The 2012 US Open Men's Singles final was the championship

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

match of the Men's Singles tournament at the 2012 US Open. In the final, Andy Murray defeated defending champion

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

7–6^(12–10), 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 6–2 to win the match. It is the joint longest US Open men's final in history, lasting 4 hours and 54 minutes (equalling the 1988 US Open final played by

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...

and

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...

), and the fourth-longest men's final in the Open era. By winning the 2012 US Open, Murray became the first British man since

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well ...

in 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first British man in the Open Era to do so. The match is a significant part of the

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the two players. This match also marked a milestone for Murray, as it was his 100th match win at a grand slam tournament.

Match

Andy Murray won the first set in what would be the longest tiebreak in a men's championship match, taking 24 minutes to win the tie-break 7–6^(12–10). The first set lasted 87 minutes (including the 24-minute tiebreak), featured four breaks of serve in the first four games of the match and a 54-shot rally which Djokovic won in the sixth game. Additionally, the first set tie-break featured two 30-plus shot rallies and Murray needed six set points to finally take out the first set. The second set appeared to head in Murray's direction as he went 4–0 up and then 5–2 before Djokovic won the next three games to level the set at 5–all. Murray then held his serve to edge ahead 6–5, then broke Djokovic's serve to win the set 7–5 and go two sets up in the final. The third set was the shortest of the final; Djokovic winning the third set 6–2 after breaking Murray twice in the set. He also took the fourth set 6–3 to level the match at two sets all. Thus, he was in a position where he could become the first man since Gastón Gaudio in 2004 to win a championship match after losing the first two sets. On that occasion, Gaudio won the 2004 French Open final over

Guillermo Coria Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved hi ...

after losing the first two sets 6–0 and 6–3. The final set was also a short affair, with Murray opening up a sizeable lead and putting himself in a strong position to serve for the championship at 5–2. Murray served out to gain a triple championship point, and after Djokovic saved the first, he emerged victorious on the second after a Djokovic return sailed just over the baseline. Murray claimed his first Grand Slam title after four previous final defeats, emulating his coach

, who also won his first major title after four previous final defeats. His victory also denied Djokovic the chance to claim the biggest pay day in tennis history, where he could have won $US2.4 million having claimed the

2012 US Open Series In tennis, the ninth edition of the US Open Series (known as Emirates Airline US Open Series for sponsorships reasons), included twelve hard court tournaments that started on July 9, 2012 in Stanford and concluded in Winston-Salem for the men and ...

after winning the

Rogers Cup The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...

and finishing runner-up to

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Statistics

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Djokovic about the match

Novak Djokovic praised Murray after the match, conceding that he was the better player on the day, and stating that he felt that Murray deserved this championship:

''"He deserved to win this grand slam more than anybody because over the years he has been a top player, he has been so close, lost four finals. Now he has won it so I would like to congratulate him. Definitely happy that he won it. Us four (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray), we are taking this game to another level. It's really nice to be part of such a strong men's tennis era."''

Reaction

Murray's US Open victory was met with a positive reaction around the world. In the United Kingdom alone, up to 1.5 million people had stayed up to watch the match, which started at 9:00pm and ended just after 2:00am British Summer Time.

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...

, whose best ever result at a Major tournament was reaching the semi-finals on six occasions (once at the French Open, four times at Wimbledon and once at the US Open), declared:

''"I definitely see him going on to win more. How many he can win, only time will tell. The Olympics and this will give him so much confidence. I said the first one would be the hardest but I think it will be the first of many, I really do."''

Many fellow players current and former, took to Twitter in order to congratulate Murray, including

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upon winning ...

Laura Robson Laura Robson (born 21 January 1994) is a British former professional tennis player. She debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2007, and a year later won the Junior Wimbledon championships at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached t ...

Victoria Azarenka Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former w ...

, Jo Durie and

Colin Fleming Colin Fleming (born 13 August 1984) is a British retired professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. As part of the Davis Cup team, he won eight successive doubles matches to help Great Britain into the World Group. He also won his ...

, as well as a host of other sportsmen and celebrities such as

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has ...

Sir Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a w ...

, Gordon Reid,

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

and

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all tim ...

. Prime Minister David Cameron and Scottish First Minister

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

were amongst British politicians who were quick to praise Murray. Dunblane Conservative councillor Callum Campbell stated:

"''The word proud just doesn't do it any justice. The people of Dunblane have been supporting Andy and his brother Jamie since they were young boys and Andy has repaid their loyalty 10 times over. A lot of young people who live in Dunblane look up to Andy. He is a local hero.''"

References

External links

Match statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:2012 US Open - Men's Singles final 2012 US Open (tennis)

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