US Open Postscript

            We learned a few new things from this interesting tournament as follows:

1) The big 4 is no more.  Stan Wawrinka has now won his third major, beating Djokovic in two of the finals.  Federer has not won a major in several years, though he has contested for titles.  Nadal did not make the quarterfinals of any major this year.  Cilic won the US Open in 2014 and beat Murray in the final of a Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati this summer.  All of these facts add up to one thing: the era of the big 4 is over.  That’s not such a bad thing for tennis, and it simply acknowledges that in sports, time flies.  Upcoming tournaments will be a bit more suspenseful, which is good.

2) Top players are vulnerable.  Both Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic have dominated the women’s and men’s tours for quite some time, but both now show clear signs of vulnerability.  That will encourage their opponents and make their matches even tougher down the road.

3) Kerber is the real deal.  Now that Angie has won two majors and earned the number one ranking, we have to consider her, like Stan Wawrinka, to be a legitimate superstar.

4) Pliskova arrives, Wozniaki returns.  Karolina Pliskova added some mental toughness to her power game and made her statement as a serious threat to win majors.  Caroline Wozniaki, coming off injury, knocked off Madison Keys and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and bumped her ranking by 35 points.  Expect it to go up further.

5) WEATHER was the real winner in several matches.  The extremely warm and humid weather was a major factor in this tournament.  As pointed out in a previous post, climate change has arrived and must be reckoned with.  In matches I saw, the following players were severely affected by the weather:

Jared Donaldson

David Goffin*

Milos Raonic*

Karolina Pliskova

Novak Djokovic

* Players who probably lost matches because of weather effects

In my opinion, professional tennis must recognize that warmer oceans mean more evaporation, and warmer air means that the atmosphere can sustain higher levels of humidity before rains begin.  Thus, the oppressively heavy weather at the US Open.  Human activity has changed the world, and I believe the tennis tour must respond with three changes:

1) Invoke the heat rule in men’s tennis to allow a 10 minute break after two sets if the temperature/humidity index exceeds set limits.

2) MOVE THE US OPEN TO A LATER DATE IN SEPTEMBER.  It was just too hot this year!

3) Encourage directors of summer tournaments to raise awareness among fans of the risks of extreme heat, and to make sure facilities,  resources and trained personnel are available to fans who suffer from heat effects.