa, Nole and Andy).
One more time, great job Andy!

NNY, what do you expect? Federina said it was luck therefore Federina-tards also have to echo those words. Birds of a feather, remember? Everyone benefits from luck sometimes but only Federina benefits from luck AND rigged draws and scheduling consistently.

Well done to Nole and Murray for making the finals. I'm soooo pleased Andy has won gold and his first GS this year. He'll be a tougher opponent for Rafa now but I don't mind nice guys finishing last.

Well done Andy! And Nole for making the finals. Both great champions!

Congrats Deuce! The wait has ended, was only a matter of time!

Morning Deuce. How's the hangover? Cant believe I missed Andy's moment of triumph. Just hope Eurosport 2 shows a replay this morning.

finishing *first*

Congrats Andy what a win....
Congrats Duece,Twinge,Alex .....

Commies Zare, Nole shown great fighting skills, what a fighter.

As you lovely folk know was convinced Andy had lost after 4th set and went to bed.
Woke up to this.
*Crying.* with joy.
Have supported Andy so long through the ups and downs, this feels like a magic moment.
But most of all I'm so happy for Andy, Kim,his mum and dad, the team and the bloody fabulous Ivan Lendl.
Thanx jean, danica, sabs, holdserve and ALL you lovely fans on here.
Oh my, alex, twinge, ed, oh my :) :) :)

YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh alex, how long have we waited for this? "Crying" will be sniffing all day lol

Sent my congrats to all Muzzans on another thread, enjoy your moment in the sun, you fully deserve it, couldn't be happening to a nicer bunch and that includes Twingey!

Muzza's win was good for tennis. Much respect for Nole, but he's a champ, he'll get up off the floor, dust himself up and do what he does best..........fight.

Rafa, come back strong my hero, there is another big dog in the yard...............

:'-)) Yeeeessssssssss!

Oh deuce, we've waited, and posted , 7 years for this momentt!!!

Twinge, ed and all muzzateers on here - present and past - YEESSSSSSSS!!!!!

And many thanks to all the great fans - nny, lucky, rafa, nadine etc etc who encouraged us along the way.

So glad he did id how he did. FIVE sets against the best hard courter in the world. Not against ferrer, delpo or anyone else. These mental demons - his last enemy - finally vanquished.

Commiserations to nole's loyal fans - he was brilliant coming back from two sets down, and no less than anyone expected - by the end of the 4th set his tail was up and my heart was sinking again. No consolation I know, but for muzz to do what he did against nole at FM was the best possible muzz fans could have hoped for.

Good morning Great Britain ;).
Enjoy this moment, you deserved it, Andy deserved it ;). We already congratulated all of you on another thread. This is huge win which certainly makes tennis even more exciting.

Deuce, get that sofa out of house and make room for all of us coming for a glass of that sparkling wine ;)

Lol alex, in interview he said he never wants to be asked about Fred Perry again!
Love him to bits :)
Cheers RITB, u must've given him another strong talking to..;)

Agree with Alex, Nole is the best hard courter in the world, bar none. Andy can walk tall.........

samprallica, 9/11/12 6:00 AM,

I sensed your concern even on the live blog thread. I understand it, but hope that you continue to believe in Nole. He has shown us that great form this year, but not as consistently as last year. Of course, last year was unbelievable! To keep up that level of play for as long as he did, was a singular achievement.

I will say that at times in this match, I thought that Nole reminded me a bit of Rafa last year when he struggled against Nole. He always seemed to be playing from behind. That was kind of what happened to Nole today. That takes an enormous mental toll on a player. He used it all up to get back in the match, but didn't have enough left in the fifth set.

Also, all credit goes to Andy for stepping up in the key moments of the match, especially in the fifth set! Well done!

I gave my congratulations to all the great Murray fans on the live blog thread. I was begging deuce to come back on as we all realized that Andy was going to get the victory. I think that for a few moments, Andy didn't believe it! He looked like he was in shock. Then there were the tears and a great smile!

I have to say that I am so proud of hometown New York fans. They were with Andy on every point as it got down to crunch time. He was showered with love from the crowd. If it couldn't be at home in England, then this was the next best place. The crowd also cheered after the match for Nole. He left it all out there. I hope his fans are proud, even in the disappointment of this defeat. He will definitely have many more chances.

I could not be prouder of these two fine players. I am also so happy for Lendl! He must have been remembering how it felt when he finally broke through to win a slam. He has been an integral part of helping Andy to get over that last hurdle.

Finally, I was really happy to see Judy Murray smiling from ear-to-ear! No tears this time! The family and friends of Andy were beside themselves with joy and pride! It has been a long time coming, but that will only make it even more sweet!

Yay for our English fans! The drought is over! The drought is over!

Yay! NNY! Yay! Yay! Yay!
Still can't really believe it. :)

NY fans were incredible.

Nice words NNY. Thanx ;)

Is it me or does Andy not seem too over joyed with his maiden slam, breaking the British slam drought after 76 years? I think he managed to crack a smile for one second.

I jusst knew Andy would win this. I said so a week ago:

Murray will win the USO this year. You heard it here first.
nadline , 9/5/12 8:58 AM

congratulations to all of murray's fans on this site :)

alba gu brath

YYYEEESSSSSS! My hands were shaking so much this morning I could hardly bear to check!! Fred Perry #3, 10 September 1936 ~ Andy Murray #3, 10 September 2012! :)))))))))))))

Nadline: Haven't yet seen a replay of the closing stages. My live-stream kept freezing and I fell asleep and missed the rest of the match :-((((

If he seemed less than overjoyed my guess is it took a while for the reality of actually winning to sink in!! But he looked one happy bunny in the pics of him holding the cup.

Ever since I woke up at 5a.m. to check the result I've been grinning from ear to ear. Like Deuce and Alex I've waited seven years to see him fullfil the promise he showed while still a gawky teenager. And he has always been the only player it doesn't break my heart to see beating Rafa - although I will never quite forgive him for bageling Rafa in Tokyo.

Congratulations to Andy and all his fans! I'm delighed he managed to win and it's good that the top boys shared the slams this year. First season since 2003 there has not been a multiple slam winner. Makes things very interesting for the end of the season now!

Congratulations Andy.... you really deserve it.... very happy for you... hopefully many more slams to come...

Noles 2012 = Rafas 2011.. After a stellar 2010 with 3 slams, Rafa had a 2011 where he won just 1 slam but reached finals of 2 other slams.. same with Nole..after stellar 2011 with 3 slams, 2012 1 slam and 2 finals. Cycle repeated ;-)

Not exactly similar but Rafa lost 7 straight times to Nole and Nole has now lost 7 straight times to Rafa + Fed + Murray

Quiet a striking thing - these events :-)

Not sure if you all agree, I have noticed that Fed, Nole, Murray are all vulnerable to ups n downs in a match, neither of the 3 can play consistently well through a 5 setter..they play awesum 1 set and completely off the next..Rafa I thin is comparatively more consistent in his play throughout a match - a face acknowledged by both Murray and Roger.

Many congratulations to Andy Murray for the GS # 1 after being the GM in London 2012. Murray indeed looked sharp at the Wimby too except the last two and half sets in that final. He has at last demonstrated the hunger, the tenacity and the positives of a natural winner. He has now silenced a lot of fans and critics and the fight to the top has become more interesting between the BIG4 and the rest. We should be very happy for Andy Murray and sad to see the other One Slam Andy go quietly.

Happy to read Kelly again.

Djokovic just wasn't there menatally in the first two sets. He let the conditions affect him, rather than accept them and adjust his play accordingly. I hope this doesn't become a trend because if he wants to win more majors he cannot allow these sorts of things to make him lose focus. He did the same thing against Ferrer in the semi-final and subsequently lost the first set. Luckily for him the match was suspended and he was able play better the next day when conditions were much more benign, otherwise the way he was playing ferrer could have pushed the match to a fifth set at the very least. Congrats to Andy Murray whose hard work has paid off, but I think this will go down as one major Novak let slip through his fingers due to lack of focus, leaving him spent by the last set.

^^^ Nole's 2012 is a bit different from Rafa's 2011. At least he need not face one dominant player like Rafa had to face (Nole) in 2011. No one player is really dominant this season, the top four guys share the dominance this season, each dominating a part of it. However both Rafa and Nole were unable to hang on to their no.1 position and lost it in the year following their respective stellar year.

I do think Nole has a good chance of finishing this year as no.1, as he's leading the race right now and there're still a few tournaments to play for.

sanju, what do you think of my stella forecast?

It's my birthday today and the silver lining to Rafa being sidelined is that he is not the man Murray beat to win his maiden slam yesterday.

Congratulations to Muzzan's fans, you've waited patiently for this day and no one can say that the victory is not fully deserved. Murray had to overcome some fierce opposition on his way to kissing the trophy. So, Well Done Andy!

I knew from a few days into the tournament that Murray was the man to beat. He was in much better form than Federer or Nole, so I did see it coming. Murray was limping after the match. He said that his toe nail on his big toe came off during the match. Ouch!

Happy birthday, nadline! May you continue to be a thorn in Fedfans' you know where!

^^^ Happy birthday Nadline,

Wish you blissful tennis days ahead!

From Rafa via his FB page:

"Congrats to Andy to achieve his first Grand Slam. He and Nole has been played a great US Open final, both deserved to win."

Happy birthday Nadline

Yes your forecast was just that - stellar ;-0. Can you please tell Rafas 2013 or any insight into how many slams he will end up with? Will he end up with atleast 25 wins over Fed and retire with significant positive H2H over Nole & Murray?

Well that means Rafa did see the final or majority of it. I am sure he missed being on court :-)

Well it wasnt a great US open final, it was nice in 4th & 5th sets which had some quality, the first 3 sets lacked the quality with 2nd and 3rd really boring.

So guys rank in order of GS finals starting from best this year in terms of competitiveness, fight, quality etc.


AO
Wimby
RG
USO

Thanks for all the good wishes.

I going to steer clear of any Rafa predictions, because I did predict that he would be #1 at year end, but he didn't let me into his secret that he was suffering from his knees all year and would only play half the season. I think he would have had a good chance of being #1 but for his injuries.

Happy Birthday to you nadline.

I agree with you, that had it not for Rafa's injury, he would have a good chance of finishing the year as no.1. By the end of RG, Rafa was leading the race and even with only half a season's ranking points, he still will most likely finish the year as no.4, that's rather impressive IMO.

Congrats Murray!!! He deserved this... Amazing final.. missed the match considering the timings..so late for India... Another interesting note is at the time of winning, AO (Nole - No. 1), RG (Nadal - No. 2), Wim (Fed - No. 3) and US (Murray - No. 4)..

YESSS BABYYY !!! :D very happy for murray, he is sooo talented :) the variety in his game helped him deal with the tricky conditions. However, there were patches were the wind had normalized and there were some great great rallies, murray's forehand is so much improved now ! his forehand+mental toughness gave him the necessary push to claim a slam, FINALLY !!

HIGH FIVE TO DUECE AND ALEX :D I have always defended murray after his tough losses , so glad to have done that :D knew this day would come

Happy Birthday nadline...I wish you at least two slams for Rafa in 2013...:)

Only found out this morning that Andy had won as I was unable to watch the match live. I am so very happy for Andy and all his loyal fans and feel sorry for Novak and his great fans as well. It was obviously a hard fought battle and I have always appreciated fighters. It is a shame that one of them had to lose. It sounds like it was a classic and when I get home to the UK I will get the DVD and watch it in peace.

There is nothing more to say really as I think most of what I feel has already been said by many others on TT.

Best wishes for your birthday nadline - I hope you have a good one. I am sure Rafa getting fully fit to play is on the top of your wish list.

Congratulations to Andy and all his fans on this site! It was well deserved, and I'm glad he's finally got this.
Sorry it took me so long, I've been down the whole day. Yea I'm proud of Nole for fighting but a huge part of me actually thought that Nole was gonna do the impossible - come back from 2 sets to love down in a GS final against a top player. I was so bummed about what happened, but I think it was a great final where both players gave it their all. Topsy-turvy doesn't even begin to describe it, great fight.

Well deserved win for Andy Murray

Still on cloud ten! Wonder if the realisation has sunk in with AndyM yet! Nole as ever was gracious in defeat. Couldnt even spell properly earlier!

nats, I hope your wishes for Rafa's slam wins in 2013 come true.

I think Nole will end the year as #1, Murray #2, Rog #3 and Rafa #4. Not bad for Rafa, considering he has played a full season.

I wish Muzza had won his first slam at Wimby this year! My joy would have been undiluted. At USO, while I definitely preferred Muzza to win ( I am a Rafa-Muzza fan), one part of me cried because Nole lost after such a valiant fight.

I wonder what I would have felt if the final had been Rafa vs Muzza?

For me a pivotal point in AndyMs career so far must have been winning his Olympic Gold against Fed especially after such an emotional defeat on the same court only a few weeks before. That he was able to pick himself up psychologically and didn`t appear to let it prey on his mind. Such a fantastic time for mens tennis!

Happy birthday nadline! What a day for USA though! 09/11!

Well, I thought I'd wait a day before posting because last night my posts would have been full of swears.

Happy for Murray, glad he got the monkey off the back. However, Djokovic disappointed me. To play like the way he did the first two sets is unacceptable in a GS final. The fifth especially....I don't care what the conditions were, they're not gonna be perfect everytime.

Oh, well, you'd think with 1 GS, 2 masters, 2 GS finals, I'd be happy with his year but I'm not. The Olympics really left a sour taste in my mouth. Maybe I need to lower my expectations? :D

The worst part, with this loss, the All Mighty One just increased his lead as #1....

ANYWAYS, just want to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to all Andy fans, you've been so patient and have finally seen your guy become a GS champ. :)) And the Gold in London. :)

ps. Happy birthday nadline! :)

happy Birthday nadline :)

Happy Birthday Nadine and many more to come!!

@vamosrafa
Thank you :) I know you have.
Also special thanx mriiidula, schatz, tennis2011, nemanja, and everybody for your good wishes. This was worth waiting for alright. Dreams do come true sometimes.
Don't be sad mriiidula, Nole has umpteen slams already. :)
Hi mojo, good to see you back and celebrating.
Think Twingey must still be drunk..:)

Happy Birthday Nadline!! May all your wishes come true ;)

Sanju,
I don't think that Nole lost 7 matches to top 3 in a row. He beat Roger in SF at RG. I may be mistaken though...

Yes, a massive congratulations to Murray. He has always has the talent and its just great to see that talent finally rewarded with a major trophy. Agreed with earlier comments that the reaction over in the UK has somewhat been subdued, particularly for a 1st grand slam winner in like 78 years since Fred Perry. I think it's mainly down to the match taking place at twilight hours over here , so the match didn't get the full coverage that say the Wimbledon final did. A Murray win at SW19 would've sent the euphoria into full overdrive particularly in Olympics year.

Part of its is also due to Murray's own persona, which still lacks the charisma or charm offensive of Nadal or Federer. But that really isn't a big concern for him.

What's really more interesting now is the possible ramifications of this win. Will we now see Murray become a multiple slam winner and eventual No1? Few things to consider first..

Murray has the luck of the draw and tour this time, not having to face either Rafa or Roger as past US Open results have proven.

A 1st major win guarantees nothing. Delpo looked even more ominous after his US Open win, but unfortunate long term injury took all the momentum away from his ascendancy , so you never know what will happen.

