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

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

match of the Men's Singles tournament at the 2012 US Open. In the final,

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...

defeated defending champion

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

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 (equaling the 1988 US Open final played by

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis ...

and

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

), 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 number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...

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 Gastón Norberto Gaudio (; born 9 December 1978) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won eight singles titles and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 5 in April 2005. Gaudio's most significant championship c ...

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 former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP world No. 3 Singles (ten ...

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 after winning the Rogers Cup and finishing runner-up to

Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

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 9:00 p.m. and ended just after 2:00 a.m. British Summer Time.

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) during the early 2000s. Henman won 15 career ATP Tour titl ...

, 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 former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player and coach. 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. Upo ...

, Laura Robson,

Victoria Azarenka Victoria Fiodaraŭna Azarenka (born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), having held the position for a total of 51 weeks ...

Jo Durie Joanna Mary Durie (born 27 July 1960) is a former world No. 5 tennis player from the United Kingdom. During her career, she also reached No. 9 in doubles, and won two Grand Slam titles, both in the mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates. Born in Bri ...

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 Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

, Sir Chris Hoy, Gordon Reid,

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

and Sir Alex Ferguson. Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

and Scottish First Minister

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond ( ; 31 December 1954 – 12 October 2024) was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Sc ...

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

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