Just a few games into the men’s US Open final on Monday between Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori and the chatter had already begun.
“It seems we must have Federer, Nadal or Djokovic in a grand slam final for it to be interesting.”
“Look at all those empty stands. They wouldn’t be this empty if Federer, Nadal or Djokovic were playing.”
“If this is the future of the ATP, I am very worried.”
That was a common theme across a wide range of reactions to Cilic’s dominating victory over Nishikori and one that sadly failed to give credit to the Croat’s stunning performance, not just in the final, but throughout the second week in New York.
While the final lacked competitiveness, much like Serena Williams’ rout of Caroline Wozniacki, it certainly was enjoyable.
There is something profoundly admirable about the way Cilic destroyed his opponent on Monday and how he conducted himself from start to finish.
You’d expect nerves to play a major part when two players set foot on Centre Court for their maiden grand slam final, but Cilic had other plans.
For a player whose game is based on huge-hitting and monster serves, Cilic had no problem finding his margins from the get-go and he wasn’t winning because Nishikori was missing balls, he was winning because he was fierce and close to flawless.
Things could have gotten tricky for Cilic when the crowd rallied behind Nishikori, urging the Japanese to make a match out of the final, but still the 6’6” power player was unfazed.
After all, if you can beat Federer in straight sets with an entire Arthur Ashe Stadium rooting for the Swiss, you can pretty much handle anything.
Still, it takes immense control to stay calm in such circumstances and that alone made Monday’s final a memorable affair.
There’s no doubt that stars like Federer, Djokovic and Nadal draw in bigger numbers than anyone else in tennis but scheduling the final on a Monday at 5pm certainly did no one any favours.
The empty stands and low TV ratings had much more to do with the ill-advised scheduling than the fact that the final was devoid of a ‘Big Four’ player.
Would we have wanted a more competitive final? Definitely. But just because Nishikori’s gruelling two weeks caught up with him one match too soon doesn’t mean we should make general judgments about the “future of men’s tennis”.
I see this final as a promising start to a period where more and more second-row players will begin to live up to their potential.
Cilic provides the perfect inspiration. A year ago he was serving a four-month doping ban (reduced from nine months by CAS) for making a stupid mistake. He took glucose pills that included a substance that is banned in competition but allowed out of it, and ended up paying the price.
His ranking dropped from 12 to 41 within that period. He’s now a grand slam champion ranked No9 in the world.
It’s no surprise that Cilic’s victory speech revolved around one premise – that hard work pays off. He spent his suspension working on every aspect of his game as well as his body and this season we saw a mentally and physically stronger Cilic donning a better serve, smoother touches and punishing groundstrokes.
People are already questioning whether he’s going to be a one-slam wonder, but something tells me we’ll be seeing more and more of the big man in the future.