Despite a typical fightback, Djokovic clearly wasn't at his optimal level, unable to mentally cope with the conditions. 2012 has confirmed that 2011 was a freakish one off year. Yes the Djokoivc 2.0 is still operational, but now seems to be fading back to some regular level of normality. Can he get back to that leevel next year, its' very doubtful.

Federer is still a major threat and as Wimbledon proved, has the upper hand over Murray in slams, Although we'll never know for sure , it;s likely Fed would've beaten Murray in the semi final. Murray will not always be able to avoid Fed in slams for the short term at least.

And then tehre is the biggest question mark over any possible Murray domination of the tour - Nadal. When will he come back? Will he come back? If he does will he be able to get back to the level he was at pre Wimbeldon this year? If the answer is yes, then it's bad news for Murray. To be honest you cannot be certain on anything regarding Nadal these days.

Still well done Murray for getting rid of that burden. Now the pressure's off until Wimbledon 2013 that is.

Danica..you are right..Its not 7 in a row..maybe right way to put is last 3 meetings with Rafa, last 2 with Roger and last 2 with Murray..they werent in a row though as he did beat in between in Rome & RG.

Hi Lebsta..I dont think Fed would ahve defeated Murray in the semi had they played..He had a chance in final but in semi Murray would have beated Fed ..

Well if you talking because there was crazy wind and abnormal condition..then I am not sure..maybe Fed would have handled it better..maybe not..not sure

@lebsta2 , 9/11/12 10:09 PM

Rafa has never done a complete season since 2003. He's taken up to 3 months off before and come back stronger, so I think he will be back kicking butt soon.

@Nadline

I sincerely hope you're right. There's still feels like there's a huge void when he's not on the tour. Although his greatness is pretty much secured, he just needs a few more non clay slams, to put any lasting doubters to rest.

Congrats to Murray and his fans out there! What an awesome achievement indeed!

Happy birthday nadline!

Holdserve- hopefully we'll get to see a Rafa-Muzza finals at a Major tournament then we'll know how it would feel might these two face each other. Andy is also my favorite next to RAFA. Vamos!

I have only just come on here now. I did want to wish Nadline a very happy birthday! I know that the best birthday wish for you would be a healthy Rafa coming back to play again. That would be my wish, too! I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Today is a sad day for Americans. This is 9/11 and a day to remember, not celebrate. I said all I wanted to say last night about Murray's victory, congratulated his fans and celebrated a great effort on the part of both players. I also wanted to give some words of encouragement and condolence to Nole's great fans.

This is always such a difficult day. My family lived through it and I try every year to give them comfort and strength as they remember those that were lost.

This will probably be my only post, but let the happiness and joy over Murray's victory continue.

jayhu, in a way the Rafa-Fed finals were nice. Because I never felt sorry for Fed when he lost.
All three, Rafa, Nole and Muzza deserve to win many more slams and I hope in the years ahead, all three would be winning every year.

Murray has the weapons to beat Fed. Don't forget how he beats Fed at Canada and Shanghai, and Shanghai is a quicker court than the USO. Murray has proven too that he can play in the wind, unlike in that IW final in 2009 against Rafa, where Murray couldn't handle the wind and lost miserably. Fed too could handle the wind but the wind would take away his one major weapon, ie his serve, so Murray would have greater chances of beating Fed. I think the only place where Fed is almost guaranteed a win over Nole or Murray is Cincy. Cincy seems like the fastest outdoor court around and it suits Fed's game to the T.

On hard courts, Rafa vs Murray, it's about 50:50 chances of one beating the other; on clay needless to say it's still Rafa; on grass Rafa still has the edge, as he's 3-0 against Murray. Well maybe it's just a slight edge now, with this improved Murray with an improved forehand.

My wish for next year: Muzza: AO; Rafa: RG and Wimby, Nole: WTF.
Rafa to win WTF in 2013 or 2014.
Fed to retire in 2013 or at least ATP to stop rigging draws and schedules and treat him same as others. Sampras never got any unfair privileges.

