It took four hours and 10 minutes of a brutal final for
Novak Djokovic to overcome a belligerent Rafael Nadal and lift his third Grand
Slam of an incredible year under the lights at Flushing Meadows.
At times on a raucous Arthur Ashe Stadium court the two men
went at it hammer and tongs, blitzing each other with some ridiculously hard
hitting and producing some sensational points as a result.
One lasted 31 strokes while another was quickly dubbed the
'greatest rally of all time' and the crowd - split between apparently inebriated
hecklers and those telling the hecklers to ssshhh in between points - were
treated to some rip-roaring tennis at times.
It has threatened to prove too much for the tired limbs of Djokovic,
who was forced to call on the trainer at one point, but the Serb recovered, somehow
found the strength to dull Nadal's attempted fightback and went on to seal a
famous victory - his sixth over the Spaniard this year.
As he fell backwards onto the court in exhausted
celebration, Djokovic's status as the world's best player was confirmed - not
that confirmation was really needed after the year he's enjoyed - but (cheese
alert) there was another winner on the night: the game of tennis itself.
Considering some of the tennis played by these two great
warriors, how could the game not be a winner? The crowd certainly appreciated
it, and were even brought to their feet by some of the play they were
witnessing.
But don't just take Tramlines' word for it. Sometimes actions speak louder than words, so check out some
of the play for yourselves in this final blog from the 2011 US Open, a video special: