And now, I'm not totally shocked, but I'm sort of mourning the beginning of the end of the era of the big 4. This is literally the first slam final since the 2005 AO final (Safin v Hewitt) that a member of the big 4 (or future member) has not been involved. Which I'm sure most if not all of you, my fellow tennis lovers and gurus, were already aware of. The only other match would be the Djokovic v Tsonga AO 2008 final. But Djokovic was already top 5 and maybe the #3 seed there and had just been to the US Open final that he lost to Fed. If it wasn't a big 4 yet, I think it was a big 3 because Murray hadn't made it that high yet. In that 2005 AO final Safin had defeated Fed in the semis and Hewitt beat Roddick in the semis. They were the top 4 seeds but Hewitt and Safin were the 3rd and 4th seeds respectively. I've always hated that tournament because it really should have been a Fed v Roddick final. And while Fed would certainly have won it, Roddick never got closer to the AO final, because Roger did in fact beat Roddick in the two semis that Roddick made there in 2007 and 2009. I'm WAY off topic.
It's definitely a new day. It won't end the big 4's dominance just yet. They'll probably still be the dominant force over the next few years, though Fed may truly start to slip away the older he gets. It may become just a big 3 or we'll just have to do away with the moniker because Kei and Dimitrov and Raonic and maybe (hopefully) DelPo will be winning slams. But I do imagine Novak will remain the extremely consistent man we've seen him be the last few years. Rafa when healthy will still be a force to be reckoned with. And Murray will get back at it. Next year Murray will be more healed and most likely in his true prime, so we'll see what he does next year. Hoping Fed can find #18 still and hoping Nadal doesn't close the gap anymore. I say this because while the year isn't over, the slam year is.
Annnnddd... It looks like Serena Williams will finally have more slams than Fed for the first time since Fed tied her with his 2006 AO title at 7 slams a piece. He'd hit 8 a few months later at Wimbledon. She wouldn't get to 8 until the next year at the 2007 AO. And wouldn't get to 9 until the 2008 US Open, which was the slam that Fed got to 13 at. Anyways, that is if she beats Woz tomorrow. Here's to Woz having to wait at least a bit longer to show her ex that she don't need him anymore.
uzzled