Correction to above post.
Nole:USO.
One of Rafa, Nole and Muzza to win WTF 2013. Rafa to win WTF in 2013 or 2014.

Murray has the weapons to beat any one on any court now..next year is very interesting ..on AO surface all 4 are very good so it doesn't matter much about draw, those players who are going to face berdych and delpo in quarters are in dis adavantage...At RG if Nadal & Djoker on the same side it slightly favours Rog because there is no guarantee there he can reach final and win against nole if some how he reaches, At Wimby if Rafa and Murray end up in same half it massively helps Roger, At US Open all are good the draw really doesn't matter only QF opponents and form of the player matters...

After watching US open i feel that age is catching up with roger , he is having mental lapses and his game is leaving him suddenly, so i think it's pretty tough for roger to maintain that level, i think in 2013 we may see real decline of Roger..:((((((

chenna21, I agree with para 1.
Re: para2:
In all probability the organizers of RG and Wimby would rig the draw to have Nole in Rafa's half at RG and Muzza in Rafa's half at Wimby (if the rankings permit).
So Rogie might still win slams in 2013 (Though I hope not).
However while I have never liked Fed, when you say that he might decline in 2013, I am not happy.
I think if the organizers stop rigging the draws and favoring Fed in scheduling, I would like him to be in the top 4 till 2016.

How does Rafa and Nole being on the same side favor Roger at RG? So Nole took a set off a Rafa on one leg at RG 2012 (we know this now) and a set which was played in mud, he is now a favorite over Rafa for you? That can be the only explanation because I know you do not think Fed can ever beat Rafa at RG, please say it ain't so. Again, you assume Muzza would beat Rafa at Wimby...........just so you can have the comfort of dreaming of another Fed triumph.

Mind, I am not saying Rafa cannot be beaten at RG, or that Muzza cannot beat Rafa at Wimby but the fact is that Nole has yet to beat Rafa at RG and Muzza has yet to beat Rafa at Wimby. So, to paraphrase Ricky, until they do, the pick has to be Rafa in those match ups. And if it's Rafa across the net from Roger at a Slam, please......................

chenna21, but I know it is too much to expect. Rogie will probably decline like you said and then who knows, I might start missing him and his smug remarks. It has been a lot of fun these past few years.

Lovely article about Andy:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/sep/11/andy-murray-us-open -doubts?newsfeed=true
Now, don't groan but read Rafa fans, he mentions your Rafa in it and is very "humble"...;)

^^^^now, how can we Rafans complain? Muzza is class, he trained in Spain........so his humility does not surprise...........hehehehe! Seriously, Muzza's understated celebration post win was just class, class. So, so mature, makes you want him to win more, just to see that sweet reaction.........

Vamos Muzza!!

Andy revealed that Rafael Nadal, resting his injured knees in Mallorca, had been in touch. "He messaged me after the match and said, 'Just enjoy it, I'm very happy for you. You deserved it.'

Brought a lump to my throat. Rafa is class! If the other guy had texted Andy to congratulate him, we would have heard about it as well, so I don't think he did.

Congratulations Andy M.. he deserves all the happiness on earth !!!

the other guy..lol ;-)

vamosrafa - thank you our friend.
RITH/nadline - doesn't surprise me about rafa messaging - a class act and such a genuine guy.
And yes, we have to say, muzz is a product of barcelona, not the LTA.

nny - yes, was very aware of the date, and feel great sympathy for you. Just wonder what they'd have done if Monday had been the 11th ... ?

good stuff, Rafa

Rafa is a class act.

the sky is blue

alex, 9/12/12 7:16 PM,

Thanks for your kind words. But if the final had been on 9/11 they would have played. That's what I would have wanted. In the midst of sadness and remembrance, life goes on.

YAY Rafa! I saw his message on twitter. Now I am on there and have been sending Rafa tweets to get well and come back! But I wish that I knew some Spanish, so that I could say it in his native language.

It was emotional to read the message Rafa sent to Andy. In the midst of his own adversity, he was thinking of his friend.

I miss you, Rafa!